Tone of Voice

 I can tell a lot about a person from their tone of voice. Tone is everything. Even more significant than the words, although the words are also important. But when some people talk to me, I can actually feel the hatred behind their words through the tone of their voice. I know exactly what they're thinking about me, about life and more importantly, about God. Yes, you can tell how a person feels about God by the way they talk to you. Why?

Because a believer (a true believer, born again and Spirit-filled) represents God. You represent Jesus Christ. Just by breathing. Just by being on the planet. And a non-believer or someone who pretends to be a follower of Christ, can pick up on that right away, even if they don't consciously know it. They know it in their soul, in their subconscious mind. They feel it probably even through the devil himself or one of the devil's minions.

Most people (even Christians!) can hear from the devil or demons loud and clear and better than they can hear from God. It's sad but true. So, when a true, on-fire, Bible-believing, loving and kind Christian comes along, it really rubs us the wrong way --unless we're primed to receive positive other-worldly communications from the throne of God. Get it?

Let's face it. We're living in a fallen world. We have adjusted to surviving, compromising, accommodating life on this planet in the surroundings and narrative of SATAN. Right? Or not? Think about it, please before you jump to a conclusion. 

In fact, jumping to conclusions is what most people do. Instead, we should take a step back and take a breath, pull ourself into the present and try to focus on THE TRUTH. Which is, of course, the WORD. The Word is our Anchor, our Guide, our  Frame of Reference which brings us back to center. It centers us, balances us, straightens us out and corrects our flight pattern. It's something we should be referring to continually, especially when we're out and about worldly people. We don't want to become worldly.

That is a LOT easier said than done, I know. We have to be on the offensive continually. We have to be the ones who are reaching out to help others, give to others, inspire others and show the way. Right? Am I right? Because isn't it true that you are either the victim or the hero? The down-and-out or the uplifter? The problem or the solution? There are no neutrals. Like there are only two poles on a magnet. WE are the positive pole. And although it feels like that negative pole is winning, it's NOT. 

In fact, my brother and sister, we have already won. The enemy cannot hurt us. Be not afraid of their faces. Be not afraid of the tone of their voice. It can only hurt them. See?

When they speak to you in a negative tone, an accusing tone, trying to make you MISERABLE like they are, trying to spread their misery and you just LET IT BOUNCE RIGHT OFF OF YOU, well, that negative misery has to go somewhere. So, where does it go? Exactly. It goes RIGHT BACK TO WHERE IT CAME FROM. Now, I know that's very sad and we do feel a little sorry for that miserable victim of circumstances that were "not of their making", don't we? But, we're NOT going to let their misery affect us, not for one nanosecond. Because that would just be counter-productive.

It's just not our job to feel sorry for people who want to subsist in their misery and want to pull others down with them. It is simply not our calling or ministry to even allow them to connect or communicate with us. Once they have identified themselves, we put up a red flag. We put yellow crime tape around them in our minds because we need to remind ourselves that that person is a crime scene and no good will come from communicating with them. They'll cost you money. They'll waste your time. They'll steal your joy if you allow them to. They may promise you the moon but all you'll get out of their dark, bottomless pit is . . . THAT'S RIGHT! You've got it! 

MISERY.

Misery is their first name and Misery is their last name and their middle name is MORE. There's no end to their misery. And the crazy thing is that they are deceived into thinking that they can get happy by SHARING their misery. So, that's their mission: SHARE MISERY.

When they come across someone who is happy, they can't BEAR it. It's like a mole who climbs out of a deep, dark hole and finds himself in the brilliant light of day. It hurts. It's disgusting. Revolting to him. 

Do you know what they do? They start to lecture the believer about how wrong they are, how dogmatic, how stupid and uneducated they are. Have you ever experienced that? Sure you have. If you are a born-again believer in the Cross of Christ, you have experienced that many times in your life. And let me tell you (if nobody else has already told you) you CANNOT change them. You cannot convince them that there's a better way. They know it all. They are "older and wiser" than you. Or so they think.

There's no sense in wasting your time trying to convert the one who's mind is made up. "My mind is made up so don't confuse me with the facts." Shed your light and move on. If they are not curious to know about the Higher Power, the joy of knowing Jesus, the Light of the World, let them go off on another cycle of self-deprecation and misery. 

You can throw them a lifeline. That's all you can do. You can't change their mind. You can't convince them with arguments. Maybe give them a verse out of the Word to chew on. Who knows? It cold stick in their mind and eventually they could allow it to shed some light on their path. All I know is that, with dyed-in-the-wool narcissists, that deep, dark hole they insist on staying in gets deeper and deeper every day because they seem to be digging their way to hell. And, yes, it's very, very sad, especially when that person in that hole is a close relative or friend. Very sad indeed.

What can we do? Pray. That's not a small thing to do. That is THEE most powerful thing you can do. PRAY. Pray in love and faith and you can turn the hand of God. Ask God to show up in their life in a powerful way. God can show up in a prison cell, in a mosque, in a hospital room. He's more willing to show up than we are willing to ask Him to show up. And remember:

IT IS NOT GOD'S WILL FOR ANY HUMAN BEING TO GO TO HELL. Hell is reserved. It's on reservation. Human beings are not supposed to push their way in. It's not like a popular bistro where they serve your favorite food. Hell is somewhere nobody wants to go. They may think they do, but when they get there, yikes! "Boy! Did I ever make a wrong turn at the intersection! GET ME OUTTA HERE!"

Jesus warned us against it. Do I need to quote you chapter and verse? Okay. Here goes. 

Matthew 24:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. 15 Woe unto you, scribes and Parisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

Matthew 13:40 - 43 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire: so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear."

49-50 So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."

Luke 12:5 But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear Him, which after He hath killed hath power to cast into Hell: yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

Jesus described an afterlife of weeping and gnashing of teeth which didn't sound like He was describing Heaven.

Luke 13:25 - 30

When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and He shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and thou has taught in our streets, But He shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God and you yourselves thrust out. And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the Kingdom of God. And behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last. 

I used to believe that there was no hell or if there was a hell that only the very worst followers of Satan would ever be cast into hell. However, in time I came to realize that whether or not I believed in something didn't change the facts. There is a Hell. There must be. Otherwise Christ died for nothing.

The Resurrection

 I wanted to talk about the resurrection of our Lord because I think there are a few discrepancies surrounding the who and the why and wherefores. Jesus said, "As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come." something like that. I'll look it up later.

Yesterday, I had Holy Eucharist at an Anglican church and was delighted to find that they served real wine. And it wasn't cheap wine, either. So, as I was receiving the cup, the lovely lady priest tipped it right up and I got a nice gulp. Then, a man priest came along also holding a silver cup and I looked up at him and smiled. But before I could hesitate, he put the cup to my lips and tipped up another swallow. Just like that. I really had to pinch myself to prevent myself from laughing. I guess I got doubly blessed!

So, since Jesus said, "as often as ye eat..." I have communion with myself every day. When I break the bread and think of how Jesus's body was broken for me, it brings tears to my eyes. I was thinking today, "They treated Your body like it was a piece of meat to be eaten. First they beat You to tenderize Your flesh completely. (Right through to His bones! Jesus looked down and could see His ribs sticking out.) Then they hung You up in the sun to age Your flesh a little. Hung you on meat hooks and let the blood run out. 

The Jews treated their lambs for sacrifice with more mercy. 

And here's the thing I wanted to talk about. We believers seem to like to blame the Romans for torturing Jesus. But, was it really the Roman's fault that He fell into their hands? Yes, they were barbarians. That was their deal. That's how they conquered the known world. But, don't put all the blame on them for the torture and death of our Lord. After all, Jesus Himself asked God to forgive them and He even told God the reason, "They know not what they do."

How could they? They were Roman soldiers. Heathens. What they were taught was everything it took to torture, humiliate, and slowly, slowly kill a malefactor. That was their job and they did it well. But, did Jesus tell the Romans that they were of their father the devil? 

Nope. That was the Pharisees, whose modern day successors are today's Christian hierarchy that love the praises of men and choose the best seats in the temples. It was the Pharisees that arrested Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. It was the Pharisees who paid Judas to betray Him. And it was the Pharisees who insisted that Barabbas be set free instead of Jesus. Not the other way around.

Pilate tried hard to deliver Jesus out of the hands of His enemies because his wife warned Him that He was an innocent man. And because he could feel the love in the few words that Jesus spoke to him.

A Roman centurion who saw Jesus die, cried out, "Truly this man was the Son of God." 

You didn't see any of the Pharisees confess that Jesus was the Messiah, although they probably had a feeling that He was. After all, Jesus fulfilled all the scriptures that they had studied throughout their careers. So, if anyone was accountable, it was those of the Sanhedrin. 

They knew what they were saying when they screamed, "Crucify Him!" They knew just how cruel and terrible crucifixion was. But they hated Jesus. Jesus had exposed them time and again for their selfishness, mercilessness, hypocrisy and pride. They had many reasons to hate Him. It was either repent, like Nicodemus, or hate Him. And, obviously they chose wrong. I'm sure they regret their decisions now. Wouldn't wanna be 'em. 

So, please, let's quit putting the blame on the Romans. They were only the instrument the Sanhedrin used to bring about salvation for the whole world.

WE ALL CRUCIFIED HIM. I put Him on that cross with my sins and so did you. There was no other way for us to be allowed into the perfection of Heaven. To be born again into new life. To sit on the very throne of God with Jesus, our King. He went to Hell for us so that we don't have to. He suffered for us so that we don't have to. He took the sting out of death for us. Little old us! Go figure that.

I'm not saying either that the Jews were totally to blame for the death of Jesus. Yes, they instigated it. But, it was all a part of God's plan. Some of the most on-fire dedicated disciples were Jews. Some of the best of the best were Israelis. 

Many Israelis coming to Christ nowadays have said that they were not told the truth about Jesus. Growing up, they were taught to spit at the name of Jesus. It was only through the sincere reading of the scriptures that they eventually came to realize that Jesus Christ has indeed fulfilled all the prophecies written in their Torah about the Messiah. 

Yes! He has come! He came! He healed! He delivered! He died! And He has risen again and sits on the right hand of God the Father. AND He will COME AGAIN! 

He will come again to gather His elect from the four corners of Heaven from one end of Heaven to the other! Then He will rescue His bride and take her to the WEDDING SUPPER OF THE LAMB. I do love to eat lamb but I don't think we'll be eating lamb at that feast. Who can think about food at a time like that? We'll have our new bodies! We'll have supernatural health and freedom like never before. No mortgages, no rent, no taxes, no electric bills, no medical bills! Just pure, unadulterated bliss.

That is IF you have received Jesus Christ the Messiah as your personal Savior! DO IT TODAY. That is one decision you will NEVER regret. I promise!

 

Were the California Fires the Judgment of God? - Psalm 37

 Before you come to a conclusion about what my answer is to the title question, let me tell you the answer I will give you is an emphatic, "NO." God is NOT judging anyone anywhere at all. Not until Jesus returns with the 144,000 Israeli soldiers on horses. THEN we're going to see some judgment. But, until then, it's all up to us humans down here making our own choices and, of course, the devil/satan who some call Lucifer who was the Light Bearer but is no longer light but a very dark dude indeed. So, no God is not judging people, not using the devil to judge people and not condemning anyone who is lost and searching. He welcomes you with open arms. He's a loving, forgiving, merciful God. That's not to say He will tolerate sin. But, He helps us to overcome sin. Neither is our God a harsh God Who declares jihad on the so-called "infidels". Not. That's not our God. Don't ever call Him Allah. Please.

This is Psalm 37 with commentary. "Fret not thyself because of evil-doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity."

Anybody who is envious of the workers of iniquity might be thinking, "Hollywood, all those movie stars; they're rich and how did they make their money?" Well, did they work iniquity? You could possibly say that for the most part, I'd say the majority of movie stars have, throughout their career, pretended to be fornicating and committing adultery on screen. There's a lot of iniquity committed in their movies and in the production of their movies. I've heard that some of them were actually "doing the deed" while the cameras were rolling. We know that many of them were naked or nearly naked --not that's the worst sin of all. Then there's the foul language, the drinking, smoking, pretending to be those characters that they were portraying; you could say that's kind of committing iniquity.

I'm not saying that Hollywood movie stars are the worst people in the world. That brings to mind the Alex Baldwin, involuntary manslaughter case. (What on earth was a loaded gun doing on the set?) I'm just saying, don't be envious of these people who have a lot of money, because, maybe it's possible that they are workers of iniquity.

I don't think we should compare ourselves to anybody, really. That's what gets you in trouble. That's what causes jealousy. Now, if we want to talk about jealousy now, I think we should talk about jealousy because jealousy is what they call the "Seven-Headed Monster". It's a terrible demon. It's a spirit. It's a demon. 

I have felt jealousy. I have felt jealousy take control of my emotions. It's a terrible, forceful demon, as far as I'm concerned. It is triggered very quickly when you start comparing yourself with another person. It really doesn't matter who that person is --it could be a person that's uglier than you but they're happier than you, or it could be a person who's richer than you are and you don't believe they are worthy of it. You can't compare yourself to other people because --here's the next verse:

"For they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb." Rather than comparing yourself, what you're supposed to do is what it says in verse 3:

"Trust in the Lord, and do good;" Those two things are going to prevent you from being envious against the workers of iniquity... "so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." So, what do  you need to dwell in the land? You kind of need a roof over your head. I would call that "dwelling". You need a dwelling and you need food. So, if you trust in the Lord and you do good, you can have a roof over your head and food in your belly.

It's going to come to the point where that's all you care about is a roof over your head and food in your belly and maybe some clothes on your back and shoes on your feet. Other than that, you're going to realize that those are your priorities. You're still alive. You're healthy. You've got a roof over your head and food in your stomach. God is going to take care of everything, if you trust in Him. 

"Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart." If you delight yourself in the Lord, He will give you the desires of your heart! So what else could you possibly want? If you've got a roof over your head, food in your stomach and --on top of that --the cherry on the cake is the desires of your heart. Some of us have a lot of desires in our hearts. And if you're delighting yourself in the Lord, your desires are going to be godly.

You can just relax and trust God that your desires are godly. They're good. And, you're going to get them. Maybe not right away, not all of them right away, but you're going to get the desires of  your heart if you delight yourself in the Lord. 

This is a really great chapter for right now because we're seeing California burn. We're seeing Hollywood and mansions that were worth millions of dollars; these mansions start at three million a piece, right? These Malibu mansions and Hollywood mansions that are no longer, they're dust. They're dust, now! They withered as the green herb. Even Witherspoon's mansion is gone. And, Ben Affleck lost his house. So many wealthy people have lost millions of dollars worth of homes.

One woman was able to recover a safe and get it open that was inside her house. She managed to get out some valuables out of her safe. So, I guess if you've got a safe in your house, that's not a bad idea. But, remember, that's going to be the only thing that survives a fire like that. Her safe remained locked and it remained all in one piece, kind of like the black box in a plane. It survived the disaster. 

What's your most valuable possession? For me, it's my Bible but my Bible is not irreplaceable. I put my Bible in my heart. That's my safe. It's locked. It's locked in. Even if you burn me to death --all the better. Hahaha. Seriously.

"Commit they way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass." We're going to say to trust in the Lord, delight yourself in the Lord and now, commit thy way unto the Lord. He's going to help you live out your destiny. There is a destiny for each one of us because God has written a book for each one of us that has our destiny in it.

God knew that I was going to be sitting here, reading His Word after the California fires burned down thousands of acres, if not millions. I don't know if it's millions but it's so much land that it has aroused people's suspicion, especially since the insurance companies revoked the insurance on so many of these homes. I don't see how that's legal for them to do that. I don't understand how they can close your insurance policy if you've been paying into it and you have made an agreement with your insurance company, I don't see how the insurance company can all of a sudden say, "No. Your insurance is revoked because we know the future. We know that there's going to be the Santa Ana winds that are going to carry this so-called wildfire throughout California and burn down all these houses that we have insured in the past."

It's wrong on so many levels, I can't do the subject justice. Not enough water, the roads were narrowed; they cut down the lanes on the highway so that the emergency vehicles couldn't get in. It was nuts. The whole thing was like they prevented the prevention and they prevented the cure. They prevented the firefighters from being able to do their job of putting out the fires.

Do I believe the California fires were the judgment of God? NO, I DO NOT. 

What I do believe is that it was an act of the devil who used wicked people to perpetrate this evil. I believe these people will not get away with this and that, one way or another, God is going to use His people to heal the land and restore it.

No, it was not the judgment of God. However, Satan had a foothold in that Blue state where Kamala Harris resides. And, as the saying goes, "If you give the devil an inch, he'll take a few  thousand acres."