"It is very possible for an earnest Christian to be so poorly taught and to so misunderstand the truths of Christianity that he is unable to adequately practice the Christian life!"  (Victor Matthews, Plant My Feet On Higher Ground)

While still on the earth Jesus said "Narrow is the gate and few the number of those who find it."

@jmallory got me thinking.  And today I'm pondering the words of Jesus from heaven to all who consider themselves Christians.  These words are found in the Apocalypse (or the Revelation) of Jesus Christ, chapters 2 & 3, in the letters to the seven churches which John the Apostle was commanded to write.  And these words tell the story of 2000 years of increasing apostasy (falling away) in the whole church and the failure (falling short) of individual Christians.  (I shall post an further explanation of that soon.)

This week I heard the pastor of the church I attend more often than any other emphasize the coming "great harvest" as he declared the book of Revelation impossible to interpret with certainty.  That leaves me in a bit of a quandary since I clearly understand the prophecies which concern the Christian church in that book; and they are clearly taught by the denomination in which I and he work.  Well, I am not called to pastor this flock of believers!  And I am not called to hinder this man's ministry, for he is my dear friend and brother in Christ!  So I mostly kept my mouth shut in the Bible Study this week.

But I am called to encourage all Christians, regardless of their intelligence and/or biblical scholarship, that they should be consistently seeking the direct guidance of Jesus through His Holy Spirit that they may practice living for Him every minute of every day, that they may be deemed worthy to be snatched out of this world any minute now, thus escaping the awful judgements which are most assuredly coming upon the unbelievers whose numbers are increasing.  (I, myself, do not want to be among those who are left behind facing horrendous martyrdom as the only remaining chance of joining the elect.)  The allotted number of the gentiles to be saved is surely almost fulfilled as we speak.  The rapture is imminent, and tribulations on the earth will follow afterward.

Salvation: then, now, and later

            THE PROBLEM:   Confession of sin in our churches most often comes from those who are just being saved.  We hear their stories as the equivalent of the “before” pictures in liposuction ads with all that detestable flab hanging out over the edges of ill-fitting bathing suits.  The assumption is that the rest of us have had all the sin sucked out of our abs and buttocks and are currently enjoying our slim, trim “after” bodies.  If sin does happen to show up later in a believer’s life, WE ASSUME it is the result of a temporary backsliding.  It happens to the best of us now and then.  This is ‘solved” by a simple rededication of our lives to God -- a sort of “salvation refresher.”  Sin is rarely, if ever, addressed as a normal part of a believer’s everyday experience.

Is salvation a one-time experience or something that we need everyday of our lives?  THE ANSWER:  Yes and yes.  These are actually two aspects of a three- pronged process of salvation – past, present, and future.  The theological names for these three aspects of salvation are justification, sanctification, and glorification.  Justification is what has happened to us in relation to our sin, once and for all, on the cross.  Jesus Christ’s death in our place has justified us forever before God and made possible our fellowship with him.

But this does not mean that we are sinless.  Paul calls it a “body of death” that we still have to carry around in this life even though we have received the first fruits of the Spirit in our hearts (Romans 8:23.)  We are currently caught between our ultimate glorification when we will receive our resurrection bodies like Christ, and the past-tense justification of ourselves through the finished work of Christ on the cross.  Everything in between is our present-tense experience of the process of sanctification.  That experience includes both sin and forgiveness of sin as a daily occurrence.  Though our salvation is secured in heaven, we experience it currently as we struggle with our sin nature and feel God’s knife cutting more deeply into the subtleties of our flesh.

The experience of sin in a believer’s life is not always backsliding.  Nor is it always willful disobedience.  Often it is what is simply revealed or brought into view because of the Holy Spirit’s work at peeling away our sin nature like the layers of an onion.  The longer we follow Christ the more we discover how deep the sin goes and how deep and wide are his mercy and love.  Realization of sin, confession, and forgiveness continue as we find out more about ourselves.  This is why this process is both painful and rewarding.  Painful because we keep discovering how far we still have to go, but rewarding because we keep discovering, as well, how far Christ has gone for us.  This is also why the older believer always has an affinity for the new believer.  It’s the same process.  The new believer may be experiencing God’s forgiveness for the first time, but the experience is immediate, real, and necessary for both of them.

(The preceding is almost entirely quoted from 12 Steps for the Recovering Pharisee by John Fischer, which I highly recommend to all who wish to understand genuine Christianity and the problems of the modern- day church.)   

How are we believers to know all that is ours in Christ Jesus?  Well, surely, we can start to know from Our Lord’s own words!

According to John’s Gospel, Chapter Seventeen, Jesus prayed directly to His Father on my behalf and yours IF you are a believer.  Following here, highlighted by bold print, are the blessings He prayed for us as translated in the English Amplified Version.  I shall have added my commentary in italics.

JESUS… lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify and exalt and honor and magnify Your Son, so that Your Son may glorify and extol and honor and magnify You.  [Just as] You have granted Him power and authority over all flesh (all humankind), [now glorify Him] so that He may give eternal life to all whom You have given Him.  (all believers)

And this is eternal life: [it means] to know (to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand) You, the only true and real God, and [likewise] to know Him, Jesus [as the] Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), Whom You have sent.

I have glorified You here on the earth by completing the work that You gave Me to do. And now, Father, glorify Me along with Yourself and restore Me to such majesty and honor in Your presence as I had with You before the world existed.

I have manifested Your Name [I have revealed Your very Self, Your real Self] to the people whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, and You gave them to Me, and they have obeyed and kept Your word.  Now [at last] they know and understand that all You have given Me belongs to You [is really and truly Yours].

For the [uttered] words that You gave Me I have given them; and they have received and accepted [them] and have come to know positively and in reality [to believe with absolute assurance] that I came forth from Your presence, and they have believed and are convinced that You did send Me.  I am praying for them.

I am not praying (requesting) for the (whole) world (of mankind), but (only) for those You have given Me (those who have believed in Me), for they belong to You.

All [things that are] Mine are Yours, and all [things that are] Yours belong to Me; and I am glorified in (through) them. [They have done Me honor; in them My glory is achieved.]

And [now] I am no more in the world, but these are [still] in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep in Your Name [in the knowledge of Yourself] those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We [are one].

While I was with them, I kept and preserved them in Your Name [in the knowledge and worship of You]. Those You have given Me I guarded and protected, and not one of them has perished or is lost except the son of perdition [Judas Iscariot--the one who is now doomed to destruction, destined to be lost], that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

And now I am coming to You; I say these things while I am still in the world, so that My joy may be made full and complete and perfect in them [that they may experience My delight fulfilled in them, that My enjoyment may be perfected in their own souls, that they may have My gladness within them, filling their hearts].

I have given and delivered to them Your word (message) and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world [do not belong to the world], just as I am not of the world.  (Therefore) I do not ask that You will take them out of the world, but that You will keep and protect them from the evil one.

They are not of the world (worldly, belonging to the world), [just] as I am not of the world.  (Therefore) Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth.

Just as You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. (Your Holy Spirit indwelling them and empowering them spiritually as with Me!) And so for their sake and on their behalf I sanctify (dedicate, consecrate) Myself, that they also may be sanctified (dedicated, consecrated, made holy) in the Truth.

Neither for these alone do I pray [it is not for their sake only that I make this request], but also for all those who will ever come to believe in (trust in, cling to, rely on) Me through their word and teaching,

That they all may be one, [just] as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe and be convinced that You have sent Me.  I have given to them the glory (the spiritual clout) and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one [even] as We are one:  I in them and You in Me, in order that they may become one and perfectly united, that the world may know and [definitely] recognize that You sent Me and that You have loved them [even] as You have loved Me.

Father, I desire that they also whom You have entrusted to Me [as Your gift to Me] may be with Me where I am (seated in heaven on the throne of spiritual power! See Ephesians 1: 19 - 23), so that they may see My glory, which You have given Me [Your love gift to Me]; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

O just and righteous Father, although the world has not known You and has failed to recognize You and has never acknowledged You, I have known You [continually]; and these men understand and know that You have sent Me.  I have made Your Name known to them and revealed Your character and Your very Self, and I will continue to make [You] known, that the love which You have bestowed upon Me may be in them [felt in their hearts] and that I [Myself] may be in them.

How many of the blessings which are ours in Christ, highlighted above in Our Lord’s own prayer for us, have you personally taken ownership of?

THERE was a certain man among the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler (a leader, an authority) among the Jews,

    Who came to Jesus at night and said to Him, Rabbi, we know and are certain that You have come from God [as] a Teacher; for no one can do these signs (these wonderworks, these miracles--and produce the proofs) that You do unless God is with him.

    Jesus answered him, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that unless a person is born again (anew, from above), he cannot ever see (know, be acquainted with, and experience) the kingdom of God.

    Nicodemus said to Him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter his mother's womb again and be born?

    Jesus answered, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, unless a man is born of water and [even] the Spirit, he cannot [ever] enter the kingdom of God.

    What is born of [from] the flesh is flesh [of the physical is physical]; and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.

    Marvel not [do not be surprised, astonished] at My telling you, You must all be born anew (from above).

    The wind blows (breathes) where it wills; and though you hear its sound, yet you neither know where it comes from nor where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

    Nicodemus answered by asking, How can all this be possible?

    Jesus replied, Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet do not know nor understand these things? [Are they strange to you?]

    I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, We speak only of what we know [we know absolutely what we are talking about]; we have actually seen what we are testifying to [we were eyewitnesses of it]. And still you do not receive our testimony [you reject and refuse our evidence--that of Myself and of all those who are born of the Spirit].

    If I have told you of things that happen right here on the earth and yet none of you believes Me, how can you believe (trust Me, adhere to Me, rely on Me) if I tell you of heavenly things?

    And yet no one has ever gone up to heaven, but there is One Who has come down from heaven--the Son of Man [Himself], Who is (dwells, has His home) in heaven.

    And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert [on a pole], so must [so it is necessary that] the Son of Man be lifted up [on the cross],

    In order that everyone who believes in Him [who cleaves to Him, trusts Him, and relies on Him] may not perish, but have eternal life and [actually] live forever!

    For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.

    For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him.

    He who believes in Him [who clings to, trusts in, relies on Him] is not judged [he who trusts in Him never comes up for judgment; for him there is no rejection, no condemnation--he incurs no damnation]; but he who does not believe (cleave to, rely on, trust in Him) is judged already [he has already been convicted and has already received his sentence] because he has not believed in and trusted in the name of the only begotten Son of God. [He is condemned for refusing to let his trust rest in Christ's name.]

    The [basis of the] judgment (indictment, the test by which men are judged, the ground for the sentence) lies in this: the Light has come into the world, and people have loved the darkness rather than and more than the Light, for their works (deeds) were evil.

    For every wrongdoer hates (loathes, detests) the Light, and will not come out into the Light but shrinks from it, lest his works (his deeds, his activities, his conduct) be exposed and reproved.

    But he who practices truth [who does what is right] comes out into the Light; so that his works may be plainly shown to be what they are--wrought with God [divinely prompted, done with God's help, in dependence upon Him].

These words of Jesus Himself, translated into English and clarified in the Amplified Bible, are recorded in the "gospel" of John, chapter 3.

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 "I'm saved; so now what should I do?"  I'm hearing this question often.  So, I'm re posting the answers:

Follow the Inward Witness of the Spirit of God Speaking Directly to your spirit.

Romans 8: 14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God....  ¹⁶The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

Notice that Christians should receive direction and correction from Him, directly.  Receiving direction and correction only from other people is the inferior way!  There are many ways to fail doing it this inferior way.

Before Jesus even revealed the coming of the Holy Spirit to replace Himself in the world of men, He taught that "God is Spirit!"  John 4:  ²⁴God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

If you are born again, spiritually born from above,  the Holy Spirit of God – the Helper, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth -- God Himself is living in your own spirit. 

Believers have God's Promises that He will guide us directly!

Jeremiah 33: 3‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’

John 10:  ⁴And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. ⁵Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” ⁶Jesus used this illustration, but they did not yet understand the things which He spoke to them.

          ...14I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. ¹⁵As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. ¹⁶And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

John 16:13However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; ... and He will tell you things to come.

Understand, and always remember, God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit are the One and Only True God!  And today it is with God the Spirit we deal directly, One Spirit to one spirit!

Usually God simply speaks the truth into our spirits; and we then “perceive” the truth as a known fact, seemingly from out of nowhere! And we ask ourselves, and finally make a decision: “This is God Himself speaking to me! I recognize His voice!”

The law of Moses commanded the future kings of Israel should not take for themselves “many wives” and should not form large, standing armies, etc. Yet, we know that King David took for himself many wives and concubines and commanded the formation of large, standing armies. Nonetheless, Scripture looks back at David in Acts 13:22 (quoting Psalm 89): God says:"I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will." In 1st Kings 11, God said that King David walked in His ways, did what was right in His eyes, kept His statutes and judgements; and that these were the reasons David was chosen to reign in the first place. In 1st Kings 14:8 God said to a subsequent king:"...you have not been as My servant David, who kept My commandments and who followed Me with all his heart, to do only what was right in My eyes."

King David understood his anointing, after which “the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward." Whenever David faced a decision, he “inquired of the Lord” directly. Sometimes, therefore, his decisions deviated from the dictates of Scripture and its always- present interpreters. But his decisions were pleasing to God!

King David was not without sin, didn't always get it right even under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. However, David immediately confessed and repented of his sins when he was confronted. And his confessions and repentance were pleasing to God.

King David suffered many consequences as results of his failures. However David never lost faith in God. He believed God's word to him and was, like Abraham before him, recognized as righteous before God.

King David often acted in ways which were unexpected, even disapproved, by his fellow Hebrews. But God declares that David always acted rightly in His eyes. And this was the result of seeking God with his whole heart and listening for God to guide his steps.

Today the Holy Spirit of God is available to anyone willing to trust in God. The Apostle Paul wrote that we, therefore, should “reign in life” and that “...we have such trust through Christ toward God -- Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves -- but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”  (Romans 5:17, 2^nd Corinthians 3:4-6)

Why then, I ask myself, do so many Christians remain solely dependent upon their own, poor intellectual understanding of Scripture -- or worse yet, someone else's?  Why do they remain denomination-led or congregation-led, failing to become Spirit-led, failing to reign in this life, failing to look like what we are: little kings under the authority and personal guidance of The King? Perhaps it is because it is just so very easy to slip into Christian religiosity, Christian mediocrity, the Christian cookie cutter mold. Perhaps it is too frightening to watch those few struggling out there against the consensus of believers to love as Jesus loved at all costs, no matter what! 

Are you frightened by your new covenant?  Or are you unaware of it?

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I'm re-posting this today for my friend Barbara, @blonde_apocalypse

As I humble myself more and more to the realities of what is mine in Christ Jesus, as I pray and act out the authority He has bestowed upon me and upon all believers, and as I teach others in areas of faith which are beyond their present comprehension, very often observers accuse me that I have become autocratic, authoritarian, arrogant, even disrespectful of the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  These accusations are generated by the “liar and the father of lies,” even when they are voiced by sincere but weaker believers.  So I offer the following, written by JA MacMillan in his book, The Authority of the Intercessor:

We have been made through the ministry of our gracious Lord, “Kings and priests unto his God and Father.”  If we believe this, and walk in the conscious light of the Lord,  there cannot fail in time to be seen in us what was said of the brethren of Gideon: “Each one resembled the children of a king” (Judges 8:18).

Now and at all times when I see for myself, manifested in the physical realm, that my prayers of command in the Name of Jesus, directed at the unseen forces of darkness have been obeyed, I give all the praise and glory and thanksgiving to Whom it rightly belongs, my Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ.

In the words of the Larnelle Harris song, Everything You Are:  Lord, in spite of how it may appear, You know that my heart is pure.  And I find the truth I’m searching for in You.     NOT in the words of my accusers!

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The jet stream has changed course, and the temperatures in West Central Indiana have dropped.  I can again sit for hours comfortably in front of my aging PC and communicate with the internet world.  So much to write about and catch up on!

We've had some rain this week too; so I feel it's safe to burn trash carefully in a mesh covered barrel in my back yard, and I can now begin to see a footpath through the back room of my rented house where my aging PC is located.

After much impatient waiting, I can finish clearing this room out to make room for a Total Gym apparatus to work off 180# of ugly and unhealthy fat!  I'm too heavy now -- 350# -- to exercise on my Gazelle Edge, which did work well for me years ago, before I began to store Helpmate's inherited stuff in this room.  Finally, I found a home for all that stuff three months ago, and it only cost me a tank full of gasoline to have it hauled away all in one day.  And, after months of increased diuretic and pissing away the coronary edema which painfully dissuaded me from real exercise, I'm feeling energetic enough to get back to traditional exercise workouts. 

Also, I've recently lost my two best s exercise partners, scriptural-speak: my concubines, or in the modern vernacular: friends with benefits.  One has moved out of the area.  The other has fallen victim to criticism from the dimwits who surround her in her apartment building.  I can understand and will wait to see if that blows over.  S exercise alone wasn't producing the weight loss results I'd hoped for anyhow.

The dry, hot weather has also taken a toll on other friendships somewhat based upon my cooking and feeding them.  I haven't used my conventional oven or stove top much, nor have I fired up my gas grill in the front yard very much.  Those friends were apparently unimpressed and not excited as I was by the fresh- picked tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, lettuce, watermelons, cantelopes, etc.  And they haven't dropped by to see me as often as they did.  The upside has been more meals with my mom and Helpmate and family members, here in my home and also in local restaurants.  Thank God Who planted so many Amish here in Parke County, selling their most excellent garden produce.

I've been reading a lot more lately too, wherever I could sit near air conditioning.  Of particular importance I have an old book entitled Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties and Roots loaded on my Kindle Fire, and it's everything its title promises.  I've tried to keep up with subscriptions on Xanga and Revelife, and to browse through the top blogs there.  Also I find I'm having more internet contacts to respond to lately; and I'm meeting many new people now.

Ok, OK.  Back to some housework.  I can feel some new blogs percolating in my soul.

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I am a lifelong, moderate Republican.  But Barry Goldwater scared the hell outa me.  Then I became active as a young man supporting Pete McCloskey's primary run against Richard Nixon's dirty tricks.  (hope i spelled Pete's name correctly 'cause it's been awhile back)  And in my home county in Indiana, if one doesn't vote in the Republican primary then one really isn't involved in the community's affairs.  I am proudly a "lunch pail Republican."  All that said...

I felt real pain inside when Richard Lugar lost his re election bid this Spring to a right-wing nut job.  And I think the Senator who replaced Evan Bayh is a crook.   The ads I see for Mike Pence for governor these days barely resemble the goose-stepping Congressman I have seen on TV the past few years among the other obstructionists.   (Oh God, I hope I'm wrong about this man.)  Poor, poor Indiana!  Led down the paths of propaganda financed by the greedy, filthy-rich sons of bitches who delight in profiting from the despairing ignorant poor and worker class!

Anyone who has read my blogs before knows I love and follow the Lord Jesus Christ.  By His grace I am able to be somewhat patient with gossips and slanderers in my own neighborhood.  And He knows how I loath liars and deceivers just as He does.

I love the truth!  And this year in politics, here is where -- for the most part -- the truth can be found: The Obama/Biden Truth Team!

http://www.barackobama.com/truth-team/

"Will you please sing for us again?"  "Of course I will."  So goes the usual invitation and acceptance for me, about every three months or so when the church I attend schedules an open microphone night.  It's simply a fact that I've a pleasant and powerful baritone singing voice and the grace to share it without fear.  But these days, now that I'm horrendously overweight with aching feet, the invitations present something of a challenge.

Only those of you who are called to sing or otherwise perform music to share and/or lead worship will understand my deep desire to do it well or not at all.  Nonetheless, for me it's another opportunity to share my testimony in song and to share my own, very personal worship of Our Lord with others. 

The Anchor Holds, a Ray Boltz song, is the most-often requested.  It became deeply personal for me while I endured a prison term for a crime I did not commit; but it clearly has much meaning for others who've faced raging seas of their own.  I always hear disappointment expressed after those few occasions when I left it off my list.  However, it's nearly five minutes long and presents itself rather slowly; so I often sense the younger in the crowd -- those who've not yet experienced the need for anchoring -- getting fidgety.  The decision to sing it or something else requires me to inquire of the Spirit of God each and every time.

Another song which expresses my personal adoration and worship for Christ is entitled Everything You Are.  It's a Larnelle Harris song; and there is no possibility I can sing it in his beautiful, HIGH tenor range!  I could not find an accompaniment track in my own range for a long, long time; so for years I just sang it for myself.  This last Spring I actually sang it on open microphone nights without any accompaniment at all, and people obviously liked it, were moved by it.  Then last month I discovered and purchased a transposition program for my PC.  And now I have one of Larnelle Harris' tracks in a key about four tones lower than his on my own CD.  I sang with it at my church for the first time this last Sunday night and, despite the fact the CD was miscued, the crowd was clearly moved to worship with me.  I hope to purchase more from Larnelle Harris for transposing very soon.  Even considering my limited budget and the relatively high cost of purchasing and preparing accompaniment, it is impossible for me to ignore God's calling upon my life in this area.

This last Sunday night I was only one of about fifteen people who made sacrifices of time and money in order to do what the Lord asked us to do, to share with and lead others with us into the throne room of God to worship Him, as best we could with music.  After we had all done our various things before the congregation, a young youth pastor came to the front for the benediction, his face contorted in anguish, and declared his feeling that, as a congregation, we had all failed to sincerely and seriously worship God.  He asked the crowd to stand and other things he deemed more appropriate worship for about ten minutes.  He gave the impression, at least to me, that he felt each of us who had appeared before the congregation were too full of ourselves, had made the night all about us.  "Father, forgive them for they know not..."  "And forgive me that I don't feel like hanging around for snacks and fellowship."