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RUFUS ANTHONY
MERRI WEATHER
REPROGRAM
For my children, from first to last...
Madiha...
Bubba...
Syreeta...
Alison...
Christopher.
Author’s note:
RAM
FORWARD
But defining sensory reception is but one of many of the brains functions.
Another equally important function is memory, and as such , recording. The brain
records every sensational event empirically, fact for fact from birth to death. The brain
does this automatically, with or without our consent , and it does not discriminate as to
which events to record, or not. They are all up there somewhere; every sensational event
experienced since birth.
It doesn’t take a psychologist to tell us that a lot of our behavior is due in
part to our sentience, and that our psyche’s are made up mostly from our sentient
experiences. Many mental and emotional disorders are derivatives of our misadventures
in the worlds of pain and pleasure and the inability to prioritize our sentience. “The
Emperor is not wearing any clothes”, and “The inmates are running the Asylum”, is how
I would humorously describe the state of mind of a lot of people these days. But it ain’t
funny.
Psychiatrist make “X” big bucks teaching people to prioritize their
sentience but most of us are so confused , we’ve got problems that even A.A. cant cure.
One philosophy teaches us that “If it feels good , do it”, while on the other hand a newer,
more recent philosophy teaches us to “Just say no”. Common sense seems to have been
replaced with cliches’.
We change lifestyles as often as we change clothes, trying to find a place
where we fit, finding little more than temporary gratification that places our well being
in jeopardy and grants us less than the true bliss we sought. We seek enlightenment from
people who turn out to be more confused about life than we are. In our own confusion,
we neglect to recognize the confusion in others.
Confusion seems to be the integral constant in the equation for living.
No use improvising
say what you wanted to say
and there’s no use in denying
that you got feet of Iron and Clay
You don’t know what in the world that I’m talkin’ about
you see me workin’ the world, you know I never stop
you see me walkin’ and why? but I don’t know the deal
it’s like you saying man could this brother be for real
you hear me talkin’ and man I can feel your stare
I feel your thoughts and I know that you don’t even care
you put your life in some danger a little bit too much
and people call you a dangerous little such and such
I’m here to tell you that man that you don’t put no fear
in my heart so man if you can you should get out of here
before I forget my station then it would be too late
I’m trying hard to ignore you but you won’t let it wait
And now you feeling the pain and it’s hurtin’ inside
for you tryin’ to put a harness on what you could not ride
and people try’d to tell you how it would end someday
for you bad so and so’s with feet of Iron and Clay
(CHORUS)
(SERMON)* As for thee O king, thy thoughts came into
thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to
pass hereafter: and he that revealeth
secrets maketh known to thee what shall
come to pass.
Thou sawest till that stone was cut out without hands,
which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron
and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron,
the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces
together and became like the chaff of the summer
threshingfloors, and the wind carried them away that
no place was found for them.
(CHORUS)
(CHORUS)
So live on
and it don’t stop
it’s for the Lord
yeah that’s what I’m talking about
( yeah! yeah! yeah!)
so come on
and it don’t quit
it’s for the Lord
come on get with this
This song goes out to my father G0D; for my peeps, for my kids, for me
and everybody I love. Its for Jesus. (You know we can’t forget Jesus).
For a long time, I spent most of my days wondering and my nights crying
and praying and asking God, “What’s wrong with me Lord? Why can’t I get it on? Why
can’t I find happiness? Why do I not have peace of mind?”. My soul was in so much
pain.
I figured people’s unhappiness was their own fault. This was half the truth.
I knew in my heart it was possible that people could live happy and I was determined to
find out how. I discovered in my search a certain obstacle which upon first glance
appeared impossible to be breached by the limited capacity of the human being. That was
the other half.
God has made this possible for us in spite of ourselves. We are all sinners;
every one of us. We did not choose to be; not all of us: we just are. Society does very
little to help us become anything but sinners. For a long time, I felt that society, by and
large, was essentially evil; knowingly, and dedicated to evil’s cause. And although for a
large segment of society this is a fact and the truth, I have learned that the real truth is just
the opposite. Society is not evil, society is just ignorant. And society is also indifferent,
meaning that it doesn’t care, or chooses not to care what God’s plan for their life is.
Society wants to do whatever society wants to do in order to live a full and happy life. It
does not intentionally seek to harm or kill any and everyone who gets in the way of its
happiness. It is a survival instinct. Happiness is as essential to life as food and shelter.
The search for happiness is even more prevalent in today’s society because especially
here in America, hunger is practically non-existent, even among the poor and homeless.
Most of Americans’ basic needs are met, yet, most of our time and energy and resources
are spent in the pursuit of happiness.
And God help anyone who gets in the way of it.
People are sinful by nature. We all know this to be the truth. But, it is only
out of ignorance that we continue to live sinfully. This is another truth. We who consider
ourselves Believers, choose to be so because we have learned a better way. We have
learned to pursue happiness without sinning, (though we continue in sin), through The
Word and with the blessing of our Father in heaven through our Lord and savior, Jesus
Christ. True, we continue in sin. We also continue to breathe air and eat food and marry
and reproduce too. We too are men; of mankind. We too were conceived in sin, born in
sin, and live in sin. What makes us better than the rest of society? Nothing! We are not.
We are all the same
And yet we are different.
We are different because we choose not to sin. We choose not to trespass
against our fellow man in the pursuit of our happiness. We choose rather instead to learn
a better way; the only, “other”, way to be happy. We choose the path of righteousness;
the path of peace. The path of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
Okay so we still are sinners. But our sinning is minimized by our
knowledge of God’s word and the wisdom we display when faced with the temptation to
sin. By deciding not to sin, we are set apart from sin.
And yet we are not all wise.
Only The Father and The Son know all things, to be able to know what
to do in all situations and act accordingly.
We also acknowledge our shortcomings, so that it becomes easier to rely
on God to lead us through the troubled waters and restore our souls whenever we fall
short of his glory, which is most of the time. And that is the equation that we have
learned that sets us free of the wages of sin, and grants us the peace of mind to pursue our
happiness.
And there can be no happiness without peace of mind, now can it?
******************************************************
I was recently fired from another job. I get fired at least twice a year. Been
getting fired at that rate for about the last twenty years or so. No big deal; I’m used to it.
And besides, the jobs I keep losing aren’t worth keeping anyway. I’d have quit soon
even if I hadn’t gotten myself fired. I must admit, I really did like working that job
though.
This last job, I was a short order cook. I’ve got plenty of job skills. I’ve
been a bricklayer, a carpenter, a plumber; I’ve drove trucks, made signs, waited tables;
mostly labor though I do possess some office skills too. A job is a job where I come from
and you do what you have to in order to survive.
I get along well with people. I do my share of brown nosing on the job and
I have no problem taking orders from my superiors so you would think that I would be
able to hold down a job being a christian and all, right? I work hard; but mostly I work
smart. I am both meticulous ,and methodical so I always do a god job. Not bragging; just
a fact.
I lose jobs so often because I work for and with sinful people; wicked
people. people that recognize and/or find out that I am a christian; and not just in title, but
a real life, walking, talking , breathing christian, who listens to gospel music, no longer
fornicates nor wish to ( so you can guess how “boring” some of the “shop talk”
conversations around me must be like), who speaks on salvation, prosperity and
blessings, and practice as a rule the “better to give than to receive” philosophy. I make
wicked people sick.
I was raised “ghetto” though, so it is hard for me to make the christian
thing go over because people aint stupid; they know “ghetto” when they see “ghetto”.
When they see my flaws they go “Ah-ha, Ah-ha”, like they found out my secret or
something. Then when I get to spouting my christian jargon they get to looking at me out
the side of their face with that ‘Who you think you fooling” look I don’t sweat that
though. In the circles I ‘ve been forced to travel in, you need a little bit of “ghetto” in
you. Like my brother used to say when I asked him why he liked to carry a gun
everywhere he went: “I’d rather be caught with it, than be caught without it”.
I’m talking about my “ghetto” attitude, not the gun.
Anyway, just before I got fired from that job, I said something to my boss,
and I knew, as soon as I said it, it would be the death of me on that job. But it was too late
then; I had already said it and I couldn’t take it back.
I had come in early, as was my custom because on that particular job you
had to take over your shift in mid-stream, so that, if the store was busy at the end of a
shift, the person you were relieving oftentimes had to stay extra, unpaid minutes to
restock for the next shift.And as is so often the case when you worked with “indifferent”
people, they would leave without restocking the coffers and you would be left in a busy
store with no supplies at hand. And that could make for a very difficult day. So I would
always get there a little early to restock for my shift, in case the person I was relieving
had not already done so. And that was a common occurrence on that job.
On that particular day I was relieving the boss, the store manager, and she
had had a very difficult day. The tension was so thick in that kitchen you could cut it with
a knife and the stress showed all over her face. Seeing that, I began to go about my other
custom: helping the person I was relieving close out their shift. I started out sweeping up.
I took out her trash. I stocked up for my shift. She was still cooking orders so I made up
some mop water and proceeded to mop up, all the while whistling some gospel tune or
another while I worked. I didn’t know that I was whistling until my boss, having finished
cooking the last of her orders interrupted me.
She was frowning, but she had been frowning when I came in the door, so
I didn’t think much of it at the time.
“What you in a good mood for?” she asked me. “Ain’t nobody else in a
good mood”, she went on to say.
I looked at her.
Obviously my “sucking up” to her had had other than the desired effect I
was looking for.
“Want to know my secret?” I asked her, smiling my wide grin.
I was still mopping.
“What?” she asked back, eyes narrowing.
“Say a prayer before you leave the house”, I said and went back to
mopping.
Behind me: silence. I heard her turn and walk away. Doom or gloom
washed over me. I didn’t know which at the time but I know now that it was “doom”. I
wished for those words to have jumped back into my mouth, but what was done was
done. And I had did it again: said the wrong thing, to the wrong person, again.
One thing I have learned about people over the years is that, and to quote
Curtis Mayfield from his 1970’s hit album, “Superfly”: “People are the same everywhere.
They have the same fears, shed so many tears, and die in so many years”, and I ‘d like to
add my philosophical wisdom to his by saying that “People don’t really want no trouble”.
Bluff your way out of enough bad situations and I’m sure you will agree with me.
This is true everywhere. In the “hood” where I grew up in, crimes occur
on a regular basis. Murders, assaults, rapes, robberies and burglaries all occur radically.
Even so, if the perpetrators of these crimes could commit them without the worry about
all of the trouble that comes along with their crimes, they would do them with even more
regularity. They know the same thing that I know, that trouble is indiscriminate; that it
rains on the perpetrators as well as their victims.
There is nothing complicated about living a full and happy life. Not with
the help of God. It is much more simple than all of the strife we go through trying to live
outside of his will.
But people seem to love strife.
The “no pain; no gain” rule, I guess.
It is out of ignorance that people continue to strive against God’s rule; and
out of fear. It is out of ignorance that people continue to live in fear and it is the fear of
society that keeps people living in ignorance. (A vicious cycle, I know).
Throughout biblical history, the saints have been at odds with the societies
of their times because every time they sought to teach people the path to righteousness,
someone or some group that held high position on the social ladder campaigned against
them, using their social status and/or position of authority to enlist common, ignorant folk
to perform common ignorant deeds (usually immoral), to vilify, or to cause harm (usually
violent), to the saints. Oftentimes pretending themselves to be saints their reasons for
doing such had many different motivations, the most common being financial gain, i.e.,
the love of money.
The kings of the Earth set themselves, and the rulers take
council together against the Lord and against his
anointed, saying, let us break their bands asunder, and cast
away their cords from us.
(Psalms 2:2-3)
The rich has always used the poor to get richer. This is no secret.
Everybody knows the way of the rich. The love of money is the root of all evil. A lot of
rich people are not essentially evil, but their love of money leads them down the path to
evil, to the point where, if anything threatens their ability to gain, they will do most
anything to ensure its continuance.
There is also the fact that some people are wicked and know it. Just as
believers are actively working to bring about God’s kingdom of heaven on earth, there
are those that actually worship Satan and are actively working to bring about his kingdom
of hell on earth.
And then shall that wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord
shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall
destroy with the brightness of his coming: even him, whose
coming is after the
working of Satan with all power and signs and lying
wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in
them that perish:
because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be
saved. (II Thessalonians 2:8-10)
And then there is my pet-peeve, jealousy and envy. I find this ignorant
practice to be the most prevalent evil threatening the coming of the kingdom of heaven
on earth. Christian versus christian, family member versus family member, ideology
versus ideology, group versus group...etcetera. In the ghetto, we call people that engage
in such thinking “haters”.
A lot of people are just not happy and so they don’t want you to be happy
either. So they do all that is within their power to ensure that you do not live happy either.
A lot of people don’t have God in their lives and they do all that they can
to make sure that you don’t have God in your life either. People know the benefit of
having God in a person’s life. People see christians in their everyday activities and they
see their light shine and they know of their inner peace and (this is what really pisses
them off), they see their prosperity. They see also how believers are loved and respected;
how they appear beyond reproach.
Some of the people who set themselves against the believer are they
themselves christians, but hypocrites who love to be revered more than they love God.
These false christians will do all in their power to keep you from having God in your
life, even at the risk of losing God from their own.
But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make
broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their
garments. And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and
chief seats in the synogogues, and greetings in the markets,
and to be called of men Rabbi, Rabbi. (Matthew 23:5-7)
A true christian knows that God is worth having and God is worth
sharing and the only way of keeping him (and his blessings) is by giving it away (sharing
his gospel).
We then who are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the
weak, and not to please ourselves. (Romans 15:1)
There is a certain verse in the book of Hosea that stuck out in my mind
which explains the social practices prevalent in modern society. It states that:
People know when their social practices are wrong because the righteous
actions of the believer reminds them of their iniquities. Then their egos are forced to
defend their pride by finding fault in the believers, and the result is the reason they wage
war against the believer. This is a poor method of therapy for their low self esteem, but it
seems to be the prevailing method. Oftentimes, fledgling christians gets offended and
rebels against the gospel just to please their peers, possibly destroying their chance at
happiness in the process.
I think about all the church burnings I ‘ve read and heard about over the
years and I can’t help but wonder what went through the minds of those church members
when that happened to them. “Why did God let that happen?” some of them must have
been thinking. “Was it because we did not please him? Did we worship improperly? Was
it because I am a sinner, we (the congregation) are sinners, or the pastor is a sinner”?
There had to be dozens of questions like that rolling through their minds
There is no justification for the act of burning a church, not even the worst
ones. Churches are full of people who are trying to get right with God. People, like all
people, with their faults and their shortcomings, regardless of their social, racial or ethical
backgrounds, whether their church was so called “good”, or “bad”.
***********************************************
*
I am reminded of the time when, as is so often the case after I had had a
few drinks with my friends, I would begin to expound the latest revelations of my bible
studies. I have always held the definitive voice in matters where the word was concerned
in the circles that I traveled in. Not that I had such great knowledge of the subject but that
my associates had such small knowledge of it, if any at all. We were after all just
drinking buddies and not members of some monastic order, although we still preferred to
walk in the light sometimes instead of the darkness of the lies and fables that was usually
the table of our discussions after we had had a few drinks.
I call this practice, “Taking a little light into the darkness with me”.
On this particular night , my nephew, who is not many years younger than
I am, chose that moment to rebuke me, and as seems to be his mission in life, began to
expose my faults to all within earshot. He had done this before, many times: sometimes
to my face, most often, behind my back. He was just one of the many who had dedicated
themselves to my destruction and/or downfall throughout the years. No real threat, so
like all the other times, I let him speak his piece while I thought on my rebuttal. But then
his indictment took a nasty turn and he caught me off guard; I was not prepared for such a
massive assault on my character.
“You should be ashamed to call yourself a good christian”. That was the
crux of his argument.
You see, my nephew, over the years, had accumulated intimate details of
my iniquities. I won’t expand on them; it’s nobody’s business but mine’s and God’s. But
I must admit that he had every right to feel the way he did about my “so called”
righteousness. I can’t say that I understood why he took so much offense over my
iniquities though. I feel that he should get some business of his own and concentrate less
on mine’s. But that’s another story.
My rebuttal?
I spoke slowly; confidently, to make sure he heard me and understood me.
“Every “good christian”, knows...that there is no such thing as a “Good”,
christian”. Then I hit him with a little bit of scripture that ended the argument.
“Jesus said”:
Yet for man’s sake, he still went to the cross and died for us, that through
him, we might have life, and it, more abundantly.
***********************************************
*
The people who committed the atrocity of those church burnings did so
with one purpose in their mind: to discourage the church’s congregation’s belief in God
and Jesus Christ, that they might have life less abundantly. How many christians were left
in despair by those acts? Many believers’ relationship with God is tedious at the most as
it is. Some of those flocks were scattered, some regrouped. All of them were denied their
place of worship, at least, for a time. It was simply another attempt by the devil to keep
people separated from God and in the bonds of sin.
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to
destroy: (John 10:10)
Question: Do we really need any help being kept separated from God and
Christ? Don’t we have enough problems in that area on our own?
I have heard many preachers preach over the years. Their basic message
tends to lean toward salvation through belief in Jesus and from there they take you to the
importance of faith and obedience unto righteousness. I won’t quote any particular
preacher here, but as a whole, they stress that the blessing of prosperity should be one of
the goals of the believer in this life, that it is indeed due him as a believer. At first I was a
bit skeptical about that line of thinking but as I got deeper and deeper into the word, I
began to see the logic of that message, although for some people, such thinking could
prove to be a hindrance to their salvation. Still, the basic message of God’s covenant of
obedience unto blessing I found most appealing. Who wouldn’t want to be blessed with
prosperity for their labors?
But I also found one area of that message most disturbing.
That doctrine states that if any should fall short of total faithfulness and
total obedience to God, then that person would not, could not and should not receive any
of the promises of blessings that the bible speaks of. I took this little bit of information
like a kick in the mouth. And further study of the bible revealed this to be the truth.
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to
all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given
him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that
wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and
tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive
anything of the Lord. (James 1:5-7)
This is the area where out of confusion people give in to their human
nature. They find it most difficult to adhere to the rigid principle of total obedience to
God, and begin to sin indiscriminately because they know that they can never live up to
such strict laws. Because they know themselves. They know their appetites. They know
their lusts and they know what areas they are at their weakest.. And they know that they
are just not strong enough to deny themselves certain sins, being of little faith and of low
self esteem.
What irritates me the most is that preachers don’t put enough emphasis on
the law of grace: that unconditional love that God extends to all of his children, and the
definition of it pertaining to the salvation we need for our happiness in the next life, and
the blessings that give birth to the happiness we seek in this life.
It was through an act of grace that God came down and dwelt in human
form to make of himself an ultimate sacrifice, for all mankind, for all time. God knew
the shortcomings of man because he himself walked the earth as a man, was tempted, as a
man, faced insurmountable odds, as a man, and as a man, overcame. His ability to do this,
as a man, was because he is God. His greatest apostles: Peter, who denied Christ thrice
(that’s three times), not having the strength adhere to God’s principles, even after
walking side by side with God in the form of Jesus Christ, and Paul, who sincerely
stated:
For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I
would not, that I do. (Romans 7:19)
both apostles, even after receiving power from God that set them apart from the rest of
mankind; neither apostle walked in perfect obedience and faith. Yet we who are lower
than worms are expected to do so in order that we may receive a blessing from God?
I think not!
God is smarter than that.
God has extended the gift of grace to anyone who chooses to receive it.
To accept his offer you must simply believe in your heart that Jesus is the
son of God, that he died on the cross and was raised from the dead, confess it with your
mouth and deny it not.
That if thou if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10:9)
Done deal. It’s that easy. And so long as you are truly sincere, God will
forgive you, wash you clean in the blood of Jesus and redeem you from your former sin.
Praise God, sing and shout hallelieuiah. You are saved.
Meaning that, even though we were forgiven and washed clean of our sins,
we are still men and subject to further sin. And while we may hate our sins and do not
wish to sin, the temptation to sin will be with us forever in this life. However, the bible
states that:
I am of the opinion that every living soul on the face of the planet that has
heard the story of Jesus Christ knows that the gospel recorded were of true events. I am
also of the opinion that there are two kinds of people that believe in God: The kind that
say they do, and the kind that say they don’t.
***********************************************
*
Salvation is not the end of God’s grace; It is the beginning. It’s like the
appetizer, not the main course. It’s the invitation; not the party. You cannot earn
salvation; You don’t have to. You can however choose to accept it , but only on God’s
terms.
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
(Romans 3:23)
Those preachers are not entirely in error. Their message of obedience unto
God’s blessings is the “God Heaven” truth. Those who can deny their selfish inclinations
and resist the temptation to sin with any kind of consistency can expect the ultimate of
God’s grace afforded to man guaranteed. God says in the books of Malachi and
Deuteronomy:
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may
be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith
the Lord of hosts,
if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you
out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to
receive it. (Malachi 3:10)
And the Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail: and
thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if
that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord
thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and
to do them. (Deuteronomy 28:13)
But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be
first. (Mark 10:31)
Now some people have a harder time committing themselves to God than
others. For instance...
I have been addicted to pornography since about the age of seven, when I
would sneak and peak at my older brother’s dirty book collection he’d had, hidden in the
basement. Now I am half afraid to look at women because I don’t want to look on them
with lust in my eyes and sin in my mind in the process. And since there are a great deal
more women than men in the United states (and the rest of the world I believe), you can
imagine the severity of my dilema. I have to be careful about what I watch on television
and guard against what I see and read at all times because its so hard for me to look at a
woman without lusting and thus offending God in the process.
But I love the beauty of a woman.
I love their hair, their eyes, their smiles, their speech, their walk, their
movements their motions; I find it most difficult to appreciate their beauty without
lusting though. But this is my effort and my goal. It may well be impossible for me, but
not with the aid of God.
I do appreciate their minds and their personalities and their determination
and their accomplishments and all of the spiritual qualities that make a woman
wonderful besides their beauty. Being single, and pursuing righteousness, I seek
diligently for the spiritual qualities in a potential mate, and I am grateful to my mother,
my sisters and my daughters, and a few of the women I denigrated in the past (I’m sorry
Lord), for being the caliber of role models that taught me how to respect the female of
our species.
BUT...
It is mostly because of the ones who are not spiritual that I grew up
perverted and must now fight a spiritual battle within myself. I despise them for that. I do
not take full responsibility for my degeneration.
And I despise them for denigrating themselves for money, for fame, for
allowing themselves to be used to further the plans of wicked men. But mostly for their
own wickedness. They unwittingly seek to thwart God’s intention that we be a holy
people, which he created for His pleasure and His alone. God and I both know that the
degeneration of some women, if not most women, is not the fault of some man.
I also despise them for being unable to be satisfied because of the
enormity of their lusts, and for devouring so many men’s souls in their frugal efforts to
appease their hunger. Wickedness is not gender biased.
But mostly I despise myself for despising them (Boy have I got issues).
The bible says that the word of God came to the prophet Hosea saying:
***********************************************
*
As young adults, my best friend and I lived parallel lifestyles. He lived
with his girlfriend; so did I. He had made a baby with his girlfriend and had another one
on the way at the time; so did I. He had a good income and though mine was illegally
earned, so did I. His popularity rating was off the chart and so was mine. We were both
raised in large families with christian roots and backgrounds by both of our parents, had
beautiful sisters and rivalries with our brothers, and were both transplanted South
Carolinians. There were so many similarities in our lives that we could have been close
kin, but we wasn’t.
We both liked the night life. We often partied together but mostly we led
separate lives where the personal was concerned. Mostly we were “get high” partners; we
smoked a lot of weed in those days and a lot of our spare time was spent indulging this,
our favorite pastime. We were both athletes and we were both musicians and we spent a
lot of time together in those endeavors also. We thought a lot alike.
He was a special friend to me because he was the only friend I had at the
time who was not jealous of me. All of the other friends I had only hung around to bring
me down, but not him. He had a program and like me, he was doing his own thing, not
looking to hurt anybody but was capable of doing such should ever the need arise. We
were both concerned with, and working on our futures.
We always had these intense theological discussions that revealed both of
our interests in that area. Give us a joint and we would discuss the inconsistencies of the
bible long into the night., sometimes til sunrise. We seldom disagreed on any biblical
issue. He was as well read in the bible as I was, and as it turned out, better. We both knew
that the hand of God was on each other.
As the years went by, we grew further and further apart. He had married
his live in girlfriend and their family continued to grow, as did his ministry. I, on the
other hand lost my woman and kids to a sober man and fell deeper and deeper into
degeneracy. I had become a derision to all that knew me.
He continued ministering to me though, whenever he caught me sober
enough to understand where he was coming from. He was never condescending; always
straightlace. Our conversations went as if he had never entered into the ministry, and I
didn’t smell like booze and cigarettes and filth. We were “Boys”. Always had been;
always would be.
Some years later I decided to return to the state of my birth, South
Carolina. I had had enough. I was saying goodbye to the city for good, looking for a
simpler life; a sober life. One that would allow me to worship God free of guilt. I thought
that I could run away from what I had become. I was wrong.
We had a long talk, my best friend and I. He had one last bit of ministering
to do on me and I listened intently, as I had come to respect him as a prophet more or
less, speaking the word of God as he was led by the spirit to do so. He spoke softly:
carefully. His demeanor was one of sorrow, not at the fact that I was leaving town but
more because he had foreseen my doom and was accepting the fact that he had failed to
save me, but it was alright because he was committing my life unto the will of God, for
better or for worse.
“The devil will follow you”, he said, and I knew then that he truly
understood my life as I had come to know it. He had seen me struggle with my addictions
for almost twenty years, but I never gave in to them and he knew this. Now I knew, that
he knew this. I knew then that he never gave up on me because I never gave up on
myself. There was still hope for me and we both knew this.
“You didn’t get messed up overnight; you’re not gonna get cleaned up
overnight neither”, he said. “It took you a long time to get you into this mess; and its
gonna take a long time to get you out of it “.
That was the last I’d seen of the best friend I ever had in my life.
***********************************************
*
God wants you to come to him “Just as you are”, confess your sins and
repent of them. His unconditional act of love is what is known as “A Given”. That means
that the gift is free, without charge, from the “giver” to the “givee”. When you accept his
offer of salvation, God knows already that you cannot change your lifestyle and bad
habits (“snap!”), just like that. Jesus asked:
He knew the answer; NO ONE. Just as he knows that you cannot change
your lifestyle and your bad habits by taking thought, “just like that”, or because you want
to no matter how bad you may want to.
But he knew also that it could be done. And he also knew how. The
gospel of Saint John states:
God’s plan for man’s redemption is very specific and covers both the
afterlife and this life. He never intended for us to spend our time suffering all the days of
our lives so that we could, if we deserved it, spend eternity in the afterlife with him. He
wants us to have a full, joy filled life and bring that joy with us when we return to him. It
is our refusal to follow his plan that keeps us in misery and it is only out of ignorance that
we continually refuse to follow him because ignorance is the stronghold that keeps us in
darkness. But God has given us the word to guide us out of the darkness of ignorance and
into the light of wisdom. If you choose to obtain knowledge of his plan through the word,
you will also choose to accept his plan of redemption because you will then be wise
enough to see the truth; and the truth is that we need not suffer then die, but instead
rejoice and live.
God knows that we can do very little apart from him because of the nature
of sin. Sin is addictive in a supernatural way. It’s cravings cannot be controlled or
dispelled by any means except through God, and like all addictions, it pertains only unto
death and hell.
Everything has a set of rules that must be followed step by step that
constitutes the order of its existence.
Either make the tree good, and his fruit good: or else make
the tree corrupt, and the fruit corrupt: for the tree is known
by his fruit. (Matthew 13:33)
The cycle for life is: The Word; Faith; Righteousness, where the word
is the seed planted in our hearts which grows by faith into righteousness, the term
defined in the bible as “The Walk in the Spirit”. (Galatians 5:25)
For they have sown the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind.
(Hosea 8:7)
The lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and
saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. (Psalms34:18)
Study of God’s word reveals to us his power and his compassion. It shows
us that he is able and that he is willing where our salvation is concerned. It lets us know
what our role is in this scheme of his and how truly simple it is for us to meet his
approval.
God created us. Do you truly believe he does not truly understand how
much our flesh truly yearns to be pleasured? And if so, do you think that he created us
just to torment us by denying us the things that pleases us? Do you truly think that God
could truly be that cruel?
He did not and he is not.
God is not perverse. He did not create us to be perverse either though. He
denies us our perversions, not our true happiness.
True happiness is not an act of perversion. True happiness is a state of
being, like love; it is spiritual.
Question: How do we “Walk in the Spirit” while living in flesh bodies?
Answer: Conscience. We all have one. Those of us who choose to follow
our consciences have the ability to resist temptation and we reserve the right to be
forgiven when we cannot/do not. Those who choose to ignore their conscience give up
their rights to God’s blessing of forgiveness. Again I quote Psalm 34:18:
The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and
saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. (Psalms 34:18)
...if we have the decency to feel bad about doing a bad thing.
God will forgive you for any sin you commit and any sin you can think up
if you take the time to ask him to forgive you and is truly repentant for your sins. I used
to think that murder was an unforgivable sin but apparently, and I guess I have to say
under extenuating circumstances, even that can be forgiven. According to the bible, God
forgave King David for the death of Uziah, the husband of Bath-Sheba, whom David had
ordered that he be sent to the frontline of the battle, in order that he might be killed so
that He, David, could legally vie for the affections of his widow and make her his own. I
personally disagree with his being forgiven for such a heinous crime, but I am not God
and I don’t know for real-for real how David’s conscience affected him after the deed
was done. He was, after all, a chosen man of God. So God forgave him and if God says
a person should be forgiven for a thing, then that’s good enough for me.
Knowing that you can be forgiven for all your sins, past, present and
future, does not give you a license to sin though. When you try to abuse God’s gift of
grace, he is quick to chastise you to remind you of his priorities.
This is my quest
to follow that star
no matter how hopeless
no matter how far
There has to be something noble to be said about that. God knows what is in our hearts
and takes into consideration what is in our hearts when weighing the balance of us. Our
efforts do count for something and God will lend a helping hand when our efforts are not
good enough.
The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the
God of Jacob defend thee: send thee help from the
sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion. (Psalms 20:1-
2)
TWO:THE WORD
Then came Peter unto him and said, Lord, how oft shall my
brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
Jesus said unto him, I say not unto thee, until seven times:
but until seventy times seven. (Matthew 13:21)
and go before me and clear a path for me if the need be, also, according to the bond of his
word.
In the beginning was the word and the word was with God
and the word was God .
If you read the very first chapter of the very first book of the bible called
Genesis, you will note that whatever words Gods spoke, came to be in existence. When
God said “Let there be light”, light was. When he said (whatever), it was so, by the
power of his spoken word. He simply spoke things into existence. John 1:3 states that:
All things were made by him; and without him was not
anything made that was made.
and it was so by his method of creation, by speaking things into existence, by his word,
because he is literally what he says he is: his word.
There are a lot of so called “intellectuals” out there that stand ready to
refute this claim however. I’ve got this ongoing debate with an aquaintance of mine,
about the bible being not just the word of God, but the “definitive”, word of God. He
argues that the bible is not the end of all knowledge about God, and that a person should
not limit themself to the limited knowledge contained therein; that the bible was most
useful when used in conjunction with other religious and philosophical ideologies. He
said that I was “closed minded”, and that I had locked myself in “The Box”, as he put it.
He was talking about the bible , or more specifically, Christianity; not the existence of it,
but the practice. He felt as though I was limiting myself intellectually to this one field and
thus limiting my knowledge by it, and that by limiting my knowledge I was therefore
limiting my growth.
To this I wholeheartedly agreed. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I feel that man cannot comprehend, nor could he handle it even if he could
comprehend all of the knowledge that the bible contains, so what would be the point of
burdening one’s self with other extraneous ideologies that they cannot comprehend,
instead of first thoroughly understanding the only true knowledge that really matters
anyway. It has taken me literally all of my life to come to this point of understanding of
the bible, and I still consider my knowledge miniscule compared to what I know I need to
know about the bible. Those other ideologies , they can only divert my learning from the
bible and undermine my faith, although they may claim to be able to increase my
spirituality through understanding of their metaphysical philosophies. King Soloman
sought wisdom outside of “The Box”, and the only thing it increased in him was his
confusion: Oh Yeah! And his iniquity. Those “other gods” he sought after really did a
number on him, didn’t they? If ever there was a prime example of what happens to a
person when they step outside “The Box”, the story of Soloman is it. You will have to
read this story to fully understand where I am going with this. It unfolds in chapters 3-11
of the first book of Kings, taking special heed to chapters 3,9 and11.
His was a tradgedy that should have been avoided, and would have if he
had used his wisdom wisely and remained inside “The Box”, as God commanded him (I
Kings 3:14). As great a King as Soloman was, curiosity really got the best of that cat.
He should have remained inside “The Box”, where his safety was. He
should have stayed inside “The Box”, where his treasure was. But his reward instead was
madness at death’s door and the eventual split of the kingdom for his iniquity’s sake (I
Kings 11:1-40), for the only thing that dwells out side of “The Box”, is madness and hell
and death (Read Psalms 91), and if God had not been so merciful , that would have been
King Soloman’s latter end. Why leave “The Box”, when all that you’ve prayed so many
years for, all that you’ve worked so hard for so long for, all that you wanted, all that you
truly needed will remain yours as long as you stay inside “The Box”? Why be a fool and
leave “The Box”? For what? For power? For what? For greener pastures? For what? For
cheaper thrills? Please tell me what is so good outside of “The Box”, to make a person
want to leave or forsake “The Box”?
******************************************************
On July 16th, 1945, the day of the first test of the Atomic Bomb, President
Harry Truman wrote in his diary, “I fear that the machine is ahead of morals by some
centuries”. He was afraid that the weapons the technological race for superiority that
America was creating to use against the escalating evil of the Third Reich would itself be
used by evil, immoral people, governments or causes someday.
Today’s technological advancements practically ensures mankind’s future
position of a near godlike existence, if we survive our own propensity for destruction. We
all know that that is a very big “If”.
The only thing that could possibly ensure the proper use of mankind’s
advances in technology is morality, and the only way man can adhere to proper moral
behavior is through practice and adherence to moral precedents set by our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. No other religion, or philosophy, or faith, or ideology can cover
it.
Man’s propensity for destruction has invaded and perverted every good
thing God has allowed to be made available for the advancement and benefit of mankind
and deviated it in it’s use towards the destruction of mankind. Medicinal drugs created
for healings is used to get high on. Nuclear energy has been perverted to make “the
bomb”. The internet, which was created to make information available to all people all
over the world has been perverted and used instead to rob people, to spread hate
propaganda and to spread the degenerative power of pornography. These are but a few
examples of the corruptive uses of technology. And as always our children and the weak
are the easiest and usually the first victims.
The bible not only teaches and guides us unto the proper moral behavior
needed to keep us in the faith that leads to the Kingdom of God here on earth and in the
next life, but it also teaches us the only defense against the destructive ability of evil
perversions whenever and wherever we encounter them, whether we encounter them by
design, by choice, by ignorance or by chance. And you will encounter them because
the evil perversions are everywhere you go. The only way you can avoid coming in
contact with them is if you never go anywhere and even then sometimes if you will not
go to it, then it will come to you.
Some preachers preach that, since “The Word is God” (John 1:1), and
since the bible is the word of God, then the bible is God, or a manifestation of God, at
least to those of us who believe. At any rate, God will be with you where ever you go, if
you take the word of God with you, whether you take him with you in your heart, in
your mind, in your pocket or your briefcase. God will be with you so long as you are with
him.
The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he
that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What
is the chaff to the wheat saith the Lord. Is not my word like
a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the
rock in pieces? (Jeremiah 23:28-29)
And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures,
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through
faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness;
that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished
unto all good works. (II Timothy 3:15)
For the word of God is quick, and sharper than any two
edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul
and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)
The bible tells us that God put his plan for the redemption of mankind in
motion way back at the onset of sin, immediately after the fall of Adam and Eve.
Between the lines of that story, we see that God had put forgiveness into effect at the
same time. The grace of God abounded, even then.
God had told them that they would “surely die” if they ate the forbidden
fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. And after they had eaten of the fruit,
immediately they knew that they had done a bad thing, for such was the power of the
tree. But they had already been tricked by the devil into believing that, although what
they were doing was against God’s commandment, they would not “surely die”, as God
had said they would. His first con job; and they fell for it , hook line and sinker.
So God cursed the devil and put him under subjection to man by the same
method the devil used to put man under subjection to him: by cunning.
And I will put emnity between thee and the woman, and
between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head and
thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15)
The analogy here is one where the bruising of the serpent’s head
symbolizes the act of putting the devil under one’s feet, thereby keeping him under
subjection, and where the bruising of one’s heel symbolizes the pain and suffering
added to the steps and/or the paths of those whom the devil is able to place under
subjection to him.
In the Ghetto we use a similar analogy when speaking on our method of
keeping our “wayward women” in check. We call it “Keeping our foot on her throat”,
(we don’t really put our foot on her throat, we just like to say that).
But that’s another story.
At any rate, a little wisdom is all that is needed to keep the devil “under
your feet”.
Still, the damage had been done: sin had entered into the world and with
sin came death.
God knew way back when that man’s flesh would be in a continual
struggle with his spirit for supremacy and that empowered by sin, the flesh seemed to be
winning the battle.
To further his plan for the redemption of mankind, God introduced the the
Covenant of Grace by Faith, at the first to Noah, when he called upon Noah to build the
Ark after he had purposed to destroy all life on the face of the earth for all it’s wickedness
(Read Genesis 6:9-9:29).
God reiterated his promise to Abraham’s son Isaac and to Isaac’s son
Jacob, whom he renamed Israel, then brought the children of Israel into the land of Egypt
to multiply, to become mighty, to be humbled and to be delivered from bondage into the
land he had promised to Abraham: a land flowing with milk and honey.
This is an excerpt of the covenant of God which was made with Israel in
the wilderness after Moses brought them out of Egypt on their journey to the promised
land. The terms of the covenant were clearly stated. God said that “If you keep my
commandments”, “I will do this” and “I will do that”, and unless all of Israel was
severely retarded, it should have been clearly understood that “If you keep my
commandments “, was integral in keeping with the terms of the agreement.
The commandments God was speaking of is what we have come to know
as “The Ten Commandments”, and “The Covenant of the Law”.
We know from the bible that Israel did not keep God’s commandments, so
that instead of the blessings of God, they fell under the curse.
But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the
voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his
commandments andhis statutes which I command thee this
day that all these curses shall come upon thee, and
overtake thee: cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed
shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and
thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and thefruit
of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of
thysheep. Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and
cursed shaltthou be when thou goest out. The Lord shall
send upon thee cursing, vexation and rebuke, in all that
thy settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be
destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the
wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou
hast forsaken me. (Deuteronomy 28:15-20)
Nevertheless, God had compassion on them still (grace) and gave them,
and their children numerous opportunities to repent and re-enter into the covenant of
the promise. But they refused and in his compassion God still would have mercy on them
for from time to time, some repented, but the majority’s heart was set to do evil in spite
of the prophets God sent to warn them and to guide them along the way.
I say then, hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For
I am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of
Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he
foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias?
how he maketh intercession to God against Israel saying,
Lord they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine
alters; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what
saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved myself
seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the
image of Baal. Even so then at this present time also there
is a remnant according to the election of grace.
(Romans11:1-5)
Until the Covenant of the Law came, the rules concerning morality were
governed by whomever was in charge at the time. God gave man the ten commandments
to let people know what was to be considered acceptable behavior and what was not,
and he sent his prophets to relay this message to a then, mostly illiterate population.
Ironically, very little changed and at times, the people of Israel’s behavior
even worsened. The bible says that the people “hardened their hearts”, and refused to
serve God. And to further enrage him they went after “other gods”, with rules that
required, and even demanded, provisions for their appetites for perversions of the flesh.
And as expected, their activities brought them unimaginable pain and
suffering; and death. There was so much death: of God’s chosen people. God rebuked his
own judgment and tried to save them many times and still, they hardened their hearts.
So as God originally planned at the fall of Adam and Eve, the covenant of
grace he introduced for the redemption of all the children of the earth, in time, was put
into full effect, with provisions that would not only restore his chosen people to their
former glory, but would henceforth include the righteous by faith among all the
inhabitants of the earth.
I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? God
forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto
the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the
fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing
of them the riches of theGentiles, how much more their
fullness. For I speak to you Gentiles inasmuch as I am an
apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: if by any
means I may provoke to emulation them
which are my flesh, and might save some of them.
(Romans 11:11-14)
It was a brilliant plan and in order that it might be carried out properly, he
would pull it off himself.
And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us ( and
we beheld his glory, the glory as the only begotten of the
Father), full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
Jesus came, taught and testified, was crucified and on the third day was raised from the
dead back to life.
The GRACE COVENANT was then made available to all the inhabitants
of the earth whereby we are able to enter into the blessings of the of the old covenant of
the Law, through the promise of this new covenant of grace.
That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are
not the children of God: but the children of the promise are
counted for the seed.(Romans 9:8)
And also whereby we are freed from the curse of the LAW COVENANT through the
promise of the grace covenant, through faith.
God’s plan for the redemption of mankind promises a full and happy life
that is to be carried into the next life. It sets provisions for living within society
without taking on it’s ills and eliminates the ones already accumulated. It promises
victory over one’s self, one’s enemies, the world and The Enemy. It promises
prosperity in abundance of both the spiritual and the material, if we seek the spiritual
first. All we need to do is choose to receive it and put it in our heads and in our hearts.
God has extended this offer to every man, woman and child on the face of
the planet, no matter how good or bad a person may be or think they may be. He asks in
Ezekial 18:23, “Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked shall die”?
Bring him your abused life. Bring him your molested life. Bring him your
oppressed life. Bring him your alcoholism and your drug problems. Bring God your
mental problems and your emotional problems. Bring your sex life with all of it’s
problems. Bring God your temper and your neglects and your crimes. Bring him your
injuries and your infirmities and your painful memories and your lack of memory, your
lack of knowledge, your lack of friendship and your lack of love and caring. If you have a
problem that I missed, then bring that with you to God too. The title of a favorite
christian hymn is “Just as I am”. God wants you to come to him just as you are.
Do not wait until you “get yourself together”. It may be that without God,
you never will. God can use you “just as you are”. God can heal you no matter how
burned out or broken down you are. God has a purpose for you. He will make you able to
perform it. You let people and wickedness use you; let God use you. No you are not
worthy. None of us are. God don’t care who you are or where you’ve been or what
you’ve done that was so terrible. God will forgive you. He’ll give you a new heart and a
new mind and he will lift you up and set you on high no matter how low you have been.
God will take your dead, disgusting, filthy life and wash you clean in the blood of Jesus
and give you a new life.
It may be that he will have to relocate you; get you up out of that place
where nothing grows and nothing good has come out of, but God will place you where he
wants you to be: where he thinks that you can do the most good and where he knows that
you will be safe: where those things that hurt you so bad before can’t get to you anymore,
and where you can have peace and create peace and focus your mind on the things of
God and not have to worry about the things of the world so much anymore. There is No
Thing that God cannot accomplish and picking up your useless, lifeless, sinfilled body
and making you whole again ain’t nothing but a snap of a finger to him: a wink of an eye,
a gesture, a touch or just a spoken word for him. God has a purpose for you and you will
fulfill it whether you want to or not , so you might as well want to, with enthusiasm and
go on and volunteer your services to him and get down on your knees and thank him for
another opportunity to get right with him when you thought that you had used up all of
your opportunities, but God gave you one more. You ought to thank him anyway. You
ought to give God the glory he deserves and remember all the times he blessed you and
saved you in the past. Remember and thank God for what he has already done and thank
him and praise him for what he is about to do for you.
FOUR:CHANGE
The decisions we make are the seed we sow in the direction in which we
want our lives to take us. If we seek healing, we have to decide to be healed and take
steps to follow up in that direction. If we seek prosperity, we have to decide to do so and
follow up in that direction. the same rule applies if you want to save your marriage, or
want to be delivered from an addiction, or want your children to behave (etcetera). And
as long as what you want is in line with the will of God, you will have success. You will
know if what you want is in line with the will of God by searching the scriptures and
finding a situation that is parallel with the one you are dealing with, and adhering to the
godly principal set forth in that precedence. The bible states that::
The thing that hath been, it is the thing which shall be; and
that thing which is done is that which shall be done: and
there is no new thing under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9)
I doubt that you could come up with a situation that will not be covered by
one verse or another in the scriptures.
If you do this, you will have done your part. But it don’t stop there.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your
own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and
he shall direct thy paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
There is a verse in a sermon I’ve heard repeated many times over the
years. It says that “If you take one step, then God will take two more for you”. That’s
self explanatory.
***********************************************
*
Art was a natural, God given talent to me. Everybody in my family had
some artistic ability but it peaked in me. I liked doing portraits so I spent a lot of time
honing my skill drawing people out of newspapers and magazines. My favorite medium
was cartooning however. I liked drawing caricatures of people. I won several awards in
school but never any cash prizes, and later on in life I sold a few paintings. My work was
good from a layman’s perspective, but even I must admit it was often sloppy and
unprofessional. Still, basically poor, my parents looked upon me as the one who would
deliver the family from poverty with this my “God given talent”. To make a long story
short, they were terribly disappointed when I proved myself reprobate and began showing
signs of degeneration. As the years went by, I would forever be reminded of how I
“wasted my talent”.
I still like to draw. Art is in my soul so the skill is like the old “riding a
bike” analogy: once you learn, you never forget. I did not “waste” my talent, I just didn’t
get rich using it. And since success seems to be measured by the amount of money a
person makes, I understand why my family looks upon me as a failure. For a long time, I
felt the same way. Today however, I realize that I haven’t failed, I just haven’t succeeded
yet, not by the standard that success is measured by in society. But every time I do some
artwork that I like, I see progress in certain areas that up to this point, had eluded me.
And I am pleased with my progress. So I feel successful in a way that they fail to see or
cannot see because my success is not preceded by a dollar sign. I however, cannot for the
life of me, bring myself to determine my self worth by the amount of money I make, or
the lack thereof. I make money; money don’t make me.
This subject came up in a conversation with the boss one day on this other
job that I had liked but ended up losing anyway.
I had been hired as a bricklayer, but being new to the field, I was found
“wanting” in the skills department, so I was downgraded to “Apprentice” at half the
hourly wage. I needed the income and the work experience so I accepted what was
offered with the promise of a full commission upon a near future re-determination. He
(the boss) would teach me what I needed to know to meet his criteria, and I would show
progress in the areas where my skills were lacking. This was all part of the same
agreement.
After about a month on the job, I brought up the subject of money while
we were finishing up a project where I felt that the skills that my boss was looking for in
me, showed up. I was feeling pretty much pleased with myself. It was the end of another
work day and payday was tomorrow. I had really done a fine job. I felt like a bona-fied
Mason. The boss however was not impressed. I can’t recall his exact words but they
came out of his mouth to this effect:
“You don’t want to learn; you just want the money”. I just looked at him.
Everybody called him “Rev”. That was because he was a baptist minister
and the president or chairperson or something of the area’s Black Baptist Association,
which included a number of the area’s larger black churches. He was a great teacher and
a great preacher (in my eyes). He was like my own personal Martin Luther King. He
didn’t look like him, but I guess it was his manner of speaking and his subjects of
conversation that made him remind me of Martin. Thereby he commanded a great deal of
respect from me. Not to mention that he also signed my paychecks.
Anyway, he went on “pontificating” about the value of the skills he was
teaching me, versus the lust for money, versus the prestige of being certified a true
Mason. He dragged me for wanting to be like my friend who had helped me get the job
and had also taught me most of the skills I possessed in that field, and was also making
the kind of money I only dreamed of making at the time. And who also had the skills to
back up the kind of money he demanded when he took a job, whereas I, on the other
hand, did not. He read me from the book. He did not lie, fabricate nor embellish his
evaluation of me. Everything he said of me was true; except one thing:
“Its like Art to me”, I said in my own defense. I began to expound the
nuances of Art as I knew it: the attention to detail, the eye for beauty, the size and shapes
of objects, perspectives and such.
He cut me off. Both his manner and tone was condescending.
“You not listening”, he said. “You don’t want to learn. You got to learn
the lessons that give you the skills before you start to worry about making money all the
time”.
“It’s like Art”, I said. I was agreeing with him.
He cut me off again: and again, the attitude.
“You not listening”, he was saying again when this time, I cut him off. My
brain was screaming a me “Rufus; HUSH!”, but herein was my inability to let a person
think of me whatever they wished.
“YOU NOT LISTENING”, I said to him in a tone that made him do a
double take. I willed my lips to “cease and desist” but they just kept on flapping.
“I love Art”, I said. “I love the details, and the attention, and the beauty of
it”, I went on. ”I can draw your picture right now: take me about five minutes and it’ll
look just like you. That’s how good I am. And bricklaying is just like art to me”, I
ended.
I can understand why Rev wanted to see my artwork before rendering his
decision of me. He was a meticulous person; almost perfect in everything I had ever seen
him do. He was a master of his trade. He wasn’t a work-aholic but he put his all into
every project: and his care. His work was neat and accurate.
And as usual he was right: it did feel good. I only wish he had been there
to see me when it finally hit me. Right now I can only thank God that Rev came into my
life however brief the time was. Maybe someday I’ll look him up and tell about the
impact he had on my life both spiritually and financially.
***********************************************
*
For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand saying unto
thee, fear not; I will help thee. (Isaiah 41:13)
There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the
days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee:
I will not leave thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of
good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an
inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to
give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that
thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which
Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the
right hand, or to the left, that thou mayest prosper
whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not
depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein
day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to
all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way
prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have
not I commanded the? Be strong and of a good courage; be
not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God
is with thee withersoever thou goest. (Joshua 1:5-9)
PART
TWO:
EMPOWERMEN
T
CHILDREN OF THE LIVING GOD
In the creation
we were linked to God
sin broke our union
then we were not
the blood of Jesus
reunited us
once again we are the
children
of the living God
Through tribulation
famine and sword
we are more than conquerors
in one accord
not no thing present
or things to come
can separate the love of his
children
from the living God
because we
are the
children of
the living
God
because we
are the
children of
the living
God
ONE:BORN AGAIN
We then are able to forgive ourselves and begin to feel better about
ourselves when we seek to do good works, without the shame of reproach.
Question: How do you know when you have been born again?
Preachers like to confusticate their congregations with this question.
Oftentimes they will draw upon one scripture or another to prove that you indeed are not
saved unless you’ve met this stipulation or that one as a requirement to being saved and
being reborn.
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed
remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of
God.
(I John 3:19)
We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he
that is born of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one
toucheth him not. (I John 5:18)
This to me seems to set obstacles in the course of the growth of ones faith because it
seems as if you can never reach this plateau. But the Apostle Peter says in our defense:
For the truly motivated may “gird themselves” for such tasks and attack any obstacle to
their salvation with determined zeal, but what about people like me: the weak, the
undisciplined, the lost, the blind, the corrupted since youth, the ignorant, the broken , the
crippled (etcetera)? We love our Jesus too. Is there no hope for us also?
We seek: we “Need”, lighter loads to bear. We have trouble keeping our
iniquity to its greater minimum. Eliminating them is truly impossible for us. What then?
Can we not be saved also? Is there no help for us? Are we therefore doomed?
We believe that Jesus was the only begotten Son of God; that he died to
save us from our sins and that God raised him from the dead. And we confess it with our
mouths also. We pray as per the instructions of the bible. Is there no hope for us?
TWO:REPENTANCE
Repentance is the way we shed our old body. By confessing our sins we
acknowledge our guilt and reveal our desire to be free from sin. God searches our hearts
and he knows if we are truly repentant. He knows if you really plan to come correct or if
you are merely repeating what the preacher tells you to repeat after him, or are rehearsed.
You cannot fool God so then, if you are not truly penitent, you are only fooling
yourself; and maybe the preacher, and maybe the church members in attendance. But
definitely not God.
The confession, commonly called “The Prayer of Salvation”, does not
necessarily have to be a ”parroting” of what the preacher speaks. Some of us (I would say
“most” of us, if not “all”, of us), have sins that should be individually addressed when we
confess. The “parroting” prayer does not generalize. It should be used as a model prayer
for your real confession, which can be done in the comfort of your own home should that
be your choice.
I’m not saying that the parroting prayer is ineffectual by any means. I have
seen innumerous people saved in that fashion, and for many preachers it allows them to
lead people to their salvation “en masse”. And many churches have acolytes (helpers
often referred to as “Prayer Warriors”), mixing amongst the newly converted praying
and laying hands on them to ensure a successful transition.
I however needed a more personal, one on one type of encounter that
would enable me to vent my full emotions on the subjects of discussion and expand on
the severity of my iniquity without exposing the specifics of my decadence to the public
at large (It’s nobody’s business but God’s and mine).
I had tried the parroting method. I repeated the words to the prayer of
salvation spoken by the preacher, knelt at the steps of the pulpit, cried real tears and
was prayed over by acolytes. I know this method works because the bible says it is so.
And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Ghost
came on them; and they spake with tongues and
prophesied. (Acts 19:6)
I know now that I was not truly penitent at the time. I am fortunate that
God gives us many opportunities to repent and be saved, as evidenced in the second
and third chapters of the book of Revelations:
I know thy works and charity, and service, and faith, and
thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than
the first. Not withstanding I have a few things against thee,
because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel which calleth
herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce my servants to
commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she
repented not. (Revelations 2:19-21)
Whatever method works for you, the key to rebirth ultimately lies in
repentance, for repentance not only proves the believer penitent enough for remission
(forgiveness), it also expresses one other requirement for rebirth: the desire to please
God.
After Jesus was baptized, he received the Holy Ghost. Until then there
had been no miracles recorded by him because he had not yet been empowered to do
such.
His basic doctrine however was for man to believe in him being the son of God,
repentance, and baptism unto salvation.
And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and
putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul (Paul), the
Lord, even Jesus,that appeared unto thee in the way as
thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mayest receive thy
sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately
there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he
received his sight forthwith, and arose and was baptized.
(Acts 9:17-18)
Baptism is more symbolic than functional these days however. It is
extremely indicative of the Christian faith and is therefore extremely significant to the
growth of the Christian, spiritually.
Baptism proves to the new believer that he or she has been saved, symbolically of course
however, but definitively. The believer will not feel secure in their faith until after the
rites of baptism has been performed. During the days leading up to their baptism, the
believer is filled with anticipation. Afterwards they are filled with calm. This is the
beginning of their faith. It is a gift from God; the “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine”,
feeling.
Even though the believer is “Born Again” when they prayed the prayer of salvation and
confessed their sins and repented of them, they look to the baptism to be like some sort of
magic spell that actually performs the deed and writes their salvation in stone. But the
bible says that:
At this point, I must ask you to assume, with me, that God’s word, the
bible is true, and that when Jesus said:
not only was he telling the truth, but he was also revealing the secret to a supernatural
power that has been made available to man through faith in God.
Then I want you to admit with me that our faith just ain’t that strong; not
yet.
The bible says that there are five ways to make your faith grow:
1] Hearing (the word of God):
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth
to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be
given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering(...).
(James 1:5-6)
The main hindrance to the growth of one’s faith is one’s self. Having faith
means trusting God. We tend to lean on our own understanding of a subject or a
situation and deal with it accordingly instead of trusting God to handle it or trusting
God’s word to contain a better solution.
It is not an easy thing to fully lean on God at the beginning of one’s faith,
but it becomes easier and easier with each conscious effort.
To walk by faith means to look for God’s will in every situation and
association, but being human, we err at times. We have to be careful that our egos
doesn’t mix into our faith. Having faith is having great confidence. That confidence
should be in God and not ourselves because if we give ourselves half the chance, we
will fail ourselves when we need help the most. But God will never fail us. This is the
confidence we need to have in God and God alone.
Our faith in God gives us great courage also. It is courage built on our
confidence in God. We don’t look for trouble but trouble comes, and when it does, we
know that God is there looking out for our best interests, be it physical, mental,
emotional, financial and most importantly, spiritual. We got a “bring it on” type
attitude, but what we are really saying is “Thy will be done Lord”.
A good example of this is the woman with the twelve year issue of blood:
Through faith, she received her miracle without having to bother the Master, who at
the time was on his way somewhere to help somebody else. He was busy, and yet, she did
not have to wait to be comforted not one moment longer. Baby knew where her healing
was and she was like, “I ain’t waitin’ no mo’”.
And Jesus said to her:
Faith is needed to remain “in the faith” when we fall short of God’s
glory. We tend to come down hard on ourselves when we sin because we feel that being
“of the faith”, we should be above such behavior.
Except for Jesus Christ, I don’t know anybody that has attained
perfection, but I know that it is our duties as Christians to strive to achieve such. I know
that we can get real close to it, and though I haven’t done it yet I am trying real hard.
Every day is another opportunity to increase my faith and get closer and closer to the
perfection that God made us to be of.
***********************************************
*
People have two natures. The one is our “Human Nature”; our fleshly
nature. It is instinctive and sensuous and prone to the lusts of the flesh that leads to sin.
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these;
Adultery, fornication, uncleaness, lasciviousness, idolatry,
witchcraft hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife,
seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkeness,
revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I
have also told you in time past, that they which do such
things shall not inherit the kingdom of
God. (Galatians5:19-21)
But when we became believers, we came face to face with our second nature: our
“Divine Nature”; our spiritual nature; in and of the Spirit of God. Our Divine Nature
keeps us in the faith that leads to righteousness.
The bible gives specific instructions concerning the treatment of our dual nature. It says:
This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill
the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are
contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the
things that ye would. (Galatians 5:16-17)
***********************************************
*
There was once a man who had two dogs: a black dog, and a white dog.
these dogs were his livelihood, for, everyday he would cause the dogs to fight and make
bets with the townsfolk as which dog would win. And like the suckers that they were,
everybody would gather round to place their bets.
If the black dog had won the fight the previous day, everybody would bet
on him thinking that, since he had won the fight the day before, he was the stronger of the
two. But the white dog would win instead and everybody who had placed bets on the
black dog would lose their money. What everybody thought was a sure thing turned out
to be a not so sure thing after all.
If the white dog had won the fight the previous day, the next day
everybody would place their bets on him thinking that, since he had won the fight the day
before that he was the stronger of the two, but the black dog would win instead and
everybody would lose their money again. And again their sure thing proved to be a big let
down.
The man would go from town to town with his dogs and always he would
take in more than he would pay out because, unknown to the townsfolk, he had a
gimmick that would ensure his winnings every time. Such was the crooked nature of
people who prey on suckers to make their loot.
Everyday, he would feed one dog and deprive the other of nutrition so that
the dog which had eaten that day would be the stronger of the two, and the dog which had
not eaten would be the weaker of the two from the lack of nutrition. And naturally, the
weaker dog would lose the fight.
***********************************************
*
The battle between our two natures can be won in pretty much the
same way, for by feeding our faith on the word of God, we strengthen our Divine
Nature (faith comes by hearing, faith comes by reading, faith comes by speaking, faith
comes by praying and faith comes by meditating on the word of God).
And, our Human Nature can then be subordinated or dominated by
our Divine Nature simply by abstaining from or merely cutting down on foods for
the flesh such as music with sinful lyrics, movies and television shows with sinful
themes, Pornography, X-Rated novels and other sinful reading materials, keeping sinful
associations such as having an affair if you are married or having an affair with a married
person, or going to sinful social functions such as discos and nightclubs and strip clubs
and speaking sinful language, plotting sinful deeds, and wishing for sinful things.
Nobody’s asking anybody to drop off the planet, but I think Benjamin
Franklin said it best when he said “All things in moderation”, and that was almost 300
years ago. It is now time for us to start paying attention to such words of wisdom.
FIVE:OBEDIENCE
If faith is the evidence of things not seen, then obedience is the evidence
of faith. By obeying God we show him that we trust him and his word to perform all that
he and his word says he will do. It is also another way we let him know that we are
interested in pleasing him.
God wants us as his children, to obey him assured with the knowledge that
what he tells us to do is for our own benefit, not “Because I said so”, which is what you
would tell your children when asked, “Why?”, but he wishes that you would be wise
enough to answer for yourself, “Because HE said so”, whenever the question “why”,
arises.
God teaches us through his word what his will for us is. By obeying his
word we let God know that we agree that he is worthy of our servitude.
Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they
may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way he
shall serve me. (Psalms 101:6)
Through trial and error we learn to stand in the will of the Lord.
Obeying God simply means walking in the will of God, living by the
word of God, and trusting in the power of God by faith.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and
cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom there
is no variableness, niether shadow of turning. (James 1:17)
And God hath set some in the church, first Apostles secondarily
prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings,
helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
(I Corinthians 12:28)
Obviously the gifts of the Spirit are about more than just the miracles and
the magic spells that opponents of the literal interpretation of these scriptures use to
validate their arguments. And while these “gifts” are to be desired, actual miracles are
occurring ”Farther and fewer between”, these days. Having and maintaining decent
moral ethics is all the miracle I ask of God.
God does not expect you to be able to master your flesh all by yourself.
No matter how bad you may want to please him, there will be areas of your life that will
continue to attempt to thwart your efforts at righteousness. That is why he sends the Holy
Ghost to dwell in you, to guide you into righteousness, to empower you, to strengthen
you and to comfort you when your strength and efforts fail.
With the power of the Holy Ghost aiding you, you will notice that your
efforts to obey God will have increased and resisting most temptations will take no effort
at all. One by one, with the help of God through the Holy Spirit you will eliminate the
sins that you were apt to commit and they will no longer appeal to you the way they did
before the Holy Ghost came upon you.
Righteousness becomes more important to you. Obedience becomes more
important to you. Increasing your faith through the five steps mentioned in the chapter on
faith will become the most important issue in your life, for by faith, you will learn to
employ and put to use the gift(s) appointed to you by the Holy Spirit. Studying God’s
word will become a pleasurable activity for you because the knowledge it contains will
be like food to your hungry soul.
Jesus spoke these words not long after his own empowerment. As stated
earlier, before his baptism, he had not yet performed any miracles because he had not yet
been empowered to do so. Study of the bible revels that such was necessary in order that
the prophecies of the scriptures could be fulfilled, and as an example for men to
follow.
And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots: and the spirit of
the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and
understanding, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the
Lord. (Isaiah 11:1-2)
Of course being God, Jesus could have birthed himself with the power of the Holy
Ghost, but as stated earlier, he did these things to set an example for men to follow. Jesus
did not come to earth as the Son of God only, but he also came representing as “the Son
of man”, so that the sons of men, following in his footsteps, could also become the
Sons of God, as he is and in pretty much the same manner.
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were
all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came
a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it
filled all the house where they were sitting. And there
appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it
sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the
Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the
spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1-4)
Among other gifts they received the power to pass on the gifts of the Spirit to others by
praying and laying hands on them.
The apostle Paul was one of those empowered by this method (See the chapter of
“Baptism” and Acts 9:17-18). He in turn empowered others by the same method.
And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy
Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues and
prophesied.
(Acts 19:6)
While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on
all them which heard the word. And they of the
circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as
came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was
poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost, for they heard them
speak with tongues, and magnify God. (Acts 10:44-46)
The example here is one of pure faith, because as soon as the Gentiles of Caesarea heard
the gospel, they believed to the heart and was filled with faith enough that God sent the
Holy Spirit to dwell in them by their faith alone (Mountain, be thou removed).
Including in the case of Christ himself, in all the examples of the
Anointing recorded in the book of Acts, faith was the key element preceding
empowerment, especially in the cases where the laying on of hands were employed.
While the Holy Ghost is at work changing things inside of you, it is also
busy changing things on the outside of you as well. People will begin to see you
differently. Your circumstances will change. Your finances, your social status; all will
change. Your affiliations will change as well as your social activities. Don’t worry; some
things must needs change in order for the Holy Ghost to be able to dwell inside of you.
At first glance things may appear to have changed for the worst. You
may lose some of your friends. You may lose your job. You may lose your mate. You
may lose weight or you might gain some. Some of the things that made you happy before
the change, you may lose the taste for; like your style of dress, your choice of foods and
beverages, your choice of music and your choice of entertainment.
It may be that some things will remain the same. In any case, it is the
Holy Ghost’s job to chisel away all of the rough edges of your life, polish you up and
present you to the world as a sparkling fresh child of God, ready to represent our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ, as an ambassador of the most high God.
___________________SEVEN:BLESSINGS
(...)But the Lord thy God turned the curse into a blessing
unto thee, because the Lord thy God loved thee.
(Deuteronomy 23:5)
The Lord thy God bless thee and keep thee: The Lord
make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee
peace. (Numbers 6:24-26)
We all have desires; things we want which we think will make us happy.
Oftentimes we pray to God for these things and sometimes he grants our wishes. Most of
the time when we pray, we pray for something that we feel that we truly need. We pray
for a healing for ourselves and for our loved ones. We pray for prosperity. We pray for
deliverance from addictions to alcohol and drugs and cigarettes, pornography, sexual
deviations obesity and other eating habits. We pray for God to send us a mate. We pray
for him to straighten out the ones we already have. We pray for people in prisons, for our
friends and family abroad. We pray for our children, our parents, for our other family
members, for the oppressed, the handicapped, the young, the elderly, the starving nations,
the warring nations, for victims of crime and for victims of natural disasters. We pray for
all sorts of reasons.
More often than not, we feel as if our prayers have fallen on deaf ears, or
if God does hear us, his answer must have been a resounding “Hell Naw!”, no matter how
badly we may want what we prayed for, or how badly we feel we need this thing or that
request to come about. And then when he does grant our petition, sometimes we feel like
“well, he sure took his time”.
Seldom, if ever, we feel that God answers our prayers to our favor,
immediately, or when we want him to. We feel like, he must feel that, unless it were a
matter of life and death, then “Why you keep callin’ me”? And even then, more often
than not, we feel like he still responded with a resounding “Hell Naw”!
We feel like that; we think like that, but that’s not the way it really is. That
truth is in understanding certain principles associated with the way God works where
prayer requests are concerned.
Fact one:
God is not interested in empowering you for your personal edification.
He’s not going to prosper you so you can buy a car that “chicks” would “dig”. He won’t
heal you so you can go to clubs and “Part Hearty til’ the break of dawn”. He won’t grant
you wisdom so you can lie, cheat and con people better. He won’t strengthen you so that
you can beat people up that get in your way or that you don’t like. God is not interested in
pumping up your ego.
You can see where I’m going to with that.
Fact two:
You must be certain that what you ask of God is in line with the word of
God and is within his will for your life. God will empower you to do good works in his
name. He will prosper you to buy a car to enable you to get to and from places where you
can do good works in his name. He will grant you greater wisdom to better understand
his word and spread his word to more and more diverse people. He will heal you and
keep you in good health to perform his work and he will strengthen you to overcome any
obstacle that might prevent you from doing his work.
Fact three:
Your steps have already been ordered by God from the beginning of time.
You have already been empowered to do those things God has purposed for you to
perform. The amount of your prosperity, your health, your knowledge, your wisdom,
your talent, your capabilities; they have already been appointed to you by God.
The believer should know in his heart that he has already been blessed by
God. He should also acknowledge the source of his blessings and continually express his
gratitude for such. Its okay to ask God to prosper you for reasons other than to do his
work so long as your purpose for said prosperity is not ungodly. For instance: maybe
you’d like a car with anti-lock brakes, a twenty CD changer, with a sun-roof top, bucket
leather seats and an “On-Star” system. Cool.
Anti-lock brakes are superb in inclimate weather conditions. Maybe you
need a twenty CD changer so you won’t have to fiddle around with CD’s when your
attention should be on the road. Maybe you like to feel the combination of wind and sun
on you when you’re out for your Sunday drive, so yeah; you need a sun-roof top on your
vehicle for that. Bucket leather seats are quite comfortable and the On-Star system speaks
for itself.
God does want you to live a prosperous lifestyle, but not at the risk of
your salvation and your righteousness.
But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare,
and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men
in destruction and perdition. 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.(I Timothy 6:9-10)
And with that knowledge to consider, the bible also states that:
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*
Sidebar:
This is the outline of my next book. It is an autobiography
and it is the truth as I remember it. I am not sure if I will ever write it
though. I’m not sure I want to be known of that well. Still it would make
for some interesting reading and would give people something to compare
their lives to (So you think you’ve had it bad, huh?”). I merely wanted to
give anyone reading this book some small idea about how far I’ve come
without exposing the sordid details of my iniquity, which, by the way, by
the tender mercies of God, I have been cleansed of and blessed, in spite of.
We who are blessed and filled with the Holy Ghost are also filled with
an overwhelming desire to help others. We are filled with the need to spread love, peace
and joy whenever and wherever we see or feel that we can fill a place or heart that is
devoid of these qualities. Our seed has grown and we are ready to bring forth good fruit
by healing the sick, feeding the hungry, uplifting the broken hearted and enlighten the
world by spreading the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for the salvation of
all people. We are blessed and we want others to experience the blessings that our Father
in heaven has in store for his children. We are prepared to go above and beyond the call
of duty to complete our mission for the greater glory of our Lord, God. It is not only our
source of blessings but it is also our pleasure, and it fills us with joy whenever we can
bring some joy into another person’s life.
The “much” he is speaking of here is the power of the Holy Ghost, which
accompanies the Anointing. When you have received the Anointing, you will have
received a great and wonderful gift. It is a precious gift that should not (and could not)
be squandered on your human lusts. You will still be human and still subject to
temptations of the flesh and wickedness and the devil, but you will be better equipped to
deal with such things for the tasks ahead.
Much consideration should be given to the type of good works you wish
to pursue, and your ability and capacity to perform the good works of your choice are of
equal importance. Your Anointing have its own gifts, uniquely tailored by God to suit
you. You may have one or you may have many of the gifts, but whatever suit you have
been fitted for, wear it well.
There has been a lot of controversy over the centuries since the
institutionalization of the Christain religion about the merits of works in the Christ
walk. The Reformer, Martin Luther felt that even in good people, evil actions
outweighed the good because man could not escape from his human nature, which was
all that was left in man after the fall of Adam and Eve, since their Divine Nature was
forfeited when they sinned against God.
“All our good works, good intentions and good thoughts are nothing at all
in the balance against our sins”, he said. He felt that every one of us would still merit
damnation, as far as good works were concerned, and that no amount of good works
could atone for sins committed even by the best of men.. He said that, “It ought to be the
first concern of every Christian to lay aside all trust in the merits of works and more and
more, strengthen faith alone”. He approved of good works but denied their ability to save
anyone.
“Good works do not make a good man, but a good man does good
works”, is how he put it in one of his sermons. What makes a man good is his faith in
God and Christ. A man may come to such saving faith not through the merits of good
works, but as a divine gift granted regardless of merits, to those whom God has chosen,
and who in turn chooses God and accepts his gift. Another reformer of the same time
period agreed.
Ulrich Zwingli said that, “God has fated for damnation only those who
reject the gospel offered to them”.
Faith alone, not good works, makes a true Christian because it is faith in
Christ that makes a man righteous; his good works follow from that faith. “The tree
bears fruit; the fruit does not bear the tree”, said Martin Luther.
A man firm in his faith does not seek freedom of will, but instead freedom
from his carnal nature, freedom from all evil powers, freedom from damnation and even
freedom from the law, for a man whose virtue flows spontaneously from his faith needs
no commandments to be righteous.
The free man must be servant to all men, for he will not be happy if he
fails to do all within his power to save others as well as himself. He is united to God
by faith, but he is united to his neighbor (his brethren, i.e. those in Christ), by love.
Therefore every believing Christian is a ministering priest.
Feed the hungry, clothe the poor, give to the needy, whatever their need be
as the Spirit provides and makes you able. There are many areas where you can begin a
practice of good works. Start small; don’t take on more than you are able to handle. Build
slow; don’t try to match deeds with the saints overnight. Pace yourself.
Don’t be disillusioned about the amount of progress you want your
good works to show (I speak from my own finite wisdom. I do not mean to say that you
should deny anyone your assistance just to maintain a minimum workload, but that you
should not seek more to do when you have still yet to handle what you have already
taken on). Remember in the beginning, that you merely want to do good works, and then,
more and more. Don’t be overly concerned about results just yet, just keep on doing good
works.
Most people view God as some hard task master, waiting for them to make
a mistake so that he can say “Ah-ha”, and then proceed to “duly” punish them with his
whip. We who are of the faith know that the opposite is true. God is constantly seeking
reasons to show us his mercy and lovingkindness. He is desperately seeking the
opportunity to toss a blessing your way and enable you to weather the storms you take
yourself through in life. His every effort is to try to get you to understand the power
available to you through him; power that is needed to walk victorious in this age of
corruption.
(...)For the battle is not yours, but God’s. (II Chronicles 20:15)
We’ve been told since childhood how we will die and go to hell if we
don’t do this or that and how we will suffer for all eternity for our sins if we don’t
change. Over and over, this point has been stressed to the point that, that’s all we know
about God: his wrath and his punishment to the wicked.
We need to know more about the love of God. We need to know we can
depend on him totally, not just for life after death, but for life abundant in this life. We
need to understand his gifts: grace, salvation, blessings, empowerment and “the rest”, and
his commandments: why they are for our benefit and not our hindrance as we so often
view them. Its not enough that we hear about it and read about how much God loves
us. We need to know it and understand why.
If you have children you already know why. And even if you don’t have
children, you know that if you did, you would want to do everything you could to
ensure them of their happiness in life. You would teach them their A-B-C’s, how to
walk, how to talk. You would teach them the difference between right and wrong. You
would teach them how to laugh, how to play, how to enjoy and how to have fun.
You would see to their education: and stake them in their financial
endeavors: and advise them when necessary and pick them up if they should fall: and
stake them again; and again and again so long as they continue to show efforts that
meet your standard of “trying” and you would take the time out to correct them
whenever and wherever you see them going wrong. And no matter how old they get to
be, you want them to continue to walk upright in your sight and love and respect you
and call on you when they need you.
Your love for them doesn’t stop when they reach a certain age. Your
love for them doesn’t end when they err or step out of your teachings. You love
them when they are good and you love them when they are bad because you love
them for real-for real. They were, after all, created in your own image.
But they that wait upon the Lord, shall renew their
strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles: they
shall run and not be
weary; and they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31)
Have you ever had a mate you loved so much that you wanted to be with
them every where they went and do everything with them that they wanted to do? Or a
parent or a child or a sibling that was so strong, or so smart, or so talented or so magnetic
and there was something about them that totally fascinated you? It may have been a
close relative or some other family member or a friend or whatever but it was like no
matter what they did, they could do no wrong by you. Everything they did, every move
they made, every expression on their face, every word they spoke, their eyes, their hair,
their smile, their walk, their tone of voice when they talked, everything they do just
totally fascinates you. Love could not adequately describe the depth of emotion you
felt for that person and you could hardly wait to see what they were going to do next
because you knew that whatever they did would blow your mind all over again, better
than the last time; can’t wait for the next time.
Even when they chastised you, it pleased you because you knew that there
was love in that chastisement, because that person was incapable of giving anything but
good gifts and you knew that they weren’t really chastising you, but correcting you and
making you a better person, because everything they did for you only made you better
and better every time they turned their attention to you. And sometimes they made
you cry, but you still wanted to say “Thank You”, to them because there was joy in those
tears instead of pain and you just wanted to hug them and hold them and feel the
fascination of them, on you and in you and all around about you.
Or deeper still, have you ever had someone feel that way about you?
When my daugter was a small child, she ate, slept and excreted, “Daddy”.
“Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da”. That’s all she
would say.”Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da”.
Wake up in the morning, “Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-
da-da. All day long, “Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da”. Learning
how to walk, “Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da”. Between bites at
feeding time, “Da-da-da
That’s what it is like when you become intimate with God. You
wonder who loves who the most; or who’s trying to please who, the most. You wake
up in this silent joy. You go about your day in that joy and you go to sleep at night
in that same joy. The only time you are without that joy is when you foolishly step
out of that joy into the world in your day to day activities. But that joy will keep you
in that joy if you remember that joy and pray and hold on to that joy and walk in
that joy and eat and sleep and excrete that joy.
God fascinates me. He fascinates me because he made me able, in spite
of myself, to make a way where there “ain’t no way”, in a world where it seems that the
only way, is the “bad way”. I ain’t no scholar. I aint no theologian. I can’t write no book.
I can’t hardly even spell “Book”. How am I supposed to write a book.
The Spirit of the Lord moved me. Most preachers would say, “The Lord
told me to write that book. Don’t worry ‘bout what’cha gonna say; I’ll tell you what to
say; you jus’ write it down”!
I’ll write it down Lord. I can see where it might do some folks some good.
A whole lot of confusion going around about this “salvation thing” and this “blessing
thing” and to make matters worse, some people know absolutely nothing about the “faith
thing”, or the point of doing “good works” while all around them it seems like ”bad”
works are the only works that prosper a person these days. I’ll write it down Lord. And if
maybe one person reads this and it helps them or leads them to get themself saved,
then I’ll have done some good with my life and that’s all right with me.
I can see why he would sacrifice himself for somebody like Mother Teresa
and maybe Martin Luther King; and my little girl. They were worth saving. But why
would anybody in their right mind sacrifice themself to save ME? ME, the Amoeba Man.
You’ve heard of Neanderthal Man and Cro-magnon Man and Peking Man. Me: I’m
Amoeba Man. I come from the age of the Amoeba, of the lowest of the lowest lifeforms
in the history of mankind. Why would God want to sacrifice himself to save ME?
God don’t see me like that though. God see me as a handsome Prince,
standing tall and noble, dressed in red and purple, bedecked in royal garb. With a golden
crown on my head studded with precious gems. Diamonds on my fingers.
Or like a beautiful bird, chasing the wind chasing me and singing joyfully
under the sun.
Like a precious child, learning to walk; Learning to speak his
Father’s name: “Dah...Dee, Dah...Dee, Dah...Dee”.
I love them that love me: And those that seek me early
shall find me. (Proverbs 8:17)
Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with
a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.
(Ecclesiastes 9:7)
The world has programmed us unto sin in our pursuit of happiness but
we need to know how not to sin in our pursuit of happiness. It is the only way for our joy
to be full, and for us to remain blameless when we fulfill our needs of the flesh.
The way of the world is sin, unto pain and death, but the way of God is
peace and righteousness unto joy and life eternal.
The world has programmed us to sin by making us believe that the only
things that make us happy are sinful things (sex and drugs and rock and roll).
We can reprogram our thinking to perceive that the things that makes us
truly happy are not the sinful things, but the righteous ones (Love, prayer and
meditation, and making a joyful noise unto the Lord). Note the parallelism.
God’s letter to us, the bible, contains the truth about the principals of
duality that keeps us confused and erring in our pursuit of happiness. Anyone that wishes
to can easily separate themself unto the one principle or the other, depending on their
fascination with the one form or the other principal for achieving happiness.
Those of us that know that we’ve been duped by the world to sin and
now realize that the righteousness of God is the only way to true happiness, also realize
from studying God’s word that we need to renew (reprogram) our minds to the will of
God by the only possible means: by following the example written in the gospels about
the life and times of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.
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*
That third group of self-help gurus, I’m going to call them the “Spiritual
Intellectualist”. The Spiritual Intellectualist speak of faith and they believe in faith, but
they believe in a faith that is not of any particular faith. The faith of no particular faith
is faith in God, but faith in a god that cannot be identified by any faith in particular;
a god of all faiths in general..
The god of the Spiritual Intellectualist goes by no name in particular, but
is known more or less by his many attributes, such as, “The Higher Power”, and “The
Creator”, and “The source”. In the movie Star Wars, the good guys, the Jedi Knights,
referred to the attribute best associated with the entity known as God as, “The Force”.
The Spiritual Intellectualist refer to the messengers of God of the many
faiths here on earth as, “Enlightened Beings”. Moses, Buddha, Vishnu, Mohammad
and (this is where I have my problem with them), Jesus (to hear them tell it), were all
“Enlightened Beings” sent by God as message bearers to shed light on the otherwise dark
path traveled by man between “Point A”: life, and “Point B”: death.
Like I said, I have a problem with the spiritual Intellectualist categorizing
Jesus with the rest of that group of “Enlightened Beings” and I’m going to get to that
problem soon. Just bear with me a little while longer. There are some other points I need
to make before I get to that, then I’ll come back to that issue. Bear with me.
Now that second group of authors of self help books fall into a category of
gurus that have come to be identified over the years as “Secular Humanists”. Secular
Humanists are atheists, or more precisely, “Agnostics”. They believe in morality of a
high degree but apart from any religious ideology of righteousness.. Secular
Humanists also believe in the unlimited capacity of the human spirit. Their faith is the
faith in one’s self. They believe that with enough faith in one’s self, one can do anything
one sets his mind to.
Secular Humanists blame religious ideology for mankind’s ills. They
believe that religion was a tool created by the rich to keep people “huddled masses of
sheep”, fearful, wanting nothing more than the lot in life they were born to, easy to
control..
Obviously I’ve got issues with Secular Humanists also, but hold your
peace; I’m not done yet.
That first group of self -help gurus have come to be known as “Holy-
Rollers”. I aspire to be a Holy-Roller, which brings me to the bones I have to pick with
those Spiritual Intellectualists and those Secular Humanist. I will start with the Spiritual
Intellectualists
First off, let’s pretend that you are God and you made man in your own
image. You love them, cherish them, nurture them and you still love them even after
they rebelled against you and refused to follow your commandments, time after time,
after time, after time, after time and time again.. They are after all, your children, and you
would do anything you could for them if you thought it would benefit them. Still, every
time they feel like they need something, they yell, “Hey you! do this! “, or “Hey you!
get me that!”. And whenever they speak of you to their friends, and in conversation, they
refer to you as “What’s his name?”. How would that make you feel?
Now let’s check out the Secular Humanists. You’re still God and these
are also your kids. These are your really stupid kids. They bump their heads a lot.
That’s why they act as if their brains are scrambled. They walk into the glass doors a lot
too and usually require a bunch of stitches. They like to run in the house a lot so they are
almost always falling down, tripping over stuff, breaking stuff. But stuff’s not important,
your kids are and you love your kids even if they are stupid kids, and I mean really
super stupid kids. But that’s not what bothers you.
What bothers you is when they tell their friends they were raised as
orphans and that they never knew their daddy and wouldn’t know him even if they saw
him, even though you were right there beside them every time they needed you, in case
they wanted to fall down and bump their head, again, which they are always sure to do,
again.. You love them “ought to be damned”, but they couldn’t care less about what you
feel.
They’re not bad kids those Spiritual Intellectualists and those Secular
Humanist, and as far as kids go, they can be really very sweet. They really try hard to be
really good kids and they’ve got really good plans for the future and not just for
themselves but for mankind in general. They’re not genius’ but they are really very, very
smart when their not being so stupid of course, and aside from the fact that they don’t
give a damn about you, they could almost be perfect. But therein lies the problem: they
don’t give “A DAMN”, about you.
They ‘re selfish children. They only want to do what THEY want to do
They heard what you said. They’re just “not trying to hear it”, what you said.
I can understand why God loves us so much. We’re all such beautiful,
fascinating sometimes stupid, motherloving, children.
He feel sorry for us.
Such potential, and all we do is run around bumping our heads on stuff,
knocking over furniture and breaking stuff, falling down tripping over stuff. He hollering,
“Quit running in the house. Sit your butt down before you hurt yourself”. You acting like
you don’t hear him, running around, then, “BOOM”, you crying, rubbing your head,
picking your butt up off the floor, God saying, “What I tell you? Boy sit your butt down
before you REALLY hurt yourself. Now pay attention!”. He start running down the ten
commandments and why we got rules to live by like the “No running in the house “, rule,
cause, “You gon hurt yourself”, and why these rules were made for your benefit. You
still aint listening but he keep telling you because that’s what he do because he’s GOD
and “Why is it so hard for me to do what he tell me to do. I don’t know no better. He’s
GOD. WHY WON’T I LISTEN TO HIM”?
And we crying, and he feel so sorry for us but then we grow up and after a
certain age (maturity), he no longer feel sorry for us. We still crying but he had done
told you to sit your butt down and you still ain’t listening..
What is man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of
man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little
lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory
and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the
works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his
feet. (Psalms 8:4-6)
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and
cometh down from the Father of lights with whom is no
variableness niether shadow of turning. (James 1:17)
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The world’s system is based on the “Me, me, me” philosophy. It sets no
limits on what a person should and should not do to pleasure oneself. It’s okay to lie,
cheat and steal as long as it is within the broad based boundaries of the worlds legal
system. And even if it’s not, it’s cool as long as you don’t get caught or piss off the
wrong people or forget your payoffs. Then you’ve really messed up.
The world’s system is the antithesis of the Kingdom of God. God’s
system is based on God’s philosophy. The bible is a tenant of God’s philosophy. It is
our inheritance as children of the most high God. It contains all of the information we
need, to know how to operate in God’s system of doing things because the Kingdom of
God is God’s system of doing things.
Jesus says in Mark 10:24-25:
And they that stood nearby and heard him asked him, Lord who then can be saved?
They could not understand how, with all the wealth and resources at his
disposal, that a rich man could possibly lack the necessities to possess whatever he set his
eyes to. Surely he could buy the knowledge, even if he could not literally buy a seat, in
the Kingdom of God. But Proverbs 28:11 states that “the rich man is wise in his own
conceit”, meaning that, and so to speak, even with the knowledge, it would be easier for
a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man, or a person who got rich
using the world’s system of doing things to turn from his ways and begin using God’s
system of doing things. Rich people get rich taking and stealing and hoarding things
(money). Psalms 52:7 states:
Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but
trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened
himself in his wickedness.
They are operating in the world’s system of doing things. But one of the main tenants
of the God’s system of doing things is giving.
People who get rich using God’s system of doing things adhere to that
philosophy religiously. That’s why when Jesus answered the people who asked him
“who then can be saved”, he stated emphatically:
With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God
all things are possible. (Mark 10:27)
Yes people can get rich using God’s system of doing things, but that
should not be their main motivation for seeking God’s Kingdom because the bible tells us
that:
They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and
into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in
destruction and perdition. (I Timothy 6:9)
For after all these things do the Gentiles seek: for your
heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these
things, But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto
you. (Matthew 6:32-33)
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The world is full of deceit. With the acceptance of the doctrine presented
to Adam and Eve by the devil, he became the spiritual and religious leader of the world.
In John 14:30, Jesus refers to him as “The Prince of this world”.
The devil’s main title is “The deceiver”, as revealed in Revelations 12:9.
Jesus says in John 8:44, that he is “a liar and the father of it”. The “Me, me, me” rule,
and the “be all that you can be” rule, is his rule, his trick, his lie.
And the serpent said unto the woman, “Ye shall not surely
die; for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then
your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods,
knowing good and evil”. (Genesis 3:4-5)
A lie does not deceive but by its guise as the truth. God had put Adam and
Eve in the Garden of Eden to “dress and keep it” (Genesis 2:15), but they were deceived
by the devil in believing in a greater purpose, of becoming “As gods”, knowing good
AND evil, which was only part true. “Ye shall not surely die” was the lie part.
And the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become as
one of us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth
his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat and live
forever: Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the
Garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was
taken. (Genesis 3:22-23).
Having chosen his course, man refuses to admit his mistake and continues
his quest for riches. He then persuades himself that this is the right course. Here, he is not
only “wise in his own conceit”, but he is also righteous in his own deceit; self-reliant and
self-centered. In further denial, he does not acknowledge that the world system has
forced him into that direction. Nor does he acknowledge the continued feeling of that
force of some “one” or some “thing” unseen yet powerful, in the affairs of the world.
This also is the dupe of a world system doomed to decay in the hope that things will
somehow “work themselves out”. But we are warned in I John 2:15-16:
Love not the world, niether the things that are in the
world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is
not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh
and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the
Father, but is of the world.
When a person decides that they need to change their behavior, their
perceptions or their position in life, they must first admit to themself that there is
something wrong with their present behavior, perceptions or position in life. .During the
debasement that comes along with the realization that they are messed in the area of
behavior, perceptions or position in life, or all of the above, they will ask themself one or
more of the all important “Who, What, When, Where, How and Why” questions:
(1) Who put me in this mess
(2) What am I doing in this mess
(3) When and (4) Where did I get into this mess
(5) How did I get into this mess
(6) Why am I in this mess.
And while they are berating themself for their lack of wisdom, lack of knowledge, lack
of morals and lack of intelligent decision making, and reviewing over and over, the mind
consuming alternative simulations, “If I, Would’ve, Should’ve, Could’ve”, and shifting
blame to their parentage, to their associations, to their friendships and to the ills of
society, the true reason for their degeneration and eventual reprobation evades scrutiny
and consideration when factoring in the proper variables of the equation. If they could
just answer the “Who” part correctly, the “What, When, Where, How, and Why” parts
then become easy to figure out.
Adam should never have placed the blame on Eve’s shoulders when God
asked him how he knew he was naked and had he eaten of the tree of knowledge of good
and evil. He says in Genesis 3:12:
He put half the blame on God because of “The Screwball Woman whom THOU gavest
me”.
Eve, on the other hand, having had her eyes opened also and not looking
to place blame on anyone, spoke truthfully however when confronted.
And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that
thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled
me, and I did eat. (Genesis 3:13)
Knowing “Who” had gotten her into that mess, she also knew “What” she
was doing in that mess. What mess was she in? Genesis 3:16 says:
She was put under “The Curse”. She knew “When” and she knew “Where” she had
gotten into that mess (that day in the Garden of Eden). She knew “How” she has gotten
into that mess (The devil “beguiled” her ), and she knew “Why” she was in that mess (she
“did eat”)
And she knew something else.
She knew that the devil was a low down, dirty, sticking, slimey, no good
snake in the grass and that he was jealous of her and Adam’s relationship with God and
that he hated them for it, and she knew he was angry at God at feeling rejected by God
because of their relationship with God and he couldn’t hurt God directly but he knew that
if he would hurt them he would be hurting God through them.
The comedian Flip Wilson used to do a skit on his show where he would
dress up in a wig and a mini-skirt to portray the character, “Geraldine”, and coyly brag
about his (her) latest sexual exploits, and would end her story allegorically by saying,
“The devil made me do it”. Flip Wilson got loads of laughs for that gag and became
world famous for that line, “The devil made me do it”, which also became a household
paraphrase worldwide.
No doubt the devil made him put on that wig and that mini-skirt and go on
national television looking like a stank, crack -ho. He made a lot of money doing that (the
world’s system of doing things). No doubt he lost a lot of cudos with God for doing it
also. But then again, although he used that gag for a punch line of his jokes to get laughs,
he was relaying a message so profound that the reality of it was enough to make one’s
head spin. The truth he spoke was no laughing matter.
These “devices” are fully covered in the book of Mark, chapter four. They
shall be broken down here sequentially, by me, by order of their syntax.
The sower soweth the word. And these are they by the
wayside, where the word is sown; but when they have
heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the
word that was sown in their hearts.
He accomplishes this whenever a person hears (or reads) the word and
does not understand what is heard (or read). The bible says in Romans 10:17, that
“faith comes by hearing”, and it says in II Timothy 2:15 to, “Study to show thyself
approved unto God, rightly dividing the word of truth”, or in other words, to get
understanding from what you have heard or read.
It is impossible to have faith in what you do not understand, and, if you do
not understand what you have heard or read, then obviously you are confused about the
matter. An early church history monastery abbot by the name of Anselm once said, and I
quote: “I do not seek to understand in order to believe; I believe in order to
understand”. Many religious leaders would religiously agree with him, and the bible
would support them in the matter. They would that doubt would be unacceptable and that
faith must come before understanding. Anselm later added that he considered it
“Negligent, if, after we are confirmed in the faith, we should not aim to understand
what we have believed”.
I Corinthians 14:33 states that “God is not the author of confusion, but of
peace”, so if God is not the author of confusion, it is quite evident who is.
II Timothy 3:12 says that “All who will live Godly in Christ Jesus shall
suffer persecution”, and Matthew 5:10 says, “Blessed are ye when men revile you and
persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my name’s sake”.
People tend to believe that God sends affliction and allows believers to
suffer persecution as a test of their faith. And while it is true that God does indeed test
his children, he does NOT do it with evil, as stated in James 1:13. Some people think
that the devil afflicts people to keep them from learning about God, but the truth of the
matter here is that he afflicts you because you have already learned something about
God.
And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as
hear the word, and the cares of the world, and the
deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things
entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
After you have been confused about the word of God and suffer
persecution for the word’s sake, you will be dazedly seeking relief from all your misery.
You will then be ripe for a seduction. This is when the devil creates his toehold,
through observation. He’ll show you the riches you wish you had and keep beautiful
women or men (whatever you prefer), in your face. He’ll show you all manner of
pleasant and pleasurable things to lust after. He’ll tell you to touch it, to taste it, to feel it
(“Try it, you’ll like it”). Through experimentation his toehold is put into place, that is if
he can get you to try his little experiment (and he usually can).
Note the sequence thus far: First he takes the word of God from you.
Then he inflicts pain upon you leaving you further confusticated. Then he treats you
nice to get you to trust him. Then he puts HIS WORD in your ear and teaches you
HIS WAYS of doing things. The more you listen to his ways of doing things, the more
enticing and appealing they will appear to you. The more enticed you are, the more
likely you are to try something immoral.
All drug addicts started out with a lesser drug (beer or wine or reefer).
You started out kissing (now look at you). Thieves stole small amounts at the first then
they gradually gravitated to grand theft and armed robbery. I Timothy 6:5 says to
withdraw from the “Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the
truth, who suppose that gain is godliness”, for through participation, the toehold is on
its way to becoming a stronghold.
That’s the way it is; seed, growth, fruit (or seedtime and harvest in the
words that the bible uses). The same rules apply in the world system as they do in the
Kingdom of God.
Now you are hooked. The toehold has now become a stronghold.
Wouldn’t it have been better if you had gotten hooked on the things of God instead of the
things of the world (and the devil)? On love instead of sex? On prayer instead of drugs?
On truth instead of the collection of lies your life has become? Jesus asked in Mark 4:21,
“Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel or bed and not to be set on a candlestick”?
Then he goes on to say in verse 22, “For there is nothing hid, which shall not be
manifested, neither was anything kept secret, but that it should come abroad”. This is
where the devil really gets off on you because now he got you doing things you got no
business doing and trying to keep it a secret, which is the final phase of his insidious
plan, STEP SIX: KEEPING DARK SECRETS.
The tree is known by its fruit (Matthew 7:16) and every tree produces after
its own kind, so by the fruit you know the tree (Matthew 7:20). Everybody knows what
you are about because not only do you leave a trail of droppings that lead back to you,
but they also show what is in you. You tell yourself and others that you are not like that
but the evidence speaks otherwise. Reap the whirlwind.
But what now? You say you’re sorry? You don’t want to have to reap the
whirlwind? “Help me Lord; help me Jesus; I won’t do it no more”, but like some out of
body experience, you find yourself walking down that same old road, going to that same
familiar house, doing the same old thing that got you into this mess in the first place and
crying those same familiar tears because now, you really don’t want to be like that
anymore but you can’t help yourself and “God, please help me. I don’t want to be like
this anymore. I’m a better person than this”.
You WAS. But inside you know that you got everything that you
deserved. And inside you aspire to greater things and you could be a better person and
someday you will, when you put this thing in its proper place. But not right now. Maybe
tomorrow. You’ll do better tomorrow you tell yourself and others. You’ll do better
tomorrow, but you can’t, not right now. Not right now.
Anyway, let us now review the steps to the method the devil uses to create
his strong hold of sin in our lives.
And of course the proof that the devil has created a stronghold of sin in your life is STEP
SIX: KEEPING DARK SECRETS. the Fact that you are telling all sorts of lies and
practicing all forms of deceit trying to keep the depth of your DEGENERATION a
SECRET.
While you were on Steps One, Two and Three, you were a “Victim”.
Some of us even qualified to be identified as an “Innocent Victim”. When we got to
Step Four we graduated. We got into the area where the bible refers to people that do
the things we do as “Sinners”. By then we should have known better. A lot of people get
seduced but the smart ones learn from their mistakes. Like the best friend I mentioned in
Part One Chapter One. He cut that mess loose while it was still a toehold. He did not let
the devil get a “leg up” on him. He even tried to keep him from getting a leg up on me
too. It was all he could do to save himself though. The final choice was mine and I made
it. I’m still paying for that one. Like the vast majority of people I know, the devil has
built his stronghold of sin in my life. But it ain’t over yet. (Here come the GOOD
NEWS).
The bible says when Jesus heard this he “marveled” because he had not
found that much faith in his own people who he felt were a disappointment to him. This
was the type of faith he was trying to teach men to have in not just himself and God, but
in themselves.
The centurion understood the workings of authority because he was a man
“under” authority, subordinate to his superiors, and a man “of” authority, being in a
position to have some subordinate to him.. His faith in the ability of Christ to perform
what he asked of him was based on his understanding of Christ’s authority.
All of your power and authority comes from God and is contingent
upon his continual support of you. When you step outside God’s will, you have
relinquished your right to spiritual authority over the affairs in your life. This explains
why citizens of the Kingdom of God are touched by unclean spirits from time to time and
are in need of healings from time to time. They’re Human, and they make mistakes like
human beings are apt to do. When you abide in his will, which you can know through
study of his word, your authority is secure. “Not by might nor by power, but by my
Spirit”, saith the Lord of Hosts. That’s how it was explained in Zechariah 4:6. You have
to lean on God and draw strength from him and make sure that what you are trying to do
and who you are trying to be, is in line with his will for you and his word.
Genesis 1:26-29 says that in the creation, God gave man two gifts:
dominion and seed. It states:
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the
sea, and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle, and
over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own
image, in the image of God created he him; male and
female created he them. And God blessed them, and said
unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth,
and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing
that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have
given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the
earth, and every tree in the which is the fruit of the tree
yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
We know that in the fall of man, when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of
the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, man relinquished his authority and gave
dominion of the earth, which included the seed, over to the devil. We know that the
death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ was intended to give back to man his
dominion over the earth, and the seed which is the life of the earth. Galatians 6:7-8
states
This is why when Jesus began to preach the gospel of the “Good News”,
his message centered on repentance, and why when he said in John 3:3, “Verily, verily I
say unto thee, except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God”, he was
not only giving us the keys to the Kingdom of God, but he was also letting us know how
to act once we were entered in. Isaiah 55:8-9 states :
People take these verses of scripture to mean that people are too stupid to
know God’s ways and that his ways are so beyond us that to conceive of understanding
God’s way of doing things is stupidity in itself. But this is why God inspired the bible,
to teach us his ways, so that we may begin to operate in His Kingdom (His system of
doing things). He’s not saying that you’re too stupid to understand his ways, he ‘s saying
“make my ways your ways”. Jesus says in Luke 12:32:
He knew that every father with a skill or profession wants to teach his children his
particular skill or profession, to wield his authority as he would and be able to do what
he can and even better. Jesus knew our Father was a real Father.
He did not say, “Until the devil decides different”, or “Unless I change my
mind later”. He said, “While the earth remaineth”, and you can believe that he meant
exactly what he said. Like it says in Titus 1:2, “God that cannot lie promised before the
world began”, and when God decrees a thing, it shall come to pass. Trust me it will.
For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven
and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and
maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the
sower, and bread to the eater; So shall my word be that
goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me
void, but it shall accomplish that which I please and it
shall prosprer in the thing whereunto I sent it. (Isaiah
55:10-11)
Obviously the point I wish to establish here is the fact that your rights as
a child of God grants you the same authority to use the word to accomplish that which
YOU please and to prosper in the thing whereunto YOU send it. And to quote Zechariah
4:6 once again, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit”, says the Lord.
Everybody has something wrong with them that mars their character as a
human being. No Christian, at least wants, “Their thing” to continue dictating the terms
of their life. It started out innocently enough: a drink here, a cigarette there; and of course
you never intended to let it go this far. You thought you were stronger than this. You
thought you were smarter than this. You thought you were better than this. King
Soloman says in Ecclesiastes 2:15, “As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to
me”. And he asks in verse 16, “How dieth the wise man”? And he answers his own self
by stating, “As the fool”.
What people need to understand are the “normal” passions and desires
that are ingrained in the flesh of mankind, versus the “abnormal” ones, the deviate ones.
The human body was made for love; to give love as well as receive love.
The body malfunctions when it has been deprived of love for a significant amount of
time. Most people’s problems are due to the lack of love in their lives, and it is because
of the lack of love in a person’s life that the search for pleasure takes on a deviant
course.
The entire book of Ecclesiastes is basically a rule book dedicated to the
pursuit of pleasure and the errant search to offset pains of the soul, with pleasure of
the body. Understanding this search is what prompted the Apostle Paul to pen the
seventh chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians and state in verse 9:
And you will burn. The flesh will burn you up in it’s fervor to receive
pleasure when it cannot be contained. That is why so many Christians find themselves
repeating destructive cycles even though they love their God and aspire to higher
aspirations. We try so hard to contain our flesh; to crucify our flesh. Preachers are always
telling people, “You got to crucify your flesh; to be dead to sin and alive to God through
Christ”, quoting Romans 6:11. That’s what it means to be “Born Again”. “Old things
are passed away; behold, all things are new” (II Corinthians 5:7)
The bible says in I Corinthians 15:50, that “Flesh and blood cannot
inherit the Kingdom of God”. We still don’t get it. We keep trying to clean up our flesh
by trying to cover ourselves in the world’s righteousness (in man’s righteousness, our
own righteousness), in a vain attempt to improve the old nature which is hopelessly
corrupt and cannot be made fit for the presence of God.
“Born Again”, “World System”, “ Kingdom of God”. These things are
are “spirit” and cannot be dealt with in the flesh (John 6:63). Quitting smoking is not
righteousness. Nor is it criteria for entrance into the Kingdom of God. Quitting drinking
is not righteousness either. Nor is abstaining from certain meats or diet and exercise. Yet
people associate the elimination of these vices as indications of righteousness as a result
of being born again, when the fact of the matter is, we simply attempted to cover
ourselves in the world’s righteousness (in man’s righteousness, our own righteousness)
by making ourself “appear” righteous because “I don’t smoke no more” and “I don’t
drink no more”. And when we fall short of the mark, we feel like we fell from grace, or
never attained grace because there was no “miracle” conversion from our fleshly
appetites.
We still don’t get it.
But the natural man recieveth not the things of the spirit of
God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he
know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (I
Corinthians 2:14)
Stop trying to cover yourself in the world’s righteousness (in man’s
righteousness and your own righteousness) and cover yourself in the righteousness of
God. You cannot keep doing things any old way you want to and expect to receive the
benefits of God. Change from your old way of doing things (learned from your time
spent in the world), to God’s way of doing things. We are in the world but we do not
have to be “of” the world.. We have entered into the Kingdom of God and yet we are not
entirely “of “ the kingdom of God for we do not fully understand God’s system of doing
things.
Of course good health is a good thing to be desired and considering the
world and the world system we live in, every effort should be made to insure yourself.
But you should be doing it to please God and not yourself and not to impress others.
You should be doing it to better serve God and not to serve yourself and certainly not to
better serve the fleshly lusts of your body. The bible says that good health is promised,
literally guaranteed to those that diligently seek God’s kingdom. But just as in the case of
riches, which is also promised, the rule also applies here to “Seek ye first the Kingdom of
God and his righteousness and all these (other) things shall be added unto you”. This
also includes the ability to discern the “Natural” (the physical: the material), and the
“Spiritual” (the unseen), and the wisdom to compare each of them accordingly.
TWO:KINGDOM LIVING
I call this lesson, “The ABC’s of Kingdom living. The letters A, B and C,
are the first letters of the words, “Aspirations”, “Benefits” and “Characteristics”, three
important tenants of the Kingdom of God.
I chose the word “Aspiration”, because what a person “aspire to”, is
where their heart is, so then, if your “Aspiration” is to be “OF” the Kingdom of God, it
is there in your heart to be “OF” the Kingdom of God.
I took the word “Benefits”, from the subject matter of the bible verses
where the “Benefits of the Kingdom of God” are listed.
And I used the word “Characteristics”, because, as the dictionary defines
it, it is the “essential feature”, of the person who has entered into the Kingdom of God.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless
his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all
his benefits: (1) Who forgives all thine iniquities; (2) Who
healeth all thy diseases; (3) Who redeemeth thy life from
destruction; (4) Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness
and tender mercies; (5) Who satisfieth they mouth with
good things so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles’;
(6) The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all
that are oppressed; (7) The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always
chide: neither will he keep his anger forever.
(Psalms 103:1-9)
Put on the truth. Take off that mask (lie) that you’ve made up that makes
you think that you are fooling people. We lie mostly subconsciously, as a defense
mechanism; self defense. Quit defending yourself with a lie and let the truth set you
free.
Put on righteousness. Not “Self-Righteousness”, but God’s righteousness.
You are made righteous by faith through grace, not by works (or anything that you DO,
lest you should boast...Ephesians 2:9). Believe it and receive it.
Put on (the gospel) of peace. Preach it and teach it. Stand in it and be not
moved out of it.
Carry your shield of faith everywhere you go, especially where the
word of God is concerned. Those things you find hard to believe, or you are just not sure
about, tell yourself, if it’s in the bible, then God said it and if God said it then I believe it.
Convince yourself of the faithfulness of God until you see it come to pass.
Put on (your) Salvation. Stand and walk assured of your victory through
the blood of Christ Jesus.
Carry the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God assured of its
ability of advantage over the enemy and his evil works.
And believe in the power of prayer. Stay in constant fellowship with the
source of all power through prayer. (Learn more about God’s word and the power of
prayer in the next chapter).
I like the “seed, growth, fruit” rule (seedtime and harvest). I see seed,
growth and fruit in everything I set my sights upon. I try to sow (good) seed everywhere
I go. I catalog where I sow seed, when I sow seed and the reason I sowed it. I sit back
and give it time to grow and patiently wait to harvest my fruit.
To me, believing is a seed and receiving is its fruit. I apply this, as a
rule, to every seed I sow. I sow in belief and receive my harvest joyfully. I sow the
(my)Seven Aspirations of the Kingdom of God and I reap the (my) Seven benefits of
the Kingdom of God. In preparation, I “put on” the (my) Seven Characteristics of
the Kingdom of God. I stand in them and walk in them and breathe, eat and sleep in
them and wait patiently for my harvest to come in. Then I reap, and I reap, and I reap (
sometimes thirty, sometimes sixty and sometimes a hundredfold (Mark 4:20). This is what
the bible means when it tells us to put on God’s righteousness (not the world’s
righteousness nor man’s righteousness or our own righteousness), and to “Walk in the
Spirit” (God’s Spiritual Kingdom).
The walk in the Spirit (Kingdom Living) is another seed we sow to reap
still more benefits. Galatians 5:22-23 says:
Here then is the area where King David testified of the Lord, “He leads
me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” (Psalm23:3), and also where Jesus
promises us that “The Holy Ghost (The Holy Spirit) shall teach you ALL things and
bring ALL things to your rememberance” (John 14:26), and where we BY FAITH
receive the self-control (temperance) needed to overcome our vices so that we may
come to enjoy the love, peace and joy we have been praying for and keeping our
faith for all this time.
This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill
the lusts of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16)
THREE:SEEDS OF POWER
THE SPOKEN WORD AND PRAYER
Strong words. scary too! Especially since you know that ever since you
were able to speak the spoken word, you usually said the first thing that came to your
lips. It never occurred to you that you might be setting in motion, “Powers and
Principalities” (say what?), that could possibly be a blessing or a curse to yourself or to
a loved one, or a circumstance surrounding one or both of you.. After all, you merely
wanted to say what you had to say. Mama taught you respect and she taught you how to
be polite, and if she had known to teach you, she would have taught you its greater
importance rather than its lesser significance of just “good manners”. Good manners is
just another way we cover ourselves in our own righteousness, (in man’s righteousness;
in the world’s righteousness). But good manners is a good start. You can still thank
Mama for that. You can take it from there though.
The third chapter of the book of James gives further insight into the
significance of being aware of the words that go forth out of a person’s mouth.
It gives insight into the significance of controlling the words that come out of a
person’s mouth.
It explains why it is not so easy to control the words that come out of a person’s
mouth.
It explains why people must come to be able to control the words that come out of
their mouths, and it explains what happens when people do not control the words that
come out of their mouths.
It explains why the words that come out of a person’s mouth are the seeds they sow as a
means to a desired end.
It explains the difference between proper and improper seed (word) sowing.
It explains how to sow the word properly and it explains the harvest you can expect to
reap (The seven Fruits of righteousness), when you sow the word properly.
But the wisdom that is from above is first (1) Pure, then
(2) Peaceable, (3) Gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of
(4) Mercy and (5) Good Fruits, (6) Without Partiality, and
(7) Without Hypocrisy.
I got kicked out of that joint because I had cussed out one of the
directors’ henchmen. He set me up. He kept busting into my room one morning around
five o’clock, every five minutes to awaken my roommate for kitchen duty which wasn’t
supposed to begin for an hour yet. The little old fellow had spent the night up on “fire
watch” and was tired so its quite possible that he really was confused about the time and
his actions (He said that he didn’t know that he had just left the room). He was, after all,
just a drunk: a derelict like the rest of us. Still, he was one of the directors’ henchmen. I
cussed him out for that I guess because I felt no need to curb my anger at him because of
that.
It was a good program. They just had a bad director (at the time).
He got fired about six months after I had left (I wonder why)?
A good man out of the treasure of the heart bringeth
forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure
bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you that every idle
word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof
in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be
justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
(Matthew 12:35-37)
What the director said was true; controlling my addiction really did
begin with controlling my tongue. That’s because my addiction was created in sin, by
sin (the seed), for the purpose of sinning, then grew into wickedness (evil). The more I
practiced that sin the more wickedness I became adept at. And I would have reaped sin’s
harvest had I not been redeemed (saved) by the undeserved kindness (Grace) of God and
cleansed by the atoning blood of Jesus Christ which was shed to wash away the sins of all
who would receive him.
I chose life (The Spirit) when I chose Jesus. The bible tells us there is no
middle ground. The only other choice was death (the flesh). If death and life are in the
power of the tongue, then I choose to speak the words of life.
Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him,
Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously...(Hosea
14:2)
After setting your heart to be “of” The Kingdom of God and knowing the
benefits you are entitled to as a citizen of the Kingdom of God, and after understanding
the power of the spoken word and choosing to speak God’s words of life, you need to
know how to sow his words of life (seeds), not just in conversation, but also through
prayer, to reap (harvest) the benefits that have been made available to you as a citizen of
the Kingdom of God.
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*
Jesus exemplified the proper way to pray with his, “The Lord’s
Prayer”. It covered the three all important topics that meet all of the criteria for a proper
prayer. First and foremost among them is (1) Praise.
After giving God his props, we may then turn our attention to the other
reason we pray to him: our (2) Petition
Petitioning God works pretty much the same way. You have to remember
that God is our Father and that you are a child of his, therefore you are entitled to make
any request of him that your little heart desires, no matter how ridiculous that request
may seem to be to you or to your peers. Our Father gives ”Righteous Judgment”
(Psalms103:6) to his children (to the whole world but especially to his children). Only he
is qualified to decide what is best for you and decide whether to grant your petition or
not. Its not about “coercing” him, it’s about trusting him to do what he says he will do
and repeating the words of power that he gave us to use.
After asking God for his favor, you might want to spend a moment of your
time in fellowship with the Lord, drinking in his (3) Presence.
For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory,
Forever. Amen. (Matthew 6:13)
Don’t just take our Father’s “hunnert dolla’s” and run out the door without
so much as a “thank you” or a kiss on the cheek and a hug. Spend some time with the
Father acknowledging his Kingdom and his power and his glory (his Presence).
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Give us this day our daily bread
When you pray, don’t be afraid to ask God for a miracle. Set it in your
mind that you want the best that God has to offer. God wants his children to be selfish in
prayer, to ask for more and more because as a father whose nature is to bless, he is
delighted to give generously to his children when they ask him for his blessings. He
delights in giving his children his supernatural favor (blessing), not the things we can
get for ourselves, because he is a God of miracles and new beginnings, and he has so
many blessings he wants to give us if we would only ask for them.
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*
Of course the bible has many prayers that can be used to suit your many
needs. “The Lord’s Prayer” is the model prayer. I try to pray three times a day and I
always begin each prayer with this one, then I speak to God from the heart with my
petitions and end my prayer session quoting a few of my favorite verses of scripture. You
might want to develope your own personal prayer regimine however; one tailored to
suit your own personal needs like mine is tailored to fit me. You do however have my
permission to use mine. Here are a few of my favorite scriptural prayer verse examples.
Sow these words of power into your situation and harvest a favorable change.
They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run,
and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint. (Isaiah
40:31)
For the battle is not yours (mine) but God’s. (II Chronicles
20:15)
Blessed shalt thou (I) be in the city and blessed shalt thou
(I) be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy (my)
body, and the fruit of thy (my) ground. (Deuteronomy 28:3-
4)
Blessed shalt thou (I) be when thou (I) comest in, and
blessed shalt thou (I) be when thou (I) goest out.
(Deuteronomy 28:6)
And the Lord shall make thee (me) the head and not the
tail; and thou (I) shalt be above only; thou (I) shalt not be
beneath. (Deuteronomy 28:13)
For more powerful prayer examples, see Psalms chapters 8, 23, 34, 51, 65,
86, 91, 103, 130 and 139. There are so many powerful prayer examples throughout the
scriptures that it would be impossible for me to list them all without almost re-writing the
bible in this book. Search the scriptures. See what God has in store for you and what
he would have to say to you personally. Start an intimate relationship with God
today. Do it now.
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*
As we forgive those who trespass against us
I think that the true weight of that statement has never truly made a true
impact on the Christian community. Having studied the history of the Christian science, I
see a pattern of unforgiveness prevailing in the church. All of the wars and petty
squabbles and deaths among the sects of Christians over the centuries should have and
would have been avoided if that statement had been taken to heart and applied as a rule in
the church’s quest to become once again “One” with God. Has no one paid attention to
their own prayers? And if not, then why should God?
Jesus said:
Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my
brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
I say not unto thee, until seven times: but, until seventy times seven.
He gave another of many good reasons why people should forgive those
who trespass against them in Luke 6:36-37:
People wonder why they pray and they pray and they can never get an
answer to their prayers. Soon they become discouraged and stop praying for a thing
because they began to feel that their petition was flat out turned down. Peter touches on
the reason for a prayers’ denial in I Peter 3:7. He says:
looking to the trespasser as the “weaker vessel”, and acknowledging that as brethren,
we are all equals in Christ.
But that last statement in that verse tells the real story. It explains that
your prayers can be hindered; that your prayers never even reached God, and if they
did they were not accepted by God because they were not prayed in accordance with his
will and his word.
It does not explain here in great detail why Cain’s offering was not
accepted of by God, but the fact that Cain eventually slew his brother is a clear
indication that he had some issues with Abel, which he kept to his heart and it
prevented his fervent heartfelt prayers (offerings) from being acceptable to God
because they were mixed with malice.
People tithing, giving their housenote for a seed offering, praying seven
times a day, attending service five times a week, looking for God to bless them or a loved
one or a circumstance, still mad at Sister “So and So”, because she took her parking space
three weeks ago and they never forgave her for it.
Yeah, she knew that it was your parking space and, “I don’t care who took
hers; she ain’t got no business parking her car in mines”.
Let it go.
If a little child came up to you while you was sitting down somewhere
minding your own business and just slaps you, “WHAP”, right across your face, before
you beat that little child six ways from Sunday, stop and ask yourself one thing: “Did that
little child REALLY hurt me”. And again, “How much did that little tiny child really
hurt me? Did he hurt me a little bit? Did he hurt me a lot? Or am I just exaggerating
how much it really hurt?
Examine the damage that a person does to you. Most of the time you will
find that they really didn’t hurt you that much at all. It hurted you more knowing that
that person “wanted” to hurt you than the actual damage sometimes. It hurts the
feelings.
But knowing that a person wants to hurt you, in all actuality , should help
you because now you know how to treat that person. You know to stay clear of that
person because you know they only want to hurt you. You know not to offend that person
because they already want to hurt you. You might need to apologize to that person for
something because you know that they want to hurt you.
Clearly the key to having your prayers answered favorably is the fact that
they must first reach God unhindered in order that they might be found acceptable
unto God and answered favorably. And what hinders prayers?
Unforgiveness.
FOUR:THE REST
THE REREWARD AND THE BLOOD
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest. 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 For my yoke is easy, and my burden
is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)
You don’t hear a lot of sermons about “The Rest” these days. I think I’ve
heard maybe two of them in my lifetime. One, I remember for sure and even that one was
weak and unconvincing. I don’t know if preachers are just not sure about how it works or
whether they believe in it or not, or whether they are afraid to approach the subject or not,
but I believe that the reason might be because it’s supposed to be the proof, like a
guarantee of sorts, that person is “entered in” and is “of” the Kingdom of God.
“The Rest” is supposed to be like “at peace”. Defining “at peace”, one
would suspect that it means to be trouble free, like in a sense to be safe from harm,
invincible or unstoppable, but my studies lead me to conclude that that is not the case
where “The Rest” is concerned, but instead, that, in times of trouble, in the case of harm
or injury, or when faced with insurmountable odds, that the person who has entered into
“The Rest”, would be without a care and free from worry because as the bible says it,
God will take care of you.
One reason I suspect that preachers are not too anxious to approach the
subject to their congregations, is because they know that there will be trials and
tribulations for believers til Jesus returns. “The Rest” speaks of and denotes an end to
trials, and an end to tribulations.
Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy
sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I
may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is
thy people. And he said, My presence shall go with thee,
and I will give thee rest. (Exodus 33:13-14)
But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and
stand in thy lot at the end of days. (Daniel 12:13)
. I like the idea of being at peace in this lifetime. I know that the enemy
will never cease his attacks on me. I know that he may even get in a few blows (maybe a
lot of blows) every once in a while. I understand that because of my humanity I am going
to slip out of the light (of the spirit) into the darkness (of the flesh) from time to time
(Just keeping it real). I know that at those times I am the most vulnerable to the enemy’s
attacks. It’s like when I am “In the Spirit”, I am invisible and incorporeal, so that bullets
pass through me and no harm can touch me, but when I am “In the Flesh”, I am visible
and solid and an easy target for all sorts of malice. And as sad a fact as it is for me to
face, the truth of the matter is, that, with all of my learning, and with all of my knowledge
of the subject, I still spend more time “In the Flesh”, than I actually spend “In the Spirit”
(I think we all do).
THE REREWARD
Nevertheless, even while “In the Flesh”, I stand firm in my faith and
the spirit of the Lord is with me. And while the term, “In the Flesh”, is usually
indicative of the act of sinning, it is not limited to sinning, but also denotes other
“fleshly” activities such as eating, exercising, making love, playing sports, driving your
car and attending social functions, all of which are not necessarily of the ungodly sort.
You are “In the Flesh” when you are “cutting the fool” with your friends. You are “In the
Flesh” when you are “carousing” with your girlfriend (or boyfriend). You are “In the
Flesh” when you are “clowning” with your kids (or chastising them, if the case may be).
Psalms 139:7-14 says:
When I was in that car wreck in 1995, I should have died. I escaped with
some small injuries (don’t ask me how). I got shot in the foot when I was a kid, a child of
fourteen running away from a gang fight I wanted to watch. When the shooting started, I
fled. The doctor said that the bullet should have struck me in the back. I caught it in the
bottom of my foot instead (don’t ask me how). Two years later, a crazed drunk tried to
stab me with a butcher knife while a group of us were sitting on the doorstep at my
friend’s house chatting. He cut me good but it was not a clean blow. The knife was
deflected off the head of a fellow who sat on a lower step level (don’t ask me how). It
glanced across my right side right where my heart is located. It never even breached my
ribcage. And at the tender age of eight I was struck by a car while chasing a ball into the
street. At the time (and sometimes, still), I thought I had died, but I am here now , so I
write the death thing off as the imagination of a child. Still I spent three weeks in the
hospital, and three months recuperating from the tradgedy.
There were other incidents of the sort. These four were the worst of them
though. Each one of those times I could have died. Each one of those times, the Lord
had my back.
The word, “Rereward”, means “Rear Guard”. In the olden days, when
armies marched by the thousands to make war, the rear guard was set up to watch the rear
of a formation.
The bible says that the Lord is the rereward or the “rear guard” for his
children. That means that the Lord has got your back at all times.
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of
wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the
oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not
to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the
poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the
naked that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself
from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as
the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily:
and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of
the Lord shall be thy rereward. then shalt thou call and the
Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry and he shall say, Here I
am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the
putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; And if thou
draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted
soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness
be as the noon day: And the Lord shall guide thee
continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat
thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and
like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. (Isaiah 58:6-
11)
It says here that “your righteousness shall go before you”. It’s talking
about the righteousness by faith, not the self righteousness of righteousness by works,
which is to God as “filthy rags”. Genesis 15:6, speaking of Abraham says:
THE BLOOD
.
And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses
where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over
you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you,
when I smite the land of Egypt. (Exodus 12:13)
For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and
when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two
side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not
suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite
you. (Exodus 12:23)
This is the idea behind the new covenant faith in the blood of Jesus
Christ. The blood is figurative, symbolic of being covered in the blood of (The) Lamb,
by faith, so that no weapon formed against you can prosper. It is another of the devices
God had set before the foundation of the earth to enable you to set your heart and your
mind at rest and be at peace during your sojourn in the world.
Here again, while I have heard more than a few sermons on the redeeming
blood and the cleansing blood, I can only remember one sermon on the “Protecting”
blood of the lamb (of Christ).
None of the clergy wants to leave you with the impression that a believer
can run “buck-wild” through life and still reap the benefits of God, and neither do I.
People tend to go buck-wild in their zeal for life though. We understand this. God
understands this also. He don’t blame us for our errors. That’s why he inspired the bible
to teach us about ourselves so that we can minimize our erring. It is also the reason why
he instituted “Grace”, so that we could remain safe in spite of our erring. All we need to
do is have faith in him, believe in him and trust in him.
Ezekial 18:20-23 states
The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear
the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the
iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall
be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be
upon him. But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that
he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that
which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not
die. All his transgressions that he hath committed, they
shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that
he hath done he shall live. Have I any pleasure at all that
the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that
he should return from his ways and live?
Ephesians 1:7 reminds us that this is accomplished by grace, through the
shed blood of Christ.
And almost all things are by the law purged with blood;
and without shedding of blood is no remission.
God had decreed the “blood for blood”, rule in Genesis 9:6. It states:
Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
(Exodus 21:24-25)
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the
children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through
ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord
concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do
against any of them; if the priest that is anointed do sin
according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for
his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without
blemish unto the Lord for a sin offering. (Leviticus 4:1-3
And the priest shall put some of the blood upon the horns
of the alter of sweet incense before the Lord, which is in
the tabernacle of the congregation; and shall pour all the
blood of the bullock at the bottom of the alter of the burnt
offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation. (Leviticus 4:7)
By the shed blood of bulls and goats, the slate was cleansed, but only for
a certain time period.
Jesus’ blood was shed once, for all mankind, for all time.
Okay; I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that killing someone
is one sin, but there are other sins that don’t include the shedding of blood, therefore I
need to explain why blood needs to be shed for a petty theft, or an adultery, or for bearing
false witness. You’re thinking, as you have been taught to think, that sin is just an act:
an activity: an action. But sin is more than just an act. Sin is a state of being. Sin is in all
actuality, the state of being separated from God, therefore, any sin you commit is what
it is that keeps you separated from God. The whole idea behind atonement is to bridge
the gap that separates you from God, to make you fit to stand in his presence. When
you are “in sin”, you are unfit to approach God through prayer as well as in person.
The shed blood of Jesus Christ atoned for all your sins for all time. How is this possible?
GRACE. Name it. Claim it. Believe it and receive it. Done deal. And of course you
receive grace by faith; by trusting God to do what he says he will do and by believing
what God says when he said it works like this.
DONE DEAL.
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and
learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye
shall find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew
11:28-30)
In the book of Hebrews, the Apostle, Paul made a plea to the Hebrew
people, who were at the time known as “The People of God” (Hebrews 4:9), to “Harden
not their hearts” (Hebrews 3:7-8), and he speaks of a day and time when certain of their
forefathers were given the opportunity to enter into God’s rest, but did not because of
unbelief (Hebrews 4:6). Hebrews 3:18-19 says that in his anger, God swore that these
individuals would never enter into his rest (Hebrews 3:11). Paul was warning the
Hebrews that God had known all along that they would not accept Jesus (Hebrews 4:3),
but that they would be given other opportunities (Hebrews 4:7), to “enter in” to his rest
(Hebrews 4:8-9) and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior (Hebrews 4:14-16). He
exhorts them to “Labor to enter into God’s rest” (Hebrews 4:11), at which point they
would be allowed a rest from their labors (Hebrews 4:10), as God ceased from his labors
on the seventh day to rest.
Seeing “The Big Picture”, you will note that the one constant from the
beginning of one’s faith, “Salvation”, to the finished work of “The Rest”, is belief in
God to do what his word says he will do. It is in trusting God. Bottom line? It is in having
“FAITH” in God.
Romans 8:28 states:
Trust God on his word. This is what is called “Faith”. This is what we
mean when we tell you to “Have Faith”. This is the key that opens the gates to the
Kingdom of God.
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and
learn of me; for I ammeek and lowly in heart: and ye
shall find rest for your souls. for my yoke is easy, and my
burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)
FIVE:THE PROGRAM
THIS IS HOW WE DO IT!
St ar t / Ret ur n
End/ Rest
These are the symbols used in computer programming to document the flow of Logic.
Their use is called “Flowcharting”. “Logic” is the cognate instructions used in a program.
The step by step arrangement of instructions is called “Syntax”. If the syntax of a
program is in its proper order, you will have a working program. If it is not, there will be
confusion and the computer will discontinue running the program. For the purpose of
expediency, we shall assume that we have a “working program” as we define the symbols
as they pertain to the program.
Process Operation- Also called the “Programmer’s Block”, these are a set of
rules that cannot be changed or altered. They are laws and
for the purpose of the program, we must establish this as
God’s program, thus, they are God’s laws. They are God’s
words. This is God’s promise.
2) Decision Logic- Decisions are made by you, the program user. Yes=A.
No=B.
6) Terminal Point- Tells the user where they are or where they must proceed to
on the chart.
7) Connector Arrows- Points the user into the direction they are to proceed in and
directs the flow of
routines on the chart.
Michael Servitus who lived around the same time period as Martin Luther
and John Calvin and was also a noted Reformer, once said that, “Faith is good but love is
better because God is love”.
I almost agree. I say that I have faith in God because I understand God
(His will and his word). That’s also why I love God: because I understand God. I say that
faith and love are equal necessities; like two sides of the same coin. And I think that once
you understand God and understand his ways, you will love him too. That’s why I agree
with a certain well known teaching, televangelist who ends his daily broadcast with the
catch-phrase, “In all of your getting, get understanding”.
Step by Step
Like I said earlier, logic is the cognate instructions and syntax is the step
by step arrangement of the said instructions. Assuming that what’s logical depends upon
what you can be convinced of makes sense and assuming that you want to make sense out
of all this bible stuff, it is only logical to assume that you would want to know or
understand the step by step instructions, the syntax if you will, on the way, on how and
why it is that it works, assuming that it works the way that the bible says that it works.
I say it works just like the bible says it does and this is my testimony of
how it works.
Terminal Point/Start: Self explanatory. This is the
beginning. Follow connector directive and: Start
Program A.This is the beginning. Follow connector
START
directive and: Start Program A.
RETURN
Sub-Routine/Main Programming: The user must
believe that the story of Christ is the truth, and you
must believe it in your heart to be privy to the blessings
of the covenant of grace.
BELI EF
Terminal Point/Return: Upon completion of the task,
return to sub-routine (Belief) and follow connector (B)
to the next sub-routine (Prayer).
RETURN
Sub-routine/Main programming: Integral to
empowerment, a modicum of Faith is needed to walk in
the will and word of God.
Here, you are saying that you believe what you’ve read,
heard or saw on the silver screen, about the ability of
God to change you and make you a better person (than
FAI TH you or others perceive yourself to be).
*See Part 2, Chapter 4
COVENANT
OF THE Sub-Routine/Main Programming: While Phase One
LAW tasks are essential for life after death, Phase Two tasks
are essential for life abundant in this life, Here you will
learn more about the boundaries God has set on your
life to protect you from corrupting behavior patterns
and how these corrupting patterns were set in place.
This will be your walk with God, your life “In the
Spirit”. This is to be incorporated into your daily life as
WORD
a lifestyle. *See Part 2, Chapter 4
Input/Church (Faith comes by hearing): It is important to
find a church and attend it regularly. Shop around. Every
church isn’t for everybody. The ideal church should meet
your needs spiritually, teaching and preaching from the
word of God, with an added bonus socially, morally
CHURCH
and/or intellectually. Church is where you’ll find kindred
spirits who also want to get right and get themselves right
with God. And the bible warns us to “not forsake the
assembling of ourselves together (Hebrews 10:25).
BLESSINGS
Input/Output: God will empower you unto the good works
that he has assigned for you. All you have to do is perform
them. Rejoice and praise the Lord some more, for your seed
is grown and is ready to bring forth good fruit. Remember
that God does not bless a person for their benefit alone, but
that through them others might be blessed also. In the 12th
chapter of Luke, Jesus spoke a parable about a certain man
who was blessed by God with an abundance of crops, who,
when his fruits had been gathered purposed in his heart to lay
them up in store and eat, drink and be merry for many years
to come. But God said to him, “Thou fool. This night thy soul
shall be required of thee: then whose shall those
WORKS
provided”? And he ended the parable by
explaining that such was the end of all those who laid
up treasures for themselves and
minded not the things which God intended. the old man
should have gave some of his wealth to the poor and
lived off the rest of what he had.
*See part 2, Chapter 8
"What is truth"? asked Pontius Pilate during his examination at the trial of
Jesus Christ.
What is "truth", and why is it so all important?
The dictionary breaks the definition of "truth" down into two essential
categories. I have labeled these categories (1),"actuality", and (2), "appearances", in order
to come to a certain point in this description. These labels are self descriptive and are not
open to interpretation. Like the truths they describe, they must be taken "as is".
These truths are the causes of disputations and are open to contradictions
because more often than not, they are "false truths" whose precedents are set forth to
contradict the "actual" truth. These truths are based on what can be proven and what you
can make a person believe, as opposed to what really happened. These truth go hand in
hand with the self-righteousness described in chapter four of this part of this book. This
truth is what this book is NOT about.
You have heard it said that there are two sides to every truth. That tenet is
adhered to by liars and deceivers who wish to inject obscure lines into the actual truth.
Find yourself on the butt end of any controversy and you will agree that the only real
truth is what really happened and not what can or cannot be proven.
Nevertheless, for the salvation of the person reading this book, the reason
why I broke down the different definitions of the word truth is to make sure that the
reader truly understands what truth I am trying to get him or her to face here. The truth
can be a shield and/or a weapon when used properly. It can both protect you from harm
and cut through static
God has no desire to, nor is he bound, nor capable of blessing a person who
is draped in, and trust in the deceitfulness of appearances while they are seeking
salvation. On the other hand the persons who dresses him or herself with the truth has
made him or herself a conduit for God's virtuous power to flow through and into.
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you
free. (John 8:32).
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*
Sadly there are some people who were placed in a position to help people,
who often use the sordid information which they have gathered, to further harm the very
people they were put in place to help. You need to make sure that the person or persons
you confess the details of your sins to is someone trustworthy enough to properly use the
information for your betterment and not to your detriment.
There is only one person who knows the full details of my decadency. That person is my
mother.
My mother, who is also my spiritual leader and advisor. She has guided me
throughout all of my religious studies and was there for me throughout all of my years as
an addict. I could not have been blessed more than I was to have been born to a mother of
such integrity. A lot of what I do is in effort to prove myself worthy of such a blessing
despite my hard headed past.
Pastors, teachers, therapists' and counselors are usually the best places to
begin a search for a worthy confessor. A confessor is a person authorized to hear
confessions.
Unfortunately for some people, they cannot trust even their own mothers.
Nothing I have written here in this book can do a person one iota of good if
they are not "of the truth". You cannot be receptive to the blessings God has to offer
unless you approach him "In Spirit and in Truth". (John 4:23)
John 14:6 states:
I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto
the Father, but by me.
By the same token, being "of the truth" leads you to the inner circle where God reveals
ways and means to empower you unto further progress in whatever you choose to
endeavor.
Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and
for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear
witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth
my voice. (John 18:37)
“The light shineth in the darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not”, was how he
began his sermon, quoting John 1:5.
He was a counselor at the mission where I was staying at the time, and he
was also the pastor of a small church in a small town outside of Greenville South
Carolina. Greenville was/is the hub of the Southern Christian universe; the home of Bob
Jones University, and the place where Reverend Jesse Jackson grew up.
The place where I was staying was the Greenville Rescue Mission, a
satellite of Miracle Hill Ministries. I had graduated from their “Overcomers” addiction
program four and a half years earlier and had returned to Greenville in search of a job.
The little town where I was from, Edgefield, had become bankrupt in its job market and
facing homelessness and starvation I was left with the choice to either relocate to where
the jobs were or stay in my hometown and starve. I chose to go.
“And this is the condemnation, that the light is come into the world , and
men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil”. He had skipped to
John 3:19 and he had taken on a more bass tone in his voice as he increased his volume
while speaking directly into the microphone.
“For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his
deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought of God”, he said, continuing on with
John 3:20 and 3:21.
“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”. He had
skipped verses again, this time quoting John 4:23 and 24. Then he went on with his
diatribe, complaining about “ the deeds of men” and deriding our system of “self”
righteousness and self-indulgence and explaining why we were all going to hell because
of the darkness inside of us and why Christ was the answer for those seeking a way out of
the darkness.
“In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in
the darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not”. He had gone full circle with his
scriptural sermon for the time being.
“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy
whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of
darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness”? He
was quoting Matthew 6:22 and 23 now and he was asking us a question. We unanimously
agreed that it was ..”GREAT”, we shouted.
“Ye are the light of the world”… He said this softly; compassionately,
quoting a fragment from Matthew 5:14. “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are
ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light”: another fragment, this time, from
Ephesians 5:8.
“For we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places”. He had skipped to Ephesians 6:12 and he was almost
pleading with us to heed his instruction.
“Ye are all children of light and the children of the day: we are not of the
night, nor of darkness”. First Thessalonians 5:5. He was trying to encourage as well as
enlighten us. He did a good job doing both.
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have
set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose
life, that both thou and thy seed may live. (Deuteronomy 30:19)
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day
whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served
that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites,
in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve
the Lord. (Joshua 24:15)
Let thine hand help me: for I have chosen thy precepts.
(Psalm 119:173)
Envy thou not the oppressor and choose none of his ways.
(Proverbs 3:31)
Butter and honey shall he eat that he may know to refuse evil and
choose the good. (Isaiah 7:15)
...Yea they have chosen their own ways and their soul delighteth in
their abominations. (Isaiah 66:3)
But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part,
which shall not be taken away from her. (Luke 10:42)
********************************************************************
I had convinced myself that it was purely the devil that had taken control
of me early in my addiction. I’d realized it was beyond my power to stop him, and I
began researching what I could do to defeat him. For fifteen years, I was at war with my
own psyche over who was going to be in control of my “Me”. For fifteen years, I thought
I could and eventually would defeat this devil, in and of my own power. For fifteen years,
I failed, time, after time, after time, after time and time again to stay off that drug for
more than a few months at a time. Every victory I won by quitting, was eventually turned
into defeat when I relapsed. Seven demons came back with the old one and each time my
last state was worse than the former. By the end of 2000, I was broken and spent,
disillusioned and disenchanted. In other words I was lost.
I had lost.
I had lost a long time ago, and now I had to admit it. There was no hope
for me, or so I had thought.
Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you,
that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should
remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name he
may give. (John 15:16)
Herein is God’s love for all of his children. Herein is God’s mercy and his
compassion; his lovingkindness and his grace.
A pundit would ask, “Why did God have to wait until I had fallen so far
and hard before he saved me”?
I would answer him with a question: “Why did you wait ‘til you had fallen
so far and hard to ask him”?
God wanted me to discover that I could not defeat the devil without him.
I had learned all that I could about that old devil. I had learned his
weaknesses, his power limits, his devices; I knew what motivated him and what his
ultimate plan was and how to counter every move he made. I knew how to stay one step
ahead of him, when to fight with him and when to run, when to feint left, when to throw
the right. I could dance around the ring with him all night long without taking a hit
sometimes, but then “BOO-YOW”, “BAM”, I was on the floor with my behind in the air
crying, “Help me Lord, help me Jesus”, again.
Tears streaming down my face.
True, I had gained a lot of knowledge about God in the process, so it was
not a total waste of my resources. But the one thing that eluded me that was so essential
to my salvation I had not tried.
Or maybe I tried it but had not done it.
I had never truly submitted myself to God.
Of course I thought I had, what with all my praying and all my promising
and all my studying; of course I thought I had. But I found out that the only thing I had
really been doing was trying to circumvent the devil, to keep him from messing up my
groove. I still wanted to get high but not on crack. I still wanted to play the ladies but not
the crack whores. I still wanted the fancy cars, the bling-bling, the designer labels, the
fancy crib; not to the glory of God, but to the glory of “Roof-Dog”, as I was known in
the circles that I traveled. I wanted to defeat the devil, but not to the glory of God.
If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but
because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of
the world, therefore the world hateth you. (John 15:19)
Enter 2001. I was still smoking crack; still getting whipped by the devil;
still, not saved. I started going to church with my Auntee, who, when I was an infant, was
like a second mother to me, and her son, my many years younger cousin, who was also
fighting a long term crack addiction. By that time, I was known for my biblical
knowledge among many peer groups and while I never pretended to be off of drugs,
cause I wasn't, most people thought that I had my life pretty much under control,
especially those in the bible thumping community. And since they were not known to
hang out at the places where I did my dirt, there was no way for them to know that I was
still dirty, unless somebody told them. And somebody always eventually did.
But my Auntee knew, and she set out to save me at the same time she was
out to save her own son. Plus, she knew how I liked to roll and she figured if she could
get me and her son together, maybe some of what I learned over the years would rub off
onto her son, and he probably wouldn't get his head blown off someday, as he was apt to
do if he kept on the way he had been going. So like I said, I started going to church with
them every Sunday, to the church where I first started going to church, back when I was
an infant; where my mothers family had been going to church for a whole bunch of years.
In fact, my grandfather, my mother’s father, was one of the original founders of the
church, and a deacon, a board member, and a Trustee of the church as well, before he
died
Well we started going to that church every Sunday, and eventually I went
to the alter for the call to discipleship to get saved, and a couple of weeks later I got
baptized there at the church where I was christianed as a baby. I was baptized by their
then, new Pastor, who, when he had brought me up out of the water, whispered
something to me that I did not understand at the time that he said it, but as the water
drained out of my eyes and ears and understanding began to fill my mind, his words
became plain to me and I remembered what he said, and to this day, will always
remember what he said because that was the day I got truly saved.
“What did he say to me “? You said?
I’m glad you want to know.
He said…
“LET HIM USE YOU”.
Four little words that made all the difference in my life.
LET HIM USE YOU. And then it dawned on me.
And there I was trying to use him. And then it dawned on me again.
That’s why I never got saved before, all those times I went to the alter and
cried those tears and prayed those prayers. I was trying to use him, when he just really
wanted to use me.
I felt like such a fool. I knew all along that I wanted to be saved for all of
the wrong reasons, but I never knew that the one right reason should have been so
obvious and I didn’t get it.
I went home and prayed so hard, “Lord use me, Lord use me”.
I found a Fred Hammond CD with a song that had lyrics that prayed to
that same effect called “Please don’t pass me by”. I sang it all the time, with emphasis on
that particular passage:
I prayed that prayer day in and day out until I was walking around
thinking it day in and day out, and until that was all I wanted out of life for him to do
with me was to use me, for whatever purpose he saw fit to use me in.
Not my will but thy will be done Lord, knowing that his will is that I be
saved, that I might have life, and it more abundantly, and above all, that my soul may
prosper.
Anyway it was not long afterwards that I began to compile my notes into a book
that would lead others to God pretty much in the same way that I had been lead to him. I
was still on crack at the time but I had no doubt then that eventually God was going to
save me from that addiction sooner or later. I was so filled with the Holy Ghost that
people couldn’t stand to be around me. And I didn’t make it any easier for them to like
me, preaching repentance to them one day and the next day creeping through the
backalleys fiendin’, trying to avoid being seen coming from the dope house.
I managed to stay off crack for six months that first year after I got saved
and I stayed off of it eight months the second year.
But it wasn’t enough for me.
It took a little longer, but the devil was still able to get a hold on me after a
certain time period and put me back on crack. Something was still missing ; there was
something I was sure that I was still just not getting.
I knew that God had did his part. Of that I was certain.
That third year, I made it to the Greenville Rescue Mission to their
“Overcomers” program where I spent my first seven months of my now seven years clean
time off of crack. I was determined to find that “Missing Link”; that one bit of
information I felt that I needed to crack the case. It felt like something that was right on
the tip of my tongue that I was about to say but forgot. So close but yet, so far.
I was able to refine this book during my stay there at the mission and gain
more insight into the psychology of addictions from their counselors and their program
literature, a lot of which I also used in my book in the form of certain of my
philosophies. And, as it turned out, I discovered that my problem was not just theological,
but also, psychological.
They had hired a new counselor that year with a string of letters after his
name on his business card: M. DIV., Th.M.: a radical fellow, with really radical ideas
about the church and about worship. He was formerly a psychiatrist who had found more
healing in the bible than he did in his former field of study. But he was not entirely
against his former profession. He had also written a book that was unpublished at the
time called “The Psychology “, or “The Psychiatry of the Bible”; I forget which. At any
rate he also, had discovered a form of logic and reason within the tenets of the bible that
led to good mental and emotional health. I mean, what is the bible if not an instruction
manual for behavior? And isn’t psychology called a “behavioral science”? We both
agreed that addictions and circumstances were a product of ones behavior and that our
behavior was a product of our learning and that experience was the best teacher.
Or, in other words, I was full of a lot of shit, because I went through a lot
of shit.
We also both agreed that the bible was the only book known to man that
held the proper moral tenets that would enable a man to maintain a healthy mental and
emotional balance and lifestyle.
I had a lot of respect for that counselor, more because of his views, than
for who he was. I allowed him to read my book in its infant stage and he said it was
brilliant, but that was because he wouldn’t think to believe that a crackhead of my stature
(social, intellectual, moral or educational) could have or would have done a study as
intense as I had into the subject of behavior in the fields of theology and psychology on a
level just below, just above or on the same level with his own theories. And while his
views were radical, and he would be the first to admit that as a fact; while his views were
radical, he thought I was “Off the Chain”.
For instance:
He would never think to use the word “shit”, to describe errant data, or an
unpleasant event, situation or circumstance, and he would frown at my use of the word,
as probably most of you would considering the context of this book.
I won’t try to justify myself with arguments about the use of certain other
four letter words used in the bible because we already know that justification of their
usage hinges on the context in which they were used.
And while I used a lot of scripture to fortify certain arguments I wanted to
make clear, the truth is, THIS AIN’T THE BIBLE.
It’s just a book. No blasphemy intended.
But through his teachings I was able to find my “Missing Link”, what he
called my “Root Cause”, for my errant behavior pattern, i.e., my crack addiction.
Who else but the devil would do something like what was done to me as
an infant?
Who else but the devil could keep my parents eyes closed to what was
happening to me, and gave them over to an indifferent heart, that they did not educate me
on the proper use of sex?
Who else but the devil could use a child to teach me to learn what I did as
a youth?
Who else but the devil would think to use my siblings, and my friends, and
my women to continue this practice of perversion?
Who else but the devil could have kept me so blind as to not see that I was
in error for so long?
I had been celibate for seven months while in the “Overcomers” program
at the Greenville Rescue Mission. I remained celibate for five more months after I
graduated. All total I stayed celibate for a year and got myself a new start on my sexual
morality program.
No. I’m still not doing it the way God intended for me to do it; I’m still
not married yet. But I have every intention to get married as soon as I find someone crazy
enough or desperate enough or moral enough to marry me.(Pick one).
No. I’m still not substance free like I know that I should be. I quit smoking
weed only to find suitable employment. I’m still debating on whether or not to smoke a
joint now and then, if I feel like it, just as I’ll probably have a beer or a drink every now
and then, if I feel like it.
I did however manage to begin to quit smoking cigarettes, just last week
as a matter of fact. So far its been eight days, but I feel like its been forever. It was just
like when I had been off of crack for the first few months and looked back on the time
that I was almost always high, and I played the videotape of my life over and over again,
and I compared myself now to that person I was then, and I looked at myself and I said to
myself, “That’s not me”. But I remembered those times just like it was yesterday, and for
a fact, yes, it was me, as much as I hate to admit it.
It was me.
Well that’s how I feel when I look back on when I used to smoke
cigarettes. I can’t remember ever doing anything without a cigarette in my mouth, and
now I can’t imagine ever doing anything ever again with a cigarette in my mouth. Its like
I never smoked cigarettes before, just like I felt like I had never smoked crack before,
after I had quit. I know what happened. God took them away from me, just like he took
crack away from me. Or rather he took the taste for them away from me, or out of my
mouth, or both. Either way, they are both gone from my life. I have to admit though, that
I was lacking in faith when it came to quitting smoking cigarettes and I have only to
thank God, for it seems to me that he was faithfully fulfilling his promise to cleanse me
of all unrighteousness ,as stated in I John 1:9. I had quit drinking and I had quit using
drugs but until I quit smoking cigarettes I was just “Pissin’ in the wind”, as we cowboys
like to put it. Such was their hold on me that I thought that I was never going to be
elevated to a level of power where I could quit smoking cigarettes. But God had other
plans for me and I thank him that it had nothing to do with cigarettes remaining in my
life. He saved me from my crack addiction and he saved me once again when he took
away my cigarette smoking habit.
I talk to God every day though. Sometimes three or four times a day.
I pray for guidance and direction. That’s part of my ritual prayer.
I pray for healing, and for blessings. And for people I love.
I pray for strength to do his will.
I pray that he would use me, but so far, it seems that this book is the only
thing he wants me to do for now.
But my most important prayer…
At least it’s the most important prayer to me.
My most important prayer: I say,
“Lord. Everything wrong in me, get it out of me”.
I tell him all the time, “I choose you Lord”. I say, “I weighed my
decisions, and I chose you”.
I chose him a long time ago.
And he answers my prayers.
One blessing at a time. `
Okay! Now I want you to put away the Flowchart and ignore all the nonsense about computers and
look at just the key issues pertaining to the Kingdom of God as I have outlined them:
They could just as easily be viewed as checkpoints on a roadmap from Point A to Point B:
or a set of steps leading from the bottom level to the top level.
Etc.
faith
baptism
salvation
prayer
belief
gospel
word
covenant
There are other analogies I could use, but by now, you get the picture.
The Flowchart analogy is MY thing. It’s how I made sense of this thing the Apostle Paul
termed a mystery. It makes a great deal of sense to me. It’s totally logical. I don’t know if
I would do it this way if I were God though, this salvation of humanity thing. I would just
save everybody and be done with it, case closed. Righteousness by Faith, righteousness
by works or self righteousness; who cares? Righteousness is righteousness, right? There
is an ulterior motive behind all of them. We put our trust in God because we see him as
the best way for us to get the most out of life, right? I mean, what are the other choices?
The devil? Please! The government? Right! Our jobs? You can take my job and shove it.
Our family? No way! Men? Women? Neither of them can see beyond their own
immediate needs to give a damn about yours (or mines). What about our own great
selves? My best thinking got me hooked on drugs and kept me broke and in need as well
as saw my kids raised by other men more stupid than myself. MY BEST THINKING.
We put our trust in God because all of our other choices have already
failed us. We put our trust in God because all of our other choices have already proven
themselves to be unworthy of our trust.
I put my trust in God because he has already shown me that he loves me
and will take care of, will never leave me nor forsake me, and will forgive me and have
mercy on me when I had already proven myself untrustworthy to him. Which of the
alternatives named would have extended themselves so far for me under those
circumstances?
Sal vat i on
Note:These first few steps are all that is required to insure the believer of their salvation. As long as
the belief remains in their hearts and minds, the believer is assured of life after death.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
(John 3:16)
start That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt
believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved, For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and
with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9-10)
Covenant
Of
Grace
A B
return
Gospel
Salvation
Of
Christ
return
Bapt i sm
Note: The serious believer will take this all important next step and be baptized in Jesus’ name which symbolizes
their desire to walk in newness of life. The believer cannot lay serious claim to rebirth until they have been bap-
tized.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be
damned. (Mark 16:16)
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was
raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk
start in newness of life (Romans 6:4)
Covenant
Of
Grace
return
Gospel
Of Salvation
Christ
return
return
EMPOWERMENT
Note: Faith in God is displayed by the believer when they allow themselves to be baptized. It is a clear indica-
tion of their willingness to walk in the will of God , a requirement to be Anointed with the power of the Holy
Ghost. The Anointing wil empower the believer to resist temptations of the flesh and guide them unto right-
eousness. It will teach them to understand his Word and his will for them, especially, and for mankind in gen-
eral, and empower them to perform His will and create in them the willingness and the courage to do such.
But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come
upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me… unto the utter-
start most parts of the earth. (Acts 1:18)
A B C D
return return The
Gospel
Anointing/
Of Salvation
The
Christ
Holy
Ghost
return
______ FAI TH
The Key t o Empower ment
Note: The following set of charts depicts examples of empowerment that differ in syntax from one set of circum-
stances to the next, but the resulting empowerment through faith remains constant.
And when the day of pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in
one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty
wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto
them cloven tongues like as a fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all
filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Holy
Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1-4)
start
Covenant
Of
Grace
A B C D
return return The
Gospel Anointing/
Of The
Christ Holy
Ghost
return
Empowerment of the Samar i t ans
And Ephesi ans
Note: Just as in the cases of healings recorded in the bible by the Apostles, the laying on of hands works to em-
power people when the subject(s) have faith (little or enough) to be Anointed thus.
Now when the Apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaraia had received
the Word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: Who when they were come
down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet he was
fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus).
start Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. (Acts 8:14 -17)
Paul came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, he said, Have ye received the
Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said We have not so much as heard whether
there be any Holy Ghost. And he said, Unto what were ye baptized? And they said
Unto Johns’ baptism. Paul said, John baptized the baptism of repentance saying to
Covenant the people that they should believe on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were
Of baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus . And when Paul laid his hands on them, the
Holy Ghost came on them: and they spake in tongues and prophesied. (Acts 19:1 -6)
Grace
A B C D
return return The
Gospel Anointing/
Salvation
Of The
Christ Holy
Ghost
return return
Empowerment of
The Apost l e Paul
And Annanias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands
on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord even Jesus that appeared unto thee in the
way that thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be
filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had
been scales and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.
(Acts 9:17-18)
start
Covenant
Of
Grace
A B C D
return The
Gospel
Anointing/
Of
Salvation The
Christ
Holy
Ghost
Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy
soul prospereth. (III John 2)
Word
Obedience
A
Church A=Yes
B=No
Bible B
return
A
Study
Blessings
Speaking/
Singing
Works
Prayer
Rest
Meditation
return
return
return return The return
Gospel Anointing/
Of Salvation The
Christ return return Holy Ghost
Church A=Yes
B=No
B return
Bible A
Study
Blessings
Speaking/
Singing
Works
Prayer
Rest
Meditation
return return
return return return
return return
A B C D
1
start
2
THE PROGRAM
THE KI NGDOM
OF GOD
A=Yes
B=No
B return
A
return return
REPROGRAM
REPROGRAM