A Look at Refugee Politics based on 1 Kings 11 (draft)

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The Facebook Post that I REALLY Want to Make

 Facebook subscriber —

 You know very little about my "religion." That fact is abundantly evident in a wide range of acerbic comments in your posts.

The enemy of my "religion" is apostasy. Apostasy can be either abandonment or defiance of God's declarations. Jude defines it as "ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ."
Paul tells Timothy that the apostate are those who "depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared."

As such, feminism, homosexuality, abortion, islam, false witness, lewdness, anarchy, uber-intellectualism, and the plans of man are all apostate ideologies. So while Grace covers a certain amount of tolerance of those who are ignorant and uninstructed, tolerating apostasy within the the Church leads to a loss of Power.  This is why we have not seen more of the Supernatural in action: we have been busy serving the natural. 

You see the Church as ineffective precisely because too many apostates want to be tolerant of these sins. They are deceived into believing a false "love" that cripples the Church because it loves men more than it respects the Holy God.

Tolerating things that are known to be affronts to the Lord keep the Glory Power from being released. God is not going to entrust His Glory to those who want to serve the ideas of men.  That would be casting His pearls before swine!

Biblical instruction is clear: Seek the Kingdom of God first. Pacifying the lost is not on the list.

When the Church rediscovers her first love, a passionate relationship with Jesus, then the brightness of that Glory will cover the Earth and you can either accept it or run and hide.

A New Look at the Fiery Furnace

Even if you did not grow up with a lot of religious training and you had post-modern parents who thought they'd let you choose your own religion when you were older, if you were really an All-American Child, then at least once during your childhood somebody invited you to either a Sunday school class or a VBS (Vacation Bible School) and at some point in your youth you heard the story of the Three Hebrew Children who were thrown into the Fiery Furnace by the King of Babylon because they refused to worship an idol, and they came out unscathed.

If you were raised by a progressive atheist, you may have heard the expression "fiery furnace" used as an idiom in classic literature meaning "an ordeal successfully survived." 

Or if you did go to church regularly as a kid, you may have heard the story taught something like this one The Wonder Book of Bible Stories — Logan Marshall — The Story of the Fiery Furnace   You would have had fun trying to pronounce the foreign sounding names:  Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and King Nebuchadnezzar.  And you were probably told that being thrown into the furnace was a "punishment" for not obeying the king.

It is that "punishment" worldview that opens up a crack of wiggle room just big enough to miss the bullseye.

At least, that is the way it was taught in my Sunday school. We looked at the fear of punishment, not the passion of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to serve their God. They had a fiery furnace of intimacy with God, not a fire of affliction.  It became a reward where they met God face to face. They stood. God said, "Well done!"  The only thing that burned were the ropes that bound them. It did not cause them to stumble but to reap reward. Standing in faith set them free, but even that freedom turned out to be the second prize. First reward was being with the Lord face to face.
How often is such intimacy with the Lord taught as the Biggie?  In my experience the answer is "rarely."

  "What god is there who can deliver you out of my hands?" Nebuchadnezzar had pompously demanded, Daniel 3:15.  But Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were passionate. They spoke with united wild abandon:

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter.  ~Daniel 3:16

Obviously, once viewed from the reward perspective instead of the punishment perspective, we see that there ARE things that we MUST NOT BOW TO. Popular culture is full of things that we must not bow to. False religion must not be bowed to. We cannot trade off our souls for political correctness.  

Sure, it is great and all to teach that God can deliver.  But why did He deliver? On a whim? No. A lucky spin of fate? No. He delivered in response to the men's passionate desire for intimacy with their God, a desire that been practiced all along and built into a steady relationship; not newly discovered as the logs for stoking the furnace were being removed from the storage crib. God acted in response to the men's refusal to bow to the world and the appeasement of men. This really is a two-sided coin. One cannot serve two masters. They chose to love one and not give a flip about the other.

As we move into 2017, the knowledge that God can deliver does not get us to the finish line. It is a good first step, but hey, I know a guy who can fix cars too! It does not mean that he will fix mine.  For that to happen, we need a contract, a covenant, a relationship, or such active love for each other that not having a functional car is unthinkable!

The deliverance of the 'Three Hebrew Children,' (and it could be just as accurate to call them college students,) was not all 100% God.  They knew their covenant, They had built a relationship. They made a decree that God could use and act upon. It was a co-labor situation. They supplied their testimony; God supplied the supernatural.

My First Revelation of 2017

I am excited about my first special find in scripture in 2017! The year was still so new that folks on the West Coat were still back in 2016 when I discovered this jewel.

I found it in what is sometimes called The Doxology of Jude.  Beginning with verse 24, it is probably the most well-known part of the book of Jude, and in the King James Version it goes like this:

     Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

When I encounter a somewhat familiar scripture like this one, my brain will tend to click over into standard interpretation mode and hear what I expect to hear. In this case, I'd usually hear kept from falling and presented faultless. But this year I was reading The New English Bible, a translation that was commissioned by the Church of Scotland back in the 1960s.

Now where King James' men structured their sentence to emphasize how we are presented—faultless, the scholars from Cambridge and Oxford organized it to emphasized where we are presented—before the presence of His glory. Here, read it for yourself:

     Now to the One who can keep you from falling and set you in the presence of his glory, jubilant and above reproach, to the only God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, might and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all time, now, and for evermore. Amen.

 Jesus can set you in the presence of his glory, jubilant and above reproach! 

What a revelation of perspective! Set in the presence of His Glory!

This is where I want to be for 2017!  Not simply kept from falling, as great as that is, but set in the Presence of His Glory.

I know there are dire warnings about that place. "God is a consuming fire." Regarding it with a casual attitude can result in casualty. "None shall see God and live."  But I am moving closer to a state of wild abandon—and I no longer think it takes a leap of faith to get there. It is possible to just step into it. Enoch did. Moses did. Isaiah did. Elijah did. Paul did. John did. Many have. And Jude clearly believes it is possible for everyone.

I want to be set in the Presence of His Glory and I want others to share it with me.

Seven Fruits that Identify a Jezebel Spirit

By their fruit you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
Matthew 7:16

Scripture instructs that the safest, most reliable way to form a correct judgment is by looking at the fruit, the resulting product. From the Luke's Gospel, 6:43, we learn, "No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit."  In the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel, 24:13, we are instructed that  "As the proverb of the ancients says, 'Out of the wicked comes forth wickedness'."   King Solomon commented on the flip-side of that sentiment in his Proverb, 20:11, "It is by his deeds that a lad distinguishes himself."  And Paul wrote to the Galatians that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness;" so you see, as humans we are permitted to assess and recognize even the Holy Spirit by his fruit. Awesome.

It Works Both Ways
   Just as we can identify God by delightful fruits of love, joy, and peace, we can identify foul spirits by their unsavory fruit.  As noted above, ‘Out of the wicked comes wickedness.’

Before I start my list, I want to point out that this is a list of fruits—things that are produced. There have been hundreds of articles written about character traits—things that the Jezebel spirit "is." Admittedly, seed "produces" after its own "kind;" the offspring is like the parent. In many ways they are the same. So at one level it may look like I am splitting hairs, but the distinction is important because this blog post is about making legitimate judgments with eyes unveiled and ears cleared. God's prescribed instruction for making assessments is to look at the fruit.  

1. A Jezebel spirit will display feelings of entitlement. This will often show up as double standards; one set of rules for "us" and another set for "them."  A spirit of hypocrisy could be Jezebel's best friend, (and demons are known to run in packs,) because when they are not trying to manipulate but are speaking how they really feel, then their words will sound elitist.

2. A Jezebel spirit displays a coldness to human life. It will destroy others without remorse. It will knowingly make a false accusation for "a greater good." It gloats when its enemies are destroyed, even when the enemy was innocent. Someone under the influence of a Jezebel spirit is likely to support abortion-on-demand, which shows a coldness toward human life.  The Jezebel spirit ; (indeed, the Jezebel spirit and a spirit of Feminism is another common paring).

3. A Jezebel spirit will act as its own law; it does not regard civil laws. When you see laws being used as weaponry rather than to promote the public welfare, you are seeing the fruit of a Jezebel spirit. It is a steely mix of hatred and force, of illegitimate authority and abuse of power. 

4. A Jezebel spirit can be seen in a pattern of rigid belief that it is right. This fruit manifests as the unwillingness to admit to a crime (looking backward) or as a dogmatic insistence to carry out a course of death, destruction, and terror (going forward).

5. A Jezebel spirit will exhibit a resistance to Godly authority; actually, this is true of most all demons, but a Jezebel spirit is more likely to resist through misrepresentation rather than direct confrontation. Lies are used regularly, both to profane the character of God and to deceive others into opposing God as well.  

6. A Jezebel spirit will, if pushed, demonstrate a willingness to fight anything that threatens its control; but more typically it prefers to manipulate behind the scene or order others to do the dirty work when possible. People who work for a boss who is possessed or oppressed by a Jezebel spirit often see a bipolar display of control in "office politics" that may not be apparent to the public. 

7. A Jezebel spirit eventually reveals a "princess complex" that needs admiration. Although this spirit will put on a false thick-skin to achieve a short-term goal, it craves appreciation, and even worship. Denial of this affirmation can sometimes result in mental breakdown, but usually they are good enough at manipulation to thwart that.

When you see these fruits, it is not only legitimate, but wise to be asking if this is a Jezebel spirit. You will need spiritual armor to protect and defend in a spiritual battle.

Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 
Ephesians 6:11,12 

A Summary of the Hillary Deletions

In the six weeks prior to the 2016 general elections, I had written a series of articles called "The Witchcraft of Hillary Clinton."
I have removed them from this blog because, for the most part, her sorry mess is old news and it is time to move on.

My research was extensive, however, and I want to leave an archived summary of what I found to be the most revealing points.

• If we judge by fruit, then there is evidence that Hillary was being enticed by demonic spirits that were introduced via her youth pastor, Don Jones, at the Park Ridge Methodist Church. This is documented at News with Views in this article by Kelleigh Nelson.

• As early as high school, she was attracted by the allure of power. The evidence is there in a Buzzfeed article that documents her senior year, by Christopher Massie.

• There is extensive evidence that Hillary, along with friend Linda Bloodworth-Thompson, was involved in a Coven in California during her time as First Lady. In Washington, she invited spiritual adviser Jean Houston into the White House where they channeled unclean spirits, one purporting to be Elanor Roosevelt. A variety of easily searchable sources exists.

• Rumors swirl around her ties to the Illuminati, Luciferian "parties," and sexual perversions. Most of this information is found on alternative news sites which makes it difficult to sort out how much is real and how much is hyperbole by someone with an ax to grind. So while some may be blowing smoke, the smoke may well indicate fire.

For the purposes of this blog, I had defined witchcraft as any power that is used to control other people by a means other than the Holy Spirit. Under this definition, Hillary Clinton qualifies as a witch.

Again, judging by her fruits, which is the scriptural way to judge,

By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Matthew 7:16 NIV

Hillary is, at times, under the influence of a Jezebel spirit. A more generic study of the Jezebel spirit will be the topic of another post. >> UPDATE to add that it can now be found HERE. 

Traveling the Stars

There are some things that I simply cannot talk about with most people, even some friends, because they would think I am crazy — okay, that may actually be true, I may be a little crazy, but I am in no hurry to confirm it by bringing up a strange, odd, weird, or otherwise curious topic.

So most people don't know that I want to travel the Stars. But I do. I also want to walk the Forests of Heaven and play in the Waterfalls of the River of Life.  These are not things that I wish to do alone. I will need Someone to share them with.  It is the sharing that will make doing it fun.

Naturally, this will have to take place in the next life. But the Bootcamp Planet is all about preparing for eternity.

This picture of a Martian sunset was taken by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on Earth's April 15, 2015.

I realize that this sunset is made by the same star that makes the sunsets on Earth. So it is not truly a picture of traveling the stars; technically, the rover has traveled only two planets.  But pictures like this one help add substance to my dreams.

Scripture says that "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him." 1 Corinthians 2:9.
I do not think we should leap to spiritualize that too much. We do know that Jesus said he was going to heaven to prepare a place and that the New Testament presents the heavenly kingdom as a place with physicality. Here are two of those scriptures. 

• John 14:3 -
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am.
• Hebrews 11:16 -  
But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

It is easy for me to identify with that desire for a better heavenly country.  I often feel as if I am still seeking my true home.  And I want my family and friends to come with me. They won't think I am crazy once they are there! 


Notes on the photo: The Martian atmosphere has fine particles of dust that permit blue light to penetrate the atmosphere more efficiently than longer-wavelength colors. In Earth's denser atmosphere, we commonly get scattering of of yellow and red colors. But on Mars, the blue section of the spectrum dominates the sunset. Public domain photo.