The Lord of Flies

    Jesus is the given name of God manifested. The invisible "Jesus" who speaks is called "the Word", and the invisible Jesus who comforts is "the Holy Ghost". Jesus is also "the Angel of God" and many believe Melchizedek. 

    Just as Jesus, Lucifer - the angel of  light - has many names: Satan, the Devil, Beelzebub, Prince of the Air, Lord of the Flies and many more. As Jesus is the manifestation of the invisible God, Satan is the manifestation of supernatural Lucifer. Let's now focus on his name "Lord of the Flyers", most often shortened to Lord of the Flies: The Devil can fly. That is one of his assets. On the other hand Satan's limitation is at best flying.

    Jesus doesn't fly. Since he is God in the flesh, as God, he is omnipresent, or as his "name" infers - Existence. However, since God is manifested in something we can comprehend - the flesh - Jesus, although omnipotent God Himself, is material. There is a relationship between time and matter. Einstein captured it well (${\textstyle E=mc^{2}}$; Existence is material with little regard for time). Without material Existence, God is not confined by time. Because he has flesh (matter) he is somewhat confined by his flesh in that Jesus was always at one place at any given time. We do find, though, that time was not a constraint to his location:

Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. (John 20:19)

     This passage doesn't relate how Jesus got in the locked room, but another does: "Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat" (Mark 16:14). The point I'm making is that Jesus can defy time although he is material! He is one place in the flesh but travels instantaneously. How does he do that? He is God! Time does not constrain God at all. Just as each event of the Creation was done instantaneously each day, Jesus traveled, after he was glorified, instantaneously. He did not fly but did travel from place to place.
     God was seemingly confined by His material Existence. After God died on the cross, the physical laws of nature ceased to apply. His essence was still glorified flesh, but his power was the Holy Ghost. For Jesus to be in everyone, it was always by the Spirit of God whose presence is not limited by nature.
     As I've written many times before, the Holy Spirit (pneuma) and the Holy Ghost (pneuma) are the same aspect of God but with different experiences. King David had the Holy Spirit. The Jews at Jerusalem had the Holy Ghost (King James Version). What changed? Jesus died, and the Holy Spirit experienced death with him. Only the flesh died but the Holy Ghost was unscathed:

And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. (Luke 23:46)

     A spirit is a supernatural essence; a ghost is a disembodied soul (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). The Holy Spirit was transfigured at the crucifixion - from the Spirit of God to the Ghost of Jesus. Why did that transformation occur? So that Jesus could live within Christians.
     Paul said it well: " I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Gal 2:20). As Jesus ascended into Heaven his Holy Ghost descended (Acts 1 &2). Jesus flesh was preserved at one location - on the throne of God, but his soul was shared to all Christians who has faith in him.
     The abilities of Jesus are shared so that the reader understands his "nature". Jesus was natural and supernatural. After he was resurrected, Jesus had incorruptible flesh and is only supernatural. Indeed he is supra-man!
     Satan manifested himself in the flesh just as Jesus did. Satan is the adversary. God allowed Satan to come in the flesh for His purpose. Where is that in scripture?

There was given to me (Paul) a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure (Cor 12:7)

     Jesus was the Angel or Messenger of God since the identity of an angel is messenger. Satan had a messenger as well: therein Paul called him "the messenger of Satan". Copying Jesus, Satan took on flesh. Where is Satan's Messenger identified in the Bible? I believe it was Simon Magus:

But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. (Acts 8:9-10)

     I contend not only that Simon the sorcerer was the messenger of Satan but Satan in the flesh. This man became Paul's adversary (Satan) preaching a false Christ all over Asia and Europe. I believe Paul rightfully identified Simon. He knew it was Satan in the flesh with whom he battled. If you haven't read secular history about Simon Magus, you may not understand why Paul so vehemently preached against false prophets and teachers. Gnosticism is false Christianity, sort of like it but entirely against it. Gnosticism is Antichristianity, and Simon was the Antichrist as I believe.
     Many believe that the Antichrist won't come until the last days. I submit that as Satan has lived from the beginning, so has the Antichrist. Many are antichrists, supporting the one Antichrist, but I believe that Simon was Satan incarnated. Simon Magus is summarized as follows:

Surviving traditions about Simon appear in orthodox texts, such as those of Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Hippolytus, and Epiphanius, where he is often regarded as the founder of Gnosticism,which has been accepted by some modern scholars.

Justin, who was himself a 2nd-century native of Samaria, wrote that nearly all the Samaritans in his time were adherents of a certain Simon of Gitta, a village not far from Flavia Neapolis. According to Josephus, Gitta (also spelled Getta)was settled by the tribe of Dan. Irenaeus held him as being the founder of the sect of the Simonians.Hippolytus quotes from a work he attributes to Simon or his followers the Simonians, Apophasis Megale, or Great Declaration. According to the early church heresiologists, Simon is also supposed to have written several lost treatises, two of which bear the titles The Four Quarters of the World and The Sermons of the Refuter. In apocryphal works including the Acts of Peter, Pseudo-Clementines, and the Epistle of the Apostles, Simon also appears as a formidable sorcerer with the ability to levitate and fly at will. He is sometimes referred to as "the Bad Samaritan" due to his malevolent character. The Apostolic Constitutions also accuses him of "lawlessness" (antinomianism).

     I believe that Simon could fly and indeed did! Why? Satan is the "Lord of the Flyers", and he can surely fly.  Not only does that fit the description of Satan, but his title "Refuter" does as well. As "the adversary" Satan refutes Christianity - not all of it, but twists it for his purposes. Gnosticism does just that. The apostles accused Simon by name of lawlessness. Paul seemed to specifically:

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? (2 Thes 2:3-5)

     Paul was referring to the Antichrist. "the son of perdition", who I believe is the incarnation of Satan, or "the messenger of Satan". Paul knew the Antichrist personally. I believe the Antichrist in the body of Simon Magus was Satan in the flesh!
     Simon could fly. He was "Lord of the Flies". Writers say that "he could fly at will". Simon was Beelzebub, and flying is Satan's mode of travel from place to place. He answered God thusly: "The Lord said unto Satan, 'Whence comest thou?' Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, 'From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it'" (Job 1:7). Satan had not only been walking but also flying! He indeed is Lord of the Flies and is limited by that method of travel; the same method he used as Simon Magus.
     Not by chance, the sorcerers name was Simon. Names mean things in the Bible. Simon means "listen". What did Simon do? Created a false gospel to deceive. Of course he desired that his discourse be listened.
     The Lord of the Flies had his listeners in the Garden of Eden and throughout history. He took on the form of the Serpent in the Garden, and as a man in the New Testament. He will come again as a man in the form of the Antichrist. Just as Jesus died and his Holy Ghost protects Christians, Satan is still around and his "ghost' - the ghost of Simon still haunts us! The Word of God is still with us in Holy Scripture, and since 1945 the answer to God's Word has been revealed again in the Gnostic Gospels - the unholy word of Simon!

Siding With Evil

     How to discern good and evil: goodness is order and evil chaos. If an event causes hateful division it is evil. If it creates loving accord it is righteous. Of course, I am speaking of spiritual discord and accord. Unity in the things of the world is destructive and chaotic to Christians.
     There needs to be discord between the world and the Christian. If there is not, then something is wrong with peoples' Christianity. Generally speaking, if non-Christians are for it, Christians should be against it. Of course, there are exceptions but Christians must be quite discerning to know right from wrong.
     I often go back to original sin to examine human nature. Solomon said, "There is nothing new under the sun." With that thought, Adam and Eve's encounters with God and  the Serpent might provide insight in all situations. The Serpent was cunning (Gen 3:1), Eve was naïve (Gen 3:13), and Adam willingly disobeyed although he blamed it on Eve. The Serpent depended on the stupidity of the creatures to undermine themselves and God. Adam and Eve were both righteous, but the Serpent used truth to upset Paradise.
     Did the Serpent lie? Let's examine what he said:

… The serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. (Gen 3:4-5)

     There are two conclusions Satan made: (1) they would not die if they  disobeyed, and (2) God would know that the two, already knowing only good, would know evil. Again, did Satan (the Serpent) lie?
     Satan sinned. John recounted the situation:

And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. (Rev 12:7-9)

     Satan, the great dragon, the serpent, or the Devil drew on his experience. War had broken out in heaven: Lucifer rebelled against God. The Serpent obviously had continued to live because he was tempting Adam and Eve. He had disobeyed God and was still alive. The worst sinner of all time had rebelled against God and was merely cast out. He applied his situation to Adam and Eve. Satan didn't understand death. He knew, that like him, Adam and Eve would be cast out but would not die.
    The supporting evidence is that Adam and Eve, like Satan, seemed to be only cast out of Heaven. (Scripture supports that the Garden of Eden was Heaven or Paradise.)

Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. (Gen 3:23-24)

     Satan knew the outcome and told the truth. He used the truth to entrap the two naïve and rebellious creatures! Satan used his experience with God to understand what would happen to Adam and Eve. Like him, they did not die, and as such Satan told the truth. For His own purposes, God had allowed Satan back in the Garden after casting him out - to test the faithfulness of His new creatures. Satan, as usual, came from walking to and fro in the world to be used by God to test his people as he later was to do with Job (Job 1:7). Note that the Serpent could re-enter the Garden for God's purposes because it had yet to be guarded by cherubim.

     Satan didn't understand God's time. Mankind still does not! Satan had not died, but failed to understand that he would die in God's time. God had a purpose for the Devil,  and that is to test his faithful creatures as he did with Job. The test is always under which tree will mankind stand: the Tree of Life (the Doctrine of  God) or the forbidden tree (the doctrine of men). Will they stand under Jesus or will they stand under Satan? 

     What will happen with Satan when God has no further use of him? 

And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the    , Gog, and Magog, to gather them gather to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Rev 20:7-10)

     Satan will die and it is because he rebelled against God. He did not understand two things: (1) what death is, nor (2) when death occurs.  Death is spiritual torment (dying forever), and it's timing is in the end when God is through with his worldly experiment. Satan didn't lie; he thought he knew it all but didn't.  He will die because if naivete and ignorance. Most of mankind will too!
     Suffice it to say that the Serpent told the truth about their eyes being opened to evil, and they would be "as gods". Satan never implied that they would be gods, but that they would think of themselves in that manner. Satan used the truth again to confuse the two naïve creatures! From that day forward mankind has placed his own importance ahead of God's. Mankind is the problem, and God is the solution to that delusion!
     On both points, the Serpent told the truth. Rather than setting them free, the misuse of truth put them in chains. Christians who are without discernment allow themselves to be manipulated by Satan to undermine God. Those who allow themselves to be manipulated are the fools which is referred to in this passage:  "A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion" (Prov 18:2) and "A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back" (Prov 29:11; ESV).
     Youth and immature adults have many opinions which are not based on Scripture, data, nor reality. Wise men hold back from arguing against the foolish! Eve should not have communed with the Serpent. Her first mistake was not standing under the Tree of Life, instead standing under the tree of knowledge. The Serpent used his knowledge to deceive her. His nature was more than liar; it was manipulator because on many occasions he uses the truth for his own purposes. Many people today are not discerning. They fail to recognize that Satan can outwit them without even resorting to lying!
    Did Adam and Eve die? No! They felt the sting of death, but because of God's grace they will never die. They deserve death but God punished them with tribulation and mortality. He had mercy on his creatures because they knew not what they were doing. No one had ever died before; how were they to understand death?  Satan didn't have to lie but only tell what he perceived as truth to confuse two naïve people, and still does that today.
     Some Christians, unwittingly, side with evil not understanding that they are being manipulated. Discerning people test everything by Scripture.

Behead Christians Without a Fight?

     Some people are naïve. They easily believe whatever lie the Serpent throws out there. Of course, Christians are to love even their enemies, but does that mean never to fight them back? God created mankind with intelligence. Satan confuses, even the elect, with idiocy (Mat 13:22). Eve was one of the two "elect", and she was deceived. Are you an Eve? Are you men wusses who buy into the lie as Eve did? Nowhere did God encourage anyone not to stand up for Him!
     The problem is what people believe love is; it is not toleration. To tolerate sin is to disregard the purpose of Scripture: "doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (1 Tim 3:16). Liberal theologians don't like the part about reproof and correction. They want Christian preachers to go on letting people live the lie! True love is tough love; it is calling out sin and sinners. If we don't, Christians fail their purpose: we are to take Scripture to the world to convert it. That means changing ungodly opinions. With most, it takes really tough love and seemingly harsh correction!
     Positive Christianity is an admission of defeat and half the gospel. Joel Osteen, for instance, influences many. Sin does exist and so does Hell. People must know that, and be prepared to fight. Preachers must preach all the truth. Osteen cannot save anyone; only God can but He calls on us to fight with Him.
     Of course, Christians are to be Christlike. What would Jesus do? "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent" (Rev 3:19). The characteristic of love is to be able to rebuke and chasten those we should love. Why would Jesus do that? He wants that none should perish. Why would loving Christians do that? Christians should also want that none should perish.
   In politics, my trust is in the Word of God. I test everything by Holy Scripture. Of course, I am imperfect in my testing, but God does give credit for trying. I am against liberals (read that as mostly Democrats) because foremost, mankind is to love others, born or not. Murder is equated with hatred (1 John 3:15) which also says haters have no eternal life in them. Liberals/Progressives/ Democrats believe in and encourage abortion. Because they have murder in their hearts, they are haters. I call them out for what they are!
     The current Supreme Court nomination boils down to one issue: They want the liberty of murdering babies so intensely that their entire focus is on that. Democrats have displayed, with the evidence of hatred, an intense willingness to abort the supreme court nomination.  They are willing to abort the life, reputation, joy, and authority of Judge Kavanaugh for one reason and one reason only: so they can continue to destroy their own offspring. This nomination, as well as the termination of the Trump presidency, is all about mankind killing their young. If you are naïve young Christians, and can't see that, you are an Eve! I call those naïve people out because I love them so!
     First off, babes in Christ must understand that life is spiritual warfare:

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephes 6:12).

     Whose side must the Christians take? It seems liberal Christians take the side of Satan, condemning even the bishops who speak truth! If they are not for God, they are against Him. Choose sides wisely for the day will come when that decision must be made by many:

...I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years (Rev 20:4).

     This is near the end of the spiritual war. Given a choice, Christians must determine who is truly their master. The question is: Should Christians stand idly by and take beheading without a fight? 
     Take a moment; what are you thinking? I know what I must do; I must fight in the army of God to defend those who face persecution. There will be a great battle, and Jesus is the King who will lead his legions against the forces of evil. Blood will fill the valley of Armageddon as the spiritual war is ended. Jesus will not stand idly by and take defeat, so why should his faithful soldiers?
     Just a few shots are fired at the present, but it will continually get worse! Now it is mostly a war of words, but is it not better to dissent with words than with guns, knives, and weapons of mass destruction? Christians are to fight back using the best weapons we have:

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: (Ephes 6:17)

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Heb 4:12).

     Presently we are in a war of words. It's the Churches responsibility to lead the charge and the bishops should be at the front. As a faithful servant, I defend what's right with words of correction and admonishment. I do what I must do according to the Word! It's not enjoyable, and those who do will be persecuted, but it is the duty of Christians to fight for truth. Sure, we are to be kind but sometimes stubborn people need to be called out: Jesus called his adversaries snakes to make his point.
      Christian should never defend sin. If they do, I would question: Whose army are they really in? Not only would I question that but so would Jesus.

Will vs. Purpose

     God's will is his purpose for living: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Rom 8:28). God's purpose is to call sinners to Himself.  Barnabas knew God's purpose as, "with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord" (Acts 11:23).
     God's purpose is to call sinners, and sinners' purposes are to cleave to the Lord.  "Cleave" is having unwavering allegiance to the Lord. God calls, and the utmost purpose of mankind is to respond! That process is regeneration - being born again - which all mankind "must be" (John 3:7).
     God calls because it is His will that all be saved. Sinners are to cleave to Him for salvation because by no other Name can anyone be saved (Acts 4:12).  For regeneration to come about, the sinner's will must harmonize  with God's will. God wants that "none should perish" (John 3:16) and sinners want not to perish! Some say they don't care and others so disbelieve in God, that they don't have anyone to save them. That is pitiful; their will is their own will!
     Satan has a purpose: It is to delude mankind into believing that death is inevitable and that there is no remedy for perishing forever. Why would Satan have that purpose? He desires to rule the world and the Heaven. He wants to be supreme. He knows that he can't kill God, but desires to have God's throne and his footstool: "Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool" (Isa 66:1).
     Remembering that God's purpose for mankind is to call sinners to Him. Well, God has a purpose for Satan: to test Christians' cleavage to Him. Satan's purpose, unbeknownst to him is to test the allegiance of Christians to the Lord, and if it wavers! Christians are to have steadfast faith. The following is the test:

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. (1 Pet 5:8-10)

     Sobriety and vigilance are characteristics of those who cleave to God! Satan's purpose is to devour the Christian. Steadfast faith is unwavering allegiance; it is what is being tested. That test is tribulation and requires suffering. If the suffering is persevered, those who pass the test are made perfect, established, strengthened, and settled. My hunch is that the end result of the test is to determine who is worthy of glorification because perfection can only be achieved in Heaven.
     Satan identifies his purpose as  universal kingship. God allowed him temporary life for his purpose: to test his human creation. Hence, God's purpose for Satan and that for himself are not the same! Children of the devil (those not born again according to God's purpose) are like their father: they think their purpose is for pleasure. However, God's purpose for them is that they not perish. Like Satan, sinners' purposes are at odds with God's purpose for them. Regeneration is alignment of our purposes to God's purpose for us. Those who see that truth, to achieve God's purpose, do God's will.
    Since sinner's purpose is pleasure, they obtain pleasure by doing Satan's will. Satan's will is that mankind all perish to diminish God. Ironically, when sinners do Satan's will, they self-destruct to promote Satan's self-proclaimed purpose. Allegiance is to Satan whose purpose is to destroy them rather than cleaving to God whose purpose is to save them! That is foolishness at its best.
     Pleasure is the barrier between cleaving to God and serfdom to Satan. Pleasure is temporal. At the time of death, pleasure will be one thing: to live forever will be your pleasure. Your will, at death, will be in congruence with God's will. On the other hand, sinners who cleave to Satan and not God, will perish forever.
     Of course, even at death, its never too late to cleave, even if cleavage is merely for a moment. However, it's not the mind which cleaves, but the heart. Sinners must want to please God, not save themselves. Hearts harden over time as sinners acclimate to pleasure. Even at death, they continue to cleave to Satan. Isaiah said:

He (God) hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. (John 12:39-41).

     We must lift up God in His time not ours. He chooses the time. He has a purpose for everyone, and it is to His schedule. Not Satan, but God tires of rejection and comes to realize that some sinners are reprobate. They are determined to perish come hell or high water, as the saying goes. God has a purpose for everyone: "that none should perish", but if sinners prefer to perish, God allows that.
     The most important thing in life is that God's purpose for us be fulfilled: "The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man" (John 12:34)?  He is Jesus. It was Jesus on the pole - his cross - which Moses lift up to save mankind from the poisonous Serpent! The Serent's purpose from God is to bite - shoot those fiery darts - and mankind's purpose is to lift up Jesus to be saved from the fiery darts.
     Satan's will is that we all perish, and his purpose is to test whether mankind cleaves to God.
     Our will is that we be emancipated from God. Our purpose is to lift God up by looking to the cross for salvation.
     God's will is that we look up to Him for salvation. His purpose is to provide eternal life to those who cleave to Him. He created mankind for fellowship, and desires one thing: that His creatures love Him back because He so loves the creatures! Ultimately God's purpose is to love and His will is to be loved.

Must Be and Shall Be

     "Born again" and "saved" are not the same experience. The former can occur anytime during it, but the latter only after life.    
     Must be is the present, and shall be is in the future. Musts are the cause and shalls the effects. When the must is fulfilled, the outcomes are the shalls. It stands to reason, since God is a God of grace, that there would be few musts for the people but many shalls.  The musts are obedience and the shalls are rewards! Doing something in the present results in a future outcome. In this commentary, I focus on all the musts and examine only the positive outcomes to make my point.
     Why? All the negative outcomes of "shall be" are in the future, just as for the positives, but negative outcomes are after death. For instance, perishing doesn't happen in this life but after death. Adam and Eve failed to understand that the penalty for sin is death, but because they did not die immediately, Adam thought that God lied! (Gen 3). They failed to understand that ultimate death was sometime in the future, specifically after this life.

     I contend that since negative outcomes are after this life, that positive outcomes are as well since negatives are the lack of positives. The focus on grace is in the following promise: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Obviously this life is limited to one-hundred and twenty years or so. Hence, the positive outcome is in the afterlife just as the negative outcome.

     There are just a few "must be's" in the New Testament as pertains to individual choices. Examine them:

Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (John 3:7)

The Son of man must be lifted up? (John 12:34)

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)

     To be honest, the "must be" in the latter pertains to Jesus's Name. By no other Name can one be saved. It "must be" by Jesus Name. (Acts 4:12). That makes the three "must be's": (1) Ye must be born again, (2) the Son of Man must be lifted up, and (3) the Name lifted up must be Jesus. If John 3 is consulted, lifting up Jesus's Name is the way to be born again!  Thus, all the "must be's" are focused on regeneration (the second birth which Jesus called "born again.")
     I hear preachers of all faiths say, "You must have a salvation experience," or "You must be saved." That's not what scripture says; it does say, "you must be born again!" People are required to do the musts. Therefore if, "You must be saved," implies that it is you who does the saving. We know that is wrong because we must lift up the Son of Man, not ourselves. It is not our name by which we are saved but Jesus's Name. Since, we are not gods, we cannot do the saving. Hence, you must be saved is heresy for only God can save!
     In effect, there is one must: You must be born again. Lifting up Jesus's Name is the Way to being born again. That obedience by faith results in safety. If you remember the story of the Hebrews and the snakes: lifting up "Jesus" on the pole (the cross), resulted in safety for those who trusted the purpose of Jesus. They showed great faith. There is no evidence that the Hebrews were rewarded on anything further than immediate safety.
    What they were to do the rest of their lives would determine their fate. After the snake den, they were safe until the next hurdle. They had to continue on with the same faith. The New Testament calls that "the path". It's not a short path but one which must be walked for the duration of life. The next den of snakes had to be handled in the same manner!
     The outcome of lifting up Jesus was safety from the bites of poisonous vipers. If they were to walk through them again, they would still need to trust Jesus's Name. Thus salvation comes at the same time as punishment. We know from "shall be" that salvation is a future event; we just have yet to discover how far in the future. Let's examine just a few "shall be's" in the New Testament for there are many:

And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. (Mat 10:22)

But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. (Mat 24:13) 

I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved... (John 10:9)

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Acts 2:21)

And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead... (Acts 24:15)

Being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. (Rom 5:9)

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Rom 10:13)

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (1 Cor 15:52) So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. (1 Cor 15:54)     

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thes 4:17)

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. (Rev 21:4) He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. (Rev 21:7)

   Matthew 10:22 pinpoints salvation; it is at the end, and is for those who endure. What is it that must be endured? The barbs of the wicked (Ephes 6:16).  Those "fiery darts" are a continuation of the poison of vipers. Christians throughout life continue to walk through the vipers. Not just once, but time and time again, those safe in Christ must continue to look up at him on his "pole" and honor his Name. The first time a sinner does that instills a trust in Jesus. That trust (faith) is a lifelong event. God never leaves the Christian but the sinner can cease to lift Jesus up.
     Death is when the soul is saved. It doesn't end there! The flesh shall be saved afterward: We shall be changed from corruptible (perishable) flesh to incorruptible (non-perishable). That is the fulfillment of John 3:16 in that those who endure until death shall not perish. They fulfilled the must be and now the reward - shall be saved - is accomplished!
     Suppose that Satan could still defeat God, but of course he can't. Certainty of salvation comes when the Devil is destroyed.  Satan is no longer a threat, and death will be defated! All former things have passed away, and those who endure to the end reach the ultimate safety. None of the heirs of salvation can ever perish!
     Thus, regeneration (born again) is when the old person becomes new, not trusting in themselves but God. Their trust or faith keeps them safe from death just as with Job (Job 1), but Satan can keep firing his darts. Steadfast faith kept Job safe. It is also our safety (Col 2:5). Because of the Christian's faith they see the prize as if it is theirs! Their trust is so profound that they claim the prize before the race is finished. Looking at the prize from a distance - the prize of salvation - is called "the hope of salvation" (1 Thes 5:8). Satan's fiery darts are to diminish that hope until it's gone. Faith keeps the fire burning.
    Those who endure the tribulations of Satan until the end - death - are saved. Death results in two possibilities: Paradise that day, or obviously Hell. The Christian has chosen which at regeneration, and it remains only to not be unpersuaded by the world and its prince.
     Now for my burden: Particular or Calvinist Baptists rob General Baptists of the Doctrine of Christ. They profess another gospel - one in which people do not participate. They are entitled to their belief but in stealth it is always lurking in General Baptist churches. In the south, General Baptists were the majority of Baptists until Particulars came from the north and deceived them. They nearly died out because of Calvinistic Doctrine. That continues today!
     When General Baptist preachers fail to teach, you must be born again, and announce you must be saved, that is Calvinism. General Baptist doctrine includes apostasy - that a Christian can deny Christ and perish for eternity. That is blasphemy against Jesus's Holy Ghost - his Name. How can a sinner be saved, and become unsaved? That is impossible since they are saved from perishing.
     When General Baptists believe in apostasy but accept a believer as saved (past tense), they contradict their own doctrine, considering that those saved from perishing cannot possibly be unsaved from perishing! They contradict themselves!
     Paul spoke of the hope of salvation, but Jesus spoke of salvation as if it already happened. Paul didn't know the outcome but Jesus does! Of course, "salvation" is shorthand for those who are assured of their salvation. They are so trusting that they speak of the reward as if it is already theirs. They are assured, and that's fine, but those who are not so steadfast should realize that they live on a Visa in the Kingdom of God, and they must maintain good citizenship to become "heirs to salvation" (Heb 1:14).
     My wish is that preachers again preach on what people must be, and not take the shall be's as gospel. People know that the reward is on the other side of life, but don't know what they must be to obtain the reward. They won't receive the reward because they were not what they must be!
    My second wish is that General Baptists return to their doctrine. That drifting away from the Doctrine of Christ is done slowly and persistently by Calvinists in the media and mega-churches. We must not believe as they do but as the Word spoke!

Adult Beverages and the Christian

     What one consumes is not a deal-breaker for God: "Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man" (Mat 15:11). On the other hand, what people ingest may be a deal-breaker with God. It may be that what people consume does not cut God off from you, but may cut you off from God!
     We are to be vigilant and sober (1 Pet 5:8) to protect ourselves from being devoured by evil. How sober and how vigilant? Totally sober and totally vigilant. The best protection against destruction is with perfect cognition and no dimness of vision. How clouded can our thinking be and still be safe? Perfect harmony with God is safety. A great suggestion is to be as clear-minded as possible in facing the adversary.
     Alcohol and other drug use is chancy. I would never face the devil sober let alone inebriated, even a little. Courage doesn't come from a bottle, but from God. When facing his "lion" - Goliath - David never picked up a wine-flask but the whole armor of God (the five smooth stones). If it had been the wine-flask, David may have lost and the Son of David never been born.
     Abstention is not for salvation; it is for our own safety. Christians don't need wine; we need God. Paul suggested a little wine use:

Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities. (1 Tim 5:23)

     What is a "little wine"? Enough to settle the stomach and when something goes wrong. With the amount of alcohol used in the world, people must have really sick stomachs and must be extensively unhealthy! With modern medicine, we no longer need a little wine because we have medicines which target the malady. The danger with alcohol consumption is that people us it for emotionally reasons - it comforts.
     God in His wisdom took care of that as well: "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever"(John 14:6).  A danger for Christians is that if we have alcohol we may not need Jesus within us since the Holy Ghost's role is to comfort.
     Alcohol is a tool, not for medicine or thirst, but to remove inhibitions. Christians who consume alcohol may use it to mellow out and as a precursor to sleep. I would rather mellow out with Scripture and pray as a precursor to sleep and do so soberly. Life is just too short to spend it in a daze or not fully aware.  We should enjoy life. Perhaps if alcohol is your way of enjoyment that you may have a false perception of what joy is!
     I have no need for alcohol. I have been quite content facing life with only God and pleasuring in knowledge and my family. I don't need clouded vision or deceptive pleasure for a lively existence. I contend that my life has been better without consuming alcohol than yours has been by consuming it. If God is our fortress, why would we need alcohol? I submit that people use alcohol to appease their other god. Of course, I am referring to pleasuring themselves.
     I often hear, "Well, Jesus drank wine." Did he truly?
     Michael Jackson drank "Jesus juice" - wine with underage boys. Why do you suppose he did that? To remove inhibitions for himself and the children so that they could do what they wanted to do. If you recall, that has always been mankind's problem (Deut 12:8).
     For the record, I challenge anyone to provide Scripture where Jesus drank wine. He was accused of being a wine-bibber, and he made wine, but he likely did not drink wine because he had no need of it! Neither do we.
     Of course, Jesus did turn water into wine. Why would he do that? Because wine wasn't important to him, and he didn't come to keep people from drinking wine but to consume living water (John 4:10). "Drinking" Jesus results in an outpouring of living water (John 7:38). From consuming alcohol comes tribulation and waste.
     While they were pleasuring themselves, Jesus sat there all alone. Jesus made the wine but the owner of the household was credited with it (John 2), Not by chance, Jesus used the holy water pots to make the wine. Rather than using what the pots normally held for cleansing from  sin, the pots were used to provide pleasure. Two chapters later, Jesus was teaching about living waters with the woman at the well. He wasn't telling her about the benefits of wine!
     Jesus tolerated the things of the world, but did not participate in them. He wasn't partying at the wedding but was there for one thing: to present himself to the world. He did that by miracles. (It would have been a greater miracle if the partiers had used the pots for cleansing rather than recreation.) God understood the flesh; that's why he put on flesh - to feel what we feel and to be tempted by what we are.
     Nazarites set themselves apart from the world to please God and be holy. A Nazarite is described in the Book of Numbers:

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the Lord. He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes... All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. All the days that he separateth himself unto the Lord he shall come at no dead body. (Num 6:3,5-6).

     Only Samson was called a "Nazarite" but Jesus was called a "Nazarene". Samson was set apart (sanctified) at birth as was John the Baptist and Jesus. Why would God make Samson a Nazarite and not Jesus? I propose that the purpose of the Nazarite was to demonstrate that mankind, left to his own devices, still sins as Samson did. "All men have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). Whereas Samson failed God, Jesus did not.
     I believe that John Baptista and Jesus were both Nazarites.  There is no evidence that Jesus drank wine, cut his hair during his ministry, nor even touch the dead, although he did heal them. Jesus could do none of those things or break the vow of the Nazarite. He would be unclean. I propose that we all are called to be Nazarites. The New Testament refers to that as "sanctification":

And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thes 5:23).

     Sanctification is being set apart from the things of the world. As you can see, we are all called as Christians to be like Jesus. To the best of our ability, we are to be like Christ. Well, how about the long hair? It is better to be concerned about the head of God and it's thorn-laced crown than styling one's own hair. If we were entirely devoted to God, perhaps we would dress like John the Baptist! Perhaps we would live austerely like John and Jesus who didn't even have a home to call his own!
     My point is that the consumption of adult beverages is all about us, and abstention is more about Jesus. I abstain, not because it gains me brownie points with God, but I believe it pleases Him!
     There are many pragmatic reasons for abstaining. For instance, my son used my smoking cigarettes to defend his usage of drugs. He was entirely correct. The moment he did that, I quit smoking cigarettes! That was 34 years ago and I have been a tobacco Nazarite ever since!
     I had already done that with alcohol 48 years ago. Does that gain Heaven for me? Not at all but I know it pleases God! Many people defend their drug addictions by rightfully pointing out the habits of smokers and drinkers. How much cocaine is acceptable? How much heroin or meth? I suggest none! Likewise, I believe that zero consumption of alcohol pleases God and is more safe than ingesting any.
     Can users go to Heaven? They certainly can if the Devil doesn't devour them first, but I suggest that insobriety makes it easier for Satan to devour! I will never shoot myself in the head because I don't play Russian Roulette. I like knowing that the gun chamber is not loaded, not testing it on myself. I like knowing the Devil can not devour me, not testing him by insobriety. Both are wisdom. God warns people not to be foolish. I will never be addicted to alcohol because I don't consume it. That is pragmatic and wise. Scripture seems to recommend the same for all Christians.
   

Sting For Only Awhile

     A mother should never see her child die. It hurts me to see that because neither should a father. Father's and sons have a strong bond, but mother and child are of one flesh. Children and their father are of the same blood but mother and child of the same substance. When a child dies the mother loses part of herself.
     I have never experienced an attachment such as that but I know it exists. I can see the love of the mothers when they even mention their children. I can see the pride on their faces even when children misbehave. Mothers cover for their children's behaviors because children are a reflection of themselves. My own Mom excused my worst behavior. Dad's don't do that but Mom's do. Their role in life is to nourish, and mothers nurture their children well.
   My brother preceded my own mother in death. It was a terrible day, not for Joe, because he was a Christian, but for Mom who saw part of herself in the casket. She could hardly bear the loss, and I could hardly bear seeing her despair. I hurt for Mom. Mom could not speak because of her stroke but I could see her agony. Thereafter Mom was never the same. It was obvious that part of her was gone. The bright side is that she saw Joe again in a few short months. I firmly believe that this life is just the tip of a spiritual "ice berg" whose foundation in cool waters are so soothing compared to the fires of Hell.
     Because we can't see into eternity does not make it less real. The belief in existence of an afterlife in Heaven is comforting to the living but real for the dead. There is hope! I know that God is good. By grace he forgets all the sins weak people commit as long as they repent and accept Jesus's redemption. Death is just a sting: "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory" (1 Cor 15:55)? It is caused by sin (1 Cor 15:56). Death is not punishment for the righteous. It's a transformation from what one was to what one can be!
    I walked into a hornets' nest one day while mowing and was stung. I screamed because of the intense pain. Within a few minutes the pain was bearable and soon the pain subsided. That's what death is - the cessation of pain. Life on this earth is tribulation because of the Devil. From the moment a child looks to Mom for the breast until a child dies at her bosom, there is tribulation. The milk of life, at first so refreshing, soon turns into gaseous pain. From thereon life is a tribulation. Thank you death from release from life; thank you for an end to tribulation.
     Everyone wants eternal life but they don't want perpetuity in this world. Weak humans could never stand the endless tribulation. My ninety-nine year great uncle stood at his wife's grave agonizing as he said, "I miss her so much. Everyone I ever loved has died before me." I knew what he meant. He had lived too long and suffered too much. As we agonize for those we love, Jesus agonized for us at the Mount of Olives. Funerals are mankind's Mount. They are a time to agonize.
   Jesus agonized for all mankind. He was prepared to die for all mankind so that they would be saved, knowing full-well that most would not be. At our olive tree, we mourn, not for the loved one who died but for ourselves. It is a terrible day for the living but a great day for He loved the one who has died; for God so loved the world that none should perish! 
     Our agony is our loved ones' ecstasy. You see, death is a sting, but on the other side of the pain is relief as the corruptible becomes incorruptible. That deceased flesh at the funeral immediately releases its spirit to in due time to become glorified.
     Never again will those "dead in Christ" suffer because God has prepared for them a place in His Kingdom (John 14:2). Dead in Christ means to have the Ghost of Jesus living in the soul and comforting. It is total dependence on Jesus's shed blood so that sinful people shall never perish. Hence, death for some, is a transfiguration from despair to joy. Secretly, all people dread the sting because everyone truly loves themselves (Ephes 5:29) and desire eternal life. The joy in life is hope in eternity. Eternity is where life can be enjoyed to its fullest; the choice is ours.

He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. (John 12:25)

     God knows when his children tire of the world and are ready for renewal. Death is deliverance from pain for those who profess Christ, and justly so - only the beginning of pain for those who do not. I agonize for my loved ones who have never professed Christ, but rejoice for those who have died in Christ. Death, for those, would be a celebration if it was not for our own loss.
     My friends from years ago just lost their twenty-year-old son unexpectedly. At the funeral, my thoughts were not on their son because he professed that Christ. My agony was for the parents. I hurt for them! As I put myself in their circumstances, I agonized.
     Thoughts of my own loved ones came to mind. This young man had been transformed. Death had released him from  tribulation. My thoughts were on my own son in whom there is no evidence that he is born-again, that Jesus said all must be for eternal life (John 3:7). As they mourned for Brandon, who was physically dead but spiritually alive, I mourned for my son who is physically alive but spiritually dead.
     My pain may have been as intense as theirs but they were comforted in the knowledge that they will soon see their son but I may not see mine.
     Tricia Brown shared her joy and pain. Her eulogy for Brandon was long, so I have permission to abridge it. For her full eulogy, see her Facebook page for Sept 23rd. A portion follows:

You see, things that are hard for many of us came easily for Brandon. He was a gifted athlete. He was a talented artist. He could play music by ear. He never really studied or worked at anything, and he always did just fine, better than fine. He brought home the awards. He made the grades, got the scholarship. He did well.

But, things that you and I take for granted; those were the things that didn’t come easily for him. While he was a wealth of knowledge on so many subjects, communicating his own feelings didn’t come easily for him. He struggled to know how to process his emotions. He was frustrated by things that we would shrug away. Bright lights, loud sounds, rough textures, too much noise, too much stimulation, losing an argument, feelings of anger and being alone, that feeling of “undoneness” that we all sometimes experience—those were things that haunted Brandon. I think he was very afraid of growing up, and he struggled with anxiety and depression for many, many years. To most, he hid it well. He covered it with humor and eccentricity.

Brandon gave his heart to the Lord when he was only four years old. I know that’s young, but Brandon was so intelligent. He knew who Jesus was, and he understood what Jesus had done for him. With the faith of a child, he asked Jesus to forgive him of his sins, gave his life to Him, and followed in believer’s baptism soon after. But just because you are a Christian doesn’t mean that life is easy, and sometimes very intelligent people struggle because they begin to overthink things too much. In Brandon’s final years, he stopped going to church as often as he once had. He thought he had to pretend there that everything was fine when he knew that everything was not. But Brandon never abandoned his faith. Just yesterday, Ian received a message from one of Brandon’s online gaming friends, a person we do not know. Upon learning of Brandon’s death, this friend mentioned Brandon’s staunch beliefs and how he would defend his religion. A post from his work, indicated their knowledge of Brandon’s faith as well. Brandon couldn’t process many things, but he knew the truth, and he would argue it fervently. The Bible tells us that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, and I am confident that Brandon gave his heart to God, and God never let go of Brandon.

At the beginning of this year, I began praying a certain prayer for Brandon. It was from Ezekial 36:26-28. I prayed for Brandon, “Dear God, please give Brandon a new heart and put a new spirit within him. Remove his heart of stone and give him a heart of flesh.”

I am not sure why Brandon had so much trouble finding joy and peace in this world, but I am confident that God answered my prayers. He did not answer them in the way I wanted or how I anticipated, but God knew that Brandon was His child—even before he was my child—and God took Him home. Tuesday night, September 18, was a shock to us, but it was not a shock to God. God knew the number of Brandon’s days before Brandon took his first breath, and while Brandon already had the Holy Spirit living in him, He now has an even newer spirit, a newer heart, and a newer body because he has shed the imperfect human nature, the flawed human body, the unreliable human emotions, and now he is at perfect peace with the Lord. He has true joy, and best of all he is now living with all of those who have gone before him, and he is wrapped in the arms of our Savior.

This is not the story I wanted to write for my life. This is not how I ever imagined my life would be. A momma should never have to bury a baby, no matter how old or young he is. But this I know. I am thankful for the twenty years, nine months, and eight days that God gave me to be Brandon’s momma. I am thankful that I was there when he took his first steps, said his first words, when he learned to read his first book and write his first name, when he learned to snap and when he learned to whistle. And I am so thankful that in his last weeks, I got to see him smile, and dance, and play games with people that he loved. I am thankful that last weekend God saw fit to give me one more dinner with all my boys around the table, one last night with all my chicks in the nest. I am thankful that Brandon was at breakfast with us on Sunday morning and that he came to church with us afterward, that he stood beside me, and that he sang. He didn’t mumble or just mouth the words; he opened up his heart, and he sang. With tears in his eyes, he worshiped our Lord. Those are the memories I will cherish.

In the midst of this, the most difficult day of my life, I am confident of these things. My son loved me, and I loved my son. My God loves me, and I love my God. My God is good, and I will trust in Him. He is my rock and my strength, my fortress and my shield, and He will carry me, He will carry us, through this storm. My heart breaks with the weight of this burden. My body aches as my son has been torn from my arms into the arms of Christ, but even in the midst of sorrow, I know my Redeemer lives. I would not have willingly given Brandon or any of my sons to die for any of you. As much as I love you all, I could never have asked them to die for you or anyone else. When I gave birth to each of my sons, I was overwhelmed with the love I felt and to think that God loved me even more. Today, I am overwhelmed by the grief I am experiencing in the death of my son, but I am even more overwhelmed to know that God loved me and you so much that He gave—He sent--His son to die for us. If you don’t know my Savior’s love, if you don’t understand what I am saying, I beg you not to wait. We are never guaranteed a tomorrow.

Jesus loves you, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. My son, Brandon, to Him belongs. I am so weak, but He is strong.

     What do you "see" from the words of this mother's heart? Despair? Yes. Love? Hope? Yes! The assurance of faith is confidence that Jesus's Purpose is real. He died so that we could live. Just as Tricia and Ian Brown have hope that they will be with the Lord, according to God's Word, they are assured that Brandon is yet alive. One day soon, they all, the brothers as well, will join Jesus in the sky. What a great reunion that will be, not because they will see each other but because they will see Jesus! What a glorious day that will be!

Forebearing One Another

    Churches are imperfect. Even yours! I knew a former member of the mafia who told me that his mafia brothers had been more cordial to him than his Christian brothers. Having come from the most evil of institutions, Phil knew the face of evil very well. Of course, the mafia is iniquitous, but that is their mission. The mission of the church is to gather the Christians together to test their faith in God.
    You thought Church was to worship God? That is true but to do so, Christians must stand in His presence. In my book, Killing God, I presented the Church as the threshing floor.
     Imagine the Kingdom of God with a hedge around it, with you and other Christians within the hedge. The hedge is safety from Satan so that he cannot take your life. On the other hand, Satan can shoot his fiery darts as much and often as he pleases. In the mafia, sinners do not need fiery darts to do wrong. It is their nature. In the Church, in what should be the Kingdom of God, Satan shoots fiery darts and very often. (Refer to Job 1 for this analogy.)
     Like it or not, the Church is not a peaceful place:

Think not that I (Jesus) am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. (Mat 10:34-36)

     Guess in whom else there shall be dissension? Brothers against brothers and sisters against sisters. Not only within the family but the Church family. Christians shall war against each other. It is not their war which they will fight but Satan's. He uses Christians to fight against each other to displease God. Church accordance is collateral damage in diminishing God, and dissension within the Church is how Satan still deceives!
     Churches have discordance. When Christians pursue self-interests, or even the preacher, the Church is in disarray. The preacher can do wrong. The preacher can and does sinful things. Everyone within the Church does because unwittingly they are the only tools Satan has to diminish God. Christian brothers and sisters are not hypocrites but react to deception. Satan can make trivial things into crises. Christians readily justify wrong-doing because "they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34).
    Satan and his legions attack holiness churches the hardest, because they are holy, with deference from God who said "be ye holy for I am holy" (1 Pet 1:16). Satan strives to make holy churches unholy. Do you wonder why people leave the church or why churches split? It is because Satan performs well. He needles Christians until his will is done! Church splits are the damaged peace as Christians' faiths are tested. God allowed Satan to test my faith.
     It effected me when a preacher would not baptize my daughter. I wanted him to counsel her and ensure that she was truly born again. That is imperative before baptism because baptism is a testimony to regeneration. The preacher, because he did not know her, refused. I was flabbergasted and was dismayed for a time. Over a period of weeks, I sought God's will. God taught me that preachers are imperfect just as I am. I returned to my church because the church is not only the preacher's but mine. It gets threshed to test our faith, but regardless of the preacher's perceived failure, I would not let Satan manipulate me. I forbore my preacher and prayed that he would forbear me:

I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephes 4:1-3)

     Christians are to "forbear one another in love". To do otherwise is not God's will. Sure, Christians can leave the Church for heretical reasons or because of Nicolaitanes. However, because the preacher or deacon does something that is wrong from your perspective is not reason enough. Brothers can even be wrong and do wrong things because of the spiritual war being fought on holy ground. That's the threshing floor. The Church is the battleground for people's souls!
     Longsuffering is bearing the world in God's behalf. The Church should be the Kingdom of God with the world excluded, but when sinners come into the Church, the world steps on holy ground. Satan's will is to make holy ground unholy. He does that by discord!
    The Holy Ghost does not come and go, but excites or remains silent. When Christians are of one accord, the Holy Ghost shows Himself (Acts 2:1-3) and when the Holy Ghost manifests Himself Christians are filled with His presence (Acts 2:4). If people are at odds with one another in the Church, God is still present there, but He remains silent because of displeasure. He sees trivial things disrupting His family and agonizes.
     Christians hang on to old behaviors. Because they have not fully committed to God, they still have a burning desire for their way. In the case of my daughter, I demanded that the preacher do my will, and he demanded that his own will be done. Who was controlling whom? Satan controlled the argument, not in person, but his emissaries. Principalities took righteous ideas and turned them into dissension within both parties. That's what demons do!  On the other hand, God would have us forbear one another. That is having leniency when others do wrong just as you would expect leniency with your wrongs.
     I submit that Christians wait for inconsequential things to build their case. As they become dissatisfied with minor things, they wait patiently to make their case against the church. Many of us have done that!  We know that Paul had disagreements with the leaders of the Church and even other apostles. What if he had been non-suffering and without forbearance? The Church would have died before it was built!
    Another church of which I was a charter member was building a new church structure. Before its completion, the church was divided and finally destroyed. Who did that? Was it God or the demons? You know whom. The Christians there knew not what they were doing but were useful tools of Satan doing foolish things without forbearance.
     Satan is still destroying the Church one living stone at a time. Quit allowing that to happen.

The Case of Maryjane and Her Friends

     We all love to enjoy life but is it really life that we're enjoying? Life can be a façade if it is a false reality. Are people really making the best of their time or is time getting the best of them? Reality is for real; anything else is false. People seem to prefer living a fantasy to facing the truth.
     The futuristic book Brave New World is about living a fantasy. The people there existed in their false reality with soma, which was legal, readily available, and its use encouraged. It was how the government gave its citizens a false reality to keep them under control. Everyone was content but what in truth was apathy. They could be taken advantage of and not even care. Of course, the purpose of the somatic existence was for them to accept the lie; they were mere puppetry and the government was their puppetmaster!
     What is soma? In the western world, it's likely that you have never encountered it. Soma is "an intoxicating juice from a plant of disputed identity that was used in ancient India as an offering to the gods and as a drink of immortality by worshippers in Vedic ritual and worshipped in personified form as a Vedic god" (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).
    The intent of soma in the Vedic religions was to intoxicate. Why would pagan religions even desire to intoxicate? So that its adherents would believe the lie. It was presented as an offering to their god, but who was it really for? Themselves, so that they would buy into a false reality.
     Pagan gods are not truly God. To accept them as such requires deception. Major deities of the Vedic tradition include Indra, Surya, Agni, Ushas, Vayu, Varuna, Mitra, Aditi, Yama, Soma, Sarasvati, Prithvi, and Rudra (Macdonell, Arthur Anthony; 1995; Vedic Mythology). To be truly a God one must be Almighty. If there are more than one god, they must not be God because they are inferior beings. Vedic gods are demons posing as gods. To be worshiped requires somatic delusion. What then must we do?

Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. (1 Peter 5:7-8).

     Do you not find it strange that God wants you sober and demons want you intoxicated? Why would that be? Because demons don't care in whom you believe just so it is not the One True God. Demons don't even want for anyone to believe in them because they are at their best when they are in their nether land. If you don't believe in demons, demons are jubilant; you are so much easier to devour.
     Those who live in a somatic haze are fodder for the Devil. He's a beautiful angel, a dark one, but he walks like a roaring lion. You are not a match for him on your own. You need God's protection because God cares for you! Sobriety and vigilance are your protection. Vedic gods, and others like them, want you in a haze, and with your guard down, so that they can eat you alive without you even knowing that you are the food.
     Soma has many friends. Her sister is Maryjane. Marijuana leads to where no sober person would go! "Take my hand," she says, "and follow me to better places." I have had hundreds tell me that they were led to hard drugs by the hands of Maryjane. When hard drugs seem to be defeated, Maryjane leads her lovers back to her friends.
     Someone once told me that he was more aware and could drive better when high on marijuana. That delusion is symptomatic of insobriety. That is living a false reality. That's where demons want people to reside. She (Maryjane) knows where they are when the Devil and his demons come to devour. Where the Devil goes, their soma allows them to willingly follow. The user is the puppet not even knowing of the puppetmaster's strings!
   God is a jealous God. The Devil is neither God nor jealous. He wants you to fornicate with Maryjane because afterward you are his. He cares nothing about fidelity and purity; his desire is that you be high on whatever he brings to you. Your will becomes his will. Doing what is right in your own eyes (Deut 12:8) is okay with the Devil, because you are doing his will and he's happy at that. Satan smiles when you are deceived. The haze you choose in which to live is his environment. Within that haze, you are his and fail to even know it!
     Where does the Devil want you? He wants your life. He will give you all sorts of pleasure because you follow him in the haze. Maryjane will lead you to pleasure; your inhibitions are left behind with sobriety as you blindly follow the one who will devour you. Maryjane may not be the lion but she will indeed nibble and chew as her friends come to devour you when she has you weak.
     You may this moment reject God's word because you love Maryjane so much. You may love her more than God. Why would God command that you remain sober? Because he loves you so much that he desires that you never perish. Maryjane can and will destroy you. That's what she does. That's her purpose!
    Some say that Maryjane is just a sometimes friend, and that they spend little time with her. Maryjane loves to tease. She is a taunting flirtatious little "girl". She hopes that when your guard is down, it is she that will "sleep" with you. Maryjane knows that if you are flirting with her, you are not in love with God. She is a user, and the user is whom she abuses.
     You trust her that she will never harm you, but she only laughs at your naivete. When you sink low, she will be there to lift you up, but where will God be? He will be jealous as you love Maryjane. Her friends: cocaine, heroin, and even meth, will come there so that Maryjane can help you love them too. Neither is she jealous! She knows that you will love her regardless of your other loves.
     Do you really believe that God wants marijuana to reduce your inhibitions? If so, you have been deceived already! God warns to be sober and vigilant. The demons want  you induced so that they can have their will with you. They say it's for medical purposes, but the Truth tells you differently. Whether for recreation or pain, the demons have their arms around those who use. They merely await further escapades in Maryjane's bed until she has you. Where she leads, you will follow.