Month: October 2016

Confessions of a screwed up middle aged man: the struggle

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There are times when I am weak and I hate it. I strive to do what is right yet I still do wrong. I hate it. I truly hate it.
I have failed God, I have failed Jesus and I have failed myself.
At the same time Satan is joyous and celebrating.
Yet still I go on. I pray and plead for forgiveness. Yet I still go on.
Each day I waken here within this temporal plain I know my task is not yet completed.
I have not finished God’s design within my life.
What is it you wish me to do dear Lord?
What have I not done?
Who has not heard the message you have given to me to share?
Is this why I am still hear?
The prayer:
I wish to kneel at Your feet and give all praise and glory unto You for only You are worthy of any and all acclaim.
Please Lord God guide me toward Your goal You have set for me within my life.
Please allow me to reach the pinnacle of my service unto You.
For you have created all there is and those here upon this small speck of sand within this vast universe take it and You for granted.
As I myself do time to time and I ask you to forgive me for doing so.
This nation is in dire straits and it is all due to those that live within it taking it and You for granted and turning their backs upon the blessing You have given this nation since its foundation two hundred and forty years ago.
It this time of our great trial yet give us the knowledge and the strength to do what is right now.
For the chance to truly do what was Your ideal is past beyond our control.
Guide those that call You Lord be they right with You or not to do what will give all glory unto You. No matter the cost that will be required to do so.
I ask all this in the name of your Son the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Millennial outreach #2

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Wishing to help all
This is one of the key elements that those that preach Socialism throw out to those willing to hear and listen. It has been this way since the beginning of the 20th century. This was one of the selling points by Lenin and Marx during the revolution that overthrew the Russian Empire.
Another key element in Socialism is the rejection of religions or more accurately God.
Now here is something that has been done throughout the centuries. Not just the open rejection of God, but the belief that humans can govern and control other humans. This is what Socialism boils down to. A government of select people dictating through rules and regulations who can have what and how much. This is a key element of most democracies as well as monarchies throughout all time. This however is not a key element of a republic which was the original governmental makeup of the United States when it was first founded.
Those that belief that Socialism has never been done in the “right state of mind,” is a fallacy from the very beginning. It always starts in honorable ideals and actions, but always ends very badly.
But for now we will leave this alone and bring in another aspect. That being Christianity. Most of you will not believe this, but the Bible actually does describe how a community of Christians are to interact with each other. Christian’s are instructed to care for the widows and orphans of their fellows. It clearly states that if God has blessed them with worldly wealth not to horde it but to share it with their fellows that have not been given wealth.
Since I have never seen this done in the correct manner in my entire lifetime then I can understand why so many Millennials seek after Socialism.
Here is the problem. It is not, nor has ever been, the responsibility of the government to provide for the wellbeing of those within their respective communities. It is the responsibility without taxation of those within the communities to address the issues themselves. Whenever a third party known as a government gets involved in the situation it opens the door to corruption, greed and mismanagement. This is one reason why this nation was founded as a republic and why the federal government had limited powers. This is why the majority of power was left in the hands of the states. For those closest to the problems could handle them better. The further you get away from the problems the odds of solving them becomes impossible to achieve.
Now to return to allowing the government to be your caregiver, which is the basic tenants of Socialism. Two countries in the world went to full socialism, which then took the next logical step of becoming communism which is that the government controls every aspect of your life. I lived in the time when these two nations were coming to an end. One the U.S.S.R. which refused to let go of the socialist ideals, even though corruption had been prevalent within ten years of its forming. I watched the news has they showed lines of people waiting to get into their local markets just to pick up what they could to eat. Usually bread and butter. On the other end of the spectrum you had those in the upper levels of their government living wealthy lives and eating caviar as well as any other food they wished to have. They surrounded themselves with beautiful women who were their mainly just to survive and to steal want little food they could get the hands on to give to their families.
The same was happening in China, but as they saw the soon downfall of the U.S.S.R. they realized they must adapt and change. So in 1978 they allowed the return of capitalism into their nation once again. However still the majority of it citizen must struggle to survive while those in power live in luxury.
I also suggest you listen to how things are for North Korea a small communist country and you will hear the same horror stories and of political purging time and again. This is where Socialism always leads.
A prime example in history of the first true Socialist endeavor was the French Revolution, even though they were not strictly following a known socialist doctrine. The ideals and reasons behind it were nearly the same as the removal of the Russian Emperor at the beginning of the twentieth century. The result was the guillotine and then a power hungry dictator named Napoleon.
Socialism always ends up worse for the common human being and only a select few live in wealth and luxury while the rest live in poverty and starvation. It is simply a modified dictatorship or monarchy.
You can never get something for nothing. That is why capitalism is the best way to succeed and allows everyone the opportunity to do so.
It is here that many of you reading will scoff and curse at what I just said. Examples of those living in poverty now within many of the inner cities within the United States will spring to your mind. Yet what you are actually seeing is Socialism already in practice within the inner cities. Most within these areas already rely upon the government to survive and they are governed by strict regulations not allowing them to gain money without destroying their families in the process.
What is needed is the removal of government not the increase and more dependents upon those few in power that feel they are better than anyone else. These are things that are taught within the Bible to look for, and I challenge you to pick one up and read it, just make sure it is not a NIV version for that one has been modified by those that wish to control and govern you.

Confusion

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That is the state that many that call themselves “Christian” find they are in. Why is this?
It is due to not knowing or truly understanding the Bible.
Many will question this, some may become angered, but all I have to say is that if you are bewildered, confused and feel misled, then you do not know the Bible.
Most rely upon others to tell them what this part of the Bible says, or how Jesus would respond to this or that.
A prime example of this was given by the Democratic candidate. Someone who states to have been a Sunday school teacher. Misquoted the Bible, either unintentionally or maybe intentionally. She said:
“The greatest commandant is to love.” That is partly true, for the rest of the verse is extremely important and give an entirely different message.
Matthew 22: 37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment.”
As you can see these have two different meanings. Her version means to love everyone, very hippie mentality by the way, but the true version means to love GOD, and to do that means you must follow the teachings of His Son and ask Jesus into your heart to be your Savior.
This is why it is important to learn the Bible for yourself and not from others for as you can see they can give you a message that is something that can lead you into the pit and to death for all eternity, while the real meaning can lead you into eternal life.

The accidental misuse of God’s gift to you, your daily bread.

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This is one I myself am guilty of and I am strive hard to correct this issue. What is it exactly? As I say in the title it is our “daily bread.”
However to be truly accurate it is the money we receive for working.
Right now many reading are doing the usual of questioning my point of view, but they shouldn’t. For those that go into the world and seek to gain an income so that they can have a place to live, have a car, clothes to wear and to be able to eat, is in essence our daily bread. Is this not part of the Lord’s Prayer? Then in basic reality this is a blessing from God.
How we manage this blessing from God is part of the stewardship that God places upon us, as is working to gain this blessing. But more into how we manage this blessing.
One of the biggest misuses of God gift to us has been credit, now most in the western world live off of credit. Why? Because they have been led to believe that this is how we are to live. We are to get loans for everything. This is our willing surrender of God’s gift unto to others that do not need or deserve to receive God’s gift given unto you.
Leviticus 25:35 “If one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and cannot support himself, support him as you would a foreigner or a temporary resident and allow him to live with you. 36 Do not charge interest or make a profit at his expense. Instead, show your fear of God by letting him live with you as your relative. 37 Remember, do not charge interest on money you lend him or make a profit on food you sell him.”
Romans 13:8 – Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law.
Unfortunately we have all fallen for this brainwashing, and so all we thing we own we mostly do not, but we must end this cycle.
I am now pursing getting my house in order and I must say I am ashamed that I have lived most of my life in debt not to God, but to a usurer. Why is this?
Because we are to live humbly and modestly and any extra we have is to be used to help those in need. This in the Body first then those outside of the Body with no interest and need to repaid sought after.
I highly recommend looking into Finical Peace University and learn how to be debt free and allow yourself to use the gift God has blessed you with as it was meant to be used.

All for naught

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This is what it is like to seek to have power and rule over others. It is a task that will end in folly. It has no true lasting goal, no true lasting achievement, and no true lasting acclaim. It is for nothing but a waste. Especially when it is sought after for the lust of the power and the riches many associate with leadership.
Now you have to understand how someone who truly attempts to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ approaches leadership.
There may be a need for someone to lead, in fact in some cases it is unavoidable, but to a Christian it is not something they desire to do, they do it out of a need to help those that are in need of someone to guide them.
The Bible makes a clear distinction between those of the world that seek to lead and those that or of Christ and are chosen to lead. Those of the world think themselves better and lord it over those they deem to be below them. Now even though this description by Jesus was made nearly two thousand years ago it has never changed. Why? Because humanities base nature has never changed especially if they do not know Jesus as their Savior.
Those that follow Christ know that they are required to make of themselves almost literally slaves to those they have been led to lead. The goals are to please and help those that are below them as Jesus Christ Himself did for all of humanity. He was God and put on the mantle of humanity, lowering Himself to our level. However, that was not enough. He didn’t come upon this planet as a lion to lead the Jewish people in revolt, but he came as a lamb to teach and love with His kindness and words. Pleading with them to see the glories of His Father God. Yet they rejected Him and subjected Him to the worst death allowed in this time.
Must Christian leaders seek to kill themselves? No, but they must be contrite and not over power and not even a great orator. Why? For they know that this life does not contain their true rewards, but the eternal life that is yet to come.
This is why seeking after leadership and or wealth comes to nothing. For once we enter into the eternal as time goes by none will remember their actions be they good or bad. That is why it is for nothing.
An example of this is those of ancient history. The Minoan civilization that was destroyed when Thera erupted in the Mediterranean Sea sometime between 1642-1540 BC. We have some artwork from them, some building fragments, but nothing else. Not who led them, not really anything.
That is the future that is to come for all except those that have received the eternal grace of Jesus Christ by asking Him to be their Savior.
This is why seeking power and riches and feeling superior is a waste. What is the true riches, the true reward is seeking eternal salvation in the service of the Creator of the Universe.

Millennial outreach #1

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This is the first of many post, I hope, that will be aimed at giving some insight into things like Socialism, Capitalism, Christianity and maybe so other topics.
Give God a chance.
Now I open with this topic because I realize that many within the Millennials do not think there is a God, or if they do their view of the Creator is not fully informed.
Don’t judge a book by its cover. This is a time old adage and can easily be applied here. But what is the cover of the book of God? I don’t mean the Bible, but that will come into play later. I mean what is the face of God that you see presented in the world today?
Many will say the church, which is the correct answer. As you can see throughout the world there are many religions. Christianity is the largest of these and there is a good reason why, but that is not important at the moment. What we are centering on is the buildings called “churches.”
The word “church” appears within the Bible only in the New Testament and is the word “ekklesia” in the Greek, which is defined as:
“An assembly, congregation, church; the Church, the whole body of Christian believers”
As you can tell from the wording it is the people that are the “church” not the building itself, yet that is what today’s definition of the word, which is the building not the people.
This was one of the first big mistakes that have occurred over the centuries and there have been many. All due to humanity. People have been replacing God with themselves ever since the beginning of the human race, and it has never stopped. This is why the cover of the book of God is something not pleasing to look at by most. For the cover you are looking at is not God, but humans placing their own personal views of what God is to them that you are seeing.
That is one reason there are so many divisions within Christianity itself. You have the Catholics which is the longest surviving image of a type of Christianity, but it is stuff full of humans imposing their own agendas within it. Then we have the Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist, etc. You get the point.
Again these are not God, these are just humans trying to give themselves some type of order in which they feel comfortable in their attempts to worship the Creator of the Universe.
Now here I will get a lot of snickers and scoffs because I used the statement “Creator of the Universe.” Many will be saying that the universe is too large for a divine being to have created, but that is just the point, God is that great.
One of problems that those that say there is no God have is they cannot handle the concept of creation itself. Most within the churches hold to Creationism, that everything came into existence in six days. Now as can be seen with things like fossils and layers of the earth that show a progression back in time, this does not fully hold together. On the other hand we have those that believe the earth is billions of years old, this view does not hold together as well. So if neither view point is correct how does that prove there is a God?
One of the main point of science when it comes to the creation of the universe is the Big Bang, or as it should be stated the “Big Bang Theory” for no humans were present at the creation of the universe so it can never become an absolute, so the word “theory” must remain attached. Anyway, so the theory goes that from nothing or nearly nothing and in less than the blink of an eye an explosion of matter erupts outward causing the creation of the entire universe. Now let that description sink in for a moment.
Could this not be the action of a divine being?
The answer is yes it is. Then this shows that God is a real possibility.
Now it is time to mention the Bible, but I will stick to the Old Testament for the moment. Within these books there is over forty prophecies about the Savior. Where He will come from, when He will arrive and even the fact that He will be rejected and killed, just to point out some of the forty plus. The statistical odds for all the prophecies to come true is 1 in 10 to the 15th power in other words:
1:10,000,000,000,000,000
Yet every single one of these prophecies was fulfilled in the being that is known as Jesus of Nazareth.
Only odds like that can be fulfilled by a divine being.
So if the action of creation shows there is most likely a divine being and the odds that Jesus fulfilled every single prophecy about Him and He is the Son of the divine being we call God, then there is a God and Jesus Christ died for your sins that you are committing.
So I will end this here and allow you to think and ponder on this. Then we will continue at some point in the future, but in the meantime if you cannot wait you are more than welcome to look though my past blog post and read those as well.

Confessions of a screwed up middle aged man: I find it astonishing

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“What is it you find astonishing?” asks you the read.
How those that feel they are up holding Christianity, in their eyes, gleefully supporting a person like Donald Trump.
As has been fully established Mr. Trump is a mere human being with flaws and sins of his own to account for.
But those that call themselves “Christian” and oppose Mr. Trump are not doing so out of hate, nor are the majority of them attacking or judging those that do support this mere mortal.
Here is how I see it from my own personal viewpoint.
I have shown within the Bible that from all that has been shown and seen that Mr. Trump is of the world. I have seen no change in this whatsoever. In fact it has been proven more and more that this is the case. The Bible makes it clear that we are to avoid people like this, especially if we are seeking to have them lead us.
The Bible also shows what we are to look for in a leader that does follow the Bible. This again is fully shown not to be how Mr. Trump acts. If you seek further details look through my past articles to get a more detailed look into these points. I will not bother to restate them now for it will distract from where I am trying to get to with this article.
I will say this. Yes there is a divide that has been made very clear within this election. I strongly and wholeheartedly feel it is due to the coming judgment that is approaching this nation and possibly the world itself.
God has sought in the past to see where those that say they followed Him stood. The uniqueness of this nation’s ability to vote for our leaders is also a tool made by God Himself to judge where the heart of this nation’s people stands. The vote shows where people’s hearts and minds are. Where their understanding of God and the Bible stands. (Those that question that God established how this nation picks its leaders has already shown they know nothing of God so I will not bother to explain my belief in that any further for again that is a distraction.)
When the people of Israel were to make account of themselves it was through prayer, supplication and adherence to the Torah. Time and again they failed at this, turning to live in and of the world and each time God punished them till finally in A.D. 7 0 the destruction of the second Temple and the scattering of the nation throughout the world took place. Ever since Reagan left office each Presidential election that has followed we have progressively gotten a choice of ever worse candidates till we have reached the present selection. The worst of them all to have ever run for this office.
In the last election God made it very clear we had an out, but 54,000,000 people that professed to be “Christian” stayed home mainly due to the fact that a Mormon was the candidate. This nation is now suffering the price for this decision to stay home. Everything that has happened in the last four years is on all the heads of those that stayed home, just because the Republican candidate was not “Christian” in their point of view. Yet they have not repented. They have not turned to God and asked for His forgiveness.
Many here will now protest what I have just stated, especially those that are the ones that call themselves “Christian” and have rallied behind Trump.
Here is the thing.
The mere fact that they have rallied behind this man of the world shows they have no true understanding of the Bible or of salvation itself. Their eagerness to run to this man has shown to not only the world, but to God. That they are blind to the truth. That they are hypocrites and they wonder why the Millennials are turning to Socialism and rejecting God.
What the real problem is, is that neither those that call themselves “Christian” nor the Millennials, for the most part have been shown the real image of “Christianity.”
True Christianity does not seek after wealth or rewards upon this earth. True Christianity does not horde the wealth they have for themselves but willingly share it with those in need, not through taxation or allowing the government to do it, but they do it themselves and willingly. This is the very thing that Millennials are seeking to do by running to Socialism, but they have been lied to on what will come from Socialism. Most are not aware that more humans were killed under Mao and Stalin (over 100,000,000) then have died under any of the forty three President of the United States put together. I am not counting wars. I am counting killed just for not agreeing with those in power.
This is the road that the Millennials are heading us down all due to those that think they are “Christian” when in reality they are not.
What needs to change is that all need to come to a true discernment of who God really is. They need to come to a true understanding of who Jesus Christ died for. They need to came to the point of comprehension that true Christianity is not becoming rich and powerful but living modestly and humbly, placing those in need before themselves, which Socialism may promise by its designed to do, but never has nor ever will achieve, because one main element is missing from Socialism………. GOD.
Whenever humanity seeks to control humanity by stating it can only be achieved by humanity, tyranny, famine and death result all due to what comes from within a human being:
Mark 7:20 – And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. 21 For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”

It is time to let churches die.

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Now let me say this up front. I am not saying end belief in God that is a must, which more need to come and acknowledge.
What I am saying is that the businesses called “churches” must end.
It is churches that have caused so many to lose their faith and belief in God in the first place for well over the last one hundred years.
What is needed is the return to living room churches or even park churches.
Okay before I go any further let’s make this word “church” end here.
The meaning no longer fits what it was originally nearly two thousand years ago. Now it has been perverted and changed into something that is a pseudo-religion, not the Body of Christ itself. The buildings today which are called by this name in most cases no longer teach the Gospel. All they do is teach feel good messages to keep the pews full and the money raking in. It is this current image of “churches” that has allow those false prophets like Osteen to flourish and to become rich off the suckers that come into their buildings or mail in their hard earned cash for a supposed “blessings” that will never come.
I think going with the Quaker or Amish wording is more suited. “Meeting.”
The Meeting can be at anyone’s house or as I a mentioned parks and such places that are open and free. It can change weekly.
This is to help get people to once again focus on the real reason to be gathering together. To honor and worship God through the love and grace of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ and to truly fellowship, not socialize or network. Fellowship, by reinforcing people’s faith and belief, console and reinforce when there is doubt and lack of understanding.
As to the pastor issue. I feel more and more that any person associated with an organization or organized religion should not be sought after, but at the sometime should not be rejected either. However, they should not be in charge all the time either. There should be a group though that does meet to organize where they wish to meet, but keep at the same time every week. Each person in the group taking turns to teach those at the Meeting their own chosen topic from the Bible. No ongoing messages that make you have to come back every week for several weeks. All that is designed to do is keep you coming back to tithe more.
Why is there a need to let churches die? The answer is obvious to all that have eyes to see. They only serve as social clubs full of gossips and football stories, when or if the message of God is taught it is so watered down and useless that none grow from it. This is why so many leave the church now. They see the hypocrisy and come to a point of saying I can learn more outside of religion. Never realizing that what they have witnessed is not truly God or His Son, but humans parading to be more than what they are.
That why Meetings need to come to be. Small groups of no more than twenty max, smaller preferred. All with one goal in mind. Coming to know the Bible better and in so doing come to know true salvation.

The ghost town nation (do not read if you do not wish to become scared)

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For the last eight years I have watched business after business close. The smaller ones at first and now within the last few months I have watched big chains closing their doors. The biggest surprise was the “Best Buys” in our area. One day they were open the next they were closed up tight. No warning they were just closed and had an emergency liquidation sale sign upon the doors.
Why is this?
The Democratic Party and those in power in Washington D.C.
All locked away within the Beltway that surrounds the capital of this nation. Where 90% of the wealth in this nation now lives.
The reason I am writing this is the reason I have my name the way it is for these blog – Dreamwalker1960.
Well I walked one of these dreams, and once again I got a bad sign. Now you must understand one thing. I am not in the market to buy what I am about to mention.
I dreamt that I had just bought a car. The dealership was full of cars and people were everywhere doing their normal thing, business as usual. So I bought the car. A few days later I needed something from the dealership, what I do not know. As it is it wasn’t going to happen. As I pulled into the dealer’s parking lot I found it empty, the signage gone and the windows covered up and no one in sight.
This is the destiny of this nation if we continue to elect Democrats and do not vote out any that have been in office for over twelve years. The rich politically connected will continue to get rich. Those that are poor will remain poor and have a harder time surviving. Those in the middle class will then join the poor and they will struggle even worse for they were not already living poor.
This is the goal and the plans of the Democratic Party. This has been made very clear by the current president but none listen, none wish to believe.
This however is the reality. For we are coming to the end, yet none wish to listen, none wish to believe.
Will the end happen tomorrow? The evidence does not support this, but the return of Jesus Christ is coming nearer every day. It is not centuries away, it is not decades away, but it is years away. As each day passes those years are becoming fewer and fewer.
These closings of businesses are only a forerunner of what is to come. Too much is becoming dependent upon the internet, and we have not lost control of that as well as of the first of this month. It will become difficult to get food, clothes, and items. It will get to the point as they are already priming the way with the Apple watches to have the chip implanted into your skin to make purchases. The chip is the mark.
When I first got saved in the eighties God flooded me with dreams. For I am a dream of dreams
Acts 2: 17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.
In one of these dreams I was chained to others in a line as we were being led to the back of an empty store. The shelves still within it but they were empty. Those of us chained were those that had refused to take the mark of Satan, the chip. We were being herded by tattooed covered people that laughed and taunted us. Then I saw a thirteen year old boy, he too covered in tattoos, run into the area cheering as he held the severed head of a woman, blood still dripping from her neck, by her blonde hair.
This is our destiny and I see it coming to reality as I watch store after store close turning this nation into a ghost town, where only those that have sold their souls to Satan will be the rich and the powerful for a short time.
In the end though the entire world will bend its knee to God and proclaim that He is the Creator of ALL.

Why do Christians seek others to join them? The “crazy moral code.”

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re-post
The light is shown upon the answer to this question in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Within this chapter you get a glimpse into the mind of someone that has truly accepted Christ as their Savior.
Now you ask, “Why did I word that last sentence as I did?”
I worded in such a manner because someone will come along and say: “Well I am saved and I don’t think that way,” which is exactly why I worded it that manner. Those that can fully relate to this chapter have their minds as I call it “God centered.” While those that do not totally relate are either still growing in their faith or have stagnated in their growth toward God.
But, back on topic.
Let’s look at verses 6-10:
“So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. 7 For we live by believing and not by seeing. 8 Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. 10 For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.”
Here is the first line of distinction, that being that even though we are here upon this earth in this corrupt body we strive daily for that time when we will be in the presence of God. It is something that we wish to share with all humanity, but we reconcile that this may not be achieved when we read the last verse of this group:
“For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.”
That being the promise of eternal judgment. This is where we get into the next verse and explains why we seek to add to the Body of Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:11 – Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too. 12 Are we commending ourselves to you again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart. 13 If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. 14 Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. 15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.
This explains the answer to this question which is the title of this article, but we need to break down points within this group of verse, because something interesting comes to light.
The first thing that come to light is in verse twelve.
“so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry”
This is the challenge to those groups that pride themselves on having a large turnout. It is not how many people you get into the seats, but in their salvation and placement with God that is more important. Thus the finish of this verse which is: “rather than having a sincere heart.”
This is an ongoing issue that is within Christendom. Many ministries start out upon the right path and then somewhere along the line the need to survive in the world takes a hold of them. You see true ministry doesn’t pay well, so people start to compromise the message of God and when they do this two things start to happen. They start to get more people into their seats and they start to want more of the world themselves. At first not for themselves but many have children and they compromise for them.
Now look at verse thirteen for it is the next point that needs light shown more upon it in this section.
“If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit.”
Many have called me crazy, a nut job and accused me of having some screws loose in my brain. When they do this I take it as a compliment and this verse explains why. For we are not doing this for our satisfaction, but for everyone else’s salvation.
That last point in this group of verse is the point that it states “we have all died to our old life.” Paul the author of these letters is a perfect example of this statement. For he was a Pharisee and was persecuting the early Christian Church until Jesus chose him to be the apostle to the gentiles. When someone truly becomes saved they no longer wish to live in sin. ANY sin. So if someone continues to live in their sinful lifestyle the exact same way they did before their supposed salvation then they are not truly saved, but are living within a sham of a false salvation that will not only lead them astray but others that see these people living in their lie and think that these people know God when they do not.
Those that truly live a God centered life do not wish any out of love for their fellow humans to suffer a fate that is truly too horrifying to explain to any true satisfaction. What they do know is the pure love of Jesus Christ’s saving grace. They see it so clearly that they do not care if those that reject them call them crazy. For if God’s glorious reconciliation is this wondrous that they do not care what other think of them just how horrible is the opposite side of this image?
Think upon that for a while.