Suckers, Liars, and Con Artist

I am an observer of people and I watch and listen to what people say and do. I haven’t always been an observer of people, but I became one when I was in my early twenties and accompanied an acquaintance to a carnival where I ended up losing my paycheck to a carnie who ran a gambling tent on the grounds. My acquaintance assured me I would get my money back from the operator if I got other people involved in the game. I got other people involved, but I, and they, were taken to the cleaners. When I left the carnival grounds that day my pockets had been picked so clean there wasn’t even a trace of lint in them. But despite losing my hard earned money to a couple of con men; I learned a lesson from my fleecing I have never forgotten. More importantly, I learned to listen to the words people say beyond the words I hear coming out of their mouth. Do you know people do more talking with their body than they do with their mouth? A persons actions doesn’t lie. They may lie with their mouth, but they cannot be untrue to themselves. What is in their heart is openly displayed in their actions. The problem we have is we have eyes, but we deny what we see. We have ears, but we deny what we hear. The con is able to take what belongs to us because we want to believe what we hear more than we believe what we see. There is an old saying, “If something sounds to good to be true, it usually is.”

Albeit, when the things people do line up with what they say – hang with that person because they are a friend in deed. But if what they are saying doesn’t line up with the things they do; get away from them as fast as you can because they will take something of great value from you that you can’t afford to give away. The people you know fall into one of two categories. They either want something from you and will tell you what you want to hear in order to get whatever it is they want, or, they are adding to your life to build you up and make you a stronger person for having known them. Let me tell you, there are far more people in that first category than there are in the second. If you are fortunate enough to know one or two people who want to add to your life and take nothing away from it – you are a very fortunate person. Treat them right and you will have a friend for life. Hurt them, and you will be the sorry one. Which leads me to ask this question: What kind of person are you? Are you a giver, or a taker? Are you the person who is adding to someone’s life, or are you only befriending them to take something from them when the appropriate time arises? Friendship, like marriage, are suppose to be built on trust, but the sad truth is very few relationships are. And the reason that is true is because most people are not trustworthy.  That is why we have so many divorces in this country. People cheating on their boyfriends, girlfriends, or spouses is as common in the church as it is among those who do not believe. These things were able to get a toe hold in the church because few people understand, “It is what we do that tells other people what kind of a person we are.” Jesus told His followers, “If we have eyes to see and ears to hear; we will know people by their actions.” But the truth is most people have eyes, but they are blind, they have ears, but they are deaf. These are the people the con artist is looking for because they are easy pickings. It’s not enough to know we are the target of the con artist, or that we must live in a state of constant awareness. We must be able to look beyond a person’s  exterior, their dress, their charm, their charisma, if we want to understand what motivates them to do the things they do.

As you know, scam artist are everywhere. They are on the internet, in the financial districts, in banks, in businesses, in churches, in elected positions of government; and all of them are looking for vulnerable people to con. And let me tell you, “There are some very enterprising con artists in this world who has been blessed with a silver tongue who will tell you what you want to hear until they get what they want from you, then you never see them again.” They are not after things that have no value; they are after your most precious jewels; ie, your fortune, your good name, your reputation; and, they not only mean to take something from you; they mean for their works to destroy you.

Taking something from a person by deceit isn’t a new concept. Con artist have been around since the beginning of time, and the first sucker to fall for one of their schemes was Eve, the wife of Adam, back in the Garden of Eden. She bought Lucifer’s lies, aka, the serpent: hook, line and sinker, and then sold Adam on the idea. The result: It cost her and Adam their beautiful home, their livlihood, and their lordship over the earth. They lost their glory, their relationship with their creator, and most of all the con they fell for eventually cost them their physical lives. And people have been falling for the convincing lies of silver tongued devils ever since. A wise man named Solomon said, “There is nothing new under the sun.” The only thing that changes in this world is each succeeding generation of people on it. The devil doesn’t have any new ideas, he just adds a new twist to his originals from time to time and people keep falling for his cons even though they are told about them in the bible. He has been here since the beginning, and with each new generation that arises a new generation of suckers are ripe for the picking. P.T. Barnum may have said it best when he said, “There is a sucker born every minute.” Meaning, whatever a sucker possesses can be taken from them, and all it takes is a distraction and a little convincing by the con artist that he has something better to offer than what we presently have. Sometimes just our money is taken, at other times a person loses their reputation, their good name, and in return they receive a broken promise, a broken relationship, and a damaged soul. People who steal your personal property are not the one’s you have to look out for because stolen property can be replaced, but when someone destroys your trust, or your relationship with them, that hurt damages the soul of a person, and your soul cannot be healed with medicine that only numbs it. It takes a loving God to heal a person with a damaged soul and only then if we are willing to forgive the perpretrator. All too often people blame other people for what happens to them, but the truth is you cannot be conned unless you want to be conned. I know that sounds pretty hard, but if someone has conned you, they were able to do so because you wanted to believe them rather than listen to them. If you want to stop being hurt, watch what people do and you won’t fall for their lies. A tiger cannot change its stripes and a liar cannot stop telling lies, but you can know when people are lying to you by watching what they do in similar circumstances. If they lied to someone in front of you, they will lie to you in front of someone else. So if you want to avoid being conned and being hurt by those you know; open your eyes and ears and analyze the information they give you and you will know who you can believe. DThrash

The Kingdom of Heaven

Jesus tells us in Luke 17:21, if you are born of God, “The kingdom of heaven is within you.” Knowing that there is a flip side to every thing, if heaven is within the child of God; the attributes of hell reside within the children of the devil. I am not saying there is not another heaven and another hell where the spirits of men go when the physical body dies because that would be misleading. But what Jesus is telling us in this scripture is that when we are born into the kingdom of God, we become the temple of God on earth where the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit take up residence. And that newly recreated spirit within us is as holy and pure, vibrant and strong, as it is ever going to be. How is that possible; you might be wondering? It is so because of who has joined themselves with our spirit when they came to live in us. We are now and forever more the temple of the living God, because the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, triune Godhead has taken up residence in their Temple. And all that is in heaven in the form of life, power, love, goodness and virtue, is inside us right now; and the devil knows it. That’s why we undergo the many trials we endure in this life. Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:12 “And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” The trials and temptations we face in this life is an attack on the kingdom of heaven within us. It’s the devils attempt to overthrow the kingdom of God by destroying the physical temple that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit live in. The devil does not seem to understand that is an impossibility. When he had Jesus killed, he actually thought he had seen the last of Him. But, we know the body of Jesus, which was the physical temple of the Living God, was only in the tomb for three days before it was resurrected. And when the Spirit that had been in Jesus had completed its mission in hell, it came back, picked up its physical body, was seen by hundreds, and ascended into heaven a complete person; Spirit, soul, and body. This is what is going to happen after the physical body of the child of God dies. Our body will go into the earth temporarily, our spirit will go to be with our heavenly Father in His heaven of heavens, and on the day of resurrection when Jesus makes all things new, our spirit will return for its new, eternal body, they will come together in the air, and our spirit, soul and body will ascend into heaven with the Lord to be with Him forevermore.

I mentioned above that hell resides within the child of the devil. By that I mean there is no peace, no hope, no holiness, no virtue, no chance, that body, soul, and spirit will reside with God forever in God’s heaven of heaven. Quite the contrary is true however; that body in which hell resides will be cast off because of what it truly is: a place where evil abides. All that is good in heaven is in the child of God, and all that is evil in hell is in the child of the devil. Having said that, there is hope for the child of the devil. If that person repents of their sins, turns away from their evil ways, and accepts the Lordship of Jesus Christ, God will forgive that person. They will become a new creation in Christ Jesus,  and the triune Godhead of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will take up residence in them, and they will have the assurance, they, too, will spend eternity with Him in heaven. If a person never makes that decision; they will be thrown into the pit of everlasting torment as an evil doer, along with the devil and all who follow him in his rebellion against God.

NO PERSON is so evil that God will not forgive them of their sins. There are former muderers, thieves, liars, fornicators, terrorists, or whatever they might have been, that sought God’s forgiveness, and He changed that person from a child of the devil into a saint. He made them what He calls, ‘a new creation,’ saying, old things have passed away, all things have become new inside that person. The truth is that every person that is going to heaven were all evil doers and had to make a decision to turn away from their evil ways, submit to God, and make Jesus the Lord of their life. Every person who does the above will be granted eternal life. God looks at our heart, which is really our spirit, and for those that are sincere in their request, God assures them they will not be cast into the pit of fire at the end of days. 

One last thought before I close this short message: Each person is responsible for the decisions they make in this life, whether they are good or bad. NO ONE will be able to point the finger at someone else on judgment day; that future day, when every person will stand alone before God Almighty and give an account for what they did with their life on this earth, and say that another person is the reason they are where they are. Point number two: There is NO ONE on this earth that really cares about what happens to you except God Almighty. They might say they do; but I can tell you from experience; that when your money is gone, so are they. Also, people really need to understand the devil hates your guts, whether you are saved or lost for the simple reason that you are made in the image of God; and he (Satan) has already BEEN sentenced to hell for his crimes against the kingdom of heaven. Satan’s thought is, that if he couldn’t destroy God; he will focus his attention on man and attempt to destroy his life. He attempts your destruction through the people who know you best. This group includes your family and friends, and if he can’t get the job done through them, he uses sickness, disease, financial problems, and so forth. (John 10:10) “The thief (or Satan) comes to steal, kill, and to destroy, but I have come that you may have life, and life more abundantly.” Satan, the devil, doesn’t care how he destroys you, as long as you do not come to the realization of how much God loves you, and the horrible price He paid so you could have a close, personal relationship with God Almighty. John 3:16-18 tells us; “For God so loved the world, (that’s you and I) that He gave His only Begotten Son (Jesus Christ) that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have everlasing life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (Again, people make up the world; so He is talking about you and I.) He who believes in Him (Jesus) is not condemned; but he who does not believe (in Jesus Christ) is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” DThrash

The Business of Saving the Lost

Like any good businessman, the Lord knows it takes money to operate a business. And as I have written before, the Lord is in the business of saving souls from the firey pits of hell, and for every soul saved from that horrible place there is a battle that must be fought for the right to claim that soul because the devil doesn’t like giving up property he thinks belongs to him. And as with any army involved in war, there must be a support system in place to supply those on the front lines of the fight. Every person that God has saved from the fires of hell has a job to do in His service. Either we are on the front lines of the fight, or we are a part of the support system. Any army that goes into battle without a strong support system in place will soon find themselves at the mercy of the enemy when their ammunition and food runs out. And for any war to continue for very long, there must be soldiers willing to fight, and there must be people who are willing to support the cause. People who support the war effort make sacrifices in whatever area necessary that will help ensure victory for their sons, daughters, fathers, mothers or friends involved in the fight.

Because the Lord understands how important finances are to fight a war; He has put into place a reward system for those people who support Him and His cause. Luke 6:38 “Give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”

However, there are many people in the church who claim they support the cause of Christ, but never give anything to Him. There is a story in John chapter six where Jesus has just finished feeding the five thousand from two fish and seven small loaves of bread, He then sends His disciples across the sea, while He Himself remains behind to pray. Later, He walked on the sea and joinde His disciples in the middle of a storm. The people who had been fed by Him, took notice that He had not joined His disciples in the boat when they departed. The next morning when they came looking for Him, but could not find Him. Knowing He had sent His disciples on to a certain place, they got in their boats and crossed over to the other side where they saw Jesus standing with His disciples. One of the five thousand, asked Him, John 6:25 “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus replied, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves, and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”

The reply Jesus gave to that man in this story is a very fitting description of people who fill our church pews every meeting date. The majority of them come seeking what the Lord can do for them, but the thought of what they can do for the Lord never enters their minds. I have been just as guilty of self seeking as everyone else. The following is a quote by John F. Kennedy from one of his speeches, “Ask not what your country can do for you; but what you can do for your country.” This is precisely what Jesus expects from His disciples. And if the church ever gets its priorities straight; the soul saving business of Jesus will prosper and grow, and the church will be abundantly blessed because of the support they lend to Him and His cause. If not, we will continue to settle for what comes our way, like we have been doing for some time now. DThrash

God’s Crown Jewels

[Matthew 9:35-36] “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered. like sheep having no shepherd.”

If we look closely at the needs of the people in front of Jesus they are a microcosm of the needs of ourselves, our friends, our neighbors, the people who live just down the street, and people from all around the world. People who are weary, loaded down with problems, sick, diseased, demon possessed, and harrassed by the enemy of man. Jesus said, “We are like sheep without a shepherd.” And in [John 10:12] Jesus tells us who is doing the harrassing. “The wolf (Satan) catches the sheep and scatters them.” What a terrible condition for God’s Crown Jewels to find themselves in.

Jesus is telling us, man whom He referred to as sheep because they are slow to understand and easily frightened, has an enemy lurking just out of our line of sight who causes the sheep to scatter in fear. Frightened sheep running wildly through the briars and the brambles are easy targets for the easy loping, intelligent wolf, who possesses a keen sense of smell. Jesus is the Shepherd of the sheep, but those dim witted sheep who stray away from His flock become easy targets for the packs of predators lurking in the brush. A sheep separated from the main flock becomes easy prey for the wolf pack. Now what do you suppose happens to stray sheep that are caught by the wolf? That’s right; the wolf does everything within his power to kill the sheep. Should the sheep somehow escape the sharp teeth of the wolf, they will be cut, wounded, and possibly have mangled parts that will never heal or function properly again. This is the condition of the people standing in front of Jesus on the day He made the above comment. Do you see the relevance of this picture? This is the condition of all those people you know that are sick, depressed, harrassed and plagued with problems. They have been separated from the main flock of sheep and scattered. They are weary, tired, injured, hurting, and dying by the thousands every day. People say they are in the condition they are because they are not interested in the things of God. That is what the enemy wants you to think. These people are scared, hurting and need help. But they have been largely ignored and abused by the church. They no longer have faith in the church to help them. So they continue to wonder the deserted places of life looking for someone to help them who will not turn them away because they are damaged goods. 

Jesus said in [Matthew 9:37-38] “Then He (Jesus) said to His disciples, the harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

The lost, wounded, and hurting people of this world is the mission field of the church. Jesus said the harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. This was His way of telling His church body that their assignment in this life is to seek out those who have been taken captive by the wolf and take care of their needs; whatever they might be. The above scriptures said, Jesus moved with compassion on the people before Him, and that is the same method we are to use to meet the needs of those who live around us and down the street. What an awesome responsibility the church has been given to oversee.

The wolf (Satan) is a seasoned hunter. He is the alpha wolf of the pack. He is intelligent, and since he can’t outright kill man, he uses his wisdom to get man to help him destroy the lives of other men through war, greed, famine, and so forth. When he is done with the perpretrator, he will discard them as well. He has alternative sites set up for people to visit who don’t receive the help they need from the body of Christ. For those sheep that are not in war zones, or areas of famine, he has set up alternative sites, such as bars, nightclubs, porn houses, drug houses, and so forth. He provides his victims with what the victim believes is a temporary help in relieving their hurts and weariness, but in reality is something that will further damage them and rob them of the blessings God desires to bestow upon them, and in the end, the side effects of their activities take their life. The hope of mankind, lies in the hands of the church body of which Jesus assigned the awesome task of being shepherds over His flock. Does the church really understand its mission in life? I don’t think so at this time. DThrash

War (Part One)

We know the wars men fight are for land, power, and recognition; but the war we know little about is between God and Satan for the souls of men. The first type of war is fought in the natural realm, the second in the spiritual realm. Both wars are a life and death struggle where you either defeat the enemy, or you become a prisoner. You are either a survivor or a casualty. There are no winners in war; there are only losers. Most of us know someone who has been a casualty of war, and most of us know someone who is a survivor. But a person can survive a physical war and still be a casualty of the war between God and Satan. We should understand that we can serve our country honorably, and still go to hell. Or we can serve our country dishonorably, and go to heaven. Our eternal destination is not determined by our physical actions, but by whose army we choose to serve in – in this life.

Every human being living on the face of the earth today is either fighting for survival, or fighting to control the life of another. And whether we know it or not; we are all in the army of God, or we are in the army of Satan. We are for one and against the other; we cannot be for God and Satan at the same time. If you are not sure which army you are in, check out your actions. What we do in life tells us who we are supporting. If you are not a Christian and true to the cause of Christ; you are in the army of Satan and fighting against God. If you should die in the service of Satan, you will pay the ultimate price for your rebellion.

It is also obivious that all people who call themselves Christians are not Christians. You can tell a true Christian from the phoney Christian by the love they have for one another. There is no love for humanity in the hearts of the phoney Christian. There is only self seeking and schemes to harm others. Satan placed these same kinds of spies among the people that followed Jesus. And just like today many of those people pretended to be His disciples and followed Him to criticize His teachings and works. They said that many of the works He did was not of God, but of Satan. That same message is still being preached from church pulpits today. These messages denying Christ are preached to cause separation within the church body. These empty vessels may fool those who lack understanding, but the mature Christian knows them by their works. If Satan had spies among the people who followed Jesus, you can bet your last dollar they are within the meeting places of the body of Christ today. These people call themselves Christians and attend church every time the doors are open. They are in your congregation, and they are in mine, and every other congregation that meets to worship the Lord. How do we know who is who? The test is a very simple one, but very accurate. If God doesn’t have your heart, He doesn’t have your money either. Jesus made reference to this when He said, “You cannot love God, and mammon.” If you love God, money is not your motivating factor. But if God isn’t first in your life, then money is. This might confuse some people, but you do not have to be wealthy to love money. If you are still not sure who has first place in your life; here is the litmus test: What do you spend the most time doing? Helping others, or pursuing other things? “The love of money (which is used to purchase things; mammon) is the root of all evil.” (1 Timothy 6:10) DThrash

War (Part Two)

Another point to ponder concerning who is and who isn’t in the army of God. How do you feel about Israel? Are you for them, or are you against them? Geographically, Israel is about the size of the state of New Jersy, and is a representative picture of God’s true church. We are both small compared to the whole world. We both belong to God, and both of us are involved in a life and death struggle for survial. The battle for Israel is a physical fight, but the battle for the spiritual life of America and every other country on earth is raging within the walls of government buildings, and church houses all around the world making plans about how to best restrict the freedoms and the liberties of the true church. However these people who wage war against tiny little Israel and God’s true church do not understand; the actions of man cannot restrict the Spirit of God whose job it is to protect and comfort the property of God. He does what He wants, to whom He wants, when He wants, and there is nothing man can do to stop Him, because He reigns supreme over all of creation. People foolishly say and do all kinds of things not understanding we are but men who are destined to die and a new generation will take our place. God describes mankind as being the clay, and Himself as the potter, who has the power to squash us and our puny defense systems into smitherenes anytime He chooses. If you don’t understand what I am saying, watch a potter work the clay. A piece of clay that is flawed is flattened and put back on the potters wheel and reworked. Once it has been decided by the potter that the clay is good for nothing, that piece of clay is tossed into the trash pile and gotten rid of. That will be the end result of all those who resist God’s plan for this earth, and for His true church, which is the bride of His Son.

God has placed Israel and His true church into precarious places for a reason. We are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. The mission of Israel and the true church is to keep the light burning for as long as we are in this world, but Satan wants the light put out. Therefore, we are both surrounded on all sides by enemies whose only desire is to destroy us and remove us from the face of the earth, but that won’t ever happen. I know some of you won’t believe that last statement, so you won’t believe this next statement either, but if you are against Israel, or against God’s true church; you are supporting a lost cause. Neither the enemies of Israel or the enemies of God’s true church can win. Anything God is for; Satan is against. But Satan is a defeated foe and knows he can never win. It’s too bad that man won’t listen to the truth. When Satan attempted to overthrow heaven and failed, he was judged on that day and his punishment was set. Later, he thought if he couldn’t defeat God and rule from God’s throne in heaven, he would take man captive on earth and rule from God’s footstool – and when God’s sentence would be carried out, he would take all of mankind to hell with him. That’s how much he hates God, and His highest creation; man. But, that plan didn’t work out either. He was defeated by Jesus, the Son of God, and the Son of Man; and since that day 2000 years ago; man has been given the choice of serving whomever they please. But let it be known that Satan was created a servant angel, and he remains a servant angel. (Hebrews 1:13-14) And like all angels, he can only do what God allows him to do, (Job 1:6) and that within the confines of the limitations God has placed upon him (The Book of Job) for the purification of His church. If Satan wasn’t free for that reason, God would have cast him into hell the moment his judgment was handed down. DThrash

The Master of the Storm

During our Christian walk we will face many storms in life, and many of them will be severe. I know in my own personal life there have been times I have wondered if I was going to make it through my struggles without losing everything I own. But, to my surprise I find I am still here and intact; and to this point I have lost nothing. And from my experiences I have learned; we are either the master of the storm, or the storm masters us. There are no half-measures in our service to the Lord. Either our faith is in Him, or it is not. If our trust is in Him, we will overcome; if our trust is not in Him, we will be overcome. He is the assurance, and the guarantee, that we will master the storm’s of life. Just as we will discover in the following story: “Jesus is always aware of where we are, what the situation is, and how well we are doing in that situation.” If we are struggling, He will be there to help us through. If we are holding our own, He will be standing by, just in case we need His help. How well we perform in the midst of our storm depends upon our understanding of who He is, what He did for us in the past, is doing in the present, and has prepared for us in the future. The bible teaches us, “If God is for us; Who can be against us.” And in another place it says, “What can separate us from the love of Christ?” The answer is, ‘Nothing in all of creation’.  Not height, depth, distance, problem, storm, anything natural or supernatural, nor anything else the devil can throw at us can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. God is Lord over all!

Sometimes we have to experience the stormy seas of life before we fully understand if we trust in the Lord, and use the power given to us in His Name, we can master any storm in life. I was reminded of this fact after reading the story of Jesus walking on the sea in Mark 6:47-51 which reads, “Now when evening come, the boat (with His disciples in it) was in the middle of the sea; and He was alone on the land. Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by. And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost, and cried out; for they all saw Him and were troubled. But immediately He talked with them and said to them, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid. Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased. And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marveled.”

“He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by.” I have read this line many times and wondered why Jesus went to His disciples and then would have passed them by, instead of helping them. After all, the story tells us, “He saw them struggling.” So He knew they were tired and in trouble. But after much thought, I realized that Jesus fully expected His disciples to use their faith in God to master this storm. And they could have if they would have done so, or the story would not have told us Jesus would have passed them by. Jesus was responsible for taking care of His disciples. And by the way, He still is for those who call Him, ‘Lord’. But, instead of using their faith to overcome this storm, His disciples were afraid of the wind because it was making them struggle a bit. So when they saw Him walking nearby, they thought He was a ghost, until He spoke to them. The bible tells us after He got in the boat with them, ”They were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marveled.” Wouldn’t you say, “This short story pretty well sums up our lack of faith in the Lord during our times of troubles?” After you read this next statement, pause for a couple of seconds, and let truth of it sink in: Because the storm around His disciples had their full attention, the fact that He had sent them on this mission had not entered their minds. And when Jesus assigns us a task, He does so because our mission is important to the kingdom of Heaven; and upon the assingment of a task, He is giving us His personal guarantee; the mission will have a successful conclusion. Had His disciples really understood, who Jesus was; and His reason for sending them on this important assignment; their struggle would not have been as hard as they were making it. That leads me to ask this question: “How are we doing in our walk with the Lord?” Are we concentrating more on the storm than we are on who the Lord is, or are we rejoicing in the fact that Jesus has assigned us an important kingdom mission and given us authority over any storm we encounter while carrying out that assignment? Are we rowing confidently through the storm with calm assurance we will complete our assignment; or is our mind on the struggle thus making our forward progress more difficult? I hope you understand after reading this short blog; how we respond to the difficulties in our life, determines their degree of severity. DThrash

The Image in the Mirror

We will not take a good look at ourselves in the mirror because we don’t like the person staring back at us. The reason we don’t is that person points out to us our imperfections which leads us to be critical of ourselves even though the image in the mirror never says a word. You would think we would know that the person in the mirror is only an image, it is not a true representation of who we are. If we were happy with who we are as a person, we would not believe the image we see of ourselves in the mirror. But, we, who haven’t figured this out yet; spend billions of dollars each year on cosmetics, plastic surgeries, clothing, and exercise facilities; in an attempt to change the image in the mirror.

Our vanity is promoted and encouraged by Hollywood; the vanity capital of the world; the city of illusion and disillusionment. The kings of Hollywood understand that it doesn’t matter if we are just a little vain, or a lot vain. We are still vain. This is true because we only want others to see us in our best light, looking our best, as close to perfection as we can make ourselves; thus the clothing industry, the cosmetic industry, the health food industry, gyms, and the plastic surgeons are billion dollar industries. When we believe the lies of the person staring back at us in the mirror, we do not understand, it doesn’t matter how much money we spend on ourselves trying to cover up our imperfections; we cannot cover up the person living inside us who is subject to the persuasive powers of others. Hollywood understands our desire to be persuaded and uses that knowledge to promote their wares; and the other industries I mentioned above make billions off of our vanity. If we really wanted to change who we are; we would stop listening to those who tell us we are flawed individuals. We are not flawed; we are unique. There is only one of us, and there will never be another person like us.

If we truly wanted the world to see our beauty, we would focus on changing the perspective of the person who lives in us. Designer clothes and outrageous fashions promoted by Hollywood, television, and fashion deisigners will not do the trick. Those things are designed to distract and confuse people so they don’t see us as we really are. Do we not yet understand that it is our actions that tells the world who we are as a person; and all the changes we make to our appearance will not change that fact. Because of this shortcoming we encounter numerous problems other people don’t have who recognize that the image in the mirror is only that; an image. As long as we cannot accept ourselves for who we are, the person we see in the mirror each morning will continue to point out our flaws; and we will continue to spend billions on something that can’t be changed until we change the person in us. The happiest people on earth are those people who have accepted themselves for who they are as individuals. Knowing that nothing we clothe ourselves in, or do to our body, can hide the one who lives in us. Once that is understood and addressed; the real beauty within us surfaces for all to see through the life we live.

King Solomon was perhaps the most vain person of all time. He was wealthy, powerful, and influential, but yet he proclaimed that all he did in this life was vanity. So in summarizing his life for us, he outlines his vanity in its completeness in the Book of Ecclesiastes which he wrote near the end of his life, and in which he gives us the conclusion of the whole matter in chapter 12 verses13-14, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep His commandments. For this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing. Whether good or evil.” DThrash

The Preacher Man and The Heathen

One Sunday afternoon back in the middle 1970’s some friends and I were in a little park in southern Illinois drinking beer and shooting the breeze when I looked up and saw a revival tent pitched about 400 feet from where we were sitting. I noticed there was a little man in a white tee shirt walking around outside the tent, and when he disappeared into the tent; I made a quick decision I was going to go have a talk with the preacher man. I was two sheets in the wind at the time and told my friends I would be back in a little while and staggered off across the park towards the little man’s tent.

Without so much as a ‘knock’, or a ‘hello’, I entered through the tent flap like I owned the place and saw the little preacher man sitting on a three legged milk stool reading a bible lying open on a fold-up canvas army cot he used for a bed. The man never looked up when I entered though he knew I was there, and my impression was that he was expecting me. I don’t remember the whole conversation we had that day, but I remember very clearly, asking him, “Why do you believe in Jesus? How do you know that He is even real?” He said to me, “I was sick and in the hospital in a bad way. One day when I woke up, Jesus was sitting beside my bed. He said to me, “You will not die; but live!” I told Him, “If I lived, I would preach His gospel until the day I died.” Many years have now passed and I am still preaching His gospel everywhere I go.” What the man said to me that day never made an impact, nor did he convince me that Jesus was real, but what He said about Jesus visiting him when he was at his worst has played through my mind, many, many, times since that day back in the 70’s.

I have not seen Jesus in person, but I know at the lowest points in my life that I was being ministered to by the Spirit of God. I would not be sitting here writing this today, if He had not ministered to me during those times in my backslidden past. I was not always faithful in serving Him, but my prayer throughout those days was that, “He would never forget me.” He hasn’t, and I am more in love with Him today than at any time I can remember in my thirty year walk with Him. Thank you, Lord, for the little preacher man in the tent, the young Baptist boy who came to my door some months later, and for the books my sister in law, whom I couldn’t stand, gave me to read. I now know it was an accumulation of all these events that opened my heart to you. Thank you for always remembering me, and thank you for never leaving me when I strayed.

I have come to understand that those events I have written about were all planned by the Lord. He knew who was available at the time to minister His love to me. I might have had evil in my heart the day I visited the little preacher man in his tent, but the Lord knew what I needed and turned it into something good. Though nothing appeared to change that day, a seed had been planted in my heart that would later lead to my salvation.

The ironic thing about my visit with the little preacher man is that just a few short years later, I, like the little preacher man, would be in that very same park during a town festival, preaching the saving grace of Jesus Christ to many of those same people who were present with me that drunken Sunday afternoon when I went to visit the little preacher man. As I looked out over the people that day, I thought, “God really has a sense of humor.” I have learned that He will move mountians to get to one of His children if they are crying out for help. I didn’t realize I needed help the day I visited the little preacher man, but I certainly did not long afterward. And I have since thought, I very possibly could have been and very well might have been the reason the little preacher man came to that park that week back in the middle 70’s, because it was his testimony about what Jesus did for Him that played over and over in my mind prior to my conversion to Christianity. DThrash

The Darkness Within

Jesus said in John 5:39 & 40, “You search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and these are they which testify of me. But you are not willing to come to me that you may have life.” This means people hear the Word of God, and sometimes even read the Word of God, but it has no meaning to them. And because they do not understand what they read or see, they do not apply His Word to their life that they may have life. It’s pretty plain that Jesus is telling us in these two scriptures, “There is life in God’s Word.” And it is also pretty plain that He is telling us, if we go to Him and receive Him (because He is the Word of God as explained in John 1:14) into our sprit; we will have eternal life. And if we do not have eternal life in us it’s because we are not willing to obey the Word we hear and see.

In Matthew 5:26  Jesus asked the question, “If the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness?” Many people hear and occasionally read the Word of God, but if they do not apply the Word to their life any light it produces is not reflected outward for the unbelieving public to see. If they cannot see the light in us, they cannot be drawn to the light. That is why I believe the unbelieving public is not beating down the doors of our churches to get into our services. If the light is on, the power is there to drive out the darkness. And if the power to drive out the darkness is present, the unbelieving public would be beating down the doors of our churches to get in. God is light and and as we know, light attracts.  If there is no attraction; does that mean there is no light? And if there is no light to attract the unbelievers into our churches, does that mean God isn’t in our church services? I certainly hope not! But if that is the case, there is only one option left for the church; and that is to repent and beg God’s forgiveness for letting the light go out. “If the light in our churches is darkness, how great is that darkness?” DThrash