This mornings sunrise was beautiful. It reminded me of our gift from Father. He creates such beauty and artistic expression in the Morning Sunrise and the Evening Sunset. How can anyone question the existence of our Creator when viewed from these events? Not even Thomas Kinkade himself could match the morning sunrise and evening sunsets for their expressions of light...and yet we call him the Master of Light Art. Yet he attempted to mimic that which our Lord and Creator alone could paint and imagine.
     We as humans are incapable of perfection and so will never be able to truly immitate the perfection that we glimpse each day in our daily walk. We see grass and trees and flowers and other glimpses of God's creativity. Yet we do not truly see them because we are so very busy that we do not slow down long enough to truly look, or to smell, or feel, or touch nor allow any of our senses to just bask in the beauty that surrounds us in our lives. We get so busy with 'living' that we never see God's hand in our world. We are so busy that we wonder where He is and why He does not spend time with us as His children. Yet, He is here all the time and is as close as a simple quiet time. When was the last time that you just STOPPED. I mean really stopped all the noise that we put into our lives and got quiet. Sitting still and listening for Him. Seeking a moment of peace, no music, no phones, no computers, no external influences at all...just you sitting still listening? I forget to carve those times out of each day and then wonder why I feel so lonely. Why my Father has not been near me for so long?
     Honestly, it is not God who is moving away from me and leaving me alone. It is me allowing my busy life to intrude into my time with Father.  He craves and yearns for a closer relationship with each of us. One that is as rich and open as that He shared with David and Abraham. I was reading today the daily bible verse and it was from Psalms42 where David talks of his desire for God, "as a deer longs for streams of water so I long for you, O God." Yet upon reflection it felt empty. Why? Because I do not long for my Father as David did...I have too much other responsibility and distractors keeping me from what is truly important. How sad that I have allowed my other daily labors to distract me so much that I lost touch with that which should be number 1 in my heart! For just a moment, sit quietly now and think about that verse, feel it inside and own it in your heart.
     That is my prayer for each of us today...that we would read it again and then meditate upon it's meaning. Each one of us to be able to FEEL as a deer who is thirsting after a cooling drink of  fresh water following a mad dash from hunters or a predator. That deep longing and need for a quick refreshing drink.
     Jesus promised us that he would give us the living water and all we had to do was ask for it. "Father bless your child this day with the Living Water that grants life. Open the flood geates and pour out Your Spirit upon this child and all who are your children that we will FEEL your Holy Presence in us." In Jesus Name, Amen.

   Last Sunday we started a study into the book of Acts. It was a great start and while reading through it I was struck by the use of numbers and their significance in the bible.
You see Jesus after his resurrection was with his disciples for 40 days. Now, today that just seems a little over a month or almost 6 weeks or just a number of days. We do not place emphasis upon these things. However, to the people in the first century there was indeed significance in the numbers. The number 40 for instance was used 149 times in the bible and that number is associated with a period of probation, trial and chastisement, but also ends with a period of renewal, restoration, or revival.
   So where am I going with this? Well think about the individuals who Jesus was with...all of them were downtrodden and dejected at the death of their Master whom they had put all their hopes upon for a return to the Kingdom of Israel of old. Some if not all started a return to their old lives. So here we have a group of followers who obviously did not get nor understand the true nature of their leader nor did they understand the changes that he had been foretelling even prior and up to his death. So they obviously never understood what was happening nor about to happen as foretold by the prophets of the Old Testament.
   Then suddenly their Master is alive and with them. Yet not only with them, he is living, breathing and eating with them for 40 days. This is a time where their faith is tested, it is a probationary period where Jesus is with them and with the Spirit's assistance begins opening the minds of his disciples so that they can finally start to comprehend what has truly occurred. That Jesus broke the bondage of death and was raised to life anew. It was this 40 days of time that was necessary for the disciples to truly begin the process of understanding and knowledge.
   Yet it was not until they saw him ascend into heaven that the true power and change would occur. For Jesus had to leave and then the Holy Spirit would descend from our Father and bring true comprehension to these individuals. Yet that would not occur until after the period of probation...or testing. But Jesus told them that after he left another would come and help them. Once the Spirit came they would be His witnesses throughout all the world to all men. What we see is the restoration of his disciples as his chosen ones. They chose to remain in Jerusalem as directed and they chose to believe. They passed the test and because they were obedient they received the gift of the Holy Spirit renewing their relationship with Jesus and our Father.
   Yes there are a lot of other significant things happening in Chapters1 of Acts and I am not diminishing those in any way. I was hoping to add more significance and clarity to some of the happenings of this chapter as we begin to look into more detail about the workings of the Holy Spirit in and through the disciples of Christ. May God give us a better understanding of how His Holy Spirit can and will make us witnesses to His glory as we delve deeper into these texts.

Mark  
  

A Message Against the Clergy

Usually, I just start writing what I am given. However, this has caused some readers to have issues with my writings. Therefore, I will preface this writing and all others from now on with acknowledging that these words are not mine. I was given them and will write them as best I can. Staying true to what I received.

To the Priests, Ministers, Pastors, and ordained Clergy who claim to follow the Lord. How dare you change His words! You who are to be leaders of His flocks, feel that you are man or woman enough to impersonate God. Were you there in the Beginning when God laid the foundation of the earth? Did you set the Stars in the sky? Can you make a plant grow overnight without aid from the Lord Almighty? What power do you have except that which is given you by our Father?

Yet, you change the very words set in His Book! You who He created from dust feel emboldened to change the very essence of what was written by God. Are you God?

Which of you created man and woman? Can you also set the days of a man on earth? Do you know your own days? Yet, you feel you can change God's view of a man and woman. Can you, by your authority forgive man's sin? Can you Save a man from the fires of hell through your own sacrifice? Then how do you fogive that which God has condemned? Did the Lord not call homosexuallity a sin? And what about adultry and fornication or beastiality? Where in the Word did the Father give permission to clergy to sodomize children? Yet, you have called it forgiven even without repentance. How Dare You! The punishment listed in Revelations is waiting for you.

Or why do you change the way God gave you to worship Him because of a lawsuit? Do you fear the laws of man more than God? Or do you not TRUST Him? If someone is threatening God's flock, why do you not cry out to our Father in heaven? God is faithful to those that love Him and wait upon Him. Yet, you do not wait upon God, but in your haste try to find your own solution. Therefore, the Lord will allow you to fail upon your own so that you will learn to look to Him, but you do not. Then you blame Him for not saving you. Why? Did God not tell you this would happen?

You men continually point to the women that God has raised and say that they are to remain silent in church. Yet, I do not hear your voices. Where were you when your voices were needed to turn around God's flocks and preach the Good News to the Land? How many men of courage stepped forward when God's Name was being taken out of our public places and prayer was banished. Do you now question Father's right to raise up His daughters of faith when you would not answer His call? Look to the old testament and see how God deals with weak men. Barak lead the attack but it was a woman who received the glory for the victory.

Why do you fight amongst yourselves when the very foundation of the Nation God gave to you is falling apart? You continually bicker like children about which is better or worse and who is first or least when the very house you are living in is about to be stripped away from you. The Lord gave you freedom to worship Him in this land in Spirit and Truth. He did not dictate to you a set of creeds or statutes and by laws such as was written so long ago by the Pharasees and Sadducees. What God wanted was your hearts and souls. He wanted to be your God and your one true passion. Through your love and devotion to Him, He finds joy and great happiness. However, He will not force himself upon you and we have left Him so He is allowing us to go our own way. 

Repent now and return to the Lord Almighty all you Leaders and Clergy that those who follow you can see your return to the Father and will in turn repent. In this way, you will renew your vows to your God and He will once again accept you as His children and the leaders of His flocks.

I pray that God our Father grants those who read this and takes this message to heart mercy and grace. That He will shower you and all your loved ones with blessings. That you may walk side by side with our Lord and He will keep you now and forever Amen

  

The Authorship and Sanity of the Writer

I am sorry that it has been a while since my last post. I have been away on work related travel. That has kept me quite busy and unable to write. I have another post that I must write but was also inspired to discuss a question of authorship and sanity.

I have not, and will not try to assert or claim that I am in any measure divine or God. I am His son by His grace and mercy through the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross. I claim sonship only and servanthood through the baptism for the remission of my sins and receipt of the Holy Spirit. I am no apostle nor am I a prophet. I have not nor will I claim to be anything other than a man who loves the Lord.

Yes, I do write some of the blogs in first person. Those are the writings that I feel led to write by the Spirit. When I first was given to write these warnings, I tried to deny an ability to write or communicate effectively with an audience. I was challenged to write the messages anyway. I will not go into this as some will say that I am crazy and others that I am just another individual looking to gain notoriety. Unfortunately, neither is true but were one true I would prefer to be crazy.

Each time I am given a writing, I attempt to write it as given. I could put in The Lord says, or some other biblical beginnings. However, that is not how I receive them and so I do not. For those of you who say that my words are from the evil one...let me pose this question to you, has Satan or would he ever attempt to bring about the repentance of a people? No. Yet, the writings I have written are warnings to repent. Satan already has most of the American populace and so would not wish to preach repentance. Well then, where did these come from? I am no preacher and definitely no clergy. I claim no great religious background nor understanding. For those who still need more then perhaps a relook at the message in Luke 11: 14-23. Jesus tells about a house divided not standing, as a quick synopsis for those who do not remember it.

So the question that I now pose to you, is can you believe that our Father is trying to reach out to all of us with a message of impending judgment such as that promised upon the 7 churches in Revelations or do you still intend to question my right of authorship (which I do not claim to have any) and sanity? I humbly submit that perhaps that is the greatest deceit of all. Satan has us so concerned with these things that we forget to focus on what truly matters, saving the lost...or in this case the saving of our Nation. One Nation Under God. Either way, I do ask that you pray for our Nation and that God will not dispense His divine judgment upon us as we deserve. A true and radical reformation of our Nations principles will be needed to change what is to come. Some say it is too late. I believe that Father loves us and would relent if we will only start moving in His direction. He would run to us as the Father ran to the Prodigal Son. But we have to cry out to Him.

I pray Father's blessings upon you all and ask Him to open the flood gates of His love and mercies to each of you.

Sexual Abomination

     In the beginning, I created you all men to be strong and free. To rule all that you laid your eyes upon. To run like the stallions, free upon the open ranges with a heart free and wild. Yet, I also breathed into you life and wisdom greater than that of any animal. What animal has an intelligence that can match even the least of My sons in intelligence? Yet, you lower yourselves to the basest instincts of an animal. No, for even an animal knows the difference between male and female. Yet, you cannot tell a man from a woman. In your lust, My sons chase after women and men, and My daughters chase after both men and women. Do you not even know for what you were made? Do you not understand the difference between a man and a woman?     
     In the beginning, did I not tell my Angels to destroy Sodom and  Gomorrah and the surrounding cities for their abominable acts? They were such an offense that their stench reached to the heavens and so I rained destruction upon them. Then, My son Paul gave you My word that homosexuality was a sin to Me. All sexual sin is a sin against the temple of the Holy Spirit. For does not My Spirit reside within you? Therefore, you are sinning against My Spirit doubly when you commit sexual sin. But it is an abomination for a man to join with another man as with a woman, or a woman with another woman. Do you realize that you are forcing My Spirit to participate in this sin? There are some of you who would change My word and the purpose of My vengence and I will visit upon you the curses promised in My Word. For it is My word NOT yours! What arrogance that you in your wisdom believe you can change My Perfect Words to fit your desires so that you can live the abominal life you have chosen. SO BE IT! I abandon you to it.
     For those who would keep My commands, harken now to what I say, "I am coming swiftly to visit My justice upon this abominable land. My patience and waiting is over. Behold, the time is near. You will know that I have spoken because this land will be torn. I will visit upon this wicked people such a scurge as has not been seen since the Roman and Grecan Empires fell. Loud will be the noise of the fall. Many will leave this land."
     Even now, My Angels have removed the flame of My presence from among you and are withdrawing. I am leaving you to your lacivious and abominable ways. I give you over to all your abominable practices and idols. Soon you will feel the full weight of the destruction that is coming upon you.

Core Values

Riding home from work last night, I was contemplating Core Values and what that really means to me. A picture of an apple core came into my mind with only the core of the apple left. Inside this are the life of the apples of the future. The seeds. They are the core values of these apples for without them the apple will only feed you once. From the seeds come the true wellspring of life that will feed many throughout a season. Our core values are what we place upon our children's hearts and those we come into contact with whom we mentor. We write a few small tenants upon their soul that will change how they view and interact with the world.  Different groups in this country hold out different standards of values as their list of ideal values. It is these values that they want to build the foundation of their group or community. The issue is that we start learning our true values at a young age. I truly believe that this is one of the reasons Father was so protective of little children. He tells His people to teach His commandments to their children writing them upon their hearts. It is by training up the  child in the way he should go (values) that ensures he will not depart from them. We have forgotten this simple teaching and so are suffering the consequences of our lack of teaching. If we wish to win the hearts and minds of a foreign country, the method of choice has been to focus on the next generation. Yet, we as christians are not learning this simple lesson. If we want to return God to this country we should focus on winning the next generation for Him. When was the last time you talked about the Be Attitudes? When was the last time you discussed the Ten Commandments? When was the last time you sat with your children or anyone and impressed upon them the need to love your neighbor as yourself?

The American Ant

America the land of the Ant? Really. Why an ant? We spend all our time working and slaving away. Hurrying here and there to ensure that we have all the modern 'necessities' that we are sold by the main stream marketers as being the newest and best items that will make us happy. Each time we buy into, literally, this thought process we become slave ants to these individuals and lose more of our God given freedoms. Most Americans are up before the sun, rising between 4-5 am and then getting to bed late in the evening. Probably well after 10 PM. Many believe that we only need 4 hours of sleep a night to function at 100% during the day. Yet, most of us are addicted to coffee, or energy drinks or any other number of forms of legal drugs that keep us running when our body's start slowing down due to a lack of energy. Why would we have a lack of energy if all we needed was only 4-5 hours of sleep? Just a thought...I remember being told a child's tale about this same subject when a little boy. It was the story of the Ant and the Grasshopper. The Ant of course was busy working and saving while the Grasshopper was out playing and wasting all his time not preparing for winter. Of course, the ant is the smart one and saves the grasshopper in the end. However, in this story, the ant is not hoarding his riches as he prepares for winter. He is working for the good of the whole.
This brings me to the next part of being an ant. An ant is not an individual. It is part of a socitial network that could describe or exemplify the actual model of socialism or communism. You see each ant has a position within its social network. Everything it does is done for the good of the whole. It does not think apart from the whole or act apart from the whole. As America moves closer and closer to socialism and communism you see this same thing happening. Fairness is expressed as all individuals should have the same medical treatment, the same money, the same house, the same car, etc. Unless you are the ruling class and then of course this does not apply to you. As in the Ant society, there is an aristocracy and this ant is special. This ant is treated differentially. So will it be in America, as in any other socialist or communistic nation. Those that govern are always given special treatment. Yet God did not design our Constitution and Democracy on this basis. He designed it so that we would not be Ants but free from a socialist or communistic society.
He did not call us to a life of hoarding things for the future. Or hoarding riches for our own purposes. He called us to a life of serving others and caring for our families. God wants us to care for those who cannot care for themselves not for those too lazy to do so. God designed America so that each individual has the freedom to work hard and when blessed to achieve a higher level of living than the generation before. All our Father asked in return was for us to love Him and keep His commands. Yet we like the Israelites before us have forgotten Him. We have prostituted ourselves to other gods that are man made and now have earned our own condemnation such as that earned by every fallen nation before us.
We are still capable of restoration. If we will just awaken from our own stupidity before it is too late and cry out to our Father for His forgiveness.