Living In the Midst of a Rebellious Age

Rebellion of heart blinds men to their downfall, and the consequences of said rebellion. I’ve had conversations with runaways who were neither abused, beaten, verbally harassed, nor made to feel anything less than a beloved son or daughter, living in squalor, dirty and hungry and cold, huddled under dingy bridges, yet telling themselves over and over again that they are better off this way.

We lie to ourselves often enough, consistently enough, and with as much conviction as we can muster, and eventually we start to believe our own lies.

Many today look at the society our rebellion has vomited into existence, and continually tell themselves that we are better off than our parents and grandparents. Who needs affection when you have Twitter? Who needs love when you have Facebook? Who needs a loving, caring, involved two parent home when you have streaming video and on demand movies?

Some have even taken to looking back on the idyllic times of yesteryear and mocking them ceaselessly, because it’s just absurd to consider a family sitting down for dinner together, holding hands, saying a prayer, talking about their day, and being involved in each other’s lives.

We have entered an age wherein the notion of affection is neither implied nor expected. Love, and the notion thereof have become a punch line, and the notion of family, is as abstract and foreign to many, as molecular biology. Everything is boiled down to animalistic rutting, inflated egos, and constant feelings of entitlement.

Those who would cling to the basic ideas of family, of true love, of lifelong commitment, of God, of Christ, of righteousness, of wholesomeness, of decency and yes, even humanity, are openly mocked and ridiculed as though their actions could readily be likened to some simpleminded child’s attempt to catch butterflies with a fishing net.

I’ve even met individuals who’ve been browbeaten into feeling shame for having a loving family, well behaved children, or in other words, just being what would have passed for normal as little as a decade ago.

Countless individuals have been made to feel like the odd man out. They’ve been made to feel like a circus freak and an oddity just because they’re still together, because they still fight to keep their family intact and put food on the table.

How is it that we are still aghast, or wonder at how the most gruesome things and the most heinous acts can be perpetrated by young and old alike in our age when we have stripped society of the very notions of morality, godliness, or virtue?

Rather than be something to aspire toward, these things have become something to be mocked and ridiculed. Rather than promote virtue as an ideal, we call perversion the new normal and see nothing untoward in having our children inundated with it day in and day out.

When did it become accepted practice in this country to look down on someone because they go to church, or because their family is still intact?

We have taken to calling good evil and evil good, not realizing that by doing so we are creating the instrument of our own demise.  

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.

The Anatomy of Judgment

As the day draws near and we are barreling toward a certain and inevitable judgment, I’ve found myself contemplating what the judgment of God looks like more often than I would like. It is not merely a philosophical or intellectual exercise, but a true and honest searching, especially in light of the fact that everywhere you turn you have preachers and pastors calling one thing or another the judgment of God, then summarily retract their statement and apologize for their insensitivity the following day.

How can we define the judgment of God? Will we know it when we see it? Will it look like what we’ve always expected it to look like, or will it be something wholly unprecedented?

These are the questions I struggle with, the questions that bounce off the sides of my cranium on chilly spring mornings, and starry spring nights.

The reason understanding the judgment of God is so important is that once judgment commences, it eliminates the possibility of repentance. As long as God is warning, as long as God is pleading, as long as He is allowing certain things in the hopes of correcting us, the possibility of repentance, of turning from our wicked ways and once more seeking His face is implied. Once judgment is poured out, however, the possibility of repentance is eliminated, done away with, and all that remains from that moment forward is the reckoning.

When speaking of the judgment of God, I believe one of the most important things we must know is that the possessions of the wealthy will not be able to hedge against it, nor will the strength of the young, nor the wisdom of the old, nor the preparations of the prepared. The only thing that will inoculate us from the judgment of God when it commences, the only thing that will keep us, protect us, and carry us through it all, will be to be in Him.

This is how we will likewise know that it is His judgment, and not just a loving warning. Nothing men can do to hedge against it will work, nothing that man can prepare for with his hands, his intellect, or his abilities will weather the fierceness of His judgment when it is finally poured out.

The judgment of God is also an all-encompassing proposition. By this, I mean that there will be no avenue of escape, no way to minimize it, soften the blow, or alleviate the ripple effects for those who are not found to be under the shadow of His wing.

Men will not be able to beg, bribe, steal, or force their way out of the outpouring of God’s judgment no matter who they are, how hard they try, or what connections they might have made along the way.

Although we have a tendency to gloss over it, because let’s face it we would rather just not deal with the implications, the last thing we must acknowledge about the judgment of God is that it begins in His house.

God is not a busybody, endlessly concerned about the neighbor’s yard; He cleans His yard first, then proceeds with the rest of the block. What the notion of judgment beginning in God’s house first must tell us, is that even within His house there are practices and individuals deserving of judgment.

Just because we call ourselves sons or daughters of God does not give us a blanket immunity, nor will God wink at the selfsame practices among His children that He will subsequently judge in those of the world.

Contrary to the incessant blathering of some, God does hold His own to a higher standard, He does have greater expectations of those calling Him Father than He does of those who don’t, and He will, for the sake of His Son’s blood judge those who trample upon it more harshly still.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.

Response To A Letter

I was going through my mail the other day when I happened upon a letter. As I do with all my correspondence, I opened it and began to read it. This letter so moved me that I want to share parts of it with you. Afterwards I will respond to it publicly, since the sender did not include a return address.

 

Michael, I have no idea what your life has been like. On the other hand, you have no idea what it is like to be raised as lukewarm puke…in a home with mediocre religion and not Christ Jesus. Sometimes I feel this is worse than no God at all. With no knowledge of God, it is a blank slate. With religion, there is so much wrong belief that has to be gotten rid of first; some deep rooted.

Your blog has been a life saver to me. Reading how you rightly interpret Holy Scripture has taught me how to do that, too. The blog is a quick read, easy to copy when inspired and an easy reference to give to others. Books are OK. Videos are OK. But a blog has its place.

You are entitled to your life – consider this understood. However, you started to blog and now for whatever your reasons are, you dropped it like a hot potato. Stop focusing on end times and the cries of your critics. Write about our King, Jesus, and His glorious kingdom. This is the day the Lord has made – let us rejoice and be glad in it. Just lift high the name of Jesus in the blog…you know how much those hating our king hate that name. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. There’s just something about that Name!

It is my belief that the devil wins whenever he can silence the ones that administer God’s Word. This is not a victory you want on your side of the balance sheet…is it? God does not grant abundant wealth to many people because He knows it will tempt them away from His Kingdom. Has God withheld a family form you until now because e it is tempting you away from Him? You say you have been doing this work since you were 12 years old. Do you consider work for Him a privilege and an honor? Has it become a burden for you? Rest if you must but don’t quit. Perhaps you do not realize the words Christ gives us through you are very important. Please reconsider writing in your blog. On days you are short on time or effort, just post a ‘nugget’ or two. I would be happy to send the over 300 I have accumulated to you for easy reference.

 

And that was pretty much the entire letter. Now for my answer:

 

I guess the best way I can describe what I’ve been feeling can be likened to watching a slow motion controlled demolition of a building. Anyone who’s been near a television or a computer with internet access knows exactly what I’m talking about. First, the spider web of cracks, then the sagging in the middle, the inevitable collapse, the enormous dust cloud, and when it all settles, the rubble.

The inevitability of the coming days doesn’t so much scare me, as troubles my spirit on a very deep and profound level. The countdown is over, the sequencing is done, the button has been pushed, and how we’re seeing the cracks, and the sagging, and sooner or later the crumbling of the edifice we’ve so proudly built and lauded.

More troubling still is the utter silence of the church, those who ought to have the backbone and wherewithal to stand, whose very nature ought to compel them to shout the warning from the rooftops.

I’ve shouted until my throat bled, then shouted some more. Sooner or later, however, one must honestly assess whether or not they are simply screaming into the void. I am a realist at heart. I am not one of those people cursed with an elevated sense of self-worth, or self-importance. I don’t believe I am the last great hope for the church as some do of themselves, or that without my constant input the church will falter and fall by the wayside. My drive, and my mission has always been to teach people to stand on their own two feet, to rightly discern the truth from the lie for themselves, and by certain details in the letter I’ve shared with you, I see I’ve been successful to a certain degree.

My quest has never been to make you dependent upon me, but to stir you to a true and burning desire to rightly discern Scripture for yourselves.

It is undeniable that my life has changed, and is daily changing. We’re in the home stretch of welcoming our baby daughter into the world, an answer to many a prayer, and a moment of untold joy.

As the head of my household, it is also incumbent upon me to provide for my family, and do my utmost to make sure that their needs are met.

This blog, the writing, has always been a labor of love, and it will continue to be for the foreseeable future. I will not taint it, or attempt to transform it into something else, because I want it to remain what it has always been.

I will keep writing as I am able. The nursery is finished, the crib is present, as is the changing table, the baby bath, the diapers, the wipes, the cutest clothing you’ve ever seen, and even the stroller is on its way.

To be perfectly honest, I’ve simply been enjoying spending time with my wife –  perhaps making up for lost time –  speaking to my unborn daughter, and being in the moment.

I don’t know. Perhaps my response raised more questions than gave answers, but to sum it all up, I will keep writing as I am able, but I have to balance it with providing for my family, being there for my wife and daughter, cleaning, vacuuming, cooking, and enjoying the sun which has been absent for lo these many months.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.

Happy Mother's Day!

To all the mothers, young or old, may you have a blessed and joyous Mother's Day. May it be filled with smiles and fond memories, with laughter and lightheartedness.

With love in Chris,
Michael Boldea Jr.

The Squeaky Wheels

I was in the supermarket the other day buying some milk, eggs, bread, and other essentials my wife outlined on the scrap of paper I held in my hand, when I realized I’d drawn the short straw, and was pushing a cart with a squeaky wheel. All it took was one. The three other wheels were smooth, with no squeaks, squeals, or hiccups, but that one squeaky wheel was enough of an irritant to compel me to go and switch it out for one that made no noise.

It has long been established that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Seeing as this was a proven truth time and again, some have taken it upon themselves to make a career out of squeaking. Even when those applying the grease are busy doing something else, the squeaking gets progressively louder until they inevitably stop what they are doing, and do what the squeakers know they will do given enough squeaking.

It’s getting absurd.  The squeaking is getting so loud it’s bordering on unbearable, and there is no sign in sight that it will dissipate or quiet. It’s not just one out of four wheels anymore, but more like three out of four wheels squeaking merrily away, while those whose dignity, nature, or convictions keep them from doing likewise are doing all they can just to keep their heads above water, put some food on the table, and keep a roof over their family’s head without prolonged, protracted, and endless dependency on some shadowy entity that is more than happy to keep them shackled in the dungeon of mediocrity.

Those old enough have seen this scenario play out before in other nations on other continents, and those not yet old enough need only crack open a history book to see the end result of all that those behind the scenes have been actively doing in this nation.

I am, by nature, not given to conspiracies, or conspiracy theories, but what is happening is no longer in the realm of conspiracy, but readily visible and palpable for anyone willing to look.

What the squeaky wheels don’t seem to understand is that eventually those applying the grease run out of it, or get so sick of the repetitive motion of applying it, that they just throw their hands up in frustration and simply give up.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.

Sometimes Silence Speaks More Than Words Ever Could!