Take it to the proper place, Facebook!

 

 Everyone says never to air our dirty laundry publicly on Facebook or social media, but I think GOD disagrees.  Usually what man thinks, GOD is thinking the exact opposite, but with a twist of Omniscient Wisdom mixed into it.  Some of us need to process our thoughts and pains and we think out loud. I used to be a journaler until arthritis made holding a pen so very unpleasant.  Age does that, it makes our thoughts clearer and our penmanship more difficult to decipher to even ourselves.  Do we have examples of journalers in the Bible?  I dare say yes, at least 150 times if not more. The book of Psalms is the writer publicizing his agonizing and invigorating thoughts for the readers to digest into their own lives. The Psalmist is processing his pain and the confusion into eloquent words until by the end of the Psalm, for the most part, he has acquired valuable wisdom from Above. In fact, a few of his enemies who did him wrong are in the book of Psalms.  Paul and John had no problem naming those in their letters who were attempting to do them much damage. 

 3 John 9-12  I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us.  Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church.  Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.   Demetrius has a good testimony from all, and from the truth itself. And we also bear witness, and you know that our testimony is true.

Two other books in the Bible are the writers penning their frustrations with GOD and with life in general.   The book of Ecclesiastes is the work of the wealthiest and wisest king of Israel, in which he is griping about how meaningless life is.  All the way through it, Solomon is trying to process the intense Wisdom from Above, because he was given more than a flawed human would be able to bear and carry.  Let me tell you, it's true, the more you know, the more you wish you didn't know. By the time he gets to the twelfth chapter, he is able to put all his complaining and moaning together and come out with timeless wisdom that for 3,000 years we have benefited.  Job is another who did a whole lot of complaining to GOD, blaming Him for his dire straits, although, usually we are not taught that.  The Most High gave the devil free reign up to a certain point to wreak havoc in Job's life.  Most of the Job’s words were his complaining to GOD and why I wrote the book, The Wrath of Job, In His Own Words.  It’s not a commentary, it’s just Job complaining to GOD, airing his frustrations.  We get so lost up in the selfish and evil motives of his “friends” trying to pin blame on Job, that we miss the entirety of Job airing his frustration with GOD. I spent a whole weekend once just writing Job’s and only Job’s words down in a notebook, and boy did I get an eyeful, one I never got in any Bible study specifically on that book in any church setting.  

So, like David, Solomon, and Job, my goal in life in life is to bear fruit, fruit for those who have already experienced the pain of betrayal, the loss of hope, and endless days of drowning in their seas of despair.  I tell people, I want to be a lighthouse for those who can no longer swim in their seas of despair.  One of the place where I can best process my thoughts is on Facebook, believe it or not.  I don't have any "friends" on Facebook, so, I assume GOD will send it where it needs to go.  Most times, it's a rough draft for a new blog post. In fact, that’s how this blog post came to be. 

I want to bear fruit when I'm up in heaven, not while I'm down here. I know myself pretty well, and GOD knows me better.  I would not do very well with success. Failure, on the other hand, I excel at, and I am able to take it all in stride as I am quite used to it.  Failure is  safe, especially in obscurity.  It's in the failure that we learn the most about us, other people, life, and our Savior and GOD.  People give me a hard time about all the stuff I put up on my Facebook page, but what they don't realize is that those are the little 2 am sessions are lessons of wisdom I get usually when insomnia from menopause takes control of my sleep schedule. I always ask GOD the big questions during those, what I call, toddler temper tantrums, because to Him, I am that.  We are all just newborns and toddlers to our Omniscient and Wise GOD. Who would understand us better than our own creator, just like we understand and are patient with our own toddlers during their little fits, because their brains are not ready to reason.

 

 

Once Saved, Always Save, Right? 

Well, MAYBE NOT! 

Once saved always saved is a very dangerous doctrine that is deceiving multitudes risking their salvation.  GOD will most assuredly hold accountable many teachers of this dangerous man-made doctrine. James tells us that those who teach the Word will be held to a much higher standard, than those who study under them.  Many people use this false man-made doctrine as a license to live in sin.  They have created and worship a god they have crafted in their own image.  They have created a God they can accept, instead of living up to the standards of the YVHV GOD who wants to accept them.  YHVH GOD cannot accept a man who has made himself a God in his own mind.  The Bible calls this idoloatry, but too often, today’s church goer has a vision of a person guilty of idolatry as one bowing down to a statue of some sorts.  That is not the true definition of idolatry.  Idolatry is worshiping a man-made image or doctrine.  Anything a man makes higher in his own mind than the absolute truth which comes from GOD is an idol.  If that means man living however he sees fit as is higher than what Scripture clearly teaches is a man living in idolatry.  So, how are we to know the truth?  It’s simple, we are to read and study the Bible as it says, not how we are taught it says.  That is a very complicated issue, because we have it made up in our own minds that we have been taught what it says and what we have been taught is the absolute truth.  There is no one more difficult to convince that he has been taught lies than the devoted Christian church attendee, be it he a regular attendee or one who does so two or three times a year.  These attendees believe with all their hearts that they are worshiping the true GOD, but are they?  We all want to believe that what we believe is the truth, but true truth seekers will continue to question their own beliefs and seek out the truth with all their hearts.   

We are taught that works do not save us and to believe so is blasphemy, however, even that is not the truth exactly.  There are many Scriptures that the Christian church likes to gloss over.  The attendee does not either know it’s there or it’s been so glossed over by their teachers that it never really registers what it really says, word for word.  Romans 2:13 is a perfect example.  As a student of the Bible for over thirty years, I had no idea that this verse was actually in the Bible, and not until I really read it word for word did it really hit home.  This surely does sound like a works doctrine.  So as to not go off on a tangent and rabbit trail, I will try to condense this one principle in one sentence.  It was the Roman church who translated Torah into the word law.  The Roman were Jew Haters, so anyway they could strip the Scriptures/Gospel of anything Hebrew, they did, and they did it well, even to changing the words, definitions, and doctrines of YHVH GOD, the Jew’s God, or so they thought. The Bible in English was translated from the Latin, which was translated from Greek, which was translated from Hebrew.  Now, I know this sounds complicated, but it is not.  Jesus spoke in Aramaic, so it is reported, however he taught from Hebraic thought and culture. Then the original writers wrote down what he said in Koinonia Greek, which was then translated by Jerome, the Roman Catholic Priest, into the Latin Vulgate, to prevent the common man from being able to read the Scriptures for himself.  Then, mid to late 16th Century, it was translated into German, and then several other languages before it was then finally into King James English.  After that, many translators took liberties and  license to translate the Scriptures into anything they wanted it is say.   Do you see how the truth could get lost in the multiple translations.  My favorite Bible teacher once said something to the effect that the Scripture translators will always have an agenda or doctrine which will reflect in the words he uses, because that is the nature of humankind.   Now do you understand why we cannot always trust the Bible today, 2,000 years after it was originally taught by Yeshua, otherwise known as Jesus? 

So, in a word, (pun not intended), works do not save us, faith in Jesus alone does not save us, but FAITHFULNESS to the Word/Jesus will grant us salvation. When I board an airplane, I have faith that it will get me from one destination to another, however, before I board, I’m not going to study aeronautics, the laws of physics, the pilot’s education and memorize how many flight hours he has spent in the cockpit, nor am I going to study the history of the manufacturer of each part of this magnificently enormous “bird” that I’m stepping into.  Yet, is that how we treat the Bible?  Should we just trust the man in the pulpit that he knows what he is teaching?  Has he studied the origins of each language and the complete history or every translator of the Scriptures beginning with Moses down to his seminary professors?  So, you see, faith in the work Jesus did is not enough, we must understand why he did what he did, what exactly he taught, and the Hebrew mindset behind what he taught.  Modern Christianity will tell you that Jesus did not teach The Law, but that’s not true.  Jesus  taught the Torah, which translated from the Hebrew means instructions.  

Now, let's examine the word "saved." Notice that it is the past tense of the word. How can we be saved if we are still here on earth. We aren't actually saved until our life is over, and we are securely in Heaven with our Savior. What we are doing down here is as Paul said is, "Working out our salvation with fear and trembling." The fear of GOD is the beginning of wisdom. Those who believe in the safety net of "once saved always saved," do not truly fear GOD, because that doctrine has given them a license to live in sin. They say, "we are under grace not law," hence they make grace and free will their idol.  Grace and free will gives them carte blanch permission to live however they want. The Laws of Moses are our standards to live by.   We aren't saved by following it to the letter, but we will prove to YHVH GOD and ourselves that our salvation and future in heaven is true if we observe as much of the Torah, as humanly possible and the principles behind the Torah. Even Yeshua could not observe the 613 Laws of Moses because he was not a woman, hence he could not observe the laws for woman, nor was he married, hence he could not fulfill the Laws pertaining to husbands and wives. Do you see? There are many aspects of the Torah we cannot fulfill, and that is where that wonderful work of GRACE applies. GOD knows that we cannot follow the whole Law, but does the wipe it out?   

As usual, I can only use my ex-husband as a perfect example.  Once married always married, right?  Apparently, according to man's laws, that is not so.  He believes that we are all sinners, and that seems to give him the excuse to abandon all his vows he made to GOD and his family and me ten times? That's like your child declaring themselves independent of you and your household rules as early as they can speak and learn the definition of the word no.  After all, all children do wrong, but because they have your name, they will always be your child, but your household rules to not apply to him.  Would you not hold him accountable to the rules in your household? If you love him, you'll teach him right from wrong, and if he loves you, he'll strive to learn from you. My ex-husband is convinced that he's saved just because he believes that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, but he has no interest in doing and acting upon the things of GOD. Some carnal-minded people will go up against the will of GOD, claiming that man has free will, and all sins are forgiven, past, present, future. There is enough truth in that to be deceiving, because that's how the devil works. He puts truth mixed in with his lies to deceive many. They've been taught once saved, always saved, and they use that false assurance as permission from the god they made up in their heads by their faulty reasoning as an excuse for their carnal lifestyles. My ex-husband told me that he goes to a particular mega church where he can hide in the shadows, and the pastors preaching makes him feel good about himself. If you ask me, he has made feeling good about himself the idol he lives by. I don't claim to know the things of GOD and who will end up in heaven, I know GOD's Grace is huge, but I don't believe it is cheap. I once asked him while begging him not to go through with the civil no fault divorce from our Covenant marriage, "Is GOD telling you to divorce me. Just give me a yes or no answer." He said no. He admitted to going up against the will of GOD when he divorced every vow he made to GOD and me and his children. I think the people who need to worry the most about whether or not they are saved, are the ones who are sure they are, based on that faulty man's doctrine of "ONCE SAVED ALWAYS SAVED." If you are living outside the will of GOD and know it, then maybe man's doctrine is not what you should be following.

 Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love GOD with all our hearts, our souls, and our mind. I don't know about you but when I love someone like that, I'm going to learn all I can about them, constantly seeking the truth about them and then do anything to please them, even if it means living completely contrary to what my carnal flesh desires. Hebrews 6:4 is one of those verses that most eternal security preachers will avoid like the plague, as well as the ones listed below. Many of them they can explain away, but they will avoid them because they do not fit their own man-created theology. What is theology, anyway? It is man's attempt at trying to understand the mind of GOD with a flawed human brain.  Now, how hilarious is that? 

Many times, in the Hebrew Scriptures, as I call them, as opposed to the Old Testament, which gives us the impression of them being obsolete, GOD sent His prophets to warn his His people that they had committed spiritual adultery mixing in the current contemporary religious practice and  theory with the Mosaic Laws GOD gave them. They found no harm in practicing both. Sure, they were GOD's chosen people, so their lives were secure, (or so they thought), but their neighbors religions seemed harmless to them, so they combined them. A thorough and clear observation of how GOD dealt with His people throughout the ages will prove that one can be a believer in Jesus, claim to follow him from their own perspective and truly not be saved. One must check their heart of devotion and dedication to the Father, before one uses a safety net with more holes in it than swiss cheese.

 

Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

 

 James 2:14 What use is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 17 In the same way, faith also, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

 

Matthew 24: 10 And at that time many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will rise up and mislead many people. 12 And because Torahlessness is increased, most people’s love will become cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end is the one who will be saved.

 

 

 King Saul reigned over David for thirty years and wanted him dead for nearly half those years.

I've been living here in the heart of the Bible Belt coming up on 30 years and under the "reign of a King Saul" for all those years, but he wasn't always wicked. A lot of that time he was fair to decent, but then he started going "mad" about 14 yrs ago. Each year, he's gotten progressively worse, bad enough to make me block out the good years. When I do remember the good years, I go into a tailspin of grief, because that man is dead, never to return. Right now, I'm under his "reign," and there's not a thing I can do about it. This is GOD's ordained will for my life. I just have to grin and bear it. Like Jonathan, I know GOD's hand is off this Saul and on another, but that other isn't ready to "take the throne." Like Abigail, I see the anointing on a "David" whose weakness is his flesh, but I also see his destiny is to be "king."

I'm having the hardest fight of my life keeping the faith of a Jonathan and an Abigail. I cannot escape "King Saul" because GOD wants me under his rule for now. I get so frustrated with GOD because I know "Saul's" destiny and ending, and it isn't going to be good, but I don't know when his "reign" will end. I keep getting too caught up in the debauchery, rebellion, and vindictive madness of this "King Saul," who is hunting me down, trying to destroy me from the inside out. I get lost in the pain of it, both for its evil foundations (the devil himself), and the grief over the man who used to be and will never be again. It tears away at my faith and strength, and each day/year I get weaker and weaker. I have no one to support me, no shoulder to cry on, so I am all alone in the Cave of Adullum. I don't have a Joab or a discontented army of 600 devoted to me, I only have 6 offspring, none of them who are walking with GOD. I have a few scattered friends, but they just don't get it. They cannot see what GOD has shown me.

So, the point of this blog post is if you have been under an oppressive King Saul for 15 days or 15 weeks or 15 months or 15 years, and God gave you a vision, a hope, and a dream, and you know from the bottom of your heart to the depths of your soul it came from God, the wait is hell on earth, but God understands that he gets it. It may only take one hour or so to read David's plight in 1 Samuel, however, every moment, every second of those 15 years of agony for David, GOD was with him on the mountain tops and most importantly in the valleys of despair. He is with me and you, also. I found this today and it describes in great detail the worst fifteen plus years of David's life, and I can so relate to this.

David's Horrendous run from Saul