-Friedrich Nietzsche-

When we think it is normal for a 4-year-old boy to ask to be transgendered to a girl and the parents think this is reasonable, I think we are living in madness. When our public-school boards think it is a good idea to allow drag queens to read stories to our 8-year-old children in the public elementary school library, I think we have entered into madness.

Philosophical systems and political theories ultimately impact and infect people. Italian socialist Antonio Gramsci wrote in 1930: "Socialism is precisely the religion that must overwhelm Christianity. Socialism will triumph by first capturing the culture via infiltration of schools, universities, churches, and the media by transforming the consciousness of society."

This was a prescient insight. However, it is not simply the social perversion plan of a socialist. We must remember that behind it is the god of this world and that the whole world lies in the lap of this evil one. Understand who the real enemy is. It is the serpent of old, it is the evil one of today. It is the devil. The Christian battle today, as it has been every day, is with rulers, principalities and powers and against spiritual forces.

The apostle Paul reminded the church of his day, and it is no less true today, that we are to redeem the times for the days are evil. This is truly a timeless truth. But here is another one from Victor Hugo about his book Les Misérables;

"The book ... is ... a progress from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from falsehood to truth, from night to day, from appetite to conscience, from corruption to life; from bestiality to duty, from hell to heaven, from nothingness to God.”

This is ultimately true of the Bible as well. It is the meta narrative and the story of everything. And although we find ourselves in troubling and perhaps terrible times, it is not how the story ends. And although it is difficult to be heard, “Not being heard is no reason for silence.” The great commission has not been rescinded. We are still to make disciples by evangelizing the lost and educating the saved.

As Hugo reminds us, "Courage for the great sorrows of life, and patience for the small ones, and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake."

Serving Him with you,

until He comes for us.

Fred

February 17, 2023

What you see is all there is….

All we see is not all there is to see!

We do not see the god of this world operating, but he is there, and we know it.
We do not see demonic influences on world leaders, but it is there, and we feel it.
We do not see the principalities, powers, and spiritual forces we wrestle against, but we sense them.

We do not fully understand or comprehend:

the infinitude of God, but He is.
the Immensity of God, but He is.
the imminence of God, but He is.
the intelligence of God, but He is
the immortality of God, but He is.
the Immutability of God, but He is.
the simplicity, eternality, and sovereignty of God, but He is.
He is the great I am.

When I see What God is in His Essence…

When I see Who God is in His Existence…

Then I must fall down, bow down, and ascribe to Him the glory due His name.

As Twila Paris reminds us, “Trusting in You is so easy to do when I see You for who You really are.”

The One who gives us life and the One we serve, the One in whom we have our being, He alone is worthy of all praise and honor.

To the only God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion, and power, both now, and for all eternity. (Jude 25)

Serving Him with you,

until He comes for us.

Fred

February 10, 2023

Some People are a Pain in the Neck!

One of the greatest gifts you can receive or give is to be known as a person who is a Comfort. There is a word that is used only once in the New Testament that conveys this idea, and it is found in Col. 4:11 where Paul says, “…for they have become a comfort to me.” The Greek word is paragoria from which we have the medicine called paregoric, which is a powerful pain killer. There is also another term, paraklesis, which is often translated as comfort or encouragement.

2 Cor 1:3-4 - “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

All of us experience uncomfortable situations and circumstances as we live our lives. Our discomfort comes in many manifestations. I hope you have sensed the comfort of the Lord during calamity. I also hope you have people in your life about whom you can say, “they have become a comfort to me.” I also hope perhaps you are one of those people who is a Comfort.

Serving Him with you,

until He comes for us.

Fred

February 3, 2023

Some People Live with Marvelous Shallowness

What is your ambition? Ambition is a Rorschach word. Define it and you immediately reveal a great deal about yourself. For many, ambition is as Marcus Aurelius reminds us, the desire for fame, fortune, power, and pleasure. For some, all four are inseparable.

The world pushes us in a temporal direction. The word of God pulls us toward eternity. The spirit of the age and the Spirit of God compete for my attention and my affection.

Jesus asked Peter unswervingly and the other eleven disciples straightforwardly a very pungent question. “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” That is a question worth pondering.

When I do the math and calculate what Jesus was actually asking, I want to count the days and make the days count.

Serving Him with you,

until He comes for us.

Fred