Correction: Everyone Hates It, But We All need it!

Correction: Everyone Hates It, But We All need it!              Kelly Durant

Hebrews 12:11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

2. In Spanish there is a saying, “It is better to have a red moment than 1,000 yellow moments”. You may think, what does that mean, right? It means that if you correct someone because you got heated, (red) that that is better than getting uncomfortable for 1,000 times for not correcting someone. 

We all need someone to hold us accountable for our actions, especially wrong ones. An example of the above would be like if a person has a child that always goes around kicking people (I have known some kids like this!) and people put up with it year after year afraid to correct the kids or the parents, then that is like the yellow, uncomfortable moments. Then one day someone speaks up, “Hey, I’m giving your kid some time out because I’m not going to take getting kicked anymore”! So that is a ‘red’ heated moment!

The world is made up of people who correct themselves, their kinfolk, and others while other irresponsible folks do not. It’s the difference between sheep and goats; sheep allow you to lead them and are led, but goats are wild, obey no one, and destroy everything in their path. People who correct others are often perceived as hard, harsh, unloving, and ones that get ‘red’ over something. We need to reshape how we think, often those who correct have much love for others, so much they do not want another continuing in their errors. It’s a tough love but sincere.  

3. So I have a question for you, who corrects you? (pause) Does anyone correct you ever? What did you get corrected for recently?  Usually we think of the parents correcting the kids right, but in today’s world the kids are not getting much correction as 1 in 2 homes have single parents and the working one doesn’t have time for it! The teachers in school then don’t want to deal with the out-of-control kids either and so we have a new generation of little monsters getting their way. But yelling and being emotional, making a show manipulating others, is so uncomfortable most of us just want to make them stop (the temper tantrum), so we cave to their ugly demands.

But kids are not even a third of our society, so who is correcting the adults? Unless they have a strong united family, unless they go to a church with candid Bible defending people, then no one is correcting the mistakes of most adults!  Church should be where people get spiritual correction and if they are not, if they are just getting feel good messages, then they are not maturing. I can point out the sins of the world to you, but you are responsible to implore Jesus to purge you so you will be free from these lies, deceptions, and manipulations of Satan in your life.

Jesus corrected his disciples often like in Mark 8:33 But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” A true Christian should actually want to get corrected by the leaders in order to grow. But when have you ever come to me or a leader here to ask, what do you see that I need to correct in my life? What weak area do you see about me that I should work on to please God better? When are you going to ask that question? 

4. So what are the consequences of not getting corrected?  Well, most rebellious kids who defy the parents, who defy the authorities in the school, who practice getting their own way despite whom it harms end up believing they can defy the authorities in the local town as well. So the police then take them to jail for infractions of the law, and if they still are defiant then consequently they end up making life a worse hell for their selves surrounded by evil, unrepentant, God hating, people hating monsters like themselves. 

God expects you to invite discipline in your life.  Hebrews 12:5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; 6 For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.”7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 

Here is a problem many people have concerning God’s corrections. I sometimes see people go through big problems, accidents, and issues but too few ever question if God is dealing with them over a certain sin or not. Many people get punished many times over something and never learn as they are always rejecting the idea God sees all and knows their secrets. So wake up, thank God for the lesson, and don’t keep doing the sin that’s getting you punished! 

5. So are you going to grow to live holy getting rid of your sin? Having sin in your life is like having a bad tooth, you send off bad breath and everyone knows something is rotten inside. And then you avoid the dentist (God & the truth of where you are failing). No one really wants to go to the dentist but you have to or the problem is just going to get worse and even more painful.

Hebrews 12: 10 For they (our fathers) indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He (God) for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

It really kills your pride to have to admit God is allowing some inconvenience in your life in order to correct you. But without getting broken and humbled you are not of any use to God or to anyone. The best thing is to let God have His way with you, accept the correction, or the road will just get harder and harder. But when repentant, the load gets lighter and the way easier!

6. So who will you accept correction from? From a friend, a relative, or a pastor? Or You can even by direct revelation from the Holy Spirit? Have you ever cried out to God, “Show me my sins, show me my failings so I can stop them and please you”? I have, I did, and I must repeat that often as it is the only way to maintain our connection and holiness with God.

John 16:13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

I know some of you here have a close connection with God, it is evident by your humble sweet spirit and your good fruits. And there are others here who have a lot to learn and you do not even perceive that you are not very mature.  So if you have not been asking God to reveal to you your sin and correct you, then you are probably one of the ones that should ask someone to help you see where your life needs correction. Ask for the Holy Spirit!

7. So is it our job as Captains/pastors to correct you? Principally we are to guide you to the words of Jesus, and His words should be what causes you to see yourself as God sees you and auto correct yourself. Sometimes we do need to be blunt to correct wrong things when people don’t see their wrong actions, but most of time our job is to inspire, to love, to guide, and to help those hurting to heal and find their purpose in God’s service.

But here is the problem today, people are not praying as they should, are not reading their Bibles, are not even tuning into the messages the Captain/pastor delivers. There are people here in this Corps as in every church that when the pastor preaches they look at their cell phones, leave the room, and by their actions show they do not care about God’s Word or care to mix and talk with their Christin Family. Are you being led like God’s sheep or just being like a goat? 

Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Keeping watch on the evil and the good. Proverbs 16:2 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, But the Lord weighs the spirits. 

1 Peter 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

8. Contrasting to God’s correction, the people of the world today have been getting correction on how to be civil but by many hypocritical ungodly people. These are the politically correct draconian police who dictate to you their values of right and wrong which contradict God’s Word. They teach in the schools, universities, workplaces, civil groups, and even in false churches that we must accept and promote the values of the current degenerate sinful culture. Seek God’s correction and reject the world’s enslaving, intimidating, illogical, oppressive correction! 

If you want to mature in God, if you want to be corrected, then start with the premise that most everything you have ever been taught or told is wrong, a lie, and a misleading concept. Romans 12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Everyone needs correction but only a wise person will seek it from God and from those who serve God having proof of their good deeds in God’s service. Psalm 19:12

Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Proverbs 13:20

He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will be destroyed. Never seek correction, wisdom, light, or preparation from the world, only from God’s Word!

9. An example of the world’s misguided instructions and corrections is that it will always lead to destruction as that of the NXIVM cult. Let’s suppose I want my daughter to be an actress but I know she has a lot to learn and needs discipline and correction, so what do I do? I seek out an institution to teach her, correct her, and guide her on how to be professional. There was such an institute connected to top government Officials and Hollywood who had a starting price of a $5,000 month course. You needed to spend $500,000 as well if you  really wanted more results! You basically handed over your underage boy or girl to allow these people to teach them the skills of the trade, but this trade included the sex trade! They took porn pictures of them so they could be blackmailed and manipulated, and then physically branded them like a cow as well! 

The entire service was bogus and was a front for prostitution and human trafficking of minors and thank God they were caught. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/19/nyregion/nxivm-trial-raniere.html      

But why do I bring this up? Because these are the kind of people running the world who want to dictate, contradict, and correct us when we take a stand for God’s truth. So many people get tempted with fame and fortune that they ignore God’s correction because they think they know better than God or anyone. But those seeking to take advantage almost always get taken advantage of! Young people and parents, this is a warning, seek God’s guidance above all things because the world’s guidance is destructive and leads to exploitation and oppression, especially in the professional, entertainment, or political world where money and power are involved.

10.  Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction. Correction and instruction must come from God for your spiritual life to prosper, otherwise you are not on God’s plan but your own plan. I can tell you I am still learning and that is the beauty of God, all we learn in life serves to improve ourselves and helps us to understand others. But it all comes by correction! Correction produces peace and good fruit in our lives.

I asked you a lot of questions today about who corrects you, and it is serious that you get correction. I know people my age and older that reveal in conversation that they have never matured spiritually and it is principally because no one has ever corrected their errors. How sad to live an empty life spinning your wheels, stuck in the mud of the world, living like a condemned zombie with not purpose, never getting excited over what the Lord is doing in your life. Correction hurts, it is embarrassing, but we must thank God that He loves us and has patience with us.

Every true Christian will have a testimony of how they were going down the wrong road in life and then the Lord Jesus saved them from their bad behaviors, sins, errors, and misguided dreams and illusions. Like Nicodemus in John 3, he was so messed up Jesus told him he needed to be born again! He needed so much correction, like everybody, that his only hope to was do a reset and correct everything about his life. He was open to hear it and change, are you open to receive?

God will forgive you, correct you, and Holy Spirit guide you if you let Him! But it requires killing your pride, purging yourself from your sins, and even asking another what your errors are. Do it today before it is too late! God will correct you, but are you learning and prospering? 

Why, “Don’t judge others because they sin differently” is not for Christians

Why, “Don’t judge others because they sin differently” is not for Christians.  

Kelly Durant

1 John 2:1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

2. When I grew up I use to hear a phrase my aunt would say concerning certain life’s situations. “You’re damned if you do, and damned if you don’t!” For example, a neighbor let’s trash from his trash can being dumped stay in his yard and never picks it up. If you go tell him, “Neighbor, I see you may not be getting all your trash in the can and it makes the neighborhood look bad, would you mind picking up your trash? If you tell them, you more than likely will get an explosive reaction and make an enemy. And then if you don’t say anything, the ugly trash will just keep being there anyway and all the neighbors keep being upset.

Do you see the point? This ‘damned if you do and damned if you don’t’ dynamic is of Satan’s design in order to silence Christians and prevent us from correcting people! In our communities there may be 2,000 kids in a school and one kid wants to take his Bible to school, 1,999 don’t care either way what he does but if 1 (one!) complains then the school administrators suddenly lose their minds and say, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry, you can’t mix church and state’, no Bibles allowed here!’ And this type of law does not even apply in this case! What happened to freedom?!

Also, whatever happened to free speech being a 2 way street? Please ‘wake up’ and notice it when there is hypocrisy being dictated to you! Young people have it the worst, they grow up with the broken double standard system and they think it is normal, but it never was this bad before as now we have the big tech thought police, the politically correct crowd hypocrites, dictating to everyone what they will accept and what they will not as if they own your mind! Who made these people judges over us?! Those that criticize judgement on others are usually guilty of doing it themselves; what hypocrisy!  

3. The world lives by their own invented standards or man’s laws, but we as Christians must adhere to God’s standards! I get disturbed when I read articles of how some churches, how some Christians, especially those with fame or money, even entire denominations, rewrite their codes of conduct, doctrines, protocols, or practices to accommodate the sins of the world.

These people are the first to come at you with the phrase, “Don’t judge others because they sin differently”. So let’s break apart the implication behind this phrase. For one, we know as Christians we should not judge, or condemn, others because in reality we all are sinners, but despite being a sinner, we should have a testimony that proves we have overcome our sins! You can’t be conscientiously ‘sinning’ and claiming to be a Christian.

A true Christian testimony is like this: “I used to be a drug addict, I used to be a sexual pervert, I use to be prideful, condemning, and arrogant, I use to make fun of my church going Christian grandma… until Jesus came into my life and now I am changed and am a new creature!” It is true, none of us can ‘judge others’ because only God with Jesus will judge! All have sinned! You cannot say, I am (fill in the blank) and a Cristian; our identity is to be with Jesus Christ only!

4. Matthew 7 “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?” The point of this verse is to expose the hypocrisy of us trying to judge another over a sin when we have sin! But when cleaned from sin we must, like Jesus told the prostitute, to “go and sin no more!”

We are just messengers of His truth; all sin is unacceptable. The judgement call is Jesus’!

Revelation 11:18 The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, And the time of the dead, that they should be judged, And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, And those who fear Your name, small and great, And should destroy those who destroy the earth.” Everyone after death will give an account for their sins to Jesus , whether they were repented of or not. 

So in a court of law it is not allowed that the victim, the one being defended over a crime committed, to rise up and say, “I give you, you guilty piece of trash, 10 years in jail for what you have done to me!” The due process is that the judge is the one who has to decide what the punishment will be and determine the details before he, and with a jury and the facts (God’s angels present), determine what should be the punishment. Repentance with Jesus’ invokes God’s mercy on your soul, otherwise God’s wrath is for everyone who corrupted their selves and others.

5. A lot of people leave the church because of judgmental, condemning looks, and words that hurt coming from a few self-righteous, immature so called brothers or sisters. How sad, right? We are not the judge of others but we can guide them with God’s word into righteous living. Sheep will let you guide them, but goats will rebel and ram you every chance they get! 

For example, in Atlanta we had a new lady come to church interested in learning about God but she had on a low cut blouse, so how did we handle it? Don’t forget this type of blouse is accepted and worn by many but by the looks of others in the church everyone could see that the women were upset with her. Would she ever have had a chance to learn if in the church she would be asked to leave every time because she was inappropriate? She probably never had gone to church ever and in her mind was dressed up nice as you would be going to a party.

My wife is smart, with the wisdom of the Lord, so she offered her a blouse from our clothing closet and said, “You would look really nice in this blouse!” Problem solved! And we did not kick a soul out in the cold with her feeling like a bunch of hypocrites were condemning her. It takes time to win people and educate them on the standards of the Word so they become converted, self-aware, and see the consequences for their actions knowing what God’s standard is.

6. So, in this case, if this woman had the intentions of meeting a nice man in church (according to some), was simply ignorant of different social standards, or was just truly interested in God, we don’t know, but the point is we did not judge her, nor did we affirm her in her way of doing things either.  It is a delicate matter and all things should always be done in God’s love with gentleness and kindness. Again, we do not judge, but we do not affirm anyone in their lifestyle that awakens lasciviousness, or any strange thing that are practiced by the world’s people.

So with this example, I hope you get the point, we have our standards. The Salvation Army has standards of dress with the uniform which makes it easy for all to be the same, none too fancily dressed intimidating the poor, and none too poorly dressed feeling embarrassed.

But clothing matters are trivial to other matters happening in the church. The bigger issue in the church is a new acceptance of sins condemned, (even the ones in the 10 commandments), like not to murder (babies!), not to steal, and not to commit adultery (sexual sins no matter the gender), and not to insult the name of God by just being a non-converted, condemning, sour, unfriendly, unloving, complainy bad example while claiming to be Christian!

7. Christians do have a standard! Here is your standard, Gal. 5: 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. Self-control means you do not keep on sinning as you please.

So now, what about this “sin differently” part again? Do you sin? We all make mistakes but if you still live as the world lives, if you sin thinking God forgives all repeatedly, then you are mistaken. A person in Jesus Christ is a ‘new creation, old things are passed away’, and if sin remains, illicit and illegal practices are still being done, then you are not saved, and you are condemned by your own demise. Unrepentant hypocrites were condemned the most by Jesus!

1 John 2  My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

8. Christians, Soldiers of the truth, rebuke and get away from the ‘mob mentality’ that sin is ok because we all sin! Just because some pop star, or a famous preacher with a mega church says something is not a sin, doesn’t mean they are right! A person with obvious ‘bad fruit’, revealing an opulent dark life style, will deceive you by playing with your emotions, making you think all is well because they have a mob following! You then become as a sheep being led to his death to fall over a cliff! This is the apostasy within prophecy we were warned would come!

How carnal and non-spirit led are so many people today! If some unrepentant person insults or judges someone else, and since the perception is the accuser is a cool, popular person, then the spiritually impaired folks go along in chorus with their judgmental misguided hypocrisy without any question. But then when some faithful pure Christian, one who has a bold spirit like John the Baptist calls them out, everyone goes crazy about how Christians are hypocrites and have no right to judge anyone! Satan has the vast majority duped into his game of being blind to what real sin is! He has most everyone silenced as well as no one wants to call sin ‘sin’ anymore!

So, if you ‘sin differently’, if you feel condemnation when these words are spoken to you, clean your heart, fast and pray, repent and do not let Satan make you compromise with sin, or make you in hypocrisy justify your sin all because you still have some secret dark unconfessed area of your life. 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (But if you hide and don’t confess, expect God’s judgements later)

9. So accusations against you should never stick, if you are a true Christ-following Christian! The hypocrites who condemned Jesus accused Him of many things and none of them stuck as He was pure, not guilty, and was not seeking to justify sin as His accusers were. They wanted Jesus to be put to death for speaking blasphemy, but He was authentic in His claims and was innocent! His accusers were the ones guilty and they wanted him dead for exposing their sins!

So the ultimate sin they had was severe, that of murdering an innocent man! They got Him crucified because they were angry he exposed their Satanic prideful unrepentant hypocrisy!  

That’s the world today, everyone wants to crucify you when you expose their hypocrisy, when you expose their sin for what it is, and they get a whole motley crew mob to come after you! And these guilty as Satan folks get murderously upset when they cannot come back on you to accuse you of something because you live a holy, clean, innocent, loving, non-hateful, non-angry, non-vulgar, and as much as possible sinless lifestyle. They relentlessly keep on accusing with lies, under a false narrative, under a straw man argument, hoping others will believe them. But God’s truth always prevails, and those who defend obscene sins denying the exposure of what liars and sinners they are, are doomed to condemnation by their sins and prideful hypocrisy. This is a judgement on them, one not generated by you or me, but one established by God’s word. This is why they hate God, His Word, and us, His people!   

10. “The wages (what comes back to you) of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”, Romans 6:23. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”, Romans 3:23. Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. Born again in Jesus means you have stop sinning!

With God no sin is acceptable and it is He who will judge each person over their sins in the end. Hebrews 9:27  And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, The wonderful thing with Jesus is we can have forgiveness of all sin, no matter how different the sin, and be given a chance to start a new life free of guilt, free from being contaminated by the filthiness of the world. 

What sins do you accept in ignorance or hypocrisy? Get clean today by starting to change everything about yourself with God’s Word, and with the Holy Spirit’s conviction before it is to late! See and think clearly on all issues, no one’s sin is justifiable, God is the judge of all, and I want you to face God blameless because Jesus erased all your sin! Let the redeemed of the Lord say so! Say so! And live so, so you are a true living testimony, and not a self-deluded hypocrite.

Christians: Jesus Has Your Back! Be One!

Christians: Jesus Has Your Back! Be One!                                               Kelly Durant 

John 17:22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

2. The world is getting more sinister, more spiritually dark, more Satanically controlled each year and man’s technology, in the hands of the world’s most evil people, is being used to silence, oppress, and control us. The Orwellian nightmare is already here! There are 2 waring factors always, God and His true Word accomplishing good by acts of kindness through His people, and Satan and his people claiming to do acts of charity oppressing, deceiving, and dominating with their lies in order to satisfy their greed, lust, and thirst for wealth, violence, and destruction. Do you know where your soul stands? 

In the prophecy of how we would know who the Messiah was, there is a part in a verse that few focus in on from Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  How wonderful Jesus is to those who take Him in! And he had, “the government on His shoulder”. This was fulfilled in Jesus but in all aspects.

Reflect on how we must be ‘wise as serpents’ to know how to deal with the governing powers, those that were not only suppressing, weighing down, and watching Jesus and his disciples, but also the governments that have been doing this to any Christian ever since Jesus was born! And you have heard this before, that ‘the government is not your friend’, it is In part true, they are necessary and we must respect them, Romans 13:1. But conclusively the governments exist to get your taxes, maintain order, and it is ‘their’ pyramid order they are maintaining, not the ‘kingdom of God’, or ‘body of believers’ they care about. This world is not our home. But, there are exceptions, some people in power are good. It’s a 2 tier system. History seems to show that over time the good ones get murdered by the bad ones! They govern by, ‘divide and conquer’.

3. Looking at Jesus last prayer in John 17, He prayed for us to be protected from the evil in the world. 15, I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

So the question today is, are you letting Jesus protect you and have your back? He stated it right here that He does! We are for the most part protected from the evil one(s). If your life is lived so that you only live to please Jesus? With His sanctification then you will have His blessings, and you will gain the Holy Spirit to know wisdom and truth to navigate in this evil world being sanctified by the knowledge and obedience to His Word. We will be persecuted from time to time though but He will protect us from the evil one(s)!

No matter the schemes of Satan you will come out victorious. The government of Babylon prohibited Daniel from praying to ‘His’ God and the punishment was to get thrown to the lions but did the scheme work? Was he the only Hebrew praying? No! There were thousands but they wanted to make an example out of him, since he was a leader, to show the fate of one if you disobey the government ‘s demand to give up your faith. But who knows what happened? The lions did not eat him overnight and instead the king fed to the lions the ones who came up with that blasphemous law in the first place!

4. What we see today is Satan controlling all the governments in the world, whether they be dictatorships, or the so called ‘free’ democracies as we have in Europe and the U.S.. There is so much freedom and equality that the enforcement of the equality is almost as harsh as a dictatorship, right? Satan doesn’t like freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of the truth, and most of all freedom to preach Jesus!

The world is topsy turvy, what we use to know about laws, which were logical, basic, and right, are now within the past few decades the opposite. If you speak one word to say that certain things are sinful, you are immediately targeted which results in a fine, being fired, and you are cut to pieces by internet chatter (mostly robot ‘bots’, not real people) on facebook, twitter, and etc. and be ostracized by the mega news groups owned by only a handful of divisive despot mega billionaires. 

Basically, preaching the Bible, no matter the country, goes against man’s laws! According to most governments ‘manipulated’ by secret societies and the universities, controlled by anti-Christ people, supported by the depressing ‘press’, you are a bigot if you have the view that Jesus is the only truth! Because for them, all truths are equal and you must respect all the same?! This is impossible as evil and good can never mix to be equal. We are to shun those who  are evil! 2 Corinthians 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 

5. So when you need a friend in the world, who are you going to turn to? Will you find a friend amongst your own kinfolk? Not very often, right? If you can then you are blessed and you both are probably true Christians. But of the thousands of families I have known in my lifetime what I see is the ones who have done sins and are unrepentant, have divided families to the point that parents, brothers, children, and cousins do not speak to each other anymore. 

Sin divides us but Jesus came to erase that sin so we could have unity with Him and with others. Politics, religion, and worldviews do matter! If you have a relative, coworker, or fake friend who mocks you and insults you because you need Jesus as a crutch to live, then you should rebuke that Satanic person in Jesus name, pray for their soul to be converted, and only interact with them if they will be respectful to you. 

So, in general, your family, your friends, and the government do not have your back so you had better start cultivating friendships with those who are sincere in their love for Jesus because only they will come to your rescue when you need it! I honestly don’t trust Christians who like to be distant, who never want to be available to serve in the church or to do a favor for others. What good are they to be in our fellowships when they are disconnected with the pastors/Officers and their brothers and sisters? Why are some disconnected from the Bible teachers and the mission, and so protective of their private lives? 

6. In these end-times you will see this happen, the weak gossipy, distant Christians will cave to the anti-Christ system right away and only a handful from the churches will be ready to continue on for Jesus no matter if it costs them their lives! Some think it is only 3%!

According to Jesus final prayer before getting arrested and crucified in John 17, we are to be ‘one” with Him and with each other. Jesus is “one” with the Father, and if we are one with Jesus, we also will be one with the Father and with each other, and the world will see this as a testimony to the supernatural love of God. Love is the answer, God’s love makes us one.

Oneness will make us perfect in love! As humans we know our love is imperfect, we fail, and we must always repent and do our best on the next one, but if we are sincerely loving and following Jesus, we will be getting closer to the holiness perfection God can grant us which we will carry on from this life into the next!

7. Verse 22, And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one. What was Jesus glory? It was His breaking of the curse of death to be able to be the one who controls who will be granted glory passing on to eternal life! Jesus proved His glory by His submission to sacrifice Himself for our sins and then resurrect from the dead to live on forever. 

What is God’s glory like mentioned here? It is not one like the glory in the world where one is praised like a rock star until one fades when there is a new sensation on the market! It is an eternal glory in a supernatural body to live in a perfect heaven, an existence where only the righteous, loving, and worthy are admitted. 

So here is the question, will you have that glory? You will if you are being one with Jesus and your brothers and sisters here and now. Matthew 12:30 “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.” All of us who are with Jesus become one with Him but those who are not are doing damage, they are helping Satan by bringing on division, disunity, and causing dispersion.

8. Those that are not one with Jesus are one with something, and usually it is with one of Satan’s deceptive agendas which contradict God’s Word. Here is a verse that shows how we are one…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.

Having the mind of Christ means you naturally support everything Jesus taught! I honestly distrust people who claim to be Christian but their convictions and stances model that of the world’s and not that of Christ’s. Holiness and perfection in love only comes by asking the Holy Spirit to remake you into God’s useful vessel and evidence will show your good works and fruits. 

Here is the truth, a true Christian brother or sister will love you and serve you because you love Jesus and are doing your best for Him. You can feel in the Spirit who those are that are one with Jesus and those who are not. Jesus has our backs, but do you have the backs of those who love Jesus? And do they have your back as well?

9. But here is a flip side to this, some Christians will only do things for their pastors and church and never for others in need; this is a wrong and is not obeying scripture. Luke 6: 31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. 32 For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. 33 And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. 34 And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. 36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

We may never be one with our enemies, (unless they convert) but we are commanded to love and do good to everyone, friend or foe. We must interact and help those of the world, even with those who hate Jesus, but this contrast highlights how special it is to have Jesus as our best friend; He is one with us as long as we are remaining in the vine being one with Him. 

10. Jesus was God’s proof to the world that He loves us! John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Consider that Jesus also said: Matthew 11:6

And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”

God created the universe and our world in love and each person (yes, you!) He has created in love as well! He just needs to get loved back, and those that learn of Jesus and love Him, they are loving God back for all His love to us! The greatest need of people is not just food, water, and shelter, it is love! To exist without giving love and receiving love… is hell! 

Jesus has your back! God’s glory is there for you for eternity! Just strive to be “one” with Jesus daily, reading His Word and obeying it, and praying, so that day after day the bond will grow so strong you will never be deceived by anyone evil. Are you “one” with Jesus and your brothers and sisters? If so we will see your perfect love displayed in all that you do! Connect with Jesus today!

Depression and Suicide: A case study of Saul and David

Depression and Suicide: A case study of Saul and David           Kelly Durant

Psalm 42: 3 My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? 4 When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday. 5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.

2. There is a story I read about a young man who wanted to kill himself, I believe it was by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. A preacher went up to try and talk to the young man before he could jump. He asked the man, “So you want to throw your life away?” “Yes”, the reply. “But do you want to throw it away in a manner that will at least help someone?”, asked the preacher. He continued, “Then throw your life away by giving it to Jesus!” “Let today be the death to yourself, and start a new life helping others!” The young man dialoged more and agreed that the loss of his previous life could be remembered as right there and then, and he accepted the challenge to lose his old life for a new purposeful life. He started over giving his life to help others, serving Jesus and saving souls! How great it would be if everyone in their most desperate hour could turn their life around catching this vision to ‘sacrifice your life for the benefit of God and others!

I can relate to this story of this young man’s conversion! Sometimes we just want to give it all up! I can tell you at age 21 I wanted to give my life up as nothing seemed worth living for. Once you have seen all the pain of others, and once you have felt hopeless to do anything to stop all the suffering, the wars, and the deaths from poverty, crime, and sickness in the world, you feel overwhelmed and you want it to stop! Stop the world, I want to get off!

I identified with the quote of Lord Byron, “I have drank from every cup of pleasure…yet I die of thirst!” And when you have failed to drown out your overwhelming feelings of sadness, depression, guilt, and frustration by sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll, and all the pleasures of life, you (as myself) will reach a cliff edge, a stopping point where you need answers or you are done. You just don’t want any more of anything! These critical times of crisis are moments when God will show up!  But you have to make the choice to turn around and take a step towards Him for Him to grab you before you make the mistake of doing a jump you would never be able to undo!

3. So what causes us as humans to get so frustrated, so low in a deep pit of sadness that we get to the point of wanting to take our own life? What are the causes of depression that can lead to suicide? Is it personal pain?  Is it frustration over unfair and oppressive conditions? Is it from being battle weary, and extremely exhausted? Is it from guilt pleasure and over doing evil deeds? Is it demon voices in the head? Is it from having a history of mental illness? Is it from vanity and the anger of not being in control and having life your way?

I think it could be from all of the above and even for as many reasons as there are people! I thought to help us understand this better, in case you or someone close to you may be afflicted with depressive thoughts and temptations of suicide (like most everyone is!), we could take a look at two depressed men, Saul and David. How did these two respond differently to their pain? Both were suicidal.  

Both of them lived with attacks of depression but in the end Saul killed himself, while David, even after growing old and blind, did not kill himself. What was the difference? What made the difference on how they each handled their low moments? How they lived from day to day influenced the final results.

4. Let’s first look at Saul. He was born handsome and when he was an adult he was a head taller than the average person. He had good looks and popularity and he was chosen to lead Israel as their king. God warned Israel to not chose a king but to be governed by judges, but they did not listen. He became wealthy, honored, and powerful. Sadly, this fed his ego and he became proud and later disobedient to God, jealous, moody, angry, vindictive, immature, irrational and the opposite of what a king should be! Never idolize any leader, only Jesus deserves worship! Human leaders will let you down, and often in a very big way!

Overtime Saul’s pride caused him to think he knew better than God. He disobeyed God in a big way on several important occasions. Because of this, because of guilt and a break in the connection with God, he got into depressive angry moods. How many people do you know who have depression because of unrepentant faults and guilt? Ones who pridefully refuse to come to Jesus and ask God forgivenessand

Saul’s mood swings  made him unbearable to be around so David was asked to play his harp to him to calm him down and the music worked! So Saul, not repenting and asking God for a pure heart, masked his pain with music! I know I use to play music all day when I was young and rebellious and it is a good way to get your mind off of things but it is just a distraction. It’s good to love music but can music heal your soul? It can sooth but only Jesus heals! However, some music today is programed with certain beats, frequencies, and sounds to provoke a desynchronization in your brain and body, so some music will cause depression!

5. So Saul lived from one distraction to another not focusing in on the root of the depression problem which was caused from his guilt of failing God. Saul had guilt he would not correct, and later he was full of hate, a hate and jealousy over how David was obviously getting God’s anointing and he wasn’t even though he was king. He became carnal, emotional, and mean leaving behind his spirituality and connection to God which would have internally guided him.

Saul represents a person who knows to do good but does not do it and the shame of being a failure can invoke depression. Shame from failure gets most exposed when there is another person nearby (in this case David) obeying God contrasting the difference between success and failure. So what happens to one’s spirt? The story of Cain and Abel all over again! The shamed and evil one gets filled with so much hate his obsession is to kill the righteous one! Saul wanted to kill David and he fled to live in the caves nearby! He went from a luxury palace to a muddy cave!

By being disconnected from God, Saul, compared to the hundreds of people around you and me daily,  become carnal, emotional, weak, obsessive, vindictive, hateful, and angry moving on to do criminal actions to harm out of spite. Over jealousy and not getting the attention they want, prideful ones hate and seek to destroy the ones doing good. They become as Satan himself calling evil good and good evil. 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! Another point, If they cannot succeed in harming others they then will turn on their selves and want to harm their own self! Image, murdering yourself?! 

6. When you are on God’s side, you win personal victories. Saul was losing the kingdom battling against the pagan nations nearby and he was mentally and physically exhausted. This is a dangerous condition because you no longer think correctly, you no longer pray and ask God to guide, you just want your never ending confusion to end! If you are ever at this point, stop immediately! Pray, fast, repent, be radical and do what it takes to get a connection with God!

Those who have done evil in their past also become paranoid. Some paranoia can be from a genetic trait passed from past generations, but most people develop it because they live in fear of being punished if others find out their sins. People like this become illogical and accusatory and destroy with unkind words their own friends, family, and supporters. They betray God and everyone! 1 Samuel 22:13

Then Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as it is this day?”

7. So prolonged disobedience to God, prolonged bitter hateful vindictive thoughts and actions, prolonged paranoia, and prolonged confusion no matter how much power and wealth one has leads up to an end with embarrassing failures and the final step is a suicide solution. How sad but this is how Satan does his destructions in people unless we turn God and Jesus to help us start all over!

1 Samuel 31:4

Then Saul said to his armorbearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised men come and thrust me through and abuse me.” But his armorbearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword and fell on it.

Saul was disturbed by a bad spirit for many years. About half of all criminals in jail will confess that evil voices in their heads brought them to do evil. Demons and evil spirits are real and they torment millions of people and psychologists and few others take them seriously. Demons want violence done to others and to their own body, their motive is to destroy what God has made and bring pain and suffering in place of love and peace.

8. Take seriously the demons that are in children. Mark 9:22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. Jesus cast out a demon in a child!

Here we see a case of self-destruction and Jesus cast the demon out. Prayer, fasting, and claiming Jesus authority have proven to stop demons acting out in people. Like it or not, everyone will have to deal with this sometime in their life.

But when we see something disturbing about a person we must do as the scripture says and ‘try the spirits’ (1 John 4). Some people get down just due to overwork which is a physical exhaustion affecting a mental exhaustion and its temporary. Yet, some, due to disobeying God and doing evil by lying, stealing, slandering, or much worse, get tormented by a demon until they snap as Saul did.

Another side note, we cannot deny some people are born with a weak mind. Romans 14:1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. We receive the weak but not for arguments. Most people today understand and respect those who need some special treatment due to a mental abnormality, but most of these types of mental problems do not lead people to commit violence against others or against their selves, and each case must be looked upon differently. Some are just born with mental issues which they must overcome with help from others.

9. Now look at the weakness of David, he had sin and was guilty but did he let that separate him from God, his comforter? No! He confessed it and repented of his sins! However, he became depressed and mourned when the consequences came, and he shed tears many times as we read in Psalms 4:25 “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.” And check out Psalm 51! But he, after a several weeks, he found his strength in the Lord by his prayers and crying to God (again, read all the Psalms).

David did not hide from God or reject God when he knew he had to pay the price of his sin. He paid a price by having his own baby die. David suffered real deep moments of depression. Connected to God, with faith, with friends who have faith, you  and I can get through dark painful time periods.

Remember David lived a few years running for his life from Saul living in ugly muddy caves in the mountains; he was shamed and rejected and his authority as king was denied for quite some time. It is a lesson that all of us should learn, some of us will have moments of glory and exhilaration, then we may experience a few years of frustration, sadness, and pain, but then happiness returns from other victories God gives us. We must never give up because the best is yet to come! David in his old age even became blind, but he always praised God!

10. What we all must remember is that almost everyone, you and me, in their lifetime will go through some very tough and hard seasons. We cannot control what happens to us, but we can control how we react! But reactions form habits. May you form the habit to praise God no matter what and you will see that it will take on a victory for good as all things work out for good for those that love God. People who curse and complain all day instead of praising God for all things end up so bitter they set their selves up to destroy their selves and others!

To avoid suicide and evil thoughts you and I must renew our minds daily with the Word of God in the Bible, especially from the Psalms that David wrote. He wrote them to comfort himself and he prayed keeping himself close to God! This was his way of praising his way out of the darkness so we must observe and learn. David gave it all to God, all his sorrowful feelings, tears, and fears and all his joys! Re read Psalm 42, that has helped me many times!

Very few Christians compared to those of other beliefs, or of no belief, kill their selves as often because they trust in God to get them through the depressions. Remember all the martyrs of old who died in the Roman coliseums praising God? The fact is they, and we also, can connect with a supernatural strength from God no matter how painful the moment. You will only get encouragement, hope, and success if you have faith and believe in the good to come that God wants to give you. It has worked for me and it will work for you as well! We all will die one day, but let it be by God’s hand in His time and not at your own!  Let’s pray that we can encourage each other with Jesus helping those  who are down, depressed, or suicidal! There is hope in Him and we must never allow the destroyer to take over our minds and actions! Praise is the victory!