2 Corinthians 5
5. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
6. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
7. (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
8. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
Psalms 63
A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.
1. O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
2. To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
3. Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.
4. Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.
5. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:
6. When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.
7. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
8. My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.
9. But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
10. They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes.
11. But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by him shall glory: but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.
Starting with Proverbs 17:15. He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.
When your child, regardless of age, starts down a path in life that you know, whether from experience or Scriptures, leads toward that darker side of humanity and those vices which lead to destruction, I think it is our responsibility to try and consuel or reprove said child in those decisions.
Following dreams or trying to improve onesself isn’t what I’m referring to. When one approvingly nods at sinfulness with a wink and a smile, then trying to defend that wicked behavior is what I’m talking about.
In trying to talk with my youngest these Scriptures come to mind. Proverbs 4:13. Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.
14. Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.
15. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.
16. For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.
17. For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.
18. But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
I know you can only say so much and hope the Lord plants a seed there to grow, hoping at some point your child will see the wisdom you’re trying to impart. Although watching or knowing a certain path is being taken it still bothers the mind of a parent.
In such events, with some, fingers are pointed, the blame game begins, words are usually exchanged and sometimes that old tongue causes more harm than good. Wisdom can, at times seem hidden, when stupidity rears its ugly head, but Scriptures and the Lord do not change, their Wisdom is Divine and destroys all of our humanly devised excuses.
I’ve been told to hate sin but to love the sinner. All good there but in today’s society that’s interpreted as not having a right to mention anything about morality or sin or righteousness. In the west all things moral have become relative or either situational, nothing is written in the proverbial stone. I understand Jesus told the harlot brought before Him to be stoned was told by the Savior Himself about the accusation against her, in John 8:10. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
11. She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
Jesus explained that with this woman, at this particular time, He neither accused her, He told her expressly to go and sin no more. He didn’t condem her then and told her to go and sin no more. He didn’t try and cover the fact that she sinned, He knew sins make themselves known at some point in a person’s life and those same sins are enough to accuse a person of wrongdoing. Those who brought her before Him knew the Law, they lived it to the letter without a heart felt sense of mercy. Her accusers knew what the penalty was for that specific sin and tried to tempt the Savior. All failing to an Old Testament axiom quoted by Jesus in Matthew 9:13. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Here Jesus fulfills this by releasing the woman brought before Him. Condemnation is for those who in rejecting GOD’s love, given through Jesus, reject that Love and continue in sin. If the woman before Jesus would have spit on Him and returned to her lovers home things may have been recorded a little differently, but she left with the express knowledge that her life was spared and she was not to return to continue in sin.
With our children, talking to them about life choices referencing Scripture hoping for wisdom, in my mind, doesn’t constitute trying to shove something down ones throat. Mentioning sin isn’t judging in the perverted sense it’s understood today in the west. Trying to consuel a child about sin nowadays seems like an intolerable crime of mind and soul, even when it’s being done out of love.
Just as GOD loves HIS children and tries correcting them, we too are suppose to love and try and correct our children.
Then there’s that time when you just have to step back and let your children reap what they’ve sown. Thinking to yourself, sometimes you just have to wonder….
Proverbs 4
14. Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.
15. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.
16. For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.
17. For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.
18. But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
19. The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.
Proverbs 2
10. When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
11. Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:
12. To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;
13. Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
14. Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;
15. Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:
https://www.opendoorsusa.org/prayerapp Christians minister to flood victims in Uzbekistan Friends, in early May, a dam in Uzbekistan burst, due to heavy rain and strong winds. The destruction meant more than 70,000 people needed to be evacuated from flood areas. There are several illegal churches—churches not registered with the State—and secret home churches for deaf Christians in these flooded areas. Many people, Christians included, lost their houses, food, crops, clothing and important documents in the flooding. Christians from the neighboring towns and cities are accepting evacuees, giving them what little they may have. One Christian man who hosted two families (12 people) in his house shared with Open Doors, “Even though we [don’t have] enough food for our children because I can’t work in quarantine, we accepted those who are in much worse position—they lost everything. I can’t give a lot, but I want to share what I have and share God’s love with them—this is what I can do for them.” Some Christians accepted up to five families in their homes without any promise of help from the government. Unfortunately, the government does not guarantee any kind of financial support to those who have lost everything. Please pray the rain and wind die down quickly. Pray the government of Uzbekistan gives financial compensation to flood victims. Pray that Christians find their hope in Christ and share this hope with others who have suffered losses. Pray for provision for Christian families from neighboring areas who invite flood victims in to live with them. *Representative names and photos are sometimes used to protect identity.
Second Corinthians 2
14. Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
15. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
16. To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?
17. For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.
Hebrews 8
7. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
8. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
9. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
10. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11. And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
12. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
13. In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
Galatians 4
3. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
4. But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5. To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
6. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
7. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
8. Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
9. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
10. Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
11. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.
Galatians 6
6. Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.
7. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
8. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
9. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
10. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
Galatians 2
17. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.
18. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
19. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
20. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
21. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
Gatherings are being shunned, whether secular or religious, shopping is done warily and with a watchful and fearful glance at those near. Someone sneezes or coughs and people scatter or in anger scold another, everything seems on the cusp of breakdown.
In a society where we are constantly being bombarded by advertising I think we need to understand that most of our fears about the changes coming upon societies now are the result of that advertising. Not those silly thirty second commercials on media about a product, the advertising I’m referring to is the constant bombardment by media outlets about COVID19. Yes its horrible, yes it can be transmitted simply by breathing, yes people are dying; but people are living too. People are surviving the virus at a much higher rate than those who are dying from it, at least for now.
Media thrives off of fearful stories, governments thrive off of induced fear to pass legislation and actions, as a means of circumventing existing laws or restraints on their power. So now, in America, like elsewhere in the world lockdown’s are occurring with more frequency. We are told it’s to slow the spread of the virus, which I’m not going to argue the veracity of that statement. If it slows the spread of the virus, GOD bless those who are working to save lives. My concern is the lockdowns are going to be utilized for more nefarious reasons.
Freedoms lost are lost, those freedoms are nearly impossible to get back. Freedom of assembly for one. If people do not meet for fear of the virus and it remains illegal how is religious freedom going to exist? Some may rationalize that “god or church or religion” means little in the face of a pandemic, I would say they are wrong. Those who relinquish their freedoms willingly are allowing themselves to become slaves to a tyrannical state, which historically ends up being evil.
Freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and association are all being pushed aside due to media/government induced advertised fear.
On these cornerstones not only is this nation built, but the Christian faith. Assembling to worship was why Christians are persecuted and die in China and North Korea, in Muslim majority countries and elsewhere. Our freedom of conscience is being violated by forcing believers to accept the advertised fear of association and assembly. If believers violate those assembly orders they can suffer jail and fines or more.
I’m not saying the sickness cannot and isn’t passed by association, but where is the line in the sand?
So we move from the greatest economy of all time, as we are told by those in power. Record unemployment, so we are told. Best of this and the best of that, so we are told. Making America Great Again is the mantra of those identifying as right/conservative/religious/whatever else is out there. Those claims I’ll leave for economists and historians to hash out over the coming decades, Lord willing. Now in our day, at this specific time in our history those best of this and best of that, well, its sinking into an abyss of darkness.
A quote from an article on Zerohedge
Even God doesn’t play dice with the Universe.
And the sooner we give up our grand ideas of top down control through the decisions of wise and insouciant verified smart people the sooner we can deal with the reality of the life in front of us.
Today the world is contracting, not ending. It’s a smaller, tighter world than it was yesterday. That means the closer your relationship to someone, the more valuable they are.
Our society is changing, in some ways for the better, in some for the worse. The coming deaths caused by the virus and changes are not good, it may be a proverbial way of culling the herd, but death is never a good thing for unbelievers. When I read the words the world is contracting it brought to mind a piece written by CS Lewis, its echoed in several of his writings, but to paraphrase it in my way of understanding it, he wrote that modernism, as I interpret it isn’t a lasting thing, machines are built to make life easier but machines break down, and in time all the steel and iron will waste away.
The virus isn’t attacking machines but it is showing how reliant we are on machines, all of those things mankind has built over the past century and a half are now being stalled and shut down by the smallest of creatures. We are seeing that the advertised ideas of “globalism” isn’t the utopia it was advertised to be. We are seeing the financial leviathan that exists cannot cope with the strain of the smallest of GOD’s creations, the military of entire nations cannot fight and cope with the devastation caused by these smallest bringers of sickness and death. So contracting, yes we are.
We are moving into a time where wars will be fought, mankind has never shown an aptitude for mercy on a national level when something like this occurs. Yes they may try and help each other out in one sense but as we can see nations are turning inward, communities are turning inward and locally. Supply chain economics can and are being disrupted by this small insidious creature we call COVID19.
Wars are fought for the stupidest of reasons, whether they want to advertise it as patriotic or not, whether it has roots in religion or not, war is hell and it always causes death and destruction where it reigns supreme. The COVID19 is a horrendous event, the death caused by sickness and the sickness itself are nothing to be taken lightly, but governments never let a crisis go to waste. Laws and regulations are being passed which are going to restrict freedoms, not only those listed in the Constitution,but much more. Thought, action, association, assembly, religious, family, friends, neighborhoods, communities, counties, and states. Everything is in the process of changing, and in most respects not for the better.
When the people begin to cry for succor in their time of need and feel they have suffered long enough from the pain of isolation and poverty then those in power will step forward with a plan.
That plan will be globalism 2.0.
You’ll have to be marked for travel and purchases, to operate in the new economy you’ll have to prove you are not going to infect others. The subdermal or onskin chips are already available and being utilized for medical and financial means. If you do not receive their mark then you’re either criminal or condemned and pushed to the periphery of society. I believe we as a nation are headed down the wrong path.
Revelation 13
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
This the is precipice we are standing on.
Fear induced by the advertising of death due to COVID19.
A society that no longer knows how to think, most follow the herd mentality, they just react with emotions and primarily to fear.
The decision is yours to make, some will say Christians don’t have to worry about the Mark because we are going to be raptured away before it comes to pass, I think those people have the wrong interpretation of Scripture. Most the suffering through the book of Revelation is divine action through natural events or mankind warring upon itself, the last set of judgments are defined as the wrath of GOD that’s what Christians are going to be protected from, the final days of the Tribulation. Your decision can only result in one of two things, in the end either we will say to GOD – Your will be done, or HE will say to us – your will be done.
Either we accept the last and final sacrifice, the Lamb of GOD, HIS Son Jesus, as our Savior or we do not, if we do not then its our will that will be done, we will forever be separated from a loving Father who gave HIS own Son to suffer and die in our place, taking upon Himself all the sins of every person in every age of the world.
Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”
Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Romans 6:23 “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 10:9 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Romans 10:13 “for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 8:38-39 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
This is the decision we all are going to have to make, a decision to believe, accept, and have eternal life, or deny and suffer that eternal death and separation.
It’s your decision to make.
Romans 3
28. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
29. Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:
30. Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.
31. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
Romans 2
1. Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.
2. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
3. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
4. Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
5. But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
6. Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
7. To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:
8. But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
9. Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
10. But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:
11. For there is no respect of persons with God.
Psalms 64
1. Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
2. Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity:
3. Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:
4. That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not.
5. They encourage themselves in an evil matter: they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them?
6. They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search: both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep.
7. But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded.
8. So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves: all that see them shall flee away.
9. And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doing.
10. The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.
A Laymans Discourse 
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