Prophecy, Nuclear Signs, and 2016

Prophecy and 2016                                                                Capt. Kelly Durant 1-10-16

Matthew 24: 4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

2. Do you want to know my future predictions for 2016? One, I predict that many so called self-ordained “prophets” will predict that the end will arrive in 2016! One reason is because 2+0+1+6=9 so it must be a bad omen since 9 is a mysterious number! (Do you see how people can invent anything?)  And the passing of planet X (Nibiru) near earth must mean that the anti-Christ will come to power! Have you heard of that and other strange predictions already?

Well, I predict that everyone of us will get older this year… (ha!) so that this means that Jesus return is closer than it was before, thank God! But in the meantime it is no laughing matter how we as true sensitive compassionate Christians with alert minds, worn out bodies, and perturbed spirts ache due to all the pain we see the world in! So much deception, poverty, and murder! The suffering is as Jesus described as ‘birth pangs’ that get more and more frequent!

 

Well, you know enough Bible by now, due to the great Bible teachers we have around here, to know that I and no one is qualified to add anything to what we already know from Jesus predictions and revelations! If you or I put an exact timeframe on predictions then we become as a false prophet because… Matt 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But many have tried, and nothing has happened yet!

3. In the Salvation Army colleges no one is taught to adhere to any certain interpretation of the signs of the endtime. Take into account most denominations are not totally clear on “how to” interpret certain events so I think it is wise to read all the current accepted interpretations in the Christian community so come what may, one is at least informed as much as possible. We need to know as much as possible so you and I can preach this gospel prophesy from Jesus to warn others so their souls can be saved. The end of man is not good, but Jesus has a place He is preparing for us in heaven! As the prophecies happen, God will reveal more truth so we know.

In William Booth’s day many thought that the 1900’s with the sudden futuristic leap in progress of the industrial age, with all the new technology of railroads and factories, for sure meant that man had reached a new progressive plateau. People over one hundred years ago thought that for sure Jesus Kingdom was going to be established on earth then and today we refer to those of this belief as Postmillenialists. I will share with you a definition from Wikipedia on its deeper meaning.

“Postmillenialism was a dominant theological belief among American Protestants who promoted reform movements in the 19th and 20th century such as abolitionism[2] and the Social Gospel.[3] Postmillennialism has become one of the key tenets of a movement known as Christian Reconstructionism. It has been criticized by 20th century religious conservatives as an attempt to Immanentize the eschaton”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmillennialism

4. Contrary to what certain religious groups accept (that Christ returned to earth in the 1900’s and we ignorant people just don’t see Him because it was a spiritual, not physical event) I find we should just adhere to what people have accepted for two millennium; that His return will be a major invasion from space! His return will change everything locking in the destiny of souls.

1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

How and when Jesus return will occur has been the debate for centuries. I look at His return as a merging of our physical world with the spirit world, a combining of our universe with the God’s Kingdom universe in our multiverse universe. Scientists, with their mathematical multiverse theories, prove what we already knew, that several worlds (some say 11, others an infinity) currently coexist at the same time. This collision of universes will bring about an eternal kingdom, which is a variable not well understood in our current temporary existence, but with God, all things are possible!

5.  The end is near but not for any man (woman) to know the day and hour or the exact year for that matter. How many times has the exact year of the predictions of Jesus returning failed already? Probably thousands! Trying to be wise, people become fools!

Despite this clear message by Jesus Christ, many Christians ambitious for undeserved attention, predict times and places of destruction. When they predict, you should reject. I have watched several YOUTUBE videos lately that are very convincing that the soon to come nuclear war will hasten the return of Jesus and these wars may even start by April of this year! Just thank God today no nuclear war began, and we must choose to live day to day praying for peace!  

Apart from timeframes, many evangelical groups, and even the History Channel predict the places of destruction in the United States. The assumption is we are long overdue a major hit of destruction, so possibly it could even happen this year. Despite blanket forecasts, it is a reality that a volcano such as Krakatoa, a mega 10 earthquake, a comet crash on earth, an economic meltdown, or a possible nuclear war could cause all the world’s systems to collapse and bring about mega destructions as described in Revelation.  Here is verse that confirms the effects of nuclear war. Zechariah 14:12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.

6. Why do we hear about impending doom so much? Because the majority of people in the world who do not know Jesus have an appetite for destruction, they even long even for their own destruction! Some people want the glory of bringing down the system as well! Kind of like how Nero celebrated while Rome burned down, the world leaders today are just as despotic as him and currently practically all governing  systems are being hurled into chaos! This recurring theme of destruction affects you and me in one way or another; to either want to be on a more heightened alert and prepared, or to just live in a denial sleep ignoring the spiritual warnings being deadened with prophecy fatigue.  

Concerning what could happen this year people are either more fearful, concerned, and stressed, or more distracted, asleep, or indifferent! We as Christians are to remain prayerful, patient, and encouraging despite the pain and fear we experience empathizing and supporting those who suffer!

Those who want to see mega-destruction and death, who have a Satanic hateful nature, who want to help usher in the apocalypse, having a secret death wish to die and be killed are this way because their sins and guilty conscience haunts them!  Like the serial murderer who the police can’t catch because he hides the evidence too cleverly until finally he wants them to stop him from his own evil so he leaves evidence behind to get caught. Millions of demon possessed psychos want to help usher in the apocalypse hoping this will bring about a higher new world order of peace reducing the population. The problem here is their spirit will remain forever incarcerated in their disturbed hellish destructive state once they die and Jesus returns! A spirit that rejects God’s love and ways is destined to be sent to the jail of hell to contain that evil.

Rev.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. 12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

7. There is heavy persuasion in the Holy Scriptures of the Bible that there will be a nuclear war or a mega destruction of some kind in the Bible. Act 2:19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; 2 days Act 2:20 the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. Act 2:21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Nuclear power is now in the hands of dictators in unstable nations such as North Korea, Iran, and Pakistan.

It is tragic how there is evidence of a “falling away” from the faith of our Christian fathers. Many people today are a living abomination to God as they are carnal, sick-minded, destructive, prideful irrational sin-justifiers, being worthless consumers, unrepentant, not honoring God and hateful persecuting God’s saints, the Christian people of the world. Why will God judge with wrath? Because men have insulted Him and disrespected the life he created on earth! War is man’s invention due to his sins of greed, hate, prejudice, and lack of obedience to God’s Word! 

8. The reality is this, there is evidence of an ever increasing universal world-wide apostasy.  Godless materialism, prideful humanism, and murderous cult religions seem to be the god of choice lately as people in many nations mock and murder those of faith (in particular the Christian faith) deeming them as fools. They are the real fools accusing us as fools…I Cor. 1:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The good thing is most of you here in this Corps are wide in the things of God and have the Holy Spirit and you have already studied Revelation several times and are aware of the 4 horsemen and of the 3 major events involving the 7 seals, 7 trumpets, and 7 vials.

It is conclusive that these coming destructions will occur sometime in the future and they will actually involve 1/3 or the entire world with devastations that have characteristics of some type of mega nuclear destruction.  

9. So do not get disturbed by predictions! All things are on God’s clockwork, so all we can do is warn others hoping they understand God wants to be worshipped, obeyed, and served as the time is short.  It is not our fault Satan wants to destroy it all, the victory is God will save our souls!

So I recommend that you do not trust in books on numerology, individual predictions, alarming scientific statistics,  politically motivated charlatans, and preachers who exclude certain parts of the Bible to make fit prophecies to their likings when they are just carnal men and not worthy of interpreting prophecy! We are going to live with peace in our souls, no matter what may come!

There are more and more false Christs Jesus like warned us about! And all the new radical religious people in the world that demand that you worship their prophet (who is not Jesus) are false prophets as well! Any teaching that distorts, adds to, or takes away from the entire teachings and prophecies of Jesus Christ who sits on the right hand of God, who reigns forever and ever, who will have every knew bow to Him, are heresy and blasphemy! The offense of rejecting God’s son carries a consequence! 

10. The time to study more about the end-times is now! The time to wake people up is now! The time to feel time is short is now! More and more prophecies are coming together to be fulfilled and more and more nations are gaining nuclear power. We know that there will be Satanic despots launching them one day.  

'Joel 2:30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

Come and pray and get serious with God! Don’t think we have 7 more years or 1260 days before Jesus comes as those are markers concerning the ant-Christ, but consider this: When you die, that is when Jesus returns for you! The end of man’s kingdoms will come to an end, but our end may be sooner than the final end. If your end comes soon, you will be blessed because you will escape the tribulations to come! No one is guaranteed tomorrow and men’s hearts will fail for fear! As we continue in in this year, pray for strength from the Holy Spirit, warn others, and live in holiness! Just live ready to go, or ready to stay and serve even if earth becomes hell!

Appreciation: For Jesus and Others Who Honor God!

Appreciation: For God and Others Who Honor God!                                 1-3-16 Kelly Durant

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. Proverbs 21:21 He that follows after righteousness and mercy finds life, righteousness, and honor.

2. Do you want to know about the character of a person? Ask yourself, who do they love and appreciate?  Who do they talk about and spend money or time on? Are they the vain type of person that idolizes mere men or women in high places of power? Ask, who are their favorite performers, movie stars, or rich and famous ones they look up too? Or do they (or you) speak of what God is doing in their lives or in the lives of others having their pleasure in those who inspire by praising their good deeds? Who we honor says everything about we are as a person!

Basically, to appreciate is to reciprocate! Appreciation is a reaction, something was done for you, and now you seek to return a favor or gesture to reveal your thankfulness. Often you and I cannot return the same value of what was given but to do something reveals an honorable heart. Friends are often those whom we appreciate most but often you or I do not get a chance to thank them appropriately! Appreciation can be shown in different ways but one must always be a support to the person. This may also include being an imitator or admirer of their goodness. Appreciating a person by sharing with them something of value like a gift is a good thing but simply time spent with someone may reveal that you appreciate their presence and value them as a person. But often people do nothing, and they do not even say, “Thank You!”

Since the year is ending, it is time for an inventory; it is time to do an assessment, who and what do you appreciate in life? Like the old rock song that repeated over and over, “Who do you love?” we need to ask ourselves does our love for someone translate into showing them a meaningful appreciation?

3. Let’s start with priorities, how do you show appreciation to Jesus for His love to you by dying on the cross to give you eternal life? The verse of today are Jesus words, He gives us eternal life and the blessed assurance that no “man” can ever take it away. Eternal life? How amazing! How incredible! Jesus had appreciation for His followers so much so that He granted them ( from the present and the future) life after this life in a perfect utopian heavenly world!

How can you or I ever thank Jesus enough for saving our soul? Eternal life in heaven is something that no amount of money can buy and there is no way to earn it! Eternal life has been the obsession of all cultures since mankind’s inception and is usually the basis for all religions, disciplines, and sacrifices throughout time. Before Jesus, the Hebrews, the Hindus, the Egyptians and all humanity have sought ways to gain eternal life and earn position by purification and respect by following Godly standards (laws) which would carry over in the next life. But mankind’s attempts at being worthy and clean are never enough to gain a purified soul acceptable enough for a Holy God who is the embodiment of pure holiness and love.

So how do you and I show appreciation for eternal life? Are you taking it serious how much God loves you? What can you give back to God? I wrote a song inspired by the words of others about 30 years ago and here is a part of it just for a quick reflection:

The gift of God, is eternal life, but it cost Jesus His, to give it to you,

And it will probably cost you yours, to live it too

You are no fool to give a life you cannot keep

To gain a love you’ll never lose

4. For the gift of eternal life people will do anything! Some religions teach you must earn it by being selfless, sacrificial, ritualistic, and generous to their church, or even live separated from society. Some religions also teach that you must kill others who are unfaithful to God (what they think God wants as described by false prophets) so people will also even commit murder and violence. Until when will this time of horrible radicalism dominate mindsets submitting people to misrepresented idea of god?! The only way to conquer is with Jesus! Violence and the murder of the unfaithful brings no justice to any God or to anyone. It is the system of satan and only serves to satisfy man’s lust for power, wealth by robbery, and sexual domination and it is the total opposite of what we know our God of mercy, compassion, and love to be!

Imagine such a perverted way of thinking that in order to please God, to show God appreciation and in order to gain eternal life with rewards you should murder another human being who does not agree with your god as defined by so called prophets?! John 16:2 (b): “Yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service”. Appreciation and how it should be expressed has always been misguided by those carnal and dead towards God. God sent Jesus as the ultimate example of how we are to live and love. God Jehovah is the only one who taught us how to love through Jesus granting obedient ones eternal life and God will honor them with crowns and rewards in heaven.

5. What I can witness is this, once Jesus really touches your spirit, you will be changed, you will understand that your life is not yours anymore and that you owe Him everything! To show Jesus appreciation I chose as a young man to give up everything to follow Him. I gave up all my possessions, I gave up comfort for poverty in poor nations for 14 years, and I still am giving up all my years in service to Him, I can never pay Jesus back so all I can do is to show Him I love Him by obeying and following Him! Appreciation for Jesus requires being His disciple full of love for everyone, appreciating every soul you meet as a potential future lover of Him!

We know how we all should appreciate God by living for Him worshipping Him, but who should we appreciate in this life? Should not appreciation be shown to those who do the most for God and Jesus? Think about who you know here in the Corps church, about who are obeying the Lord, “serving another in love” as commanded.

Each person according to their talents do what they can for the Lord and sometimes amongst ourselves we are unaware of what the other is doing for God or the Corps because not everyone is here all the time to be informed about who does what. In general you and I should try to not judge who to appreciate more than the other, but instead just take an attitude to appreciate and love everyone that we know are here for God! It is God that keeps a record of words and deeds.

6. Many times others do many good things for the Corps church that you may not be aware of and often these are things you could not do yourself. For example, some people have a talent to raise several hundred dollars every time they go out ringing the bell for the red kettle and others do not. Some others of you can repair broken doors and locks; others can decorate amazingly while others know how to cook and provide great meals for a hundred people. Each person has value, and to appreciate that try switching the tasks and ask the decorators to repair the sound system!? We all must show honor and respect to one another! All have value!

Christmas just passed and in general in the church some people are like the kings who brought gifts to Jesus, compared to those who tithe and give generously, while others, especially in our Salvation Army church, are more like the poor shepherds who were without goods and simply brought Jesus their dedication, honor, and worship.

Someone asked me recently, what did the shepherds give Jesus? (Assuming they gave Him a sheep) The Bible does not record that they gave Jesus a sheep, but they did run to admire and worship him! Maybe they did give Him a sheep, I don’t know, but the important part is they gave Jesus their heart, praise, and worship! That surrendering of the will is what anyone can give and is what God wants! We should not expect people to give what they may or may not be able to give.

7. Do you want to know what has been a hard lesson for me in life? It is to appreciate broken-ness and to just work with broken people! Right now many of our volunteers have had bodily injuries and cannot lift more than 10 pounds, some of them are homeless, some of them are not to solid emotionally but do I reject them? No! I appreciate them! At least they are serving God in some manner as best they can around here. Some Christians are too good and too proud to work with a Motley Crew but not me because I know Jesus disciples were a mess, and I know I am still a work in progress!

In this life our Corps church will never be perfect with perfect people altruistically loving and sacrificing for each other to the level Jesus expects. Some of you sometimes I perceive are not happy with each other and you don’t like the way some show or don’t show appreciation to the Corps church as you think these people are benefiting more than giving and in some cases this may be true.

Like it or not, people always are measuring who does what and they comment about it so try to examine yourself well in what you do for God. But also remember none of you are ever seeing the whole picture of all that goes on behind the scenes. Some people with rough edges that may appear undesirable are actually doing God’s work and going out and visiting the sick and helping the helpless while others stay back and clean, serve food, decorate and repair and even provide a gift for someone in need without call attention to it.

8. Concerning the things of God, you and I should concern ourselves with own ourselves first, so ask yourself, do I actually give enough to God as He wants to my Corps, family and friends? Do I do all of what God expects of me? Do I show the appropriate amount of appreciation to God and others? Do I, as in the Proverb of today, concern myself to be full of “righteousness and mercy” which invokes life and honor?

The reality is everyone should take conviction to be more appreciative to Jesus, to their brothers and sisters, and to their Corps church which should shine like a light in the community with evidence of the love a God present in each person. In order to please God we must appreciate every act of kindness, appreciate every visitor, and appreciate and love each other!

There are different types of appreciation. You may appreciate a person who feeds you once, but what about someone who over a course of more than a decade has fed you hundreds of times? Now that is where a deeper appreciation takes place! It is obvious some of the people of this Corps have provided service, food, and acts of kindness for the people of this Corps and for those of the community a few hundred times. Now that is truly worthy to be admired and appreciated on a deeper level! Each one of us will reap what we sew!

9. As human beings and animals of habit we often take for granted the good that others do for us through the church or on their own and sadly we later only take notice of it once it is gone! It is sad reality that ‘you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone’? We should all wake up and notice all the good that each person does, whether they be a driver who picks up people on Sundays, or whether they be a cook in the kitchen, or a Bible teacher who brings clarity to God’s word.

                                                                                                            

But just how missed will you be when gone? We lost several people last year and we all can go with the Lord at any time! Are you someone who did things for God and others, or someone who expected others to do for you? Will they say of you that you were you a faithful servant, faithful in the little things so the Lord appoints you worthy to be in charge of the more glorious bigger things in His Kingdom?

My grandmother use to say some people would not do things neither for love or money, and it is true people are motivated or not motivated to do things as it affects their personal gain but with God things works to the contrary. You are expected to love, give, and serve expecting nothing in return! But the reality is, however, that by being obedient to Jesus, sacrificial, and generous you gain things that money can’t buy such as honor, respect, righteousness, and love! And most importantly, Jesus will grant you eternal life and rewards in heaven!

This year Jesus wants your appreciation to Him to go to a higher more dedicated level so let’s ask God to forgive our past failures and ask Him to give us a love and appreciation for Him so deep that it will sustain you and me to do greater things for Him, for our brothers and sisters, the Salvation Army Corps, and for all others out there in the community!   

Agendas: Do You Have God’s or Your Own?

Agendas                                                                       Captain Kelly Durant  12-27-15

Do You Have God’s or Your Own?

Matthew 6:33

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you

2. The beginning of the year we always focus in on agendas. Every one sets goals and new resolutions of what they would like for their lives this year. To make more money, to work more or to work less, to buy a new car or not, etc. Goals, resolutions and agendas are like dreams; we all need them to survive. With God’s agenda though, we can have all of what we need! 

There are many people, however, that live without a plan or an agenda, or a dream and they are like a cork on the water going one way one day and going the other way the next day. But nothing great was ever accomplished without someone making a plan, having an agenda and then being constant and faithful to make it happen.  God does not intend for us to live without plans, His plans or doing His will.

Prov 29:18

18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. We all need something to live and die for. And Jesus gave us that vision, He gave us the vision to live as He lived, to extend the Kingdom on God by telling everyone the good news! But this means forsaking your self and your agenda in order to take up your cross to follow God.

3. Let’s examine a few cases of people coming to Jesus with their own agenda. One was a rich young ruler.

Mark 10:17-23 17 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?

18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.

20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.

21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.

23 And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!

There are many people that come to the churches but very few are willing to do what it takes to have riches in heaven. They come to God with their agenda to be rich and the sad thing is there are many churches that do not ask people to give to the poor, to help them as the Salvation Army does.

These churches that misrepresent the will of Jesus Christ, that teach people to be rich and then ask them their tithes so they can be rich, will have to answer to God for this terrible sin! There are people that have visited our church and they have not stayed because they do not want to leave behind their agenda of only making money in life. They feel uncomfortable with our church with its history of serving the poorest of the poor. Some people have the agenda of being rich and our Salvation Army, our humble representation of the Kingdom of God does not go with their agenda.

4. The only agenda that will ever fill your soul is the one of Jesus Christ! What He said by, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”, was a command to live forsaking your own plans to promote Him and His agenda. I had a friend that dreamed to have a chopper motorcycle and he finally got it, but God had called him to give it up to do mission work but he would not. He soon afterwards had a crash and the bike got totaled and now he thanks God that God took away his idol so he would serve Him!

Jesus gave us the vision to reject this world and all its empty, unsatisfying vain abusive and material values, in order to gain a whole new world, now among ourselves, our brothers, and forever in the future! Jesus agenda for us is to promote God’s kingdom of love where we will spend eternity! He gave his life on the cross to be an example to show there is no limit to what you can give up for God!

Let’s look at some other cases of a people who would not follow Jesus because they put their family before the will of God.

Luke 9:59-62

59 And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

61 And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.

62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

5. Jesus wants to be first in your life, even above our loved ones, and He takes no excuses! Your life this year must center around the will of Jesus and doing His will through you, you must be doing His agenda, not your family’s, nor your own will for wealth. Jesus wants us to obey His will here on earth and he needs to use you and me as his Soldiers and brothers to make it happen.

How do we do Jesus agenda?  What was Jesus agenda? (people answer) He first wanted us to love and worship God! That is the main agenda and after that is in place in your life, once you are saved and reborn, and you are a new creature, everything else in your life will fall in line to start serving Him as He shows you.

There is the command to love God and the rest of the command is of equal importance which was to love your neighbor as yourself. How did He want us to love? He taught us to visit the sick and give to the needy and do unto others as we would have them do unto us. He also told us to go and preach the gospel to every creature, to leave all behind binding things in order to do that. Our agenda is to tell others about heaven and how they too can live in love and peace and happiness forever!  This is the formula for happiness on this unhappy earth!

6. Now you have an agenda for 2016: you have Jesus’ agenda! People that do the will of God, which is Jesus’ agenda, the people that serve God and others are those that will be blessed! But what happens to those that put their own agendas before God?  The get deceived and fool their selves that they are fine, but they are not. These same ones often get fooled by exploiters of false churches as well. 

There are churches that have money as their God and there are people who are attracted to the big and prosperous churches thinking that they must really have a great spirituality because they are so rich but the reality may be to the contrary. And some churches today are like those of feudal times taking from the poor so they can live rich and oppress, and they are not representing the kingdom of God, and they expect all the poor people and middle class to give up everything to them so they can have huge buildings and live in luxury. We must be wiser and more mature in the Word of God than to accept this!

Many people come and leave church because they are unwilling to do the agenda of Jesus Christ! It is easy to just sit in a church and give money without any commitment and compromise, but that is man’s agenda, not Christ’s. Jesus invites you and me to give up everything, time, family, and money for Him and to get busy helping others and saving their souls!

7. Some people come to the church hoping to get a blessing on their own agenda, but God does not bless those with their own agenda, He blesses those with His agenda! Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you

All of us should only care about the agenda of Jesus Christ and winning souls for His Kingdom! Those that get the vision and get on board with us to create and do programs that get the unsaved interested in Jesus are those that are right with God! Do you have God’s plan and agenda doing His will and plans above your plans?

Don’t go away today sad as the rich ruler did. Do God’s agenda! Don’t give the excuse that you must serve your family or someone else first, reject that and do God’s agenda! Don’t make personal plans, find a plan where you can serve in God’s kingdom. Today is a day of rededication. If you want rewards in heaven, then dedicate this year to the Lord! Come and pray.

Christmas: Glory to God, Peace & Goodwill to Men

Christmas: Glory to God, Peace & Goodwill to Men   Kelly Durant   Dec 20,2015

Luke 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

2.  Did you notice in the stores all the mess on the floors? Everything all mixed up, it’s crazy, right? Trees, lights, and gifts abound with bells ringing outside of the stores! And this is all because of a baby, baby Jesus!  It will be Christmas time this Friday! Enjoy it at home with friends and family! It is quite a miracle that Baby Jesus actually survived as one in 3 babies would die in that time period without medical attention in those days! Let’s hear a story (not Christmas) of a baby that died, and of a baby that lived.

Let’s go back to the O.T., I Kings 3:16-28. Do you recall that King Solomon was considered wise? God offered him riches but he chose wisdom. The Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes in the Bible are full of wisdom.

How many of you know the story of when they brought to King Solomon a situation of 2 mothers with 2 babies about the same months old? These 2 ladies lived in the same house and in the night one of the babies died. The problem is one lady claimed the other one stole her baby so you did not know who was the mother of the living baby and who was the mother of the dead one!? They went to the judge, King Solomon.

In his wisdom he said, “Split the baby in 2 parts with a sword and give each woman half!”. Shocked, one lady yelled, “No! Don’t do that just give it to the other woman!” The other lady in her bitterness said, go ahead kill it and give us half each. But then Solomon in his wisdom said, “Wait, the woman who is willing to give up her baby, this is the real mother! The baby is hers!”

3. I find that one can compare this same wisdom to baby Jesus of today. There are around us in the world, God’s children, people who are kind hearted doing many things for others, willing to give up anything for the sake of life and love. This time of year these people want to see Baby Jesus honored and special.

These are true people of honor, the ones that understand God’s gift to the world, that Jesus inspired us to love everyone, no exceptions. These people are the ones who will have life as the have Jesus, and they always choose to do good because they love God and His Son!

4. But like the mother who preferred to see a baby cut in two rather than share it, there are those amongst us of this nature that are greedy, evil, and cold hearted. They do not care for life or baby Jesus at all and only care for their own selfish consumption and material appetites giving no respect for what the Holiday of Christmas means!

These carnal people would prefer to see Baby Jesus and Christianity die and go away! These are people who are bitter against God and they hate the happy people who make Christmas special. They disrespect and profane all things pure and beautiful. These kinds of people with unrepentant hearts, full of hate are in essence comparable to being murderers and thieves, and as the Bible states are as condemned dry wood ready to be placed into the fire as this is what they deserve. 

1 John 3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. God is just and has hell reserved for the souls of these people who reject Jesus. People without Jesus are horrible! They cause all who live near them to go through hell due to their angry, bitter, confrontational, vulgar, lying spirit. But God has heaven reserved for those that accept baby Jesus and become innocent and pure like He is!

5. Going back to Luke 2:14, the very first message from God through the angels when Jesus was born was “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men”. This short sentence inspires me so much! There are 3 points.

What does this bold declaration mean in its totality? If the angels in heaven are worshipping a baby, then that should get our attention, right? They were glorifying God because baby Jesus would become the sacrificed one on the cross and be the savior of the world! The first lesson you and I must learn in life is that we must give glory to God for Jesus! Angels are higher beings than what we are!

Giving glory to God is not just something you say, like in church when people say, praise God, we glorify you God, it is more than that; giving glory to God implies living an entire lifestyle of love! You glorify God by your actions and words, by imitating Him, but serving Him and others, by being as He is, full of love, holiness, and goodwill towards all men (and women)!

6. And where it says, “Glory to God in the highest”, “the highest” refers to the all-encompassing power and authority of God! The universe, and heavens high above us, and the symphony of the cycle of life that is high above our understanding, all imply that God is far beyond us!  He is perfect and all-knowing governing and preserving the stars and all chemical matter, the realms of angels, and the forces of nature and the people of earth! Psalm 113:4 The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. Science reveals how much God is infinitely vast and complex! Everything everywhere proclaims the glory of a creator!

7. Next in the phrase, “Peace on Earth”, what is peace? It is an overwhelming calm where there is safety. You have seen the bumper sticker, ‘Know Jesus, Know Peace.  No Jesus, No Peace’, what a true statement this is! For as long as I have been involved with Christians, close to 40 years now, the thousands of testimonies I have heard all confirm one thing, that the lives of the people before Jesus were a torture and chaotic mess as they lived in a hell of guilt and confusion. But after accepting to follow Jesus their circumstances totally changed, to have a life of peace and fulfillment! Peace with God and peace even with conflictive people.

8. That is true in my life too! I got away from following Jesus when I went to High School and my life went downhill as I drank and partied and smoked pot and played in a rock band, but I was shocked with myself that I was not happy! I was doing all the things that the people of the world were doing to over stimulate my body’s pleasure cells but yet I was dying inside with a restless feeling like I was really killing my soul inside and in danger, feeling far away from God.

I had all the pleasures of the world as a young man but one day I woke up to realize I was just an empty self-indulgent copy-cat want-to-be who should just die to get out of the way because I was just taking up space like all the other rats of the world. I just wanted to end my misery and frustration!

But one day after I prayed the prayer to accept Jesus, my whole world changed! This is why I am here today, to tell you about it, it is true, Jesus will give you peace, a peace that you have never experienced and it is worth the investment to leave behind everything, all your own misguided beliefs, all your way of being, and worthless life!

9. And finally, the last point of Luke 2:14 stated in the Holy Scripture, it is the “goodwill toward men” that many of us fail to capture. Imagine, God giving you and me goodness and wanting goodwill for us and everyone? How is it that God wants good for humanity? Isn’t humanity terrible as we the people seem to always make war and kill multi-millions and we destroy everything with our corrupt cities?

In the end we must let this undeserved goodwill impact us, God loves you and me beyond our comprehension! He sacrificed His son Jesus for all humanity for us to have eternal life! God only wants to give you and me good things in life, making us happy, giving us an eternity of goodness.  Most every Christian I know lives very blessed!

But many people make a train wreck of their lives and then want to blame God or others for their mess, but it never was God who failed them and didn’t give them their dreams! It was their own cruel self! God, all the time has good plans for each of us, but we must listen to Him and convert, and become sacrificial. Sacrificial as in giving up your own baby (figuratively) if you have to, embracing baby Jesus and life, peace, and goodness!

To have God’s good will working in your life, you must be in His will! This time of year at Christmas time serves as a reminder that the very first principle that God wants is for everyone to let the baby live in your heart, to accept Jesus as the savior of the world and as the savior of your soul.

Baby Jesus was born in humility and poor, He lived a modest life, and then He died in great pain to rise again in order to take away the pain and emptiness in the souls of all men and women, or better said, in you and me! Let Jesus do that for you today! Give Glory to God, accept His peace, & live in the goodwill He has for you in your life! Prayer…

The War On Jesus: Expose The Hypocrisy of Haters

The War On Jesus: Expose The Hypocrisy of Haters                                           Kelly Durant

Matthew 24:8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. 10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.

2. How many of you can say, “I love Jesus”? Now imagine a person with a knife or sword on your neck saying, “Say that one more time and you die!” Would you say it again? I pray I would remain faithful and say, “I love Jesus!” because the alternative would be to have to live with your own humiliated wretched soul submitting to another person’s murderous erroneous imposition of who or what they believe god is! (Satan inspires murder!) This life or death decision to renounce or confess Jesus has been the case for countless millions of Christians ever since Jesus came to earth! We never know when this type of horrific persecution may come to our doors, this is why we must rally the troops and let out a “war cry” for Jesus to keep proclaiming righteousness, love, salvation, and God’s will for humanity.

The name of Jesus has power and His name invokes love, healing, or comfort but in the case of demons who hear His name, His name invokes hate, violence, and fear! Some people cannot stand to hear Jesus’ name because it makes them very uncomfortable or offended. When someone is offended or uncomfortable, doesn’t that beg the question as to why? Why are some people offended to hear His name? Doesn’t their premise of prejudice seem absurd, futile, and infantile?

What could ever be the cause for an offense with the name of Jesus? Why is there a war on Jesus every Christmas and a war on Him throughout the year, year after year? Is hatred and prejudice against Him an idea that one’s parents taught? Why are the so called “tolerant” people not “tolerant” referring to Jesus? It’s very hypocritical, right? Is rejection of Jesus something that other religions teach? If so, why? Or also, is it the fact that Jesus’ Holy name can invoke a feeling of dirtiness and guilt in the soul with sin? But once a soul is clean, the name of Jesus fills the soul with an in indescribable joy! True, right?

3. Let’s look at the scripture today. Jesus makes it clear that the whole world, all the nations, would be persecuting us, the Christians, for proclaiming His name, the name of Jesus, when the time of the end is near (context of the chapter). Persecution, execution, and the murder of Christians started happening ever since the original apostles preached Jesus and these atrocities against humanity and these innocent holy messengers continues on today. Innocent men, women, and children are murdered in horrible fashions, so what does that tell you about the Christ haters? I thank God I will not have hell to pay for killing one of God’s children! “No murderer has eternal life!” I John 3:15

The first persecutions after Jesus presence were carried out by the Jews, Romans, and Greeks. Paul’s answer to them responding to their persecutions and errors of misjudgments is recorded in the New Testament.  Basically the Jews hated Jesus because He was not the Messiah they had hoped for granting to them world dominance. The ruling class Jews at that time instead of being a pure holy people perfected to rule the world were rather an arrogant corrupted breed whose murderous sins were exposed by Jesus. Jesus name represents humility, love, and sacrifice which is everything the Jews did not want anything to do with. They were extreme hypocrites, and they were warned of losing heaven. Matthew 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

The Romans and Greeks were extremely proud of their dominating wealth, power, and intelligence as well. They were offended by Jesus’ name and teachings because He represented the opposite of the arrogant values their culture was trying to impose on others. Jesus was simplicity, modesty, and His adoration was not to men or to strange invented gods but rather to the one and only Father God Jehovah. Jesus name represents purity, and the arrogant impure do not want to be reminded of their impurity. Basically Jesus rejecters then and now are hypocrites as they believe they are superior to Him and His followers foolishly believing that they are gods while they actually are inferior nobodies as their non-altruistic actions and selfish indulgent life-style reveals their carnal self-absorbed debauchery.

4. There is and always has been a war on Jesus, a war even on just saying His name! But Jesus still has 2 billion followers today because His name has power! In His name miracles do happen, people do get healed, and horrible destructive people get saved and get a complete life change with a new purpose! The Salvation Army’s drug and alcohol rehab centers yearly turn out thousands of transformed men and women freed from their chains of addictions because of the transformative power of Jesus’ name! The evidence of Jesus effect on others cannot be denied! The demons of this world war against Him incessantly! These demons are in high places in society and maybe within your own family!

Consider this as well, how can anyone with sane logic claim that they are offended by the innocent baby Jesus at Christmas or any other time for that matter? How stupid to be afraid and offended by the influence of a baby born in poverty over 2,000 years ago, right? But King Herod was afraid of baby Jesus to the point that he had all the babies in Bethlehem killed! Matthew 2:16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.

Imagine, even right after Jesus is born He is getting persecuted! It is obvious the demonic forces in the world were out to destroy Jesus from the start.  The irony and hypocrisy is that Jesus was honored, worshipped, and supported financially by several kings from faraway lands yet He was almost killed by a king from His own land.

5. Let’s continue on with the hypocrisy present in people who are “offended” by Jesus globally and throughout history. Look at the rise of Communism in the past 100 years; these indoctrinating teachings are specific to hating Christians and Jesus while in general disregarding other world religions. The communists in Russia and China murdered dozens of millions of their own people who were Christian hoping to eliminate Jesus name and His followers. Did they succeed? Obviously not, as millions still exist in their nations despite this war or “religicide”. There is mystical invincible power in Jesus name that people refuse to let go of even in the face of death!

Egomaniac despotic leaders specifically hate Jesus because they look at Him as competition for adoration. How ridiculous for any man to exalt himself as a god to the extreme measure that they want to be worshipped so badly that they give the orders to kill anyone worshipping Jesus and not them. To proclaim God and Jesus above all powers is an obstacle an offence to those who want totalitarian control and adoration. Jealous hypocrite murderers of innocent Jesus worshippers are insanely controlled by demons!

Satan inspired Communism as the perfect political doctrine to appear to be more compassionate than Jesus and God’s people taking from the rich to give to the poor. God’s design is for Jesus followers to share all things in love as the first disciples did as in Acts 2:44-45. Communism is a violently enforced governance imitating the compassion of God for the poor yet their murderous record of corruption killing over 100 million this past century proves that men without Jesus are a total murderous terrors.

6. What provokes this? “And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.” Hate breeds murder. This part of the verse implies the persecution of those dedicated to Jesus will increase. In other words, the increased division will come between cultures, societies, races, and people, and in particular against those who confess Jesus within these class groups. Families will divide! Matthew 10:21 And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.

To get to this horrible point there must be an obvious increasing climate of intolerance to work up to it getting people to hate one another to the extreme. It seems logical that intolerance, being a conditioned response generated by educational/media/governmental perpetrators with anti-God agendas, are preparing the ground on all levels to finally bring it all to a climax to the level of attacking all Jesus followers. And how hypocritical that the intolerant ones demand tolerance?! This defies logic, common sense, and our inherent desire to give and receive respect implying hypocritical people are very blind in their reasoning!

We see this hatful conditioned reaction already at work in societies today as it is not acceptable (And who determines what is acceptable?!) and legally tolerable to reject certain groups of people while at the same time it is hypocritically acceptable to hate and even rejoice over the defamation and even murder of certain other ones. Persecuted groups today include the whites, the police, the rich, and Christians. The hypocrisy is that Christians who teach the opposite of hate are hated, those that teach to love your neighbor as yourself are too frequently not loved back, defended, and given refuge!

7. How is it that Satan and his demons are getting away with the blatant hypocrisy of defending evil ones and persecuting innocent ones through his rulers in high places without getting called out on it by the majority? The majority always get silenced by the minority in power until the pot boils over. Sadly, people ignorant of the Bible are being indoctrinated with the total opposite stances of dozens of the laws and statutes in the Bible.  As Jesus described it, the “blind are leading the blind!”

People are aggressively subliminally and overtly being indoctrinated by certain sectors of the government, by the mainline liberal universities, by the fake news media sources, and by family members void of logic and reason. The bottom line is to get you in the general populous  to reject Jesus while at the same time embrace absurd political correctness and evil postures which implode societies (secularism). There are many world faiths but most are not invading nations for the pleasure of killing in the name of their god, so why the push to tolerate murderous teachings and practice?!

We are living in the time that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 10:21 “And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.” What a horrible betrayal it is to kill your own blood who sacrificed for you and loved you! This pattern of betrayal runs in cycles under dictatorial rule. It happened under Rome, then under the rule of Medieval Kings, then under Communism and Fascism, and now it is rising again but empowered by religious extremists, terrorists, and specifically Christ-haters.

8. Who are the haters of Jesus today? Many nations contain mega millions of fanatics who hate Jesus!  Here is a web link so you understand the magnitude of those who get crazy violent over hearing the name of Jesus. Christmas is offensive to many, did you know that?  http://www.radixnews.com/2014/11/29/imam-saying-merry-christmas-worse-murder-video/

In this life knowing what we know now of God’s love, mercy, forgiveness, purity, and eternal life in this post first Christmas era, we face the fact every soul on earth is offered a chance to accept, love and obey Jesus, or face the alternative which would be to lived cursed with hypocrisy and hate that which continues from now on into forever. Philippians 2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth

Matthew 11:6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. The implication is that the accepters of Jesus are blessed yet those who are offended in Jesus live cursed! And take a good look at the haters of Jesus today, they have nothing to be desired or envied. Current theocratic societies impose horrific abuses and have some of the poorest people in the world. Jesus offers all his followers love, respect, purpose, and value, while Jesus haters are just pawns in the machinery of agendas that offer slavery, carnality, oppression, hate, and reprehensible violent actions. Haters are violent disturbed sous, killers whose spirits will be chained in hell forever judged for their deeds. Jude 1.

9. The Kingdom of God is at war with the kingdoms of darkness of this world! Jesus is the embodiment of all that is good and pure and the mention of His name turns a light on exposing the darkness in the evil, hypocritical, hearts of people.   John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

Jesus gave the commandment for us to take to the world his love, salvation, and light to all. Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature”.  Christmas is the best time of the year to have opportunity to retell the story of Jesus. What a beautiful story with angels communicating goodwill towards poor men, with a pure virgin giving birth to a humble child, with kings and shepherds worshipping Him, all of them setting the example for all to know for all generations to come.

This is not offensive, this is beautiful! But some people turn Christmas into an insult to Jesus denying children the Christ in Christmas. Many people teach hatred for Jesus by replacing Him with anything else! Matthew 18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea

10. The world is on a collision course of self-destruction because people are creating war in the spirit and war in the flesh over what offends them! Some people are offended by certain foods, some by certain religions, some by certain politics, but the real sin is to be offended by Jesus!

Matthew 18:7 Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh! When I learn that my witness of Jesus offends someone do I back down? No! I am changed from being who I was, I cannot deny how Jesus changed me and my resolve to witness His great love in my life! No other person who ever lived accomplished what Jesus did: the conquering of death to bring resurrection to all who believe on Him! I love Jesus for the positive transformation He has given my life! And anyone can have His love and power!  

Don’t worry about offenses in the world, they never end! Worry about offending God by rejecting Jesus, His Son, which is the maximum expression of His love! When you die, will Jesus have been first in your life? John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. The faithful will have a crown of life to rule and reign with Him, but all haters will reap what they have sewn! Come pray and receive Jesus, and then proclaim Him forever! 

God’s Christmas Gift: Fulfilled Prophecy!

God’s Christmas Gift: Fulfilled Prophecy!   Matthew 1:20-23      Kelly Durant

   Do you every think about gifts? It is the season of gifts this time of year and some of you may have even been out buying gifts before coming here. Every gift comes with an expectation. For example a coworker has an expectation that you will spend about $10 on them, whereas a son or daughter expects anywhere from $50 to $100, isn’t that right?

  The gift of Jesus to the world had been in the expectations of the Jews for about 1,000 years! Imagine from generation to generation fathers repeating over and over the story to their children that there will be born a man who will save all of us from our sins and make people right with God! Expectations were high!

  With some people you give them a gift and they give it away, or throw it away!

Like people who you may give a Bible or a study book for Christmas, and they in their ignorance give it to someone else because in their minds God’s word has little importance, they would rather have gotten a gift of a box of chocolates.

   The rebellious Jews, yesterday and today, who despised the gift of God, Jesus, his Son, refused him as gift. Also, today, even in society and in churches, people are despising the Christmas Gift of Jesus and God is storing up for their selves God’s anger and punishment on judgment day.

  When God gives a gift it is supernatural! And expectations are not disappointed! Let us examine all that God did on that first Christmas to make His point that this anointed one.  Lets find.. Matt 1:20-23

 21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins."

22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us."

  A virgin birth is a miracle! God gave the world through the Jewish prophets many signs hundreds of years before it happened how Jesus would come. We will examine just few of them today.

Ist Gift: Fulfillment of  Isa 7:14

14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

  We find evidence of the expectation of the gift of Jesus to come into the world in Matt 2:4 when Herod asks the scribes where the Christ would be born and they answer in Bethlemem.

2^nd Gift: Fulfillment of Mic 5:2

2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,

though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me

one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."

  As we know Herod ordered the killing of all infants under age 2 and Jesus with his parents fled to Egypt spending the money of the gifts of the kings to travel there. This fulfilled another prophecy. Look at Matt 2:14-15 and them look at.. Hos 11:1

3^rd Gift: Fulfillment of Hos 11:1

11:1 When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.

  When Herod killed all the infants there was a great weeping and sorrow in all Bethlehem and this was prophesied over too. God knows the future, even the future of the acts of the evil people. Look at Matt 2:16-17 and look up ..  Jer 31:15

15 Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.

  Some of you were born in Bogota, Colombia, for example, you travel to the U.S. a few years and live in New York, and then you go to live in Atlanta. Could anyone of your parents before you have predicted the 3 places which would be your home? With Jesus it was predicted this way! He was born in Bethlehem, moved to Egypt, and then grew up in Nazareth.

  What happened was after Herod died, and Jesus returned to the country of Israel, his father Joseph did not want to live in Bethlehem because Herod’s son was on the throne, so he decided to live in Nazareth. Look up… Matt 2:23

23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, "He shall be called a Nazarene."

   4^th Gift: Fulfilment of Isa 11:1

11:1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:

   According to Jewish tradition Jesse was from Nazereth, which represents more than a city; the people from there were noble and faithful to God and all of this implies Jesus would be of the same character of the people from the tribe of Jesse. 

   Each of these places has their symbolisms. Bethlehem was a very small village and the most poor of all the cities of Israel. This city expresses Jesus humbleness.

   Egypt symbolizes the riches of the world that trap us into the material slavery. The Jews escaping Egypt through Moses forever meant they were to not love the world and its idols and stop the sinning and worship the true God.

Having salvation for the Christian means the same thing, we escape all the slavery of the idols and love for the material things having Jesus and we worship God who will maintains our freedom as we stay faithful.

    Nazareth, as I mentioned, was a city were people were taught in the old ways of the tribe of Jesse, and the qualities of the people from there were known as faithfulness to God, sincerity, and authentic God worship coming from the purist bloodline.

   We have studied 4 gifts of fulfilled prophecy from Matthew. If you want some interesting home study for Christmas, go home and read Luke now. There are more than a dozen more prophecies fulfilled in those first 2 chapters!

Think of Christmas as the most miraculous, most prophesied over, most expected gift of earth of all time! The greatest miraculous event ever was, of course, Jesus resurrection!

But Christmas should always be special with Jesus as the center of it all.

   We must worship Jesus as the shepherds and the wise men did on that special day! We must also be thankful for the prophets who told us in several dozen ways how Jesus was to come!

   We must thank God that Jesus; the king of Kings has all the characteristics He does. We must be like Him! The 3 main places prophesied over imply this for our lives:

We must be humble, since he was from Bethlehem from a manger

We must be free from sin leaving behind Egypt, which enslaves us to the world.

We must be faithful and noble as those who are from the bloodline of Jesse from Nazareth.

  God gave you the gift of Jesus and for you to give to God, humbleness, holiness, or freedom from sins and faithfulness may take you 1 to 10 years or your entire life! Get started today. Give God the gift of commitment to change your character!

  You know how it is when a musician hears a student who thinks they can sing, but the trained ear knows they really have a long way to go. They sing (off key) “Silent night”. Some people are so proud of their spirituality but they really are not there yet. Some of you are trying to give to God but you are not there yet. You need to do some major work!

God gave you a Billion dollar gift and you are giving him back a $5.00 one in return!

Let’s pray to make Christmas what it should be, a time of sincere worship and change of heart, and thankfulness!

Jesus: The Most High!

Jesus: The Most High!                                                        Kelly Durant

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.

2. When I first started out evangelizing in the 1970’s, there were a lot of drugs, oriental religions, and strange philosophies influencing the culture. When I would meet young people they almost always would expect me to be someone who gets high, because I had long hair like most everyone back then.

So when I would go to pass out salvation tracks at concerts I would often get asked by people before they knew what I was doing, “Hey you got a joint?” (Marijuana cigarette) My response was, “No, but I got something better!” They would then get curious and say what’s that? Then I would take out the little New Testament with Psalms and say I am high on the Most High!

Really, God makes you higher than anything, He’s better than any drug, and I know what I’m talking about! Psalm 9:2 I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High. Some people would laugh and listen to more but others would run away scared because they knew they did not want to be reminded of God when looking for a high! Ha!

3. So how are you handling the daily grind? Life is hard and there are many dozens of things that need to get done in a day and this provokes stress, the secret killer. The sound of our own wheels can make us crazy! Everyone wants relief! Those without ‘The Most High’ don’t know how to get the relief and some turn to refined substances that hook and destroy their bodies and spirits faster than the stress of life itself!

In the 1970s pot was considered the de-stresser used by many young people (and still is, legalized in several states now). However today’s prescription drugs have replaced pot in most places due to the greedy pharmaceutical companies and that is like going from a beer to hard liquor consumption!

Listen to this alarming quote, “Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug, and more than half take two, Mayo Clinic and Olmsted Medical Center researchers say. Antibiotics, antidepressants and painkilling opioids are most commonly prescribed, their study found. Jun 19, 2013 Nearly 7 in 10 Americans Take Prescription Drugs, Mayo Clinic. newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/.../nearly-7-in-10-americans-take-...Mayo Clinic

4. Isn’t this statistic alarming? In 2013 it was a 213 Billion dollar industry! Must be $250 Billion today! People want relief from bodily harm pain and certain drugs are acceptable, but the greater problem is with the opiates and drugs to get high with. People are spending a big part of their money on these pills and then they not having enough money for food, so they come to us, the Salvation Army and other local pantries, to get food. All the time I hear people say that they have to choose between their prescription payment and groceries!

Here is a thought, Genesis 1:29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.” There is an natural herb for almost everything, a headache or a stomachache, and God’s design is life creations are amazing! God is above all and evolutionists don’t ever want you to discover how the symbiotic relationship of the human mind and body with plants proves how High God is above all our understanding of design.

My sister in law has a Homeopathic Clinic in Santa Cruz, Bolivia and she attends to dozens of people daily because there a majority of people prefer a natural means of healing to a synthetic means to cure aliments. One of the worse aliments of today is stress as we all here have a life of non-stop stimulations and near death experiences in traffic with deadlines to meet. Stress is unavoidable but we must recognize it when it is getting to us and take action against it not with a stimulant high which fades but with a permanent high which comes from the Most High’s Holy Spirit.

5. So what is the opposite of stress, is it not peace and comfort? To chill and relax is an action needed for the physical body, like recharging a battery, but to have inner peace, that is the real key to total well-being and that is where faith comes in. It is allowing God to be in control, above you and your thoughts and worries.

Jesus knew that people would stress over their daily needs so he pointed out excessive thinking and worry fixes nothing but rather God is the one who takes care of things. Matthew 6:27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Trusting in God, which is where faith comes in, is something you and I must build up, like building muscle. You actually can have trust and faith in God to solve all your daily problems but you must put forth the effort of consciously praying and asking Him to guide you in order to have it; to have real peace.

6. The solution for a healthy body is to give it rest and time away from the busy-ness. Jesus often went alone to a quite place to pray. Here is a verse that expresses God’s will for us. Isaiah 32:18 And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places;

But if not, there are times when you can be surrounded by a storm, by the storm of life, but if God is your refuge and strength you can have peace in the midst of the storm! God’s original idea of creation was for people to live in a Garden full of life; we were designed with frail flesh to live a life with no stress at all, but a life of full of only peace and happiness. A paradise, a heaven, a safe place for all is what God wants for all His children but evil ones have turned our earth into hell.

Much of our stress in life is from our worry for our daily needs as the money seems to never be enough, but some of the stress we suffer comes from our man made environment as we survive in filthy cities full of crime, theft, exploitation, injustices, war, murder and more! These things are man’s fault, not God’s! Even our basics foods have been modified and corrupted.

7. Suicide rates have been up in the past recent years. There is a conspiracy by Satan to throw every discouragement he possibly can at you and me so that we just want to give up and die! Don’t let despair and depression overtake you! Recognize that sadness, depression, discouragement, are all tools of Satan and we must flush him out of our head by connecting to God and Jesus. Go into a quiet place and pray, and read God’s word which will take you to a higher plane. Time with the Most High will take you into the clouds above the hell here below on earth! Science experiments over and over prove that people who pray and have faith have healthier outlooks which transfers into having better health, mentally and physically.

It is alarming though how when one thing goes wrong in a day how usually 3 or 4 more other things will show up as well making the burden so heavy it seems like it is the last straw breaking the camel’s back. We need to confront the attacks of the enemy by rebuking him. I have often prayed out loud, ‘I rebuke you Satan!’ when terrible things have happened. James 4:7 It is all in knowing that trust in the Most High will bring you and me through the lowest moments of afflictions, be it suffering from your own self or from suffering over someone you care about.

8. So until now I have identified several things that can harm us, several things that can pull us down away from our blissful high place with our Most High Lord. There are many things more than what I will list here that can cause stress, but God can lift you above all of these things if you put forth the effort to change it. Stress killing us can be a product of:

-A. Not worshipping God; which basically is a proof of your love and trust in Him. Not enough of Jesus in your life will cause stress because without feeling close to Him (which you can achieve in prayer), you will be afraid of too many things in life. It is the ‘Know Jesus, know peace, No Jesus, no peace’ formula.

-B Consuming the wrong substances; people who eat unhealthy foods, consume alcohol, or take the wrong kind of prescription pills will pay the price of it taxing their mind and body. When the relaxation of alcohol, pills, or pot wears off, the mind and body counter balance by releasing the stimulant chemicals held back inside which then makes one extra nervous, mentally taxed, and stressed.

-C Worrying about not getting what you want in life. Some people stress over their daily needs and Jesus taught us to ask God for them, but the worst stress is being angry and bitter all the time because you want to be rich and famous and feel life is unfair because you are not getting what you want out of life.

-D Evil spirits are real and attack you and me, and this provokes stress. Christians most of the time live in peace and are protected by God but sometimes the enemy and his demons will attack us. These attacks come in our minds either with perverse temptations, heavy discouragements, or evil thoughts of doing violence to ourselves or to others. Don’t listen to other people’s voices, only God’s!     

9. God wants everyone of His children to feel good and be happy! Obedient loving Christians do feel good most of the time, do you not agree? They live too blessed to be stressed! But it is up to us to learn how to weather the storms of life.

Since one of God’s names is “the Most High” we are reminded that He is high above all things, over all creation, over all people, and over all that happens to us in this life. If He is above all then we trust in His control of matters.

Jesus said that He and His Father God are One, so in effect Jesus is the Most High! He’s King of kings and over ‘all things’. Ephesians 4:10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.   

Come and pray for strength to overcome all of the things that pull you away from the high heavenly places where God wants you! Pray for friends and relatives that are sinful, greedy, abusive, and substance abusing that bring you down. Time with the Most High will take you high up to his level of peace eliminating all fears and worries. I want to be high, full of peace, and happy, how about you?