Dear Child of GOD,

I remember when I was first saved. The wonder and the Glory of GOD consumed me. It only took 8 years for one busy-body to put a damper on my enthusiasm. It was a subtle thing at first; wanting to show a new Christian the proper way to dress and talk. And her ideas were well-received because I was 42 when Salvation came to my wretched soul. We started visiting people and as I spent more time with her, it became clear that she was not an example that I should be following. Her visits for prayer and consolation were nothing more than a chance to spread gossip under the guise of “praying effectively” as if GOD did not know what we needed even more than we did.

My life was filled to overflowing with sin until I was 42. I knew what I had given up and can tell you that giving up misery was an easy choice. I knew from the time that I was 6 I was a sinner bound for Hell; but I could not break free on my own. Thirty-six years later, after a life of tears and wasted time, I grabbed hold of Salvation with everything in me.

That was told for one reason – to let you know that no matter how close a person can be to GOD, there is always a rock in the road prepared especially for you to cause you to stumble. There just always seems to be that human component to the rock. When in fact it is Satan using pride of one person to stumble another. Her pride in thinking she knew the Bible and she knew better than GOD Himself how to whip people into shape.

You, my friend, were raised in a Christian home with parents who loved you and tried their best to help you get closer to GOD than perhaps they were in their youth. You saw at an early age the Wisdom and Glory of GOD; your soul was reborn and you began your journey with your LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST. Your only desire was to serve HIM in anyway that HE required of you.

What happened? Why has something or someone else replaced GOD as your desire? Why have you strayed from even the basic doctrines of Scripture?

I remember my first real boy-friend. I only wanted to be with him. He gave me his class ring before the summer was over. The first day of classes he wanted it back “to get it cleaned” he said. As he walked away, I turned to see him walk toward another girl and give her his ring. The funny part was, we had only met at the pool. We had gone for a couple of walks and I do not even remember him giving me one kiss. He called me on the phone most days during the summer to see if I was going to be at the pool. I was not heart-broken, but I was miffed and wondered what I did wrong or what was wrong with me.

I remember my first kiss at the skating rink on New Years Eve, and did not know that this young man thought I was 20 and he was married. When he found out I was only 16, he never called again. To say I was naive and easily led when I was young would be a definite understatement. But I was no different than you. In spite of our differences in upbringing and location; in spite of the fact that you did not come from a broken home as I did; we are virtually no different. We have the same driving hormonal fleshly desires and you have, like I did, chosen to ignore the warnings of those who love you. The only One who cared enough to warn me was GOD and HE did it through Scripture, but I ignored it or did not know how to follow it because there was no Holy Spirit living within me. I almost had no choice but to follow the flesh. Not even common sense could win in my case. My mother did not know how to keep me from making her mistakes, so how could she talk to me? As much as she went to church, she did not know GOD; there was no personal relationship there. She was searching until 6 months prior to her death.

But you, my friend. You promised to not even kiss anyone until your wedding day, but there you were, clinging to that young man like getting closer to him was going to fulfill all your desires in life. You would have to have been naked to be any closer to him. Scripture tells us to abstain from all appearance of evil. You failed that one and I failed you by not taking you aside and telling you right then and there what you were doing was wrong. But I did nothing. Just like the object of your affection, I did nothing. He either had so little respect for you that he expected you to act that way sooner or later, or he was so tied up with his cell phone that he did not even know what you were doing. Either way, he was wrong. His actions, his appearance show me his lack of respect for you, for your siblings, for himself and for our home.

You thought because he went to your father first to ask Dad's permission to court you that he was a man of GOD; because he obeyed the rules at school and at your parents' home, that he was GOD'S choice for you. What if he is not GOD'S choice? What if you did not listen to that still small voice, but listened to the shouts and laughter of the world? You are far too young to screw up so royally. What would it hurt to call off the courting and see what GOD says for certain? Yes, even if you have crossed the line.

I am not saying any of this because I talked to anyone. I am saying it from personal observations. The path that is narrow only the Saved, Blood-bought Child of GOD can walk. The path that is broad and leads to destruction can be walked by both Regenerate and unregenerate souls. The difference is where the broad path leads.  For the Christian it leads us away from that sweet communion with our LORD and SAVIOR but not to Hell.  For the unregenerate soul, the path leads to Hell regardless of how good that soul may be.  Without the blood of CHRIST to cleanse sin, the soul is condemned.

Be careful where you step because just as on a farm, you can step into something that will leave a stench in your nostrils for days. And just when you think you have washed it away, you find another glob of it that you have tracked all through your home. Sin is different in that it rises up for a lifetime to remind you how foolish you were. 

Forgiveness is a wonderful thing. GOD forgives us for all our sin; our stupid decisions; our failure to follow HIM. Forgetting? Well, that is a different animal altogether when it comes to the human mind. When you least expect it, it jumps up out of nowhere and whispers, “Remember when …?”



Shalom! Pray for the PEACE of Jerusalem!!

Observations on Depression

Depression is nothing new on nor in this world. The Prophet Jeremiah suffered from it. Jonah suffered from it. Jeremiah's depression was brought on by the Hebrew people abandoning GOD and GOD then telling Jeremiah what HE was planning to do to these stiff-necked people; sending them into exile and many being slaughtered, even the sons of the King, because even the King was determined to go against GOD'S Word and do what was right in his own eyes.

Jonah's depression was a combination of anger and despair at having to warn a horrid people who GOD was going to destroy if they did not repent and turn to HIM. The people of Nineveh engaged in human sacrifice and all sorts of immorality that were offensive and Jonah would have preferred that GOD just smite them and relieve Jonah of his task; warning a people he despised.

Consider Adam and Eve. One moment you were in the Garden of Eden; blissfully ignorant of sin; walking in the Garden in the cool of the day with your Creator; all the animals were friendly; and you lacked absolutely nothing. Then all Hell breaks loose. You feel fear for the first time and you know you are to blame. You see blood for the first time; the blood of an animal sacrificed to cover your nakedness.

The first political blame-game happened in that moment with the words, “The serpent deceived me ...” “That woman you gave me ...” And so it has continued to this day.

Think about their firsts – their first thorn, first back ache, first sun burn, first argument and that first murder. Their son, Abel, killed by their son, Cain. I can only imagine their first depression. The agony they must have felt. In spite of a near-perfect gene pool and a physical relationship with GOD HIMSELF, there was temptation they chose not to resist and, all things considered, depression was the least of their concerns. They watched as their many children chose lives of lust and greed. So few followed after GOD that the resulting consequence was the global Flood.

I don't know about you, but that would be depressing. To have that physical relationship with the Creator of the Universe and then be banned from HIS presence secure in the knowledge that it was their fault it happened.

Fast forward to modern America. At one time or other we all suffer with depression. The first time it hits with a vengeance. It knocks you off your feet and sends you into a tail spin; a tailspin that can last for days, weeks or months. And those words of, well, I really do not know how to describe them. People think they are helping and sometimes their words work, but most often they do not. Rarely does anything anyone else does or says help. That spark MUST come from within yourself.

Which brings us to the point of true despair. We know that the only one who can help us is us. Even without training, instinctively we know we are the only hope we have of digging our way out of the abyss. But that thing that we feel that wants someone, anyone, to rescue is at the forefront of our thoughts. Why? It is simple, really. We have lost faith in ourselves to function. We have given up on us, yet want someone else to care for us more than we do. At that moment we are a failure, a pimple on the butt of humanity, just waiting to be scratched away.

If you are one who suffers from intermittent depression and are reading this, there is a sprinkling of hope that you can help yourself. You can mitigate your symptoms. Depression is going to descend upon you like an airliner without fuel, a virtual lead balloon from out of nowhere. Maybe not today but those of us who are fortunate enough to feel the woes and worries of this life, it will come. We can and should prepare for that moment.

What triggers your depression? Is it a situation that arises, blindsided you and just as suddenly is gone, but the feelings linger? This could be a relationship gone south; the death of someone close; those work-related problems – deadlines and humans that just do not want to co-operate; and that larger-than-life thing called stress.

Stress, what is it? It is the awakening of the fight-or-flight response that never has a chance to dissipate. You find yourself constantly on guard even when there is no apparent reason for it. Sleep becomes illusive and maybe even seems unnecessary which only exacerbates the physiological issues that are now compounding and leaving you tired, restless, and losing your edge. As your edge fades, so goes your self-confidence, as does your desire to even leave the safety of that quilt your Mom gave you when you moved out on your own. Bed is safe and the only thing keeping you headed out to work each day is the knowledge that your safe bed will not be there if you cannot pay the rent. Food becomes a burden either through non-consumption or through over consumption for the same reason.

By now you are looking at this page and probably thinking, You've gotten to page 2 and still haven't told me anything new! Is this where the $49.99 reduced price comes in? Stupid person!

And my response is that I am not selling anything and never told you I have anything new to add to your already overloaded arsenal of websites, books and advice-laden friends and family. I can tell you what it took me 40 years, 1 psychiatrist, 3 psychologists, 2 therapy groups, the purchase of 47 self-help books (most of which said the same thing), 37 days of in-patient care (intense drugs, therapy and being with those who had problems greater than mine), 3 IQ tests (you would not believe how much those helped) and all the friends and family who said (in love, I am certain), “you are a freaking psycho!” and “If you only knew how much we loved you, you wouldn't hurt us like this (or “you wouldn't put us through this” or some other nonsense.).” I mean it is all about them, right? You're just putting them through Hell for spite, correct? DUH! NO!!

Running away

It never works! I mean it NEVER works!!! It does not work because if you do not fix yourself, you just pack up your troubles in your ol' kit bag and haul 'em with you. That goes for the behaviors that contributed to this fix you are in. You might escape the stress for about 24 hours. Then you wake up and realize you are unemployed or the dog should be fed or you really, really, really, REALLY!, REALLY!! miss those kids of yours, all 12 of them. Okay, there are only 3 but they really do seem like 30 toddlers some days instead of 3 teenagers and yes, your husband. He is not such a bad sort but that thing about being “psycho” did kind of hurt.

What does work?

A plan works. Any plan will do. But first you have to do the research. As with any project, you must have a clear-cut goal. Get out a piece of paper and a pen, not a pencil. Yes, paper! For this first part of the plan, you must write it down. There is something about that movement of the hand gliding across the page and your brain thinking about what you are writing that makes it seem to coalesce with ease. STOP! It does not matter if your handwriting is horrible! Work on that later.

Now! What to write. First a goal. Be specific as possible; not just “get better.” Perhaps something like “Research natural remedies for depression” or “Research causes of depression.” Put a completion date on it. If it is not dated, it will not get done. [Just an aside: date everything you do. It helps when you come across some random piece of paper and something on it triggers a memory but there is no clue as to when.] Dating your notes or journal will give you a time frame for the progress you make. Notes made from internet searches also help. If you find yourself searching every day with little real results, you know to change your search criteria. If you only search once a month, either what you are finding is working or you are not putting forth enough effort. If the effort is 6 months apart, you really are not interested in helping yourself or you are all better so stop reading and get a pizza. If you make notes on what sites and what, if anything, you used from them, you will not be repeating useless searches.

Sometimes just getting healthier has a profound effect on the frequency and length of depression episodes. You must take this on as a whole-body transformation.

If you like this post, please let me know and I will write more about this subject.

SHALOM! Pray for the PEACE of Jerusalem!!

Killing Christians

A man with a gun specifically kills Christians and the main focus of the pundits is religious freedom? Naw! Gun control! Not mental health. Not tolerance. Not terrorism. Not joblessness. Gun control will fix all our problems... Right? WRONG!!!

If gun control would fix our problems, why wasn't it mentioned with the riots of Ferguson? Why wasn't it mentioned when all those people were killed by illegally gained guns in Chicago? How about New York?

The gun did not kill those people. The man killed those people. You need to control the man. How do you combat evil? Only GOD can combat evil! And keeping GOD out of the public life, out of the schools, out of the workplace has accomplished something; it has gotten people killed.

Within the period of two weekends 111 people were killed by gun violence in the city of Chicago alone.  How much did you hear about it?  What world leader spoke of the devastating affect of guns in the hands of gangs and the mentally ill?  Where was the race card played in this travesty of justice?  I should say these travesties of justice since it was not one instance, but several instances of violence.  There were no riots.  One hundred and eleven victims of gun violence were not even a blip on the political radar.  Not a mention of gun control.  Not a mention of a race war.  Not even mention on the national news feeds of any violence at all.  They were, in fact, just 111 local incidents with the unfortunate death of a human being that meant nothing to anyone but family and friends, and not a single politician.  No politician attended their funerals.  How do I know this?  Guess I'm assuming that because there was no media mention and I am certain that the media would have been notified.  You just cannot pass up free advertising if you are a politician with an agenda or an activist of any sort.

What does all of that have to do with the killing of Christians in Oregon?  Not much except that it is senseless in every sense of the word.  

The United States of America has a nasty habit of condoning convenient murder.   We kill babies in the womb for convenience sake; the wrong time; the wrong person; the wrong sex.  We allow the sale of baby body parts for profit and give hundreds of millions of dollars to a tax exempt company to make sure they keep their politicians in office so the money circle is maintained and life styles of the rich, infamous and evil go forward.

Most Christians oppose abortion (the murder of the unborn) for any reason specifically because every human being is made in the image of our Creator.  It is an insult to GOD Almighty to tear apart a child in the womb, suck it's mangled body through tubes into a petri dish to finish the dissection of parts for sale.

We gloss over anarchist takeovers of cities and seemingly forget the victims unless we can blame it on race, law enforcement or a political party.

And the discussion of today is "How can we be safer?"   The reality won't be accepted.   The reality is that it is a moral dilemma.  A dilemma brought on by the failure of the universal moral compass.  The hue and cry of general population is that we should be able to form our own opinions about morality.  And where should that morality come from?   After all I can't impose my morality on you and you can't impose your morality on me.  So where should our morality come from?  Should it be from outside of each of us?   Simple solution people.   Use the morality of GOD Almighty.  Instead of everyone doing what is right in their own eyes, as we seem to be doing now, do what is right in the eyes of GOD.  

There would be no killing of babies in the womb.  We would not be hating our brothers.  We would not be shooting up schools.  We would be spreading the Gospel of THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.  We would have true conversions and not these namby-pamby, lukewarm, ignorant, pretenders calling themselves Christians and continuing to live a life of sin while sitting in the pew on Sunday morning and paying no more attention to the Word of GOD than your average non-Christian.

When the man comes by and asks the question, "What is your religion?" you better make certain that your profession is true and you have a relationship with THE LORD JESUS CHRIST and not just from some "sinner's prayer" said in the emotion of the moment.  Has your life been changed?  Do you love GOD with all your heart, mind and spirit? Do you want all to be saved and have a relationship with CHRIST?  If you cannot answer "yes" to all of these questions, how certain are you of your Salvation?  Scripture says that we can be sure.  Are you?

Shalom!  Pray for the PEACE of Jerusalem!

Why Should I Mind?

"If this goes public, things could get rough for you."

His soft-spoken words were accepted as fact long before I handed him the damning sheet of paper.  I mean, really, what could they do to me?  This was small town USA.  These were reasonable people.  What would they do to me that they had not already done?

What exactly could they do to me?
Shun me?  They weren't that friendly to me before.  Not too sure I would notice a difference.
Get me fired from my job?  Not working, so that was out.
Ruin my reputation?  I would have to have been socially active and accepted at some level of society for that to matter.
Make my life miserable?  First I would have to care about their opinion of me.
Quit doing business with me?  They would have to have done business with me in order to stop.
Egg my house?  It needs a good cleaning anyway.  Also, we have insurance.
Tear up my car?  See "Egg my home?"

Actually, there didn't appear to be a down side to doing the right thing.

Exactly!  Why should I mind?

I'm on the internet.  I'm on Facebook.  Is there anything truly private anyway?

Shalom!  Pray for the PEACE of Jerusalem!

One Tiny Example

Everything in life is simply a tiny example of either a greater good or a horrid evil.

The person who offers a cup of water to a worker is just an example of a greater mission of building wells in countries where access to clean water is an everyday challenge.

The man who brutally beats a 2-year-old to the point of death is just an example of a terrorist regime that thinks nothing of killing thousands of children in pursuit of their own twisted version of power.

The small town church whose leaders work under cover of darkness in secret meetings to subvert the Word of GOD in order to maintain a level of depravity within the moneyed congregants is just an example of the chaos within the so-called Christian churches worldwide.

As the world descends into the depravity of darkness, the examples become more emboldened.  The death of the 2-year-old becomes a common place occurrence.  In turn the death of thousands becomes the deaths of tens of thousands with the use of man-made plagues and poisons perpetrated upon the citizens who thought the government would protect them.

It would be grand to say that the "cup of water" incident would become even greater and perhaps it might, but the news will seldom report it.  It will be overshadowed by the grotesque, the horrific and the utterly disturbing.

Is there anything that we can learn from these examples?  Of course!  We can either learn from the examples, mistakes or sins of others or learn by committing our own errors in judgement.  It's not so hard on the ego if we are able to learn from the mistakes of others, but the lessons learned are far more permanent if won by personal experience. 

That abortion that was an aberration 50 years ago is now an industry that not only promotes the killing of tiny unborn babies, it harvests and sells their tiny baby body parts even while their heart beats and they are visibly grasping to hang on to their tiny lives.

And the United States of America wonders why they are depraved, indifferent and broke.  Judgement from GOD?  I would say so.  I don't pray that GOD would bless America.  Why should HE?  What have we done to honor HIM?  I only pray for mercy.  No, I BEG for mercy!

Shalom!  Pray for the PEACE of Jerusalem!