The Father of Lies

Genesis 3:1 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”

Do you see the subtle way my words are twisted here? Do you see the way the enemy has taken what I said (do not eat of one certain tree) and changed it into a blanket statement (do not eat of any of the trees), thus confusing the woman and making her disbelieve what I had said? She now does not really know what I said to her, as my words have been taken out of context, twisted and the message fundamentally changed. This is what happens to this day. This is how so many of your fellows are deceived, how they are unable to recognize and/or accept Truth. This is what your enemy does so well to keep you all away from me, to keep you from trusting me, to keep you from obeying me, to keep you from believing in me. Same enemy. Same tactics. Same results: my children do not believe in me, do not trust me, do not know my Word, and decide to live in sin. Sin becomes what makes sense. How? By appealing to what you have been taught I would want. Example: Be your best self. God wants you to be the best version of yourself you can be. So, do whatever it takes. Reject your family. Focus solely on yourself. Spend all of your time and money making yourself “better”. Ignore the needs of others in favor of your own “needs”. What is not included in this concept is what I would consider your “best self”. That would be you becoming the man or woman I created you to be. Faithful. Trusting me. Looking to me for direction. Walking the path I walked. Being more like me. Developing and using the gifts I gave you when I created you – gifts and talents that were gifted to you so that you could use them to serve others. Being one of my ambassadors to the world. Presenting me and the Truth to your fellows in the hopes that they may also make the right decisions and be saved. Standing up for what is right and fighting evil at every turn. That, my child, is the best version of you.

Another: God is love. There is no judgment. There is no condemnation. Both are true statements taken from my Word. But taken out of context and misapplied. Yes, I am love. But love entails telling Truth, not telling someone what they want to hear at all times. Love entails discipline where needed, not allowing my children to run to and fro doing whatever makes them happy at the expense of others and the world. Yes, there is now no eternal condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. But what does being in Christ mean? Does it mean saying you believe in me and calling yourself a Christian and then living like those who don’t? What about the self-sacrifice involved in following me? What about losing your life in order to align with mine? What about serving anyone or anything other than yourself? 

In order to recognize the lies and twisting of my Truth by your enemy, you must become an expert on my Word. What does my Word say? How does it apply to your life? How must you live according to those Truths? If you do not know who I am, what I say, what I want for you – you will believe the lies that are twisted and manipulated to sound as if they come from me. There are no shortcuts. Want to know Truth? Study it. Ask for me to illuminate it. Stay focused on it. Remember when you began to learn Spanish? Did you become fluent by looking at your study materials from time to time and then ignoring them? Did you read a bit of Spanish every other day, without thinking about what you were reading or the structure of the language or what the words meant? Or did you dedicate yourself to learning? Did you study daily? Practice listening to and speaking Spanish all the time? Remember when you realized that if you wanted to become fluent you had to dedicate yourself and much of your time to the endeavor? That the whole key to fluency was time + effort? The same is true here. If you want to become fluent in my Word – where you understand what I am saying, where you can discern my voice, where you can communicate with me fluidly – it takes time + effort. Just as learning a second language, your ability to function depends upon you dedicating time and effort – every single day – multiple times a day – without ceasing. 

The father of lies will continue to do what he does best – lie, manipulate, twist Truth, misrepresent me. What will you do to stand firm, to combat his efforts, to save others from believing him? This is the key today. You cannot stand up to the enemy unless you are in me. Unless you know me. Unless you can discern and hear my voice. Unless you trust me, honor me, follow me, obey me, walk with me. And you can do none of those things unless you know me. I have left you my Word. That is where you will find me. 

I Am For You

Genesis 1:1.  In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 

Do you believe this? Do you trust this? Do you believe that I created all that you see, all that you have ever known, all that you are – that I created all of that out of nothing? If you believe, if you trust, then trust and believe that nothing is impossible for me. Nothing is bigger than I. Nothing is stronger than I. Nothing is more intelligent than I. Not even the evil that is controlling your world at the moment. I know all that is happening. I am aware of all that is. I am aware of all that will be. Nothing escapes my attention. Why do you worry? Why do you allow it to change you? Why do you allow it to direct your path? I have set out the path for you: faith, trust and action. Nothing that happens, nothing that they do, nothing can change what I have set out for you. Walk with me. Be my voice. Be my hands and feet. Do my work. Fight in my battles. I will be by your side. My Spirit will be inside of you. I do not change. I do not waver. I am. Past, present and future – all at once. I am. Stay with me. In the present moment. That is all you have. Do not allow yourself to start wading into the future. You know not what it holds. All you need to know is that I am there, also. Do not wallow in the past. It is over. You survived it and I am still by your side. That is all that matters. Be here. Now. Only in now. You can only act in the now. You can only live in the now. What does this new year hold? What will happen? Does not matter. The only things that matter are that I will continue to walk by your side in this new year, I will continue to help you in this new year, and who I am, what I am – all that will remain the same. I am. That is all that you need to know and trust and rely upon. I am. Rest in that. Work in that. Walk in that. Breathe that in and know that it will never change, falter, weaken, lessen. I am. And add to that knowledge this important fact: I am for you.

Shine My Light

Revelation 22:10-12 Then he instructed me, “Do not seal up the prophetic words in this book, for the time is near. Let the one who is doing harm continue to do harm; let the one who is vile continue to be vile; let the one who is righteous continue to live righteously; let the one who is holy continue to be holy. Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”

Almost. We are almost there. But not quite yet. The day is soon approaching when it will be too late for change. It will be too late for anyone to be saved. It will be too late for anyone to repent. Soon. But, not today. So do not stop trying to tell the lost about me. Do not stop trying to let my light shine in the lives of those living in utter darkness. Do not stop being my ambassador, even while being my warrior at the same time. There is yet a small window of opportunity for the lost to be saved. Keep spreading the Truth. Keep showing what my presence in your lives means. Keep allowing the lost to see what it is like to be living on the solid rock of faith and trust and obedience. Sword of the Spirit. Word of Truth. Breastplate of Righteousness. Stay close. Eyes on me. There is much to distract you. Even the rain outside your window. Remember, I am in control. Just go forth in trust and faith. Shine my light. 

Use It or Lose It

Malachi 3:1-3   “Look! I [The Lord] am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddently come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes. He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver, so that they may once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the Lord.”

You foolish children. You spend time in your daydreams of when I return. You wait and wait and believe that, in an instant, my appearance will fix everything. Your bodies will be restored. Your lives will be perfect. Your world will be healed, peaceful, harmonious. Do you not know that I am beyond anything you can imagine? Do you not know that you cannot even look upon me? You think you have seen the brightest lights imaginable, yet when I come you will not be physically able to look upon me. You believe I am all love and support and help for you. Yet, you forget I am also perfection, righteousness, power and majesty. You characterize me as white as snow, yet you have not the ability to see what white really is. So here you are, living in your fantasies of what will be. In the meantime, you do nothing to improve what is in your world. “God’s got this” you say. “The battle is the Lord’s” you say. “This world is not my home” you say. And, while all of that is true, it is meaningless at the moment. For today, this day in which I have purposefully placed you, this world is your home. You are here to fight these battles. You are here to be my warriors, my ambassadors, my representatives. Not my dreamers and passive children. The evil in your world is not only real, but far far far more powerful and well-entrenched than you can imagine. And it is your passivity that has made the current state of affairs possible. But, you contest, I pray. Yes, you do. And that is never to end. In fact, it would be better if you did that more often. But you are also to fight. Stand up. Fight. Stop the forward progress. Take back your society, to start. Restore your governmental structures. Protect your children, your families, your elderly. Stand up for your beliefs, your faith, your rights as my children. Stop allowing a small number of loud, evil bullies to dictate what you say, what you do, how you worship, how you live. Stop allowing them to harm your bodies, your minds, your emotions, your souls. I have given you everything. Stop handing it over to evil masters. Stop giving them power. Stop putting up with the evil practices – especially the sexual practices and perversions – that are now considered not only normal but protected statuses in your Nation. Just Stop. Stand up. Band together. What they know well, and you ignore, is that there are more of you than them. That you have everything you need already to overcome their evil plans, to stop them, to take back your world. Do not be distracted by their flashy displays of power. Remember the Wizard of Oz. It is exactly like that. They are the wizard hiding behind a curtain (a veil), pulling levers that make him look all powerful. Pull back that curtain. Keep revealing truth and helping people to see. Disrupt their act. Keep them off balance, as they have been doing to you all for so so long. Fight back. Stop allowing evil to win. I have given you power over them. USE IT. Or, lose it – and everything I have gifted you.

You Have Wearied the Lord

Malachi 1:17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. “How have we wearied him?” You ask. You have wearied him by saying that all who do evil are good int eh Lord’s sight, and he is pleased with them. You have wearied him by asking,”Where is the God of justice?”

You worship men. You worship things. You listen to the teaching of false teachers. You elevate the status of “men and women of God”, self-proclaimed spiritual leaders and prophets, who teach false doctrine, who “prophesy” in my name yet do not know me. You believe wrong interpretations of my Word, without taking the time or investing the energy to verify – to study my Word yourself. You choose “teachers” whose gospel messages tickle your ears, make you feel better about yourself, allow you to continue in your selfishness and sin instead of doing what is right – challenging you to live by my Word, my true Word, and challenging you to see who you really are and change whatever is causing you to be far from me. You lie to yourself and tell yourself that you are “following Christ”, that you are a “Christian”, that you are a true  “believer” – yet you do not know my Word, you do not know me, you do not believe what is True. You talk and you talk and you pray and you seek my favor – but you do not say anything worthwhile, you do not listen and you do not actually seek me. You seek what you want me to do for you. You seek help, money, elevation in your business or social lives, safety, comfort. You seek power and knowledge and when you receive them you do not know how to appropriately use them. You say you want me in your life, but what you really want is my power, my miraculous ability to do whatever you want me to do. You say you are my follower, yet you almost always lead and rarely do you follow. If you were in a relationship with a person that treated you as you treat me, would you listen? Would you answer them? Would you want to spend time with them? Step out of your small, self-involved universe and open your eyes, your ears, your heart to the larger reality of life. If you only live for yourself, there will come a day when the only person in your life will be you – you will have achieved what you sought – everything revolving around you. Look around – you are a Nation of people who – in great part – cannot see beyond themselves while wondering why your Nation is breaking into a million pieces. Wake up. Repent. Do the painful work of self-discovery and change. I will hear those prayers. I will listen. I will help. I will change you into the person I created you to be. If enough of you will submit, will humble yourselves and place your lives in my hands – if enough of you do it soon enough – there is yet a chance you can save your Nation. But pay attention, your enemy has taken much ground and advances his evil plans exponentially each and every day. Could I stop him? Yes, in less than an instant. Yet, this is your battle at the moment. Use the free will that I have gifted you and choose wisely. Every choice you make determines the course of not only your life, but your Nation’s. I will end this war when it is time. But don’t make the mistake of sitting around waiting for me to do so. You are to be engaged in the battles as long as I tarry.

Babylon is Fallen

Revelation 18:1-3 “Babylon is fallen – that great city is fallen! She has become a home for demons. She is a hideout for every foul spirit, a hideout for every foul vulture and every foul and dreadful animal. For all the nations have fallen because of the wine of her passionate immorality. The kings of the world have committed adultery with her. Because of her desires for extravagant luxury, the merchants of the world have grown rich.”

This is your nation. You used to be offended when your nation was referred to as the “Great Satan”. Now, you understand. Your leaders are the evil that runs this world. Your leaders – more precisely those that your leaders obey – are the enemy’s hands. This is not new. It has been so for many years – decades at least. What is new is that there is no longer any subterfuge. Very little is hidden. Their agenda is openly advertised. Their methods are out in plain sight. Why do they continue to be so successful if what they are doing is so easily seen? Because the majority of your fellow men are blind, brainwashed, asleep. You have been lulled into a somnambulant state for quite some time. And now, few know how to break out – and truth is many do not even want to try. There is no memory of freedom. There is no innate knowledge of liberty. There is no discernment regarding truth and lies. Some of you remember. Some of you have wisdom, discernment. Some of you know me and know Truth. You are the warriors. It is up to you. Fear not. I am by your side. My Spirit resides within you. My warriors are available to help. I am with you. I will not abandon you. Do not allow your enemy to intimidate you. Trust me. Forward, warriors. Relentlessly. Bravely. Confidently. I have chosen you, prepared you, and brought you here for just this. Armor up. 

You Are Untethered

Zechariah 10:2-3 Household gods give worthless advice, fortune-tellers predict only lies, and interpreters of dreams pronounce falsehoods that give no comfort. So my people are wandering like lost sheep; they are attacked because they have no shepherd. “My anger burns against your shepherds, and I will punish these leaders.” 

Psalm 146:3-8 Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there. When they breathe their last, they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them. But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God. He made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He keeps every promise forever. He gives justice fo the oppressed and food to the hungry. The Lord frees the prisoners. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down. The Lord loves the godly.

You are untethered. You wander and are blown hither and non by the winds of your times. My children no longer know my voice, as their “leaders” have been speaking to them with words that are not mine. They have been feeding lies to my flock for a long time. They preach words and ideas that are meant to pacify my children, not feed them solid food. They preach words and ideas that, instead of leaving them sated and satisfied, leave them hungry. They preach words and ideas that are meant to help my children get whatever they want in this world, under the premise that it is I who want them to be prosperous, happy, satisfied in their worldly lives. They preach that it is about becoming gods themselves instead of becoming more like me. They teach lies and partial truths that – instead of bringing my children closer to me, closer to Truth, closer to becoming the persons I designed them to be – lies and partial truths that draw them farther and farther away from me and my Truth. They preach words and ideas that teach my children that it’s all about self – becoming the “best version of you” – leading them into beliefs and practices that place themselves above me. Same old lie since the beginning – since your enemy was kicked out of Heaven – elevating oneself to my status. Can you really be me? Can you listen to each and every one of my children at the same time? Can you create a universe? Can you design a system as complex as the human body – out of nothing? Sure, your “scientists” can take what I have designed, what I have created, my handiwork and – to a much lesser degree – copy and recreate it. But not one of you – not even the god of this world – can create out of a void. Can you heal with just a word? Can you love and forgive selflessly, unconditionally, unwaveringly, of your own volition? Can you defeat an army without lifting a finger or taking any sort of action? Can you save a soul? Liberate a soul from bondage? Heal a broken heart or crushed spirit? Can you make the sun rise and set? Can you command the wind to stop blowing and have it happen? Do you know everything – everything – there is to know? And are you the essence and source of all that knowledge? Know your place, children. Stop deifying what is not me. Stop worshipping anything but me. Repent and acknowledge that you are the creation, not the creator. You are the student, not the teacher. You are the subject, not the ruler. You are the cherished children. You are my creation – the most cherished of all and the ones that I have given authority over all evil. You are the focus of my attention. Yet, you wander. Yet you untether yourselves from me and Truth and all that matters. For what? Your small, small, minuscule worldly matters? There is a storm raging – within you, around you, all over your world. Do you really believe you have any control over any of it? Do you really believe you can determine its outcome? Even to a small extent? Or, are you aware, accepting and acting in the knowledge that it is only I that can overtake your enemies, calm your storms and save you? Decide. And if you decide correctly, then spread that knowledge and wisdom to those still flailing untethered, in bondage to lies, blind to Truth. Share the Good News. Time is running out.

Finish the Task

Zechariah 8:9. “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Be strong and finish the task! Ever since the laying of the foundation of the Temple of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, you have heard what the prophets have been saying about completing the building.”

Psalm 144:1-2 Praise the Lord, who is my rock. He trains my hands for war and gives my fingers skill for battle. He is my loving ally and my fortress, my tower of safety, my rescuer. He is my shield, and I take refuge in him. He makes the nations submit to me.

This is my command to you. Be strong. Finish the task. Finish laying the foundation of my Temple. The foundation of faith and trust. The foundation built on belief in me. You are my ambassadors. You are my representatives. You know me and so many do not. Build my temple – my Church. Be me to them. Let them see me though your words, actions, attitudes. Show them who I am. Show them that they can trust me. Show them that you live in the same world that they do but you do not live in fear and trembling because you have me in your life. Teach them. Teach them my Word. My precepts. My history. What I have done in your life and in the lives of those you know. Give them hope in a hopeless world. Be a light in the ever increasing darkness of your world. Stop focusing on my return and focus on what can be done to improve your world now. Today. Every minute that you are drawing breath is an opportunity to help someone. You are my remnant. I have left you here for a reason – the only reason that matters – leading others to a saving knowledge of me. See them. Listen to them. Pray for them. Do not shun them, they are not free yet. They have been taken captive by a ruthless enemy, a strong army for evil. Yet, here you are. I have given you everything you need to help free them. Free the captives. You have been given all authority over these agents of darkness. You have access to my armies. You have access to the spiritual warriors at my side. Use the tools I have given you. Trust them. Stand up straight, firm and strong in the face of evil. It knows you are stronger. You need to accept, trust and work in that reality. You have all you need to prevail because you have me. All of my resources are available to you. Use them. Learn about them. Wield those weapons of warfare available to you. I am equipping you. Do you think David should have been victorious over Goliath – a heavily armed, well-armored enemy? With a mere rock? No. But those were the tools I gave to him and I made them work. Should the walls of Jericho have fallen just due to a group of mere men marching around them for days and making a lot of noise? No, logically no. Yet, those were the tools and methods I gave to them and it worked. I equip you and I give you victory. Bold. Be bold. No time for mistrust. No time for fear. No time for hesitation. March forward, boldly, in faith and trust and see what we will do together. You are never alone and you are assured victory with me by your side. I am here. Let’s see what you can do. This is how you win the war. By being engaged. Be a mighty warrior. 

I Would Not Listen

Zechariah 7:13 “Since they refused to listen when I called to them, I would not listen when they called to me,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

And so it is. So many wonder where I am. Why I am not saving your Nation. Why I am not immediately answering their prayers. And my question is: Why have you ignored me all these years? Why have you ignored my Word? Why have you ignored my commandments? Why have you decided to live as you wish, so often against my directives? Why when you obviously do not care to please me should I immediately please you? You self-centered, misled children. You cannot ignore me, my Spirit, my Word, my commands, my directives, my help as long as you are happy then do a complete about-face when you are suffering and expect me to be right there. I am where I have always been. I have not moved. I have not changed. It is you who have moved away from me. You who have changed into heathen. You who have decided to serve your enemy instead of me. Repent. Turn back to me for the right reasons – not just to alleviate your pain and suffering. Yes, I would not wish you to experience the pain and suffering. Yes, I would wish that you are walking unfettered. But, it is you who have chosen that path. It is you who have rejected me and run in the opposite direction. It is you who have taken the worship that is rightly mine and given it to your enemy. Do my children suffer at times? Of course, you live in a fallen world. But those who know me, who know my voice, who stay close to my side – those who truly trust in me – even while they may suffer temporally, they are at peace, they are comforted, they are able to withstand. They know that it is but for a time and that there awaits them an eternity absent pain, suffering, sadness, evil. Can you say that? Can you trust that in your life? Do you know me, really know me well enough, do you trust me, really trust me well enough, to know that any suffering you undergo here – especially if it is caused by your relationship with me – is just temporary? Do you know, as they do, that I will and do carry you through those times? That I am willing and able to strengthen and comfort you as you experience these trials? I am here child. I am waiting for you to return. But for the right reasons under it all. Return because you recognize and regret what you have done and who you have become. Return because you wish to be right with me. Not just because you do not like the circumstances of your life and want me – your personal magician – to take the bad away and give you a good life. That is not what matters. It is your soul – who you are and whom you choose to worship – that matter. Outside circumstances have nothing to do with all of that. Again, I have neither moved nor changed. I am eternally the same. Who have you become? Where do you now stand? How do I fit into that? 

Just Tell Them the Truth

Nahum 3:5-7 “I am your enemy!” Says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “And now I will lift your skirts and show all the earth your nakedness and shame. I will cover you with filth and show the world how vile you really are. All who see you will shrink back and say, ‘Nineveh lies in ruins. Where are the mourners?’ Does anyone regret your destruction?”

This is beginning. The veil is being torn. The skirts of your evil enemies is being lifted. More and more information is being revealed about the evil in your own government. More and more is being revealed about the evil that surrounds you – especially the horrors being perpetrated against your children. Your people are not ready – will never be, really. Yet the truth will continue to come out. Be ready. It will be ugly – devastating. Many will be decimated by these truths and will not know what to do or whom to turn to. Help them to find me. Show them my mercy and love and lead them to the only one who can help them. Some will joyfully receive me. Some will grudgingly listen. And, sadly, many will yet refuse me. You have no control over that. I do not expect you to save any of them. Just tell them the Truth – introduce them to me. The rest is out of your hands.