Atheists on the left, Islamists on the right, here we are, stuck in the middle with God. If politics and adversity make strange bedfellows, I figure so does hatred. I’ve never felt more like a piñata in my entire life, and I was the kid that got beat up throughout Junior High for wearing pressed slacks to school.
Forces that could not be any further apart in their ideology or belief structure have found common ground in their hatred for Christians and Christianity. As those who still hold to the truth of Christ being the singular way, the singular truth, and the singular life, we are stuck in the middle, braced on both sides, and oddly silent as we are being squeezed with increasing pressure and growing indifference as to whether or not what is being said concerning our faith is hurtful, condescending, or outright untrue.
There are two segments of the population today concerning which you can still say the most awfully atrocious things, and get away with it without as much as a slap on the wrist.
It’s open season on Christians and overweight folk, and if one happens to be both a Christian and overweight like yours truly, well, then it’s a twofer.
What I find pitiable to the utmost is that allot of the people stuck in the middle, being buffeted on all sides by those whose hatred for Jesus is evident upon their countenance, still won’t muster the wherewithal to break ties with sin, repent, and truly get to know Jesus and the power of godliness as they ought.
They bear the name, they bear the title, but because of their duplicity, compromise and hypocrisy, they bear no power or authority.
As long as men behind pulpits continue to teach that compromise is an acceptable alternative to true and undefiled worship, as long as we are distracted from true commitment by the temporal and mundane, we will wallow in this pseudo-faith that neither sanctifies us nor matures us in Christ.
The one problem with the in-between is that the in-between does not exist. We can no more have one foot in the world and one foot in the church than we could serve both God and Mammon simultaneously.
Men either love God and hate the world, or they love the world and hate God. To pretend otherwise is to deceive ourselves into believing extra biblical heresies. Palatable as they might be, they are still heresies, and they are still extra biblical.
As I was sitting in our studio today getting ready to film some teachings, I couldn’t remember a time when I was more exhausted even though I’d done absolutely nothing to warrant the exhaustion.
As I began to think about it afterwards, I called some friends whom I know as men of God, and in conversation asked if they were feeling anything close to what I had been feeling. To the last they said they had been for the past few weeks, and the only conclusion we could come up with was that we are feeling in the spiritual what is soon to manifest in the physical.
I fear that while we’re waiting for transfers of wealth from the wicked to the righteous, the enemy is advancing stealthily and positioning himself whereby conflict between his acolytes and the children of God will become inevitable. There’s a marked difference between a big check and shackles, and depending on which you are expecting, you might be in for a rude awakening.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
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3 comments:
You've been listening to rock music again!!! What a hoot - Stealer's Wheel did that song. But your comparison is spot on.
Please don't feel bad about being overweight, especially in America where over 2/3 of us are. I gave up trying to lose weight a long time ago, because after all if we are going to have a famine, I will need every calorie I ever stored. Sometimes blessings come in unexpected ways.
As for the scoffers who are becoming increasingly vicious, the day will come when they have to answer for that and it won't be much fun for them.
I feel like Satan is going to start stepping up his game. Our strategy needs to be to focus on God and not what the lost and fallen are up to. If we look to God, he will put the sword in our hands to defeat the enemy when the time arises. Why fret over people who are disagreeable and can't be saved? It is not our job to try to save them but to let God call those who are his already.
If you feel like it go ahead but you don't really have to. Make preparatiions in your heart to stand firm against the coming onslaught whenever it might be. Then you will get stronger and maybe build up strength and courage for the smaller skirmishes.
Jesus said his yoke is easy and his burden is light. Don't wear yourself out dealing with fools or look for doom and gloom. We are to walk in victory as part of Christ's kingdom.
I feel an urgency too. Spiritually things seem ripe to begin true persecution on believers here. Much of the church still drinks milk and many still believe Jesus won't let us endure such evil, so to whisk us out of here. I see the enemy carrying out his deceptions and his end goal, and I feel alone in battling, even though I know there are others, but I should see the whole church battling. I've prayed for quite awhile now that God always transform my heart, to expose deceptions, to give me love for all He loves and hate for His hates, that He fill me with humility, wisdom, power, love (to be perfected in love) a teachable heart, a heart like David's, a walk as Abraham and God walked (or simply a holy, pure, extremely close walk with Him as is attainable in this life, being blameless in His eyes.) To simply die to my whole self that He would live. I prayed for wisdom when convicted after reading James a couple years ago, and this is what came of it...a realization that if I am not in God's will, then all I do is vain. I accomplish nothing, I gain nothing. In His will, I grow and thrive in innumerable ways. I gain knowledge, wisdom and understanding continually. I gain eternal things that I will never lose. But the church has agreed that there is no joy in such a walk. There's no fun. It would be boring. We need excitement in our lives. We can't quit sinning! God cannot demand such standards! He wants us to be "happy"!
For you Michael, know that of all the work God has called you to do in America, to warn and call to repentance, some have indeed listened. Some will have been saved from the fire because of your obedience. You have been a good teacher and full of wisdom and understanding. I'm blessed that I came across you. I'm blessed and joyful when I meet other brethren who share the same spirit and burdens. I'll pray God give you strength and help to continue.
May God bless and keep you and the rest of my brethren,
Kevin
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