Holiness Analogy

    This may help to explain to some people why holiness or separation from anything GOD has deemed unfit for us is so important. This is JUST an analogy, I am not saying you should actually do this!

    Imagine you have a glass of water.  It is a beautiful glass of water, the light plays on the surface and sparkles all the way down to the bottom.  It is pure and cool and refreshing.

    Now, let us imagine that you take a very, very tiny drop of urine and put it into your glass of water.  Is it still drinkable?  No?  Oh, but that was only a tiny bit of urine!  How could something so small and insignificant possibly affect that much water?  Surely you should be tolerant of it because your immune system can easily deal with that!

    Now let us add a teensy, tiny bit of manure.  Surely if you can handle a little urine, you can add something else because you are stronger for it!  And this should make you even stronger.

    Oh, so you can't even see it or taste it.  Maybe you have developed a taste for it, you have become accustomed to it.  Here, have some more.  Why not share it with everyone?  They need to broaden their horizons, too, don't they?  You don't even realize your breath stinks.

    You even feel sorry for the people who won't share it with you.  Boy, are they stuck up!

    This is how satan introduces error into our thinking.  It starts out small.  But it will never stay that way.  It has an evil life of its own that insists on taking more and more.  It is pollution.  Jesus called it 'leavening', an agent that helps to decompose or change the substance it is placed in like yeast.  This is how philosophies work.

Matthew 16:11-12
"Jesus said to 'Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.'  Then the disciples understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees." 

    When GOD took the Hebrews to the Promised Land, they were instructed to completely destroy the civilizations already there so that their influences and philosophies and paganism could not permeate into them and pollute the way they thought and their worship of GOD. 

Exodus 23:23-24
"23 For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.
24 Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images."

Exodus 23:31-33
"31 And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.
32 Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
33 They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee."

Exodus 20:1-5
"1 And God spake all these words, saying,
2 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God."

Exodus 34:14
"For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous , is a  jealous God."

Deuteronomy 4:24
"For the Lord thy GOD is a consuming fire, even a  jealous God."

Deuteronomy 5:8-9
"8 Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:
9 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God."

    You've heard the saying, "garbage in, garbage out", right?  What you allow into your eyes, what you hear, and what you think, changes you a little bit at a time.  GOD wants you to be a clear, pure glass of water, sparkling in His Light.  Bringing pure, clean refreshment to everyone in the world; to be His envoys and ambassadors.

Isaiah 29:13-14
And the LORD said, "Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth and honor Me with lipservice but remove their hearts and minds far from Me, and their fear and reverence for Me are a tradition of men that is learned by repetition [without any thought as to the meaning], therefore, behold!  I will again do wonderful things with this people, marvelous and astonishing things; the mouths of their 'wise men' will be closed and the advice of their prudent men will be confusing for lack of understanding."

The Burden Of My Heart

    The Bible is timeless and without the separation of distance because GOD is timeless and distanceless.  Since GOD is not of this world (He is spirit), there is no measurement of time and there is no measure for distance.  Anytime a measure is used it is strictly for our benefit. Which is why anything GOD says is for all people, everywhere, for all time. 
    Prophecy can be looked at this way.  When the prophets received a word from GOD, it was for some immediate event AND for the future.  Since we have been 'grafted' into the family of GOD, we must also take a look at prophecy.

Isaiah 1:1-23
    The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
    Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth!  For the LORD has spoken:  "I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me; the ox knows its owner and the donkey its master's crib; but My people do not know Me, and My people do not consider."
    Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are corrupters!  They have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked to anger The Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backward.
    Why should you be stricken again?  You will rebel more and more.  The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints.
    From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; they have not been closed or bound up, or soothed with ointment.
    Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; strangers devour your land in your presence; and it is desolate, overthrown by strangers.
    So the daughter of Zion is left abandoned as a booth in a vineyard, as a hut in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
    Unless the LORD of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been made like Gomorrah.
    Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of our GOD, you people of Gomorrah:  "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?" says the LORD. 
    "I have had enough of insincere burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle.  I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats.  When you come to appear before Me, who has required this from your hand, to trample My courts?  Bring no more futile sacrifices; incense is an abomination to Me.  The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies--I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.  Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them.  When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear.  Your hands are full of blood.
    "How the faithful land has become a harlot!  It was full of justice; righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers.
    "Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water.  Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards.  They do not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow come before them.
    "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.  Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.
    "Come now, and let us reason together," says the LORD, "though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
    "If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword";
    For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

This is the burden of my heart this Lent season:
1.  We Christians have been asleep for too long.  We have been complacent.  We have let too much slide.  We have not taught our own children the truths of life.  We have not disciplined ourselves to live holy lives before a Holy GOD.  We have changed our image of a Holy GOD to one who is weak and one of our own images, one who is indifferent and compromising.  We have allowed the influence of non-believing cultures to permeate what we believe.  And argue instead on minutia that has nothing to do with salvation.
2.  Our own churches teach our children that religion is "cool" and "up beat" and make games out of worship services.  They no longer teach how important holiness is and how to deal with opposition and ridicule.
3.  Our own churches and institutions of higher learning that profess to be our leaders spiritually are compromising.  They are not teaching holiness from the pulpits and compromise the way they teach.  They are afraid to stand up to the wave of evil coming against them.
4.  The government cries, "Separation of church and state!"  Yet they are telling us what we can teach and what to believe.
5.  They have already put Evangelical Christians on the terrorist watch list.
6.  They say we have to teach philosophies that are against our Holy GOD and to be tolerant of them.  Even those that martyr us.
7.  The state will take our children away to instruct them because they say we don't fit in with their society and they don't want our children growing up believing the way we do.
8.  We have become too materialistic and greedy.  We work more and more to make more and more money to buy more and more!  We no longer pray and seek GOD the way we need to get our strength from You because we have to feed our own indulgences.  We have become slaves to our lifestyles and the worship of money and power and greed.  We have replaced a Holy GOD with mammon.
9.  Satan is coming at us like a flood.  Christians are being brutally martyred all over the world.
10.  Satan throws confusion at us and perverts the Truth in us.

These are our sins, LORD.  We need you now!  Come quickly, LORD Jesus.  Come quickly.

I will not bow down to Obama

Today is Ash Wednesday. For many Christians this is the start of the Lenten season. They fast and pray and get ready for Easter Sunday. I am not Catholic so that has not been my custom however I was raised Catholic so I do know what it means.

Yesterday, GOD placed a burden on my spirit for a number of things that are going on in our country and around the world. So I had decided to fast and intercede before I found out that today was Ash Wednesday.

Today, I'm taking a stand against the way Obama is ruling our country and the atrocity he has raised for us to worship, the Affordable Care Act. I do not worship the medical industry and I don't rush to doctors to heal every little thing. As a matter of fact, Jesus is my healer. I have said on many an occasion, "we are Christans because we want to go to heaven when we die. Yet we spit in GOD's face and run to doctors and fight like HELL (you heard me) to stay here."

Well, I will not bow down to Obama, his philosophies, or his golden statue. And if I die, I die. But let it be known, I will not bow down to any other god except the one true GOD.  Let Obama know there is a GOD in America, and he is not it!

Here is the scripture for today:

Daniel 3
English Standard Version (ESV)

Nebuchadnezzar's Golden Image

1  King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. 
2  Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent to gather the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. 
3  Then the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. 
4  And the herald proclaimed aloud, "You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, 
5  that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. 
6  And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace." 
7  Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

The Fiery Furnace

8  Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. 9 They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, "O king, live forever!
10  You, O king, have made a decree, that every man who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image. 
11  And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning fiery furnace. 
12  There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up."
13  Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king.
14  Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, "Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? 
15  Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?"
16  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 
17  If this be so, our GOD whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.
18  But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up."
19  Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. 
20  And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
21  Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. 
22  Because the king's order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 
23  And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace.
24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, "Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?" They answered and said to the king, "True, O king." 
25  He answered and said, "But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods."
26  Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High GOD, come out, and come here!" Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. 
27  And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king's counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them. 
28  Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, "Blessed be the GOD of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king's command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own GOD.
29  Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the GOD of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way." 
30  Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.