Your Life, A Poster

Right message; wrong prop!

In Philippians 1, Paul lays out a 7-point strategic plan that effectively applies to all born again Christ followers. Don't read these with a religious mindset, but with the mindset of understanding what is the business of The Kingdom of God in the earth today. You/we are to be ‘poster children’ of this strategy at work in the earth. As you read, envision how your poster, your life, currently appears from Heaven’s perspective...

   1. Fellowship in The Gospel (verse 5): This is broad-based. As the Body of Christ grows, there should be greater opportunities for like-minded fellowship. However, growth attracts resistance and also spawns divisions. Just as the U.S. economy specializes in sub-dividing markets in order to maximize profits, the Church worldwide now specializes in sub-dividing itself. These divisions open fissures in which strife and contentions fester and grow. Consider how many times Jesus prayed for unity during His High Priestly prayer. (John 17)
   2. Partner in Grace (verse 7): This is specific targeting of those with whom you will partner (writ large, not simply marriage or life partners) in this Kingdom walk.

   3. Abound in Love in Knowledge/Discernment. (verse 9): This is the work of Christ in an through us, not our fleshly efforts.

   4. Display Right Fruits (verse 11): Would a poster display fruits or evidence contrary to the targets context in which it is being displayed? Imagine someone in a big, colorful, audio-visual poster who is surrounded with a plethora of things that are totally irrelevant to, and outright contrary the subject or topic of the poster!

   5. Further The Gospel. (verse 12) This objective seems to pivot the focus on the penultimate and ultimate objectives that follow. How??

   6. Be Fearless (verse 14), both living and sharing The Good News by faith, not in/by the flesh. Our experience and mindset accumulated from practicing the previous five objectives should enable us to move into ‘high gear’, fearlessly pursuing The Kingdom’s ultimate objective, which is to...

   7. Personally Preach/Magnify Christ. (verse 18) Only as He is magnified and becomes known to and by more people is His effectual power applied to situations in our lives, and to the many intractable problems across our world. This is the ultimate strategic objective to which all others contribute.

Each objective seems to point back to the cumulative previous ones, and is reinforced by them to move up to the succeeding, higher objective. This is how The Kingdom of God works in earth’s current dispensation. Remember, your life is a poster, which makes you a ‘poster child’. Ok, so how does the current version of your poster look? Which results (fruits) are displayed in your current poster? The best part of this story is that our posters are not still pictures, but living images that continually morph. By faith and obedience, we get to change what is displayed. :o)

Dust of Your Ground (Poem)

From dust of the ground, t’was man The Lord conceived,

Then into his nostrils, the breath of life He breathed.

In this, His exact image, we all have been created:

From within us, creative designs are stimulated.

Our creation ground from which designs we scoop,

Is not the dust before which The Lord did stoop.

It is the persistent, most prevalent thoughts of our heart,

From which words and actions, spawned with faith or fear,
will depart.

Our designs are mostly evil, and into them …we ‘breathe’.

Thus we bring them to life, then the ‘Light’ of life
…they bereave.

Light diminished eventually becomes Light snuffed out.

Yet we wonder as we stumble in darkness all about.

While man resists learning good lessons from our bad,

A small group of us is fed up with what we’ve had!

To God’s calls for righteousness, we have tuned
our heart’s ear,

To create better designs, spawned in faith, not in fear.

His calls echo from His aged book, The Holy Bible,

With storied lessons good and bad, and lines poetical.

They prompt righteous imaginations of good we can shape,

In the molds of our hope, onto which substance
He will drape.

Spiritual substance of things -- faith, invested,

Evidence of things not yet manifested. ¹

As hope provides the mold into which our faith is poured,

God adorns this mold with physical substance …adored.

Friend, this is The Life, in Godly faith we are walking, ²

Thus we avoid the tricks and traps of devils stalking.

From dust of the ground, t’was man The Lord conceived,

To walk with Him, and into our thoughts …to breathe.

As into our imaginations His Life’s breath He exhales,

We’re like malleable clay in His hands, and all that entails.

No longer resistive, doing this life ‘my way!’

But receptive to His designs for our life’s clay.

Christ, The Lord’s invitation, to you I now extend,

To consider the condition your life’s clay is in.

Hard, rocky, discolored and to His hands so resistive?

Yield it to Him, then rest. Marvel at His work, impressive.

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¹ Hebrews 11:1 (poetically paraphrased)

² ‘…The just (righteous) shall live by his faith.’ (Habakkuk 2:4) Please re-read, then receive this word as both a command and a promise from Almighty God.

Grace Shed, Then Accounted (Poem)

‘America! America! God shed His Grace on thee,

The home of the brave and the land of the free.’

Though to you, so much of His Grace was freely given,

Soon He’ll call on you to account for your Grace fortune.

But before you bow, take the oath, then take the witness stand.

Let’s review of the purpose of Grace, and why it’s on your land.

Grace! The unmerited favor of God Almighty,

Extended to man before and after Calvary.

Manifold are the purposes of God’s Grace to us:

--Grace manifests His nature and character glorious.

--For those He calls for special tasks, Grace will equip.

--And for those whose ways are errant, Grace seeks to ‘flip’.

With quite a rocky start and such violent history,

Some may wonder how your Grace magnified His great glory.

Others may question for what special tasks you have been called,

Noting that, by your history, so many are appalled.

Many may note across the world the good you’ve done:

--The righteous battles at home, and wars elsewhere won

--To those in deep need, a strong, helping hand outreached

--To those in need of Jesus Christ, The Gospel preached

Is Grace:

--Denominator of your ‘model democracy’?

--Reverberating across your land of states fifty?

--The Spirit of your legislature bicameral?

--Reflected in your massive government federal?

How have the brush strokes of Grace at home helped to humanize,

Racial policies and practices that are so unwise?

And what of wealth distribution, so highly skewed,

That will only help your life to become …unglued?

‘America! America! God shed His Grace on thee,

The home of the brave and land of the free.’

How will you respond once your Grace has been totally spent,

And as a nation, you bow before …the Almighty’s bench?

Thankfully, God’s Grace to us has not yet run out,

But one day it shall. Of this we should have no doubt.

Between now and then, may our eyes become more opened,

To walk more deliberately as …Grace enlightened.

Four Judgment Henchmen, Explained

To Moses and Ezekiel, Jesus, The Lord God revealed His use of what I refer to as 4 punitive henchmen -- His trusted, unscrupulous  and  ruthless  subordinates (judgments), to punish persistent, un-repented sins of a people or nation, not just Israel.

 (See: Deuteronomy 32:24-25 and Ezekiel 14:12-23) 

These are:

  --The sword (wars)

  --Famine (food shortages, e.g., triggered by droughts, wars, pestilences, and other disasters)

  --Pestilence (diseases/plagues)

  --Wild beasts (animals/insects and hegemon governments)

I have long pondered the roles of these henchmen in our world today as we transit The Age of Grace –- that period of time between God’s atonement for human sins through Christ, and the rapture of The Church, writ large. Thus far, this period has covered the past ~2,000+years. More recently, I have wondered just when and how were these henchmen, i.e., spiritual forces that spawn and spread them, released in the Earth.

Though Father God has indeed forgiven all human sins through Christ’s sacrifice, this forgiveness has not been widely accepted or ‘walked out’ in the lives of many. I find no Biblical indication that God has recalled these henchmen as a result of Christ’s sacrifice. There are promises that ‘the faith-filled righteous in Christ’ are generally protected from the direct or worse impacts of these henchmen. (See: Collateral Damages or Blessings? (Poem) Thus, these henchmen are still active across our world today, and they retain their original spiritual purpose, i.e., punishments for persistent, un-repented sins of a people (any people) or nation (any nation).

There is no Bible indication any of these henchmen were in effect before the global flood –- mankind’s initial ~1,600 years on Earth. This might be one reason why people then, with no identified natural predators, lived hundreds of years. In Genesis 6:3, God announced His plan to scale back human life span to 120 years in response to persistent, un-repented sins. (Do not confuse this with the notion of 70-80 years mentioned in Psalm 90:10. (See: Life Span – How Long? and Life Span: Reconciling Two Voices) How would He accomplish this??

Though The Lord only revealed His plan first to Moses, then to Ezekiel several millennia after the flood, I believe the plan may have been sequentially put in place during and shortly after the flood. How? Following is my understanding of the sequence of what may have occurred. As you reflect, please consider sharing your Bible-based perspectives.

Earth’s landmass divided: Some speculate, during the flood, Earth (possibly a single landmass) began to divide into continents, possibly to allow space for flood waters to recede, and in preparation for the subsequent scattering of people over all the Earth, triggered at the Tower of Babel. If so, mountains and valleys would add topographical character to what might have been a previously flat Earth, and would also help to separate people groups, as The Lord intended at the Tower of Babel. Some scientists speculate Earth will someday return to being one super continent. Imagine if all mountains were cast into the oceans, and lands would once again be established ‘upon the waters’ as indicated in Genesis 1.

Disease vectors introduced: Though unimaginable to us today, Genesis 2:4-6 indicates there was no rain on the Earth until the global flood, when ‘the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened’. (Genesis 7:11) Today we realize the impacts of deadly disease vectors that can spread following a local flood. Imagine this happening, for the first time, with a global flood …across the entire Earth. The once pristine, pre-flood Earth, became ripe with all sorts of microscopic, disease-causing bugs (e.g., seed-like spores, invisible to the naked eye, that float through the air and contaminate surfaces). There were no microscopes back then. As humans re-populated Earth, the potential of pestilences was thus ‘locked and loaded’, ready to run rampant when/as directed by God, to achieve His purposes.

Language and people divided: At the Tower of Babel, the common (pure) language among humans was divided into multiple languages, thus facilitating the above-noted scattering. (See: Genesis 11:1-9) In light of what we know of human nature and the role of language in culture, the division of peoples might have fed inter- and intra-cultural suspicions and jealous envy. Thus, among differing, neighboring groups, the potential of conflicts and wars was ‘locked and loaded’, ready to breakout when/as directed by God to achieve His purposes. (The Bible iteratively affirms God causes and ends wars. See: Deuteronomy 32:39, 1 Samuel 2:6, Isaiah 45:7, Jeremiah 25:6, Amos 3:6, Ezekiel 14:17-18, Ezekiel 38, Ezekiel 39, Zechariah 14:12. It also promises peoples will once again enjoy a time of a common (pure) language, and no wars during The Millennial Reign, per Zephaniah 3:9.)

Human diets changed: Before the flood, both humans and animals were vegetarian/herbivores (Genesis 1:29-30), thus none ‘habitually knew’ the taste of blood as parts of their diets. A few animals survived the flood by being fed (fruits and veggies) by humans in the ark. Subsequent animal generations began to fear humans. Why? For the first time, God strategically put the fear of man into animals (Genesis 9:2), and strategically expanded the human diet to include meat. As animals re-populated the Earth, people, now omnivores ¹, began to attack and eat animals for food. In defensive fear, hunted animals fought back and thus, likely acquired the taste of blood. Fear and animosity between people and animals grew. Having acquired the taste of blood, some animals became carnivores (only meat-eaters), some became omnivores, and others remained vegetarian/herbivores. The potential of wild beasts attacks on humans was thus ‘locked and loaded’, ready to occur when/as directed by God to achieve His purposes. (This scenario will also flip during The Millennial Reign. See: Isaiah 11 and 65.)

Famine occurred: At first glance, we tend to associate famines (a widespread scarcity of food) with a reduced supply of rains or moisture in an area. While The Bible emphatically affirms God’s control of Earth’s weather patterns (See: Genesis 7:4, Job 5:10, Job 38:26-30), we now know famines are caused by many factors. These include wars, pestilences, governmental policies, inflation, crop diseases, population imbalances such as rapid urbanization, and immigration shifts. In fact, each of the other 3 henchmen, can trigger famine and its dreaded impacts (malnutrition, starvation, mortality, inflation, wars, pestilences, wild animal attacks, etc.). Undoubtedly, all 4 henchmen can be mutually reinforcing, each triggering the outbreak and spread of the others! Thus, the potential of famines was ‘locked and loaded’, ready to break-out when/as directed by God to achieve His purposes. ²

Voila! Tactics to achieve God’s pronounced strategic plan to scale down human life span to 120 years, and to punish unrepentant, persistent sinfulness were thus set in place. His 4 henchmen were set in the Earth, ready to punish persistent, un-repented sin, but only after God’s extended periods of Grace to a particular people or nation …had expired!

Today, we have:

A. Microscopes and medicines to detect/mitigate pestilences

B. The UN, regional organizations, the used-to-be-generally accepted liberal World Order, the Law of War, etc. to facilitate international relations and help prevent/mitigate impacts of wars. But these have seriously deteriorated! See: In the Days of These Kings (Part 4, The UN-potent UN) 

C. The sciences of animal behavior and better means to control human interactions with wild beasts and insects

D. Global food production/supply chains, the sciences of weather, and global humanitarian aid initiatives to mitigate famines and their lingering impacts

Questions worth pondering:
1. While The Lord’s 4 judgment henchmen remain available and undoubtedly very active across our world, have human advances lessened their effectiveness and punitive impacts aimed at our persistent, un-repented sins on Earth? ³ For example, take a moment to consider, not only the scientific, but the likely spiritual reasons for increasing, protracted droughts. (See: The Ought in Drought (Poem)) 

2. While The Lord pre-determined average human life span to be 120 years, why have many societies seemingly embraced the notions of (a) death around 70 or perhaps 80 years (‘three score years and ten; and if by reason of strength, they be fourscore years’, per Psalm 90), and (b) ‘living on borrowed time’ if one lives much longer than this? (See: Life Span – How Long? and Life Span: Reconciling Two Voices)

3. Though ‘the faith-filled righteous’ are generally promised protection, The Lord’s  punitive judgments against a person, family, people or nation, have varying forms and levels of collateral damage, and they always result in ‘a righteous remnant’ (The Lord’s third strategic point in Jeremiah 9:23-24). 

Ponder this: As sins abound, His Grace extended, expires, and these 4 henchmen are released to do their punitive works across our world, what will you do:

(a) to mitigate the impacts of collateral damage on your family and life, and 

(b) to be counted among the surviving, righteous remnant??

4. Many may argue that, in modern times, wild beasts attack humans far less than ever. However, it is interesting how The Lord depicts world hegemon governments as being ...like wild beasts! (See: Daniel 8. The USA is the current global hegemon government, and China is the wanna be global hegemon! Plus, there are several regional and ‘wanna-be’ regional hegemon nations! Also search the web for increasing animal attacks in the 2020s following the global Covid 19 pandemic, protracted droughts and massive floods triggered by climate change! It is as if all four henchmen have been simultaneously released worldwide to do their ‘sin-punishing’ works across Earth! Also see: God Rail-less (Series). 

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¹ Omnivores eat both plants and animals

² The first Biblical reference to famine is Genesis 12:10. The oft doubted or ignored spiritual significance of famines is noted in 2 Samuel 2:21, 2 Samuel 24:13, 1 Kings 8:37-40, Psalm 105:16 and Revelation 18:8.
³ Compare these 4 judgment henchmen to the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse in Revelation 6:1-8.

Laodicean Lackadaisicalness - Part 3

(See: Laodicean Lackadaisicalness - Parts 1&2)

As noted in Parts 1 and 2 of this series, The Book of Psalms, especially Psalm 119, frequently references this whole heart concept, testifying of God’s desire for us to engage with Him, and with our world on His behalf, with an enthusiastic heart full of love, praise, worship, adoration and service. Other references note the harsh/undesirable consequences of half-heartedness or lukewarmness toward The Lord God Almighty.

Jesus Christ was God’s effective bloody seed, planted (died) in Earth to produce an eternal fruit called ‘church’ -- a holy [separated/set-aside] remnant of humanity with a distinct purpose. Some Bible scholars believe this church, worldwide, would transit 7 rather distinct phases or ages, culminating in the final Church of the Laodiceans, or the Laodicean Church Age that would precede the predicted return of Jesus to rapture His church.¹ While this point is debatable, in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, Paul reveals a key precursor of the end of this age, namely a great falling away of previously faithful Christ followers. In His letter to the Church at Laodicea, dictated to Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos circa 95 AD, Jesus promises to ‘vomit out of His mouth’ fake, inauthentic, lukewarm believers. While this may have occurred all throughout the church age, it seems reasonable that satan ‘knows his time is short’, and thus he would increasingly ramp-up efforts to deceive and tempt believers who remain weak and easy prey.

Of particular note is Christ’s letter to the the Church at Laodicea. It is a cutting, stern warning about its intolerable lukewarmness, fed by its material wealth and riches, and the resulting sense of self-sufficiency. Together, these reflect no real need for God, or ability to display His power to an on-looking society and world.² 

‘But Jeshurun grew fat!’

Unfortunately, this pre-death, predictive warning from Moses to the people of Israel became true, both spiritually and, so some extent, physically. This warning may well reflect much of Church America today, not only spiritually, but also physically, in light of America’s obesity epidemic. In his warning, Moses posits strong correlations between the physical and spiritual health of a person or a people. This correlation was later echoed by John, The Apostle, in his words, ‘Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.’ (3 John 2) In light of this, let's consider correlations between the much-touted impacts of excess body fat to what Moses likely meant in his warning, and what John infers in his prayer.

Excess body fat surrounds and puts pressure on (squeezes) a person’s internal organs, especially the lungs and heart, and excretes unhealthy chemicals that negatively impact many core body functions. This triggers a host of dis-eases that are now prevalent across our nation and world. Imagine what this could be symptomatic and indicative of in our personal and collective spiritual life.

When ‘Jeshurun grew fat’ (became financially and economically prosperous/satisfied), God was slowly squeezed out of the nation’s spiritual heart. Material prosperity reduced the need and capacity for earnest, fervent  prayer, represented by the life-sustaining function of a person’s lungs. Life became mostly about markets and money, the oil of markets. This progressed to the point that God’s vast supply of patient Grace was exhausted, ushering in His Judgment and its ensuing Righteousness, if only temporarily. According to Jeremiah 9:24, God is in the Earth exercising (1) loving kindness/Grace, (2) judgment, and (3) righteousness. Bible and world history unveils these always occur in the noted order. (See: What’s Really Going On (…Inside)

From Jeshurun’s history and Jeremiah 9:24, God infers:

#1 Grace is always protracted, with a generous supply of warnings

#2 Judgment always follows Grace, especially when there is no repentance

#3 Judgment is intended to always usher in a Righteousness remnant

#4 Righteousness flourishes for a while as the spiritual eyes of that remnant are opened, and they ‘straighten up and fly right’ (if but for a season)

Judgment remnants are those who

remain to remember and to relay

their Judgment experiences on to their descendants

Apply this insight to the Laodicean Church, and by extension to Church America, given its prominent role toward the perceived end of the Church Age. In many respects, we are similar to the Laodicean church, predicted in Revelation 3:14-22, walking in our own sinful hypo-crisies and contradictions. Could The Lord now be seeing in our hearts similar lukewarmness He upbraided the Laodicean Church about? The entire earth realm is a huge planting field God designed to draw out (extract) and plant that which is rooted/hidden in people’s hearts, whether good, bad or ugly. This is why Proverbs 4:23 warns us to:

Keep/guard your heart/spirit with all diligence,
for out of it spring the issues of life.

Does reading about the Laodicean church make you consider what The Lord might be revealing/exposing in our hearts. My own reflections on the points, noted in Parts 1 and 2, prompted me to repent, and as a Psalmist, to sing this prayer. If this resonates with your spirit as well, please join me in this prayer:

With a Full Heart

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¹ The 7 Church Ages are:

The Loveless Church             (@Ephesus)

The Persecuted Church         (@Smyrna)

The Compromising Church    (@Pergamos)

The Corrupt Church             (@Thyatira)

The Dead Church                 (@Sardis)

The Faithful Church             (@Philadelphia, ancient city)

The Lukewarm Church         (@Laodicea)

Rapture: The global event that will signal the start of the predicted 7-year tribulation period of God’s wrath poured out on the Christ-rejecting world.

² “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, “These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: ‘I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ -- and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked -- I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”” (Revelation 3:14-22)

Babes and Those of Theirs (Poem)

Babes, babes’ babes, and those of theirs

for decades to come,

All missing in action, an incredible sum!

Mostly for selfish reasons, their lives were snuffed out,

Voila!  Now we have the demographic fallout!

Decisions that are made one child at a time,

Accumulate to shape a new paradigm.

Rapid declines in once dominant races,

Now matched by immigrants from foreign places. *

And we are not alone in this societal flip-flop.

So many places report their own demographic swap.

In developed and developing nations alike,

Natives-for-immigrants sagas continue to spike.

Problems start when immigrants don’t assimilate,

Pressures then mount when they start to repopulate!

Natives bemoan the shifting cultural tide,

And revolt when losing jobs for which they vied.

But there is one key thing natives love to forget,

The one thing on which I wish they all would reflect:

Long ago, before they became today’s native,

Their ancestors came and took first natives captive!

Across generations, to all, God extends Grace,

But receiving it, we then respond …in disgrace.

Grace we received to become natives in a once new land,

We now short-circuit as some immigrants we seek to band.

Babes, babes’ babes, and those of theirs

for decades to come,

All missing in action, an incredible sum!

Perhaps in His Grace, God only seeks to replace,

The babes and those of theirs we still sinfully erase.

Say what? You don’t think God’s concerned

with immigration??

The Bible is all about people-land connections,

And people who, like us, sacrificed children selfishly.

From their lives, may we draw righteous lessons objectively.

Thank God for immigrants!!!

May we welcome and treat them well

as the potential treasures they represent. 

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* An old web search indicated, since 1973, the US had reportedly aborted nearly 60 million children, and had received nearly 60 million immigrants since then. Aborting one child erases countless generations that child likely would have produced. Only God can count the people who will never taste this life because of the tens of million children we have aborted. May God help us to come to our unselfish senses. See: Modern Immigration Wave Brings 59 Million to U.S. Since 1973, and Abortions by Race and State

As of September 2021, a reported 670,000 Americans have succumbed to Covid-19. Imagine the generational losses from those who departed in the prime of their lives. Imagine the socio-economic losses to our economy!