Why I Hate Evil…And You Should too!

Why I Hate Evil…And You Should too!          Kelly Durant.  Re: 10-30-22

 

Proverbs 8:13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 Abstain from every form of evil. 3 John 1:11 Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.

 

2. How many of you have watched ‘youtube’ videos of someone getting beat up or being run over by a car and no one stops to help them? It makes you feel sick to see the evil and the indifference of the people, doesn’t it? How disturbing to know we live in a world where few have a heart for those suffering! Satanic indifference and hate produce the same effect, a lack of love for another that could save a life or a soul! It’s a direct disobedience to loving our good God and loving our neighbor as ourselves! Unloving sick people fail to realize that that victim could be them one day!

 

I know my wife and daughter, myself, and anyone with a conscience at all has felt sick to see a video of a person being cruel to an animal or to another human being. And do you recall only a few years ago there were horrific videos of people being beheaded, burned alive, and executed? The murder of Christians continues in dozens of countries and how disturbing very few speak up against this! 

 

These things make you feel sick enough to vomit, and make you feel angry at the wicked people who murder, torture, and destroy God’s innocent people. And have you seen pictures of destroyed cities where evil people have waged war? Think of Africa, Syria, Iraq, or of dozens of cities which have recently been demolished by invaders, making millions of families homeless to move with nothing in their hands. Imagine being sent out in a desert with nothing at all!

 

3. Jesus came to teach all of humankind to love one another, but what do people who do not know Him, or do not accept Him, do? They hate, kill and rob! They hate anyone different from their sinful self selves over differences of ever-changing politics, religious convictions, or certain lifestyle choices. Hate is like an infectious disease and people without the cure, which is Jesus and living in obedience to God’s word, are condemned to carry out evil on those they dislike. This evil in the hearts and minds of the devoid, seriously damages others by their evil words and acts. Their evil also destroys their own soul as stated in Romans 6:23 ‘For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord’.  

 

‘Hate’ today is a hot topic! Usually, you see people holding signs saying ‘Stop the Hate’ while they are the ones red faced ranting and raving, accusing, and defaming, even bearing false witness over how things are not how they want them to be. The question is, Is there any system anywhere in the world that is flaw free and making everyone perfectly happy?’ The answer is, no! People who want to do evil are never happy with God’s people battling against them!

 

The answer to broken systems has always been to change the system, but problems will always continue as the new system brings within itself a whole new set of problems. Venezuela and dozens of countries prove that in the name of fairness and equality and helping the poor much damage can and will happen, so everyone must wise up and be extremely careful as to what changes are being demanded. The righteous must not back down nor cave to the relentless attacks of the erroneous ones who demand change excluding God, love, and freedom to worship Jesus. Evil people always seek power by all means possible!

 

4. David was ‘a man after God’s own heart’, so let’s see what he has to say about evil and ‘hate’. Hate is a passionate rejection (which usually involves inciting anger), an abhorrence, to loathe, and to despise.  

Psalm 5:5 The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You (God) hate all workers of iniquity. (God hates evil and those who practice it)

Psalm 11:5 The Lord tests the righteous, But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates. (God hates those who bring on violence) 

Psalm 21:8 Your hand will find all Your enemies; Your right hand will find those who hate You. (God knows who are the ones who hate Him)

 Psalm 34:21 Evil shall slay the wicked, And those who hate the righteous shall be condemned. (God will allow evil people to be defeated and God is on the side of the persecuted to defend the righteous, which are the true Christians)

 

We can conclude from hundreds of verses in the Bible that…Psalm 7:11 ‘God is a just judge, And God is angry with the wicked every day’! God’s purpose for all of us is to live as in ‘The Kingdom of God’ blessed, happy, healthy, and with peace loving Him and one another as we obey Jesus commands. But rebellious God hating people are not having any of that in their life as they want to raise hell, sew dissention, and divide and conquer hating (while accusing others of hate) those who defend God’s statutes, Jesus, and love. We fight to stop hate & the devil!

 

There are people so perverted with evil, including many world leaders from de-generate family blood lines, that they will never submit to loving God and his humble servants. If one would, it would come only by a miracle from Jesus! Submission to Jesus is opposite to the oppressive pyramid paradigms they rule by. Satan controls this world by evil, and Jesus came to destroy his cruel kingdoms! 

 

5. Listen to their words, evil people will overtly or covertly declare that they ‘hate’ God, and they insult Him by denying that He exists or by breaking every law in His book; the law to love your neighbor above all! These extreme ignorant ones claim the Bible is a lie and contains worthless fables. How ignorant is this claim as any historian knows much of the Bible’s record of past cities and tribes are provably real. The Bible is the most important book in the world exposing evil!

 

Most haters as well reveal that they hate Jesus and His people, the Christians. But as a mirror God reflects back to people what they send up to Him. 

Psalm 18:26 With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward (defiant and aggressive) thou wilt shew thyself froward.

 

All people will reap what they sew; if one sews love, one reaps love. The same, if one sews hate, then hate you reap but much more than what you expected. Hosea 8:7 ‘For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind’. It is gross ignorance to believe one can mock God’s laws or people and not suffer the consequences! In the end, God’s laws are universal and it is common sense to respect others and God so as not to invite anger and wrath on yourself!

 

6. So as Christians how are we to respond to this evil generation of ‘haters’? Proverbs 22:3 A prudent man foresees the evil, and hides himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. There are times to battle and times to evade.

 

In general, we must avoid getting involved with troublemakers who have offensive mouths, who spew hate and promote violence. To join them in their ‘group think’ is to make one’s self an instrument of them and a fool. You cannot fight them on their level as they entice you to do. Proverbs 26:4 Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. Don’t participate in evil in the cultures!

 

The Holy Spirit must give you and me wisdom and we must not get involved with people who shout out slogans that most usually are misleading with ulterior objectives. Proverbs 14:15 ‘The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looks well to his going.’ Never be ignorant and conform to evil abusers.

 

7. As Christians, as lovers of God and of others, even being lovers of our enemies, we must learn tactics to control our anger, or we will insult back and sin in the same manner these haters do. Jesus always pulled the rug out from under evil hypocrites with questions and tactics that exposed their schemes.

One acceptable way of diffusing attacks is with diversion. Proverbs 26:5 ‘Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.’ You cannot have a serious conversation with an evil aggressive person who is attacking you so you must deflect away their words and vile mouth.

 

Here is an example of how to skew an attack. You might get mocked in a group (or by text) with a slogan, ‘I bet you drink the kool-aid of Fox News! Look everybody, a racist conservative religious freak!” These commonly repeated phrases imply that you will die from the poison that comes from hearing differing opinions from theirs, those whom they identify as on the wrong side. And to counter, on the defensive if you say, “You are wrong, you just can’t handle the truth!”, only brings on more mockery, cursing, vulgarity, and insults by these evil people.

 

In some cases you can divert like this,”Well, medieval kings made their selves strong by consuming small amounts of poison”. (Within yourself you know this is off subject, but it is replying folly for folly; it is just playing with their silly accusation of poison to unsettle them). So, do you see how preparation is needed to not fall into the argument trap of the haters who already have pre-schemed dialogues? They really will not listen, I know, I have tried, better is to spend your time with ‘sheep’ who want God’s word than with these rebellious evil goats.

 

8. Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. 10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

 

We cannot avoid getting attacked for our beliefs, faith, and Biblical worldview in this life! So, if you stand for Jesus, you might as well do it with boldness and let you light shine and remain strong through the attacks, deceptions, lies, humiliations, and hate coming from the evil people of perverse opposition. Do good always to prove you are a child of a good God! Abstain from evil! Onward Christian Soldiers! May your Cry of Battle make hell’s doors tremble! 

 

Proverbs 24:16 For a just man falls seven times, and rises up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief. We will be free from reaping the consequences of evil by remaining faithful to our Lord and Savior, but we have to keep getting up back into the battle. 

 

9. Evil comes in many forms, by words and by deeds, and the counter is by the same, by words (God’s Word!) and by good deeds done for others in need. What is curious is even evil people will often leave you alone when you help and serve others. To fight evil we must do good in place of it! And pray God protects as well! 

 

For example, the Salvation Army in several countries have the circumstance of working in neighborhoods that are full of crime and gangs and it is dangerous work. But I know of several cases (Brazil, Jamaica, & U.S.) of how even the violent gangs do not bother us because they know that if they were to attack us who are doing good and helping others that it would bring on the ire and anger of the neighborhood people to the point they would turn them all in to the authorities. 

 

James 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. Never lose sight as to who is going to win this battle against evil doers and haters, against those with terrible pride and arrogance: it is Jesus and His conquering army! And who is in that army? You and me, His soldiers who are already doing battle for Him saving as many souls as we can! A soft answer turns away wrath and the wisdom in of the Psalms and Proverbs guides us concerning evil and hate. Study to make yourself strong in God’s word and put yourself in the front lines so Jesus will use you to do good! Fear God and labor to save souls with Jesus and by this you will be countering the world’s evil, hate, pride, arrogance, perverse voices, corruption, violence, murder, and absence of love in our communities! God hates evil and we do too! 

Culture Shifts Worldwide: It’s a War of Good vs. Evil!

Culture Shifts: It’s a War of Good vs. Evil                   By Kelly Durant 1-17-16. Re 10-23-22

I Corinthians 1:22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

2. Did you know Cultural Days are celebrated by the Salvation Army in the Southern Territory? October, being Hispanic Heritage Month (Or International Month), implies that here in Harlingen, we, with culturally diverse with people, must celebrate! We are atypical! The typical with most churches is they are predominately 90% white, black, Latino, or something else! In churches, across the nation, Sunday often is the most segregated day of the week! But we understand that people want to meet with those with whom they feel comfortable.  It is natural for birds of a feather to flock together, but a wealth of knowledge can be gained from mixing with those different from you and even better is living years immersed in another culture.  I feel privileged by God to have gained 14 years of wealth in South America from 5 different countries that are not so similar in culture, music, food, or political pasts. 

Cultural events are an opportunity to get to know people from other experiences in life other than your own. I grew up in your typical mid-west American setting where 90% were white and I only met a foreigner, a Chilean, for the first time when my best friend had an exchange student live in his house.  Many youths today go to schools surrounded by hundreds of others who are or different races and from other countries. However, different can either be accepted and embraced or protested and mocked! 

Have you ever noticed how jokes about another culture shape how many people may view that other culture? When I was young people use to tell Pollock jokes; How many Pollocks do you need to change a lightbulb?  Five, 1 to hold the bulb and 4 to spin the ladder! The impression I had a long time ago I recall was that they must be pretty dumb, but I have read articles on the intelligence of different nations, and they actually rate quite high in intelligence. Read about their fight for solidarity from communism! One deduction I make concerning these jokes is that those of a competing culture concocted these jokes to counter the influence of them and to diminish their importance as immigrants. Never let others diminish you, for God you are loved!

3. Today I want you to think about how you see other cultures, how others see your culture, and then determine what you think God’s view is concerning your culture. How is your culture influencing you for good or for bad? Culture is invading churches! Are you aware of the strengths and weaknesses and the historical influences overtly or subliminally influencing and control your attitudes, decisions, and habits? How Biblical is your culture? To be counterculture is often a positive, have you ever thought of that one?

Today we are extrapolating the implications of the cultural influences using the example of what Paul said from his time: “For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness”,

Basically, the bad attitudes from Paul’s time stubbornly remain today! Paul criticized his own race in 1 Corinthians 1. Paul really rips his own people in the book of Romans too! Today the people of the humanist secular type mentality, who are resistant to the things of the Spirit of God and the miraculous, think of themselves as the only voices that matter being the so called educated, logical, and scientific professionals. The basic same arrogant postures as the educated Jews who wanted a sign to believe in Jesus. Today we may compare this mentality to those who are liberals, communist, and even more disgustingly to half of all Americans who are perverse, cold-hearted, and evil (often college educated)! There have been, and there will always be people who are full of themselves, doubtful, unbelieving, unspiritual, and unwilling to accept that more realities exist in the world than what their limited experiences offer them as a reference. In other words, these closed-minded types of folks who think they are smarter than those who believe in God are your and my enemies because they mock and persecute. They are very divisive and ignorant, “making themselves wise they become fools” as described in Corinthians, Proverbs, and throughout all the Holy Scripture.  Faith in any culture, however, doesn’t need to be backed up by a sign, a professional, or any certain race or culture!

4. The Jews, and all cultures around Jesus in his time, were given many miraculous signs of healings, demon liberations, and even the one of the raising of the dead (Lazarus). But the sign that Jesus came out of the grave is the one that is most important to proclaim to all! If a person will not accept this amazing feat by the Son of God, then they by their unbelief cannot be saved into eternity. If you doubt that Jesus holds the keys to life hereafter, then God honors your choice; the hereafter and resurrection will simply not be there for you after you die! You chose, but..Romans 10:9 “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation”.

Anyone from any culture must become as a child to believe. It is God’s test. It was God’s test for the Jews, Greeks, Romans, and still is for all cultures.  Faith is not seeing to believe, faith is believing and then you will see, or I should say you will have no more doubts of the unexplainable of God because God will reveal Himself in small but noticeable ways to you through the Holy Spirit. This is my experience and that of a few billion believers worldwide.

5. It is carnal and prideful to want a sign from God, but many people want one. I even asked God for a sign to know if I should serve Him or not (but I did already believe) and soon afterwards I dreamed a few very vivid dreams confirming God was perusing me and that I needed to escape with my life away from the selfish, drug infused, self-absorbed culture in my day. This is one reason, along with being convicted by the Word of God, that I chose to serve Him as a young man at age 21. So, God will even show you or me signs, either through miraculous signs or through the witness of people with whom He makes us cross paths with. The gospel of Jesus is preached everywhere, and multitudes of people everywhere get a chance to hear, believe, and follow, or to reject and mock. But you and I must be a messenger of God’s love! Acts 2:17 ‘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, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. 

What is my culture? It is unadulterated Christianity! But growing up American for me in the 1960s meant I had been exposed to a country in turmoil that had a problem respecting minorities. It taught me that the youth should protest against corrupt systems when it creates wars only for certain politicians to get rich. It meant that I knew I was privileged as a middle-class person to be able to work and be a little wealthier than most of the majority poor in other nations.  It also meant that I was exposed to powerful loud music, psychedelic drugs, the supernatural beliefs of the Irish, Native Americans, and of Indian Hinduism. I also knew people who read Ouija boards and followed the Satanic Bible! Good and evil is in abundance in this American culture! I don’t know about you but right now I hate seeing evil growing like weeds overtaking the beauty of the good fruit that could exist in this so-called developed society. We are in a cultural war of good versus evil and we must fight and defend what is Biblical, righteous, and pure or we are failing God and allowing corruption and hell to take over!

I do thank God for the good within this technologically advanced culture.  The predominating American culture of the 1960s meant that people in society were very Biblically literate and God-fearing and many were honest, hard-working, loving and Christian.  Communities were safer, people gave their word and trust was given, few divorces existed, and no one locked the doors to their houses or cars. I miss those days! Christians have failed to fight evil!

6. Cultures shift. The U.S is not what it was 50 years ago. Also, no longer is Cuba the richest happiest island of the Caribbean either. Stale despotic politics leading to poverty and hunger has killed the joy of these formerly highly educated and culturally wealthy people. Extreme corruption is affecting almost every nation today! Google it, you find that India, Mexico, Russia, all Muslim countries, and now even the U.S. is seen as one of the worst in corruption! 85% of Americans agree that the current corruption is at its worst and is out of hand!  (by Steve Forbes, a well-respected news outlet) https://www.facebook.com/SteveForbesCEO/photos/a.433882903357704.102553.372261619519833/982226698523319/?type=3&theater   

What happened to the Greeks, mentioned in verse 22? They dominated the world for a time, they brought in enough peacetime that the old men had enough leisure time talk all day and philosophize and write down interesting things such as what we read from Homer, Plato, Socrates, and the rest. They might have been a great culture before, but they degenerated. They became so proud they could not listen to anyone else’s wisdom, so they became fools.

Think about what we know now, of all the Greek mythological stories of gods with winged shoes, and others with lightning bolts, and yet they considered that wisdom.  Some of their philosophical deductions and mathematics are quite amazing when you consider the framework of the culture in which they lived. In their society you thanked God you were not born a slave, nor born as a woman! You would think they would have embraced the account of Jesus crucified and then resurrected (which is less far-fetched than their stories) but no, they were too proud of being who they were, and their culture of stubbornness made them become an old bunch of bankrupted degenerated fools who rejected God’s truth and they have not even recovered even until this day! What a humiliation despite trying to be right with God through their own form of Christian Greek Orthodoxy. Things just always had to be their way. 

7. So if cultures rise and develop, and then degenerate and fall, what are we to conclude looking at history? In the past 2,000 years the nations that have been the most Christian have prevailed! Did God allow the U.S. to defeat the empires of Japan and Germany? I think so, but only because people were repentant and praying desperately for the mega murderous Satanic evils to be defeated! In the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s, the U.S. had a more Godly culture and young people dedicated their time to the churches. Today young people arriving from Cuba, Mexico, or even those born in the U.S.A. do not give time to the church because that culture is lost. Goodness and Godliness in cultures must be maintained and fought for or evil men take over like we see today! The evil kings of Judah cost all the people in the Hebrew nations to lose their freedom and they became slaves many times over. Christian leadership is absolutely essential for the light to overpower the darkness and we must shine the light of truth on hypocrites!

When it comes to culture, we must always evaluate what is good and what is evil. Here is the problem today, we have people calling the good evil and the evil good. 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!” Woe means that God will punish and judge this!

You can see the Hebrews did a cultural shift back in Isaiah’s’ time and what happened? Their idolatries, pride, and sins overtook them to the point that God allowed them to become overtaken, humiliated, and made slaves to other pagan nations. This is the cycle of the rise and fall of nations that is all based around culture, whether the culture is worshipping, honoring, and obeying God persistently or not. Don’t blame God for the fall of this nation one day if you don’t fight for Godly values in this community. Jesus saves but He told us to “go” and preach the gospel!

8. All cultures offer good and evil so how can you discern what is what if you grow up in just one and do not have anything to compare it with? The less there is of God the more the ignorance. Can you see the point of why everyone needs to mix with other cultures to discover how others do things? It is really frustrating to see certain closed cultures lose out by always relying on their own ways and people while living in another country, trying to live as they did back home in the new land instead of trying new ways appreciating a new culture.

Christians have their own culture as well, depending on the denomination. People who attend a church usually have a community experience of worship, Bible study, camps, meals, and fun with people which they normally would never mix with. Rich and poor, white, black, and brown often mix together and everyone enjoys one another because we are all of the same blood, the blood of Jesus. Only Jesus can unite cultures, and the church is the last resort for racial healing! Jesus brought us the culture of ‘the kingdom of God’ which is one of love and it must preside over all! Col. 2:6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. 8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

But be careful with the Christian culture you associate with! Some churches are stuck on philosophies, or politics, or on ancient irrelative traditions, or on doctrines proven to be erroneous, and on their own self-righteous stubbornness thinking that only they are the chosen ones going to heaven! Sadly, many so called Christian churches are essentially useless to Jesus’ cause and mission of loving people into God’s kingdom because they have accommodated the modern day cultural shifts degenerating God’s mission. Cultures are always remaking their selves and you must ask the question, how are we as a collective group changing and shifting? Where will it lead to, and is God in it? Again, do you really see your nation and culture as God sees it? 

9. The Salvation Army has its own culture as well, but it has adapted to the cultures of 130 countries! What is the main theme of our culture? It is holiness, service, compassion, and love! Serving others in the name of Jesus! For me, no matter how long a Captain or Major has been commissioned, if there is not a spirit of holiness, service, compassion, and love in them then they have sadly shifted away from the original culture of being what a true Salvationist is! May God help you and me to never shift away from this legacy because it is what the true kingdom of God is made of: It is in doing as Jesus did! And we always say, “Do something!”

Diverse music, marching bands, camps, clubs, shelters, rehab centers, all of these things make up our culture and you can be proud of it for enduring 157 years. Past great great-grandfathers at a great sacrifice built these operations and today people called by God maintain them all in action all with the motive to win souls to Jesus. You as Soldiers are the front lines keeping our Corps in order, inspiring, and alive with programs, mission, and effectiveness.

So, no matter your race or culture, Jew or Greek, Cuban, Mexican, Colombian, or North- American, you can have the culture of Jesus in your life superseding the surrounding culture you live in now or the one of your past upbringings. Don’t seek signs or worldly wisdom from the so-called halls of higher learning of any culture; Accept the good and eschew the evil of all cultures being aware of what is what in each of them. The reward for you will be: “Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” in you! Jesus, and the entire Bible defines the culture you and I must follow…let’s pray.

HEAVEN! I Can’t Wait To Be There! I know what it is like!

HEAVEN!  I Can’t Wait To Be There!                              By Kelly Durant 8-9-15 Re 10-16-22

Revelation 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

 

2. How many of you have ever had a dream about heaven? Have you been flying like an angel? You are not alone! Thousands upon thousands of books and testimonies exist of people who have dreamed about heaven! And there are those who temporarily died, and come back to life, and witnessed heaven! Well, frighteningly, some others have reported they witnessed hell!

Heaven is what we all look forward to, and because Jesus spoke about it, it gives us hope of a much better existence than the one we have to endure at this present time!

 

The Old Testament was not very clear about what the spirit world held for us in the future, or how heaven would be. But here it’s made clear by Jesus, John 14:2 “In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you”. I’ve always thought, why do I need a mansion on earth? I prefer the one in heaven! What gain is there to invest so much in this decaying material world and then one day you will leave it all behind? You and I are just pilgrims just passing through this temporary place. Wise people invest in heaven!

 

1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”  In other words, some of the people that have had a little glimpse of heaven in a dream or vision, have really not seen anything yet! It is going to be even better than all our dreams combined!

 

3. Why am I bringing up the subject of heaven? Because everyone wants to know about it! I have never met anyone yet who does not like to talk about heaven! (Well, some atheists deny heaven’s existence even though they accept science’s rendition of a multidimensional universe and how sad for them as they are missing out!) Try to bring up the subject of hell and see if people like to talk about it! It’s not very popular as some people know it is a real place for the wicked and they are afraid to seek God to know if they are one of them! 

 

Everyone wants to go to heaven; do you not agree? But if they would go there or not, that’s between Jesus and them, their faith, and what they are doing with their life. We can have a role in offering salvation and heaven to them, by offering them Jesus’ saving love, but each person decides for their self. We all need to be reminded of heaven as often as possible, so we live happier in the present because it is our hope and future reality! It is where our Christian loved ones are! What is the heaven of your dreams? How do you want heaven to be anyway? 

 

The verse of today describes something beautiful… “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible! I can’t wait, can you? That’s the way the world should be! Free from pain and suffering!

Imagine a perfect world where all creatures live in harmony and love and live in happiness forever! Imagine getting a new resurrected heavenly body that never will hurt, get sick, or die. And all the suffering we see today will all stop! Rev 7:16 “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.”  This is the way I want the world to be, the heaven I want to live in! Imagine, nothing hurts or bothers you, natural AC and there is only the love, beauty, and the light of God’s presence! Now that is a utopian paradise!

 

4. Another favorite verse of mine is in Isaiah 65:25 “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord”.  I thank God for the book of Revelation as it describes heaven in a way that most of us as clueless thinkers have never thought of. It is described it as a physical place with beautiful elements which we value here on earth.  

 

Heaven will exist in a time and space continuum but in Revelation 10:6b it states, ”That there should be time no longer.” We interpret that to mean measuring time would be meaningless as all things are maintained in an eternal state in a heavenly dimension, we are not familiar with yet. Scientific string theory says 11 dimensions exist, maybe there are 12, who knows but let’s explore the number 12 in heaven.  Rev 21:19-20 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; 20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.

 

I wanted to start a rock collection of all 12 of these stones but I soon realized that it is not in my budget!  One time I wanted to calculate how far man could get if all nations gathered up all the precious stones on earth to build a wall such as this one described in Revelation which is 1,500 miles long, or 6,000 miles in it’s total length & it has a width (?), and the height is 216 feet high! I am sure that on earth we cannot even construct 10 feet of it given earth’s limited resources! And don’t forget the streets of gold! These are hard elements that air, water, and sandstorms cannot erode (but in heaven there are no more sandstorms, ha!)

 

5. Heaven is the eternal City of God that we all are anxiously looking forward to get to! Hebrews 11:16 “But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.” Man starts out in a garden then ends up in a City. I really do not fully understand why God needs heaven to have streets of gold and with precious stone walls, but what it appears like is heaven will be electrified! Energy will radiate and vibrate throughout the whole structure. Why is this a legitimate assumption?

 

Revelation 11:19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail. Lightning is electric and all the other shakings provoked by it!

Everything has a purpose, and apart from heaven being eternal in its physical composition, it will contain elements of what we are familiar with here along with things we are to learn about. I have had dreams of being in heaven and what I recall is less about the beautiful surrealistic surrounding nature, and more about the indescribably feeling of peace and joy. John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

 

6. God is omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, and He can transcend the laws of physics which he established, and with Him the eternal can be maintained over any material. I know that God has precision and reason behind His architectural design in that unknown world. Only Christians are blessed with the Word of God revealing to them the beauty of heaven. Other religion’s versions pale comparatively, and their renditions of heaven often are disappointingly false concoctions of carnal man’s desires of pride!

 

Recall how the High Priests in the Old Testament had 12 precious gems on their breastplates representing the 12 tribes of Israel. God esteems us, his people, to be compared to these beautiful colorful, light emitting stones. Quartz and similar stones capture sound and radio waves, and the mysteries of God are still not yet understood by our tiny 3 pounds of grey brain matter! 

 

In our resurrected bodies we will still perceive light as we do now and all of the colors will be for our enjoyment! The most important thing is that in heaven we will be in God’s house, a house that He is the architect of. And if Jesus is there, I want to be near Him! And you?

 

7.  Just by being in the presence of God we will have eternal light, life, and indescribable joy! The Biblical definition of hell is an eternal existence separated from the presence of God in a burning darkness! God owns all the beauty of all things created and he created and administrates the unique ‘tree of life’ that will sustain all who are allowed to partake of it forever. Why would anyone want to mess up their chance for this? 

 

John gave us the Revelation of heaven because God wanted him to see it and to write down how amazing it is! Rev. 22:1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. So to answer the question of many of you, yes, you will we get to eat in heaven! Fruit, in particular! And it will be there just for the taking and not cost you a whole dollar for one!

 

Heaven is where your memory of this past hellish earth will be over-written with new beautiful experiences, and you will be surround by a new group of pure loving people who are authentically holy and loving being angels many who are transformed former humans. Many of the people there you will know and recognize. Matthew 8:11 And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. How wonderful is that! I want to talk to them! 

 

8. Heaven will be all of what we could never afford here on earth, and there we will not have to make payments on it either! Jesus paid a high price to pay for it for us in order for us to enjoy it forever! John 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Few people have grasped how valuable this is!

 

Let’s obey God and Jesus in everything, in every way, loving, serving, trusting, and worshipping! Reread Revelation 21 and 22 and be heavenly in your thoughts, dreams, and behavior! If you are not practicing heavenly manners in the present, don’t think that God will assume you will be any better and change in the future. Revelation 22:11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

 

How can you and I be heavenly minded and be holy as God is? Phil 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

 

So, keep dreaming of heaven, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace! Remember, Heaven, is the place of our destiny. It is important to dream about, envision it, and look forward to as it will be our future home where God will wipe away all our tears! And remember these words I love from this old gospel song that says:

When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be!

When we all see Jesus, We’ll sing and shout the victory!

 

 

The Damocles Sword: What Dangers Do You Live Under?

The Damocles Sword: What Dangers Do You Live Under?  By Major Kelly Durant   10-2-22

 (2 Corinthians 11:24-26), 2 Corinthians 1:3-11

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. 6 Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. 7 And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.

2.The Sword of Damocles is an anecdote (but probably a real story) of Dionysius II of Syracuse,  a 4th century BC tyrant of Syracuse, Sicily. Damocles exclaimed to his king, Dionysius, that, as a great man of power and authority surrounded by magnificence, how blessed and fortunate he truly was. Dionysius offered to switch places with Damocles, so that Damocles could taste that position with privilege firsthand. Damocles quickly and eagerly accepted the king's proposal. Damocles sat down in the king's throne surrounded by every luxury, but Dionysius arranged that a huge sword should hang above the throne, held at the handle only by a single hair of a horse's tail. Damocles finally begged the tyrant Dionysius to let him get up from the throne, because he no longer wanted to be so fortunate!

Dionysius had successfully illustrated the sense of the constant fear in which the great ruler lived, as he was always in danger of death by treason. Dionysius made it clear that there can be nothing pleasant for the person over whom some fear always looms! Over each one of us is a danger that could harm or kill at any moment!

3. In life, most every one of us while on the earth is threatened by a continuous danger. These dangers could be present as a medical problem, risks involved in work, even traffic! Some of these dangers could be from violent family members or by thugs in the neighborhood. Some dangers come from geographical phenomena like tornadoes, floods, and hurricanes, and yet other dangers are from spiritual attacks playing on our fears; voices from our spiritual warfare of good vs. evil, of the devil and his demons attacking you & I with a Christ-like mind. 

I was there for hurricane Andrew in 1992! That upset our lives for almost a year! Some people, as seen in the Bible, believe destructions are permitted by God to purge people from their sins, so in their weakness they repent and look to God. God may reveal to you, or may not as it is different for each person, His purpose in these things. Either way, our mission is to serve suffering humanity!

 I was thinking about my past, places where I have lived and the different dangers that my wife and I faced and the ones each of us face from day to day. I grew up in Oklahoma with tornadoes and the danger of losing everything, even my life; it was a real danger during certain times of the year. 

Some people crack too easily under pressure (usually the faithless) while others just keep on going. How strong are you? Want to be stronger in the face of danger? It’s simple, just be right with God, you could be called at any time! And now we have hurricane season! 

4. People respond to life threatening dangers in different ways:  One by irrational actions due to their fear, or by living in denial that the threats are real. Another way is by becoming obsessed by their fears and to their own harm inappropriately get sick and worried. But then there is God’s way of conquering danger and fear: by having faith and trust in Him!

We all have seen some people have a faith crisis over intimidating outside forces not in their control. Some people not knowledgeable of God’s Word might conclude that God must be cruel to allow suffering. They get angry. (This is Satan’s means of getting people to misjudge and blame God so they do not worship and honor Him), But if any one of us does not honor God as the creator, then they are by default honoring ourselves as a god (we are not gods, and we control almost nothing!) Therefore, our adversary Satan, steals worship by this influence. 

Some falsely deduct that God must not be there to stop nature’s fury, or man’s wars, or resolve their personal problems, since He must made the universe like a wind-up toy and abandoned it (The Deist view). And there are others that conclude God is not in total control and therefore He is imperfect. He is a lesser god from a higher God. (The Gnostic view.) Don’t doubt, or blame, or go crazy, be different and pray and have faith that all things work together for good!

5. It is true, God does allow suffering and death at times but there is a greater purpose for it beyond our understanding!  One day in heaven God will reveal to us all things and we will know and understand why, but for the moment, too many factors are present that we are unaware of to understand his final purpose. It is like trying to solve a complicated math problem when you only know values for X,Y, & Z, but do not know the values for A,B, & C in the same equation.

I met many people after having lost all still had their faith. Would you keep it if you lost all? Let’s look at a man that went through a lot and did not let his faith be shaken, the apostle Paul.

2 Corinthians 11:24-26  Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. 25   Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26  In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

 

Paul had experienced it all and he lived through all the pain caused by evil men and by nature. 

I can’t even imagine the horrendous pain of a lashing (and 5 times?!)! Or of floating in cold dark waters shipwrecked! Possibly many of you have lived through many dangers. You might even still live in fear of the next danger that might assault you. Here we so have the Damocles sword over our heads from the threat of hurricanes or of many random dangers. Each place has a distinct threat, each person’s life has different dangers nearby.

 

6. The question today is: What fears do you have? What threat do you have over your head? 

I contemplated sharing some of the dangers I have been in and how I have had to grow my faith in God consoling myself even speaking out-loud to myself the scriptures while walking down the street! Most of you like myself have lived with the dangers I will discuss here, and again I ask you, how are you dealing with your fears right now?

In Brazil I was always worried about getting attacked by thieves in the street and 3 times I was chased and forced to be running full speed away from men, escaping by catching moving buses. I was also fearful of being deported, and when our resident visas were denied, we had 8 only days with 2 babies to leave back to Bolivia, a 5-day journey of trains and buses.  It is hard but we must accept God’s will over our will for our desires. He controls all for our best purposes.

In Bolivia I arrived in 1977 right after a Military Coups and some snipers had shot about 200 people from the tops of the downtown buildings. During my stay I lived mostly under Marshall Law and saw democracies and dictatorships come and go by the half dozen. I often breathed tear gas as protesters were dispersed. The threat of imprisonment was always present. What I loved though was I could preach the gospel with freedom almost anywhere!

In Chile, in 1981, jail time and disappearances were common under Pinochet’s dictatorship. I made the mistake of having home Bible studies which was a gathering of people prohibited by law, and some of the youth from the universities I had over I later discovered were Communist sympathizers. At 5:00am on morning 6 police with machine guns raided our home only to discover that we only had Bibles as our propaganda, Ha! Our phone later was tapped and we were watched so feeling too uncomfortable we decided to return to Bolivia.  The fact that I had nightmares of being killed by the police did not help either!

In Venezuela I had friends that told me stories of their experiences of gangs of thieves showing up at their homes to rob them and rape their wives. God stopped us from getting residence there as well as the visas were approved and sent to Bogota but the Consulate wanted money under the table we did not have, so we ended up getting resident visas in Colombia instead!

7. When you think about it: Dangers are always present and we could become a victim of anything at anytime! But God’s protection is ever present as well, so we have peace in the midst of the storm! 

Here in the U.S. many dangers prevail but the risk depends on the area you live in. In the Metro cities, theft and crime is a way of life:  in Chicago dozens get shot weekly. Forest fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts and floods are just a few of the threats we all live with in this nation, not to mention extortionists, mafia, the sex trade, drugs, and even the abusers in our families that cause great harm! It is a miracle that day to day we are protected!

So what can stop our worries and calm our fears? Only the word of God! I use to repeat several verses to myself to overcome these fears and take note of them so you too can to gain strength when you need it!

Philippians 4:6,  "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.  Psalm 119:50 This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me. (made me alive). Psalm 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

8. And when we see others suffering as I did the past months in our shelter in Oklahoma, here is a verse that come to mind of what our mission is: 2 Corinthians 1:4 Who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

Our task as a true Holy Ghost filled Christians is to console our own spirits from the worries, threats, and fears we face daily! And after that, you are to console others who are going through trials that have left them disoriented and weak.

I don’t think God is unfair to allow us to live in a fallen, imperfect world where nature or people can ruin us at any instant. We are in a school to prepare us for eternity where everything will be perfect, and we must learn to appreciate that. Maybe one lesson is you need to be ready to trust God and also be ready to leave it all behind (even your life) at any time! 

I think God knows that without danger all of humanity, you and I, would forget about Him and go the way of the Satanic self-centered, prideful, perverted, and narcissistic people. The reminder of danger remains: you and I have a sword over our head! We need the ‘fear of the Lord’ and we love Him because he protects us from our fears which do not afflict us too heavily.

What is the sword over your head? What do you most fear? Bad health? A hurricane?  A violent relative? An armed thief? Have you learned to live with it but placing it in God’s hands? Let’s pray for peace of mind! Let’s pray that we learn to trust God no matter what happens!