Who Adopted Whom?

     I have another metaphor that recently came to mind while reading a book called, If GOD Already Knows, Why Pray? by Douglas F. Kelly.  I highly recommend this wonderful book.  It is the second time I'm reading it, and it is basically and expanded dissection of the LORD's Prayer, line by line.  Its very first point is how GOD is our intimate Father, because He is the Intimate Father of Yeshua/Jesus His true and only begotten Son.  We on the other hand are not "related" in such a way to the Father.  We are strangers, orphans on a very large planet called Earth.  This is going to be what seems to be a very basic and primary metaphor and very simple to understand.  Yet the truth of it when truly contemplated is really very deep.  

     Imagine the world as one great big huge orphanage.  GOD is the prospective adoptive parent. He goes to the orphanage, because He desires to adopt some orphaned children.  He did not have to, because He already had a son, but He wanted to expand His family.  Having sought out the orphanage, knowing its full history, because He instituted it, He would know what kind of orphans and counselors (clergy/Bible teachers) are there.  He would know what they are teaching the children. He would know what they are learning, and He would know the heart of each child.  He, therefore, could confidently know who was learning, and who was robotically obeying for rewards.  Some children weren't even interested in rewards, rather they just rebelled against the authorities of those running the orphanage, because they did not like the rules of the road.   

     Having known the heart of each "child" in the orphanage, YHVH GOD Himself would choose which child He would adopt.  He would adopt that child by visiting with him and reaching out to that child. He would introduce Himself and  reveal Himself as their adoptive Father, thus showing that child His intimate and loving nature. That child never even knew that there was an Adoptive Father seeking that child, until the Adoptive Father revealed Himself.  Most times the Father caught him completely off guard.   Because He knew the child, He knew that the child would respond to the Father's revelation of Himself, and come to accept and know Him almost immediately.  Not only would the Father choose and adopt that child, but He would set a standard and rules to live by in order for that child to remain in good graces with Him. Some are just adopted into the family and some of His adopted children were chosen for extraordinary tasks.  They get an extra dose of revelation of Who their Adoptive Father is.  

     Knowing that no child would ever be a perfect child, He arranged for His natural son to be a mediator, a go-between for the sinful child who wanted a Loving Heavenly Father and to be a part of His family.  That child would recognize and gratefully respond in kind to the Son's intervention by doing his very best to live up to the Father's standards and rules.  In other words, the Earth is GOD's house, and if we want to remain living under His "roof," being a part of His family, we have to live by His rules.  Most parents and adult children can understand that rule because I doubt hardly a child who hasn't heard that at least once from his loving parents.  They understand the rules, they respect the rules and they respect the parent who set the rules.  Those who don't understand or respect them leave.  

    The question then remains, and will forever remain, that if the child is officially adopted by the Father, does  the adoption become null and void by the child's own will.  If the child chooses to emancipate himself from the Father, breaking the bond, and seeking out legal and permanent separation from the Father, forgoing the Father's rules and standards, and if he stops respecting Him as the authority and parent, does He get to live with the Father for all eternity?  That is a question that has been debated among Bible Scholars for thousands of years, and I do not intend to answer it.  No one knows who truly is a (permanently)  adopted child of the Father, except the Father.  I suppose the Father takes in some strays out of His hospitality and Grace, but knows ahead of time that they won't stay.  That is His loving nature.  

    He is The Most High, The Almighty, the Creator of all of us, whether we acknowledge that truth or not, but He is Father to those whom He adopts into His personal family.  Let's look at some examples of adopted children. Let's start with the very first one, that would be Noah.  Genesis says that the whole world was bent on doing evil, but Noah found grace in GOD's eyes.  It doesn't say that he was righteous and blameless, as many of us have been falsely taught.  It just said GOD had Grace toward Noah and chose to adopt him and his family.  Nowhere in the Bible does it even imply that Noah or his wife, sons, and daughters-in-law were righteous and deserving in any way of being adopted, it just says that Noah found Grace in GOD.  

     After Noah was Abraham, but the truth of the matter is it was Abraham's father, Terah who was first called, but he only went halfway and stopped.  I think that he would probably be qualified as a stray who chose not to be in the Father's family exclusively.  GOD picked him out of the polytheistic orphanage and gave him the privilege of coming into a true and personally intimate relation to the Father, but he chose not to take it to the level he was called to.   Terah chose not to live and go further on with YHVH GOD, but to stay in Haran and continue with all he knew, which was worship, acknowledgement, reverence, and obedience to many gods.  Everyone then believed in many gods.  Even after Abram was called out and sent forth to the land of Canaan, Abram did not understand that there was only one GOD. It was just that YHVH GOD was the One who called him to follow Him. GOD called him out of Haran and promised to made him a father of a vast family of GOD.  Abraham ended up having many sons by the time his life was over, but Isaac was the only one adopted by GOD to be His very own, and carry His name.  When Isaac became a father, before either of the twins was born, before either had any opportunity to do good or evil, GOD had already picked Jacob to be adopted into His family. (Jacob I have loved, Esau I have hated. Romans 9:13)  (“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet Jacob I have (chosen/adopted)  loved, Malachi 1:2b  (my interpretation).  Does this make sense?  

     All of GOD's heroes in the Bible were called to and received a special personal, intimate and direct  revelation from the Father Himself. None of them were looking for any kind of heroic work of ADONAI, many did not even know He existed.  (Moses, Gideon, King Saul, King David, Jeremiah, Amos, Elijah, Elisha, all of Jesus's disciples, and Saul/Paul, among many more.) It is GOD the Father who looks down upon our lives before we are even conceived, and it is only He who decides whom He will adopt as His own.  As a church people, whether Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Protestant, or Evangelical, all our lives we have heard that we were either born/baptized into GOD's family as infants, or we asked Jesus into our lives and accepted him as our Lord and Savior.  NOTHING could be further from the truth.  We play no part in being chosen by the Father.  We play no part in our salvation.  We are chosen before we are even born, because the Father is not constricted to time and history.  He knows our nature and our hearts before we are even conceived in the womb, and we are the ones whom GOD chooses, based on His prior knowledge of who we will be.  All of the earth's future is laid out before Him, nothing is hidden from His knowledge, nor out of His total Sovereign control. 

     The next time an evangelical tells you that all you have to do is believe in Jesus, ask him into your heart and life, and make him your personal Savior,  know this, many believed in Jesus while He walked the earth, but to most, he was just a great Tzadik, a holy man, a teacher. Yet, to those whom YHVH GOD had already chosen, He was the mediator, the Messiah, the link between a far-off, out-of-reach, Holy GOD to our  intimate relationship with a yet still Holy and Loving Heavenly Father.  

     If you are reading this and know for sure that you are a part of this intimate family, know this, it was YHVH GOD who adopted you, it was not you who adopted Him.  

 The Completed House of Israel: A GENIUS metaphor created by the Master Builder

Matthew 7

24 “So, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on bedrock. 25 The rain fell, the rivers flooded, the winds blew and beat against that house, but it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on rock.

     The House of the LORD, the LORD's House, the two houses of Israel, My House..., and many more times is the metaphor of a house compared to the work of YHVH GOD.  Today, sitting in a new doctor's office, YHVH GOD showed me His house, metaphorically speaking, and again, His genius never ceases to amaze me.   I constantly question GOD, "Why are you teaching me all these things, and what am I supposed to do with this new exciting information if I don't have a voice?"   He kept showing me that as long as I am here on this planet, that will be true of me.  I could go into another whole blog post on why that is so, but I will spare you the rabbit trail.  What I will do is try to share you in the most foundational, elementary and metaphorically in plain English what I learn without vomiting all this stored up inside me, overwhelming my reader with some really boring stuff.

        I am no longer a Christian and I'm glad of that, just like I was no longer a Roman Catholic when I was twenty-six and born again, the first time.  I know, I can hear the rumblings going on in your heard.  You think I've turned my back on Jesus, and it's impossible to be born-again twice.  That depends on what your definition of born-again is, and what the definition of is is.  Being called out of the Roman church and now the Protestant church some 29 years later is like being born-again twice, because all of a sudden, the scales fell from my eyes, like they did with Paul the Apostle, but twice.  I've been able to see the deception in both churches that YHVH GOD has allowed to perpetuate for more than 2,000 years.  That's a difficult one to explain, because I still don't understand why YHVH GOD lets "His" people go so far from His original intent, when it comes to building our houses on the principles of GOD. I included both the Roman church and the Protestant church in this "house gone wrong," because one came from the other, both with the same lack of supports and protections from the evil one. 

     Most Christians refer to their church building as the house of the LORD, and that cannot be any further from the truth.  Buildings haven't been the "house of the LORD," since the Temple burned in AD 70.  The House of the LORD isn't a building, it is a chosen people, although, I will use a building to explain how it's not what Christians call the "church."   There are five vital components to building a house and any contractor can tell you that.  There is ground preparation, (sometimes plot selection), there is a foundation, and walls to separate each vital room in the house.  The last and most vital part of the house to top everything off, (pun intended), is the roof.  Here is where the GENIUS of GOD comes into play.

    If GOD wanted to build Himself a house of a special people, I will have to explain each step He crafted into His house, and what the steps represent, (pun intended) in the Whole Counsel of GOD. There are four major Covenants YHVH GOD made with His people, and sadly, many Christians wrongly toss out the first three,, and just keep the top one in their purview.  They live in a roofed house with no walls or foundation and the ground below them is slowing caving in on them like a sink hole.  Soon, there will be nothing left in the NT church/people house, and YHVH GOD will have rescued and called out His beloved from that collapsing invisible house with only a roof and the wrong kind at that.  

    Let's start with the first covenant.  A covenant is either an unconditional promise from GOD, or it's a conditional one.  Either way it is never broken by GOD, nor are they ever obsolete to Him. The first promise GOD made is called the Noahide Covenant, and GOD gave this to Noah through no merit of his own doing.  The Bible says that GOD found Grace for Noah, and out of that Grace, He saved only eight people out of millions if not billions to start all over again.  He flooded the earth to prepare the ground for a better house.  Do you see the ground preparation there?  His sign to Noah to honor His Covenant was the rainbow.  This was a sign only YHVH could do, and man could play no part in this outward appearance of a eternal covenant YHVH made with Noah and his descendants, that would be us.  

     After the ground is properly prepared, there is the foundation that needs to be built. He is building a "single" structure, calling out a single people, one nation He will covenant with, and everyone outside of that house is not part of the Kingdom of GOD.  They can enter the house and join in the Covenant, but again, by invitation only.  The Abraham Covenant is the foundation of the house on a set and prepared ground, which is the land of Canaan. The sign for this covenant was circumcision.  It was a physical reminder for man to know that he was chosen out of the general population to become a people of GOD all unto themselves.  

    The next thing YHVH  GOD needed to put up was the framework to support the walls which partition off specific rooms, different from each other with a different purpose, but all part of His house, and vital to this house, if it is to stand. The Mosaic Covenant is the framework and the walls, all 613 Laws.  Each beam/law is vital and weightbearing.  The sign for that Covenant was the Sabbath day for His people. This would be a house that all the residents would rest on the Sabbath day, and no one would leave it, or do chores in it.  This would separate the residents in GOD's House from those outside. This required obedience on the residents part, so it was a conditional covenant. Man had to play a part in it for it to be valid.  

     I think that is pretty obvious which covenant and vital piece to the home is.  The Christian church calls it the New Covenant, but actually each covenant was new when it was introduced to GOD's people and built into the framework of His House of Israel, His united house of ten tribes or clans if you will.  The Roof is Yeshua HaMashiach, or Jesus the Christ as the Roman and Protestant church know him.   He is the covering over the entire structure keeping it safe and under his name and his name only.  The sign for this new addition to the house of Israel is the Holy Spirit.  It is GOD dwelling in the house with us, like the Noahide Covenant, we cannot do this ourselves.  It's not a matter of physical changes, obedience to something. It is a spiritual invite into the house, and we receive it as soon as we cross the threshold.   Of course, the door has to open and the owner of the house must invite us into the His house, we surely can't burst in and breakdown the door.  Only YHVH GOD has the key to unlock the door for us, and that is Grace. He has to give us the key to get in, because the door is locked from the inside with Grace in with Yeshua holding the key.  The house has a back door for residents to leave who want to move out and go it alone out in the big bad mean world. 

       Let's look into the house and the walls and partitions the gentiles removed, erasing the purpose of each room, and creating their own work space. (Pun intended).    The Living Room, that is where the guests come to visit, and the residents are to be hospitable and love the guests when they enter, some even become permanent members inside YHVH's house. The next room is the kitchen, the food rules which help us decide which foods are good for the body, and kosher for cleanliness.  The family room is where we all gather as a united family to worship YHVH, and praise Him for building a house and inviting us into it.  The bedrooms represent the sexual activity, or rather procreation.  There are certain sex laws in the Mosaic Law, hence, strangers from outside the house are not welcome inside the bedrooms of the dwellers of YHVH's house.  Last but not least, is the bathroom, where are sins are washed away, either in the shower with Living Water, or flushed down the commode by animal sacrifice.  Now, that Yeshua has put a roof over our heads, we still have Living Water, however the waste isn't necessary to get rid of in the commode, because it is permanently removed from the residents in the home.  It is impossible to keep all 613 Mosaic laws, because there is no Temple, and we can't just go off and stone our rebellious children, however, those of the beams in the framework, and are covered by the Roof. 

     So, there you have it, the House of Israel, with it's ground prepared by the Hand of GOD, (Noahide Covenant), it's rock foundation on a plot of land, Canaan, built to hold up the walls and the house and be the main support for the House of Israel, (Abraham Covenant), and the framework and walls, separating each room for a specific purpose. (Mosaic Laws).  The Roof is the New Covenant of Yeshua covering over all the residents, keeping powers and principalities of the air away, above, and outside of the people safely tucked inside. One Covenant is built upon the previous covenant, which prepared the house for the new addition.  None of the covenants can be negated or removed, lest the house will fall.  

    

     So, where did it all go wrong?  It was as early as the 2nd century.  First the house was strong and healthy, but as some new people came in, (gentiles) they began to take over. They didn't like the original Architectural plans, so the very first thing they did was to remove the foundation. Next they knocked down the walls, to make it one big open space with no definition, no organized purpose. The walls and beams collapsed, letting the outside world free access to the inside of the house, without an invitation.  Last of course, was to  relocate the house to a new plot, in a new neighborhood, in a new land. The house went from the land of Canaan to Rome.  That land was not properly prepared, and it was also given a new name.  It was no longer the House of Israel, but it was the house of Roman Catholicism.  They even elected their own "builder" to redesign and renovate the house, in the papacy, as if there was something wrong with the original plans.  They had a foreign mother in a false goddess, renamed to Mary, the mother of their gentile Jesus, a roof with holes in it.  A house with no foundation, no framework, no walls, but just a roof cannot stand, and it is not the house YHVH built.  

    I'm sorry if this went a little long, but hopefully you were fascinated enough to keep reading, and now you have a better understand why the Old Covenant/Testament has been improperly labeled and discarded as if not needed. You cannot have a Roof without all those Covenants remaining in place.   I take no credit for this metaphor, because as I state before, YHVH GOD gave me this picture and labeled each part of His House of Israel, assigning a Covenant to each part.  

 Bi-polar Faith

   When it comes to tools, I'm not the  sharpest nail in the tool box, in fact, most of the time, I am definitely rusted and bent, and not good for anything when it comes to fixing or assembling anything. I used to have no clue how to use most tools, especially power tools, nor did I ever care to learn.  Anything I knew I couldn't fix or assemble, I labeled as men's work.  For over three decades, I was married to Mr. Fix-it. Whenever he ran into a problem, all I had to to was praise him, assure him that I believed he would come up with a solution, and he always did.  I never had to to worry about trying to fix things or "some assembly required," even during the first six years of our separation. 

    For the first six years of our separation, as soon as something broke, or needed assembling, he was over in a jiffy to do it for us. Unfortunately, there was one thing he did not want to fix, and that was his family, his marriage, and his broken faith in GOD.  I am not sure when his faith in GOD got broken, maybe it was never functional in the first place. When he bought his civil divorce for our covenant marriage, the judge gave him what he wanted, freedom, and me what I wanted, EVERYTHING! I got the house and everything in it, including decades worth of tools and gadgets that he hoarded over the years.  

    I knew that I had to learn how to start doing those things that I had always labeled as men's work.  I had to learn how to use those tools, yes, even the power tools, which I had avoided like the plague, until yesterday, when I managed to install tip-out trays under my sink. I was absolutely convinced that I could do it, even though using a power drill was so foreign and frightening to me all these years.  I knew if I kept at it and did not give up, I would get this job done, even if the tip-out trays did not fit my forty-year old kitchen cabinets.  I knew I could make adjustments if I needed to which again, was nothing I had ever attempted before that. 

  It took me over twelve hours working on what the instruction manual said was a thirty-minute job. Normally, I would never have even attempted such a masculine task, but I had this confidence that seem to come to me, Supernaturally.  Today, while driving, when I was talking to Him, asking Him why my faith was so strong one day, and so incredibly weak and useless another day, the LORD gave me a vision of the two types of screws I had encountered during that "ordeal."  

    For instance, my faith is like that big huge screw with  finely chiseled rivets, but on most days, my faith in the Jubilee Dream He gave me ten years ago this month, is usually more like that tiny worn-out rusty screw with the stripped head, making it near impossible to remove or use.  Like most women, my faith is rooted in what kind of mood I am in on any particular day.  I float back and forth between believing the impossible in what seems more like a delusional Biblical faith like David's, or very depressed days like Elijah, drowning in disbelief.   On those days, I am  convinced that I'll never be able to be used in GOD's Kingdom, because I am convinced that I will be  muddled forever in mourning, grieving a past that wasn't all that great to begin with, but much better than my present reality, I continually lose hope for  experiencing a victorious future. I want to be able to testify to GOD's faithfulness in miraculously getting us out of problems that most humans cannot find their way out of on their own, whether they jumped into that pit of despair and disillusionment or were pushed.  

     I want to give that one person on the verge of giving up the reason that they cling to hope and faith, in not only if GOD can, but that He will. My Jubilee Dream died a few years ago, but Jehovah Rapha resurrected last week.  He brought it back to life with new easy-to-believe details that make so much more sense, based on the past ten years of all He has taught me.  One part of the dream is easy to believe, it's the "too-good-to-be-true" part that I struggle with, because my life's experiences testify otherwise.  That's the part I want to be able to give GOD all the glory of, and relish in the joy it would bring to my life. 

 

     

Isn't  GOD  Pro-Choice?

      For as much as you are not going to agree with me on this,  as a devoted lover of Yeshua, student of the Whole Counsel of GOD, and faithful servant of the Most High, in the Abortions debate, I am most assuredly pro-choice because YHVH is pro-choice. Point number 1: GOD put the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil INSIDE the Garden of Eden and gave Adam the choice, hence GOD is pro-choice. He wants us to choose the right path. Deuteronomy 28 supports this. GOD wanted his people to choose to obey, and he gave the consequences of obedience versus disobedience. 

     2. Every human created with a brain has a soul. As a woman who has had four miscarriages, I'm well aware that the brain is formed around week five after conception. What I lost was had no brain, because they were too early, yet there was "tissue" there. So, life does begin as conception, but it doesn't always survive. You may call that a weak argument, but thousands of processes have to occur for this to happen. That's why miscarriages are so prevalent. I birthed 8 children, but I had 4 miscarriages, so that is a 50% ratio. That's pretty high. Any abortion done before the brain forms may or may not have been a viable life anyway. (Weak argument, I know, but only GOD knows.) GOD's tests the heart, not the actions. 

    3. Who are having abortions? Is it loving Christian women? I dare say not. GOD told his servants to completely annihilate the Canaanites because of their evil practices. If those types of women had those babies, would they be loved completely? Maybe, maybe not. Would they grow up to become Christians? Maybe, maybe not. The likelihood is about 10% of them. Hence, nine out of ten of those babies born to secular mothers would likely perish. I can safely use that figure because I grew up in a secular family and out of six children, I was the only one called and born-again. I am not just talking my nuclear family but grandparents on both sides, plus aunts, uncles and cousins. I am the only lover of Jesus, and have been for 33 years. 

     This leads to point number 4. Why did GOD have His servants annihilate entire nations, including women, children and babies? 1 Samuel 15:3. Did GOD wipe out women, children, infants, and pregnant women at Sodom and Gomorrah, and at Jericho? Yes, He did. Why? Because those children would have grown up to become just like their child-sacrificing, pagan parents, because their parents did, and so on and so forth. So, when GOD wiped the children and infants out, He saved their souls. Are you following me here? Where do these babies go who are aborted who have souls? They go straight to the Father's arms, 100% of them. So, maybe GOD allows abortion in order to save souls. (Romans 8:28) 

     GOD sometimes allows sin to occur if in the end it brings about a good outcome, example, David and Bathsheba - Solomon and the Temple. He doesn't approve of it, but by His Sovereign will, He allows it. Consider the numbers. If say five people plus the mother are involved in a typical abortion, (Nurses, doctors, receptionist, office manager..,) it's likely that five out of those six people will likely end up in hell, whereas the 100% of the babies end up in the Father's arms. 

     LAST and most important point, the anti-abortion movement has become a Jericho's wall, a hill to die on, and sadly those dying are those outside of the church, because this hill and wall is nothing more than combative Christianity. It is keeping unbelievers out of the church, and church people behind their self-built anti-abortion-Jericho's wall.  Yes we are fighting for life, but that's not how the lost see it. As one who was saved at twenty-six and was very much a progressive feminist who was very much pro-choice/abortion then, I can tell you, Satan has filters on their hearts and souls to only see this as combative and hateful Christianity. I went from pro-abortion to anti-birth control.  Only GOD can change a heart that much. The Holy Spirit must come into a heart for it to be able to defeat the filter the enemy has put there to block the Gospel. How many women come to the LORD out of guilt for what they had done? There is the Holy Spirit at work. Again, GOD allowed sin to save a soul. 

     With all this said, the sale of fetus parts is abhorring and an abomination, and those who do this will be called to account. Yet, my arguments are more about the souls of these babies and where they end up, because isn't that what matters more? This life is fraught with pain, (Job 14) and those babies are being spared all that hurt.  It's not about being born, it's about where we end up when we die. Ecclesiastes 4:2. Even Solomon said, blessed are those who are never born. I was born into a horrible family and suffered emotional pain that is indescribable and still am and I am 58 years old. Even my husband bailed on our marriage after 36 years and ten times vowing to remain faithful to GOD, me, and his children. 

     You may think my arguments are weak, however, I don't think like normal people. I think in a different plane. Isaiah 55:8-9. I try to see things from GOD's point of view, and we all know that GOD's point of view is usually opposite of sinful man's point of view.

  Heaven's Walk of Fame

Just like there are celebrities in the world, music stars and all that, well in heaven there is also a group that are celebrities. Like all the heroes of the Bible, they are on Heaven's Walk of Fame. Well, I'm on it, also. I know this for sure, because GOD sees in us who He will make us, and that's who we already are in Heaven, regardless of who we are here.

Let's take Gideon for an example. 11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” The ANGEL of the LORD came down, sat w/the weakest runt in the weakest family in the weakest tribe and called him "Mighty Warrior." I love Gideon's response.

13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied,

His reaction was like total unbelief. He had no idea that he was going to be in the Biblical Walk of Fame, but GOD did, because GOD chose him and wrote his story ahead of time. THAT's how GOD sees us.

He sees us like He saw Gideon, not how Gideon saw himself.

15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

When GOD chose me to write LOVE'S MUSES, I said to Him, regarding myself, "Pardon me Lord, but do you know who I am? I am a total screw up." Yet, my name is on the Red Carpet of Fame in Heaven. I'm not delusional, I'm finally accepting the truth. The thing about being on that Red Carpet in Heaven, we don't get to walk on it until the work is done, and we are already gone from this earth and are in Heaven. Most of the time, people think we are crazy and they dismiss us or are mean to us.

One thing about us famous future heavenly dwellers is that while we are here on earth, in order to keep us humble, GOD will prevent our work from bearing much fruit, and no one recognizes us while we are still down here. Just as I wrote in an earlier blog post: CANCER, DEATH, AND GOOD HUMBLE PIE, AMONG OTHERS, there will always be a thorn in the flesh for anyone chosen to be walk on Heaven's Walk of Fame. A thorn in the flesh can be anything from a physical limitation to an emotional handicap. I can assure you, GOD will keep you humble by whatever means He needs.

GOD has graciously given me a vision for two other of His heavenly superstars already on the Walk of Fame up there but nobodies down here, like me. That is both a gift and a burden, because it's my job to show them this truth about themselves. Who are you in the Kingdom of Heaven? Are you are a superstar in the making, or are you just happy to be among those chosen to be heaven bound. You are chosen, you realize that, I hope. You did NOT find GOD, He came for you.

The BEST Dream I have Ever Had.

    I once had this awesome dream. I had asked God one day what it was like those last day between death waiting for New Life. It was shortly after my mother died, and I don't remember if that it was that night or shortly thereafter, but I had a dream. I was laying in a bed. My family was all around me. I was "dreaming" and in this blank space, or so I thought I was dreaming. I was attached to a bed by my sleeve. I heard myself breathing loudly. That breathing was tethering me to that bed. I heard a man whisper in my left ear. "You can go now, Kristina."

    Then, a man started walking to me in this empty space where I was anchored to the bed. We didn't speak, but our spirits spoke to each other. I asked him, "Is it time to go now?" He nodded his head. I knew that total peace awaited me, and I was excited to go. Then, I looked up at the bed because I did not know how to detach myself. I asked him "What do I do?"

    He said, "You just stop breathing, because you aren't going to need that where we are going."

    I said, "Okay, but how do I do that?"

    He said, "Any way you want."

    I understood and I looked up at the people around my bed. I thought about it. I took one long deep breath. Everyone sat up and looked at me, and I saw them, and felt so sorry for them, because they didn't know it was my last breath, that there would not be another one coming. So, I let the air out really slow. They all stared at me me waiting to see if there was another one coming. I was sad for them, because I knew the crying would begin then. I looked at the man in front of me, and he turned and started walking away, so I gave them one last glance, and then I followed after him.

    Immediately, I woke up from that dream. It was so real, and I thought, We won't be breathing in heaven. We won't need our lungs. It was then that I knew God sent me that dream. Ever since then, I have wanted to go. I can't though, I have to finish my work here.

    As a cancer survivor from a very rare cancer, I know cancer lies dormant in my body, waiting to make its reappearance. My days are winding down, and I quite look forward to the end, because, the only scars in heaven are the ones holding me right now as I keep breathing here with the scars on my face; and on my heart.

I hope you enjoy this song, as it is so true. We don't have enough time with the ones we love, and we only know that after they are gone.

The Only Scars in Heaven

By Casting Crowns

 “Just Because” LOVE

    As some of you all know, I’ve been through the wringer all my life. It’s been one trial after another. I’ve had an experience where I got a tiny sip of the pure overwhelming love that comes from GOD in heaven. I’ve tasted that joy that can’t be described in words. I’ve felt every cell in my body light up just in His Presence, the couple of times that it has happened to me. I want it, and I want it, now.

    All my life, I’ve been the little girl who nobody loved, or so I saw that in myself. I was the black sheep of the family, the one they always blamed. I was the controversial one, the troublemaker, they said. I grew up in a very secular home where Jesus was surely NOT present, so of all six of us, who did Jesus pick to be the first to experience his encompassing love? Why me, of course. My mother was rougher around the edges than I am, if you can believe that. She did some horrible things because she was not in control of all her faculties. She had a mean streak, and a tongue that could slice leather if she was mad at the leather. 

    She loved me because I was her daughter, and that’s it. There was nothing about me that she loved, and she made that evident. My father loved me because I was his daughter, and the only one of the six who maintained contact with him all my life. The others have been estranged for over forty years. So, his is a grateful love. My siblings love me, because my mother drilled it into us that friends come and go, but your family is for life. So, theirs is an obligatory love because my mother told them they had to love me. She told them a lot of other things, that were counterintuitive, but she stressed obligatory love for family.

    My children love me because I’m their mother and I take care of their needs. My husband only loved what I could do for him during our thirty-year marriage. Whenever I asked him why he loved me, he couldn’t come up with a good reason except, “Because you’re a good woman.” In thirty years, that was the only nice thing my husband ever said to or about me. Most of the time, he drilled it into my head all the reasons why people did NOT like me. There is a love that is so pure that it can only come from One Place. 

    There was one person however, who loved me just because. It was pure, it was wonderful, and it had no other reason then just because. That was my Nana. That love died when she did sixteen years ago. Hence, I’ve lived without that “just because love” all these years, and let me tell you, life isn’t worth living unless there is someone who loves you “just because.” Yet, in all that, I’ve loved everyone in my life just because. I never understood why, because many were so mean to me, but I could never stop loving them just because. GOD put that love in my heart, I take no credit.

    As a cancer survivor, I am always on the lookout for my “ticket Home,” as I call it. I can’t take life loving just because and not having any “just because” love back. Someone asked me if all I needed was "just because" love to fight cancer for a second time, and why just that: 

   My answer was unequivocally. “Yes, "JUST BECAUSE.”

 Prayers without substance is as useless as  Jack-O-Lanterns warding of evil spirits

 

The Celtic pagan practice of hollowing out a pumpkin, carving a grotesque face and illuminating it  on October 31  was believed to ward off the evil spirits of dead people would come back that night and wreak havoc on those who did them bad during their lifetime.  Obviously, it's based on a faulty theory that dead spirits can actually return to earth, when we know from the parable Jesus told of Lazarus and the rich man in that they most certainly cannot return to earth.

If you know me, I always use metaphors to describe the life of a believer.  I find pumpkin carving a good metaphor for the prayer life of a believer not rooted firmly in the Whole Counsel of GOD.    In its natural state it is attached to the vine which is firmly rooted in the fertile soil and full of what GOD put in it, i.e., seeds and  the leafy veins that feed the pulp of the pumpkin that cause it to grow. When you carve a pumpkin, pull out all the seeds and that slimy stringy substance all you have is an empty shell. You don't really have a thriving vegetable anymore, you just have a mess that will rot away in a very short time.  By the way, if you've ever gutted a pumpkin, all that slimy stuff in the middle can be kind of gross.  Well, the historicity of GOD's people is likewise unpleasant, as well as some of the commands He gave them.  For example, 1 Samuel 15:3.  Look it up. It's not something we can stomach, but it did have purpose. 

There seems to be this growing trend of prayer teams popping up with a party line of prayer calls on a weekly basis.  Likewise struggling believers seeking prayer support from strangers has flooded social media.  I really wonder how many of those who respond actually stop and pray for that person.  How do they pray, what do they pray?  How does that person know that those prayers are doctrinally or Scripturally sound? Some cancers and sickness are send by GOD to refine a person.  I know, it happened to me.  Some diseases are GOD's way of taking someone home. We all have to die someday. 

Everyone is seeking the mystical more these days without seeking Scripture or the historical context of those Scriptures.  The answers that some responders give are usually some worn out verses  that  carry no weight.  How can Scripture carry no weight?  They can simply by being used in the wrong context with the wrong historical context.  Not all Scriptures are meant for every believer, however, the principle behind the Scripture usually can be.  A perfect example is the one Scripture I hate the most.  How does one hate a Bible verse?  One can hate how it’s over-used and used incorrectly.  Jeremiah 29:11, is that one Scripture that irritates the heck out of me.  Jeremiah gave that Scripture in context to the Jews and the 70 year exile that He had ordained for them to bear for their disobedience in idolatry. What exactly is idolatry?  It is mixing GOD’s formula for worship with man’s own ideas and made-up traditions for worship.  In my one of my previous posts, I used Christmas as a perfect example of that practice of idolatry.  The church loves Christmas, because they have their own man-made traditions regarding its practice, but it was never ordained by the LORD as a spiritual act of worship.  (Romans 12:1.) 

In the book of Jeremiah, the prophet was letting GOD’s people know that after their exile, He had a plan to use them, again.  The principle behind that Scripture is true, for the most part, however, it is not for everyone.  Who is it not for? It is not for the person who has turned his back on GOD and walked away to the point of being of no use to Him, anymore.  It is not for the believer who is Christian in name only, doing his own thing, worshiping GOD in his own way, whether it is agreeable to GOD or not, because he feels good about what he’s doing.  Folks, it isn’t about us feeling good about worship or service to GOD.  Usually, the church goer is  not interested in learning anything new.  What his pastor has told him is good enough for him, and seeking out the historical context to Scripture is unimportant to him because he already knows as much as he wants to know about the Lord that he is allegedly worshiping.  Many times, it’s isn’t even YHVH GOD, but an imagined one, one who thinks like he does.

There are some real whacko's out there, self-proclaimed prophets who have decided in their own minds that YHVH has appointed them prophet to the nation.  All you have to do is go to YouTube and in the search box type, "Rapture dream," and every self-proclaimed Joe-apostle/prophet has a video describing some kind of cataclysmic tidal wave or atomic/nuclear war.  It's chicken-little times a million or more. Listening to most of these people, you know that they are not Biblically grounded, but they are mystically assured of their calling.  In other words, they do not realize that what they are saying is not supported by the Bible, as a whole, but the select verses that they choose to support their mystical experience.  Many of them are listening to deceiving spirits that boost them up to prophet status when it was never GOD who called them as prophets, but their own inflated sense of importance in the Kingdom of GOD. 

Now, I'm not saying that GOD doesn't speak to us in dreams, we have Biblical examples that He did, but really, people, do you suppose He is really visiting as many "self-proclaimed" prophets as is on YouTube and other social media sites?  The Bible covers a span of approximately 4,000 years give or take a millennium, and how many times did and Angel of the LORD actually appear in the dreams of His servants?  A handful of times, I would say, and look who He appeared to, what they accomplished, and for what purpose?  I mean there must have been at least a couple of million  of GOD’s people on the earth during those years, and he only appeared to a handful over a 4,000 year span. So what's the chance that He is popping in and out of dreams, sending telepathic cryptic messages to every Joe-YouTube-Prophet? 

I once calculated how many false self-proclaimed prophets might be out there, based on 450 to 1 in 1 Kings chapters 19 and  22. Now, today, if there are 4 billion Christians, using those statistics,  then less than ten thousand or so would-be bonafide authentic people holding the true office of a prophet, called specifically of GOD.  (See To Be or Not to Be a Prophet )

How does this relate to empty pumpkins?  Let me explain. The pulp, the vein and the seeds could symbolize the Whole Counsel of GOD.  The veins and pulp are the people, events, and theme of sin and redemption that interconnect all people, typology, doctrine, and history, in the Bible, and the seeds are the actual Scriptures.  You have to have a perfect balance of pulp, veins, seeds to outer shell and stem rooted firmly into the vine which is nourished in the fertile soil to have a perfectly balanced pumpkin. Once you cut the pumpkin from the vine, you still have a whole pumpkin, which is a useful fruit, but when you hollow it out, taking out the most important parts, then all you have is empty shell. That is the prayer life of a believer not rooted firmly to the Vine with all its parts intact, working properly to balance out the believers knowledge of GOD.

If we don't know the Word of GOD, backward and forward, then our prayers do not carry the power that they are meant to carry.  Do not get me wrong, I’m not saying that I do not believe in prayer, but what I’m saying is that prayer NOT based on the truth in the WHOLE counsel of GOD does not carry the same power. 

Far be it from me to tell anyone something so unScriptural as to stop praying, or that our prayers are not heard by GOD. What I am saying is that if one's prayers aren't bathed in the full knowledge of Scripture, based on solid doctrine in Scripture, with historical context in the content of those prayers, then one might as well be praying to the tooth fairy. Yes, GOD hears our prayers, but is that always GOD answering?  The Spiritual Realm is a very real and very dangerous place if the wrong people enter it through their prayers. (see So You Want to GO Swimming) May I suggest that the devil’s minions assigned to us hear our prayers said out loud?  Do you think it may be possible that they know who is Scripturally inept and who can be deceived? 

Satan is so crafty that even those who are well-endowed with the knowledge of Scripture can find it difficult to discern what is from GOD, what is our own concoction, and what is the enemy feeding our egos and flesh with some kind of nonsense that does not agree with Scripture?   A true prophet of GOD is going to know Scripture like the back of his/her hand, because surely GOD would NOT send out any prophet to preach or be a voice for Him if they were not fully bathed in the full comprehensive knowledge of Scripture and the historicity of GOD’s dealings with His people. .

I've heard some nutty "famous prophets" capitalizing on their 15-minutes of fame, spewing off the craziest stuff, claiming that GOD gave them these prophesies to write down.   They even speak in first person proclaiming to be representing GOD Himself, as did the true Prophets in the Bible.  To be truthful, this man's  prophecies, sound more like Dr. Seuss  on religious psychedelic drugs. I can assure you that  GOD will not give anyone any new prophesies that are not already written in the canon of Scripture.  Whenever you hear anyone prophesy saying that they operate in the prophetic, that should raise a red flag, as that concept is a man-made doctrine, not straight from the Word of GOD.  If he says, “The Spirit of the LORD says,” you can be sure he is not quoting exactly from the Word of GOD, it did not come from GOD. Likely, it came from some snake oil salesman who did a seminar on dreams and made a cool million before GOD took him out of this world because of the damage he has done. I won't mention any names, but you can do some research and find him yourself.  Unless what a prophet  says is and exact quote from the Bible, it’s not from GOD in the context that he is using it. 

Back in the days before Christ, the Holy Spirit fell upon GOD’s ordained prophets, and they became a prophet to the nation, however, we are living in the last days where the Holy Spirit dwells within each believer, so national prophets proclaiming that they have a message, (outside of Scripture) for the nation are not of GOD.  If there is a national prophet, he/she will speak ONLY the Words straight from Scripture that applies to the spiritual condition of the church. If a stranger comes to you and tell  you he has a message from GOD for you, thank him and let him know that you also have the Holy Spirit, and he doesn’t need an interpreter to give you a message.  He will speak directly to you through your study of Scripture.  In other words, if you aren’t studying Scripture, then more than likely you are not hearing from GOD.  Does GOD give personal revelation? Yes, He does, but for the individual  believer only, one on one, not for the believer to send a message to a nation or an individual.  Sometimes, I will come across a person in whom I sense the Spirit of GOD working, and I let that believer know that I believe GOD is going to use in the future.  I never give details, because I do not claim to know that person’s personal walk with the LORD or the detail of his life.  I just let them know that I have a feeling, and that’s all it is, a feeling, not necessarily fact. I direct them to the Whole Counsel of GOD and I advise them to seek out GOD for their own revelation from Him.

What I am trying to say to you is that the easiest way to tell a hollowed out pumpkin and a fully intact one is the by the weight and mass of the pumpkin when examined.  Careful analysis of what is being said compared to Scripture and the history of GOD's dealings with His people is how one can correctly scrutinize another's "prophetic ponderings."   The only way to be able to weigh the pumpkin and prayers is to know all that there is about what's inside both the pumpkin and the Bible. Therefore, if one is not fully equipped in their knowledge of the historicity of the Whole Counsel of GOD, one can easily be manipulated to believe any deceiving spirit that comes along, and let me tell you, those deceiving spirits are quite cunning and crafty sounding very Scriptural.  Remember, the devil knows way more Scripture than you and I do, and he know just how to use them to trip us up.  He even tried to use them on Jesus to trip him up. 

 I’ve spent over a decade in the fiery furnace of affliction and my only means of survival hasn’t been prayer only, but prayer combined is careful study of GOD’s people, especially those who have spent some serious time in the furnace of affliction, where GOD refines the dross out of the sinner and his flesh.  I study every aspect of their walk with GOD and how GOD directed them and the fruit that they bore.  I also study their mistakes because our Gracious and wonderful GOD left those in the story to show us that being human means if there is a way to mess something up, we'll find  it.