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It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convict,  God’s job to judge,  and my job to love. 

 - Billy Graham

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This guy’s faces like, “Whateva man.”

Egyptian Sandstone Relief of Amun, New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, C. 1543–1292 BC

On the god’s shoulder rests the hand of a king (possibly Thutmose IV’s). The embrace between god and king is a theme commonly found in Egyptian temples.

Amun was one of the most powerful gods in ancient Egypt. At the height of Egyptian civilization he was called the ‘King of the Gods’.  When the army of the founder of the Eighteenth dynasty expelled the Hyksos rulers from Egypt, the victor’s city of origin, Thebes, became the most important city in Egypt, the capital of a new dynasty. The local patron deity of Thebes, Amun, therefore became nationally important. The pharaohs of that new dynasty attributed all their successful enterprises to Amun, and they lavished much of their wealth and captured spoil on the construction of temples dedicated to him.

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Bathrooms, LGBTQ and Love

So I actually understand both sides of this bathroom thing concerning Target. It is very foolish to decide one side of an argument is empirically wrong and that your side is the absolutely best side; that's simply deception.

People are very concerned there is a safety gap created in bathrooms where a sexual offender may pose as a transgender individual in order to get access to their children when sent unsupervised into bathrooms. Parents should be very concerned about any and all potential threats. Thats just called being a parent.

On the other hand, we have individuals who, for whatever the reasons are, do not identify with their gender given by birth. Their struggle, often riddled with depression and emotional torment, is so intense they are actually comforted by the thought of gender reassignment surgery, which is a huge, very powerful decision. That is not a decision made casually by a people who just have another fetish. I have always had the fantasy of being a pirate and longing for the high seas and all sorts of swashbuckling. However, I am not about to cut off my leg and hand so I could completely become an actual pirate, complete with a hook hand and a peg leg. My struggle with a life lived on land, lacking any swashbuckling has never reached a fever pitch so high that I would take these huge next steps, but for some gender identity struggles are very real and very significant–we should be sensitive to that.

The very real issue, hidden within this ridiculous battle with the LGBTQ community that some Christians are involved with, is that we have taken the snare yet again and have drawn yet another dividing line between us and those we have been sent to love unconditionally. It's a tricky thing to be ambassadors of the kingdom of Heaven in a culture ever changing and progressing. It makes many people uncomfortable. It makes many people tremble with fear. Yet, if we will engage this culture as ambassadors and not as dominating war chiefs, we will see significant transformation in the world around us.

Note: I don't have children. I am not a parent. I would never leave my child unattended anywhere, bathroom or no bathroom. My children will also know that people are all different and life doesn't always play itself it as it should or as its been designed to according to my beliefs. That in no way means I don't pour myself out for others. What is the point of jar of perfume unused and not pure out upon the feet of people we never thought God would use to teach us unconditional love and acceptance.

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Upon reading the many prophetic bulletins about Trump running for president, all written and released after the fact, I decided to research any prophetic words about our current president. I mean, I assumed that if these prophecies are true, and God could use Trump, He could most certainly use another politician, though a democrat, who also says he is a christian. The articles I could find had two main subject matters, if you know of more accurate ones send them my way. One is prophecy after prophecy that Obama is the antichrist and the other is that he will be our last president. I don't mean to write this to draw negative attention to the world of prophetic ministry and political issues but rather to communicate that we need a different mindset when it comes to prophecy. If you get a prophetic dream, vision or impression from God and it happens to agree and coincide with how you think and your opinions, please test these words. I read a lot of prophetic content all week and I never come across some of the stories of the prophets in the bible. I haven't come across a prophetic word from a person like Jonah, who received prophetic revelation so disagreeable that He chose to run away and be inside a freaking whale rather than communicate the word to the people God cared about, while Jonah obviously didn't. I've noticed that whenever there's a political prophecy, the candidate prophesied of is always a conservative republican, to the best of my knowledge. Seems a bit coincidental as the prophets or prophetic people who are very strongly communicating these revelations are themselves conservative and republican. My statement isn't that they are making it up or lying but simply that we need to take longer to test these words due to their almost identical resemblance to our own strong opinions. Likewise, if I receive a prophetic word that matches my opinions, I would also consider it suspect. Just some things to think about and discuss.

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https://soundcloud.com/shaunzy-davistein/dont-fear-the-reaper-bud-dwyer-suicide-jam

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https://soundcloud.com/crazygracemonster/crazy-grace-podcast-ep-4-interview-with-nate-allen

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He is Doing a New Thing

God is moving in a fresh way and doing a new thing. I believe that He is drawing us back to the home that we have so often taken for granted - the secret place. He is teaching the church, once again, how to live life with Him and not just for Him.

I really never considered myself charismatic or conservative. I was content enough with Christian. I assumed everyone lived a supernatural life since it was clearly shown in the bible to be the only way to see people lives saved and transformed. I assumed that if we truly wanted a relationship with the Creator, we would have to live supernaturally in a completely subconscious, organic way. I…

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The Sincerity of Sonship

A perfect and theatrical Christian with a blameless witness may be able to convince some to come to their church but the Christian who lives in and from the purity of the secret place will see the lost come to fall hopelessly in love with the man, Jesus.

It’s been a bit too long between blog posts. For that, I apologize. Forgive me. Moving across the country takes its toll on you. We have found ourselves in new jobs, lots of things changing and being surrounded by a community that we have spent years longing for. This has led us to be content in sitting at our local church, taking in the refreshment that only God can provide and dreaming again…

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https://soundcloud.com/user820820820/love-wins-2-0

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https://soundcloud.com/wesley-ruger-han/father-come-home

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SCOTUS and Christian Outrage

Christian outrage may be the biggest vice of the modern church. It’s an issue that isn’t new to the church or its congregants. Interestingly enough, self-righteousness has a way of blinding us to our own sin. In the eyes of loveless focus we lose sight of the identity of our brothers and sisters and focus instead on their struggles. We lose the valuable ground of being able to call them forward…

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Truth for us, especially if you deal with anxiety or panic attacks. 

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He is Father to Us All

You don’t have to look for very long online to see arguments and discussions unfolding concerning one person’s sin on display in our society and the outrage therein. I usually try to keep quiet until I’m no longer extremely irritated to respond. I’m still irritated but at least I’m not in such a violent mood. It is said, and truthfully so, that the most irritating and angering people in your lives are your family. for some reason people within your family can incite such rage and emotion with very little effort. We have to work very diligently to forgive and give grace to them meanwhile we could get robbed and beaten by strangers and easily be moved with compassion. Its a mystery to me why this is so.

Judging by other’s behavior and words, I can only assume that many believers have lost their first love. Do you remember when you first fell in love with Jesus? The first time His presence showed up in your life and in your heart? Remember the way He could whisper softly to you and every ounce of pride and rebellion just crumbles to pieces immediately? I remember when I first fell in love with Him. I remember the things I would do because I was in love. I would read the bible expecting and anticipating Him speaking to me and the scriptures became a love letter, written obviously to many but somehow speaking to the heart of me, the individual. I found it impossible not to love people. I found myself smiling at people I didn’t know, knowing instead that He loved them beyond description. Their sins did not offend, scare or deter me. I understood that we are all on our journey either in Him or to Him, escape is hopeless. Some were more bound in sin than others. This fact was never to have too much attention. I just loved them, hugged them, spoke encouragement and displayed the love of the Father.

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” - 1 Cor 13:4-7

When I read 1 Corinthians 13, I can’t help but to see the heart of the Father on display in the character of the believer. These characteristics are the description of the believer who is in love with Jesus. Only through lovesick devotion can we ever hope to prefer others, to not seek our own and to be kind. This wonderful passage should be daily reading and meditation for every believer, immature or mature, young or old.

Sadly, almost as soon as I turn on my computer and click on that browser, I come face to face with a group of people who believe that writing blogs that speak against certain people and their reality in this life, are helpful. I feel as though Job is coming to us asking us for relief, comfort and help. We are answering as foolish friends from a list of procedures and principles, calling our his past, his failures and doing anything but what we should and must do; ask the Father for his heart. Our Father in Heaven knows the answer to all things in all times. The fear that kept us from intimacy on the mountain is still in play even today.

“Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food. The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?” Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” “But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? And besides, do you think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?” Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” “Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.” “Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her. “I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied. Jesus said, “You’re right! You don’t have a husband— for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!” “Sir,” the woman said, “you must be a prophet. So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?” Jesus replied, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” The woman said, “I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus told her, “I am the Messiah!” Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked to find him talking to a woman, but none of them had the nerve to ask, “What do you want with her?” or “Why are you talking to her?” The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?” So the people came streaming from the village to see him.” John 4:5-30

When Jesus met the Samaritan women at the well, He did not condemn her lifestyle or speak bitterly against her for being with 5 different men. Instead we see Jesus using those hidden facts about her life to display His power and identity and then speaking to the deeper need within her. She was thirsty and He was the only drink she could have that would quench and satisfy her. He did not say go and sin no more, He didn’t have to. He spoke to the underlying issue and the process of transformation began.

What I see is people speaking to the symptoms of sin and not to the underlying, deeper need of the human heart. It’s easy to point at things we don’t understand, sin or not, and shout scriptures from our far removed lives. Jesus is calling us to a deeper devotion to the people He has given us. He is calling us to walk with people through their issues and love them, remembering that they are His children and that He longs for reconciliation. Remembering always the day that we first fell in love with Him and who were on that day.

I thank God every day that He is the Savior that we need and not the one that we want. If we received the God that many of us want, a merciless destroyer of all imperfection, we would be in big trouble. The problem, of course, with any of these statements that I’m making is that it will be perceived as not speaking against sin is what I’m asking for. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. You can speak to the sin in someone’s life all you want but please speak to it as if you love them and as if you prefer them before yourself and as if you are not seeking your own. God has called us to be a righteous and spotless bride. This is not a demand from an angry God for perfect behavior but a promise that the Father Himself will perfect and transform us. This will happen easier and probably faster if we are obedient. If we are not, if we are a rebellious people who make bad choices over and over again, I would think that the church would not react in extreme criticism but respond gracefully like a brother and sister who understands we all fall short. My hope is that we will come alongside these to walk with them and love them into their breakthrough.

We have not been given the ministry of criticism but the ministry of reconciliation. No matter how much someone’s choices, sin or not, healthy or not may offend and upset us, they are also His children and should be treated with honor and respect. They should be approached in love, again remembering the day we first fell hopelessly and endlessly in love with our Father in Heaven. He is the Father of us all, the perfect and those with messy issues, thank God.

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Wind driven contraption that clears landmines

Video

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Real Freedom Transforms the World Around us, Through Us

We have a problem when our freedom in Christ only makes us appear more “Christian”.