Captivity Looming!

Hear and pay attention, do not be arrogant, for the Lord has spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God before he brings the darkness, before your feet stumble on the darkening hills. You hope for light, but he will turn it to utter darkness and change it to deep gloom. If you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly, overflowing with tears, because the Lord’s flock will be taken captive. Jeremiah 13:15-17 NIV (read all for complete context)

When the enemy either raises up within the land or arrives on the shores–there will be no discrimination as to who will be taken captive–in the eyes of those who seek to destroy America–no one is safe or guaranteed freedom from abuse and misuse.

It would appear that the foundation of our democracy is eroding with each passing day when elected officials, turn their backs on the constitution to praise a man–a mere mortal who is not worthy of praise, yet their loyalty to him is greater than the loyalty to the Constitution. They praise the man as though he is a god–when he knows no god other than himself.

The enablers–from the WH administration to those on Capitol Hill–will be responsible for the death of a nation because the elected leadership refused to do its job. Where there is no clear, just leadership–a nation is subject to captivity and an entire civilization will cease to exist.  A study of history reveals this, but the problem with those in leadership positions is they have ignored history and we know–those of us who understand the ramifications of not knowing history–history will repeat itself until those past lessons are learned.

We have a puppet government in place and nothing will be accomplished because the puppet master wants all in disarray and confusion. He is laughing his butt off at how easily he corrupted the great American Democracy–making a fool of everyone who succumbed to his false propaganda and put the puppet leader in the White House. With promises to access to great riches, trump honed into gaining access to the Oval Office like a bee seeking pollen and nectar from flowers. For trump–the Oval Office is the flower and all his enablers are battling to be the one who brings him the most nectar–or access to enriching himself through others.

And let’s not forget those in Congress–the ones who swore an oath to uphold and protect the Constitution (trump swore an oath, too that meant nothing to him since oaths don’t). Anyone with a functioning brain and eyes can see the erosion crumbling every cornerstone of the Constitution when those appointed by trump–refuse to “tell the truth and nothing but the truth,” and Republican Senators think its a game and mock the process by not holding witnesses accountable to their oath.

The end of the matter–will not bode well for any of us. When the enemy takes a civilization captive, they don’t care what position they held in a free democracy, all become captives and subject to being treated the same. In fact, in most take-overs–in business or in countries–the current leadership is eliminated, immediately so the people won’t be tempted to listen to them any longer.

Now is the time for people to wake from their slumber and open their eyes to see what is taking place right in front of them. Secret meetings to draft a healthcare care–by arrogant senators–will indeed be a death warrant for many, if passed. Rolling back regulations put into place for consumer protections now allow corporations to get rich and the poor to suffer when air and water are polluted–too toxic to drink and all need to wear masks to breathe or die from the inability to keep lungs functioning. But perhaps, it won’t matter at all since changes to Dodd-Frank will allow banks to become predatory lenders and the poor and ignorant will buy into their schemes, leaving them penniless and destitute before long.

When people are hungry, homeless, and have no future–they accept the bread crumbs offered by the villain and pledge their loyalty to keep the bread crumbs coming, but they will never get enough to give them enough energy to rise and rebel. This is how tyranny works–fooling the people who are easily fooled and stomping down rebellion when the intelligent attempt to educate.

Look at the current budget that slashes educational funding because trump doesn’t think anyone needs a college degree to make good money. He wants people stagnant and never growing beyond manufacturing jobs–laboring with their hands, leaving their brains to atrophy because he “loves the undereducated and ill-formed;” they are so much easier to manipulate and he has proven that with his base of supporters who believe he can do no wrong.

It won’t be long before his base–some of the 26 million–who will lose their healthcare won’t be with us for long. They’ll still support him because their blind loyalty keeps them from reacting to reality; and instead they live in his delusional alternative reality–doomed.

We don’t have to live in fear from others–because of their religion or skin-color–or ethnicity when we truly know how Jesus wants us to live. “Perfect love casts aside fear.” So anyone who is touting fear or promoting it when there is no cause–check their love level–it’s probably non-existent.

Americans need to think for themselves, after weighing the evidence of what is currently going on around them. Captivity is looming in the atmosphere if we don’t rise up and fight back to protect our democracy. Every American needs to get out and vote–using the information at-hand and paying attention to those who have been elected–Republicans (at least the Tea Party Republicans) are not friends of the American people–they have a “secret” agenda to polarize the masses while they pick us off, one state at a time, leaving people totally destitute.

We need to clean house in Washington in coming elections–special and mid terms–and in 2020 elect a person who understands the challenges that face Everyday Americans, understands how government works and knows how to put qualified people in positions of authority who will not bow down to a mere human being, and will uphold their oaths of office with integrity and honor. If we vote our conscience and put country before party, we will sustain America’s greatness for generations to come.

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Turning From God Leads To Captivity!

“When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to a land far away or near; and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong and acted wickedly’; and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity where they were taken, and pray toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and toward the temple I have built for your Name; then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their pleas, and uphold their cause. And forgive your people, who have sinned against you. “Now, my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. “Now arise, LORD God, and come to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. May your priests, LORD God, be clothed with salvation, may your faithful people rejoice in your goodness. LORD God, do not reject your anointed one. Remember the great love promised to David your servant.” 2 Chronicles 6:36-42 NIV

When we sin against God and uphold wrongdoing–there is nothing left for Him to do other than to allow us to be held captive to our disobedience.

Whenever the people who know God willfully sin–encouraging others to live in opposition to His Word, He removes His hand of protection and lets the chips fall where they may.

If Donald Trump wins the presidential election in November, it is confirmation that God has removed His Hand from us and will allow us to be held captive because of our unbelief and disobedience. It has happened before and it will happen again.

The only thing left for us to do–is to sit back and do nothing–realizing that when we do, we have only ourselves to blame for the consequences that are sure to follow.

Just as the enemies of God’s people swarmed around them and defeated them and brought them in shackles, holding them captive, then as indicated in the above-passage of scripture, it will happen again–if Believers don’t stand up and be counted, living The Word, and repenting from sin.

This is not a doomsday prophecy, just a reality check for many who either don’t know the history of disobedience or forgot and think it can’t happen to us.

Wisdom, Lord Wisdom–keep pouring it onto those willing to hear and obey!

Is It Time, Yet?

“At that time,” declares the LORD, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:1 NIV)

Through the prophet, Jeremiah, The Lord speaks and tells him to share with the people that there will come a time when He will be the God of all the families of Israel and they we will be His people. Now, at the time this was spoken, the children of Israel were in captivity, trying to survive. God tells them all who survive will find favor in the wilderness and He will build them up again into a great nation–when they realize who He is and obey (to keep this context, one must read all of Jeremiah). They could not see it then pretty much the same way people don’t understand what God is saying now.

Before the appearance of Christ–the prophets spoke to the literal children of Israel. Now, that we who believe have been adopted into the family, the prophets yet speak–to the literal nation of Israel as well as spiritual Israel–those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.

And yet, we have not reached a place in history where all the families of Israel (natural and spiritual) have chosen to obey God, so can we say–the time is now? With all of the dissidence and chaos in the Middle East, Asia, and seemingly all of the earth, I don’t think we have reached that time yet. Of course, I’ve drawn this conclusion based upon the current events that are constantly indicating a lack of reverence for the ways of God in how we treat people.

For as long as people are influenced by the enemy more than they are influenced by Holy Spirit, we have not reached the time, the prophet reveals. When people choose to kill spouses and children rather than just leaving–it’s not time. When children are abused and killed by parents–it’s not time. When living in opposition to everything God says in His Word is promoted from the highest authorities (wickedness in high places)–it’s not time. Just as those in Israel are being persecuted and killed for their faith because they do not want to harm others, and being brought into captivity, so are those who are influenced by the enemy–that grandmaster of hate–Satan–who influences others to obey the lusts of their flesh more than the Word of God.

But there is hope for those who refuse to cave to the political agenda to undermine The Word of God. We must hold fast to His Word, obey His Word, and watch as His Will is revealed in all the earth. For those of us who are willing to obey, promote the Gospel, and love as God loves–we will see this time come to past–when all will recognize that our God is God! We will receive our just rewards for obedience and allegiance to Him rather than Satan and all of his cohorts. We will spend eternity in heaven while all the rest will spend eternity with their master in the lake of fire. We will be victorious over the influences of the enemy and we will watch him–as he sees his own demise exposed for all the world to see.

Is it time, yet? Not yet, but soon and very soon, we will see our Risen Savior coming in all His glory to take us to be with Him.

Our Tasks!

“I, the LORD, have called you to demonstrate my righteousness. I will take you by the hand and guard you, and I will give you to my people, Israel, as a symbol of my covenant with them. And you will be a light to guide the nations. You will open the eyes of the blind. You will free the captives from prison, releasing those who sit in dark dungeons.” (Isaiah 42:6,7 NLT)

Anyone who proclaims the name of Jesus as their Lord and Savior has a job to do. We are called–to be true representatives of Him–who called us–to demonstrate His righteousness (not our own). We are to be a light, guiding nations. We are responsible for making sure the eyes of the blind (spiritually) are opened and those who are held captive by the darkness of their minds are set free. And we do all of this-in the name of the Lord, giving Him the glory for all things accomplished.

Every time the enemy raises his ugly head with lies and half-truths (which are actually whole lies), we must be in position to declare God’s Truth. In order to do this, we must stay in The Word and be ready with an answer for anyone who questions our faith–based on The Word.

The enemy’s strategy is to create scales on the eyes of those who say they believe, but are actually weak in their faith walk. We know these people when we see them because they waver–wobbling between God’s Truth and man’s political correctness in making decisions. They have been blinded to the Truth and then they promote–what they cannot fully see–the Truth of God’s Word over the “constantly changing” landscape of political correctness. It is our job–our task–to keep telling God’s Truth until the scales drop and they can see clearly how the enemy has manipulated them.

One of the reasons people find themselves in the darkness of depressed minds is because the enemy has planted seeds of doubt in their minds–causing them to doubt their own self-worth and doubt whether they are loved or not. The enemy plants seeds of negativity in the minds of all who waver–not understanding that their lack of total faith in God–has opened the door for Satan to enter.

The Word says, through John, “You shall know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free.” We must keep telling, and keep telling, and keep telling until we can tell no more–the Truth of God’s Word so we can see captive minds set free–and the seeds of doubt are replaced by seeds of Love–His Love and ours–leading them to a path of His plan.

We have tasks to complete before He returns. The world is turning dark as it succumbs to the enemy’s manipulations and we are the only ones who can be a beacon of light in the midst of all the darkness. Are you up for the task? Then let’s get busy–promoting God’s Truth like never before–to His glory by allowing Holy Spirit free reign in our lives!

We Can’t Take Credit!

“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.” (Ephesians 2:8 NLT)

How many times must we be told that it is not because we are so good that we are saved, but because He is so good?

Our works–do not get His attention in order to save us–we are saved, because of His unmerited, unearned favor–when we believe that He is and forever will be–the Savior of the World.

However, His grace–as Paul explains in his letter to the church in Rome–is not a pass to willfully sin.

Our works--should be a demonstration of our faith in Him–looking after those who are incapable of taking care of themselves, interceding on behalf of others, supporting the Kingdom work at all times, encouraging others to receive the good news of Gospel of Jesus Christ, and repenting from sin.This is the work that demonstrates our faith. We are not saved by our works, but by the grace given to us by Him who sends out to carry the message of the Good News.

God’s grace–His unmerited favor which we cannot earn–is sufficient to keep us from harm and keep us on the right path, doing all things to His glory. Without His grace, the world would be lost because we would only receive that which we deserve, but because He loves us–we are given chance after chance to get it right.

Even though our God is so forgiving and merciful, at some point in time, He will take His hands off our lives when we choose to ignore Him.

Whew! He allowed those who refused to obey Him to be held captive by their enemies in times past and we are seeing a repeat performance of history right now. When we allow the enemy of God–Satan–to influence what we do–we are being held captive by him. Captivity–is not always a physical bondage or inability to move at-will; the enemy captures our minds and keeps our focus off of Him who gives life and plans for us to live in abundance. When our minds are held captive to the negative forces in life and in opposition to what God has said, we become slaves to our flesh–captivated by what we think we know when we think we know more than God.

Our lives and how we live it and what we receive from it are a choice–we choose to accept His grace or we choose not to accept His grace. Whatever our decision is--we cannot take credit for the things His grace accomplishes in our lives.

What The Lord Requires!

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God”(Micah 6:8 NIV).

Whenever God is getting ready to do something extraordinary, He finds those who are willing to hear Him and speak what He says. Through the prophets of old and those who “speak” as God speaks to them now, He never does anything without giving us fair warning. The problem is–like those of old who went into captivity–we choose not to hear those God is using to warn us and when calamity hits–we blame God.

Listen to the prophet Micah! God has shown us what is good and acceptable in His sight–those things that we mere mortals can do and what we receive from obedience. What does the Lord require of us? To act justly–without bias due to disagreement, to love mercy–willing to forgive those who have violated a trust or committed a wrong against us, and to walk humbly before God–not thinking we are better than any other human being.

Are we listening? Do we understand what the Lord requires? Based upon my observations–especially on social medias–we have not heard, we are not listening, and we are certainly not doing what the Lord requires. There is such hatred spread in cyberspace for those with whom people disagree–by those who claim to be Christians. The fact that they can hate so openly, exposes them for the liars they are and who their daddy is–Satan. Where is the justice we show to those who disagree with us? Our opinions of them are biased and we allow that bias to grow into disdain and hate. The very words we write and the “cartoons” we use to depict our growing disdain reveals our true inner selves. Where is the mercy? There is little displayed towards those in elected positions–the leaders in authority. Were we not told to pray for those in authority so we might live a peaceful life? Obviously, we are not praying for those in authority because we’re spending too much time, denigrating those in authority–unable to mask the hatred that dwells within in our hearts.

Then we dare to attempt to think ourselves better than others–claiming the name of Jesus, but actually demoralizing who Jesus is with our behavior. Jesus commanded us to “love one another” as He loves us. We cannot love someone and spew hate about them at the same time. Doing so makes us hypocritical and a liar. We cannot serve God and Satan at the same time–we either magnify and honor one or the other with our deeds, but we cannot honor both.

Micah and the rest of the prophets had a great deal to say–warning the people of impending disaster, but people didn’t listen then and they are certainly not listening now. When God was silent for over 400 years, the people were miserable–because they chose not to heed those speaking–and refused to change their behavior.

God is yet warning, yet requiring us to act with justice, mercy and humility. Are we hearing Him? Will we ever do what He says in order to see what He has promised us as a nation or will we just complain and undermine the authority of leaders by promoting hatred? God help us all!

Father, in the name of Jesus, we pray for leadership all over the world. We ask You to speak to their hearts, giving them a word of wisdom and direction so all may live in peace and honor You. Fill them with love overflowing and stop the mouths of those who promote hatred against them. Lord, Your will be done in the lives of all–preparing us to reap what we have sown in the earth. Forgive us for our foolish and rebellious attitudes and help us to see You in Your glory so all we do, magnifies You and not us. Thank You for giving us chance after chance to get it right. Amen!