The Unforgiving Debtor

I often wonder why Christians are so unforgiving, often they are more unforgiving then others, of others sins against them. It seems that it must be that somehow they still have the idea, that they somehow stand before God on their own righteousness.
In the book of Matthew, we read of a story that Jesus uses to illustrate, not just how He is, but how our heavenly Father is, and how much more if we have the Spirit of Christ in us, we should be.
It is a story that you don't often here in today's "feel good about yourself" sermons or the hell fire and damnation sermons of judgmental preachers of doom.

I would like to repeat that story exactly here as Jesus tells it as written by Matthew, who understood this most of all. See Matthew was a tax collector, one of the most hated by the people of his time, as often they are in our time.
The point is not about money though, the point Jesus is making here is about our Father's relationship to us, and how much more our relationship should be with others. My quote is from the NIV Bible.
Matthew 18:20-35
21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"

22Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

23"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

26"The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' 27The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

28"But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.

29"His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'

30"But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.

32"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' 34In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

35"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

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We see here Peter trying to be gracious, when he ask Jesus should I forgive SEVEN times? See for the Rabbi's taught that you only had to forgive someone only three times, and then that was it- your out.
Not so much different then the Noahdic laws we have adopted for society, most States have adopted this as the - "three times and your out law". This is defined as that once a person has committed a criminal act and been found guilty of one should they commit an act, any act a third time, they get life imprisonment.
This recently happened to a man who stole a candy bar, it was his 3rd time for a crime, and now he is serving a life sentence for that. Just? Justice?
Christians have adopted this thinking, just like the rest of the world. We seek to punish, to extract vengeance, to see that someone pays for their life of crime or harm they have done us.
Yet, here Jesus has just got through teaching on "whatsoever we bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever we loose shall be loosed in heaven". Here we think this gives us the power to bind and loose others, which in essence is what our Savoir is saying, but in a much more meaningful way then we consider.
So now he extrapolates even further his teaching with Peter's question.
Peter thought he was being gracious, using the complete number of "seven" times, but watch what Jesus does with his graciousness, which is limited, like our own at most times in this life in our dealings with others and even our laws of our land.
The body of Christ, His bride, His "church" is to be separate from the world's thinking, separate from the world's ways of doing things. This is why even Paul in his teaching in the book of Corinthians, corrects the Christians who would sue one another for not bringing it before the body of Christ instead of the world. How often are Christians doing that these days, in direct contradiction to a clear directive from Paul. Where did Paul get such a teaching from? Did Paul just make it up as he went along. Did Paul develop some new church doctrine? I tell you, no, he did not.
We will see that he got it from Jesus teaching. For Paul who once sought to kill and murder and destroy, what he considered "the chosen nation of God's" enemy, Christians, his heart had been changed by an encounter with the "real Jesus Christ", not the fictional one of tradition and mens teachings as we have so much of today.
Does Jesus apply this to the whole of governments of the world? Most often not. This teaching will never be understood by the world or it's governments. It's very simple to know the reason why, because we know, no matter what government, it is not God's government, it is not His Kingdom. This is not to say he doesn't allow men to govern, he does, but He has not chosen them as representatives of Himself, history proves otherwise.
All governments which are merely made of people, fall under the same condemnation we all do- "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Yes, even the United States, no less and no more then others.
Once again Jesus shows that those in His government, His kingdom are Kingdom people, that we are to be separate from the world, in all our dealings with others, and how we perceive individuals should be treated. Christ doesn't limit the forgiveness that God give us, nor that which was given to us, when He looked down from the cross and said, "Father forgive them".
Christ tells Peter, "I tell you, not seven times; but seventy times seven."
Why does Jesus give this number? Seven is a complete number under Jewish belief, but even Seven has an ending to it, though what was considered a perfect number. Seventy times Seven is an infinite number, meaning there is no end to it. Thus Jesus says, "Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is" in His Sermon on the Mount.
Oh! how the body of Christ kicks this one out the door because of our religiosity at times. most often as individuals, we have forgotten who we were and who we are, a forgiven people.
We are a people that deserve no less than the death sentence for our sins.
Eternal spiritual separation from our Father in heaven, if He thought and acted as we do that would be all of our fates. But the Good News is: He doesn't!
Jesus emphasizes this again, the forgiveness for which we have been given, and in Matthew 6:14, where He has once already spoken this explaining once again to us what we like to repeat together as the Lord's prayer with little attention paid to it's words.
14"For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you." Jesus speaks to us, again from the heart of our heavenly Father.
Previous to this, Jesus has again painted not only a very clear picture for the body of Christ as to the will of our Father in heaven, but He give us more insight to the way our Father deals with us and all mankind, whether just or unjust.
Let us read this together- Matthew 5:43-47
43"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
There it is in a nutshell. "Do not even pagans do that?" He tells them in regards to their treatment of others, do you only treat those that are good to you that treat you good, do you only treat those that you consider just with goodness? If so, then I will say it no clearer then He did, how can you call yourself sons of the living God?
You say, " I am a Christian", yet are your thoughts the same as that of the world when it comes to justice, or the treatment of others who have offended you? Think again. What makes you any different then they?
When 911 happened, I was sure that President Bush who claimed to be a Christian would call for prayer and only prayer. Instead I heard him cry for vengeance!
I heard then tens of thousands of Christians following right behind him and saying the same.
It wasn't until the teachings of a Catholic monk, Augustine that the body of Christ even considered nullifying the Word of God for the traditions of men, with his concept and teaching of "justified war". No disciple of Christ had even considered such until Augustine, they didn't take up sword, except the one time, Peter did, and Our Lord, told him to put it away. Those who live by the sword, die by the sword, so here we are again, with thousands of young men coming home in caskets from abroad.

The body of Christ has given precedent to this Monk, more then the Word of God, or even considering who they are, and just how, they were saved. Too often the false doctrine of men having a "free will" has pervaded the "church", rather then the Word of God, that reveals it is the Father that draws us and that we couldn't save ourselves if we tried!
Jesus makes this clear when Peter tells Him that He is the Son of God, Jesus in turn tells Peter, that is the Father who has revealed that to him! His body, are the people that the Father has revealed himself to.
The world will never fathom who Jesus Christ is, until His people, those claiming that the very resurrected life of Christ through the Holy Spirit is alive in them, begin to think and act, as Jesus did and does. As long as we sound like the world, look like the world and act like the world, they will never see Jesus Christ for whom He is the "Prince of Peace."
There can be no peace in this world even among believers as long as each one has been harmed by another, and they find no forgiveness for one another. There can be no love, in a world that hates and is at constant war with others. We pray, " thy kingdom come, thy will be done", but then in the next breath, we express words of hatred, and discord against anyone, any nation, any group of people that we perceive that have harmed us.
Once again, just like the Pharisees, we have nullified the Word of God, for the traditions of men!
When will the body of Christ ever get it right?
When I ask, when?
I will tell you when, when the body of Christ opens their hearts and their ears to truth, inexplicable truth and the Word of God, the living Word- Jesus Himself. No greater love can one have...
We even have erroneously converted the act of God, as one of punishment, on Christ for us. God is not angry folks, he is not the God of the shadowy Old Testament, but the revealed truth in that one person, that loved the unloved, and brought salvation to all of us, who did not deserve it. If God was a God of the justice that men portray Him to be, He would never have allowed His Son, to go to the Cross, rather each one of us would get what we deserved individually and directed at us as such, not at His only begotten Son.
We each of us right now, would still be " dead in sin and trespasses", and God wouldn't lift a finger to deliver us from the death which we were in.
See, "Christ died for us, while we were yet His enemies!"
How willing are you to love others, forgive others, act differently from this world. Justice, Our Father in heaven's "justice" is compassion and mercy to those who have offended Him how much more if we claim to have God as our Father should we show compassion and mercy to all men.
BTW- there is a payment for not doing so- Jesus warned- we shall be treated as we treat others for sure by our Father, He will allow this, to drive out the hatred in our lives, to bring us to his compassion and mercy, so that in seeing it, we too will become "perfect like our Heavenly Father is."
Read again the end of the story of the "Unforgiving Debtor". It's time for those who desire to call themselves by His name, to quit using His name in vain, and I am not talking about the proverbial curse word either. If we are who we claim to be, then forgiveness is the heart of God, mercy and compassion are the acts of God.
Will you forgive today, someone who has harmed you, done you wrong, or will you have to be tormented until you pay the last dime? I pray that you will forgive, not seven times, but infinitely as our Lord has taught us. God is love, we love because He first loved us. This is what will set us apart from the world, and the world will see we are the light of the world and the salt of this earth. Do we want to appear as a "Christian Nation" to the world, then perhaps we should exemplify rather then nullify, the life of Christ in our dealings with our neighbors, our family, our friends, and most of all with those that we perceive as our enemies! Believe it or not, there are those who do call themselves Christian who have done just that, just look to our Quaker and Anabaptist brethren, who have heeded the Word of God, and not twisted it like most American Protestants have. May the Lord give you the heart of Christ, and may He most of all teach you forgiveness and what true justice is.

Doctor J.

The Burning of the Koran?

The Reverend Terry Jones, says he will burn a copy of the Quoran on his church
grounds come September 11, 2010. The name of his church is Dove World Outreach Center in Florida. I want to personally address the "Reverend" Terry Jones.
You call yourself a "reverend", do you consider yourself relevant to God's love, which the dove of peace represents. I want to ask, what purpose does it serve to incite more hatred, and violence in a world full of it. Jesus cared not to change the governments of the world for his is a Spiritual one. Though we are instructed to pay taxes, etc, only that we may live in peace. It doesnt serve the name of Yeshua ha Meshiach ie; Jesus the Anointed One, my Saviour and Lord, Master and King.
How can you even consider yourself a "leader" of God's people? You are to serve one purpose in the whole scripture, if you consider you are some kind of leader, then be a servant as Jesus taught. A servant of love, and peace. I ask you what are the fruits of the Spirit? Is hatred toward any group of people, serve justice or anything that Christ taught. If you wish to gain the world's attention, as salt and light of this world, then your heart must be freed from hatred and filled with the love of God. I am sickened with "Christians" who support violence and hatred toward any man, you have forgotten the advocation of our Lord, "Love thine enemy". It doesnt say love those who love you, or like you, or believe the same way you do, it says to "love our enemy", just as you were an enemy of Yahweh, ie; God showed his love that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us!
Let your burning hatred of others die, let your nationalism, etc, die, to Christ, and give him the glory for His love, and instead of burning the Koran on September 11I invite you to rather offer a meal and clothing to any poor Muslim or other people's as an offering of love to them, especially the hundereds of children, men and women over in Iraq, that are not "terrorist" who were hurt by our war, even in Afghanistan there are the poor and hungry. Do good to your enemy, Jesus said, and it will be as hot coals upon their head. Most people have misinterpreted this as yet another way to hurt them, Jesus didnt say this, he said, that in doing so, it would sear their conscience of hatred and they would see the reality of love. I and anyone who understands the peace of our Lord, who is the Prince of Peace, to let go of your hatred. The kingdoms of this world will continue to come down, but the Kingdom of Christ which is a spiritual kingdom will last forever. Shall any Muslim or any other group regardless what they do, separate us from the "love of God found in Christ Jesus our Lord? Of course, not, it is time Christians be known for who they are, and what the fruit of the Spirit is. We have too long been blinded by hatred, violence, and more. Muslims will never accept the Jesus you teach for he is the same as their Allah. Even to this day because of this kind of hatred expressed by the Crusades, we are still considered as Christians to the Muslim as Crusaders. Are we crusaders for the kingdom of man's church, or we living epistles written on the hearts of men, of Jesus Christ and His love expressed at Calvary to all men everywhere. Jesus Christ is the "good news" not America, nor any other government or religion. I have been praying for and writing to see American Christians change to allow the very one they claim is their Savior to rule their hearts for a very long time now. This is how we make Him king. The religion of Christianity has done much harm to men as radical Islam factions have. Those who know Christ, will refuse violence and hatred and walk in Him, so that we can reveal "Christ within us". I correct you as Christ corrected the Corinthians in Chapter 13:5 of 2 Corinthians - I ask myself this question each day, and we are to do so for Christianity is not a religion- it is Christ, the one who reconciled us unto God, not that God had ever quit loving His creature man, it was because of our sin, that couldn't see God's love. Now He has washed it all away for all men, by the precious blood of the perfect Lamb- Yeshua ha Meshiach.
I am not "Jewish" either, I am only a part of the body of Christ "the Ekklesia" his called out one's. Are you called out from this world or of this world when you express hatred. We must love our Muslim neighbors, our Jewish neigbors by presenting the Truth. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. we have for too long presented ourselves not as Christ like one's. For far too long the church of so called Christians has expressed to much hatred for others.
Of course, the love of Christ in us, as us and through us, can only be expressed by Him, so do as I do, pray first for yourself, that you will reveal His fruit, then pray for others who may hate you, disdain you, and even harm you.
Let us pray together.

Our Father who Are in heaven,THY KINGDOM COME, thy WILL BE DONE, as it is in heaven, so let it be on earth. Give us this day our daily bread ( our spiritual food), Forgive us, our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned against us, allow us not to fall into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the glory and the power FOREVER!

The greatest love ever revealed will be the love we reveal as we allow Christ to love through us. This is the narrow way, love, because the world knew Him not, they will not know us. Step away from your emotional feelings for a moment, pray and let Christ bring you to just rest in Him. I know this is difficult to do, it is very hard to be loving, when we feel we are being attacked by anyone, yet Yeshua showed His love, in a way, that no man has ever, not even I. I want to only grow into the stature and maturity of Him, that may judge no man, and love all men. Let love rule your heart, and we can say, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. I see you call yourself Pentecostal. I pray you will see, to say that the very Spirit of Christ is upon you, that you must first see, He that is in you. If so, what Son of God, would burn a book, that has no meaning for us. Who cares, will you begin to burn all books, like Hitler did? This is senseless and even more without the Spirit of love in it.
Turn to love, on September 11, offer the Muslim's of your community love instead of hatred, offer them a meal and let your life be the Gospel- the good news!


Doctor J.

Are We Fighting The Right Battles?

This past week, I had Satan use another attack on myself, with the oppression of income taxes. Since, 1983, I have been in constant harassment from the IRS. They are relentless when it comes to collecting what they call past due taxes from the poor.
They rarely pursue the rich and famous, because they can keep tax collectors tied up in courts for years, with professional tax consultants, CPA's and Tax lawyers. Or as Jesse Jackson, the media hype man who owes the IRS thousands, yet they haven't harrased him a bit, they fear him for he can bring havoc through marches, and demonstrations and a lot of media attention.
This is why, IRS collection managers force their collection agents to go after the poor, to intimidate them, scare them, or whatever it takes to collect a few thousand dollars compared to the hundreds of thousands of dollars that are owed by big corporations, and wealthy and media powerful individuals.
I also discovered most people are under the mis-informed ideas, that they can't collect or audit you for anything beyond 7 years. That is an outright lie as well, they can go back "by the law" I have read as far as 10 years, and they will tell you up to 15 years. So lock your records away in the basement in a safe, because you may need them to prove otherwise if you feel you paid in your taxes and they should say different.
I encountered problems not because I was dishonest about my taxes, but because many employers didn't report honestly what they took out, and then other times the IRS has said, there just wasn't enough taken out. I don't know why? I generally claimed 2 exemptions as head of the household back then, the only thing I can assume is my wife must have done the same, instead of 0 exemptions. This will definitely end up costing you in the long run. My wife is no longer here to help me pay these back taxes, she was killed in 2001 in a car accident. The money earned and what was suppose to be taxed on our combined incomes and didnt get paid falls on me alone.
I have paid in monthly payments about 24,000 dollars since about 1984, when my troules began. They claim I still owe just a little over 6,000. This time going back to 1994, I finished paying off their claim on 1993, last year.
I have made payment arrangements again, I had to, they were just about to garnish the money I earn as a "contractor" from the company I contract with. This was myonly income for over 8 months, I worked a whole 16 hours a week for them.
It is never ending, they are like gods on this earth, they answer to no one, they answer to no human consideration or compassion - it's all about the money, "their money" they call it. I still can't figure how it is their money, when I am the one that was getting out of bed in the morning, slaving all day, putting up with customers, bosses, traffic and all. Yet, somehow we have convinced our own government that they have a right to our money, we earn by the sweat of our backs, and the tiredness of mind, they have a right to steal from us, what they surely never earned. Somehow, I just don't think our forefathers ever even conceived of such robbery by taxes. I believe from my study of history they must be turning in their graves if they have any idea how easily we have swayed from the Revolution and the Boston Tea Party over to paying income taxes. They would look at us, with huge questions on their faces, why did we die? Why did we allow out blood to be spilled for you modern Americans when you have allowed everything we gave you, with our deaths so easily to be taken from you? What is wrong with you people?
That would be there question. There are few politicians today that aren't sold on the idea of the income tax. They love it as they benefit magnificently from it. While we poor suckers slave away 6 months a year, to pay all the crazy taxes combined that we have, they enjoy wanton luxury, paid trips, free gasoline, and lifetime wages in the $100,000 per year plus category.
They will never have to worry about Social Security payments in their old age, that's why they don't care about ours, they retire with their present wages until they die. It must be nice! The life they live now as elitist in luxury will go on until the day they day, because we have sanctioned theft of our money so it can be their money to spend as they please. We will never, ever again, have power as the people again, as long as their is an income tax. To even think this government is by the people, and for the people is pure ignorance. As long as we sanction their theft, then we will always be under their thumbs of power- believe it or not- this is what Communism is! So, we must live it with, but live with it, so as to not allow it to destroy our testimony and our lives.

Anyway, I was very upset with them, but I finally took the time, to pray and ask God to give me his peace about it all. That moment, came while listening to the radio, I listened to a Christian song by a group in which the words "show me how far the east is from the west, so I can know how my sin is from me".
My sin was anger with sin, I cursed at them and about them. The moment I got of fthe phone with the IRS, I yelled about them to everyone I spoke to that day, I was in the battle against flesh and blood instead of the one that Christ called us to fight. It is so easy for Satan to come along and move our thinking into the carnal (fleshly) realm when faced with oppression from people, or governments or anything that we can put a name or finger pointed to. The problem is, that we don't ask ourselves the one question we should always. Are we fighting the right battles? Of course not, when it comes to someone and our money, we generally will fight anyone for it. Why, because we aren't spiritually enriched as we should be, we are only living for our pocketbooks. I too, have been guilty of that as well, as anyone I know. It is harder on you when you have little, then when you have much. Six thousand dollars past taxes is a drop in the bucket for a man who makes a $100,000 per year, but when the poor pay, they pay dearly. This goes for the lying concept of tithing as well in the church, the whole thing being entirely not New Testament, it is easy for those who earn big money to cough up 10%, but for the poor, it may mean you don't eat or the electric doesnt get paid. Thus the wealthy control the churches and their pastors.They give plenty to get plenty - of control and power over others.Tithing is unscriptural as can be, therefore it is anti-biblical in the sense for the New Testament church. I invite anyone to read my friends book linked below at the bottom of my web site, on the subjet of tithing.
I will be glad to sit down with anyone as well, and discuss the entire subject biblically and how it doesnt pertain to the New Testament believer.
Giving is one thing, not compulsive, but cheerfully. Giving to the poor was the whole purpose of giving, this has been the one thing God has reminded his people from the beginning of. It was never meant for propping up institutions and their leaders, for the sake of gain and profit for themselves.
The one good thing is if you choose to follow the truth, of giving versus over tithing, the collectors won't garnish you wages, however depending on the denomination or cult you belong to they may ex-communicate you for doing otherwise or for you telling others to do otherwise. Since the inception of the the One Man- and the Temple, tithing has been used with the threat of hell fire, to keep people in fear to pay the tithe. In the early days of Catholicism, this was to pay indulgences, Well enforced by threat of eternal damnation if one did not. You could buy yourself time out of pergatory with your tithe, your indulgence, and even today there are millions who pay into an unholy organization their "indulgences" thinking that it will either purchase them favor with God or keep them out of hell. So fear of those in power in the church works just like fear of those in government. It will keep you down and keep the untold millions of dollars rolling in.
I was told by the IRS agent handling my tax collection, if I failed to pay monthly, garnishment would be a sure thing, next time, and quote " anything goes after that", do you hear me!
Threats and intimidations that is what we must learn to live, with. We are not to fear men, but fear God.. Yet, we so live a life of constantly being oppressed from all sides, we forget who our sustainer of life is, who is the provider of all good things, who has promised to see that we have food to eat, drink to drink and clothes to wear, if we will but seek Him first and not these things.
Jesus not only forgives us when we forget these important statements of His as found throughout His teaching us. He also gives us the power, to realize, that we need to give up our love of money, power, status, greed, lust for more, and turn to Him in all that we do and say. I want to remind myself as well as other beleivers by some scripture today what we need to know. "Hide your Word in my heart, Lord, so that I might not sin against you".

Matthew- Starting with the 6th verse of the 6th Chapter -
American Standard Version

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father who seeth in secret shall recompense thee. 7 And in praying use not vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do:for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8 Be not therefore like unto them:for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. 9 After this manner therefore pray ye. Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. 14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance:for they disfigure their faces, that they may be seen of men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have received their reward. 17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face; 18 that thou be not seen of men to fast, but of thy Father who is in secret:and thy Father, who seeth in secret, shall recompense thee.
19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 for where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also.
22 The lamp of the body is the eye:if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness!
24 No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. 25 Therefore I say unto you, be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment? 26 Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value then they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto the measure of his life? 28 And why are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which to–day is, and to–morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31 Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Be not therefore anxious for the morrow:for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
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Father, forgive us our lack of faith, our simple trust in you as the true King of the Kingdom which is ours through the indwelling Jesus Christ by His Spirit in union with our spirit. Renew our minds everyday Lord from the time we rise until the time we go to bed, that the only real treasure that matters is the treasures we layaway in heaven, Let us not forget for what purpose we are yours and that is that your character become a reality in us. That in everything that you revealed of yourself through your Son Jesus Christ, it is for the purpose we live now, to be changed, transformed in our mind, to realize that our battles O' Lord are not with those without, but our battles are from within, with sin, and selfishness and the flesh, this world that is so easily stirred by Satan, the god of this world, that he so seeks to keep the blind -blind. That the enemy seeks so desperately to draw us into his lie, that this on earth is final our final place. Let us not forget that we are but sojourners here, our home is in the heavenly places from which Jesus Christ the Victor has already overcome this world. We are to be of good cheer, for He overcame and so shall we, if we but trust you as King, and Lord. Teach us that our love is to be centered in you and never the money or the things this world brings to bear to kill, steal and destroy our joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. Forgive us for so easily trusting the circumstances of life that are seen, rather than you Lord who is unseen but through the living testimony of Jesus Christ- come in the flesh, to redeem us from the flesh.
Lord, teach us to love, and trust you in all our battles, that we shall reign victorious in you, forever, and that you will see to our every need, to sustain our lives, throughout eternity. Forgive me, when I fail to see that my battle is not against flesh and blood. Remind us of these words Father, when the enemy comes to seek to steal, kill and destroy.

Ephesians 6:12-18

For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world–rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Wherefore take up the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 withal taking up the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 18 with all prayer and supplication praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints,
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Money, what is it, in comparison to the inheritance which is eternal that we have in Christ Jesus? Nothing, that is for sure. It is fleeting and there will never be enough for the soul who loves it, and pursues it for life. For only in Jesus is their life, eternal life, abundant life, spiritual life. I would rather be broke and poor materially and be rich in Christ and His love, anyday.

So, my message is- when the battles come, stop and reflect for but a moment- Am I Fighting the Right Battle? The answer will probably be for you as it was for me, No.
So, let us fight the right battle of faith.


Dr. J.

The Power of God - Why We Often Don't Know It

This past week has been a horrendous time for my family. Even though the family that experienced the tragic lost of their son is not directly related to me only to my wife from her previous marriage, it has affected me deeply along with them.
This is a family that I have come to know and to love. They are my wife's ex-husband's family. They have remained close to her regardless of the sin's of her first husband. I have grown to know them, all of them. They were there for me, when I needed to go home and see my father when he had a heart attack, they purchased me a plane ticket to do so. I love them not because they did these things for me, but because the love of God compels me to love them. I knew their son, Justin, as well and I loved him. A young handsome man, who carried a struggle with sin in his life, the one sin that all were aware of was a continuing temptation to using drugs. He never found the power to overcome it on a "day to day" basis. He knew God's power, He knew that it depended on Him, at least that is what it seemed to all. At least for a time, he experienced some kind of victory over it.
He loved the Lord, as for awhile there he was learning of the Lord. He had been rescued from jail twice only to be sent to a Drug Rehabilitation Center where at least the Bible was being taught.
I remember when Justin returned this last time, he had a smile on his face and a joy in his heart, that seemed real. He had tasted of the things to come in Christ.
At least that is what I believed and thought. Satan didn't allow him for long to keep it. In a short time, Satan once again enticing the flesh led young Justin down a road that spirals toward death and destruction. He is no longer here with us, his mother and father, his brother Aaron, his aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmother, and friends and other family will never experience his laughter or his love again. Justin according to law enforcement reports, shot and killed himself while trying to evade arrest, he stole a Sheriffs car and killed himself with their shotgun.
I believe the reason Justin died was because, he had not been told the whole truth of God's power to keep him from sin on a "daily" basis, he was shown the way of men instead or led to believe he could do it himself. I believe once he believed this, the spiral of sin came back and he grew despondent with his consciousness of sin in his life, which led even more to abusing drugs and alcohol to numb the mind of the pain he felt. He wanted and desired so much to please his parents, but found he couldn't, it destroyed him, because as we all do, the harder we try to be pleasing to God, or the law, or the traditions of men or parents, the less we become pleasing.
The letter of the law kills but the Spirit gives life. It was truly the letter of the law that killed Justin, he wanted to keep it, he wanted to live it, as we all do, but there is no power within us to do so. We have no hope except in Christ.
Oh! there were the 12 step programs, the memorize scripture programs, there was the church building and services he attended at times and the many people around him who could have given him hope in Christ. Instead we offered him religious steps to take, things he had to do, to be accepted and successful. He couldn't do it, and he felt deep inside a condemnation for not being able to do so, So much he could only make the voice of his conscious be quiet when he was high on drugs or alcohol. He had not discovered Paul's dilemma and it's solution because the voices around him told him, he had to do it and for him to be ashamed when he couldn't.
I know that Justin in his heart desired to know the liberty there is in Jesus Christ, just as we all do, daily. There is a liberty in Jesus Christ, and Paul talks about this extensively in Galatians and Romans. A liberty that proclaims we are no longer servants to sin, but servants to righteousness in God our Father.
This does not mean we will never sin again, or that we will walk in perfection, or without some habits that we must seek the Lord in everyday to give us His sustaining power to overcome. It is to easy to be fooled, to think, that attending Church service and other religious activities are the answer for our lack of power over sin to overcome. There are thousands dying in the churches of America today.

I am a subscriber to a Christian retreat magazine, that I sometimes read, from a couple in Georgia, who have a ministry for people to come and be freed from the power of sin, to rediscover their faith in God. Here they are offering hope to others and from testimonies printed in their magazine, they have helped hundreds of people, by reintroducing them to the Word of God, and allowing them to confess whatever sins they have been overcome by to them without fear of retribution or condemnation. Yet, last year, their very own son, committed suicide.

What does that say for wood, hay and stubble and gold refined by fire. Unless we minister out of a relationship with Christ, led by the Holy Spirit, our ministry is in vain. Do I know this personally, yes I do, for years ago I ministered to a young man, a friend of mine, who had an alcohol addiction, who also ended his life in suicide. I had failed him, because I ministered out of a sense of duty, rather than being led by Christ and empowered by Christ to minister to him. I failed, I learned, that unless God specifically leads, don't go there. God has someone for everyone who is hurting and crying out for help, but it is God who will choose whom, when and where.

There is a season for ministry, and a leading that must come from the Holy Spirit and not who we think we are or what we think we know.
Knowledge puffs up, but love builds.
There is a time for us to be quiet and time for us to speak when moved by the Holy Spirit to do so. We may think often we have been called to minister to someone because of position, or title, or compulsion. God loves a cheerful giver, how can we give to others if it is not God who provides that cheer, that hope, that love. Though all of us are called to the ministry of reconciliation, we must wait on the Lord for the timing and the place, to offer what He may give, not what we want to give. I cannot even through all this writing and all my rants and raves, and judgements, and even my opinion give what God can give to others when He so chooses through whomever he so chooses to use. We are on our own, until that time, and if we don't already have a foundation in Christ, we too will fail. We are but clay vessels being molded by the hand of God ourselves, we have no special powers but the Power of God, to ever reach out to anyone. All my biblical training, all my preaching, all my teaching, all my wisdom, all my titles, all my schooling, all my successes are meaningless without God's power to break the bonds of sin for myself and for others.
Prayer is what we need more of, a continuing sense of God in our lives, a continuing conscious time in effort and by our will to stay in communion with Him. Jesus went to the mountain every evening alone to maintain that time in "his closet in secret", though I believe He was in constant communication with the Father throughout the day, where we and our busy schedules are not, and we are much too busy chasing after that which the pagans do, what shall we eat, what shall we wear, we miss that for which we have been brought into the Kingdom of God for, that is to trust Him, and live for Him first and foremost.
Money is a powerful god of this world. It rips apart family after family. It tears down the best of us, because of our love for it. Jesus made it very clear, we cannot love money and God. How right He is!
Jesus still took the time away from the crowds and the disciples to go to the mountain and pray. This is where I am today, home, in my thoughts of my Father, His ways, His love and His forgiveness.
I know our Father forgives us for our failure to show Justin a better way, my heart is broken for the loss his family knows, and my loss.
I am broken, for I look at myself in a mirror, and say God, I failed you again. Perhaps, I was not the light, that I could have been when Justin came around to visit my step daughter and son-in-law, perhaps, he couldn't see Jesus in me. Perhaps, if I would have been abiding in you, Justin would have seen you in me, and I would have been there.
I don't know, but I do know one thing - I want to abide daily, so I can know the power of God unto salvation.
Let us all, remember that, when we get so wrapped up in our own lives, and forget God, we forget the Justin's of this world, the Joe's of this world, the you's of this world and thus the Power of God is not what we know in our lives.
God forgive us our failure to abide in you so that we may walk even as Jesus walked.

Justin, I love you, man, my heart is broken in your loss, for it is my loss as well, to have you, a brother in Christ at my side so we could encourage one another, and lift each other up in prayer daily to sustain the temptations of this life and to continue as overcomers.
Fear not, for I have overcome the world, Jesus said. He has made a promise to us, a promise that says we too can overcome, but not in our own power.
We can only overcome by His.
Today, will we?
Will we continue in that presence of Christ or will go on with our lives, forgetting the lesson that Justin's life and death taught us, that without the Power of God, we too may turn to things that do not satisfy and and in the end choose death over life.

If what we offer others, is nothing else but our wisdom versus the Wisdom of God which is the power unto salvation, we minister in vain.
Unless we know that power of God in our lives to overcome this world, we don't know the resurrection power of Christ. For Jesus gives life, and life more abundantly. This does not mean he gives us things, or success, or power or anything of the false doctrines of today spewed from the mouths of lying men. No, what he gives us his Himself!
The problem is we simplfy the Gospel to a point of idolatry, we make it weak with the adding of the law. We tell a man when he is free, that he must once again go into bondage, to religion, to go to church, read your Bible, say your prayers and all will be well. It isn't.
Justin knew these things and even practiced them for awhile. He knew that Christ died on the cross for him, he knew he was forgiven, but often as all of us do, He didn't realize the power of His resurrection, His life within us, His power to sustain us minute by minute, when we keep our minds on heavenly things versus earthly things.
Justin was distracted but for a moment with this world, which we all are in danger of.
It easy for me and as well as you, to succumb to the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. It is easy to succumb to religion thinking we can live the Christian life in our own power. If there is one thing I know it is I CANNOT.
The problem with twelve step programs, is that they offer the idea of a god, or something outside of yourself, but then it all comes down to it is all about you doing it. It is a program that will keep you always in bondage to repeating to yourself, I am an addict, I am a drunk, I am anything but a new creation in Christ.
It never brings them to Christ, to know the Power of God, to overcome.
I don't talk from a perspective of one, that has not had these things of the world, overcome me. I do not talk from the perspective as if I have never been dragged into the sins of this world. I talk from experience, an experience with the real world of drug and alcohol abuse. I was a young man once myself, and I grew up in the sixties, I knew the experience of getting high, I knew the experience of using drugs and alcohol, to deaden the pain of your consciousness. To forget, but for awhile, and only become sober with the problem now complicated a hundred fold.

I found freedom, how? In Christ and him alone. You ask, have I ever faltered?
The answer is yes, to some things and no to others. I know the power of sin, but I also know the power of God to overcome. When I have failed, it is only because I tried, just as the twelve step programs teach to do it on my own. You cannot, do it, you cannot live the Christian life, you cannot avoid sin, you cannot keep from sinning. YOU CANNOT! But the living Lord Jesus Christ can. It is not by might, not by power, but by MY SPIRIT saith the Lord.
We minimize the power of God, when we add to the Gospel another self help program, another religious step you must take. We minimize the Power of God, that to change you must attend the building (the church) where the lie is told that it's God's house. We are God's house, and without that knowledge that we are His temple, it is easier to destroy it.
We are told to get all involved in religious activities, that hold no power at all. For they are carnal, they come from the works of men and his flesh. It removes the power of God, for by the works of the flesh, and the law, no man will be made right with God. No man can experience God as long as he, himself stands in the way of the work of the Holy Spirit.
I don't blame Justin, I blame myself and others who let Justin down, we didn't take the time, to share with him the real truth of God's power.
Though I did try, I did make an effort by reaching out and calling him once, offering to be a go alongside as a mentor or someone he could come to when faced with the struggle that would not preach to him, but pray with him for God's power to say no to this sin of the flesh- drug addiction. There truly is no addictions, there is only sin. It entices us whatever way we turn in this world. It knocks at the door of our hearts, every moment everyday. It may not be drugs, it may be greed, power, money, lust for women or men, abuse, anger, hatred, unforgiveness, anxiety, depression, at every turn there are the concerns of this world that will draw us away from His power and attract us to the power of (Satan, the world and the flesh).
Anything that turns us from dependence on Him, to dependence on our self, is sin.
For whatever is not of faith -in Him- is sin.
Thus all the rehabs in the world, all the jails in the world, all the poverty in the world, all the riches in this world, and all the knowledge in the world, all the religion in the world, all the tithing, religious works, will not save us from ourselves, the devil and this world!
We can only fall on our knees before a Holy God, and cry out, be merciful to me a sinner. That mercy of God is not just found in forgiveness but in His power that He gives to overcome. It is beyond ourselves to save ourselves in anything in this life or the life to come. We cannot bring God down to us, through sacrifice, we cannot bring God down to us by going through some religious activity or habit.
God has come down to us in Christ and all the promises are YEA in Him and in Him alone.

If we are minister to others, it has to be through the power of the Holy Spirit, not our title, our organizations, our self help programs, our religious activities but by the same love God showed us, that He - Jesus died for us while we were yet sinners. That same love and compassion can only be present by God's power within not our power.

I had just such a person, a pastor who took his pastoring seriously, to come alongside and be a very good friend first, then to help me by helping me mature to the fullness of knowing Christ. He answered many of my questions in the Word, by genuinely showing me the love of God above all things. His name was Olin Boles. He pastored a small church in Dickinson, Texas. He was a man who I believe ministered not out of compulsion but gave with a cheerful heart because he had the heart of God within him, and he knew how to depend on Him, for everything he said and did.
He never condemned, he never preached, he never taunted me with laws and rules, and things I had to do. He offered me only Jesus, by the life he lived, and the time he took to be my friend, and not my pastor. He gave me what I needed, so when I came back into the real world, at least I knew, where my power was to come from, not within myself, not within a continued calling of him on the telephone or dependence on him, but from the Power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
I was able to finally tell my friends "no" to drugs and alcohol, I have learned that on one condition, as long as I was abiding in Christ, and not religion.
I was able to say no, by the resurrected power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You see, Olin Boles, had one thing going for Him, he didn't minister to me, out of his credentials his title, or his own performance.
He was a man of prayer, and he didn't minister to me at all, it was Jesus within Him that did. It was the Power of God, it wasn't some religious thing he was expected to do, it wasn't even, something he thought of as his way to get into the Kingdom of God, he had the Kingdom of God within him.
That Kingdom showed forth in the compassion of Christ within him.
No pride, no arrogance, no sense of self worth, no sense of his title but a true sense to the function of the work of the Holy Spirit in his life.
I will never forget his love above all things. Here I was, 17 years old, strung out, using almost every drug known to mankind, and yet, he loved me and trusted God so much, that he trusted me to date his daughter though all of this had gone on in my life. He didn't see me or allow me to see myself, as a drug addict but as a new creation in Christ. He reminded me constantly of the Word of God in Romans 8:1 -

"There is therefore no condemnation for those who are IN Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of LIFE in CHRIST JESUS, as set you free from the law of sin and of death."

He ministered love and reconciliation, never condemnation, and I for many years felt I owed Him for helping save my life from the bondage of drugs. He would come see me while I was in the hospital, he would shoot pool with me, discuss whatever I wanted to talk about, he would listen to music with me, he never once opened his mouth about God until I was ready to do so.
He then, would sit patiently with me at my side telling me of God's power through scripture. A power that didn't come from religious effort and activity, it was a power that comes from God.
Oh! he could have spent much better his time, in preparation for his next sermon or teaching. He didn't, he took time from his title to be a living function of the Power of Christ within to a deeply troubled 17 year old boy.

You know, since I was 17 years old, I have lived and had to learn that same truth over and over again. I have had to turn to the resurrected life of Christ within to overcome. Many times, I did not, many times I failed, but then Christ speaking through Brother Boles, would speak those words to me along with another favorite passage of mine, I John 1:8,9 and 10.
The one part of that passage that not many religious people offer is missed.He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins AND TO CLEANSE FROM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS! The church much often like the Catholic church, likes to keep Christ on a cross, yes, offering forgiveness of sin, but rarely offering the power over sin.
I believe the strongest reason there is for less power in Christians lives, is if you are in the ministry especially, you have a deep desire to be needed by others, and it fulfills some sinful desire to be looked up to, to be placed on a podium, so that all may see and hear you.
I don't want anyone to hear me, I desire above all things for others to hear Christ and of His power. I have nothing to offer. I have no wisdom, no power to help you overcome your sins, no power to give you, no power to bless you, no power to give you life, I have none of these things, I can only share with you "the testimony of Jesus Christ- this is the spirit of prophecy".
I can only encourage you and tell you my experience with His power, it is real, it is the power of the resurrection. I can also tell you I know the sting of death it is sin, and I know it's power, but I know that when I see Him, I turn to Him, first instead of my self, my understandings, my ideals, my philosophy, then sin cannot win!
I have discovered to pray in all situations if you want life in Him, I have also discovered that the flesh is weak but the spirit is willing. I can't answer why, we sometimes fail to turn to him first, but that it is much easier to turn to the traditions of men, because it is there, we can have pride, a sense of our own power out of our sinful selves. Sin does have a pleasure for the moment, but it always results in death.
What are these traditions of men? They are nothing more than our determination to cross God out of the equation of life, and to make ourselves god. As if any of us, can overcome sin in our own power, but we like to believe we can, we like to feel that we can, we like to tell other men that we can, and we like to judge other men because they have not. It is easy to clean up the outside of the cup, to polish it with religious position, or our own sense of title and power. It is easy for us to go about and look down our noses at those that fail, to bring wrath on them or hatred or judgement. We don't offer compassion, we don't offer love, we don't offer God's love and acceptance, we offer our judgement, our own sense of goodness, which God makes very clear, is "as filthy rags" before him.

Wood, hay and stubble, all burns to the ground when God puts his fire to it. We will have many firey trials in this life, they are for us to learn to not to build upon anything but upon the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. When we continue to suffer in some area of our life, it becomes time to ask God for His answers and not turn to our own. It is time, we learn from our suffering, not that it will ever end anytime soon, until Jesus comes, but we can find the Kingdom of God within, by finding His peace, His righteousness, His joy in the Holy Spirit.
I have no judgement for Justin and what happened, I judge no man by the flesh anymore, only God knows the heart and that man himself, for but for the grace of God, goes I. I will not say who ascends and who descends, for only Christ holds that for himself and His judgement. I was not called to be another man's judge as to what was in his heart, only God will know.
I can judge based on my experience, that Justin missed the point as we all do often, that the power to overcome comes not from within our own weak initiatives and willing it so, it can only come from the grace of God, as we fall on our knees before him, and seek him to be that which He is, our righteousness and our life.
May we all remember, that we too can miss the Power of God in our lives, whenever we think we can. We can't but Jesus can.

Dr. J.

The Arrest of Mickey Stevens

I was shocked to learn Tuesday evening when a friend of mine called to inform me that my friend Mickey had been arrested. He wasn't sure what it was about as he just walked into the living room when he heard his name on the television news for Tyler.
The story as so sensationalistic news these days goes, is Mickey had gone to the District Attorney's office to see if he could retrieve his computers for his work as a Real Estate Appraiser and for his needs for college which he was going off to this fall. The District Attorneys office and his investigators claim that Mickey cursed the DA when he refused to give them to him, and then they claim he hit one of the investigators. I just don't see it happening and if it did, they must have done something pretty serious to make him that way. Or was it the sleeping medicine the Doctor put him on? I don't know but their description is not the Mickey Stevens I have known and loved as a brother in the Lord.

Why were two investigators in the DA's office anyway? What was their purpose in coming in for a simple request by Mickey to obtain his computers. why weren't they out investigating? I have lots of unanswered questions here. Did they after a signed confession by his wife want to try to accuse him of the murder of his child? That would have made him irate- he loved Will.
Why haven't they either copied the hard drives or obtained off the computers what they wanted by now ( two weeks) if their is any evidence there of intent? What I have been told there investigation division doesnt even have a IT specialist to look at the hard drives. Where are Mickey's lap top and desk top. Are they locked away in an evidence room, or are they being used for personal business like so many others personal properties seized today by law enforcement. All he was told by the DA according to their side of the story is they had to be kept in a "capital murder" case. Why? They have Kathy's confession? Where had the conversation gone, to make my friend so angry, what was really said in that room in the presence of two investigators? Something set him off, because I have never even heard Mickey say a simple cuss word in our sometime heated political debates.

Mickey had already been accepted to law school, and after the death of his child, he almost considered not going. He was going to hang around Tyler, until his wife went to trial, etc. Then with the coaxing of his parents and friends like myself, we talked him into going on with his life and for him to go do what he has dreamed of doing for sometime now, that of becoming a lawyer. His desire was to help the poor, the downtrodden, to help set the captive free when they deserved it.

What angers me the most, is the arrest affidavit and the news reporters tried to paint Mickey as a dangerous subject.
I have known Mickey Stevens since 1999, when I met him, he was working for Lutheran Children Services. He was some sort of liason for the children in the system of boys homes. Mickey loved children and sought their protection.

Mickey has always respected the law and worked to help people through it.
He was even a Wood County Sheriffs Deputy and worked in the reserve for years. Previous to all that he had worked for the Tyler Police Department. Mickey was the kind of police officer that believed if you carry the badge, you lived the badge. While employed with Tyler PD, an incident took place where one of his fellow police officers had violated the law, either it was a excessive force case or something like that. I won't be able to tell you the full details because my memory fades me more these days, but anyway, the officer was facing problems because of his violation of the law. Mickey stood up out of all the officers that were witnesses or could have been he was willing as the only one witness to tell the truth about the incident. The officer was guilty of the accusation. Mickey because he didnt live the unwritten code that is so prevalent among a lot of Police Officers - the code of "blue covers for blue no matter what", left the department there as he felt that he could no longer be safe. He knew after that from the snubbing he received by other officers, and that if it ever came down to it, he couldnt count on them too cover his back. So, Mickey resigned what he loved doing there at Tyler PD.
He went instead out of Smtih County and found work part-time to keep his Law Enforcement Officers certification at Wood County. Sometimes working the jail, other times working patrol. Mickey took on various jobs after that some related to law enforcement others not. He worked for Child Protective Services in Canton, Lutheran Children Services and later as Private Investigator for a lawyer that I know in Longview who was an old professor of mine at the University of Texas at Tyler. He also worked for me as a private investigator for a short stint before taking that job.

In 2001, I helped Mickey find his way into the Real Estate Appraisal business which he has been working for the last several years. Quietly by himself driving the roads of America to do an honest service, where not much honesty is left these days. Mortgage and appraisal fraud is a mile a minute a huge new white collar crime in America. Mickey was one of those that refused to be dishonest and just give appraisals at the beckon call of many mortgage companies who won't do business with you as an Appraiser unless you give them the appraisal amount they want.
Mickey refused to work that way. He was an honest, upright, gentleman. He also loved his wife, he had fought for her life and mental sanity since marrying her. He worked hard to help her, helped her find the kind of help he knew best to send her too. He loved the law and he loved truth and he loved people.

In all the years I knew him, I never heard him use a curse word or show any signs of violence. The affidavit statements made by the District Attorneys investigators and the DA, are so far out of line from the Mickey I have been friends with. These do not reflect the Mickey Stevens I know. The newspapers in Tyler did even a worse job, making a video that was sensationlist. Today's journalism in my opinion is no different then the "yellow journalism" of the past. Most newspapers and television reports are like they are headlines out of the Enquirer or the Globe. They jump on and write the things that is going to attract the largest audience. In the old days it was called "yellow journalism" today we call it the news. What a joke!

In my day, a good reporter would not have just printed what was handed to them by an official, they would have seeked the whole story. They would have interviewed Mickey, his family and his friends. They would have had a different picture to paint. Thus, that is why the news doesnt go after the story anymore, because we as Americans are like the Romans at the Coliseum, we can't wait to hear something that strikes our flesh as appeasing and entertaining or whatever that stands out and is exciting. We want blood, we want action, we want a thriller, we want to see all the negative there is about people rather than some positive aspects of them.
The truth is we want to know the "trash" about others, it makes us live with ourselves easier, when we can lift up ourselves in our minds above the "criminal types". It helps us ignore the sad fact that we are sin sick as well.

Less we forget as a friend of mine said to me- we are all guilty of sin". God did not call Christians to judge but to love. We can still speak the truth in love but we are not in the position to judge- because "we ALL have been declared guilty. Thus God's word reminds us not to forget those who are in prison. I thank God for the work my Uncle and Aunt have done in this area of their lives. My uncle, an ex-cop, retired as a Chaplain from the Texas Correctional System. He and my aunt have done a lot to help young men find their way back in life and shown them how to live it right and stay out of trouble. We don't always agree on everything either in religion or politics, but in the end we love each other, because love must always be above all things, if we call ourselves by the name of Christ - Christians meaning (Christ one's).

Mickey and I had spoke the morning before the incident that landed him in jail. We talked about his going off to college. He talked about that he needed his computers and in a mild manner, not irritated or excited, he said he was going to go ask the DA for them, if he could release them to him now. He needed his to rap up his Real Estate Appraisal business and for college at Texas Tech's law school where he was going off to become an Attorney.
Mickey loved the law. We often had debates over politics as he was a "real right wing nut" I would call him. George Bush was his favorite President and hard core Republican he was all the way.
In all the debates he and I had, he never grew angry or used an expletive. We loved each others as brothers in the Lord. We could differ on politics and not separate friendship because of them. He called me a "conspiracy nut" sometimes. It didn't matter, I had respect for him and he respected me.

He was so happy I came to see him and contact him. He was so happy that I was there for little Will's funeral. He thanked me twice for calling him that Monday morning before he went to the DA's office to see if he could retrieve his two computers.
He sounded down and out. I could tell he was depressed which is anyone's normal reaction to the death of a loved one especially one's only child. He was depressed over losing his wife to her insanity as well, he told me she will never see the light of day again, because she would probably be locked up forever.
He was sad, the death of Will is sad and the fact that his own wife committed the act and now too she is gone from his life. What man or woman for that matter who has been through all of this would even keep their own sanity?
Remember, he will live with the memory of trying to save his son's life with CPR to no effect for the rest of his life. I have that same kind of memory of trying to save my former wife's life as well. I tried for approximately twenty five minutes, yet she died of brain death from the car accident we were in.
That memory haunts me in my dreams and in my wake. I was a Medic/Firefighter for 3 years in Colorado and had many a person die on me or where I wasn't able to save their lives with CPR. I had those I did save though as well.
When it is your own loved one, it is a different story. Just the death of someone you loved so dearly, leaves a large hole ripped open in your chest where it feels as if someone has removed your heart and left your chest cavity empty. It hurts more than anyone can imagine unless they have been through it. I know the hurt at least a portion of my hurt is the same as the hurt he has been experiencing. He couldnt sleep at nights, he needed and knew he needed to break away from his environment of his home and his child's toys as soon as possible. You have to for your own sanity. He had spent part of that morning packing away little Will's toys and clothes. His parents and her parents were to keep some of the items. I remember my own experience of living in the house after my wife died. Every sight, every smell, every moment was a reminder that she would never come home to me again. It will tear you apart. Mickey I sensed was hurting deep, he so looked forward to friends calling him, family visiting him, and anything that would keep his mind off the loss he suffered.
I don't know, because I wasn't there in the DA's office what actually transpired. I was not a part to the conversation. I do know Mickey though and whatever was said by the DA must have pushed him over the edge. It doesn't take much when you suffer with Post Traumatice Stress Disorder. I know, I have suffered with it since 2001 when my wife died. There is in the pit of your stomach that cries out, God help me, I don't know if I can make it in this life another day. Being a Christian is the only hope that keeps you hanging in there. Mickey knew the Lord as well. We had many a talk about religion versus a relationship with Christ. Mickey cared about justice in a world that is unjust. Mickey like me had seen the other side of the law labor force.
He has seen the corruption that often goes on behind closed doors. He wanted to help right it, as I do. He left those jobs he wanted to be effective in, because as I did, we found the world is not untouched by evil even in the things we as humans believe are good. He had seen men who wore badges like I have, live out their lives as if they were above the law. The side the public rarely sees, except now and then when we read some sensationalist news item where a cop or judge or other as been charged with a crime. They just happen to get caught. It goes on everywhere, everyday somewhere in America or across the world. Mickey wanted to become a criminal defense attorney to insure that the alleged criminal would at least get a fair trial whether guilty or not. That is one thing that we are guranteed by the Bill of Rights that seems these days has gone out the doors. Today largely due to the media, one is judged guilty already and must go to court to prove himself innocent.
What happened to America. We are as it says in the last days - 2 Timothy 3:1-5
But know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, railers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self–control, fierce, no lovers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; 5 holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power therefore. From these also turn away. .

The above description doesnt fit my friend. He knew Christ and he knew that He is our only hope in this life. Yet, he is human as I or you, and just because we are Christians doesn't mean we don't hurt over the loss of a loved one. Just because we are Christian doesnt mean we don't get angry, or that often feel like life is hopeless. In honesty, our life on this earth is hopeless if we rest our faith in the things that are temporal here. We are to have our minds on heavenly things.
I can put no hope in what I see go on around me everyday in this world. Evil is more prevalent then anytime I can remember in my life.

Mickey needs prayer, he needs right now the hand of God to reach down and lift him up out of this quagmire that is left his soul without rest. He needs mercy, he needs love and he needs people to know the real Mickey, not the one the DA's office has painted for the lust thirsty press in America these days. I get really ticked off when I see how they play there cards anymore. What happened to truth in this country? What happened to mercy and compassion for the hurting, the injured, the victim, the poor, the unloved, the orphan? What happened, we have forgotten God and his declaration on ALL MANKIND- Sin results in death! That sin is not broken down into categories like man likes to do it. That sin says that all "our righteousness is as filthy rags before the Lord. That sin says guilty with the sounding hammer of God's gavel on the bench as the only judge in heaven and on earth righteous enough and holy eneough to judge anyone. That guilty accusation that rings across this universe was paid for you and I and Mickey by the very blood of Jesus Christ- who paid the debt you and I cannot pay! So, rest easy my friend, Mickey, someday, the real judge is coming back again, and when he does, many a man who judged and showed no compassion and mercy will recieve the same in the end. God is a true judge and jury and he will not overlook the sins of those who are always so anxious to point the fingers at others while 4 fingers yet point at themselves. There is coming a day.
Come Lord Jesus, Come.

Dr. J.

The Ann Coulter Philosophy- Taking God's Name in Vain

I am writing about a comment that Ann Coulter made and because I just recently read it for the first time, as it has been screenprinted on a T-Shirt that is available online to purchase.
I just recently looked up the article she wrote to verify the comment of hers. It is probably old news for the Conservatives and Liberals alike, Ann Coulter, writer for the National Review, an extremist conservative online news blog made a quote that I am compelled to write an editorial about. I read the short comment at the end of the article that clearly shows just how far and how off scripture people can get regarding hatred and war. I just wonder how many people Ann has won for Jesus with her awful off the wall comments that have nothing to do with Christianity of the Scripture but have everything to do with the Christianity of a pagan Church gone mad who spouts out a false gospel, which is no "good news" at all - Christian Nationalism. To quote her in the article this is what she said about the Muslims.
"We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.
We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war."

She was right when she said that is war - death and destruction to whomever. General Patton put it this way, "War is hell". How right he was, but he forgot to mention that is also comes from hell".
How does she differ from any man who goes to church, thinking his thoughts and speech differ any from those of the fanatical Muslims who say to others the same stupid thing - "kill them all and let Allah sort them out".
It doesn't.
The problem with Ann is she appeases the flesh of our society when she makes statements like these but most of all she "takes the name of the Lord thy God in vain". Most people Christian and sometimes non-Christian grow angry when they hear someone use the word G_ _ D_ _ _ _ because tradition has taught them this is what it means to take God's name in vain.
First of all, His name isn't God, it is I AM - the GREAT I AM- Jehovah, and revealed to us in the flesh as the Man/God- Yeshua - tranliterated into English as Jesus. Referred to by most Christians as Jesus Christ.

Ann doesnt realize her very words are words that "take the name of God in vain". For you see regardless of all the traditions of men and all the theologians , theologizing, one has a real difficult time if they do scriptural interpretation properly -that is the New Testament interprets the Old - not the other way around,to come up with an Ann Coulter's philosophy and call it Christian, when it comes to hating your enemy. There is no where in the words of anything our Lord ever spoke while on this earth or even today from heaven, anything "Christ like" in hating your enemy.
The Old Testament is full of shadows, unrevealed truth about God until God manifest Himself as man in the person of Jesus Christ. Thus when Jesus speaks he speaks with all authority and above all authority of whatever was written in the Old Testament.
He is the Lord thy God speaking God's will for men today, in a New Covenant (Testament). God is sovereign and can change anytime he wants to the ground rules for life and thus Jesus wiped out the idea of eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth.
So, how does Ann's words ever come out to be Christian, they don't. They are ignorant and reveal her biblical ignorance. For Jesus is the Prince of Peace.
It is Jesus who teaches us to suffer, "to not insult when insulted, not to injure when injured" and it is his teaching on the Mount of Olives found in Matthew that slaps the duct tape write over the mouths of all those so called great religionist like Augustine, who helped develop the stupidity of interpreting the New from the Old rather than the other way around. Out of his inability to understand scripture he helped propagate the concept of "Justified war". This one little theological concept that has plagued the church of Jesus Christ since, causing a scourge of liars and demons to reign on this earth in the form of warmongers in the name of Christ- the greatest example of taking God's name in vain.
Even today, the Muslims refer to us as the "Crusaders". Most people don't understand or even have the slightest knowledge of the history surrounding the Crusades, who fought them or why. Instead we as Americans have been given the romanticised ideals of the knights in shining armor saving the distressed damsel. "King Arther and his Knights of the Roundtable" do not tell the tale of the truth of the Crusades.
I quote from the book, entitled "A History of Christianity by Brian Moynahan.
*"Religion, as an ancient Arab saying went, "is a falcon with which to hunt", Christians also learned to use their "faith" as an instrument of war, finding the fierce bird too, immensely and adaptable". ..end quote.

Here are just a few facts that perhaps "Protestants" did not know.
Pope Urban, to help re-open the land route to Jerusalem that had been cut of by the Turks, wanted to motivate the "faithful" to do so by force of arms.
He begged his listeners - "I, not I, but God exhorts you- to urge the men of all ranks, knights and foot soldiers, rich and poor, to hasten to exterminate this vile race (referring to the Muslims) from our lands" (referring to the Holy lands).
His voice was frequently drowned by tremendous cries of "Deus le volt" "God wills it!"
Any who fought the pagans would enjoy remission of sins, "this I grant to all who go", he said."through the power vested in ME by God, he said.
The Pope had no imagination in obtaining a motivation amongst those who the church reminded them they were sinners. What a perfect opportunity to have your sins forgiven by simple declaration of the Pope, by simply taking up arms against these horrible people the Muslims.It appeased the flesh of men, it coincided well with the religiosity of the church and it gave the people a way out of purgatory and hell.
What churchman or woman would not take an opportunity such as this to finally assuredly have their sins forgiven for all time declared by the "only true representative of Christ on earth (Catholic teaching and Protestant practice often), by simply taking up arms against an enemy that did not share the same religion as they. To have their sins wiped clean by the shed blood of a Muslim enemy. A religion that in their opinion and most of the opinion of today is made up of pagans anyway. Forgetting that much of the Western church practices and beliefs are as pagan as well. The only thing the Protestants did was exchange the pope for a pastor or denominational president and Luther gave the bible back to the "unlearned" but still managed to keep them in ignorance with the belief one has to go off to seminary and be educated to have any authority about scripture. Only the educated and the called and ordained minister can interpret it are the Protestant belief.
What change was there? Very little and next to none. Catholics and Protestants are on the same stick just slightly at opposite ends. The difference is there is a "christian religion" and then there is "Christianity" and the two in truth are a long way apart from one another. There is no compromise between evil and good and there can be none. We are taught to hold onto that which is good and to abstain from evil. but the evil is pervading with teachings from hell and liars even today.

So, Pope Urban managed in a short speech to motivate the faithful to war. There is np difference in the same popery that goes on in many churches today, with the ideals being taught like Ann Coulters philosophy, Kill them all, then we can Christianize them.
What a farce and what a lie, for if our faith in a living God is not above their gods of violence, who shall want to come to Christ, for in that very declaration made by such important church leaders, the Christian faithful have their own declaration of "jihad", Holy War!
The willingness to die for their "faith" no matter what, guaranteeing their entrance into heaven is no different than that of a Muslim who is willing to die for his "religion".
Thus today we find many "christians", unlike myself, willing to go to war-crying "God wills it". How they do not recognize that when they do so, they take the name of Jesus in vain. They disparage the name of Jesus, their actions, their beliefs and their hatred compares none to those that we claim are our enemies.
Put your self in the shoes of the enemy, what do you as a Christian have to offer that differs from their own religion, if it is not the Christ who did not offer insult to those that insulted Him, or injury to those that injured him, then you have nothing to offer. This is what we have to offer, our Saviour and Lord who told Peter, put away your sword. The same Jesus who taught us to love your enemy. Forgetting that we were yet His enemies, when Christ died for our sins. Forgetting that He could have called ten thousand angels to defend him, and ushered in what Israel to this day still tries to lay claim to -the world.
If Christianity offers nothing more than other religions worldwide- to which ours is suppose to be love undeserved toward all mankind, than what is their to offer?
What Christianity would Ann Coulter and her followers in America offer a Muslim, who you have killed and slaughtered their children, their women and the innocent for the sake of revenge and because of fear.
Where is the "faith" that these Christian Nationalist proclaim to have. My answer, they are not Christians, and if so they have been seriously decieved by Popery once again. They have forgotten from whence they came. They forget they were enemies of God and deserved death as well, yet God loved us first.
The "church" that teaches hatred of the enemy is no church at all, it is a deception and a lie, Satan himself coming as angel of light.
Truly the last days are here as the Bible describes these people as lovers of themselves, boasters, proud, haters of good, lovers of money.
The greatest thing a Christian can do, is love your enemy, pray for them that despitefully use you. Where are the words of Jesus in the "church" today?
They aren't there, and if not, then it is no EKKLESIA at all, it is an apparition of evil disguised, wolves in sheeps clothing.
For those of you, that subscribe to the words of Ann Coulter, my only obligation is to pray for you that your eyes might be opened to truth, and you will flee from evil. The philosophy that she brings is the philosophy of a world gone mad at the hands of Satan himself. REPENT!
" You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain". There is much more meaning to that then what the average American has been taught to beleive.
For those "high priest and "pastors" that teach such garbage, your condemnation awaits in the end. For many will come saying, Lord, Lord, but He will say to them - I knew you not.

Dr. J.

An Article That I Just Can't Title

For whatever reason, I just can't come up with a title on this article, perhaps for the best since I can't seem to think of one anyway. How do you give something a title that so effects you in the deepest recesses of your heart.
I was telephoned earlier today by my wife who asked me if I had called Mickey Stevens back. Mickey's a friend of mine who had called a few times here lately when I wasn't home. I haven't talked to Mickey perhaps for 6 months now, we just kind of both got lost in our own concerns in this world, and had not been in contact with one another like we use to be. She asked me if I had seen the Tyler Morning Telegraph yet, I said, no, I asked why, then she asked me, there is an article in the paper on the front page with a Mickey Stevens mentioned in it. I said, what about, then she informed me. I was shaken and taken back. The article was entitled, "By His Mother's Hands". It is the worst kind of news we can hear about or read about, the shocking news that a baby has had it's life taken by it's mother. Yes, my friend, Mickey's wife, Kathy had strangled their 2 year old child to death in the night while my friend Mickey had slept. He awoke to find her missing from bed and when he got up to go find her back was turned to him in little William's room. Mickey took little Williams body into his hands and tried unsuccessfully to use CPR to resuscitate his only child, just 2 years old. Kathy admitted to investigators she had strangled to death little Will.
When I talked to Mickey, I could tell he just didnt know what to say, but to ask me for prayer for him, but what struck me the most were the words that he said, and "pray for Kathy,please, she is not a bad person".
How right he is. It will be easy for criminal justice and the religious to speak horribly about Kathy but they don't know her, I did and most of all her husband did. He apologized to me that he wasn't there for when my wife died in a tragic car accident back in 2001. He was reaching out to say I need you as a friend and "we" need your prayers. There was nothing selfish or condemning about his tone or speech when it came to his wife, though shocked, hurting, in wondering in dismay, he could ask that I pray for her, as he said, "I haven't just lost my child I have lost my wife as well, as she will be locked up probably for the rest of her life.
How sad, but true. For you see, Mickey waged a war with her mental illness since the day I have known him. He has lovingly taken her back after each and every committal to an institution where the so called experts were to have healed her of her plague of oppression that she has suffered so horribly for years. A system of shrinks and pharmacuetical witch doctoring that has had Kathy on every known psychiatric medicine known by men, to try to cure her desperation, her paranoia, her hallucinations, her voices, her visions, her imaginations. To which this tragedy is a testimony to the witch doctoring that continues in America alongside the pharmacuetical companies who readily sale their goods to the public, that often much later, usually much, much later, we find that the drugs were worse than the sickness, and often result in what has happened here. No different than the recent drugs shoved into a super star wrestler that we have read about and heard splattered all over the news, who murdered his whole family. The witch doctors of today are no different than the witch doctors of yesterday, still proclaiming that their magic works when in fact it does not.
Most people haven't even read up on the facts that most of the boys involved in the Columbine murders were on psychiatric witch doctor brews as well. Most of the horrible tragedies that seem crazy to us, can be traced often to a drug the person was prescribed to. The facts are the facts. I don't know if that is for sure is the case in this case but I promise it contributed.
The sad thing is the pharmaceutical companies will never face justice at the hands of man, Kathy will. Man's justice is never justice, no matter what you think. Only God is a just God. I know Kathy, I at least understood her problem and Mickey did as well, that's why he loved her, and continued to love her and remain married to her through all their trials because of her illness. That's why Mickey, could ask me to pray for her most of all, "she isn't a bad person". Now, it's too late for all the psychiatrist and clinicians whoever talked to Kathy to say I'm sorry, Kathy, I am sorry, Mickey, but most of all, I am sorry little Will.
Don't judge her, don't condemn her, pray for her and Mickey and the family and friends that do not go untouched by this tragedy. There is more to the story than what you read in the newspaper, they love to sensualize and blow stories up like this. The truth be told, my heart is broken for Kathy who desperately so cried out a thousand times for help in her mental condition. Mickey did his best, he did his best to protect her, himself and little Will, but in a fallen world, full of fallen creatures, we are reminded that - all of creation groans inwardly, awaiting the revelation of the sons of God. Come, Lord Jesus come!
I ask that my readers do just what Mickey ask me to do. Don't judge, only God is the judge, but pray for Kathy, Mickey and all the family as they sort through the evil in this world it is nothing we can do alone. But for the grace of God, we must remember, goes ourselves. We are all subject to this evil and without God's grace, compassion, mercy and love, we would all deserve His justice of death. So go easy my friend, when you read stories like Mickey and Kathy's and the death of little William, we all have a day coming, "for it is appointed once for men to die, and then after this the judgement". So I ask, please pray for Kathy, that she will find deliverance from these demons that have for so long persued her, driving her to insanity, driving her to do, what we think we could never do. We live in the same world she does, and are subject to the same insanity, if we don't give thanks to whom our sanity comes by- the grace of God.
Mickey, Kathy, my heart is broken and I will miss little Will but he is in the hands of Jesus now, and so aren't you, Kathy. God loves you, and He is still there and has not left, He will heal you, I know, for He still is the Great Physician, who doesnt offer any medications, no magic, - He offers the only cure for the sickness in all of us - sin -and he offers it freely through Jesus Christ. I love you and I pray for you.

Dr. J.

Some link referrals for my readers.
http://www.cchr.org/index.cfm/19863
http://www.cchr.org/files/14552/Violence%20White%20Paper.pdf
http://psychdata.blogspot.com/2007/05/think-psychiatrists-dont-know-drugs.html

The Chinese Philosophy of War

As many of my readers know, I am one who believes in non-resistance, when it comes to the use of the sword. When it comes to the use of the Sword of the Word of God, I am a pro-activist Christian who is militant about the Word of God above all things.
Note I used the word "militant". The definition of such is: A fighting, warring, or aggressive person or party. When it comes to truth, the Word of God, and standing for Jesus, you could say I am a fighting, warring or aggressive person. Not in the sense of using physical violence but in the sense of living my life in a battle against that which is not flesh and blood. Ephesians 6:12 reminds us "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

What are the powers of this dark world but often found in the nations. It is not the people we must hate, but the life which they choose to try to put over others. It is the dark forces that influence all of the Babylonian system, which is incorporated into our business life, our political lifes, even our (kirke) church lives often.

This power consist of everything to which Satan is ruler over, this (Kosmos), world.
Thus John 2:15-17 warns us, not to love the world or the things of this world. For everything in the world- the cravings of sinful man, the lust of the eyes, and the boasting of what he has and does comes not from the Father but from the world" (NIV).

The quandary comes that though in spirit we have been placed in heavenly places, we still are flesh and blood, and live in this falled world. So, as a Christian the question is, how can we best fight evil in this world and yet not succumb to it's power over us. This is the great difficulty to which every Born-again beleiver must deal with everyday in his or her decision making processes. First, one has to be willing to hear the voice of God's Spirit, and know the written word as well as be in relationship with the living word - Jesus Christ.

So how can we reconcile ourselves to fighting the evil in this world without finding ourselves included in it. That I have determined is near impossible, there is no escape as often the very things we do and consider good, actually turn out have their origins in evil- selffishness, self- protectiveness and flesh worshipping.
It is this quandray that is hard to escape, accept by the divine love and forgiveness and grace offered all of us, "for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" Romans 3:9-20 clarifies this.
That word ALL is all encompassing, not one person of flesh and blood is left out. Thus how do we find our way back to God. We can't! God found His way for us, and offers it to ALL. This way is through Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord and King of Kings. Romans 2:11 makes if very clear that "God shows no favortism". That puts us all in the same category- sinners deserving death. Thus Jesus died and in His death he paid the debt for ALL men. What he offers by faith alone is His grace, His resurrected life and eternal life that begins here and now. It is ours, a gift that must be recieved before it can become ours.

I bring this all in for one reason, how can we as Christians wage war against these dark powers without having them incorporated into our own methods of warfare. I have searched for years, trying to understand how this can happen and my only answer is through and by the actions and initiative of the Holy Spirit only and His guidance in our decision making can we avoid evil. See man's knowledge of good and evil, does not, as Satan has so tried to convince all of us, make us gods, so we can make decisions that even when we think they are good, they most often are evil in themselves.

Let me give an example: After the Gulf War, the United States and the United Nations, thought it would be a "good" thing" to limit food to Iraq and would only do so in exchange for oil. We used all kinds of techniques we thought were good outside of total destruction by military power of the killing machine to accomplish our objectives thinking we could, stop Saddam in his tracks, instead we found he hoarded the money, and allowed the Iraqi people to starve anyway. Thousands upon thousands of children died as a result of a policy we considered good. Our good turned to evil.
What other choices could we have taken? This was the moral good ground to take, to avoid military action once again. We chose a non-military action meaning here, the use of something other than machines and men to kill Saddam and his regime. This is called non-military actions. All the same, is it still not warlike when the overall result is death to millions anyway. Yes, of course it is. So our good became evil afterall. This has been the case in many actions we have taken, before this time we supported Saddam so that we could make Iran act right. We had trained and supported Osama bin Laden in the war in Afghanistan against the Russian evil. Our good always turns into evil. Thus, the lesson God teaches us, is our concept of good and evil never even approaches His good which is holiness and is defined outside of the definitions of men's good. Thus Jesus told the rich man, when he called Him good, only God is good, both drawing the young man's attention to the truth of this and the truth that He himself Jesus was Divine in nature.

Now to my point, the Chinese have been fighting wars of flesh and blood for thousands of years, and they understand the ways of Satan and warfare better than most nations worldwide. They understand this concept of man's view of good and evil and why wouldnt they when their government has been born straight out of hell itself.
They are warriors by culture and all that is with in them. They know how to hate indiscriminately, and how to war unrestrictively. They know this because they understand the ultimate goal of all objectives even when made to look good, is to achieve power over the enemy. They live and breath this in their daily lives as the rulers, the authority and power over millions of simple Chinese people. This government they have formulated is no different in ours except in one manner, their ultimate objective is to rule all the world in a totalitarian fashion. We though the years since 911, have begin to think like them, and act like them, still hold many people in our country who do not agree with this objective. We as Christians want simply peace in the world in our land that we live. So, that we can live quiet lives as believers, working with our hands, minding our own business, so that we can care for our families and our personal needs of food, shelter, and warmth. However, this peace cannot be achieved through military strength or power. It cannot be achieved along with any ideals of the American good, simply because even here God shows our concept of good will become an evil. So, is America any better than any other nation on earth, in it's good. The answer in light of scripture is a resounding, No! Does America in the scales of justice more balanced toward the good of others, the answer would probably be, a resounding,Yes! However, this yes, exist only because the number of people, though few, that truly are born-again and live a Christ centered, Spirit filled life. However, once again, this doesn't exclude the fact within China there are thousands upon thousands of real believers hiding in the woods, in the woodwork who worship Jesus and love Jesus with all their hearts. So, how can we best fight the enemy of China- their ruling power- Communism, without hurting our brothers and sisters in Christ. How can we fight any regime of evil without causing direct harm to those who Jesus died for, and since the word ALL encompassed even those who are wicked in China, who run the government, just as there are wicked here in America that run our government, what is the tools we can use to help defeat the enemy. We must learn from the Chinese their philosophy of war. Then take these applications and apply truth to them, and then use them to our ability as led by the Lord to do so. The greatest tool we have in our hands is the dollar. This is a neutral tool in itself, it has no power outside of the power it is given by those that handle it. It can be for good or it can be used for evil, but it is the love of it, that is the root of ALL evil. Even war itself is founded in the love of the dollar.
Two Chinese Colonels have written a book about the best way to achieve success of warfare against the United States and any of it's enemies. Their understanding of America's love of money, is an open door for warfare for them. They know how to take this evil, which we have made it, because of our materialistic structure of our lives and our love of money in this country and turn it against us. They are doing just that today!

Don't be fooled, the rulers, the government of China still has one goal and objective and that is to power over all men with Communism. The people most of whom are forced to serve this evil, have become even more enslaved by the communist objective because of America. That's right because of us, we are accomplishing for them just what they set out to do, take us over and run the world. You may ask how?
The answers, trade deficit, manipulation of the money market, the enslaving of masses of people to raise their gross national product with very little cost to do so, because of the slave labor they use. Children, men, women, working for 25 - 50 cents per hour to produce goods for American corporations to raise their profits in selling these low cost produced goods to Americans who want more in quantity of goods then they care about quality of goods or their origin or how they were produced.
American corporate greed is serving their evil purpose well. We think it is good, that we can obtain these goods so much cheaper, thus the promulgation of the WalMart empire and other gloabalized companies. We can buy a lot more of the good thing- the things that appease our FLESH! Our love for the things of this world will be the fall of the American empire, you can quote me on that one.

I read the two Chinese Colonel's book, and found myself well educated on warfare in the physical realm. In 256 pages of reading, I gained more understanding of the tactics of Satan to power over others with warfare unrestricted, than I could have if I had gone to West Point and studied "military tactics and strategy". For see the Chinese, are not ignorant, they understand you and I better than we understand ourselves, they understand American thinking, American sin best, and why not? Doesn't Satan know all the weak points of our flesh so that he can fight his battle against the saints and do his best to tempt us, to get us to come over to his side of the fence and join his forces? Yes, of course he does and these people who believe "religion is the opiate of the masses" understand that religion is a force from hell as well and they can use it, to drive a war to victory for themselves.

This is the government we so feared for years since Stalin and Mao but somehow through subtle warfare they have used, we have embraced Stalin and Mao with hugs and kisses.
We have not only failed to see their wisdom in warfare, we have allowed them to drag us into their battle and over to their side of the fence. Power over others- becoming the new philosphy of America, but the stupidity of America's goverment is that we beleive that the military is the only way that can be achieved. We have been fooled, and shamefully dragged into their side, helping them win the war against what America once stood for, Righteous living, liberty and justice for ALL, and we have allowed it to happen because down the line, we lost our first love for Christ, to a love for money, self, and power over others. the church in America, it's power structure and the lies propagated my more and more " so called ministers of God" have helped this success of warfare, with their rantings of a gospel of prosperity, wealth and health. A lie directly from HELL!

The best way to defeat an enemy is to make them believe evil is good and good is evil. You have to transform thinking, you have to defeat the enemy by using combination and subtlety. They are very well practiced at just that, and are showing for themselves, their superiority over the concepts of warfare in the battle they are winning over America and the American once Christian ideals.

Ask yourself, why doesnt the church speak loudly about the suffering of thousands of Chinese Christians, their torture, their imprisonments, and more. Why, because it wouldnt reward our flesh to do so. We would cut our own buying power out. Walmarts and the other globalized corporations would go broke, and we would have less goods, especially now that most production and industry has been move out of the United States. We would lose all those nice Chinese goods they are so good to sell our corporations for a low price.

Why was it easy for us to scream about Saddam's torture of people and killing but not a word about China? Why, because it rewards our flesh to do so, oil, a resource America needs and the ground over there is bubbling with it, but we couldnt have any of it, for ourselves until we were there present and accounted for, and Saddam was gone.
So, the false flags had to be created by those in power over America to make this happen. Knowing full well, that the "religious side" of America would never allow the nation to send our men and women, sons and daughters over there to die for that purpose, ( at least not openly so) the regime of this country utilized the greatest strategy known to convince the American public to side with them on our attack, they had to make it an issue of our own FLESHLY security at danger, Saddam had Nukes, he would shoot them at us in a minute, they yelled across the public platform, look at what he did to the Kurds and on and on the rhetoric went until we brain washed American lovers of self, said here is the money, take my son and make him a sacrifice to Molech. "I want to feel safe again". "I am scared, 911 scared me to death we said". So the power of fear works best with the American people and it's religious power rather than the power of greed, because it seems justified, at least good to those who think that our government can protect us from such things. All the time forgetting all the money that has been spent for intelligence organizations, defense systems and more over the years couldnt protect us from 14 crazy Muslims with hijacked airplanes. If that be really the case, and I have my own opinion on that which probably differs from the majority of people. So the fear goes on in the media to keep the public right where they want them, and the false flags will continue so the elitist can accomplish what they think their objectives are - world domination of an American hegonomy. World military and economic power. In which, both we are losing everyday as the idea persist.

Meanwhile in North Korea, China and Russia, the lie lives on. What is that lie? The lie is that they are now our , best friends, most favored trade nation and under our control. Meanwhile the Chinese are building the greatest economic nation that will be known to mankind, and at the same time pointing their missles at us, just waiting for the right moment to fire. They have used the greatest war strategy there is - diversion and combination warfare- unrestricted. The worst part of it all they are defeating true American patriotism with a false one, that is slowly but surely eroding away our rights to privacy, to freedom of speech and more, so that more and more daily we look more like them, then them like us. They are creating in America what they are - a Police State, a totalitarian government controlling every aspect of an individuals life.

I want to give you some quotes from the book I have been referring to.
The book is entitled, "Unrestricted Warfare" by Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui.
Here is the Introduction:

[FBIS Editor's Note: The following selections are taken from "Unrestricted Warfare," a book published in China in February 1999 which proposes tactics for developing countries, in particular China, to compensate for their military inferiority vis-à-vis the United States during a high-tech war. The selections include the table of contents, preface, afterword, and biographical information about the authors printed on the cover. The book was written by two PLA senior colonels from the younger generation of Chinese military officers and was published by the PLA Literature and Arts Publishing House in Beijing, suggesting that its release was endorsed by at least some elements of the PLA leadership. This impression was reinforced by an interview with Qiao and laudatory review of the book carried by the party youth league's official daily Zhongguo Qingnian Bao on 28 June.
Published prior to the bombing of China's embassy in Belgrade, the book has recently drawn the attention of both the Chinese and Western press for its advocacy of a multitude of means, both military and particularly non-military, to strike at the United States during times of conflict.
Hacking into websites, targeting financial institutions, terrorism, using the media, and conducting urban warfare are among the methods proposed. In the Zhongguo Qingnian Bao interview, Qiao was quoted as stating that "the first rule of unrestricted warfare is that there are no rules, with nothing forbidden." Elaborating on this idea, he asserted that strong countries would not use the same approach against weak countries because "strong countries make the rules while rising ones break them and exploit loopholes . . .The United States breaks [UN rules]
and makes new ones when these rules don't suit [its purposes], but it has to observe its own rules or the whole world will not trust it." (see FBIS translation of the interview, OW2807114599)
[End FBIS Editor's Note]
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Here are some quotes in the book to think about.

"Faced with theses prospects, even J. Saiteerdou [as printed 10493676 1422 6757], who is responsible for the investigation of computer crimes in the FBI of the
United States, said with both self-confidence and worry: "Give me ten carefully chosen hackers,and within 90 days I would then be able to have this nation lay down its arms and surrender."

"All of the cards have now been shown. We already know that war will not again be displayed in its original form. To a very great extent, war is no longer even war but rather coming to grips on the internet, and matching the mass media, assault and defense in forward exchange transactions, along with other things which we had never viewed as war, now all possibly causing us to drop our eyeglasses. That is to say, the enemy will possibly not be the originally significant enemy,the weapons will possibly not be the original weapons, and the battlefield will also possibly not
be the original battlefield. Nothing is definite. What can be ascertained is not definite. The game has already changed, and what we need to continue is ascertaining a new type of fighting method within various uncertainties".

"Even a quasi-world power like China already has the power to jolt the world economy just by changing its own economic policies. If China were a selfish country, and had gone back on its word in 1998 and let the Renminbi lose value, no doubt this would have added to the misfortunes of the economies of Asia. It would also have induced a
cataclysm in the world's capital markets, with the result that even the world's number one debtor nation, a country which relies on the inflow of foreign capital to support its economic prosperity,the United States, would definitely have suffered heavy economic losses. Such an outcome would certainly be better than a military strike.

In beyondlimits war, by contrast, the man-machine combination performs multiple offensive functions which span the levels from battles to war policy. One hacker + one modem causes an enemy damage and losses almost equal to those of a war. Because it has the breadth and secrecy of trans-level combat, this method of individual combat very easily achieves results on the strategic and even war policy levels.
This is the gist and significance of supra-level combinations.

If we say that the former is an objective which American power can protect
through action, the latter is neither an objective that its power can achieve nor is an objective which the United States should pursue outside its own territory. "World's number one," an ideology corresponding to "isolationism," always makes the Americans tend to pursue unlimited objectives as they expand their national power. But this is a tendency which in the end will lead to tragedy. A company which has limited resources but which is nevertheless keen to take on unlimited responsibilities is headed for only one possible outcome, and that is bankruptcy.

"Lastly, but certainly not the most important point, is whether or not one has
thought of combining the battlefield and non-battlefield, warfare and non-warfare, military and non-military which is more specifically combining stealth aircraft and cruise missiles with network killers, combining nuclear deterrence, financial wars and terrorist attacks, or simply combining Schwartzkopf + Soros + Xiaomolisi [transliteraton 1420 5459 6849 2448] + bin Laden".

This then is our real hand of cards

When "a military gives excessive focus on dealing with a certain specified type of enemy," this can possibly result in their being attacked and defeated by another enemy outside of their field of vision"

Actually, with the next century having still not yet arrived, the American military has already encountered trouble from insufficient frequency band width brought on by the three above mentioned types of enemies. Whether it be the intrusions of hackers, a major explosion at the 145 World Trade Center, or a bombing attack by bin Laden, all of these greatly exceed the frequency band widths understood by the American military. The American military is naturally inadequately prepared to deal with this type of enemy psychologically, in terms or measures, and especially as regards military thinking and the methods of operation derived from this. This is
because they have never taken into consideration and have even refused to consider means that are contrary to tradition and to select measures of operation other than military means. This will naturally not allow them to add and combine the two into new measures and new methods of operation. In actuality, it only requires broadening one's outlook a little and being uninhibited in
thought to be able to avail oneself of the lever of the great volumes of new technology and new factors springing up from the age of integrated technology, thus prying loose the wheel of the military revolution rusted as a result of lagging behind in terms of thinking. We can here appreciate the deep significance of the old saying, "a stone from other hills may serve to polish the jade of this one."

"Supposing a war broke out between two developed nations already possessing full information technology, and relying upon traditional methods of operation, the attacking side would generally employ the modes of great depth, wide front, high strength, and three-dimensionality to launch a campaign assault against the enemy. Their method does not go beyond satellite reconnaissance, electronic countermeasures, large-scale air attacks plus precision attacks, ground
outflanking, amphibious landings, air drops behind enemy lines ... the result is not that the enemy nation proclaims defeat, but rather one returns with one's own spears and feathers. However, by using the combination method, a completely different scenario and game can occur: if the attacking side secretly musters large amounts of capital without the enemy nation being aware of this at all and launches a sneak attack against its financial markets, then after causing a financial
crisis, buries a computer virus and hacker detachment in the opponent's computer system in advance, while at the same time carrying out a network attack against the enemy so that the civilian electricity network, traffic dispatching network, financial transaction network, telephone communications network, and mass media network are completely paralyzed, this will cause the enemy nation to fall into social panic, street riots, and a political crisis. There is finally the forceful bearing down by the army, and military means are utilized in gradual stages until the
enemy is forced to sign a dishonorable peace treaty. This admittedly does not attain to the domain spoken of by Sun Zi, wherein "the other army is subdued without fighting." However, it can be considered to be "subduing the other army through clever operations." It is very clear who was superior and who inferior when comparing these two methods of operation.

Military Trans-military Non-military
Atomic warfare Diplomatic warfare Financial warfare
Conventional warfare Network warfare Trade warfare
Bio-chemical warfare Intelligence warfare Resources warfare
Ecological warfare Psychological warfare Economic aid warfare
Space warfare Tactical warfare Regulatory warfare
Electronic warfare Smuggling warfare Sanction warfare
Guerrilla warfare Drug warfare Media warfare
Terrorist warfare Virtual warfare (deterrence) Ideological warfare
Any of the above types of methods of operation can be combined with another of the above methods of operation to form a completely new method of operation. [17] Regardless of whether it is intentional or unintentional, the carrying out of combined methods of operation using different methods of operation that go beyond domains and categories has already been applied by many nations in the practice of warfare.

What is most satirical is that the construction company of the bin Laden family had been the builder of the barracks of the American army in Saudi Arabia.actually, the rules are hidden in the waves of
military practice of mankind. It is proper to say that every classical victory has testified to the rules. However, each time, people either do not want to admit or do not dare to affirm their encounters with rules of victory, but, instead, often attribute the effects of the rules to the favor of some mysterious fate.

If we want to have victory in future wars, we must be fully prepared intellectually for this scenario, that is, to be ready to carry out a war which, affecting all areas of life of the countries involved, may be conducted in a sphere not dominated by military actions. It is now still unknown what weapons, means, and personnel such wars will use and in what direction and sphere such wars will be conducted.
What is known is one point, that is, that whatever the mode of warfare, victory always belongs to the side which correctly uses the side-principal rule to grasp the relationship between the "dominant" and the "whole."

The side-principal rule is not the kind of theorem such as the statements that "all men will die" and that "all swans are white." Rather it is a rule for guiding people to victory in war.

Today's wars will affect the price of gasoline in pipelines, the price of food in supermarkets, and the price of securities on the stock exchange. They will also disrupt the ecological balance, and push their way into every one of our homes by way of the television screen. --Alvin Toffler

The [necessary new] method is to create a complete military Machiavelli.
Achieve objectives by fair means or foul, that is the most important spiritual legacy of this Italian political thinker of the Renaissance.[1 ] In the Middle Ages, this represented a breakthrough against romantic chivalry and the declining tradition of knighthood. It meant using means, some possibly comprehensive, without restraint to achieve an objective; this holds for warfare also.
Even though Machiavelli was not the earliest source of "an ideology of going beyond limits"
(China's Han Feizi preceded him[2 ]), he was its clearest exponent.

We said earlier [p. 146] that combinations were the cocktails in the glasses of the great masters of warfare. [That is, Alexander the Great and the martial kings of the Zhou Dynasty never heard of cocktails, but they knew the value of the combined use of things.] But in past wars, the combination of weapons, means, battle arrays, and stratagems was all done within the limits of the military sphere. This narrow sense of the concept of combinations is, of course, very inadequate for today. He who wants to win today's wars, or those of tomorrow, to have victory firmly in his grasp, must "combine" all of the resources of war which he has at his disposal and
use them as means to prosecute the war. And even this will not be enough. He must combine them according to the demands of the rules of victory. Even this will still not be enough, because the rules of victory cannot guarantee that victory will drop like ripe fruit into a basket. It still needs a skilled hand to pluck it. That hand is the concept of "going beyond limits," surpassing all boundaries and conforming with the laws of victory when conducting warfare with combinations. Thus we obtain a complete concept, a completely new method of warfare called "modified combined war that goes beyond limits." [ "pian zheng shi chao xian zuhe zhan" 0252
2973 1709 6389 7098 4809 0678 2069]
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So knowing these things, what would you do, to defeat the enemy at large, Satan and the nations that so easily follow him.

SPEAK TRUTH! You must have at your side, always the truth.
Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me.

As Christians it is of absolute necessity that we not only be wise as serpents, but to be as harmless as doves. How can we most affect American policy change toward China and this ongoing climate of security over liberty in America. We must speak out and at least educate the masses on truth, the light always expels the darkness.

My method that I have found the Lord has led me into is to write, and speak profusely on these matters so that people will have a paradigm shift of thinking and return to Christ and away from the kingdoms of this world to the Kingdom of God. This Kingdom is within us, if truly we love God and hate the enemy Satan.
Hating Satan and his subtle methods of trickery is something that should consume our daily goals, to find ways to destroy his powers over others and ourselves, whether it be the lies of government, history or even religious teaching, it is our call to "be the salt of this earth", "the light upon the hillside". The virgins with oil in their lamps.

How you do that is between you and the Father, but whatever you do, don't be passive in the real war we should be fighting and that against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Use warfare but let it be of the spirit and not of the flesh. Tear down the strongholds of deception, lies and more, tell people the truth, wake them up, stir their minds to think for themselves for once, so that they will no longer live in blindness.
You can't do this for the non-believer but you can those who are suppose to call themselves by the name of the Prince of Peace.
We are not and should not make our war against a person or persons, our battle is against this Kosmos that so easily persuades us to think and act like they do. Resist the devil, draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

Tell the truth to others about what is going on, so they will quit resting their hopes of security in this or any other government, but will put their hope in Christ.

In Psalms there are several reminders of truth. Be it China, Iran, Iraq, Russia or the United States of America, we are reminded in Psalms 82:6- 8

I said ye are "gods" (the rulers and judges of Israel at the time)
you are still sons of the Most High
But you will die, like mere men
you will fall like every other ruler
Rise up, O God, judge the earth,
for all the nations are your inheritance.

and also Psalms 33:10
The Lord foils the plans of the nations;
he thwarts the purposes of the people;
But the plans of the Lord stnd forever,
the purposes of his heart through all generations.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people he choses for his inheritance

Let us not forget this nation is no longer an earthly nation but this promise belongs to Jesus Christ alone and His people, THIS IS THE NATION OF GOD - all of us who proclaim His name above all names and earthly nations.

Let us learn something from the Chinese, let us fight the battle and use warfare that no one suspects. The war of the Spirit against a lost and dying war.
It is unsuspected, it is unlimited- preach the Gospel whether in season or out of season, the war is on- and in the end - Christ will rule with us as His subjects. Are you dressed and ready for warfare. Ok, troops let's go forward.

Dr. J.