Christmas: A time to reflect on the effect Jesus made

Christmas: A time to reflect on the effect Jesus made       Kelly Durant

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 1 John 3:16 By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

2. How many of you have seen a movie, “Back to the Future”? It was about a young man that went back into time and then goes back into the future and he saw how it would be if something were changed. 

There is one part where something didn’t happen the way it was suppose to in the past, and if Marty McFly, the main character, didn’t get things the way they were supposed to happen while in the past, and in this case it was the getting together of his parents, then the world was going to become a different, horrible, hell of a place. 

This scenario caused me, and should provoke us all, to reflect and ask our selves this question, what would the world be like today if it had not been for the birth of the Son of God on Christmas over 2,000 years ago? God made hundreds of things come together for Jesus birth at the right place and time.

3. Imagine a world with people who are living as Jesus commanded, as salt and light, who are following Jesus’ love and salvation, how would that world be? We could have the ‘kingdom of God’ on earth! Now, imagine a world without the leadership of God’s righteous people, without churches doing good, without missionaries bringing a better standard to the pagan idol worshippers, without the message of eternal life and the forgiveness for sins through Christ. The world would be a worse hell than what it already  is! 

Without Jesus the world would be a thousand times more full of evil, with more human sacrifices than our current infanticide ones; we would be overcome by violence and war as before the flood ‘as in the days of Noah’. There would gross darkness on the people, being devoid and ignorant. Starvation and misery would prevail more than what it does today. When the European missionaries went out to reach the world with Jesus travelling by ships, establishing colonies worldwide, it is recorded in the history books that they brought prosperity and peace. 

Even in the 1700 and 1800s there was still cannibalism on many islands, along with idolatry, human sacrifice, and the slave trades. Where the people had never heard the gospel of Jesus, they lived in constant war with their neighbors. It has been the Christians who helped the world progress out of the dark ages and the ones who founded most all of the prestigious colleges of high learning world-wide. It was the Christians who developed the world scientifically, through Galileo, Pascal, and others. It was the Christians who fought to free those enslaved. The world cannot deny that Jesus gospel has brought more peace and development wherever it has been practiced. The problem it must be practiced to work!

4. Jesus was the best gift this world has ever received from God! But let’s look at what attributes were necessary in order for there to be the desired effect by God. First, there had to be a willingness to give on His part .God loved the world and gave us Jesus and He too gave of his own self. He renounced heaven, a place of pure perfection and love and peace in order to come here on earth to give Himself to live a life in frail human flesh. He knew His life was going to end torturous but victorious being a sacrifice on the cross, dying in a horrible manner to redeem whosoever would receive Him! Realize this, Jesus’ resurrection  means that He can give anyone the gift of eternal life if we want to belong to Him! There is no gift that could be better, ever!

The first thing that Christmas should do is convict us to give, to give our lives in obedience to Jesus! He gave the example, he was born in a humble little manger, and came not to be rich and spoiled, nor powerful as the kings of earth are, but he came to serve and to give his life for the souls us all! 

There are many people though that live by the contrary. They believe that Christmas is a time to receive and to get, not to give, forgetting the whole picture of Jesus’ life. We must give to be blessed!

5. I recall that as a child I got picky and demanding about what I wanted my mother to give me for Christmas and that was being spoiled and wrong but it happens often most with all kids. Since I had no father in the home, my mother always tried to make it up by giving me many many toys. 

The toys were fun but only for a few days before the reality of life would return. All that I had received did not bring me a lasting happiness, only a temporary one. It was later in my life that I learned the joy of giving after I dedicated my life to the Lord Jesus Christ. 

If you want happiness…then give. It is more blessed to give than to receive! One more time, Jesus said, it is more blessed to give than to receive! We need to teach ourselves and our children to give to others so we don’t just think about their selves at Christmas time. 

6. Give your life in service to God, give your time, your money, your will, everything; and if you do, then you will be following the words and example of Jesus correctly and you will be celebrating what Christmas should really be all about! 

The problem is that many people get so materialistic and worried about gifts and the Christmas party and the food that they forget who the party is for and how He wants those at His party to be. Imagine that, Jesus is being left out of His own party in many homes! 

Another attribute is that we must announce the coming of Jesus, ahead of time. That is what the tradition of the ‘Advent’ is for. John the Baptist’s mother, Elizabeth, recognized Jesus before He was born. The message prepared was that Jesus would bring us peace, hope, and salvation and for all the world. What did God have all the angels announce to the humble poor shepherds when Jesus was born. They all declared, “Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth and good will to men (all humanity)”. If God’s angels praised Him, how much more we must praise Him and give glory to Him!

7. God showed His love and favor to all of us in all the world for all people and for all time. He gave us a new hope, a new life, a life of peace, an internal peace that gives us strength.  He gave us good will, and God gave His example of healing goodness. Without Jesus we would not have learned how goodness was to be practiced. We would also not know that we could heave eternal life in heaven either. 

The effect or reaction God wants by Jesus coming is that we honor Him as the angels did, knowing that the way we honor him is by sharing the story of His life obeying His words sharing salvation! We must give our lives as Jesus gave His. 1 John 3:16 By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. This verse is a follow up to John 3:16 which should be the effect Jesus has on us. How has Jesus affected you? Has His effect made you do something to make the world a better place?

History proves that we as humans usually behave as brute beasts, full of jealousy for power, full of hate, adulteries, selfishness, and even murders, but when we pause to remember the birth of Jesus at Christmas, we are giving ourselves and everyone in the world a chance to see hope and love: that there is an example of a pure life much better than what we ourselves could ever be. We accept Jesus at Christmas and accept that we must change our lives in order to be like Him! Those that have done this, those that have allowed Jesus to take effect in their heart, mind, and soul, they are the world changers! 

Jesus caused prostitutes, drunken partiers, greedy tax collectors, and religious hypocrites to repent and live a holy life! What a powerful effect! For over 2,000 years now His story from start to finish combined with His God-breathed Words of teachings have changed millions of lives for the better! The effect is peace with God and freedom from the desire to sin! I know about this because I am one of those whose life turned around completely! What an effect Jesus made on me to leave behind sex, drugs, rock ‘n roll, and Hindu religions! 

Please share Jesus, in your giving and receiving, share His story, and share your story of the effect Jesus has made on your life this Christmas!

We Are In A War On Hypocrisy

We Are In A War On Hypocrisy                                                  Kelly Durant

Matthew 23:25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and ^[l]self-indulgence. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. ²⁷ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.²⁸ Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

2. I learned in 1^st grade how Satan operates. Some wild kid throws a paper at the teacher while she has her back turned writing on the black board and hits her. She turns around and says, “Who did that”?  The kid who did it points at me and says, “He did it!” I get mad and stand up red in the face and pound my desk and say, “That’s a lie, he did it!” The teacher then looks at the wild one, but she thinks he is a good kid, and says to me, “It must not have been him but must have been you”! So I am in trouble for something I didn’t do and for speaking up and getting mad at the other kid who was guilty!

Doesn’t this scenario remind you of the unfairness in the world today? The teacher, or the authority can represent anyone with influence, a government official, a media source, a job boss, or a person in your family who sees things through a distorted lens. For them the good people are bad, and the bad people are good! They often think this way because they are making superficial judgments and not really getting down to the real facts of the matter.

Basically, so many of us in life get accused, condemned, and punished over things we did not do but rather only got accused of. We know who is really guilty, and others see it too, but somehow you end up being the one chosen pay the price! How unfair, right?!Liars, hypocrites, false accusers, these are evil people!

3. If someone of your family, or from your job, or from your community decides you are less than them, what can you do? You can pray to see the truth of their lives! I knew from school so many kids that at first you were kind of jealous of them, having wealth and influence until you saw their whole family situation. 

Too many people are forced to live with pressure from their parents, spouses, or a peer group, to be overachievers achieving success in sports, perfect grades, or to be excelling with money and popularity. The people around them in their world pressure them to be something they really would prefer not to be but they do it anyway because they don’t want the embarrassment and humiliation of not living up to their proudful vain high standards. Satan’s people pridefully live a lie so they can bloat they are the ones on top! How anti-Christ and unwise and they reap hell for their unyieldedness to God.

The problem in the world, under Satan’s kingdoms, is that his demons have captured the minds of the simple, not-Holy-Spirit guided ones, and sold them ‘a bill of goods’, a false paradigm, a standard to live by that is unfair, hypocritical, and not realistic. We live with dystopian systems that are destined to perpetually be conflictive! It is a war Satan started long ago and it is heating up! From all angles Christians face opposition! Satan has temporarily taken over most everything everywhere, so nothing material or spiritual will ever exist without it being divided by hypocrites, liars, and false accusers. And it is even in all religions that claim to grant us unity with God and all! Jesus exposed it, it’s a war!  

4. I think we can compare most of the world’s hypocritically blinded people today to the scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites! What manipulation they did and still do! They had all of Judea under their distortion of the law, not how God intended it to be! They had everyone fooled that they were so perfect demanding perfection while they were like rotting corpses inside having only hypocrisy to offer their followers. Basically all religious systems suffer corruption, but Jesus never!

The problem is their followers thought that their hypocrisy was the norm to be expected! Only when Jesus came along could people finally see the light that these deceivers were not the righteous ones they pretended to be. These folks spend great amounts of time to make their exterior appear so perfect, but it was all a façade, a skin deep cover up of their true vicious, revengeful, violent, lying, false accusing, power seeking corrupt nature. Too many today are just like them!

These hypocrite types were quick to condemn Jesus for accusing them of things they really were guilty of when they should have been falling on their knees and faces repenting and crying out to God to have mercy on them! But did they? No!

5. That’s the irony of hypocrites, even when exposed they will not be sorry and repent but rather they dig in their heels at how right they are! They keep affirming the lie is the truth! But most everyone sees through their falseness. Oh how we get fed up with these types of people! How infuriating are these liars and oppressors! These kinds of haters made Jesus furious! He warned them of hell!

So what do they do? They clean the outside and by superficial appearances they look clean. They may dress nice, have a beautiful mansion, and even have a charity or church but it is used to claim that they do good works, but it is all a deception! How is it that so many people do not see through their fakeness and lies? How is it people get so easily fooled?! We need the Holy Spirit to discern!

2 Timothy 3:5 ‘having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people’. So many people who follow them are like them as well! They want only to appear to be nice, appear to be clean, appear to be a community leader, and appear to be spiritual but they are none of that.

6. These pretenders, who live double lives, and who do so many actions to be seen are as actors in a movie, and why do they go through so much trouble? It is for what Satan wants: to gain absolute power and unlimited wealth! It is for pride and dominion! For the temporary glory of Satan offering them to have people as their slaves, and they seek to capture innocent souls (children!) for Satan’s use.

Those that live a true holy life in God see through their fake front and are not under their thumb and deceived by their lies. John 8:36 ‘So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.’ Those that live sincerely close to God, who know the Bible, who obey Jesus commands are free from their control and this is why these people in power in high places hate you and me! Christians are the target!

They can’t allow you to exist because you prove there is freedom in Jesus! In their worldeveryone should fall in line under them! And they are oppressive, despotic, manipulative, deceitful, murderous, cold hearted, cruel abusive, wasteful, and everything a child of God detests! And then they claim to be spiritual and caring for the earth, the oppressed genders, and displaced children, etc?! 

7. Matthew 7:16 ‘You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?’ We are at war with the enemy who has infiltrated every government, every religion, and even every Christian church! Divisiveness and deception are at play through programed individuals in every place!

In today’s war against evil the Christian must pray extra hard with the Holy Spirit to be able to discern who is real and who is not. It is amazing how many people can be deceptive and have everyone fooled! But their deception will not last! Haven’t we seen fake leaders, even so called Christian ones, be exposed of late!

Do we not hear people say things that are not according to the truth in the Bible but rather are words that conform to the agendas of this world? People who continue to follow evil leaders, exposed hypocritical leaders, will receive the same hellish punishment as them unless they refuse to break ties and decry their evil works and hypocrisy. You are either for Jesus or you are against Him.  

8. Before Jesus came along nobody knew the difference between the fake and the real as the followers of the hypocrites just thought that that was normal. But it was not normal at all, it was all under Satan’s legalistic harsh hypocritical control and Jesus exposed it.

True Christians are always on the side of Jesus! When evil is exposed we should spread that news! People need to be shown how the enemy operates! Ephesians 5:11 ‘And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.’ Jesus reproved them! Are you like Jesus reproving them?

We actually do not even need to name the fake hypocritical oppressive lying religious governing leaders by name; true Christians see who they are and want nothing to do with them! We might want to offer them the truth to try to save their souls but we certainly do not want to participate in any of their beliefs, hypocrisy, and practices. The same with political powers and educational institutions that do not allow for the words of Jesus to be heard, they seal their fate to reap their own destruction and hell unless they repent.

9. We are in a war! In this information age, you must do extra work to discern between what is righteous, true and pure, and what is not. Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.’ 

To know who is of God or not just present to them how Jesus is important to you, how Jesus saved your soul, and observe their reaction.  John 10:27 ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.’ Today we see the division, the wheat are being separated from the weeds, God’s people refuse to be mixed in with evil hypocrites. That’s not divisive, that is according to scripture. And if the weeds accuse the wheat of discrimination, of not supporting their agendas, then so be it; the pure, righteous, and holy, can never share in the same appetites, punishments, and final ending of the wicked. The pure in heart will desire repentance and closeness to God, while liars, hypocrites, and deceivers will burn as weeds are burnt in the fires of hell. Jesus warned of that, we cannot deny it.

A person saved by Jesus Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit will never support and speak well of those who practice any kind of evil and hypocrisy. Our battle is to bring the truth to everyone, to bring the truth of Jesus into all organizations and systems. Light and darkness cannot coexist in the same space. Shine your light! God’s love will conquer the world in the end as Jesus will return and free us from all oppressors, liars and hypocrites https://www.etsy.com/shop/Virtuefinity

The Betrayers of Jesus Await Judgment

The Betrayers of Jesus Await Judgment (Halloween is a betrayal)    Kelly Durant

Mark 13:12 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.

Matthew 24:10 Now brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.

Matthew 24:48 But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ 49 and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, 50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, 51 and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

2. I am sure you have heard stories of the difficulty missionaries have of sharing the gospel with cultures that are very different. There was missionary in Africa a century ago, I forget which place it was, but he was excited to have everyone of the tribe gathered as he shared about the life of Jesus with everyone in a circle silently listening.

Then he came upon the part where Jesus was in Gethsemane praying and Judas came to him and betrayed Him with a kiss. Suddenly the group broke silence and they stood up and cheered!? The missionary desperately told the interpreter, wait something was not communicated right, “I said that Jesus was betrayed and that is bad, they should be sad and upset!”

Then the interpreter gave him the bad news. It turns out that in their culture if a person betrays another it was considered an act of courage?! The betrayer then by deeds and actions appears to be the more powerful one and he gets to rule! How messed up, unjust, and incorrect is that, right? But in real life we will see that there are many people who have this horrible attitude; but it is a short lived victory! Betrayers may gain some temporary advantage, but with God we know his judgment is with justice for the oppressed, afflicted, and murdered.

3. In the end we all know that Judas hung himself, either because Satan was so happy with him that he wanted to harvest his soul early and drove him to do it, or because Judas afterwards was guilt ridden and sorry and could not live with himself anymore. Either way, no betrayer has the power for very long because he will have to pay the price of getting hated and condemned by everyone! We speak of how hate is wrong, but there actually is a “time to hate” (Ecclesiastes 3:8). If a person commits a heinous act, such as murder, a Satanic ritual, or insults God or Jesus by blaspheming the Holy Spirit then that person is choosing their own terrible punishable fate! Witches, substance abusers, Hollywood entertainers, and certain Halloween participants are betrayers to the gospel of Jesus! In Satanic churches you must curse God and Jesus to be a member!

How many of you know the famous Latin words, “E tu Brute”? These were one of Julius Cesar’s last words as he was stabbed to death by all his political friends one day during a session in the Roman congress. He knew he had enemies, and he expected the stab wounds to come from them, but none of them hurt like the one that came from one whom he thought was a good friend. Oh, how it hurts to be betrayed by a friend whom you invested in, whom you loved, whom you trusted!

Here is the good news, God never betrays, His promises are true, if we commit to Him, He commits to us and blesses us to have the eternal salvation of our souls, to have peace of mind, and to live forever with rewards in heaven. 2 Peter 1:4

By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 1 John 5:11 ‘And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.’ We will inherit eternal life but the wicked will inherit the opposite, a prison of death and hell!

4. Let me warn you of why you should never ever consider abandoning your faith in God and Jesus and betray over to the dark side. Never participate in pagan holidays. Satan offers you the world! All the drugs, sex, and money you can consume; but it is all an illusion, it only exists for a short season, and Satan wants to be sure it costs you your soul to gain it!  

Here is what God’s word says about unrepentant wicked proud betraying unrighteous Satanic people… Psalm 55:15 ‘Let death seize them; Let them go down alive into hell, For wickedness is in their dwellings and among them.’ Romans 6:23 ‘For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ And as we covered with our scriptures previously, if a person starts off life knowing to do good but then abandons the faith and betrays his brothers and sisters, then this person is worthy of eternal suffering where there is so much pain on the soul it is comparable to, “weeping and the gnashing of teeth”, forever! A pain that makes one grind your teeth is very extreme!

Those that reject God’s Word in ignorance never believe their soul can be punished, they think they are the gods! But they are just flesh! How wrong they are! Even amongst the Satanic elite in Hollywood, in politics, and amongst the billionaire business men a betrayal to one of them, meaning you are repenting and coming over to God’s side, exposing their corruption will get you a death sentence by hanging! All the so called recent suicides by the famous billionaires and actors repeat the same pattern, they all hung from a doorknobs! That is the code of the dark secret pacts in these secret societies: expose them or betray them and your suicide by hanging will soon follow!  And no one seems to be untouchable, Satan temporarily rules in this unjust, decrepit, decomposing, warmongering wicked world, especially in certain mega cities.

5. So what does all of this imply? It means you are quite probably going to get hurt and betrayed by someone in your lifetime just for living righteously obeying Jesus! Sadly, according to Jesus prophecies in Matthew 24 and in dozens of verses, people are going to become more and more evil. Scripture confirms the worst eternal punishment is reserved for backsliders, hypocrites, and betrayers.

People whom who thought were your friends, those of you own family, or those of your church may one day be the ones betraying you, and even turning you over to be murdered by the Satanic dictatorial powers once these are established as a world power in the New World Order. And hundreds of millions correctly believe we are in the “endtimes” as we have never seen such ‘signs of the times’ of vulgar violent hateful betraying leaks and betrayals in the nations as what we see today. 

Matthew 24:10 ‘Now brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.’

How cruel betrayal is! Imagine, you or me raise a child, one works day and night to feed them, you wipe their faces of food and tears, you take them to church and pray with them everyday to be protected and then they one day callously turn you over to get murdered by Satan’s one-world-government soldiers? This is why Matt: 24:51 (God) and will cut him (the murderous betrayer) in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites (in hell, the place of eternal torment).

6. And what does it feel like to get betrayed spiritually? Those that have not been Bible teachers, evangelists, preachers, youth leaders, or parents may not know what this feels like but it hurts deeply when you love someone, you spend hours and hours with them and pray for them, you even get for them the material things they need, you invest in them with the great expectation that they will do great things for God one day and then suddenly, in a silent betrayal, they disappear from your life! No thankfulness, no love, no nothing!

They selfishly, nihilistically decided they wanted their own life free from you and your love, care, and prayers! They decided that your safe world of loving Biblical principles were not what they wanted; they wanted what the world and others could offer, ‘the pleasures of sin for a season’. Can you believe that the college professors, politicians, and carnal perverse people they meet in life seem to be able to enticingly rob them from you and God! Evil seducers infuriate God and us!  

The people we lose to their other “so called” friends will do nothing for them in a time of need! Many of the people we know in life will be seduced and intimidated and will ‘fall away’ by means of these worldly seducers caving to their ungodly ways. Imagine people that demanded things from you, used you, made you think they were Christian who later think nothing when they unapologetically, unthankfully reject you and even grow a hated for you! They ‘move on’ like a callous psychopath while you and I and even a whole church may sadly cry lamenting how their soul got lost from God’s paths of love and blessings!

7. James 4:17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. The problem with people is quite often they have no real belief in God or they would fear and respect his Word and his people and always be faithful to do what is right and good. Luke 9:62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

And what ever happened to Matthew 22:39 And the second commandment (apart from loving God that is like it) ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’? People today viciously attack others, and usually not over something justifiable, but usually it is with lies, falsehoods, false witnesses, and this is an outright shameful betrayal.

People also forget, Galatians 6:7 “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” The people who abandon you, those that leave their faith and the church, those of our own families who no longer speak to you, those who harm others for gain will have to pay one day.

8. Unless a person repents they will not attain heaven! Everyone must repent and change everything about their selves! Job 42:6 ‘Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.’ Have you even felt this way? I have!  Have you?

Matthew 3:8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance. 

Do you recall Zacchaeus? He was the shining example of when a person is sorry for their deeds they must not only confess them but must also pay back those they have wronged. How I wish those who have taken advantage of the church would pay it back! I have seen that some do later in life and God knows all.

Luke 19:8 Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; 10 for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

In our Salvation Army we uphold the standards of God as in doctrine 7 ‘That repentance toward God, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit are necessary to salvation.’ Also doctrine 11, we believe…’In the immortality of the soul, in the resurrection of the body, in the general judgment at the end of the world, in the eternal happiness of the righteous, and in the endless punishment of the wicked.

9. The reality is anyone or ‘whosoever’ can be forgiven by God but if one harms their own bodies, or hurts others, then there are some consequences that cannot be undone such as physical or relationship damages. God may forgive you for sin, but often people near to you may not.

Can a betrayer be forgiven? This has been a theological question for centuries! I think the prodigal son parable makes it clear that they can be…if they are deeply repentant! It was a betrayal for that son to take that which his father gave him and waste it on drinking, partying, and the so called ‘pleasures of sin’. The brother did not want to forgive though, so people who betray and sin and repent will have to live with the humiliation of being rejected by some. But if their heart is set on purity and holiness, God will be there to maintain them on the paths of righteousness to be faithful until death.

Revelation 2:10 (b) Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

In life we are going to get hurt by others, we are going to get betrayed, and we are going to sadly see some blossoming seeded plants die off because they never took root in God’s good solid ground. But our discouragement is temporary as we focus on the seeds that fell on good ground!

As Judas was one out of 12 disciples, expect in life that probably about 1 in 12 people we know will betray us as well! Don’t condemn yourself to think it is your fault, no one can be responsible for what another chooses to do in life as we all have freewill. Philippians 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Each of us must choose to remain faithful, to repent of all things, to forgive, and to keep on loving God and others, amen!

Hollywood & Halloween Horror! Fascination with Evil Must Stop

Hollywood & Halloween Horror! Fascination with Evil Must Stop     Kelly Durant

1 Thessalonians 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 22 Abstain from all appearance of evil. 23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2. Have you ever tried to reason with a crazy person? You never can win an argument with them because they always justify their way of being, and their evil deeds. They don’t repent, instead, they gloat! There are different kinds of “crazy” in the world, but quite often it is due to an evil spirit possession. The evil people of the world are always raising up evil spirits to influence the youth, the weak, and those that leave behind their faith in Jesus! 

Jesus says trying to convert these kinds of people is like trying to reason with a wild dog or pig.  Matthew 7:6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. Groups of wild dogs or pigs can kill you! This is why so called protesters for evil causes always gather in crowds, they have more power together. Evil people want to create a hive mentality so everyone will be overcome by evil!

I am bringing this matter of evil up because every year in October we have a whole month of horror films coming out of Hollywood, all the merchants in town also promote evil looking costumes and decorations, and evil decorated houses for Halloween reveal how much people are fascinated by death and evil spirits.

3. As Christians we are to abstain from evil and the appearance of evil. It is evident that the further away from Christianity this nation has drifted, the more evil has become the replacement for what our culture indulges in. ‘Halloween retail spending was estimated at $9 billion in 2018. It's a little less than 2017's record of $9.1 billion. Slightly fewer, 175 million, said they would celebrate. They spent a record $86.79 per person, according to the National Retail Federation's annual survey’. https://www.thebalance.com/halloween-spending-statistics-facts-and-trends-3305716

Many Christians have been tricked into leaving behind the healthy, good, and Godly habits we once had in society and it is wreaking havoc on everyone. This slow acceptance of violence and evil, of perversions and filth is in direct disobedience to the scriptures as we just read, 21 ‘Prove all things; hold fast that which is good’. Evil is prevailing today because not enough Christians are demanding that the beautiful good things of God be the dominant theme in our communities. 

Evil is very seducing! When you see it in movies, hear it in amazingly catchy pop songs, and read about evil people getting away with murder as political and famous characters do, one starts to subliminally get convinced that the dark side might just be more exciting and powerful! Christians must speak against evil! Jesus warned us to ‘watch and pray’ and to resist temptation, any one of us can fall to evil, and Satan will deceive the very ‘elect’ or saved if you and I let him by not staying connected to Him!

4. I think all Christians should get very disturbed by how our society is filling up with hypocritical dysfunctional dystopian crazy evil people who mock and persecute the people of God while glorying themselves in their horrific acts. Even those who murder seem to escape as if all is normal politics and acceptable!

Satan knows how to play games with the average shallow, uneducated, non-Christian who does not have the Holy Spirit, as he tricks their minds to respect him and evil and offer evil as the solution from the evil in the world. But you and I know we cannot fight fire with fire! Romans 12:17

Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.

Observe how the same old pattern works. Satan inspires evil in people, these people do horrific things to others exploiting them for sex or labor, then the abused get bitter and hate filled, so they murder these rich oppressors and even innocent ones as well in retaliation. So whether it be for revenge or for pleasure, division and murder is accomplished to destroy the beautiful human lives God created. Never fall for hate of another, Jesus commands us to love, even enemies!

5. This year, as every year, there is an overrated movie, ‘Joker’ that has the same old theme of Satan trying to invoke sympathy for himself. I don’t even need to see this movie to conclude its contents; it is centered around the idea that we should feel sorry for the abused mentally disturbed people to the point we understand and accept it when they murder others! After all, certain people deserve to be hated and murdered, right? Righteous people in society will not show respect for the perverse evil delusional demonic crowd and in consequence the evil ones want to kill them! The same as it was with Jesus and the hypocrites in his day! 

How sick and self-destructive are the appetites of so many as they enjoy seeing violence done to others, but they never want to be the victim of a violent act! Here is the irony, when violence is done in real life, when evil is done as suggested people carry out as in movies, songs, and fake media, then people lose their minds!

You soon hear the decrying, ‘How horrible are guns and violence, how sad that our mentally ill are neglected, how is it that no one makes the pharmaceutical companies be responsible! Such was the case with the Colorado mass shooting when James Holmes went in like a ‘Joker’ to kill everyone he could! He was just acting out what he had learned from video games and movies! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Holmes_(mass_murderer)

6. Parents that let their kids play murderous video games 8 hours a day, who love evil movies where evil characters are exalted, who abuse their kids with violence and vulgar language, who medicate them with meds from greedy pharmaceutical companies are indeed a part of the problem of the ills plaguing our society. 

Before it use to be that 70% of the local kids went to church and everyone had a debt with their neighbor in society to be honest, good, truthful, kind, respectable, and reasonable. Those that did not grow up in the 50s, 60s, and even 70s, do not even know how good it was to feel safe with good neighbors and unlocked front doors!

Currently stats show about 70% of kids are not going to church and what do we deal with today? Kids that are dishonest, bad, liars, mean, disrespectful, and unreasonable. Because parents, educators, and Christians have not done their job correctly in punishing evil. Children and adults who proudly boast in their delusions, perversions, and evil, are causing us all to reap the consequences of an evil that is erodingly destroying us! https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/?fbclid=IwAR0WM8wvgNKZCWc5QaTZw7ZYIpowqAQr1Q-qqKy6cARRLivovdS-6nWRK4c

7. And how did it happen that Christians have had their hands tied and voices muted in most every public square across the country!? A person who will rise up and preach decency, common sense, Biblical values, and punishment for evil offenders and lawbreakers is quickly mocked, ostracized, and shamed! Also, they get banned from Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter!

We must pray that we as Christians do not lose our love for others as Jesus warned us in Matthew 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 

Apart from not participating in Halloween, not going to subversive evil movies, and doing our part to be decent and good, what more can we do to stop evil? Our only hope is Jesus! His Word is like water on the fire of evil! Evil people will not hang around if the subject is going to be Jesus, righteousness, and how to combat evil! Start with yourself, if you are an example of purity and holiness, others will notice, and your light will shine. But speak up too! Denounce evil! 

8. We must practice more what we know as in James 4:7 

‘Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.’ The devil always tries to get you to ‘turn’ to his dark side by shaming you, intimidating you, mocking you, and exhausting you to the point you give up in your battle to be righteous and good! But never, never, never give up!

Let’s revert back to what was in scripture after we learned we must avoid evil and the appearance of evil, 23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

What we see here is a prayer for us that we should pray this for each other! If we are to be ‘holy’, then we must sanctify ourselves (by reading God’s Word, praying, and supporting one another) and we must guard our spirit, soul, and mind! If we do then we will be blameless and ready to face the Lord when we die. And you could die today, never think you can do bad now and repent later, you may never get the chance! Satan does reap souls when young often times and God lets him if the person is given over to him. 

9. Ecclesiastes 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. When the culture of a nation enters a season in which it is celebrating a holiday that has its founding roots in evil, such as with Halloween, we should be praying more that we conquer dark evil with the light of Jesus!

Israel of old got severely punished and taken away as slaves when they abandoned the worship of God and worshipped Satanic gods such as Baal, Ashtoreth, and Moloch. Today abortionists and secret Satanic cults continue to sacrifice children. Halloween is no joke to some, they truly do practice evil. How did we ever accept equating provoking fear as something fun worthy of a sweet reward?

I know many will celebrate Halloween no matter what I or the preachers say, but all of us should remind others that we must avoid the appearance of evil, and avoid evil itself as well!  Ephesians 4:27 Neither give place to the devil. Satan gets others to accept evil when it is done in a joking manner, or a fun manner, but we must be wise to his tricks. His tricks carry no treat, but rather an infernal consequence unless we repent and get Jesus to clean us and save us!

The Saints 100 Years Ago, We Need You Again!

The Saints 100 Years Ago, We Need You Again!      Kelly Durant    10-6-19

1 Peter 2:5

You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

2. You may have heard that the farmer was doing a fund raiser and the chicken and the pig wanted to help. The chicken piped up, “We can sell a breakfast!” What a good idea all agreed.

The chicken then said, “We can do ham and eggs!” There was silence. The pig said, “Well, for you that only requires one day of work, but for me it is a total sacrifice!” How much do you sacrifice for God? 

Some of you may have a good imagination, but I want you to try to imagine what it was like 100 years ago when this Corps was founded. What did the first couple go through? How did they arrive? What conditions existed? What was life like, was it hard or easy? 

I can tell you this, they did not arrive to a nice house and a church as we did, they were sent here to open up not just a church and their own living quarters, they also needed to raise funds to create a shelter and social work to serve suffering humanity. What an example of being dedicated to God! They needed a great faith and God blessed them.

3. Let’s explore three aspects of what was happening back then, what was happening in the world, what was happening in the Salvation Army, and what was happening to these first set of Officers in Winchester, VA. In all honesty we owe them our deepest respect as they gave of themselves as a total sacrifice for God. What amazing dedication! Where are young people valiant and dedicated as they were today? 

How hard life was back then! Most people in the United States lived on small farms, raising pigs and chickens and they had no electricity, few cars existed, and washing clothes, preparing food, and doing daily chores including transporting one’s self around town by foot was laborious and time consuming. Life was rustic almost like living as in the time of Jesus!

Just trying to make a living was hard back then and everyone in the family chipped in. Read history, the usual story was that the young sons starting working at age 10 or 12 to help support the family. Many went off to fight in the war at age 16 and like my own uncles, they sent most all of their checks home to their mothers so they would have enough food, wood for the fires, and clothing to survive.

4. The world was a horrible mess back then! Satan is always trying to destroy people with mega death in wars, disease, and starvation. He drums up hate and division, greed and a lust for power to the point leaders become obsessed with killing their foes. World War 1 had just ended in November of 1918 and the Corps was opened just one year after that so there were many homeless Soldiers returning needing jobs in the cities plus a place to live.  Soup kitchens were needed to provide a bowl of soup from day to day for them, and for the widows and children.

The Spanish flu pandemic had hit and 500 million died worldwide! Mega death continued around the world as the Bolsheviks took over Russia in their 1917 Communist Revolution. Despite almost every family having lost a relative in the war, there was optimism that everyone had a chance to prosper as new machines, a railroad system, and a faith in God offered hope for a good future. 17 million in the U.S. alone died from being in that war which was about 1 in every 5 people! What horrible suffering, right? What dark times only 100 years ago!

The good news is most everyone went to church back then and read their Bibles and prayed at home. I recall my grandmothers thick old Bible with many notes in it. Before many public records were kept only on the death, marriage, and birth pages of the family Bible! 

5. The Salvation Army began in London in 1865, precisely during the time of the Civil War in the United States. It did not take long for the popularity of the street preaching, and Army marching bands to prosper and expand into many countries worldwide. In 1878 Eliza Shirley at age 17 started the first work in Philadelphia and in just a few decades the work opened up in many dozens of cities with thousands of new converts nationwide with just a few hundred Officers to start it all up. Imagine arriving with nothing but a suitcase, a uniform, and faith in God!

One reason the Salvation Army expanded so quickly was due to the persecution in England in the 1880s as Officers became so numerous that many of the drunken sailors and jealous dead established church leaders wanted them gone. Their Biblical preaching of holiness begging the sinner to repent was too much for the sinful crowds who overindulged in the prostitution of 12 year old girls, unrepentant thievery of all kinds, and massive drunkenness in all the pubs. 

The conditions of the world were very violent, abusive, and exploitive and to confront this evil The Salvation Army decried war on it all! These pioneers fought for the truth and for the salvation of souls and in reality we can observe the world still remains violent, abusive, and exploitive. Each generation has its own mission to do to fight for the healing of the suffering ones. There is always a new breed of weeds growing amongst the wheat and no young person can delay in obeying the call of God to be preaching love, righteousness, and salvation.  John 4:35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!  

6. Now, put yourselves in the shoes of the arriving Officers in Winchester in 1919. These are people on fire for God sent to open a work with no money, no horse and buggy, no home, and no idea of what will happen. Will the people receive them, or will they run them out of town? What faith they had! What obedience and conviction they displayed!

Obviously it went well for them as within a few months churches and good people supported them to open a house where they could live, conduct church services, serve soup to the public, provide a room for a men’s shelter, and even be able to resell donated items. No other churches did social work back then, and it seems they got good support as other churches got convicted they should be doing what we were doing to feed the multitudes and help the needy as Jesus described it in Matthew 25. Obedience will bring on the blessings of God!  

Would you do all these ministries from your rented home? Only in America are we so comfortable to not do them. Around the world many Officers still work as these ones did 100 years ago. They do all ministries from their own homes, even running schools and I can testify this is what I have seen in Jamaica, Mexico, and even in small poor American cities here. 

7. We must live with the same conviction they have and as others had in the past! For evil to prosper in the world all that is needed is that good people do nothing! If you have a comfortable job, a roof over your head, a car, and food on your table every day, we must remember we are a part of the world’s top 10% of the wealthy. You and I are so blessed we must share the blessings to bless others with the good news of Jesus!

In Cuba the Officers ride bicycles, and in most all the world few own their own vehicles. We can observe that despite millions dying of hunger in dozens of countries, I have never seen Officers forsaken with nothing, God supplies! Psalm 37:25 I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread.

Jesus sent the disciples out with nothing and God provided! Matthew 10: 7 And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. 9 Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, 10 nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food. 11 “Now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and stay there till you go out. 12 And when you go into a household, greet it. 13 If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. 15 Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!

8. When my wife and I were first married 41 years ago we travelled around the south of Brazil, in Rio Grande Del Sur, as described here, with no money. I had my guitar and 20 Portuguese songs and Bible verses memorized and we sang in rest homes, jails, and orphan homes, took pictures, and then requested donations from hotels, restaurants, and banks. God provided! 

It was one of the most exciting times of our lives! We prayed with thousands the “sinner’s prayer” and we felt the Holy Spirit’s joy in a manner I think few ever feel! We were living in the clouds! I will compare our experience to this episode where the disciples were so happy the people thought they were drunk. Acts 2: 14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. 15 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day (9 am). 16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.

There is an unexplained euphoria that happens when you preach Jesus to strangers and Jesus comes into their lives! When a person accepts Jesus and cries out loud with tears asking God for forgiveness, there is an overwhelming happiness that soon takes over and it is the Holy Spirit’s fire! And this is our logo for salvation: Jesus blood, and the Holy Spirit’s fire! 

9. All a person needs to do is to open their mouth about Jesus and the Lord will fill it with the right words at the right time, and even in another language when necessary! It does not matter the time period, whether a person lived 2,000 years ago, 100 years ago or 100 minutes ago, the Holy Spirit is ready to do a great work through you! Are you letting God use you as He wants to? Probably not as too few put their selves at God’s service not caring about the material comforts, or not worrying about how big a sacrifice they will have to make.  

I am sure the first Officers here in Winchester felt many things! They felt the euphoria of winning souls on the street corners, and they felt the love of others as they shared with them their homes and goods and a way to start up the first Corps. But they also felt the fear of the unknown, and the sadness of getting to know people who had lost loved ones in all the world’s battles and tragedies. 

Before it seemed that it was outside enemies that destroyed lives, but today we see an increase in dark forces inside destroying those in our community. We observe lives destroyed by debauchery, by illicit sexual activity, by the addiction of drugs and alcohol, by the poverty augmented by absent fathers, and by the cruelty of exploitations and abuse in the home.

10. Don’t think that just because the Salvation Army fought the good fight of faith in the past that we can ride on our past accomplishments and be comfortable now! Every generation has a new calling to obey God and every generation has new evils and the evil today of Satanic cults is on the rise! Almost no music or movie is produced anymore without the illuminati symbols being present! Thousands give testimony that the elites are involved in Satanic rituals! And when a Satanic human sacrificing slave owning person gets exposed as being connected to all the corrupt leaders of the world, they suicide him! (as in the recent case of Jeffrey Epstein!) 

We should be appalled at how sin is flaunted before our innocent children’s eyes on TV, in parades, and in public libraries! How is it that anyone can google millions of pages of Satanic perverted porn while at the same time these high tech elites censor the name of Jesus as offensive? Our rights and constitution are being replaced by technocratic supremacies who are spoiled millionaires mocking God and censoring His people!

Are our current youth programmed and brainwashed as the youth of Hitler were being conditioned to hate certain people and groups while praising others that only contribute to the divisiveness and hate in society?  Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!  

A great judgment is coming! Another cycle of evil is returning soon as history proves but this time it appears Satan is ready to take over everything for world dominion! In the end the Bible is true and all of Revelation will come to pass. For the New World Order to dominate we see the technology is already existent, many dictatorships are in place, and all that is needed is to eliminate the ones who expose it and give it resistance. Jesus’ truth is the resistance! Stand with Him and you will win battles and free souls until your time is up! You are Jesus’ priesthood! Stand with Jesus and gain rewards in heaven for all your sacrifice and labor of building His house! See what it cost our forefathers and show yourself to God to be as dedicated as the past ones were so that you are counted with those honorable faithful few!

Jesus: Like Him I’ll Be!

Jesus: Like Him I’ll Be!                              9-22-19     Kelly Durant

Luke 18:22 So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

2. Back in the hippie times, if a man had long hair and a beard and was somewhat handsome, friends would usually gaze a moment and then comment, “Look, he looks like Jesus!” Some people with a beard and long hair may remind us of the paintings we have seen of Jesus, but exactly how this olive skinned Jewish man actually looked physically, we will never know, artists can only speculate. 

But we can know Him spiritually! Jesus left us with so many teachings that it takes a lifetime to discover all the depths implicated by Him. 1 Corinthians 2:16 

For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

You or me can ‘know’ Jesus, but how? Only by His teaching! Are there not in the world too many doctrines and churches, too many books and personal opinions, and too many immoral bad examples to the point that most of us just want to give up? Never give up! Each of us is special and loved by Him and He will show you what your mission is, what your calling in life is, and where you need to go.

3. Also, learn this: You learn best when you teach a subject! Jesus teachings should be spread and never be limited! Never did Jesus say only have my teachings confined to people going to church! It was the contrary, he sent His disciples out to preach the gospel to every creature! Mark 16:15 

Many people form the idea that Jesus is someone only the preacher should mention, and that is occasionally, that He was a good and holy man that we should ‘try’ to be like Him. Jesus told you and me to…Luke 14:23

Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

After Jesus did healings, He would say, go and show yourself in the temple so others could see the miracle; after Jesus would forgive people of their sins like the Samaritan woman at the well, He would inspire to the point that all that person could do was talk about Him to everyone! If Jesus has touched you, you will not be able to shut up about it! Acts 4:13 It will overflow and people will know you experienced something very real and life changing! We must tell it! It is your story and mine that is authentic and people see the love of God in us and want it.

4. And speaking of telling your story, there are so many people today that have experienced miracles! How many times have you heard, “The doctor gave me 3 months to live but Jesus healed me!”? The miracles have not stopped!

I have seen a person get healed from weak knees and get x-rays to prove they no longer needed an operation to stop the swelling after a prayer! I have seen the miracle of Jesus stopping a car from crashing into us! I have seen people stop using drugs after a prayer and stay on the right path healed afterwards. Miracles do happen and we need to recognize it is Jesus doing them.

And they happen for all to glorify God!Luke 18:42 Then Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” 43 And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. When God does something for you, share the good news, please!

5. We can know Jesus’ love by observing the contrast of those who despise Him. Matthew 11:6 “And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” It is a given, there is a vast majority of people out there that are evil and get offended by Jesus because they do not want to be reminded of their unrepentant ugly sins! 

The fact that Jesus exposed(s) hypocrites, the fact that His presence brings awareness, the fact that He and His teachings are absolute truth is too much for some people!  Liars, lazy ones, and deceivers hate Him for exposing their schemes and this is what makes Jesus so repulsive to them along with the average carnal corrupt individual that conforms to the perverted ways of the world. 

I have been attacked many times over telling others about Jesus and do you know why ‘those people’ never won me over to their side? Because I could feel, see, and hear the hate they had for me just because I talked about Jesus! My logical reasoning mind kicks in in these situation and asks, why would I leave the teachings of Jesus who inspire me to do good for others, to love God and others, in exchange for the cognitive dissident no-reasoning and uninspiring rhetoric they defend? I prefer the beautiful spirit world over the ugly flesh world any day!

6. How do we know the name of Jesus is powerful? Because in society He is rarely mentioned except when used as a curse word in some Hollywood movies! The most loving amazing Son of God is still rejected by the evil ones in power. Before they accused that Jesus had a demon when it was they that had the demon!

The subject of Jesus has been quarantined by our evil societies to not be discussed in the public arena. Jesus cannot be brought up in the classrooms, in the community city halls, and not in the bar-b-ques of  our local civic clubs as it is a topic deemed ‘uncomfortable’ or ‘offensive’ by some. 

Who, and I ask unrhetorically who, is defining our freedom of speech?! We have freedom of religion and speech, at least we should have! I am offended by the politically correct demons trying to silence you and me when the spirit moves on us to talk about Jesus. If a few elites controlling our society, the education, the tech world and the media, who sooner or later are revealed to be extortioners, pedophiles, and filthy corrupters wanting to shut you up, why would you let them have the final say? Are we not offended by them!?

7. To know Jesus we must be born again and become as a child! John 3:3-8 When you or I were a child going to Sunday School classes we ‘got it’, we saw with a fresh mind that Jesus is real, you could hear his loving words and feel in your spirit that He was (is) the powerful Son of God. 

Jesus told us to have the faith of a little child!Matthew 18:3 And said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. To know Him means to become simple, simple in just believing because logic and science cannot explain everything!

We can reason and understand a lot but always at some point we will hit a wall of doubt. It is then when we must just simply trust that God knows best, that He, like a good Father will protect and guide us through obstacles that are bigger than what we are able to handle. Patience, faith, & trust, will we ever learn them? 

8. Your average Christian without the Holy Spirit is unprepared to battle with demonic people who don’t like Jesus. Jesus has to be in you, in your mind, in your deepest convictions, to be real to you in order to give you power. You only can be strong in Him if you are daily reading His word, praying, and seeking to put into practice the example He left us.  1 Corinthians 2:16  For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

The people of the world have no excuse, God can be seen in all the details of His creation. (see Romans 1) Around 300 Old Testament prophecies describe the events in the life of Jesus! There is no doubt that factual evidence abounds to prove Jesus lived, died, and started a revolution to the point that the underground church became above ground 300 years after his resurrection.

Despite having 1,700 years of the Catholic Church, and 500 years of the Protestant Church, atheism, materialism, and Satanic religions thrive because the average Christian is not shining their light as they were commanded to by Jesus! Darkness cannot stand the light! Just bring Jesus into the conversation and see what happens! There will be praise and inspiration, or there will be attacks! 

 9. All of us can know Jesus in a profound way and there is no excuse. Let’s review:

We can know how to be like Jesus by knowing His teachings.

We can know Jesus by how he has touched and changed our own life.

We know that Jesus’ name is powerful or He would not be prohibited publicly.

We can know Jesus’ love by contrasting how others that hate Him treat us.

We can know Jesus having the mind and faith of a child.

And finally I will end with the verse we started with, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” The ultimate followers of Jesus have done what He says here. It requires giving your all to Him, materially and spiritually for all your life! I did that to be a missionary, I did that to serve Jesus as a Salvation Army Officer, and millions have done it to serve Jesus throughout history! Millions have even been martyrs! What have you really given to Jesus?

God supplies our needs and gives us the desires of our hearts! But too few are willing to just give it all up for Him! I cannot imagine living life without Jesus being everything! The question is how much of Him do you want? All the way, or just a little bit?