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Need some sound doctrine? Perhaps a Great Awakening?

2010-02-15T00:29:00Z

A few months ago,
JD King... President ot the World Revival Network of Minintries, offered a Saturday session of teaching about Bible Doctrine.
I walked away that day with a greater understanding of some of the most frequently asked questions that believers in the
Lord have asked, as they pursue a greater and deeper walk with God.
This week I had the time an opportunity to study the entire book that JD had put together, and I must say that if you do not possess
a copy, I would urge you to aquire one.
This teaching will answer some of the most intruiging questions you may have had as a Christian that have remained unanswered.
The will of God and why He has given us a will is one of the most interesting topics I have pursued to understand as a Christian, and now since reading JD's teaching , have a much clearer answer than some of the previous ones I have considered.
The Kingdom of God, His right to rule over the universe He created,
Satan's role in the invisible realm
The importance of becoming involved in the local Church
And many more topics that will bring you a greater peace with God, and a deeper understanding of His word.
I am sure that JD has a passion for you to experience a greater understanding of God's word that will eventually ignite a larger flame in you to make a difference for the Kingdom of God in the earth.
Thank you Jesus for JD, and all the staff and Pastors and leaders of World Revival Church.
In my now almost 32 years of walking with God, and as a result of attending World Revival Church, I am more determined than ever to reflect His Glory to a lost and dying world.

Do you have Eternal Life?

2009-12-28T00:02:00Z

Th<:od>eir is no greater joy in life than knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have Eternal Life. Regardless of how you may have been taught, Jesus is the only way to seal your assurance of Eternal Life, because He is Eternal Life.
John 17:3
And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.
That is the greatest story on earth that we have been hearing for the past few weeks.
I feel compelled to share the last chapter of my book, "Are You Saved or Deceived?"
I hope you have been enriched and helped by this series of blogging I have done this year.
May the Lord guide you into the path of peace.
Hebrews 12:14
Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.

Hebrews 4:12-13 “For the word of God is living an active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” God’s word has the power to slice away at the deceptions in our hearts that we may have obtained through false religion, and to reveal the truth concerning our eternal destiny.
We must be persuaded to believe the word of God whether we understand it or not. Eternal life is something you can have now before you pass from this life.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Have you believed in Jesus? Have you put your trust in Him for salvation? Do you believe He alone can offer eternal life to those who believe?
Acts 4:12 “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” Eternal life cannot be obtained through any other source other than the living Son of God. Only Jesus can give us eternal life, because He is Eternal life.
1 John 5:10-12 “The one who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself, the one who does not believe, God has made him a liar because he has not believed in the witness that God has borne concerning His Son and the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.”
All of chapter five has such deep truths about our destiny. Verse ten speaks of the witness that God has borne concerning His Son. Verse eleven says that the witness is this that God has given us Eternal life and this life is in His Son. Verse twelve should be very clear, you either have Jesus, or you don’t. You either have life, or you don’t.
1 John 5:20 Reveals that Jesus Christ Himself is Eternal life. He is the true God and Eternal life. According to God's word, if we have been saved through Jesus Christ and we have received Him into our spirit, we have eternal life. Something much more exciting than just a religious knowledge about God, it is an eternal relationship with Him. Sometimes mere earthly words are not sufficient to express what you are feeling when God gives you this joy of knowing that you have eternal life. Yet, even in our walk with Him we still face the challenges of living and working and raising children and having difficulties beyond our control. However, through life’s challenges we can have peace with God, knowing that He is our constant companion, helping us through each and every trial in life.
1 John 5:13 “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God in order that you may know that you have eternal life.” When you become born again and filled with His presence, God places a knowing of eternal destiny in you that cannot be denied. His word is the vehicle that will help you to arrive safely to the place He has prepared for you.
This must be the greatest assurance that God can offer us to say that we can know that we have eternal life. It’s not something that we are unsure about. It’s something we know that we have by the witness in our spirit, if indeed we have Jesus Christ, the only true God, and eternal life abiding in us.
If you are not sure you have Jesus Christ or if you are not sure you have the eternal life He is talking about, invite Him into your life today. He is as close as your heart is to asking Him to come in to your life and save you. There is no other way on earth to obtain eternal life, only through Jesus. He is the one and only way to the Father and eternal life. He loves you no matter who you are, what you have done, or where your heart has been. He wants you just as you are so He can create in you what He wants you to become. Be willing to start your life over again. Be born again. With Jesus the second time around will be so much better, because this time you will know the outcome, eternal life. I hope and pray that I have convinced you to see that this is where your heart belongs, in fellowship with God.
Before I was saved, there was a longing in my soul for a peace that I was not sure how to achieve. When I put my faith in Jesus Christ, that peace became mine, and then I knew that was the peace I had longed for. No matter what kind of person you are, man, woman, child, priest, etc., you can have this peace. You may be a good law abiding citizen and that’s good, but to be accepted by God, you must be born again. It’s not enough to be accepted by society or by your peers. You still need God no matter how good you are. When you make that decision, then that peace that God offers will be yours. In all the trials of life, and joys of life I have experienced for the last thirty years, God has never disappointed me. He is perfect and He knows just how to help us in each and every situation we face in life.

This is a song that God gave me after my life had been changed by His grace.

All my life I was searching,
For peace I didn’t know
All the days I was traveling
The nature tried to show.
The beauty of His love to me,
But I just didn’t know.

A certain day I was traveling
Lonely and despaired.
Then His people picked me up,
Showed me that they cared.
Their hearts so full of love for me,
His love I could see.

As they led me in prayer to Him,
His presence filled the air.
Jesus came into my heart
I just knew He was there

So I went on west to see,
The beauty of His creativity.
The mountains and the valleys there,
Seemed to whisper through the air.
I just knew He was there.

I’m so glad I’m free, Jesus set me free!

John 8:36, “If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.”

Ticket to Nowhere

2009-12-06T21:51:00Z

Do you believe that you are going to heaven? If you do what have you done in your life that has made you feel qualified ?
Do you think it is because you have you been a good church going member, yet have been void in your spirit of a purpose or sense of destiny. Have you experienced Jesus Christ in you, and known the knowing of Eternal life as a result?
I do venture to say that their are many who have a false hope of "heaven", when in fact they have not yet given their heart to the One who created all things. As I spoke of in my previous blog, Jesus Christ is Eternal life, and without Him abiding in your spirit as such, the promise for you does not apply.
How many are walking the earth today with that false hope, that is never convincing to the heart and always leaves a element of
doubt, yet keeps the heart secluded from the truth, because of a lack of knowledge of God's word.
Jesus has laid out the answers to the mysteries of the Kingdom of God and also revealed the proper way and the only way to achieve
Eternal life and the real hope of a place in heaven.
This passage of scripture is worth your time to capture what Jesus is saying to us about this matter.
John 10
“I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber! But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”
Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn’t understand what he meant, so he explained it to them: “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care about the sheep.
“I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.
“The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again. No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.”
When he said these things, the people were again divided in their opinions about him. Some said, “He’s demon possessed and out of his mind. Why listen to a man like that?” Others said, “This doesn’t sound like a man possessed by a demon! Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
It was now winter, and Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of Hanukkah, the Festival of Dedication. He was in the Temple, walking through the section known as Solomon’s Colonnade. The people surrounded him and asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
Jesus replied, “I have already told you, and you don’t believe me. The proof is the work I do in my Father’s name. But you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life,
and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

Becoming a child of God through the miracle of Salvation, by the newbirth of your life through the message of the cross is the only real ticket to the promise of eternal life. Any other method to gain the promises of God, no matter how noble they may seem,
will not accomplish for you what you think they will. Jesus considers you a thief and a robber if you try to substitute the word of God for another gospel, that eventually will lead you to a place called.... "nowhere". God's word is the final authority of all.
Believe Him, so you can walk in the assurance of Eternal Salvation, not just for you but so that you can rescue you household from the coming judgements on this evil world. It is time to step aboard the Ark of safety ...in God.
Here is a really powerful and encouraging passage of scripture for anyone to grasp..
1 Peter 1:3-9
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls."
Will you accept the invitation of God, who desires to make reservations for you in His Eternal Kingdim?
That is just a portion of His great love that he has displayed for you, because His love for you is real.

Expecting Heaven without knowing the Son?

2009-11-29T21:43:00Z

For most of us, any memory of wondering whether or not we would achieve heaven after death was simply not enough to help us to consider any sort of righteous living. Though most of society believes heaven is a real place, many still do not realize that their is a
process to complete that will place in you a real hope in knowing that you can have that assurance you have hoped for.
Unfortunately their are some who have been influenced by religion that has given them a false hope about heaven.
Those who still think they have a "pretty good chance" they will make it there have a deep delusion that must be exposed in order for them to hear the real truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that teaches you must be born-again, and begin a relationship with the One true God, for He is Eternal life.

Excerpt from my book "Are you saved or Deceived?"
I have spoken to some religious people out there that believe they have a pretty good chance that they are going to heaven, as long as they live a decent life and are good neighbors. This is deception! I don’t know about you, but I would not feel secure about basing my eternal destiny on chance. To be hopeful that you will have a right standing with God because of your good works when you die is not faith; it is just a false hope.
Romans 3:10 “There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.”
According to Gods word, I know that I have eternal life, not because of my self righteousness but because I have believed His word that teaches me that He became my righteousness by His death on the cross. God wants your life so He can help you walk in truth in every area. There are many counseling centers that can help you with some of the needs that you have in your life, yet when God fills you with His presence and His light you will discover that just a few moments in His presence will help you with that life long struggle that you have felt like their was no remedy for. Only God can reach you in your deepest need. He understands you fully and He knows how to help you with everything that you may face in your life.
1 John 1: 1-3
We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw Him with our own eyes and touched Him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen Him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that He is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then He was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
In the book of 1 John, the Apostle John has some amazing insight into the matter of eternal life. Having known Jesus as His disciple, seems as if he had a real tangible understanding of eternal life and he shares it with us in the Bible. It would do any heart good to devote some real time of study to these marvelous books of first, second and third John.
1 John 5:20-21 And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and He is Eternal life. Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.

Any substitute that we would create in our hearts by denying Jesus as the only source of eternal life will leave us delusional in our hearts about the real answers that will lead us to real truths.

John 3:16
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
John 3:36
"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
John 17:3
"This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

Do you see a thread of truth in these words that Jesus spoke and some that was part of His prayer to His Father?
If I may say this; Eternal life is a person, namely Jesus Christ. That should be obvious to us who know Him.
You cannot anticipate citizenship In a heavenly Kingdom without becoming personally adopted into His family through the newbirth that He has offered to you through Salvation in the cross of Jesus Christ.

Are you still tolerating the void?

2009-11-11T15:16:00Z

Each day we live opens up opportunities for us to choose what we will allow to fill our hearts and minds.
The choices we make as great as they may be or how desrtructive they may be, all have consequences, whether good or bad.
Perhaps this may be the answer to some of the questions why so many young people do things that just boggle the mind, leaving us wondering...why would they choose to do such a thing? It seems that they are lacking a mechanism yet to be developed
in their minds, to the affect that they do not realize that their are consequences to the choices they make.
We all know as well that adults sometimes are just as vulnerable to choose sins of the flesh, knowing the risks they take in making wrong choices.
Unfortunately, the world has promised satisfaction if you follow it's temporary pleasures.
Most of us know by now that it's claims are misleading and destructive. To those who choose to follow the course of this world, the heart becomes void, yet they continue to attempt to fill the void with more of the same stuff that has never worked to satisfy
the longing in their lives for some sort of purpose.
We could also apply these truths to those who are seeking to be fulfilled by religions that offer no real source of joy that fulfills the heart. These efforts can also create a void in your heart that is never filled by the same repetitive traditions of man.
With all the wealth of the riches of God's word, why would you continue to tolerate the void in your heart when He is showing you the way out?

Excerpt from my book "Are you saved or deceived?"
Prior to the salvation of our souls, we all have been molded into our own particular lifestyles. Mostly by our own choices and decisions we have made with our own free will, as we so desired. As a result, most of us have had many habits and addictions that have had very negative affects on our lives. You and I just simply have had a bad heart. We may have been selfish, thinking only about what we wanted in life. We may have had bad addictions such as smoking cigarettes and marijuana. Some of us have given ourselves to alcoholism, drugs, sex, pornography, homosexuality, pride and various forms of lust. These few passages of scripture describe the condition of our hearts before we gave our heart to Jesus, and now are trusting in Him to give us new desires and a new heart as He has promised. Most of the scripture references I am sharing are from the New American Standard version of the Bible.
Ephesians 2:1-6 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins. In which you formally walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them, we too all formally lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind and by nature were children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
What a vivid description of our hearts before and after salvation. This is an invisible battle for our hearts and souls. That is why we must rely on God and believe in His word to change our hearts. His word brings us out of the darkness our hearts have been in and into His light so as to understand how to live differently by faith and to know that we can live free from the sins that have controlled our lives for all these years. I believe that God’s purpose is that you would understand His desire for you to be called out of darkness, and to expose our inability to resolve the consequences of sin in our own strength.
This is His way of showing you His unending love for you. It is up to you to believe. If you are still not saved you may be trying every worldly pleasure available to fill the void that you have in your spirit. Yet with every passing day, the more you try to fill the void with sinful pleasures, the more empty you become. What you are looking for is reality which you will never find in worldly pleasures or powerless religions, but in a relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. No amount of religion, self works or self righteousness can fill your void. No amount of worldly pleasures, no matter how good it feels, can fill your void. This is the will of God, that you be filled to all the fullness of God. This is God’s promise for you for the asking, that you be filled with His Spirit. That’s the promise of His word.

Is your heart veiled or unveiled?

2009-10-18T21:53:00Z

God is a person,. He is not a religion.
His purpose is to draw you to Himself, not to convert you into a denomination of the doctrines of man.
Having a living relationship wth God will produce a life giving joy that no religion can even begin to offer you.
Religions and man made traditions will leave you fruitless in attempting anything for advancing the Kingdom of God.

Excerpt from my book, "Are you saved or deceived?"
Because deception is such a matter of great darkness of the heart, we must learn to approach our dealings with it by believing once again what the word says about it so we can be free from the deceptions we have believed and begin to walk in the freedom of God’s truth. If you have been deceived by religion, or anything for that matter, your need to allow God’s truth to challenge your heart to believe His word should not depend on whether or not you feel like it, but because you need Him. I challenge you to ask Him to give you an earnest desire to allow His word to penetrate your heart and mind through the subject matters I will address, that you may begin to see God’s way of thinking, and get free from the wraps of bondage over your minds.
1 Timothy 2:3-4 “This is good and acceptable in the sight of our God and Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
If you merely here truth and do not respond you become self deceived. I must insist on the importance that you must believe the inspired word of God that addresses this subject. This is what the word of God says about the condition of your heart and mind if you do not believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4 “And even if our Gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
Allowing God to change your heart from unbelief to faith begins with changing your mind and making a decision in your heart to believe. Whether you understand everything fully right now about His will for your life doesn’t matter. This is God you are dealing with and even in your whole lifetime, you won’t understand everything about Him. Just take that first step and believe the gospel. When you do, then God will remove the veil of darkness that has blinded your mind from seeing the truth of the Gospel.
2 Corinthians 3:13-18 speaks of the sons of Israel who had remained hardened in their minds, which had kept them blind (or veiled) to the gospel. This passage is so obvious that turning your heart to the Lord removes the veil. Turning your heart to the Lord removes your blindness. If you are a son of Israel, God would desire that you experience His glory. The key to intimacy with Him is to believe in His Son Jesus Christ, The Messiah, who by God’s divine plan was born of a virgin and died for the sins of the whole world, to bring us into the fellowship of His light and freedom. It is of great importance that you believe the scriptures that teach about the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. The virgin birth Christ is a very central theme of the Bible and is important in helping us understanding how and why Jesus made claims of equality with God, His Father.
Perhaps this is what had created such an obvious root of unbelief in the hearts of the religious leaders in the time of Christ. Though Jesus claimed to be God, they simply believed that He was a mere man, the son of a carpenter named Joseph. He came to His own and His own received Him not. Had they received Jesus as Messiah, Isaiah 53 would be false prophecy. God came down to live among us in the form of a man named Jesus, born in perfection by the Holy Spirit, lived a perfect life without sin and was crucified by the shedding of His perfect unblemished blood on a cross to accomplish our redemption. Had He not been perfect God and perfect man, His death would have been in vain.
If you are not yet born again and have not invited Jesus Christ to abide in your heart and life, these truths may seem out of reach to you if indeed your heart is still in darkness. If that is where your heart is, that is where Satan would desire to keep you trapped. This is a huge matter of deception when you think you do not need God’s word or you see no need to have your heart exposed to His light.

The truth of the gospel will set you free from deception, when you yield your heart to it. Just simply hearing the truth is not enough.
You must act on the truth that you hear. That is faith. Faith is what pleases God and activates His help on your behalf.
Who in their right mind would lean on their own understanding rather than the truth of His written word?
That would be called pride, to think that we have a better answer about life's situations than He does.
Deuteronomy 32:4
The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice,Righteous and upright is He.

God will never misguide you. His word will pan out true for you through any and every trial or circumstance that life has to offer.
We need Him. He wants us to love and obey Him, and walk in His favor.
  Psalm 90:14-17
O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness, That we may ⁾sing for joy and be glad all our days.
    Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us, And the years we have seen evil.
    Let Your work appear to Your servants And Your majesty to their children.
    Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; And confirm for us the work of our hands; Yes, confirm the work of our hands.

John Lennon had it wrong

2009-09-27T17:10:00Z

"Before Elvis, their was nothing."
Quote by Jonh Lennon, one of the most famous rock & roll musicians that ever lived along with three others that performed as a band called The Beatles that began in the early 1960's.
Here is anothe quote fron John;
We're more popular than Jesus now; I dont know which will go first; rock 'n' roll or Christianity.

The majority of the population of the world that lived as a teenager or adult, between 1960 & 1980,
was influence by the seductive drive of the rock and roll era. In our lack of understanding of it's influence on our lives,
we continued to give our heart and soul to it. For a large percentage of us, it's deceptive messages
led us into drug use and self indulgences that left us delusional to the real reason we were created.
We worshipped these rock idols, oblivious to the ultimate outcome.

I would like to comment on John's first qoute;
He obviously had a limited vision of what life was really all about. To say that "before Elvis their was nothing"
was a proclamation of unbelief in God and in the history of the world as we have come to know it, through recorded events in the Bible that are more that just stories but actual events that happened.
Look at this for a moment and than reflect on John's quote again;
1 Kings:39-40 Account ot celebrating Solomon as the new king.
Zadok the priest then took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon Then theyblew the trumpet, and all the people said, "Long live King Solomon!" All the people went up after him, and the people were playing on flutes and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth shook at their noise.
I suppose John Lennon didn't take time to even consider God in his vision of life.
So what do you think of a people that worshiped the Lord so loud, that the earth shook at their noise?
I would say the "before Elvis their was God."
King Solomons father David was a great musician and he spent much of his time constructing musical instuments,
and writing songs to glorify the Lord, of which we still sing in our worship to the Lord today.
In this account of the Bible, their is evidence of many kinds of instruments they used to glorify and worship the Lord.
Yet it was the people that created the noise that got a response from God.

Excerpt from my book "Are you saved or decieved?"
Music is a very moving subject. We are all moved in our hearts by music. A song can make us cry, make us laugh or ever cause us to enter into deep thought about who we are. That’s because all the songs we listen to in one way or another begin to reach into our emotions as we listen to lyrics that are written by those who have experienced life issues. This is another example of how there is power in words. A song can move us deeply in our emotions... That is one good reason why we should not be listening to songs that seduce our hearts into thinking thoughts of lust and ungodliness.
Proverbs 4:23 “Watch over your heart with all diligence for from it flow the springs of life.” The same verse in the New Living translation of the Bible says, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”
I believe that is one of the most profound statements in the Bible. God says to watch over your affections because what you let your heart become affected by, that is what everything else in your life will be influenced by. Listening to the right kind of music, the music and praise that glorifies Jesus will influence you for the good. Many Bible teachers believe that Satan, also known as Lucifer before his descent from heaven, was once God’s worship leader in heaven. He led the heavenly multitudes of angels in worship to God until his pride was lifted up and desired to be enthroned above God and worshipped as God. That’s when the Lord of Glory cast him and one third of the angels with him out of heaven. Since the scripture refers to Satan as roaming to and fro throughout the earth, I believe it’s evident that he did not give up his musical career or his ability to influence people with music. You can pick up some lyrics from many modern rock bands that speak so fluently about Satan and all sorts of lyrics about demonic activities they enjoy engaging in.
Ephesians 2:2 refers to those who are still walking in the darkness of their sinful life and how they are being led by the course of the world’s system and by the prince of the power of the air. I believe that is a vivid description of Satan’s activity. Just think of the parties of the world that involve alcohol, sex and drugs and the thousands every night that begin and go on mostly through the night hours. Although I don’t believe Satan is restricted to influence people at any certain time, it seems his favorite time is in the darkness of the night hours, when the heart is vulnerable for influence and deception through the lusts of the flesh and seducing music. I want to help you understand the impact worldly music can have on your life whether it’s rock and roll or country and western, if the lyrics are ungodly and seducing your heart and are not glorifying God, you are feeding your flesh and not your spirit. Ask yourself this question; do you want to live your life pleasing to God, or to just please yourself?
Colossians 3:17 “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”

My response to John Lennon's quote about Jesus is this;
1 John 2:15-17
Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.   The Apostle... John

Devoted or Demolished?

2009-09-13T20:02:00Z

Have you ever felt like you have been the main subject of a wrecking crew that seemed to have one purpose of destroying you,
no matter how hard you are trying to make life work? This could be identified as the activity of Satan, the enemy of your soul,
who determines to make several consistent attempts to blow you off of the course that God has destined for you to live.
The greatest weapon against our enemy we have in our arsenal is the power of our devotion to God.
In that realm of commitment we have the awesome ability as sons and daughters of God to tap in to the wisdom of
the strategies of God that help us to determine how and why we must gain the upper hand against the forces of this world that
are set on keeping our hearts destracted from our devotiion to God. These are real life issues that we all face, and the decisions we make in life are all so crucial, we must learn to give God the opportunity to help us make right choices in life.
Here is another excerpt that I believe can assist in considering giving your devotion to God a deeper chance,
from my book, "Are you saved or deceived?"

2 Corinthians 11:3 “But I am afraid lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray by the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.”
God and Satan both desire your devotion. Yet I believe that God will not compete for your heart. It is your choice to give it to Him. Satan deals with us in our mental realm. Once he deceives our mind, our heart follows the course of the lie. The truth is, our hearts are subject to deception. The greater truth is that we can stay free from deception by having a heart of devotion to Jesus and His word in our daily lives. If you will follow this simple truth your life will be forever changed, and will find that walking with God is rewarding when you make that daily decision to lay down your life for Him. Forgiving those who have hurt you in your life can really help toward achieving the path of freedom to walk in God's character. Walking in bitterness and resentment can form a dark cloud of deception in the heart when you allow those things that are in opposition to His nature to control your life. Staying free from sin by the power of His Spirit is the key to your victory and enables you to have that relationship with Him that you need. Sometimes unexpected circumstances in our lives or perhaps focusing on other people’s failures, whom we may have perceived to be more godly, will attempt to rob us of that pure devotion to God. That would be Satan’s trick to deceive us and to distract us from our devotion to God. You must realize that real devotion activates the necessary process of transforming our minds that will help us to begin to think like He thinks. God desires to write His word on your hearts and minds. The ability to make good decisions demands a heart devoted to God. Devotion to God is so vital for our everyday life. Without devotion to God our hearts and minds can so easily be led astray. This relates to everything in our lives. For instance, if you are not asking God for wisdom and help in choosing a life mate, it is likely that you may choose the wrong one because you may be trusting in your own wisdom or feelings. No matter how good or how right you feel about the person you are anticipating spending the rest of your life with, your feelings could be deceiving you, especially if you know that your heart has not been devoted to God in prayer and His word daily during your courtship.
Just take a look at divorce statistics. It is no wonder that now more than half of marriages fail. That should be convincing enough. Ask God to guide you for your life mate. If you make that choice on your own without guidance, it could be the biggest mistake you ever make in your life. Seek God with all your heart and allow Him to be involved in that important decision in your life, to be married. The heartache you will experience by divorcing the person you marry is beyond what you can foresee, especially when there are children born into the marriage. Let God convince your heart for your life mate, not your own emotions.
We need God’s wisdom about every important decision that faces us in our lives. Whether it’s about marriage, purchasing homes and cars, and especially what friends we pursue. We face many difficult decisions in our lives. We need God’s guidance. Since He is God and He created the universe and also created us, we should look to Him for wisdom. He knows best how to give us the guidance we need.
Isaiah 55:6-11 “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth, and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”
I believe this is one of the deepest truths that God would want to communicate to us. If you do not know God, verse six says that you should seek Him while He may be found. To me this suggests that there will be a time when God cannot be found. That is probably one of the most devastating scenarios one could face in life, to not have access to God because you decided that you did not need Him in your life, only to discover later in your life that you do need Him but that He has discontinued to make Himself available to be found. That thought could make your heart sink. He loves you and you need Him. Don’t delay giving your heart to Him. Do not harden your heart any longer. Today is the day of salvation. He has the power to help you get through any and every past, present, or future hurt in your heart. Trust Him with your heart. When you realize that He is perfect, you will have no problem trusting Him with everything.

What is deception.. and are you inclined to yield to it?

2009-09-06T22:32:00Z

In answering this question, I want to go much deeper than just the obvious answer, which would be that deception is just a lie. Since we are looking into the subject of being born again, I would like to review and attempt to answer this question as it relates to our view of God and to our heart and mind concepts of who we think He is. I believe to receive the experience that we desire as a result of our faith toward God we must be convinced that God is truth and His word is the absolute truth. If you've been mislead through false teachings about God or your concept of Him has been confused, His word remains true. That is why it is so important for you to become born again and begin to read the Bible to get answers from God Himself.
I would like to expose deception by helping you realize that we all have been influenced by it. What has your concept of God been in your life? Does He seem like a God that is unreachable? Do you see Him as a big judge ready to thump you when you make a small or a major mistake? Do you see God as a greater power, yet without the ability to understand who He is? Are you filled with doubts that He could really help you even though you believe He exists? Are you skeptical about Him because of the obvious events of terrorism, wars, and starvation in our world? Do you believe in Him at all? And if you are not sure you believe, who influenced you to doubt? Was it your own heart, or have you been influenced by some other source of power that you don’t understand? If you don’t believe in God, has it helped you to get through life any better? Are you afraid that believing in God could somehow affect your life? If you have considered giving your heart to Him, are you afraid of giving up your rights to do what you want to do even though it may be hurting you and other people’s lives? To say it another way, are you afraid to make that commitment because you don’t really want to turn loose of your sinful life and live for Him? You may be afraid of what He will do with your life once you give it to Him. I can assure you that I know that I serve the Lord Jesus, who I am truly convinced, knows best what to do with my life! When you become intimately involved with God, you will soon see that He is a great and loving Father, and eager to rescue your life from the deceptions of this world. He can be totally trusted.
We could ask many more questions about what you believe and why. The very fact that you think about who God is and what His place is in your life does prove that He is trying to reach you in whatever circumstances you face because He loves you. I believe that when you make that decision to invite Him into your heart that He then begins to reveal more truth about Himself and the truth about your own heart and what you believe. He will then begin to show you the difference between having a relationship with Him rather than just having a powerless relationship with some dead religion that doesn’t seem to be helping people out of their darkness and into His light.
Excerpts from my book "Are you saved or deceived?"

If you are deceived in your heart, you don’t know it. If you knew that you were deceived then it would not be deception. Let’s define deception as something you believe to be true...or ok, that is false. I realize if you have been deceived for many years and then you come to the knowledge of the truth, this can also be somewhat disheartening. However, God can restore the years that you have missed out on His grace and blessings. It’s a very sad but true realization that in America there are many pastors and religious leaders who are not born again. They may have a piece of paper that gives them a license to be a preacher, but if they are not saved by the grace of God and do not have the knowledge to lead another to the saving grace of Jesus Christ, then what good are they doing in our society as leaders of churches? If you are a pastor and God is not showing up in your church to effect change on the hearts of sinful and seemingly righteous men, then all you have is fruitless religion.
Division...a word that has been coming to me for a few weeks as I am always praying about these entries.
Living a life yielded to willful sin will make you vulnerable to deception, and will build up walls of division between you
and God. As a result you become a wanderer, wondering about what place God has in your heart and life.
In your unwillingness to offer your life to God so that he can establish freedom for you, you become the culprit
in hindering your own destiny in His purpose for you.
How marvelous though is God, that in His love He will continue to hold out His hand and offer to carry you through
whatever struggle you are facing. This is a harsh world with harsh people in it, and it takes a heart of compasion and insight
to live in it on a daily basis and not give in to discouragment. Begin to yield to the things that you already know God is wanting
you to do. He is our Father and we are His children. He is looking for obedience from us so He can pour out His support and favor on us. I believe we all can benefit by getting all the favor we can get, and mostly that God will be pleased when He looks upon us with His favor.

Part II: Self Deception by worthless jargon

2009-08-24T00:01:00Z

Jesus had a sobering response to the religious people of His day that were getting upset at the disciples for not observing their traditions of hand washings before meals.
Matthew 15;1-20
Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked him, “Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.”
Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and mother, and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,These people honor me with their lips,but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship is a farce,for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.
Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “Listen,” he said, “and try to understand. It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth.”
Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you realize you offended the Pharisees by what you just said?”
Jesus replied, “Every plant not planted by my heavenly Father will be uprooted, so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch.”
Then Peter said to Jesus, “Explain to us the parable that says people aren’t defiled by what they eat.”
“Don’t you understand yet?” Jesus asked. “Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. But the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you.”

It is interesting to see that Jesus revealed the reason their hearts were distant from God, though they acted so self-righteous,
like they had had favor with God regardless of the evil in their hearts. It was the way they spoke and lived that kept them distant from God. The thoughts of the heart came forth in their speech, resulting in defilement in their character.
When I was eight years old, I lost my mom to cancer. In the few short weeks that followed I was living far from my home near Chicago, with one of my sisters where I had to get accustomed to a new school. It was great that I had family that loved me, yet my heart began to react to the loss that I had suffered. For reasons not known to me at the time, I began cursing and remember especially, saying God's name in vain as an everday occurence. I do recall the wierdness I felt as I heard those words come out of my mouth. I suppose it was the awkwardness of my feelings of loss and possibly anger that I was not sure how to deal with as a young child that had lost his mother.
When people curse and use God's name in vain, their is probably a reason the heart has submitted to that type of behavior.
Perhaps it is a deep wound that you have pushed under the rug, only to realize it has popped back out in the form of evil speaking.
Exodus 20:7
"You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain."
This a very serious verse that shows us all our need for forgiveness. God is holy and does not take it lightly when we utter His name as a curse word. When we hear His name used in this way, we can be sure their is a cause behind the evil that can be overcome by Salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I believe that the Lord has shown us that the evil that comes out of our hearts in anger or frustration has the ability to keep our hearts
distant and separated from God. That is not His will for us.
James 4:7-8
"Submit therefore to God.Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded."
I believe cursing can give birth to deception, and has the power to delude our outlook on the reason God gave us a voice.
We were made to worship our Creator, not to curse him.
He takes pleasure in the one that will keep their heart close to Him by honoring Him with their lips... and their lives.

Self deception By worthless jargon

2009-08-16T19:33:00Z

I can remember a time when I was about 17 years old and was working in an auto detail shop in St. Roberts Missouri.
I was working with an older man who frequently spoke of God and had made mention of some religious talk,
to which I would usually listen without much contempt. I still remember the day that this same man began to curse
about something. I still can recall the feeling in my spirit I had as a result of hearing two different worlds of attitude
from the same person. It was a feeling of worthlessness, wondering what good this man's religion was doing him,
when he so willingly spewed evil out of his mouth. Even as a young man the affects of this man' deception had made an
impression on me that left me with some questions about religion and God and how hypocrisy had gripped this man.
Now I know that his heart had become deceived because of his speech. He had a form of religion, but had no control over his tongue.
The Bible calls this "self deception".
James 1:22-27
"But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you."
I see this as a major theme in the Bible; to listen, to obey, and steer clear from the worlds corruptions.
I really believe that corrupt speech can bring on deception and bitterness to your life when you have daily
doses of worldly life styles that only leave you feeling worthless and without purpose.
Ephesians4:29-32
"Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for edifying as the need may be, that it may give grace to them that hear. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and railing, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave you."
If you have been or are living a life of deception because of your self, their is a way out of this darkness.
Believe and receive the truth of the Gospel; that Jesus died for you because of His great love and desire to forgive you
and to set you on a new course of life, the course of freedom from your sins and a new life in Him.
This is a prayer that is written in my book, "Are you saved or deceived?"
Pray this prayer from your heart and when you do keep praying for God to rip out the roots of darkness from your heart.
Knowing Him, He will lead you to His written word, that has the power to do the promised work that He says that He will do.

“Dear God, I thank You that Jesus died for me. Now I believe that He died and rose again for me so I can have the life of peace that You offer to all who call upon Your name. I open my heart to You and I place it in Your care, knowing that You can help me so much better than I can help myself. Please forgive all of my sins. Cleanse my heart from all unrighteousness. Help me now to live for You. Thank You for coming into my heart and saving me. I love You Jesus. Thank you for loving me. I turn my life over to You for that is my purpose in life, to live for You and not for myself. In Jesus name, Amen.”
John 8:31-32
“If you abide in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”
There are certainly conditions you must follow to obtain your freedom. Believing in God’s word, abiding in God’s word, walking in discipleship and knowing God’s truth about your circumstances can set you on a course of freedom. It’s a matter of faith and applying it to your heart and life to make it work. God knows how to make His truth work for you. Believe His word and you can walk in freedom. The promise is for you.
Now abide in His word, for that is where your freedom will take flight.

Extracting the Root

2009-08-02T21:16:00Z

Are you deceived?
That is a question that you may be reluctant to answer quickly, since you may not really be sure you know the answer.
Deception is a huge portion in my work of writing my book entitled "Are You Saved or Deceived?"
I will be inserting portions of my book in these entries for August and September, which I have been doing,
with the purpose still to perhaps help someone that is searching for some answers to some of the heart and life issues they
are facing. Even if you don't respond with your comments, which I would treasure, I pray that your heart will be challenged to consider the message of the cross that remains available to apply to your life that will effect the necessary changes required to walk with God.
God is the one with the power to change. He just needs our response of faith to do His work.

If you are deceived, you probably don't realize it, otherwise it would not be deception. And if you are deceived,
the deception started somewhere. My focus is to help you see beyond the deception to experience
freedom from it's consequences. You may be confused in your life about who God is, or what could Jesus death
on the cross have anything to do with you or your furture. If these are matters of confusion you are still grappling with, then
chances are you have some deception to overcome.
At this point, I am going to avoid "beating around the bush", and get right to the point.
You need God and the truth of His word to acquire freedom from your lost condition.
Jesus died for you on a cross called Calvary. That was God's plan and way of showing His love for you.
Salvation through the name of Jesus is the only way to experience freedom from sin God has promised to
those who believe in His name.
Chances are you have known someone close to you that has recently given their life to God.
Go to that person and tell them you are ready to get saved, and they will help you. If you don't know anyone, pray for God to lead you to the help you need. That is a prayer that God will answer promptly when He knows you are serious about knowing Him,
God's plan of Salvation is for anyone who will believe. God's word implanted into you heart will begin to extract the deception that has gripped your heart. Up to this point you have lived your life to fulfill the fleshly desires of your heart, only to leave you feeling hopeless and defenseless against the enemy of you soul. God can change all of that and give you freedom and victory over the powers of darkness that have haunted you and left you feeling twisted up inside. The lies you have allow to grow and take root in your heart will begin to be uprooted, thus exposing the real deceptions that have ruled your life.
God has His own plan of planting for you. It is called truth. I like to think of God as a great gardner that is always planting and watering the seeds that He plants in the heart. They will grow as His word declares to be oaks of righteousness, which He has planted for His glory. Let Him draw you now to Himself to set you free from Satan's rule in your life.
Allow the life changing power of God to captivate your life, and you will never be the same.

The Psuedo Imitator

2009-07-26T21:11:00Z

Did you ever think of Satan as being successful in his career of roaming the earth with his regiment of deceivers
that are doing his work of destruction in the hearts of those yielding to his desire to be the god of their lives?
His success though is limited, depending on how much of your heart you allow him to control.
11 Corinthians 11:14,15
"No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness,
whose end will be according to their deeds."
Did you ever think of Satan as an imitator of God?
I would like to offer an opportunity for dialogue for any who have opened this blog to comment on some of the ways
you have seen Satan imitate God, and how it affected your life.
Just use the comment link just as you would if you commented on the blog and I will review and respond to each comment,
and hopefully others can gleen from the insight that you may provide to help them overcome the deceptions that they may be facing
in their lives. Anyone who has walked with God for any length of time knows that their is a battle going on in the mind,
and we should be aware of the strategy of Satan in order to win the battle.
Thank you in advance for your feedback and will look forward to responses.
In Jesus.. Terry Fagre

Sin For Sale....Will you buy it, and what will it cost?

2009-07-12T21:56:00Z

We live in a world of alluring advertisements that promise success, more materialism,
and so-called freedoms...but freedom from what??
Anyone who has had the veil of deception lifted from their heart through Salvation in the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ, now knows that Satan is in the business of "placement".
He places one temptation in front of you, and another temptation in front of you with the alluring deception
that whatever he offers will make your life better, if only you will buy it.
Many well meaning people have fallen for these traps and quickly discovered that the price they paid to purchase
the temptation for their pleasure costed much more that they bargained for.
The deceptive element is that the pleasure is free, it just takes a choice, instead of money to purchase.
The price you pay for a few simple episodes of sin is greater that you could ever anticipate.
The heart that buys even a portion of the lies of sins empty promises will reap the negative effects of the
ultimate consequence that yielding to sins temptation produces.
Sinning against God will sap the life right out of you. You may have had an episode in your life of just being complacent.,
and you feel like you are out of touch with God and out of touch with the person you know you should become.
This is part of the downward spiral that happens to the heart when you decide to put your devotion to God on the back burner,
only to realize that the flame was quickly snuffed out by the attitude of your heart that wanted the temporary pleasure of sin
rather than the peace that God promises to the one who overcomes the flesh and the world.
The account of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, yielding to the snake to buy the lie that the forbidden fruit would
make them like God , activated the displeasure of God and resulted in man becoming a fallen race.
The sin in this world that we still deal with is a direct result of someome who bought a lie with just one decision.
Wasn't that the motivating factor that got Satan booted out of heaven, that he wanted to be like God?
I spoke in some detail about this event in a previous blog entry entitled "Where did deception begin?"
Satan did succeed with his sales pitch in the garden of Eden, but God's plan of Redemption for a fallen race
defeated the work that the devil accomplished, by two people that just happened to make a wrong choice.
Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the cross, we have been purchased by His own blood.
God made a decision to purchase what was lost through the fall of man. Our little mind cannot grasp this kind of love
the Father has. You can know His love, though in part, by responding to His call upon your heart to Salvation
through the plan that He has already established for you to believe and follow.
God is deserving of our total devotion, and His purpose and pleasure should be the focus of our attention.
The results of a God directed life have far greater results than the big negative consequences that the heart experiences
by some sins that Satan makes you think are so small.
Be careful what lie you buy, it could cost you your life.

The Traveling Trickster

2009-07-04T21:25:00Z

Have you ever felt like the devil followed you everywhere you decided to go, regardless of the distance?
Amazing but true, he has that ability to do just that. He is limited though as to the measure of occupation he desires.
Unlike God, Satan cannot be omnipresent.
1 Peter 5:8-9
Be of sober spirit, be on the alert Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.
You should see clearly by this verse that you are not alone in this life's quest to be challenged by the deceptions of the flesh and the world that Satan presents to you where ever you are. He has a purpose in his deceitful schemes, but with one underlined strategy, and that is to distract you from your devotion to the Lord.
Genesis 3
Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?"
The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'"
The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die!
"For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"
He said, "I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself."
And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"
The man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate."
Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

After Adam and Eve’s sin and disobedience, their eyes were opened and they realized they had been deceived. Then when God attempted to talk with them they were afraid and tried to hide among the trees of the garden. Fear was the immediate response to the call of God. This is such a simple truth, yet so deep. When you believe a lie, you become deceived. When you act on your deception, you become darkened to the truth. If you do not have the Spirit of truth living in you, you are subject to many deceptions. Even when you do have the Holy Spirit in you, Satan still tries to deceive you. His purpose is to steal the word from your heart before it becomes a living seed that will grow into maturity. That is why it is so important to give your heart daily to prayer and the study of God’s word. The word of God will make you wise to the schemes of Satan. Many have been devoted to destruction for a major portion of their lives. Jesus has a way to change all of that.
As you venture out into this world doing your daily activities, remember that you are in a battle that requires devotion to the Lord to come out a victorious winner. We are no match for the powers of the darkness of this world's evil's without the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Just as Jesus defeated the devil in His wilderness experience, so we too can win against the schemes of the devil with the word of God. His word must be planted in our hearts with deep roots, so we can effectively activate the words resisting power over deception. No matter how excitingly enticing and beautiful the temptation to sin, their are always negative results to the heart that gives in.
Next time you face the temptation to give in to some useless deception, remember who you are in God.
God has said that you can be victorious over sin. If He said it, then He has provided a way for you to experience it.

Exposing Deception

2009-06-28T21:02:00Z

Taking a heart's view of how we relate to truth and lies, when God is involved, will help us to gather some meaningful information about our own heart and how it can become easily deceived when we rely on our self- taught worldy wisdom, rather than trusting in the word of God that delivers us out of the darkness of this worlds deceit, and has the awesome ability to set us free to live by His truth.
I would like to expose deception by helping you realize that we all have been influenced by it. What has your concept of God been in your life? Does He seem like a God that is unreachable? Do you see Him as a big judge ready to thump you when you make a small or a major mistake? Do you see God as a greater power, yet without the ability to understand who He is? Are you filled with doubts that He could really help you even though you believe He exists? Are you skeptical about Him because of the obvious events of terrorism, wars, and starvation in our world? Do you believe in Him at all? And if you are not sure you believe, who influenced you to doubt? Was it your own heart, or have you been influenced by some other source of power that you don’t understand? If you don’t believe in God, has it helped you to get through life any better? Are you afraid that believing in God could somehow affect your life? If you have considered giving your heart to Him, are you afraid of giving up your rights to do what you want to do even though it may be hurting you and other people’s lives? To say it another way, are you afraid to make that commitment because you don’t really want to turn loose of your sinful life and live for Him? You may be afraid of what He will do with your life once you give it to Him. I can assure you that I know that I serve the Lord Jesus, who I am truly convinced, knows best what to do with my life! When you become intimately involved with God, you will soon see that He is a great and loving Father, and eager to rescue your life from the deceptions of this world. He can be totally trusted.
We could ask many more questions about what you believe and why. The very fact that you think about who God is and what His place is in your life does prove that He is trying to reach you in whatever circumstances you face because He loves you. I believe that when you make that decision to invite Him into your heart that He then begins to reveal more truth about Himself and the truth about your own heart and what you believe. He will then begin to show you the difference between having a relationship with Him rather than just having a powerless relationship with some dead religion that doesn’t seem to be helping people out of their darkness and into His light.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

The world says" I will believe it when I see it."

Most of us are familar with the Resurrection story of Jesus, when He had appeared to some of the disciples after He rose from the dead. They were overjoyed with zeal when they approached the other disciples to tell them the news . Yet one, Thomas, did not believe at first until he seen the Lord.
John 20:24-29
But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."
After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you."
Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing."
Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"
Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed."
Living by faith is seeing beyond the appearance of the obvious physical world we see in front of our eyes.
The word of God will give you a new set of eyes that will provide insight into Kingdom principles that you cannot attain through self effort apart from His truth. By His word, you will begin to see by faith how you can be the overcomer in this life that God says in His word that you can become.
John 8:31-32
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
God has already provided the way of truth for you to follow. It is your decision to you to take up your cross and follow.

Where did deception begin?

2009-06-21T22:53:00Z

Before the creation of man, their was activity in heaven. God was on His throne as ruler of the Universe.
Satan, also know as Lucifer, was God's chosen instrument to lead the angels of God in worship.
Imagine that, being God's chosen to be worship leader in heaven. What an awesome position to hold before
God and all the angels of heaven. No one knows how long these events transpired before Lucifer began to yield to the futile temptation to dethrone God. According to the Bible, this is where temptation and deception began, in heaven, and by the one God has chosen for such a high position.

Ezekiel 28:13-20

    "You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering:
         The ruby, the topaz and the diamond; the beryl, the onyx and the jasper;
         The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; and the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets,
         was in you. On the day that you were created they were prepared.
    You were the anointed cherub who covers,  and I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God;
         You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. You were blameless in your ways
         From the day you were created, Until unrighteousness was found in you.
    By the abundance of your trade you were internally filled with violence,
         And you sinned; therefore I have cast you as profane from the mountain of God.
         And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
    Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor
         I cast you to the ground.  I put you before kings, that they may see you.
    By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade
         you profaned your sanctuary. Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you.
         It has consumed you, and I have turned you to ashes on the earth
         In the eyes of all who see you.
    All who know you among the peoples Are appalled at you;
         You have become terrified And you will cease to be forever."

Many Bible scholars believe this is a description of Lucifer, God's beautiful creation, after his heart became proud and desired to exalt himself above God.
Also these scriptures in Asaiah 14 also reveal part of the mystery of angelic heavenly activity before God created man.

Isaiah 14:12-15
"How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn!
  You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations!
  But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north. 'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.' Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol,
To the recesses of the pit."

Deception is a powerful force in this seductive world in which we live.
I believe that if the word of God is not abiding in us to establish truth, we can easily become deceived by the
advertisements of the world that tell us more is better, or to live life to the fullest, and go after all the gusto you
can get only to find that at the end of your beer you are still empty. No matter how much of the world you have tried to stuff into your bodily vessel, it will never satisfy the longing in you for a purpose. Most of us who are living in our self-inflicted pain of disgust are also trying to fill the void with worldy pleasures or activites that we think will make the pain go away. All of this is self-deception, because we have not yielded to the truth of God's word, that says that we can be free from the bondages that these worldy ideas create.
In my book, "Are You Saved or Deceived?" I challenge the reader to yield to the word of God that expresses the will of God, that will remove the blindness from your heart and mind, and how it can set you free from the world's devices of deception.
You can check it out on my bookstore at www.newbirthcup.com
It is also available by print on demand through Xulon press, or just google the title for the best deal in your area.
God loves you and wants you, more than you know.
Isn't it time for you to dethrone yourself and place God in His rightful place in your life?

Are you listening to the snake?

2009-06-07T16:09:00Z

Genesis 3 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”
“Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”
“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”
The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
In Genesis 3 we see that Satan, in the form of a serpent, spoke to Eve in such a way that suggested to her that what God had already told her about not eating the fruit from the forbidden tree wasn’t necessarily the truth. If you look closely at this, you can see that the moment Eve believed what Satan had told her she became deceived in her heart. I suppose that at this moment her personal pleasure was more important than listening to objective truth. Perhaps she had been influenced to believe that she didn’t need to be told what to do, but only what she wanted to do regardless of the warning. It is interesting to me that most women I have known certainly would not trust a snake, especially one that would talk! Yet Eve had yielded to the words of the snake despite God’s warning and ate the forbidden fruit. This may reveal a profound truth that before the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden, fear did not exist, since they had perfect communion with God. I believe that fear is a direct result of sin and disobedience to God. He had warned Adam about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil before Eve was created. Perhaps he may not have been convincing enough to his wife to heed the warning. There's a lesson here for husbands, to be responsible as head of the household to help keep deception from entering in to the family circle.
Christian wives; this is a great tool of challenge for your husband who may not know the Lord yet. You could ask him to help make sure he doesn’t allow Satan to bring deception onto you or your family. This could challenge him to seek God for himself though he may not know the Lord; this could result in his salvation and salvation for others in your family as well.
After Adam and Eve’s sin and disobedience, their eyes were opened and they realized they had been deceived. Then when God attempted to talk with them after their disobedience, they were afraid and tried to hide among the trees of the garden. Fear was the immediate response to the call of God. This is such a simple truth, yet so deep. When you believe a lie, you become deceived. When you act on your deception, you become darkened to the truth. If you do not have the Spirit of truth living in you, you are subject to many deceptions. Even when you do have the Holy Spirit in you, Satan still tries to deceive you. His purpose is to steal the word from your heart before it becomes a living seed that will grow into maturity. That is why it is so important to give your heart daily to prayer and the study of God’s word. The word of God will make you wise to the schemes of Satan. Many have been devoted to destruction for a major portion of their lives. Jesus has a way to change all of that.
Look at Eve’s response to God in Genesis 3:13. She told God she had been deceived by the serpent to eat the fruit. After God’s presence came onto the scene, her deception was revealed. There is a connection between devotion and deception.
2 Corinthians 11:3 “But I am afraid lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray by the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.”
The Bible is very clear in it's purpose to illuminate your heart and life with truth, when you apply yourself to read it, and to believe the truths in it that will help you to avoid deception.
The key to victory is a heart wholly devoted to God, through devotion to His word.
And if that is correct, then that is what Satan will try to distract you from the most. Satan also has the ability to challenge you , but with a wrong motive. Devotion to truth is the best defense against the schemes of the enemy.
God desires you to become like Him. This accomplishment is only aquired through giving your heart to study His word.
That is when you begin to think like He thinks and act like He acts, because His word is the nature of who He is.
Being conformed into His image takes a decisive dedication to the truths that God has already set forth for you to discover.
Being ignorant of God's truth leaves your heart open to deception.
Being devoted to truth will become as a shield of defense against deception that you do not possess in your own strength.
Proverbs 21:30-31 " No human wisdom or understanding or plan can stand against the Lord.
The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord."
God will enjoy imminent victory in the end. Will you be riding with Him?

Are you creating yourself?

2009-06-01T00:36:00Z

Psalms 139:13,14 "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."
God is your creator and sustainer of your life. If you have been born again, you know by now the process of
santification, and being transformed by the word of God has been the activity of His Holy Spirit since
you have given your heart to Him.
Their is a great contrast between the creative power of God's word and all the other voices in the world that would attempt to
capture your attention with the purpose of creating something in you that you may not have even intended to become. That is the power of words, through the media and advertisement.
What, or I could say, who?.. is having a greater affect on the course of your life? I could answer that for you.
It is the decisions you make on a daily basis who you spend the most time listening to.
If you are born again, you are very well aware of the war that wages in your soul, flesh against spirit.
Devotion to God and His word is one of the single most powerful tools that keeps you walking in freedom, and helping you win the battles of the flesh. The more devotion you give to God, the more you become conformed into His image.
Part of Satan’s strategy is to deceive us and to distract us from our devotion to God. You must realize that real devotion activates the necessary process of transforming our minds that will help us to begin to think like He thinks. God desires to write His word on your hearts and minds. The ability to make good decisions demands a heart devoted to God. Devotion to God is so vital for our everyday life. Without devotion to God our hearts and minds can so easily be led astray.
The more you plant and feed the word of God into your life, the stronger the creative image and power of God will influence the
choices you make and the life you choose to live.
Their is a seemingly persuasive argument in the hearts of many thousands and thousands of people in this world that for some reason willl not respond favorably to the creative word of God, that desires out of love, to capture the heart and life that He created at birth, and to breathe His life once again into the spirit that has been held captive by the results of sin and the fall of mankind.
We have the power within us to choose to be molded by our Creator, that gives us life, or to allow our lives to be carried away by the
waves of worldly influence, to our destruction.
Isaiah 29:15,16 "What sorrow awaits those who try to hide their plans from the Lord,who do their evil deeds in the dark!
“The Lord can’t see us,” they say. “He doesn’t know what’s going on! ”How foolish can you be?
He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you, the clay! Should the created thing say of the one who made it,
“He didn’t make me”? Does a jar ever say, “The potter who made me is stupid”?
I look at it in the light of common sense, that God created the universe that we behold. Don't you think that He could do a creative work in your life by speaking words to you?
He has already done it. Your part is to read the Bible, and listen to His voice. His voice is in His word.

I hope this has been helpful and encouraging to you and has planted a desire in your heart to take God seriously, and to walk in the freedom He has provided for you through the cross. In the coming months, I will be going deeper into the area of devotion to God and how to conquer deceptions that keep us in the dark about the will of God.
In my book. " Are You Saved or Deceived"? I go into great detail about devotion to God, and attempt to confront modern day religions that have a way of keeping you blinded to the real truth of the word of God and how it applies to your life.
I welcome any and all types of comments, whether favorable to my blog, or not.

Forsaking the old nature, embracing the new

2009-05-25T18:47:00Z

II Corinthians 5:16-21
So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
The experience of the new birth that takes place in our lives through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the power of His resurrection
opens up a supernatural understanding of why we were created.The will of God is not hidden from the true believer that is looking to discover it.
The Bible says that God is light; therefore with His presence comes His light. If you study Genesis chapter two, you will see that first God formed Adam from the dust of the earth, and then He breathed life into him. That is a similar example of our existence as human beings. God has created us through birth, yet because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden, we are the offspring of a fallen race. We exist, but because of our fallen nature, we are spiritually dead without the life of God in us. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death, meaning spiritual death. We exist, but we are spiritually dead. But God has made provision for us through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. He purchased us with His own blood that He shed on the cross called Calvary. This is God’s plan called redemption. Doing something for us that we could not possibly have accomplished for ourselves. That is real love. He is simply waiting for your response to His offer of forgiveness and to fill you with His presence to empower you to live your life new in Him. This is what it means to be born again. It is an experience that requires the breath of God, breathing His life into your spirit. Now I realize that without God’s Holy Spirit power in my life, I did not have the ability to live as He desires, nor did I have the power.
If you have lived your life up to this point without knowing or understanding the will of God, their is still hope for you.
He is still that loving Father with open arms to welcome anyone who makes that decision to believe and receive the freedom that the newbirth accomplishes. This is a choice that no one else can make for you. It must be yours and yours alone.
God is full of patience, yet His word does say that He will not always strive with man. He will give you the most immediate response of strength when he sees that you have made a decision from your heart to forsake your old flesh desires and addictions to follow Him. Hardening your heart to the gospel of His love will set you up to further self-desruction as you continue giving your life to this world. God does not take pleasure in seeing you suffer through your own self-inflicted chaos. He takes who you are and creates you into the person that you really desire to be, when you give your heart to Him.