Graduations: Moving Up In Life!

Graduations: Moving Up!                                                      Kelly Durant  5-31-15

Ecclesiastes 7:8  Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

2. How many of you have seen a toddler scream when the parents are trying to put it into the stroller? Once a one year old discovers that he/she can run around, they do not want to be restrained in a stroller anymore! They want to enjoy their newly discovered freedom. I recall I would take Renee in the mall or the park when she was a year old she would sometimes run for a whole block and never looking back to see if I was there! I stayed in shape back then!

Life is full of stages. Time, outside forces, our own maturing nature forces us to move on. Ecclesiastes chapter 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; (A time to graduate as well!)

All of us are aware that it is impossible to turn back time. What was done is done, there are no second chances with most everything in life. A 25 year old cannot say, “Oh I messed up when I was 18, now I am ready to go back to High School!” He can go to adult night school, but regular High School is not an option, right? We must be serious to get it right the first time.

3. Life is a school! God’s law schooled us and we have graduated on to grace with Jesus.  God is teaching us at every stage and some learn and some don’t! We are proud of the young people of our Corps this year! Some pass the grade and others fail. Speaking of graduations, how many dropouts do you think there are from High Schools? Observe these statistics as published by the Miami Herald last year, 2014. Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article1965692.html#storylink=cpy    (below is one paragraph from the article)

‘Ortiz became principal in 2009 at one such school, Miami Edison Senior High, where the graduation rate in 2003 was lower than 20 percent. (80% dropout rate!) Last year, Edison’s graduation rate hit 70 percent - a 250 percent increase over the past decade that is unmatched by any other non-alternative high school in Florida. Other schools share similar turnaround stories. Miami Jackson doubled its graduation rate from less than 40 percent to 85 percent last year.’

These stats were quite dismal but it seems things are getting better in the past 10 years (that is if the teachers are not allowing cheating on the testing). So with this comparison, any young person graduating is to be honored and praised! All of ours are graduating! Isn’t it interesting to note that from our Corps (as in most Christian churches) those who have faith in Jesus have more drive and motive to be good achievers and successful at everything they do? Congratulations to all our 5 young people graduating this year!

4. What motivates young people (or a person of any age) to want to be applied, hard-working, inquisitive, persistent, patient, and successful? It is having a love for God and excellence! Our Christian faith requires it! Ecclesiastes 9:10 (a) Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might;

The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit in us, is compared to a gentle dove, patient and soft, but at the same time it is like a fire that burns and never stops advancing, purifying all things in its path. How many of you have ever put ashes on a cut? Where a fire has been there is change and purity left behind. Purity implies humility, the opposite of a proud or arrogant spirit which ungodly people possess especially when they are young and think they know-it-all.

Those who have God’s spirit are on fire and always want to be on the move, moving up the level expected of them. If they sit still their conscience burns inside them telling them that they are failing God for being stuck. No normal person wants to be carried or pushed around in a chair (either young or old) when they have the ability to walk and be independent. How degrading, unfair, and unnatural it is for someone to be held back when they are capable of doing great things on their own! It is our job as mature ones in the faith to support the maturing ones in their missions in life!

5. Maturing is not easy! In ancient Israel, and even in many countries today, most young people are expected to be adults somewhere between ages 12 and 14. They are required to be self-sufficient, to start laboring in fields or factories, to marry and have kids, or even to become a soldier. Under the Communist influenced constitution model from Cuba and Venezuela, Bolivia changed the law 2 years ago to for kids to start working at age 10! Remember uneducated people are easily manipulated.  http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-28360838  Worse it is with isis groups that train 10 year olds to be killers and soldiers! That is a horrible abuse and God will make hell hot for those that cause little ones to stumble.

You can thank God that this Judeo-Christian influenced society of the U.S.A has more laws and common sense and mercy on its youth to allow them to mature more years so they are better prepared when they start off life independently. Be careful though as many of the traditional conservative Godly Biblical principles of our current society (especially in college) are rapidly being trashed and replaced by corrupted ideologies from ignorant, inexperienced, disrespectful, arrogant, agenda driven, hedonistic self-destructive people who are blindly political and a danger to everyone! Stay above these types of scum; always move up, never down allowing yourself to be debased or manipulated out of your high morals, convictions, and faith.     

How many times have we heard, “I wish that I knew what I know now, when I was younger”? There is even a Rod Stewart song I like with that line it. The problem is the school of life up until age 18 is not preparing the youth as they adequately need it. When I hit age 20 and I realized how little I actually knew, after going through the stage of knowing it all, I suddenly felt the need to learn, mature, grow, change, study, and ask God to make me wise for my age.

6. Young people, the first thing you need to get right in life starting independence, your priority, is to learn to seek God, fear God, and live only by His standards. Psalm 119:9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

Prov. 2:1-5  My son, if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you,

2 So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding;

3 Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding,

4 If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures;

5 Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, And find the knowledge of God.

So now that you know God expects you to seek Him and His word, if you do it, you can expect nothing but blessings, peace, opportunities, and doors to open. Why? Because leaders of valor, honest, prosperous, integral people will recognize your character qualities and choose you to be promoted and chose to make you as the manager, leader, or example for the rest of the group. It is because today, the standards everywhere have degraded, so it is normal to expect your average Jane or Joe to be a slacker, a lazy do-the-minimum-type expecting benefits for nothing produced. But a saved to serve SS Christian never models this attitude, amen?

7.  So how does all of this tie into the graduation passing us by in the year 2015? “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof”. I know that all the young people must be very happy to finally finish all those tests and be glad it is all over! Right? Just think my wife and I being here for over 5 years have known you since age 12 and 13! Some of you are known by others here since you were babies!

I know I was happy to leave it all behind me when my graduation day came! I know when I was 18 I had already been working full time for about a year so for me to leave the school was a relief. Why? Because there were a lot of problematic, arrogant, unfriendly people in school and I did not see the purpose in learning Algebra II, and tolerating everything else that seemed to be ineffective and in a mess.

Isn’t it true that we do feel good when certain chapters in our lives are over? I have known some people who enjoyed school, but considering all the hostile indifferent environments of schools today, most schools are not places that are very enjoyable or adequate for learning. I feel very sad for our young people because the quality of life they experience is not even as good as what most of us as older people got to experience.

8. I want to encourage our young people to know they have a family here in the Corps that is behind you, praying for you, and we will help you whenever needed, am I right everyone? I will do any recommendation letter you need, and I already did several letters crediting the many “volunteer hours” mandated by the schools needed because you have served well here. If you study in a college in Tampa, The Salvation Army student housing center can take you in for about 1/3 of the cost of a regular dorm. If you need money for books, there is a loan you can get through us with no interest. We believe in supporting young people and we pray you continue on going to the Salvation Army Corps close to wherever it is you move to.

I wish I would have had a Christian family backing me up when I was teenager up to age 18 and beyond! I probably would have made better choices back then! So I am very happy to tell you that we are here for you spiritually, morally, even financially! Very few churches can offer you this and I want you know you are privileged to be a part of this “Army” of God. The practice you have gotten in serving others has exposed you to the world as nothing else could have and you have a global perspective of all the good and bad in the communities everywhere, more than your peers.

You and I have witnessed that so many young people have grown up in this Salvation Army to learn important life skills such as leadership and music. The music talent for many has opened doors for grants in colleges and work, and you have seen many less than ordinary lives change into extra ordinary. The leadership learned through the programs of Corps Cadet and others has prepared our youth to be strong and courageous and defend the right principles that leaders exemplify (as Jesus would, right?). God and everyone here expects you to be shining examples of holiness, lovingness, servingness and faithfulness being responsible and wise in every area of your life.  Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

9.  Young people, what you do in the next 4 to 5 years will determine how the rest of your life is going to go! After that some will graduate from college, some will be married and happy or sadly be married and divorced, and others will get lost in the day to day grind of just making enough to survive! You, despite opinions of anyone, despite what you think, are the ultimate ones choosing your path in the future. This is why you must stay desperate with God! Be careful that the voice your hear inside your being is God’s voice of encouragement always!

You have a fresh start at life and above all you must choose God’s wisdom above everything as I just told you to do as in Proverbs. You should consider answering God’s call as I did when I was 21 years old if you want adventure, danger, and face very hard challenges! Life is going to take its course and if God is not at the center every day you will later end up in your 20s depressed, frustrated, ugly and angry at the world blaming the system, racism, or your parents for not handing over to you what you wanted in life.

And then somewhere in time between a few years to 70 years after this graduation when you die your spirit will be released to return to God and you will answer, “What have you done with your life?” With God no excuses exist! No blame exists except with you and own choices. Jesus must be at the center of everything! Matthew 12:30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.

God bless the graduates! And God bless those who remain faithful to death to graduate from the school of life in the ultimate promotion of glory to exist eternally happy with the eternal God of love!

Christians and Culture: What Mixes?

Christians and Culture: What Mixes                                                    by Capt. Kelly Durant 10-14-12

1 Cor 10:31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32 Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God- 33 even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.

2.Ever notice what humor is? It is when you know something should be a certain way and it is noticeable different and often comical. I use to have fun in Bolivia going to the markets with Rebeca on my back in a backpack. In Bolivia it is common for the women to carry their babies wrapped in a blanket, but you would never see a man with a baby.  But I was not a Bolivian man, I was a gringo with every right to be forgiven for not following the customs. I use to have fun seeing all the ladies point and laugh at me!

Carrying my own baby was not being offensive, but what I did learn later though was that taking a picture of the “cholitas” in the market was offensive as they believed I could capture their soul by having an image of them. So I took almost no pictures of them to be respectful! You can’t preach love, pray and save souls if you are being insulting to the culture at the same time!

3. Today we will explore the different cultures and nations. What nation are you from and how Godly or anti-christ are they in their cultural practices, and beliefs? Does God see all the nations the same with their differences? Or are some better than others? Well, to answer that we must first we must observe the record of God’s dealings with the cultures in the O.T.  Genesis 22:18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

The plan of God in the O.T. was for the descendants of Abraham to be special and blessed people because they were to be a light and example to all nations obeying God’s statutes and commands living respectfully with everyone (even immigrants) honoring God and leading those nations around them into righteousness. Genesis 35:11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;

So the conclusion is that God in the Old Testament was principally concerned for the nation of Israel which descended from Abraham.  God did not promote the culture of the people but rather He promoted His culture of worship and sacrifice. Many of the other pagan nations that had horrible false gods, human sacrifice, and cruel destructive customs were condemned and over time many of them were subdued through those of Abraham’s seed, Moses, Joshua, David, and the other kings.

4.But today we live in the N.T. era under the inclusive love of Jesus. Jesus preached extensively about how God is raising up a new nation, a holy people to live in righteousness and peace.  John 3:16 makes it clear how God now, through Jesus will accept, “whosoever” that will choose Him, and that implies every nation, race, and person!

In the end take into account that God has his own culture of principles and He wants His Kingdom established forever and we as Christians should be in applying ourselves learning about how to live in his Holy Nation which will supersede all cultures. How does God want His holy nation of called out-of–the-world Christians to govern their selves no matter the country or culture they are from?  He wants each of us to live in love and unity, in holiness, practicing real justice, helping all to have all their needs met, enjoying freedom from suffering, sickness, and eventually freedom from death.  And as Paul says in our verses of today, 33 “For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved”, this should be our motto as well!

5.Jesus prayed for God’s will to be done “on earth as it is in heaven” and this implies that a true Christian is implementing the culture of heaven within their home, church, and wherever they go. People of the Salvation Army who have travelled around the world and visited other Corps in Russia, Africa, Asia, or wherever find the same Christian culture and uniformity in our doctrines, the only differences are in the people’s appetites for food, music, and dress.  Actually most Christian churches are very compatible with each other and this is due to the fact that Christ’s way of life is the same everywhere if practiced correctly.

I believe that Jesus established the body of believers, the church from many nations and tongues, as a test for everyone to learn like in a school, how to get along and to practice God’s love amongst their selves. Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.  We are to be one in Christ knowing we will all share heaven together!

6.Let me take this a step further. Those of you here in Hialeah, who have learned to respect and love others from other countries, customs, and languages, have made advancements way ahead of other Christians in other parts of the country and world where little or no diversity of race and culture exists. There are thousands of churches and Corps where they have only one color of skin in attendance, and everyone is from the same nation, the same customs and culture, and there are no challenges to overcome in those places.

But when some new Holy-Spirit filled Captain or pastor starts filling one of these homogeneous churches or Corps with those of another language, or of another race, culture, or color, what happens? Sadly it usually divides the church as half or more of them leave! And this is universal in all churches! The half that leaves are the half that I think really didn’t love God and others as their selves anyway! Those intolerant and incapable of respecting and loving others are simply disobedient children that God will deal with for their sin! 32 “Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God”.

7.Jesus gave us the model for the Kingdom of God and it is one that is totally inclusive and more loving and accepting than what we witnessed in the O.T. It is one in which God accepts any person from any nation, tribe, race, or tongue, and His kingdom is forever! The only condition is conversion to obey Jesus commands; so if anyone will just receive Jesus, God’s Son as the Lord of their life, God will grant them the saving of their soul to inherent eternal life. And why is it this way? John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. The world means everyone on this earth!

8.So why do we want God’s culture to dominate us over our own customs? Let’s look at cultures and their filth as God sees them. I recall back in the 70’s there was a bumper sticker that said, “USA #1. #1 in crime, rape, CO2 emissions, prisoners, and more was on down the list. In reality God is angry with all the nations as they have not submitted to Jesus and His commands as they should. Most nations in the world are half destroyed due to their own sins! So can we promote man’s cultures as good? No! Only a few Christians that obey God from each nation honoring Him are good.

Isaiah 13:9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. 

Search the word “anger” and see how many times In the O.T. God allowed death and punishments on the nations and even his own people for their disobedience. And in the N.T. we have the book of Revelation confirming God is not happy with the world and its destructions, cruelty, injustice, exploitations, and mockers of His Son, salvation, and love.  The Judgment of all nations and cultures will come to pass in His time!

9.The verses of today from I Cor. are from Paul, and notice that he attacks with great animosity the sins of the Romans, Greeks, and Jews. Think about what you hate the most of your own culture. Is it Biblical to hate? Yes, hate evil! Psalm 97:10 Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.

In the races, cultures, and nations it is not the music and food and dress anyone hates, instead we celebrate these things and have fun! What we hate are the sins that have caused each one of us to suffer personal loss in the past. Each nation has a different measure of the various sins but these sins exist because the nations are rebellious against God!

You and I have been affected by several of these sins: The sins of theft, government corruption demanding excessive payments, fines, and bribes, greed and excessive consumption, alcohol and drug addictions, rape, sexual abuse and exploitations of children and adults, slavery, murders, kidnappings, discrimination, laziness, pride, jealousy, gluttony, and more! But still we love the good, God is good!

10. I know immigrants that have no desire to return to live in their own cultures and countries because there at one time they suffered very cruel persecutions and injustices sometimes including imprisonment over ideologies, religious convictions, or discrimination due to their skin color or their socio/educational/genealogical class in society.  When a immigrant has no option but to adapt, they adapt or die! The nations in the world offer us cruel places to live! Only God in His wisdom can judge the world and start it all over with a fresh start in a heavenly kingdom after the end-time events.

Revelation 21:3-5  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

11.Don’t you look forward to that new nation where everyone is under the authority of Jesus, pure in heart, loving, caring, and uplifting? Revelation 14:5-7  5 And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

Let’s honor God here and now and leave behind who we use to be! Cultures on earth have some beauty to offer but I want to live in the culture of heaven! And you?  We have it confirmed, God loves those of “every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people”.  Do you love all cultures as well? Prove it by making friends with someone different than yourself and tell them about Jesus! Pray to receive Jesus!

What Is Controlling You? A Conditioned Stimulus?

What Is Controlling You? A Conditioned Stimulus?                        By Kelly Durant 5-17-15

Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage 5:13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

2. Have you heard the expression that when someone says, Jump!” that one shouldn’t ask, “Why” but rather, “How high? We love and serve each other, we influence and restrain one another, but we must become aware of the whys and motives. Control over another is a strange phenomenon; I observe many people are unaware of who is pulling their strings! This is an important topic to cover as many people are submitting to outside controls and influences not being aware if these controls are of good or evil. Today the minds of the uniformed of the gospel of Jesus are being seduced into the bondage of the world as never before! God is not allowed in the schools, workplaces, and government and consequently these powers now want to reign as the only gods of authority, but they are failed systems, corrupted, and unworthy! Too many people are being controlled by hypocritical, self-destructive, liberal, double-standard philosophies from agendas devised to control human behaviors into submission. How does control work?

I never liked the comparison but it can be observed that people are comparable to Ivan Pavlov’s experimental dogs. Do you recall that the psychologist Pavlov would ring a bell at the same time he would feed the hungry dogs to conclude later that if he rang the bell even without food, the dogs would salivate anyway? This is a conditioned stimulus. It is the combining of a normal daily action with another outside stimulus in order to get a predetermined outcome. It is the attaching of an expectancy, position, or emotion to a normally unrelated event. Why do I mention this? Because many people are unaware of how they emotionally, not logically, respond to the current matters of today! The media and peer pressure is brainwashing people who are not truth seekers into being someone they did not use to be! Truth is the new enemy!

Speaking of a ring, I have seen some people cringe their teeth when a certain person or their spouse is ringing the cell phone! It is almost as if the cell phone ring invokes fear and nervously they answer fearing that a communication could be to ask for money, or to get yelled at over some imaginary wrong doing of theirs. People precondition and control other people and often neither one analyzes how they have been preconditioned to the other! Don’t be guilty of dishing out abuse or of permitting yourself to receive abuse as these types of controls are “opportunities of the flesh” to manipulate and are not of the spirit. Another example of conditioning is this, some people when hearing the word, Christian, or conservative are cross-wired to not take the words for their intended meanings (as something good) but rather they have been conditioned by movies, college professors, and the media to envision a bigot, racist, or a deceiver. Most all of the time Christians and conservatives are good contributing much to society contrary to what accusers and maligners say!  Don’t be a preprogramed dog! Don’t respond irate overriding what a normal response should be!

3. Control, or managing the behavior of another, may be employed for good or for evil. Control is usually done by invoking fear! God wants us free from all fear but one, the fear of Him! One verse that stuck with me for a long time is this, Matthew 10:28 “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”. In other words, fear God only as only He is the ultimate one in control of your soul and the universe and He decides if your soul will be saved or go to hell according to your heart!

There are so many verses against fear such as 1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love”. Proverbs 29:25 “The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe”.

God alone should be the only one in control of anyone! (repeat) The problem is that people who do not know God’s word and obey it fall victim to being dominated by fear, or being in the flesh living an out-of-control life unaware of the truth of that. Dominating or being dominated are both “opportunities of the flesh”. A person without God may allow another person to be in control of them (by intimidation), or in a worst case scenario allow a demon to be in control of their spirit! If it is not God’s rule dominating your heart controlling your behaviors, then it is someone else’s perverted precepts. This is a usurping of God’s statutes, which is a grave sin!

4. Let’s begin with the first principle in the verse of today being “liberty”. If a Christian is free, and is healthy in obeying God, he or she enjoys freedom with no one is pulling their strings, no one is feared or controlling them, and no one but God dominates their behavior. So he or she never allows another person to control them, and by it being this way, then God, the Holy Spirit, and the person’s will is in harmony to have the control producing true liberty. The truth shall set you free!

The problem with liberty though is that it is a paradox. How do most people understand liberty? For example, if I tell you that God’s freedom allows you to do as you please, would you agree you can do “all” that you please because you are free? Obviously not! This is because you would then be abusing your liberty to satisfy carnal desires which is “an opportunity for the flesh”. To be out-of-control with your own life will destroy you and consequently adversely affect the lives of many others. The book of Romans speaks a lot about the subject of what you should or shouldn’t do in regards to your freedom, living under law vs. living without law, but that will be a subject for another day!

One major point of this liberty is this: in life control is needed, but control must originate from within our own internal conviction to obey and respect (fear) God. We must with God’s help by the Holy Spirit have control over ourselves in every aspect. It is good to have a partner to be accountable to as well as this is very important to reinforce us away from our weaknesses, fears, and temptations. Who are you accountable to? If not controlled by God a person like you or me becomes more abusive over time and this damages the holy relationship we must all strive to maintain with God. How in control are you of your own spirit, emotions, and fears? How is your control (or lack thereof) being “opportunity to the flesh” affecting you and others?

5. Let’s go deeper into what control bells do not mean for us as we establish our relationship with God, taking prayer as the example. For the non-Christian prayer is a time of spacing out of control allowing the mind to wander, not really caring about what is said or believing that what is said is what God will hear and answer. But for the Christian, who has already been affected emotionally and seen many people be emotional in prayer being desperate or elated because God answered and saved someone’s life, prayer then becomes a time of intimacy, soberness, joy, and concentration. James 5:16 (b) The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

But I will argue that these effects of prayer are not a conditioned response as in Pavlov’s model, they are instead a quality that just naturally takes place because it is a real experience! (or supernatural one!). If prayer was of no use billions of people would not do it daily! Prayer and the worship of God will always be unique with each person but it is conclusively very effectual and encouraging and necessary for the spiritual strength one needs in life to overcome fears, the flesh, and manipulations. Some people get prayer only on Sunday but we need it daily!

The sad thing is some people never experience the amazing blessings and feelings God has in store for them because they will not allow God to take full control of their life! This is due to pride and you must get free from it! For the Christian who loves God, freedom or liberty takes on a deeper meaning than what others understand it to be because it is our spirits that get free from the control of others who rely on the stimuli of fear to manipulate our behavior. Many Christians of late are caving to intimidators with nonsensical ideologies and political correctness, and this brings on bondage of spirit and a state of mental slavery, not liberty as God intended.

6. What I loathe are all the increasingly belligerent conditioned stimuli or “controls”, stigmas, and misconceptions being placed upon young people in society and on Christians or anyone who speaks truth standing up for their convictions! Never allow your right to be heard be bullied into bondage by intimidators!  Recognize it and fight it when someone from some preconditioned mindset is trying to “control” and suppress you, or shame or ridicule your God-given right to your faith convictions. Expose them for trying to demonize you by shaming them for trying to rob you of your God-given rights and freedom! You do have free speech rights and freedom of religion until now! But not for long if we don’t fight to keep them! The disciples went preaching everywhere, “Daily in the temple and in every house” (Acts 5:42) as the “Good News” was mandated to be shared to all everywhere and it legally cannot be degraded into oblivion as how evil men would like to see happen.

Our freedom of expression to proclaim our Christian faith must be freely exercised or we will be intimidated, controlled, and be forced to live in fear under someone else’s subjugating Satanic agenda in the form of government or religion. Here, and around the world, many laws prohibit Jesus from being mentioned or taught with the penalty of execution or imprisonment! 35 Islamic nations prohibit Jesus’ gospel to be taught! Many other communist/socialist countries as well! Many laws today directly contradict God’s statues that respect life, the mentioning of His Son Jesus such as in schools to children, and do you not think Jesus is offended? Matt 18: 6 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!

We must be bold and disobey anti-Christ agendas by people that try to control us so we fear and do not take the liberty to tell others about our liberating Jesus. Peter and the disciples lived by this standard of freedom and we must as well!  Acts 5:28  Saying, “Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!” 29 But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men.”  No man has any right of control over the mission of all Christians to preach Jesus Christ! “The earth is the Lord’s” but Satanic powers keep trying to subdue others by fear robbing God of His power and glory.

7. Our verses of today in Galatians deal with the Jews trying to “control” the new Christians by imposing on them the Mosaic law to rob their new freedom granted by God through Jesus’ redemption. To be honored as a pious perfectionist law abider was the goal amongst the want-to-be leaders in that day as well as today. But God’s favor is by grace in Jesus, not by works.

If we translate this “control” into today’s modern world, from college classrooms and city halls the objective is to by man’s laws and regulations facilitate, indoctrinate, and intimidate everyone into accepting and practicing their anti-God, anti-Biblical, precepts which obviously enslave and destroy as “the wages of sin is death”.  Regarding passions of the flesh, Satanic ones parade the freedom to “do as one pleases”, and tout ‘freedom from religion’ (or from a guilty conscience which they never achieve!) as their model of freedom. These ones in the world are diametrically militantly opposed to the Word of God presuming the stance that you are your own god. After all, you should be free to let your carnal out-of-control flesh do all that it pleases without any bigoted, biased, racist religious person suggesting that self-control under God brings more peace and meaning to life than their hedonism!? The reality is, once you get to know them (as we all have), these so called liberated liberal proselytizers entrapped in their unreconciled deceptions live miserable lives enslaved to many agendas converting them into embarrassing hypocrites. Pray that God helps them to fall off of their high horses as Paul the apostle did to see the light of their bitter, murderous, intentions and repent.   

So unprecedented laws (actually lawlessness) permit the common people the liberty of nihilism, to consume drugs and commit acts that spread diseases, and while they are enthralled in ignorance the ones in power get away with scandal after scandal making mega billions each by corruption, lies, and extortion. Are you not tired of the poor getting poorer and having no power of say so? Well, expose the corruption and mental enslavers at every chance then! Check to make sure you are not subconsciously controlled by the deceptions and lies in the media, lies that are all touted in the name of equality being the perversions of standards, which are not the standards of God that have worked for 3,000 years ever since they were given to man.

8. So one important concept of this verse in Galatians 5 of today is that after one becomes a Christian and God frees you from your own sin, which was the liberation of the lawlessness of your own fleshly passions, or the freedom from the pride of trying to be more lawful, pious, and controlling than your peers, you must never go back to be entangled again or you are condemned! Never allow yourself the control over your own life (as it belongs to God now) or the desire control over others! Your freedom is in Christ alone and it is the only healthy freedom that exists to make one happy, holy, and superior to others who are enslaved to their illusive freedom of “doing as they please” or by pretending to be more righteous that you!

You must keep in check any of your desires for “control”. God is your pilot, but if you take the control panel over over-ridding Him for sure you are in danger of a crash before reaching your destiny! So liberty in God is a paradox, it is freedom but bound by the control of your will and at the mercy of God’s will.

Here is one more aspect in the verse where it says, “but through love serve one another”. Leaders, pastors, government officials, or anyone can control what they want others to do by applying the conditioned stimulus model with threats, bribes, and coercion, but imposition then transfers into the sinful “opportunity for the flesh”. When a person takes advantage of others or becomes the controller over another’s actions, beliefs, or behavior that becomes something not “done in love” and it is a SIN. God is love and it is in divine love that we choose to serve each other!

9. Serving one another in love is a voluntary submission doing what we do for the glory of God and the desire is never to control another, condition another, or take advantage of their goodness. We must never invalidate our faith by being carnal, abusive, controlling, or out of control as these things are all “of the flesh”. You don’t need to be an atheistic liberal to offend others, you can be a rude Christian making others serve you, but if you are offensive and people find out you are a dog that barks and bites, you may discover that others are getting conditioned to avoid you! If you can’t love your brother whom you have seen, how can you claim to love God whom you have not seen?  

Criminals feed on making their victims fear, ask yourself “Am I one that loves power and control”? The fear of God liberates and overcomes, but fear torments!  2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind”.  Don’t control others or let yourself be controlled! Never be out of control and in the flesh! Examine what you agree with to compare if it is the world that has programed you by a conditioned response, you or by the truth in the Word of God! Don’t live as a preprogramed dog! Revelation 22:15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

 May God help us to live out and share the gospel of Jesus in order to liberate others who are enslaved to ungodly permissiveness in the form of worldly precepts, laws, or destructive ideals controlling them that they are not even aware of it!  Thank you Jesus for freeing us and giving us clarity of vision to see through lies, deceptions, and enslaving agendas: may we keep on living free! Ask yourself, am I being controlled? Am I a controlling individual? Jesus liberates! John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

   

  

Your Mind Can Play Tricks on You!

Your Mind Can Play Tricks on You!             Jesus stops them!       Kelly Durant 

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What do you see here, a lamp, or 2 people? And old lady, or a young one?

Somebody once said that people’s minds are all like cement, all mixed up and permanently set! You know cement is mixed with water and it is soft then it gets firmly hard!

This is a true statement for most Christians’ minds as well as the people of the world. Many millions of Christians are out there, but many millions are not in Gods’ standard.

The reality is most of us do not want to use our minds much, we are lazy! Most of us avoid telling others about our faith because we are afraid of the question why? We do not want to make our minds to work to answer questions like..

Why are you a Christian, anyway?

Why did you decide to be a Salvation Army Soldier?

Why do you go to the Salvation Army church and give them your time & support?

As we get older, like the young woman that you see as old in the picture we must use our minds more!

You should do mind exercises, and play games, and ask yourself questions that help you develop apologetics. Apologetics is your ability to defend the word of God from answers you have investigated ahead of time. I hope you pray & study what is in your mind, you must know the answers to difficult questions. To study God’s word requires intense brain work! Do you honor God with all your brain, or mind?

We all may have different answers as to how and why we became a Christian. Here is an answer I hope will serve as an example to why you choose this church. I would answer…

“I chose to be a Christian because Jesus gave me peace of mind, gives me hope for a coming heaven, and He changed my selfish sinful nature. I choose the Salvation Army because it is a holy, uncompromised Christian church that still teaches and practices the truth in the Bible. I consider their members around the world to be outstanding and dedicated examples of compassion in their communities each one impacting thousands of lives around where they live. They are willing to serve the homeless, the addicts, and the poor. The majority of Soldiers & Officers effectively model Jesus’ life of loving compassion taking the gospel of Jesus salvation to others through kind deeds of service and suffering hearts get converted and healed. I am proud that the 3,000,000 members worldwide, one soldiers, and 2 more as volunteers are united with the same visions & goals”.

Let’s examine the scripture from Proverbs 23:7

7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee:

What does it say? It simply says that as you think, that is how you are!

You will act out what you think either good or bad, you will deceive those nearby, so how you think determines everything in life!

Many people have many ideas on what makes them a Christian. There are people believe you must be antiabortion, and a series of beliefs may be near you, but there are some extreme ways of thinking that may put them worlds apart from you! Like the Mormon in court last week who defends the idea of have many young girls as brides, and in his defense he cursed those that were persecuting him! And why is he so confused, because many Christians have not yet applied their brain to analyze if they really live out what they claim to follow!

Here is an example of flawed thinking. My son, Eman, did some local missions trips to some Corps in some small towns in Georgia about 6 years ago. Some are small Corps with 12 white members in the middle for black neighborhoods. His mission was to help with VBS and get the local people to visit the Corps but in a few places the Officers said, oh no, we can’t invite the local kids, the ones that come won’t like it!

A Christian is a follower of who? Of Christ! If you have your mind totally transformed to the point that you think like Jesus, then you are a true Christian! And this means you are non conformed to the world in any manner because the world calls evil good and good evil, If you are thinking like Jesus you will be doing loving acts of kindness as Jesus did and telling ALL others of the Kingdom of God, of heaven and hell as much as possible.

And Christ had whose mind?  What does John 10:30  say?

30 I and my Father are one.

A true Christian knows the mind of Christ and this means they also will know the mind of God and this comes only by reading and filling their mind with the Bible to the point they care for nothing else!

 We must learn how God interacted with man all throughout time. To learn about the mind of Christ, the very first thing we discovery is that He taught us to love God with ALL our hearts, minds, and souls and to love others as ourselves

But our minds deceive us in judgment. Proverbs 20:6

Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?

It is easy for you and I to see, for example, when certain Christians is practicing racism, even though they deny it, and we think, oh, they are not really wrong, and they probably are not a Christian. We see when others have a big sin that shows they are not like Jesus. And this is true, if they were as Jesus they would remember how Jesus, being a Jew preached to the Samaritan woman who had many men, and remember the good Samaritan, etc.

But our weak human minds often make us think that because we can see someone’s sin or fault that that must make us better. I am referring to any subject here! Each must never allow the, ‘holier than thou’ spirit as this is a mistake and trick of the mind. We all fail in God’s eyes and the reality is we do not serve others enough, pray enough and also be quite enough meditating to let God bring into our minds all the faults and sins we have that we must change.

Do you remember what Jesus said about that? Matt 7:3-5

3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

Christians think that because they may not do what they understand as really wrong things, like to steal, or lie, that this must be holy enough to make their selves a judge, but we will never be holy enough until our mind is totally full of God’s word and then practicing it! Holiness is a growth process and we are all still growing!

The easiest sin for a Christians to have is a sin of pride believing they are superior to another. But it is a sin to not know your own mind, to not be aware that you are not caring, loving and forgiving.

We must compare our way of thinking as how God and others may see it. The verse we are studying today exposes this. There are people in the Christian world that only think in terms of criticism, and their minds and hearts are far from their Christian brothers because they are not even in tune with what areas God wants them to change.

If I ask you about your weak areas, can you tell me? To be unaware of your thinking and sometimes wrong conclusions, unaware that your mind plays tricks on you, is not fully in tune with the mind of Christ.

Why is it that people are like cement and all mixed up in their way of thinking? There are many people today that have minds, and many people actually are well guided and love the Lord and others as their selves. But we discover our faults with interactions with others.

When we do a Bible studies & debate we may also find out some people may have misinformation from their past learning, and people will always have some mixed thinking in their understanding in life. But I and everyone must sometimes admit we must change our minds, when we were unaware of certain facts.

Focus on Jesus mind, was he aggressive and imposing on the people with mixed up thinking, people like the prostitutes, drunks and publicans? Did he not show them love and compassion? The only times that Jesus got angry was against the false teachers of the law, who taught the word of God with arrogance for own purposes of exploitation damaging God’s image in his projection of  love & forgiveness. Hypocrisy and holier-than-thou thinking invokes his anger!

Thesis: Any idea or thought that obsesses your mind to focus on anything other than how YOU are applying your or my heart, mind, and soul to loving God and people more is a misapplication that will bring grave consequences.

We all see people’s minds by their actions, like the crazy man in Norway that in his mind was doing the right thing killing 90 some people. What horrible actions from mixed up thinking, believing he was purging out bad people. Consider these verses when we have a transformed mind…

Romans 12:3  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

 4For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:

 5So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

 6Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;

 7Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching

 8Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.

 9Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.

10Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

 And we will love, and not hurt, only if we first program our minds to do it this way!

Once you have Jesus in your mind, He becomes like a filter, and you will only allow your self to think and act like Him because it filters all things through Him.

Have you ever had the filter of a tea bag break on you? It is not so nice to get tea leaves in your teeth, right?

People who sin with their words and actions, are those that do not have the Word of God as a filter in place in their minds.

The people of the world, and even many Christians, remain in their carnal immature states because their minds never get fully connected to God. So then what rules their hearts is envy, jealousy, and malice and all the destructive emotions. Only by filling our minds with God’s word, by transforming the way we think, which affects everything we do, will we be able to become acceptable to the Lord. 

Today you will leave here responsible to God for what you think and what is in your mind since God will not accept your thinking way above His way. It is not okay to think what you think is okay, to God it is foolishness.

We must as people of God here think alike as the verse says here: 1 Cor 2:16

16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

People that esteem their own opinions, their own way of thinking, or anyone else’s teachings as more important than the Bible, are in danger of not living as a true Christian.

What do you think? What a person thinks will determine your future, whether your destiny will be in heaven of hell. If you think Jesus is the Son of God, then do you make your heart soul, and mind love and serve Him above everything?

Do you use your mind to learn the ways of God so that you may leave behind the wrong things in your heart and mind so you can love God more?

Rom 12:2

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

We know how Christ-like you are by how you think, whether you think like Jesus or not.

We see what you do, and hear what you say, and all of this comes from what you think.

Do you need your mind transformed by the Holy Spirit? He can change you, but it will be your job to work at changing yourself day after day by studying the Word of God too! Prayer.

Ignorance Is Killing Us!

Ignorance Is Killing Us!                                                         By Kelly Durant 5-3-15           

Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

2. How many of you deal with prideful ignorant people? The problem is ignorant people sell their selves in a way that they make you feel intimidated to even question their knowledge! Ignorant people know how to bluff and are proud pretenders! Today ignorance of the basics of God and life plagues many professional people. Like the doctor here in Miami that was doing plastic surgery by injecting household silicon into people’s bodies!  Ignorance=destruction!

Ignorance takes on many forms concerning the basic functioning of relationships and society, but most of all ignorance of the Word of God is causing our society to implode! Ignorance is wastefully degrading our organized systems and causing undue damage and suffering. It is provoking embarrassment! The world scenario is like this, more than ever people are being placed in positions of power only because of their political affiliations and not due to their knowledge and capacity, so consequently the chaos of incompetence is overwhelming all aspects of organizations. Systems that use to be efficient are now degrading by ignorance!

Frist, I will tell you a story of how ignorance affected me on a personal level one time and I hope it convicts you to beware of ignorant people! We all must improve our own general knowledge of the world and of God and become more aware of our need for the discernment of the Holy Spirit!  Here is what I suffered through one time in Atlanta. There was a person who had many community hours to do and he boasted he was a mechanic and that he could do his hours tuning up our cars replacing plugs, etc. At that time our church van needed new plugs so I bought them for him and he worked on the van for an afternoon. I only thought I was happy to save over a $100 dollars on the tune up in my ignorance at that moment!

To my surprise 4 hours later he said well, “I could only change one plug because I got a phone call and busy and I cannot do the other plugs because, come let me show you, see they are impossible to reach”. It was true they were in very hard to get to locations and I thought, okay, that is just how it goes with some people who are incapable of finishing a job correctly. Then I noticed immediately that the V-8 was lacking the original power it had and I had a doubt about the one plug he changed. I checked it with another mechanic and it turned out he had stripped the threads of the plug putting it in and he caused a piece of it to break inside and consequently the motor then needed a head job and an expensive repair! I learned an expensive lesson: never trust boastful people who are so sure of their selves who have a dubious record of wrong doings and no proof of repentance or proof of the fear of God in their lives! This is just one case that reveals ignorance but I have lived through dozens of others cases! What is your story?

3. Proverbs 1:7 ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction’. All examples in the material world compare to the spiritual realm, so now with this tune-up illustration let’s uncover other problems. Too many people claim they know things but since they are carnal beasts and not close to God, they really know nothing at all about anything! And when their ignorance gets exposed, these impostors get furious! It is evident that ignorant people always lie, contradict, and argue about things they know nothing of!

The world today, as it was in Jesus time, has too many hypocrites pretending to be smart and of a privileged elect class. They say they are the lone experts of authority but in actuality they are smoke and no fire with a convincing façade. Ignorance, in particular of the spiritual things, has further reaching consequences! Have you noticed how many start up churches there are today with ignorant self-proclaimed pastors that have never really ever studied or applied God’s word in their personal lives? How do these people get knowledge or ideas to convince others? They don’t really study or read, they just imitate from other imitators and copy like Satan does. They are like a fake counterfeit bill, imitating the light and pureness of God but denying His power. Usually these types preach strong, energetic, and fiery messages, and the ignorant congregations think they are undoubtedly intelligent, strong, and powerful!?

But by just looking at their lavish lifestyle and personal life it can be revealed that many of these people are consumed with greed, envy, and pride! And since they hardly ever personally interact with their people but live privileged and secluded, few people ever discover their embarrassing personal unholy lives that are gravely ignorant and faulty. They need exposure!

4. Ignorant people who have never spent time alone with God asking God to reveal to them their inner secret sins so they can repent and be remade into a new person (creation) can often appear normal and spiritual. They, in their ignorance, have actually deceived their own selves into thinking they are legitimate without the sacrifice! These are people who feel they do not need to study anything because they conclude that after all, all church Christian sheep followers are so ignorant (and sadly some are too naive) that they will follow whatever is said and invented. It is sad but true that many Christians are dubbed into accepting false pastors and false doctrines having itching ears desiring to hear what is convenient to inflate their pride. Many people want to be told that they are a privileged people, a special superior race, a people that should rule over others just because they are of a certain church with the anointed pastor! These deceived ones never ask, is it right I exercise authority over others while I am lacking knowledge? What is so destructive is they do not live out the Bible nor God’s holiness, and they make followers who copy their ignorance!

The hypocrite pretender pastors see other pastors shouting a phrase over and over on TV and they imitate what they see. I have seen the TV sermons where they say, (Repeat), “Claim it, claim it, claim it, claim, grab it, grab it, grab it, grab that money, and take that power God has for you!” They copy sermons off of other preachers (plagiarism) instead of doing their own work of praying to know what to preach about and researching in the Word materials related to the subject. They depend on emotions to convince and manipulate people rather than the common sense divine Word of God from the Holy Scriptures to do the work!

William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army foresaw how bad ignorance would get in our day and said, “The chief danger that confronts the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, heaven without hell.”

5. Why am I calling attention to this? It is a part of the signs of the times! When referring to Matthew 24 we often can identify the signs of the times such as the increase in earthquakes, the signs in the sun, moon, and starts, and wars but what about the false prophets who people follow due their ignorance? Matt 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. How is someone deceived? By not knowing the truth, or by rejecting the truth!

Today the internet is overtaken by many false prophets! It was reported that many of the sites that have leaked nude pictures of some famous actress link you to an English speaking Islamist site trying to convince you of your guilt for not obeying God Alla hoping to recruit you to Islam! How many millions of our young people have been exposed to this propaganda and no one reports it or stops it!? My wife and I even watched one of these Islamic recruitment videos and they could be convincing to the unsaved. These recruiters would be very convincing if one did not already have the truth of Jesus Christ in your life! And the discernment of the Holy Spirit!

People get hooked in their ignorance to false teachings and lifestyles because many false leaders know how to appear powerful appealing to their feelings of weakness because they have a demon of an Unholy Spirit! How sad it is in the U.S. people have tried to rid God from their schools, workplace, and even churches to the point there is a darkness and spiritual vacuum out there for just anything that comes along! The ignorance of God is killing us!

6.  Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

The verse of today was prophetic for that time period, and as with all prophecies, it is fulfilling itself again in this end-time era! How sad that people have access to 30 versions of the Bible 24/7 with two finger strikes on Google to Biblegateway and they will not even read it! People today are remaining ignorant of the Word of God on purpose mainly because they do not want God interfering with their consciences and mind concerning the sins they are choosing to participate in! A thief never seems to find a policeman, right?

Identify ignorance! We must bring to the light people that are willfully choosing ignorance spiritually, educationally, and financially! Instead of choosing the good and eschewing the evil ignorant people are killing our peace and progress by choosing the evil and shunning the good!

People in ignorance choose the trash over the truth! With an ignorant spiritual life, if you are an introvert, you can read worthless novels, or you can play computer games until your fingers drop off! If you are an extroverted frustrated young man, mad at the world and wanting to take revenge, you can hook up others online and become a travelling protester, or even a Jihadist! The possibility of being overwhelmed with materials to read on any subject is limitless! Sadly many people have no family, no father or mother, no church friends or anyone to consult with about what they choose! The entire country is suffering because too many choose poorly!

7. Ecclesiastes 12:12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh. Isn’t this the truth! The other day I was watching an anti-bullying campaign on C-Span and on that subject, or any subject for that matter, all guidance is refined to a science and it is contained in hundreds of books! I would never have time to read all the hundreds of books written on that subject, but I need to be educated on that matter and on the hundreds of other things affecting our world to know how to save, help, and serve others appropriately.

I beg you to read more read more and be informed or you will fall into some new trap due to your ignorance! Ignorance will cost you money! Do you remember the hundreds of millions of dollars that were lost by ignorant people who when they got an email from a Nigerian prince that said all they needed to do to get millions of dollars from an inheritance was to open a new bank account with yours the prince’s name on it? The prince wanted to share his millions and all you had to do was to open an account with $5,000 for him to deposit in. What happened? He didn’t deposit but instead he withdrew your $5,000 and you never heard from him again! He was no prince but a thief and being abroad, no prosecutions could take place. A fool and his money are quickly departed! Ignorance is not bliss, but rather a curse that will cost you dearly!

8. So today many assume we are surrounded by intelligent people running complicated systems in our society but instead these people are more than likely dangerous and ignorant on many basic matters, in particular ignorant in the knowledge of the Word of God! We see what is happening to people as in 2 Timothy 3:7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. This explains why everything in society is degrading into ignorance, lawlessness and chaos! Many professionals today are amoral, carnal, prideful, and ignorant!

The knowledge of the truth only comes from the Word of God! Intelligent people may read a few thousands of books to be a lawyer or doctor, but what good is it if their soul is corrupted and they gain the world and lose their soul?  The ones in high places in the world, no matter the intelligence, are actually ignorant and on the bottom morally & spiritually without God!

Jude18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

9. So how do you and I as dedicated Christians help those who live in ignorance? As the saying goes, ‘You can take a horse to water but you can’t make him drink!’ We can share with others the Good News of the gospel’s truth to help them out of their sinful destructive path, but if they don’t want it, it is not our fault.  Consider Ezekiel 3:18 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand:19 Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

We live in a world that is a twisted paradox; the truth of the Bible and Jesus and excellent good teachings are out there for anyone contrasted by how few discover it due to the shroud of the sheer volume of the mega million writings of dark deceivers! Never forget, it is our job to educate ourselves others on the things of God; ‘to preach the gospel to every creature!’

10. Ignorance is killing us because the people in the community at large practice ignorant habits from their carnality and false teachings! People have a free will to believe what they want, but people never calculate the consequences that that belief brings! The worst ignorance is the spiritual ignorance! People who are shallow, who have practically no understanding of the Bible, suffer dearly for mistakes and their mistakes affect all and make others suffer as well.

We must face the fact there are billions of truth rejecters! Some of these may also be lazy people who are ignorant by choice! They are like this Proverbs 26:13 The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets. They know the consequences, that they will die for doing what they do, but they do not care! Sin keeps people in ignorance!

We must drive away ignorance! Daniel 12:3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. Let’s pray to hunger more to learn from the Word of God! Others may lack in knowledge of the basics of life but for a Christian, we should never be ignorant of anything!

Learn and obey the Word of God and you will be prepared to live wise and avoid the consequences ignorance! Let’s pray to desire more knowledge and wisdom from God!