Archive for March, 2021
Satan’s Cloaked Kingdom
If we understand exactly how Satan gained control of many things, we will at the same time become more able to appreciate just how much more God controls. While it is completely true that Satan is a fully defeated foe, in the present, he is given freedom as though he is not at all defeated. This is a crucial difference to understand because it alerts us to the real issue: our need to constantly rely on God, His strength, grace and discernment to do proper battle with our biggest enemy, the battle for people’s souls. We are in the thick of that.
Discerning the Times: CV-19 News, Satan’s Shoes and Rebounding
When I first read about this, I was surprised and even offended, thinking that the shoe company, Nike, had gone way off the rails in producing a shoe dedicated to Satan himself. It actually turns out that the shoes are not produced by Nike at all. A rapper by the name Lil Nas X (real name is Montero Lamar Hill), along with the art collective, MSCHF, bought 666 pairs of Nike AirMax shoes. They then went to their creative boards and created a shoe they call “Satan Shoes. The shoes are of course, limited to 666, numbered and the soul of each shoe has red ink along with a drop of human blood. Nike fully denies any involvement in the product and it would likely be difficult for their lawyers to issue a cease and desist since what Nax X is doing is no different from buying some Ford Mustangs, souping them up and adding designs to them and then reselling them at a profit.
False Priests: Hophni and Phinehas
What might have been different had Eli had the backbone train up his sons properly or to remove them from the priesthood when he saw their ongoing sin? This same truth should apply to many within Christendom today, yet not only do they continue their blasphemous teachings, but they are often applauded by the people in the pews. Why is that? Because of a complete dearth of discernment today. Emotional virtue has made its way into Christendom. If it “feelz” good, then it must be good, right? Wrong.
Discerning the Times: CV-19, Robots and More!
I want to end this on a solid up note. A man in China suffered from what is known as ankylosing spondylitis, a condition where inflammatory arthritis affects the spine and large joints. Ultimately, this means that a person’s bones are fused together. In this case, the young man’s body folded in half. He spent the last 28 years in a folded position. I realize this is not the “up” part of the story. The actual “up” part is what doctors were able to do for the man after four grueling surgeries that could’ve resulted in the man’s death in each case.
Lessons From Ruth
However, though the times were spiritually disconsolate, there were blessings for some people who had not cast God off. Because of that overall spiritual void though, it is understandable (yet still wrong), that Naomi (the mother-in-law of Ruth), felt completely abandoned by God after her husband died and then her two grown, married sons also died, leaving her and her two daughters-in-law widows. Naomi believed God’s hand was against her because of the deaths of the men (v 13). Isn’t that like us? When bad things happen, we are often tempted to think God has not only left us, but is punishing us for something. Certainly, He could be chastising us for unconfessed sin. Yet, the more we know about how God works (through Scripture), the more we know that this is not always the case (i.e. Joseph in Genesis).
Focusing on the Future, Pt 11
At any rate, all I can strongly suggest is that the Bible becomes the main book read each and every day. All throughout the Old Testament, it is very clear that the emphasis was on what God had said to Moses and was later written down by him so that the people could constantly go over His Words with a fine-tooth comb and do what that Word said, and do it from the heart. Unfortunately, as we know, this rarely happened with Israel in the Old Testament and by the time, Jesus arrived on the scene physically, there was even less of it happening. His was an uphill battle from start to finish, but finish He did!
Judges: How Low Can They Go?
Many of the 14 judges are simply named and only noting how long they judged. Not much more is provided. There are a few judges with whom the Scriptures elaborates and provides a great many details, like Deborah and Barak, Samson, Gideon and a few others. In almost all cases, the Lord reminds us that “the people did evil in the sight of the Lord” and it was usually the time between each judge. As soon as a judge dies, the people fell back into their evil ways so God raises another judge. As noted, this was before Israel had any human kings at all (and this statement also implies Israel did not see God as their King), and the people constantly did what was right in their own eyes. In other words, anarchy was the result.
Pray for Our Daughter & Caleb
Update: 1:30
Our daughter is doing well. Caleb seems to be doing well too.
His birthweight is 4lbs 8 oz and there was no need to intubate him. He is breathing well on his own but they do have him hooked up to a CPAP machine as a precaution.
Thank you for the many who are praying. It’s not that God needs to hear more prayers from as many people as possible before He acts.
It’s that as we join in our voices together for the same purpose, the Lord blesses those who kneel before Him. There are many examples of God moving in big ways in response to the prayers of one person in Scripture.
God blesses and enlarges the faith of those who take the time to submit to Him in the realm of prayer.
Thank you again.
Update: 7:30am
Just talked with Rach & Ryan. She’s doing fine. Caleb was born and is doing ok but they said he’ll be in ICU for 6-8 weeks. Said he cried more than Jethro and he was kicking, which are very good signs.
Apparently the placenta started tearing away which is a rare condition.
Rachel isn’t sure how long she’ll be in the hospital.
************
Just a quick post…our pregnant daughter was taken to the hospital this morning with bleeding and contractions.
As I write this at 6:30am they are delivering her son, Caleb. But he is only 30 weeks and 3 pounds. This will mean he spends time in the ICU and fortunately there is a level 4 Neo-natal ICU at the same hospital where our daughter is now.
The Lord is in the details.
If readers would be so kind as to lift our daughter, Rachel, son Caleb , and dad, Ryan up to the Lord for His watchcare over them we would very much appreciate it.
Isaiah 41:10 says, “Fear not for I am with you. Be not dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
We are heading up to be with them today.
Thank you so much for your prayers and I will post updates in this brief post.
Our Standing and Progress in the Faith: Justification
So what does this result in for the Christian? We know that God declares us righteous because we are justified in Him. We are justified not on our own merit but solely because of what Jesus has accomplished on our behalf. God did it. We did nothing. We only came to exercise faith in what Jesus accomplished and then only when God “woke” us to that truth (John 6:44; cf also 14:6 and 2 Corinthians 5:21).
Discerning the Times: Truth for Christians
Ironside clearly enunciates the truth of Scripture and proves that while our lives should continually improve because of our standing and position before Christ and the progress that we are to make as we daily surrender to Him, the fact remains that those caught up in some form of holiness movement become either entirely hypocritical or have some type of breakdown and/or falling away from the faith. This belief that we can reach a state of absolute pure and consistent holiness without ever again sinning is not taught in Scripture and Ironside explains that very clearly.
Study - Grow - Know 