Unfailing Presence

A question I think it worthy to review on Thanksgiving Day . You often hear the back and forth debate about whether or not America was founded as a " Christian Nation " . I myself do not think it even plausible to define an entire nation as being " Christian " , but in terms of founding institutions , documents , traditions I cannot think of a nation founded more in Christian spirit and sentiment than America . Who would believe in 2017 that Harvard for instance was founded a fundamentalist Christian College ? As were the majority of our oldest and most renowned institutions of higher learning . Institutions that would refuse Christian thoughts to even be spoken out loud on campus today . Which gets to my point , If America could not be considered to be founded on a predominantly Christian basis , what nation or country could ? Is there any better example in all human history ? I have never heard any other nation in all human history held up as being " Christian founded " You would think even the detractors of America being founded that way would hold up the example of some other " Christian Nation " to juxtapose and show how badly America missed the mark ? But I have never , ever heard any other nation offered up by either supporters or detractors . Won't somebody tell me of one , if a better example exists ? Remember I am speaking specifically about the " founding " , not what exists today . " Beside us to aide us , our God with us joining , ordaining , maintaining His Kingdom divine. So from the beginning the fight we were winning , Thou Lord wast at our side - all Glory be Thine ." ( Source unknown )

Another factor involved with Paul putting women on the down low in terms of their public speaking could very well be a bit of male chivalry . Professing Christ in that day was a very bloody , dangerous , deadly business . In fact the first time that Saul ( Paul ) is ever mentioned in scripture is at the public murder of Stephen , the first martyr , for his speaking of this Jesus who is the Christ . Then consider that almost all of the disciples were martyred for their public speaking of this Jesus who is the Christ . It is always a man's basic nature to try and protect a woman he loves in Christ . This " nature " of men to try and protect women is even discussed as a factor today in the introducing of women into combat positions in the military . Paul even details his various scars and perils as a result of his public professions : " Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one . Thrice was I beaten with rods , once was I stoned ......And through a basket was I let down a wall and escaped his hands . ( 2 Corinthians 11 : 24-33 ) On occasion in public I have gently touched my wife on her arm or hand and given her a look just as she was about to say something that I knew would ultimately cause her pain and suffering , but she did not realize it would at the time , and she has learned to trust my judgement in these rare instances , later thanking me for getting her feet back on the ground . This " silencing " is not about her somehow being lesser or inferior to me , she is far superior to me in many awesome ways , it is about me loving her , recognizing her susceptibility to be more easily hurt than I am and preventing it out of my love for her . I am by know means perfect either , and she has several times had to shorten my leash for me when I am about to make a crucial error in judgement that I could not see.

I'm looking for Jesus , not Lucifer , not Adam , not Eve . In Him alone is all power and love inexhaustible ,glorious victory , and eternal triumph . Lucifer , Adam , Eve have none to offer . Granted it is good to be aware of Lucifer's murderous & hateful nature towards me and you , but by Christian nature my view of life is focused on the spiritual opportunities and abundant blessings from Christ. Lucifer, Adam , Eve have none of those to offer either . I guess you could say Lucifer offers his own brand of spiritual opportunities , but I for one would certainly not consider them to be blessings . " And He shall be as the light of the morning , when the sun riseth . Even a morning without clouds , as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain ." ( 2 Samuel 23 : 4)

Images and stories of " Dragons " exist in almost all ancient cultures . This fact supports the bible no less . It provides strong indication that mankind and dinosaurs co-existed for at least a short period of time . A position that is at odds with evolutionary theory . As well as being the only reasonable explanation for civilizations that had no connection to each other having such similar legends concerning " giant lizards " and " dragons "

Jesus interacted with publicans , scribes , political officials on a regular basis and I don't recall Him ever telling His disciples they could not come along .

An individual " church " in the sense you are speaking can " believe " nothing . They are composed of wood , stone , mortar and are incapable of belief . True belief and worship of God can only occur within the confines and constraints of the desirous individual human heart & soul . No matter what " church " that particular human heart & soul happens to be sitting in . That all churches mouth the Word of God does not mean that the Word of God is then written on the hearts of the entire congregation . True worship of God's truth takes places by the members of His church on the sea , on the mountaintop , in the hospital , in the CPA's office , on the playing field , in the nursing home , in the grocery store , at the doctors office , in the school , by the water brook . and yes even in the church itself . But bear in mind if at the very first church service celebrating the Lord's Supper Satan himself was sitting in the pew : " And after the sop Satan entered into him . " ( John 13 : 27 ) We should not be ignorant to his devices , and deceived into thinking that because we are sitting in a particular building calling ourselves by a particular name that Satan himself is any less a very present force for evil , strife . derision as he was in the upper room . " As the hart panteth after the water brooks So panteth my soul after Thee O God . My soul thirsteth for God , for the living God . ( Psalm 42 )

The reasons I know are real , multiple , and Jesus spoke to every one of them . To name just a couple : 1) The conviction of sin . Before I was saved not only did I sin with ease , without the Holy Spirit being the center of my habitual thinking & the dominant force in my life , I did not even know I was sinning and had no sense of remorse or sorrow for my sins . Today with the desire for sin less with each passing day , when I do sin it is heartbreaking and painful 2) Peace . As the Lord says " there is no peace saith my God unto the wicked " and before I was saved there was no peace . No unsaved person can have perfect peace . They can demonstrate for a time what the world calls " peace " which is actually just the manifest superficial absence of discord . But not the peace of God bequeathed through the blood of Christ . The true peace of God that is now mine forever made through the blood Jesus shed thinking of me , that this peace might be bequeathed to me and to whosoever shall receive it . The peace of purposeful harmonious living , that makes possible every kind of meaningful progress . " Beloved , now are we the sons of God ." 1 John 3:2

I think the important thing to remember is that you could back in time 835 gazillion years and there stepping out from eternity beyond to greet you would be this Jesus who is the Christ . " Have I not commanded thee ! Be strong and of good courage , be not afraid neither be thou dismayed , for the lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest ." ( Joshua 1:9 )

You forgot one , it is now possible to marry yourself.

Maybe I was not clear , I was specifically interested in your personal experience of transitioning from a " saved " to a " spiritually lost " estate you speak of And then also transitioning back to a " saved " estate if that is where you are at the present time that is ?

If you acknowledge , which you have , that in the mirror of Obedience to God you sense an " appearance " of evil you are already on shaky ground . In the midst of life's trials and perplexities working your own way through " appearances " of evil relying on inadequate human reasoning and spiritual infirmity is not a path to victory of our souls . There was not even so much a hint of an " appearance " of " evil " for the two disciples that chose to be in the courtyard at Jesus's trial . All things being equal , yet for one of them the lack of even an " appearance " of evil was nothing more than a trap for what would be the most regrettable sins of their life . The denial of their Lord and Savior , not once but thrice . And this after having been specifically warned by the Lord that Satan himself desired to destroy him . Yet with not even so much as a hint of an " appearance " of " evil " why not enter into the temptation of the courtyard ? After all this lack of an " appearance " of " evil " had absolutely no impact on the other disciple present there . How did that work out for Peter ? Peter should have never been present there , and he would be the first to tell you that after the fact , lack of " evil appearances " be damned . Instead of using human reasoning with regards to working out what gives acceptable " appearances" subtracted from " evil " , in the eyes of other feeble humans it is much better to rely on the Divine math of God's multiplication . Obedience to God will always unlock the multiplication of God's Omnipotence and the concern with earthly " appearances " will be left behind as we gaze upon an open field of life rich in the loveliness , honor , and power of Jesus . " I Am come that they might have life , and that they might have it more abundantly . " ( John 10 : 10 )

I'm not sure it would be possible for you to be any more non-specific as to what you mean by " looking " . But for me if the Word of God shows me that my Father is Divinely involved in any process then it is quite alright for his child to be " looking " at what His father is doing in that process. So then the critical question to ponder here is , does the Word of God tell us that throughout man's history God moves in the governmental affairs of men , or not ? That is a yes or a no by the way . " My Grace is sufficient for thee ." ( 2 Corinthians 12 : 9 )

Can you describe your transitioning from a " saved " to " spiritually lost " status , and what specific circumstances were involved your becoming " spiritually lost " ?

By demonic dog and pony show I mean that the demonic spiritualist will be less than honest when they say they have " cast out " what is essentially their own spiritual brethren . The demon has just gone for a stroll . Imagine that , a servant of Satan being less than honest . Much like a magician and his " assistant " working together to the same ends . To fool people . Sure they may give the poor soul a momentary reprieve from the spiritual assault in pursuit of show business & the greater satanic agenda , but the final estate of the poor soul will worse than before . Jesus did provide the detailed spiritual dynamics by which this claim will be made by these satanically possessed bad actors in another passage of scripture . To use today's vernacular it will be satanic " collusion " involving the on again , off again possession of a person which involves no demonic surrender or relinquishing of property rights at all : " When an unclean spirit is GONE OUT of a man , he walketh through dry places seeking rest and finding none . Then he saith , I WILL RETURN INTO MY HOUSE FROM WHENCE I CAME OUT , and when he is come he findeth it empty swept and garnished . Then goeth he , and taketh with himself SEVEN OTHER SPIRITS MORE WICKED THAN HIMSELF , AND THEY ENTER IN AND DWELL THERE and the last estate of that man is worse than the first . " ( Matthew 12 : 43-45 ) Of course the difference being when the Son of the living God casts out a demon the terror felt by the demons is absolutely palpable , as when they were about to be cast out by Jesus they spoke of the " torment " they felt at the mere presence and power of the Son of glory and begged to be cast into a herd of swine , which then ran headlong down a hill into the water and drowned themselves : " And all the devils besought Him saying , ' send us into the swine that we may enter into them ' ....and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea , they were about two thousand , and were choked in the sea ." ( Mark 5 : 11-15 ). No demons GOING OUT for a stroll only to return with a few buddies when He who is the living condensation of divine grace, power & love is doing the " casting " . So horrific and dramatic was this casting out by Jesus that the townspeople urged Him to leave as soon as possible . Now that's " casting out " . You see a demonic fraud can never say as my Lord says : " If the Son therefore shall make you free , ye shall be free indeed " ( John 8 : 36 )

It will be supernatural , and it will be of a "spirit " , just not the Holy one . There is actually biblical precedent for this happening on several occasions , one of the first is when Aaron's rod became a snake before Pharaoh By God's power and then : " ....and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh ,and before his servants , and it became a serpent . Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers , now the magicians of Egypt , THEY ALSO DID IN LIKE MANNER WITH THEIR ENCHANTMENTS. For they cast down every man his rod and they became serpents but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods . " ( Exodus 7: 10 - 12 ) Two identical supernatural demonstrations , but one of them demonic . It is a given that the " casting out " described will be another satanic dog and pony show in which casting out is more of a demonic group effort than anything else . What you need to understand is that Satan does not have a original bone in his body , we are even told in scripture that his " man of sin " who will befriend Israel , will even go so far as duplicating the resurrection.

You don't know your scripture then . Actually God killing Moses was an ancillary factor that I'm sure that did not bother Moses half as much as the real penalty that God saw fit for his sin , and that was not allowing him to cross Jordan and set foot in the Promised Land . Your obvious paramount priority of the flesh not a viewpoint shared by Moses . By the way , since you seem to not ever have read this , God not only killed Moses , but the scripture says God also personally buried Moses . The only instance in scripture of God personally burying a corpse . That is why you can go to the middle east today and be shown Jacob's tomb , Joseph's tomb , David's tomb , etc,etc,etc, ,,, but nowhere will anyone ever point out to you " that is Moses tomb " . By the way God killing Moses in no way made Moses life any less precious to God , nor the lives of the " little children " any less precious . Actually the more accurate interpretation of the incident gives more the meaning of teenage juvenile delinquents . Teenage juvenile delinquents being much more prone to being found in a gang of " 42" causing trouble , than to happen upon a gang of "42 little children " . Little children in a gang of 42 being just as uncommon in those days as they are today . And I ought to know , having been both a " little child " and a teenage juvenile delinquent . And if God should decide to take me or you today that would make our lives not one fraction less precious to Him than if he should end our lives 1000 years from now . " I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes , BUT THOU SHALT NOT GO OVER THITHER . So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab , according to the Word of the Lord . And HE buried him in a valley in the land of Moab over against Bethpeor but NO MAN KNOWETH OF HIS SEPULCHRE unto this day . " ( Deuteronomy 34 : 4-6 )

One thing I know is that once God has entered your heart through His Son Jesus , His Word will take on a whole new meaning and provide splendorous blessings that could have never been realized reading His Word as an unbeliever . You need to move beyond the deep shadows of doubt and repetition , and engulf yourself daily in the marvelous newfound beauty of His Word . Pray instead to the Lord that your reading of His precious Word will further open channels of love and communion with Him that are now your birthright in Christ that you have not yet fully realized in your newly born salvation . You are growing in Christ . Soon you will realize that Jesus is not just lying dormant in your heart , but that He is pro-actively working with you , and you with Him , " I in you , you in me " Using every molecule of you He created . Your heart , your mind , your soul , your body , to accomplish certain ends that he knew he would use you for before the foundation of the world . Congratulations , and God Bless you . The knowledge of His Word satisfies all reason , all faith , all emotion , and dispels all doubt . I know you don't it feel it now but very soon you will not only have all doubt removed but you will be exclaiming to others along with the psalmist : " O taste and see that the Lord is good "

" What do you think about God killing 42 LITTLE children for calling His Prophet baldy ? " About the same as I think of God killing Moses when and where He did . God really loves Moses by the way . Willful sin can sometimes result in the earthly death of anyone whom God loves . Including me . God gave it , and therefore it is right for Him to take when and where He sees fit . That's all I have to say about that . " It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God . " ( Hebrews 10 : 31 )

Your are obviously misconstruing God's love as somehow being a constraint on His holiness and His ability to dispense absolute perfect justice unhindered . The two have nothing to do with each other . God's love & desire for us in no way saves us from the consequences of our choices . Just as a parents love for their child will not prevent that child from suffering the consequences of their own choices . I have heard more than once from the mouths of heartbroken parents words that leave no doubt they still love their child , and always will , yet will tell you in their very next breath that the prison cell their beloved child occupies is exactly where they deserve to be . To think that this ability to separate love and justice that even humans are sometimes capable of is beyond the realm of God's capabilities demonstrates a profound lack of understanding of the Divine nature . " If I ascend up into heaven thou art there , IF I MAKE MY bed in hell , behold thou art there. " Psalm 139 : 8

God's thought on " atonement " is a saving one . Calvary ! Deep it is , full of tears , suffering unto death , redemptive by His own passion , a thought of love so excelling that God Himself can think no greater . The cross of Christ is God's most precious thought for all people . God sent His Son , " For whosoever " said He , And so I know that He sent Him for me .

False doctrines are not living water . They never satisfy , give rest , give joy , give peace . Instead they provide , disillusionment , disharmony , worry , weariness . In this they are always easily identifiable . Only the doctrines of Living water provide true rest unto the soul . In this they are also just as easily indentifiable . " There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God " ( Hebrews 4 : 9 )

I will pray for your husband's healing and for your assurance as well . Assurance that whether or not the Lord provides physical healing the one thing we can always be sure of is that Jesus hears our cry . And because He always hears the cry of His children we can be assured that no matter what the circumstance , He will provide His Holy Spirit to give us strength for the day . To lift us up from the adversity of this world and plant our feet upon the solid rock and put a new song in our mouths . " I waited patiently for the Lord and He heard my cry . He set my feet upon a rock , and put a new song in my mouth " ( Psalm 40 1-3)

Interesting point . Could be the rich & powerful leaders of the pharmaceutical industry & who are currently being given credit for the greatest drug epidemic this country has ever seen qualify as being "great men " as well as "merchants " ? Things are so bad that School teachers in some locales are now being required to take a course on injecting students with antidotes to save their lives from overdoses . Not to mention the qualification of the wealthy powerful great men who are the merchants of the booze industry which is responsible for untold human suffering . The pertinent question to be asked is , does the chemical altering of the mind in any way make a person more open to spiritual evil ? That is a yes or a no . When you consider the number of murders, assaults , rapes , robberies , child molestations that are documented to be committed under the influence of mind altering substances I would have to say yes . Looking at the statistics it is quite apparent that people who ingest mind altering substances are certainly not more prone to doing spiritual good .

Another once powerful nation that is predicted to be a world force again is Japan . You can see how this can happen with what is going on with north Korea .

The only successful mathematical prediction that matters to our understanding is that 1 out of every 1 of us will die . All the mathematical and technical ability in the world cannot save from sin , deliver from sickness , annihilate the fear of death and enable the whosoever will that may come to drink at the fountain of living waters . The only confidence that matters is the confidence in the truth of the eternal resurrected Christ who will always reveal His desires for us if we will listen . " He sent His Word , and healed them ." ( Psalm 107 : 20 )