Job CLXVI

 At any given moment, we are seen from three different angles. There is how others see you, how you see yourself, and how God sees you. The closest approximation to reality, the truest version of you, isn’t how you see yourself or how others perceive you, but how God sees you. It’s the only opinion that matters, the only one that can be trusted, because even one’s own heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.

If you are a son or daughter of God, blood-bought and born again, then it matters not what others say about you, or to you for that matter, you know that you are His and He is yours, and though men may revile you, though fair weather friends may abandon you, God will be an ever present help in time of trouble. He will always be the refuge to which you can run and know that you will find peace and comfort.

Although a separate conversation about sonship is warranted, wherein it’s not about what we say with our lips but how we follow through with action, including repentance and brokenness of heart, I’m going off the assumption that those of you who read my writings aren’t superficial believers, or in it for the fire insurance.

Yes, there is a large swath of modern-day Christianity that claims sonship without ever having become a son or daughter of almighty God. There is a large swath of modern-day Christianity whose father is still the devil, yet who want all the benefits of being associated with the one true God. They’ve not been reborn, restored, transformed, cleansed, and made new; they still wallow in the mire and rabidly chase after the things of this world, but they did raise their hand in a service that one time, and that’s about as much effort as they were willing to commit to being grafted into His kingdom.

These are the selfsame people who roll their eyes at the mention of righteousness or repentance, and whenever challenged about the lives they live, their go-to is that God knows their heart. Indeed, He does, and it is deceitful and desperately wicked. Repent, oh foolish man, while you still can, while you still draw breath, because the last breath you draw is the last chance you have of being reconciled to God.

It’s not the duplicitous, hypocritical, or fair-weather believers the devil targets. They pose no danger to him and are no threat to his plans and agenda. It’s those who know who they are in Christ, those who walk in the authority of Scripture, those who hold fast to their faith no matter the storm or the size thereof, that he takes umbrage with. It’s those he seeks to devour.

If he can’t tempt you away from the truth, deceive you away from the truth, or distract you away from the truth, he will use others to try to dispirit you, dishearten you, and make you question the hope you have as an anchor of the soul, which is both sure and steadfast. A little doubt goes a long way, and the devil knows this better than anyone.

Just as the devil can’t make you sin but only tempt you with it, he can’t make you abandon hope. He will facilitate situations and circumstances where that hope is tested, but as long as you cling to the truth, as long as you cling to Jesus, as long as you know your place in God, it will have been a failed attack. Uncomfortable? Most assuredly. Oftentimes painful? Indeed, but God never promised an easy road, just an eternal reward at the end of it.

There’s a reason Paul describes the running of the race as the single-minded pursuit of an athlete doing his utmost to cross the finish line and receive his prize. I can’t say I’ve ever competed in events that were not team efforts, but I’ve known a handful of people who trained for marathons. To the last, their entire focus was on that one day when they would stand shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of others, hear the starting pistol, and strive to reach the finish line first.

Their entire lives revolved around diet and training, pushing themselves incrementally until race day, when they would go all out, leaving nothing in reserve. Whether their significant others, friends, families, bosses, or acquaintances understood their need to be single-minded in their pursuit was inconsequential to them. Whether they approved, cheered them on, or insisted that they were wasting their time was likewise irrelevant. They had committed to running a race and knew that if they did not adequately prepare, if they did not train, they would have no chance of finishing it.

The forefathers of the faith, those of the early church, understood that The Way was not a team sport, but an individual endeavor. Yes, we are members of one body, but individual members, responsible for running our individual races, that we may attain the prize.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.”

There are no exceptions, exemptions, or deferments. If you want the prize, you must run the race, and do so with the goal and purpose of obtaining it. Understand that you are not competing for a perishable crown, but for an imperishable one, and let that reality guide your actions, reactions, words, and emotions. Be temperate; exercise self-restraint; be consistent in your race because the prize awaits all who commit to the way, and let nothing deter them from it.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CLXV

 If Eliphaz had full agency over the words he was speaking, and there was no external force influencing his diatribe, it’s unlikely he would have indicted the whole of humanity, which included himself, insisting that man was both abominable and filthy, and it drinks iniquity like water. The wording allows for no delineation, no exceptions, or exemptions. There was no nuance insisting that much or most of humanity is abominable or filthy, but everyone, to the last, including himself, his momma, his papa, his wife, his sons, and his daughters, and lest we forget who this emotionally charged spoken word theater was targeting, Job as well. Especially Job. He was, after all, the one sitting on an ash heap watching his life slip away, so whatever righteousness or faithfulness Job was projecting was false and insincere. You can’t be an upright and blameless man because none exist!

Once again, historical context matters, helping us understand and draw some meaningful conclusions. The book of Job was written before the law of Moses, before the tabernacle, before the prophets, before the ark of the covenant, the temple, and most assuredly before the advent of Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Him. The Gideons weren’t putting Bibles in hotels; there wasn’t a church on every corner; and the knowledge and understanding of God were limited beyond our ability to relate.

Even in such times, those who sought God found Him. He did not hide nor turn away; He was not indifferent or absent. It may have been one man whom God found to be blameless and upright; it may have been just one man who feared God and shunned evil, but the existence of the one invalidated Eliphaz’s argument that everyone to the last was abominable and filthy.

Job 15:17-22, “I will tell you, hear me; What I have seen I will declare, what wise men have told, not hiding anything received from their fathers, to whom alone the land was given, and no alien passed among them: The wicked man writhes with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden from the oppressor. Dreadful sounds are in his ears; in prosperity the destroyer comes upon him. He does not believe that he will return from darkness, for a sword is waiting for him.”

I know I’m right because I know things. Not only do I know things, but I also heard them from wise men who got it straight from the horse’s mouth, namely, their own fathers. They too knew what they knew because they had insulated themselves to the point that no alien passed among them, so whatever they believed could not be tainted by other peoples or tongues.

As wise as Eliphaz believed himself to be in his own eyes, his simplistic conclusion that as long as his forefathers kept themselves separate and isolated from others, their wisdom remained pure shows just how little he understood of demonic influence or the whispers of the enemy.

A man doesn’t need to come from afar to sow doubt, cause chaos, or spread division. Men’s own hearts betray them; their minds wander down paths with no light; their egos and pride attempt to draw them away from the truth, like a magnet. Eliphaz himself was now a case study of how the enemy can use others to apply pressure to those already hurting, and he didn’t even realize it.

By all accounts, it’s a far harder thing to break out of the spiral of self-deception than it is to do so when another person perpetrated the deception. Eliphaz knew what he knew, was sure of it, undeterred and inconsolable.

I don’t care what you say, I know you have done wickedness because the wicked man writhes in pain, and I haven’t seen anyone writhing in pain to the level you are, therefore, your pain is evidence of your wrongdoing, and there can be no other explanation—circular logic at its finest.

Eliphaz would rather have Job confess to a sin he’d never committed because it would validate his beliefs than allow for the possibility that there was something else going on that he did not understand, or that perhaps his friend had not committed some foul thing for which he was being punished.

No one is ever right all the time except for God. Certain people, however, feel the need to be right all the time, and they are willing to sacrifice anything in the pursuit of that impossible yet never-ending quest. I’ve seen marriages dissolve, people losing their jobs, children disavowing their parents, and friends becoming enemies, all because of this compulsion to be right all the time. Some of the issues were coin tosses at best, where you can see merit to the other person’s argument, or where there was no clear Biblical edict, but one side just wouldn’t yield until the other bowed the knee and relented.

Whether out of principle or pride, they missed the forest for the trees, and something as trivial as how long you’re supposed to boil an egg for became the reason for the unraveling of a friendship, a marriage, or gainful employment. By the way, the sweet spot is ten minutes; anything less and you have runny yolk. Anything more is a waste of time, and no, I don’t care how they did it back in the old country over a wood-burning stove that failed to distribute heat evenly. I jest, of course, but only to make a point.

Yes, there are moments when confrontation is inevitable, especially if it’s a Biblical issue, but most of the battles we choose to fight really aren’t worth fighting. The litmus test is whether we are doing it out of ego or for the sake of the Gospel. Once that is determined, and we discover it’s our ego driving us to insist that dinner napkins should be folded three times and not two, the next question that requires an answer is whether being right is worth the back and forth needed to convince your eight-year-old that you don’t use a steak knife to spread butter on your toast.

It was as though Eliphaz were painting a portrait; once he was done, he showed it to Job, asking if Job recognized the man. When Job said no because he knew he had not sinned against God, Eliphaz insisted, “It’s you —how can you not recognize yourself in the portrait I’ve painted? It’s you!”

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CLXIV

 Job 15:14-16, “What is man, that he could be pure? And he who is born of a woman, that he could be righteous? If God puts no trust in His saints, and the heavens are not pure in His sight, how much less man, who is abominable and filthy, who drinks iniquity like water!”

And here it is. The twist of the knife, the drop of poison, the purpose toward which this entire diatribe was building: doubt. The enemy knew full well that if he could get Job to doubt his relationship with God, his place in God’s kingdom, his devotion, faithfulness, and dedication, everything else would fall like dominoes.

Even though God had declared Job to be a blameless and upright man who feared Him and shunned evil, Eliphaz had another take on the matter. You can’t be pure because no man is pure. You can’t be righteous because no man is righteous. Even heaven had its issues, and pride wormed its way into Lucifer’s heart. What makes you think God sees you as upright when man is incomparably more abominable and filthy than those in the heavenlies?

As moves go, this was a bold one. Satan was speaking of himself and his fall through Eliphaz as evidence that if the heavens are not pure in God’s sight, what chance does man have to attain purity.

It’s the same twisted logic used by many today when they try to explain away God’s continued interaction with His creation, the continuation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, or striving for righteousness. I couldn’t do it, so you can’t either. I’ve never experienced it, so whatever you think you’ve experienced is self-delusion at best, and self-deception at worst.

That’s akin to saying that just because I can’t run an eight-minute mile, no one else can, and if they claim to have done it, they’re lying liars and should be branded as such.

Satan knew God had deemed Job as blameless and upright. God has said as much to Satan’s face, yet the father of lies, being who he is, used Eliphaz to try to sow doubt in Job’s heart as to the mere possibility of it. He didn’t say Job wasn’t blameless and upright; he insinuated no man ever could be as such, and so Job couldn’t be either. Cunning devil indeed.

Doubt is one of the enemy’s favorite tools and weapons, having employed it liberally since the dawn of creation. It is via the window of doubt that the serpent convinced Eve to do what she was commanded not to, simply by posing a seemingly innocent question as though he didn’t already know the answer. Has God indeed said, “You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”

Maybe you misheard. Maybe you misinterpreted. Maybe, just maybe, your recollection isn’t up to par. Every day, without fail, the enemy tries to plant seeds of doubt in our hearts, hoping that they take root and grow into something so crippling, so destructive, so antithetical to the peace and joy of the Lord that it will asphyxiate not only our communion with God, our fellowship with Him, but our reliance, dependence, and obedience of Him.

Well, yes, God said to trust Him in all things, but He’s taking His sweet time about that one thing. Perhaps you can trust Him about everything else and try to fix that one thing on your own? It would save God some time, you’d get your resolution sooner rather than later, and it’s a win all around. What could be the harm?

The devil never shows up with horns and a pitchfork, promising to drag you to hell, whereupon you will endure eternal torment. The reality of who he is and what his agenda is aren’t really marketable to a mass audience. Nobody’s sitting around in open rebellion thinking eternal torment, that’s my bag, that’s what I’m aiming for. And so, he presents himself as an angel of light, insisting that all he’s really trying to do is help you, broaden your horizons, get you to have a little fun, not be such a stick in the mud, live a little, taste a little, try a little, touch a little, what could be the harm in that?

Don’t be so hard on yourself. We’ve all sinned and fallen short, buddy, so keep on sinning. We’ve all been a little faithless when He was faithful, and nothing earth-shattering happened, nobody got struck by lightning, the earth didn’t open up and swallow us whole. See? Nothing to fear, my dear, keep on keeping on.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, your calling isn’t what you were expecting, your ministry isn’t growing at the pace you hoped, your church is half empty, but did you ever consider that it’s because you take Scripture a bit too literally? The whole counsel of God, the undefiled truth, those are big concepts that don’t resonate with the majority. You’re kind of hurting yourself, bucko, if I’m to be perfectly honest. Not to be immodest, but I’ve been around since the dawn of creation, and I can tell you what works.

If it helps, think of it this way: a little bit of truth is better than no truth, isn’t it? That whole thing about a bit of leaven leavening the entire lump is just jealousy talking because they don’t have your talent or charisma. A little leaven is unavoidable, isn’t it? If God puts no trust in His saints, and the heavens are not pure in His sight, can we really expect purity when it comes to delivering the Word?

 So why not throttle back on that whole repentance, righteousness, holiness, narrative, and meet people where they are? Everyone likes a big house, straight teeth, and a shiny car; the same can’t be said about walking humbly with their Lord. Focus on that for a while, and see what shakes out. It’s not like you’re encouraging them to shave their heads, put on yellow robes and roam about in airports banging tambourines, is it? I’m telling you, a little compromise goes a long way, just wait and see.

It’s basic economics, after all. Once you start going on about Jesus being the only way, you’re limiting your customer base. Inclusivity is the name of the game: big tent and all that. The world will love you for your broad-mindedness, I promise.

And so it is, as it has been since Eve ran into the serpent. First sow doubt, then incrementally, ever so gently, almost imperceptible, convince them to veer off the path, doubt their authority in Christ, question Scripture, debate with God, disagree with God, challenge God, grow bitter toward God, and eventually, see them show up on YouTube talking about how they’re in the process of deconstruction and that faith in God is for the birds and Neanderthals.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CLXIII

 Job 15:11-13, “Are the consolations of God too small for you, and the word spoken gently with you? Why does your heart carry you away, and what do your eyes wink at, that you turn your spirit against God, and let such words go out of your mouth?”

Now that Eliphaz was on a roll, he just kept piling on. It’s easy to get on a soapbox and pontificate when you refuse to acknowledge the suffering of another, or see it as less of a trial than what it is. We all experience pain and loss, generally speaking, but the degree to which we experience it varies from person to person. There are so many factors that contribute to the level of heartache and the length to which it remains a companion that, were Eliphaz a wise man, as he insisted due to his graying hairs, he would have remained silent, said nothing, and grieved with his friend.

It’s a callous thing to judge another man’s pain through the prism of your understanding, especially if you haven’t been through what they’re going through or experienced loss in the magnitude they have. None of Job’s three friends had suffered the loss that Job did, and now, as a final furnace, his body betrayed him, his strength leeching out of him with each passing breath, to the point that he saw death as a sweet release rather than a fearsome thing he dared not envision.

In order to give credence to his conclusions, lacking any evidence to substantiate them, Eliphaz attempted to dispirit Job even further by insinuating that God’s consolations were too small for him, and that rather than release his heartache and give voice to his groans, he should be thankful for the situation and circumstance he found himself in.

You can cling to God, you can cling to faith, you can hold tight to hope, without insisting that the trial you’re going through is a reason for joy and jubilation. Pain hurts. Loss hurts. It’s okay to feel them and not walk about pretending otherwise. This is what Eliphaz was asking of Job. I see you sitting in the dirt, covered in painful boils, scratching at yourself. I know you just buried your ten children and lost every material possession, but be a man about it. Shake it off, rub some dirt on it, and get on with life.

Even if one were to give Eliphaz the benefit of the doubt and allow for the possibility that his harsh words came from a place of love wrongly applied, by this point, it was evident that Job was at death’s door, hanging on by frail threads. Knowing the nature of the enemy we face, when God told Satan that nothing was out of bounds except for Job’s life, he took it literally.

His heart still beat in his chest, he still inhaled and expelled air, so technically he was still alive, but let there be no doubt, Job was brought as close to the edge of death as any man without crossing over.

It’s not as though Satan operated from a place of empathy or sympathy. It’s not as though he set out to apply only enough pressure as was required for Job to relent and abandon his faith. He wanted to make an example of Job and, from his first action, set out to break and destroy him utterly. He thought he was close now. One more push, one more negative utterance from those he deemed as friends, and he’d have his prize. He’d prove God wrong!

It was never about Job as a person. It wasn’t as though Satan hated Job specifically. His goal and purpose were to be able to gloat in his arrogance and be able to declare that God was wrong about something, anything, even if it was the faithfulness of one man. This has always been the enemy’s end goal, no matter the iteration in which it plays out from generation to generation.

Perhaps it’s a subconscious coping mechanism wherein if Satan could prove God was wrong about one thing, then there was the outside chance he was wrong about other things, more specifically about himself. Even the current delusion of people insisting they were born in the wrong body is rooted in the enemy’s obsession with proving that God can be mistaken about something, that He is not sovereign, that He is not omniscient, and that His ways are not perfect.

One man sitting in the ashes of his former life, scratching at his boils with a potsherd, was at the center of an unseen battle whose outcome would determine something so monumental as to have eternal ramifications. If Job broke, whether true or not, the enemy would insist he had the right of it. See, I was right all along! Job only serves you because you have blessed the work of his hands and increased his possessions in the land. It wasn’t love. It wasn’t a relationship. It wasn’t faithfulness, it was usury, and once the spigot got turned off, he abandoned his faith. He abandoned You!

As bragging rights go, the enemy could not have hoped for a better outcome had Job relented. Whatever the situation, Job would always be used as a counterargument to God’s sovereignty, because the one man He had singled out among all of his generation, whom God saw as blameless and upright, turned out not to be so impressive after all. The unfolding of this entire drama was bigger than just one man. Satan saw it as an indictment of God’s very nature and righteousness, were he able to apply enough pressure on Job and cause him to break.

This was his one shot, and he wasn’t going to miss it. He wasn’t about to take it easy on Job and risk his remaining faithful, enduring, and persevering, so he pulled out all the stops and went to the very edge of what he was allowed to do to him to achieve the desired outcome.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Job CLXII

 Granted, fire has its uses; it refines, it purifies, it cauterizes wounds, but it all seems so archaic. It was fine for the people of Job’s day, but we’ve discovered the power of ‘I am’ in our modern era; the guy on the television said so. Rather than submit, we declare. Rather than obey, we command. Rather than follow, we prefer to take the lead because our route bypasses the pruning and the refining.

I realize nobody wants to hear it, but it is nevertheless true: trials, tests, and hardships are an indispensable ingredient to the purification of one’s faith, to the forging of one’s character, and to the strengthening of one’s witness.

I’ve said it before in passing, but it bears repeating: I don’t trust self-titled warriors who have no battle scars to speak of. They were either never in the battle, or so far back as to never have seen the whites of the enemy’s eyes. Either way, boasting of one’s valor when they never struck a blow is self-serving at best, or a deliberate lie intended to elevate one’s stature to heights they would otherwise never attain.

I’ve had the grace of meeting my fair share of true warriors of the faith throughout my years in ministry, and unsurprisingly, they were not boastful men, endlessly blabbering on about their exploits, but rather quiet, thoughtful men with an inner strength and depth of character that could neither be denied nor ignored. They understood that it was not in their strength that they were victorious, that they persevered, endured, and overcame, but by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, and the blood of the Lamb of God.

Yes, we are living in an age when men have no shame about taking credit for another’s labors, or insisting that they are more than they know themselves to be, but God knows all, whether hidden or in plain sight, and He will reward all according to their works.

Matthew 16:27, “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to His works.”

When will you be rewarded for your faithfulness? When will you be rewarded for your obedience? When will you be rewarded for your perseverance and tenacity, clinging to Jesus in the midst of the raging storm? Is it now by way of abundance, prominence, and prosperity, or when the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels? The text is straightforward enough. I’m sure you can draw your own conclusion without my input.

We have strayed so far from the truth, and what’s worse is that, for the most part, we don’t want to admit or acknowledge that we have done so. We refuse to allow the Word of God to be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, so we stumble and fall and muddle through life, grasping at straws, and digging for kernels of truth in a sea of detritus, when all the while the truth, the whole truth, unfiltered, unabridged, and unmolested sits gathering dust on a nightstand or an end table.

Is it pride? Is it arrogance? Is it hubris? Or is it the flesh asserting its dominance because it was never nailed to a cross? Why is it that so many are looking for a different way than The Way? Why is it that so many reject the simplicity of the message of salvation, looking for something more expedient, less demanding, and less rigid?  

All of me for all of Him? Perhaps when there wasn’t a church on every street corner, but if anyone brings that up nowadays, we’ll just pack up our stuff and go across the street where they insist I can have all of me and all of Him, and the two will never be at odds. Their purposes will never conflict.

God has to be accommodating just to keep up. He must have seen the growth in competition, and, well, there’s only one of me. Our inflated sense of self keeps us from humbling ourselves and walking in obedience. I have gray hairs, therefore I must be wise, said the fool to no one but himself, but if he repeats it often enough, he’ll come to believe it, then even go so far as to question the God of the universe, and find Him culpable.

This isn’t some cosmic version of point, counterpoint. He is the Creator, and we are creation. It’s not within our right or ability to question Him as though He were a witness taking the stand, and insisting that He see the world through the prism of modernity rather than His righteousness.

Because the Bible says it is so should be the end of any doctrinal or theological debate, but that is not the case, at least not anymore. Yes, that’s what the Bible says, but I’d like it to say something different, so I will infuse my feelings, emotions, feigned wisdom after having scrolled the interwebs, and even up to date polling of how people would like God to be in order to twist it in such a way that by the time I’m done it will no longer resemble the text itself.

There are entire books of the Bible, such as the book of Job, which are given a wide berth by many simply because what is contained in them contradicts the image they have of God in their own minds, or fables they hold to be true in their hearts.

Only the truth makes men free. Not an approximation of truth, not truth reimagined, not truth revamped, or restructured for a modern audience. Anything other than the truth is by default a lie, a deception, a man-made, manufactured counterfeit that does not bring freedom but bondage. That does not bring life, but death. That does not bring light, but darkness.

John 8:32, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CLXI

 Because the superficiality once exclusive to the world has made its way into the household of faith, and few are willing to take the time to be discipled, are humble enough to be taught, and sincere enough to admit when their preconceived notions were wrong or fell short of the mark, many dismiss the purpose of hardship, suffering, or trials.

The idea that good can come from suffering, that trials are a means by which we are purified and refined, is anathema to them. I signed up for the blessings and prosperity package, sir. What’s all this suffering talk? What’s all this talk about enduring, persevering, and trusting God even in the valleys? My life was supposed to be a constant, continual ascent. All the valleys are behind me, the mountaintop is before me, and each new day should be better than the last.

Never mind that one’s true character is revealed when pressure is applied. Never mind that the choices we make under pressure reveal who we really are, and not who we pretend to be. Just give me the stuff and be on your way. Bless me coming and going, fill my cup until it runs over, accept my duplicity and hypocrisy as an honest attempt at living my best life, and don’t put me in situations where I’ll have to cling to You as a man clings to a life preserver in the midst of a roiling sea. I am the captain of my own ship, even if the ship is a rusted dinghy taking on water, destined to rest at the bottom of the ocean with all the other dinghies whose navigators insisted they were in charge.

I understand that gold is refined in fire, but I can live with being 8 carats, rather than 24, thank you very much. Why such a high standard? I mean, if Your purpose is to fill heaven, you should lower the bar for entry; otherwise, You might just have more supply than there is demand.

Thankfully, God is not a real estate broker looking to unload a new subdivision. He’s not so focused on the commission that He’ll say anything and do anything just to get people to sign on the dotted line. It is our own vanity that has reimagined the God of the universe, the Creator of all that is seen and unseen, and made Him out to be some beggarly figure so desperate for our attention that He’s willing to make any compromise to get a little face time with us.

We’re told over and over again that this is our game, we make the rules, and God is forced to play by them, otherwise we’ll take our ball and go home. God’s so lonely up in heaven that He’ll have no choice but to make an exception if He wants some company. Sorry to spoil the fantasy, but God isn’t in heaven all by His lonesome looking for someone to play backgammon with. He is neither lacking in companionship nor someone with whom to pass the time.

Love compelled Him to send Jesus; not lack of companionship!

Revelation 4:2-11, “Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads. And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.”

These verses alone ought to suffice in shattering the illusion that God is alone in a mansion up in the sky, twiddling His thumbs and brushing His beard, in desperate need of someone to call a friend. Even without getting into the great cloud of witnesses, or the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held we understand that heaven is a busy place, not lacking in occupants.

But sure, Aunty Paula, you keep trying to bargain with God. You keep trying to convince Him that holiness is an unattainable feat, so He should just give up on the idea. Sure, Jesus explicitly said we ought to deny ourselves, pick up our crosses, and follow after Him, but you know, those translations can be wonky at times. Jesus likely said the total opposite of what the good book says. So what if there were generations upon generations who entered through the narrow gate? So what if there were countless souls who were martyred for the testimony which they held? I’m special, and I want a carveout. I’m special, and I want a broader path to waddle upon because the only thing narrow I’m willing to entertain is my view of an omniscient, omnipotent God.

Perhaps all the folks who went before didn’t possess the necessary negotiation skills. They were afraid to make unreasonable demands of the God of the universe, but not I, no sir, I’ve been fed a steady diet of being told how special, exceptional, peerless, unequaled, remarkable, and indispensable I am for all of my adult life, and God should know it too. I know my worth! I’m a king, I’m a queen, I’m a crown jewel, the apple of God’s eye, and He should be so lucky as to have me want to go to heaven.

Is it too much to ask that God be at my beck and call, fulfill every vain want or desire, have no say in how I live my life or spend my time, and make no demands on my flesh? All those preachers, teachers, and televangelists who insist this is the case and God has changed His tune when it comes to faithful, humble obedience couldn’t have been wrong, could they? 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Job CLX

 Any honest, objective analysis of Job’s words would rightly conclude that they were not unprofitable words but wisdom layered upon wisdom, revealing timeless truths that would echo throughout the entirety of human history. Yet, here were Job’s friends who insisted that it was just unprofitable talk and speeches with which he could do no good.

You’re just trying to defend yourself! But isn’t that what you’re supposed to do when accusations are brought against you? Yes, usually, it’s innocent until proven guilty, but not so in the eyes of Job’s friends. Not only had they concluded he was guilty of sin, but any defense he mounted, any evidence he proffered proving his innocence, was summarily dismissed, and a new barrage of accusations streamed forth unbidden.

Yes, we’ve accused you of sin so foul as to warrant being covered in painful boils and worms, but don’t you dare try to prove your innocence or insist that we are wrong in our assessment. That just proves our point, doesn’t it?

There have been moments in life when someone you’ve known for years says something so out of pocket and something so inconsistent with their character that it takes you aback, and you wonder where it’s coming from. It’s either that they’ve been building up resentment in their heart for long and long, and they’ve finally found an outlet for it, or they are being influenced by something or someone that is warping their reality to such a degree that they’re making up stories out of whole cloth to bolster their conclusions.

How had Job’s iniquity taught his mouth if God had found no iniquity in him? How had he cast off fear, and restrained prayer before God? How had Job’s own mouth condemned him, and his lips testified against him when all he’d done was cry out to God for understanding, yearning to know if he'd sinned before Him so that he might repent and repair the rift his friends insisted had been caused by his sin.

There was no evidence to Eliphaz’s claims, just as there was none to Zophar’s or Bildad’s, but that didn’t seem to concern Job’s three friends. They knew what they knew, and they wouldn’t let the truth or any evidence that they were wrong and misguided shake their resolve.

All his pleading, all his introspection, all the grief that he’d poured out in his words had gone over his friends’ heads, and no matter how much he insisted upon his innocence, they would not be swayed.

Job 15:7-10, “Are you the first man who was born? Or were you made before the hills? Have you heard the counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself? What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not in us? Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us, much older than your father.”

If you’ve ever been in a similar situation, you can empathize with the frustration Job was likely feeling. You know the type of situation I’m referring to, the one where you pour your heart out, talk and talk until your throat is raw, then realize the person you were talking to and confiding in wasn’t really listening because they’d made up their mind about your situation two sentences in. They were hearing you, but they were not listening to you. They understood the words you were speaking, but failed to process them in any meaningful way.

Whatever they’d concluded at the onset was set in stone, and nothing you could say, no evidence you could bring forth, would sway them because in their minds, they’re always right, and to admit they weren’t would be more injurious to their pride than the actual pain you were going through was to you.

By the wording of Eliphaz’s monologue, it's likely he was the oldest among Job’s friends. He refers to the gray-haired among them, pointing out that at least one of them was much older than Job’s own father. I find it unrealistic for Eliphaz to go out of his way to conjoin the idea of gray hair and wisdom on behalf of another if he were not referring to himself, and trying to suggest that he was right simply because he was old.

Granted, Solomon would later write that while the glory of young men is their strength, the splendor of old men is their gray head, but he said nothing about wisdom or understanding directly correlating to them. Just because someone is older, it doesn’t make them right. Just because they have gray hair, they don’t automatically win the argument, nor are we to presume that their wisdom is directly related to graying follicles, and as such, they must be smart because they look like a tired mall Santa.

If I were to grow my hair out, it would be gray. I know this because my beard leans more towards being white than it does black. Even so, I would not assume I’m right about anything simply because I’m getting old.

I’ve heard some very foolish things spill out of the mouths of old folks. Conversely, I’ve also listened to some great wisdom flow forth from their lips. It all depends on the situation.

The issue I have with Eliphaz is that he assumed his gray hairs made him right by virtue of their very existence. There was an arrogance and sanctimony to his words that wouldn’t sit right with me, even if we weren’t privy to the backstory of why Job was allowed to endure all that he endured.

If you had a lifelong friend who knew you, your character, your commitment, and your faithfulness, and suddenly all that went out the window, forgotten, dismissed, and ignored, you’d feel some kind of way about it, too.

Job was not a stranger to Eliphaz. He didn’t run into him sitting in an ash heap, scratching at himself with a potsherd as he was running errands. He’d known him for what seemed like decades, had broken bread with him, and at first felt enough for his friend’s suffering as to make the trek and come to see him. Then, after days of silence, something shifted, and all three of Job’s friends became his accusers, insisting he had sinned, he had angered God, and as such, his situation was warranted, and nothing he could say in his defense would change their minds.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CLIX

 Job 15:1-6, “Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: “Should a wise man answer with empty knowledge, and fill himself with the east wind? Should he reason with unprofitable talk, or by speeches with which he can do no good? Yes, you cast off fear, and restrain prayer before God. For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty. Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; yes, your own lips testify against you.”

When some of the most profound words ever put to parchment about the nature, sovereignty, majesty, and omnipotence of God are dismissed offhand and described as nothing more than empty knowledge, you get the feeling that you’ll likely make no headway in convincing the individuals in question that they shouldn’t be so quick to judge.

Job’s friends were there, present, hearing and listening to the groaning of his heart, to the awe with which he spoke of the God he served, and Eliphaz’s only reply was that Job was full of hot air. That’s the crux of what it means when someone fills himself with the east wind. You’re full of hot air, buddy; even though you may seem wise in your own eyes, everything you’ve said up until this point is empty knowledge. Was it, though? Hardly.

For a man living during that time, without the benefit of the resources we have access to, without formal training and education in theology, one can rightly conclude that Job’s wisdom and understanding did not originate with himself, independent of outside influence, but from the relationship he’d fostered with God over the course of decades.

Men with master's and doctoral degrees, whose diplomas and accolades fill entire walls, do not come close to perceiving God in the way Job did, yet Eliphaz the Temanite chalked it all up to empty knowledge and hot air. A fool cannot perceive the value of wisdom, and because he is incapable of seeing its value, he dismisses it as folly.

Seeing Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar as less than the friends they seemed when they first arrived to comfort Job is an appropriate reaction, given the words they spoke to a man who was hanging on to life by the merest of threads. Seeing their constant attempts at dispiriting him and dampening his spirit, encouraging him to give in to hopelessness and despair, makes one naturally want to defend Job. Not only was it three against one, but the longer the conversation progressed, the more calloused and belligerent his friends became, to the point that they heard the words he spoke but did not process them to the point of realizing the beauty they held.

Some have even found the reaction of Job’s friends so off-putting that they’ve given up studying the book of Job altogether because they can’t stomach the vitriol and acidic responses to his calamity and the defense he proffers. That their minds were clouded by the enemy, and he was putting words in their mouths and thoughts in their minds, is likely because the heel turn from being compassionate friends who traveled from afar to come and comfort him to becoming his accusers was so sudden and complete as to make it impossible, if not for an external influence.

They’d known Job long enough to know his character, to know his faithfulness, to know that he was a devout man who served and worshiped God. Yet, here they were, not only accusing him of sin and insisting that his punishment was too light to be commensurate with his crimes, but that every word he spoke was empty knowledge, futile, and baseless.

When someone you know, love, and trust becomes uncharacteristically combative, callous, and unreasonable, accusing you of things you know yourself to be innocent of, you must allow for the possibility that they are being used by outside forces to dispirit you and weaken your resolve.

In his responses, Job got heated but did not return the belligerence in kind. He didn’t grow angry to the point of demanding that his friends depart and leave him to his suffering; instead, he tried to reason with them every step of the way, hoping they would see the truth beyond their preconceived notions.

There is no line the enemy will not cross, and no individual in your life he will not attempt to use to try and discourage you or cause you to cease your pursuit of God. The enemy is shameless, and any means justify the end if the end is achieved. Given this knowledge, the one question we must answer is how do we know when it’s the enemy using someone and when it’s a sincere individual who, perhaps, uses harsher words than we would like but whose intentions are pure in wanting to aid and comfort us.

The surest way to know is if the individual in question is encouraging you to move closer to God or to distance yourself from Him. It may seem like common sense, something easy enough to parse out, but I’ve run across individuals who insist someone is being used of the enemy when the only counsel they’ve been given is to spend more time in prayer, reading the Word, and being alone with God.

Why would Satan encourage you to pray more? Why would Satan encourage you to spend more time with God’s Word and in His presence? Why would he make it harder to achieve his end goal by urging you to run into the arms of God? Satan does not cast out Satan. If it were so, he would be divided against himself. How then would his kingdom stand?

Conversely, if someone were to insist that you give up on your steadfast hope, that you relinquish your integrity, that you take a break from building up your most holy faith, or pack it in and surrender to desperation, then you know it is neither godly counsel nor brotherly love that is spurring them on.

Sometimes, difficult words must be spoken, and uncomfortable counsel must be heard. However, if the intent is to draw you closer to God rather than pull you away from Him, receive it as wisdom rather than bristle at the words themselves because they were not as loving as you would have preferred.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

The Way Forward!

 Now that we’ve wrapped up the study on the principles of prayer, the way forward is clear: as promised, we will resume with the book of Job and complete our discussion thereof, which I anticipate will take approximately four months at a minimum.

It will take me a couple of days to get back into Job, and see where we left off, as well as finish the outline for the project following Job which is tentatively titled:

Prophecy, Prophets, Jesters, & Fools

The Good, the Bad, and the Ridiculous of modern-day prophecy!

No, I have not been as idle as some may have thought. I’ve been outlining this project for the better part of three months and am almost finished with its skeleton. When the time comes, we will flesh it out. What I can say is that it's unlikely I’ll be making any friends once we start going through it. It’s quite possible that I’ll lose some even from the small pool that remains.

Those who know me understand that I don’t set out to be provocative, incendiary, or confrontational, but by the looks of it, this book will anger cessationists, continuationists, gnostics, spiritualists, charismatics, and hyper-charismatics, to name a few. Why? Because it’s Biblical, not biased toward or against any particular denomination, and because it’s honest. It doesn’t ignore the boils and festering wounds in the contemporary prophetic circles; it lays out what prophecy is and isn’t, what the role of prophecy is, and how, throughout every generation, when God spoke, or warned of future events, there was always someone quick to monetize it, or try to turn a profit off a gift the operation of which is solely God’s discretion as far as when, how often, to whom, and for what purpose.

Anyway, if the Lord terries, and we’re not living in hovels, glowing in the dark, and trying to spark a fire to roast the squirrel we managed to trap for sustenance, that’s the plan and the way forward, for at least a year. If it goes the other way, then I guess we’ll have to start training carrier pigeons, but then again, they’d make too fine a meal to waste them on trying to get a message to someone in Poughkeepsie.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

The Principles of Prayer LXVI

 The newest term I’ve heard bandied about by men whose titles, accolades, and diplomas far exceed their intellect, knowledge, or, let’s be honest, even their aptitude or potential, is that what the church needs today is a holistic restoration rather than repentance and rebirth. Not to be Nancy Nitpicker here, but what exactly are we restoring when we speak of this ethereal, ever-elusive, holistic restoration?

Salvation isn’t a cleaner, fancier-dressed, less grimy version of your old self; it’s the death of the old self and the rebirth of a new creation in Christ, through Christ, by Christ, and for Christ. There is nothing to restore, or anything worth restoring for that matter.

We’re not talking about an abandoned mansion that’s been sitting empty for fifty years that just needs some tender, loving care to return to its former glory. We’re talking about an overflowing outhouse. There’s nothing there to restore!

Ezekiel 36:26-27, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”

God did not say He’d slather a new coat of paint on your old heart, put in some new flooring, and patch up the roof. There was no mention of restoration, rather transformation—the removal of the heart of stone, and the replacement of it with a heart of flesh.

With the new heart comes a new mind, a new purpose, new desires, a new man, a new creation, not an old creation that was retreaded and spruced up. You know you’ve been born again, because you’ve been born again. You don’t think you have been, hope you have been, or are looking forward to being reborn at some point in the future. You know that you know that you’ve been buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so you. There is certainty in the knowledge of one’s rebirth, just as there is certainty in the knowledge that, come the next morning, the sun will rise in the east.

It’s because we resist the death of the flesh, and the surrender of the old man that he may be made a new one, that men are overcome with doubt as to where they stand in reference to their salvation and eternal destination. Our refusal to break ties with the world, turn our back on sin, and surrender to Christ compels us to inject new terminology and faux theology in the hermeneutics of Biblical doxology.

Yes, Mikey knows big words, too, and if the purpose of what I do was self-serving, self-aggrandizing narcissism veiled in a thin cloak of spirituality, that’s all you’d ever get. But it’s not, so here we are, using simple words to explain a complex issue. Anything that shifts the focus from the risen Christ and what He did on the cross is a lie serving as a distraction and an alternative to true repentance and lifelong fellowship with Him.

The question of what one must do to be saved has been asked and answered by Christ’s own lips. “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” He said nothing of five steps, ten steps, loving yourself, seeing the good in you, or repeating positive affirmations while clenching your teeth so hard that your molars crack. Everything men do to substitute true repentance and rebirth falls short, is for naught, and only serves to numb the reality that with each breath they are that much closer to eternity.

2 Corinthians 5:17, “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

The Great Commission is no longer the North Star, the purpose for which we labor, or the goal to which we aspire, but reductionist in its scope, and something that needs to be paired with all manner of trivialities for it to remain sustainable, viable, and relevant. It seems to have worked just fine for two thousand years, but no more, not today. We need to change it all for change’s sake, because our dreams and aspirations grow and expand daily, and with each passing day, it’s less about the Kingdom and more about our own comfort. It’s less about eternity and more about the moment, the now, what we can amass in the short term, and what vainglory we can siphon to make ourselves feel important and relevant.

Thankfully, we will stand before God not as a collective but as individuals on that day of days. I will not answer for another’s choices, absence of wisdom, unwillingness to redeem the time they were given, or ignorance of God’s Word. I am neither responsible nor accountable for my neighbors, my friends, or my brothers. I am responsible for my actions and no one else’s. I will be held accountable for my choices as an individual, not for the actions of the congregation I attend as a whole, or for the hypocrisy of the bishop, pastor, elder board, or choir director. Whether the time I set aside to pray, the choices I make, the words I speak, and the object of my daily focus are in line with Scripture is what I will have to answer for before an omniscient God, and you will too.

Giving up would be easy if giving up were an option. Even when it seems God is silent, press in. Even when it seems He tarries, keep praying. His timing is not our own, and the knowledge that He hears and will avenge His own elect is what fuels our faith to take one more step, pray one more prayer, and shed one more tear.

Luke 18:6-8, “Then the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”’

The question isn’t whether God will avenge His elect, or answer their prayers; the question is whether we will stand on faith until He does. When the Son of man comes, will he really find faith on the earth? That is the vital question, and one that we must answer on an individual basis.

The question of whether or not God hears our prayers has been settled. The question of whether or not God answers prayer has been settled. These are not issues that warrant endless debate because the Word of God is declarative and unambiguous in its promise. The only question that remains unanswered is whether we as individuals have the faith to persevere and endure until the answers to our long-uttered prayers come.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

The Principles of Prayer LXV

 There is no escaping the consequence of action, or for that matter, inaction, in this life. The Word is clear on what we must do, how we must prepare, and the steps we must take to ensure that we remain standing.

As we see the day approaching, either we busy ourselves with being ready, fully armored, and prepared for battle, or we continue grabbing at imaginary straws, hoping we will never have to see the battle of which we were forewarned.

Had the widow not acted, had she not been persistent, had she not gone before the judge repeatedly, even at the risk of being denied justice, mocked, ridiculed, or looked down upon, she never would have gotten the ruling she knew she rightly deserved. Not because she was entitled to it, but because it was just.

Had she not persisted, insisted, and persevered, her story would have never been told, just another face among countless others long forgotten by history.

We cannot blame God for our failure if we refuse to do what He instructed and commanded. We cannot lay our defeat at His feet when we thought we knew better, or that we would do just fine in our own strength rather than employing, relying, and resting in His.

If you’ve ever tried to put a piece of furniture together and, in the spur of the moment, decided to ignore the instructions, welcome to the club. It’s nice to have you. Although there may be one or two genius minds among us who were able to complete the task without losing their minds, for the most part, I think we can attest that had we followed the instructions from the start, we would have saved ourselves a lot of time, frustration, and despondency. It’s not fun when, after having spent three hours trying to put your daughter’s Ikea bed together, it ends up looking like a coffin. Where did the lid come from? Why are there hinges? Mysteries abound, indeed.

Another two hours taking it apart again, then swallowing your pride and digging the instructions out of the trash, following the steps, and wouldn’t you know it, a perfectly serviceable twin bed with storage drawers materializes as if out of thin air.

The same principle applies when we strive to deepen our relationship with God. We can either try to do it on our own, in a manner we deem more direct or beneficial in our own eyes, or we can do it God’s way and in the manner He laid out in His word.

We can either waste our time grasping at swirling mists which have no substance and slip through our fingers, or we can go to the manual, and follow the instructions that have been laid forth by those who once were where you are, who had the same desire, whose purpose was similar, and who discovered the right way to do it.

The sad thing is that many today would rather take instruction from men than from the Word of God. Whether it’s because they think the simple act of praying, seeking God’s face, and spending time with Him is too mundane, too simplistic, and that there have to be some hoops you should jump through to attain intimacy, or because they value the words of men over Scripture, countless souls are racing down rabbit trails, all of which dead end at some point, and at the end of their quest have nothing to show for it but bitterness and resentment. Who’d have seen this one coming? Evidently, wearing a homespun organic cotton tunic while standing on a three-legged stool and balancing an apple on their head did nothing to further their spiritual growth. Prayer would have though, because the Word of God says He hears our supplications, He hears our cries, He hears our groans, and is responsive to them.

As far as the speed with which we receive answers to our prayers, there are determining factors many may not be aware of, especially if they have no understanding of the spiritual realm, or if we’ve gotten it into our heads that once we pray, the answer to our prayer should come as fast as placing a McDonald’s order at the drive-through. If you have to wait more than two minutes, even though the pimply-faced kid at the window informed that they’d have to deep fry a whole new batch of fake chicken for your crispy sandwich, come the two-minute mark, you start getting antsy, and by the time five minutes rolls around, you’re downright apoplectic.

I ended my prayer three minutes ago. Where’s my answer? Where’s my breakthrough? Where’s my miracle? I’m a busy little beaver, and although the Word insists that I should wait on the Lord, that was before the era of high-speed everything. Waiting is for the birds. It’s for those who don’t know how to assert themselves. I’m going to give it five more minutes, and if nothing happens, if I get no answer, I’ll just do it on my own.

It took the angel Gabriel three weeks to fight his way to Daniel, to deliver a message because the kings of Persia had opposed him, and only then succeeded because Michael, one of the chief commanders, came to his aid. But sure, get angry at God for the store not accepting your expired coupon for a dollar off a family-sized bag of Skittles, even though you prayed they would.

More often than not, complete knowledge of a situation tempers the urge to be negatively reactionary when things don’t turn out as we expected or within the allotted time we thought they would. When we begin to understand that the spiritual realm is real, that angels and demons do battle on our behalf, and that there is war in the heavenlies for the souls of men, we’re more likely to show a bit more grace when there is a delay in a prayer being answered or a situation being resolved.

Some men are graced with a glimpse beyond the veil that separates the spiritual from the physical, and they’re never the same again. They grasp the reality that neither God nor the hosts of heaven are inactive, absentee, uninvolved, and unconcerned with the lives of men, but are wholly invested in their defense, protection, and deliverance.

You are not alone, and neither am I. It may feel like it at times, but even when we are physically alone, we are by no means alone. Beyond the brothers and sisters in Christ with whom we fellowship and come together, there are the angels, the messengers, and the great cloud of witnesses watching with bated breath as we finish our races faithfully and receive our crowns in turn.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

The Principles of Prayer LXIV

 For those yet to understand the danger the corporatization of Christianity poses, and how far some will go to defend the kingdoms and fiefdoms they’ve built, there seems to be an undercurrent of hope for a renaissance of sorts. They’re pointing to newly compiled statistics citing an increase in church attendance by young people, a spike in the purchase of Bibles, and this, if nothing else, bolsters their lagging hope that within their lifetime the pendulum will swing anew, and selfless men who have no vested interest or ulterior motives, whose only desire is to preach the gospel to the nations will rise to the top and be embraced not as spiritual authorities, or visionaries but as servants, as laborers, as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Given the lessons learned from history and the predictability of human nature, I cannot allow myself to be as hopeful as some because I understand that once those who have ensconced themselves in seats of power and declared themselves spiritual authorities feel threatened, once they see the danger those not seeking fame or fortune pose to the status quo, the knives will be unsheathed, the daggers will be sharpened, and the bloodletting will begin anew.

It’s the same story told and retold since the early church, wherein those who know themselves to be the human equivalent of leeches, whose employment of usury is so commonplace as to become normalized, who wear the masks of righteous men but beneath it all seethe with all manner of darkness and perversion, will go to any lengths, resort to any means, and do what they must in order to retain the power they’ve worked a lifetime to amass.

If they can’t corrupt those they see as a danger, if they can’t throw money at the problem to make it go away, they’ll drag their name and reputation through the mud, and attempt to destroy and discredit the message based on the manner in which it was delivered rather than the substance thereof. If their delivery is soft and monotone, they’ll be labeled as lacking power and the presence of the Spirit. If they emote and raise their voice, they’ll be labeled as lacking in love and not being soft spoken enough. If they won’t get in line and follow the program, those who’ve been at this for decades, weaving lies upon lies until it resembles a hideous tapestry only a madman can conceive of, will find a way to sideline them.

That the young, fresh faces seeking to know the truth, seeking to understand the way, searching for something outside themselves to which they can pin their hope, will be collateral damage in the process makes not a whit of difference to the old wolves who’ve been feasting on the sheep for decades upon decades. Exploiting people with deceptive words is all they’ve ever done and all they know how to do. To them, it’s war, and there has never been a war without casualties. Sincere, hungry souls are an existential threat to the duplicitous and profane. They cannot be allowed to succeed, for the success of the pure-hearted means the end of their rule.

In case I’m being vague, or not blunt or direct enough, I am disgusted by what calls itself the modern-day church, and doubly so by its supposed leaders who leverage their supposed authority to silence the bleating of the sheep, defend the indefensible until the deeds of those they are defending become so egregious as to make a heathen blush, and whose hearts beat with disdain rather than love for the household of faith.

The point of this protracted rant is simple enough: don’t put anyone up on a pedestal, and if they are not, as the Bible demands, above reproach, don’t pretend that they are. You’re not touching God’s anointed by exposing sin; you’re doing your duty as one whose desire is true worship rather than feigned allegiance.

My heart is heavy, and I weep for those who will be caught in the crossfire of what is about to transpire in the contemporary church. Civil unrest, turmoil, and war won’t just occur in the nation; it will also take place in denominations, in churches, and in ministries because the old guard is wily and adept at twisting scripture to achieve their own ends. Fathers will be divided against sons, mothers will be divided against daughters, and the division and separation will be swift and violent.

Getting alone with God, learning to hear His voice, engaging in prayer, and reading the Word for yourself is more of an existential necessity today than at any other moment in our lifetime. Soon, it won’t be just men with forked tongues speaking flattering things; it will be individuals who will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

They will declare, “Look, here is the Christ!” and if you do not know Him, if you haven’t spent time with Him, if you’ve not felt His touch or heard His voice, if prayer is something you practiced infrequently and in short bursts, their susurrations will be so compelling, their proclamations so convincing, that you will fall for their falsehoods and believe their lies.

Through it all, the faithful will abide. The remnant will endure. Forged in the fires of persecution, they will stand and not flinch away or cower, regardless of the threats leveled against them, because they will know their God personally and intimately. They will not have established their faith on the experiences of other men, but in having had fellowship with Him directly, having cried out Abba, and having heard, Yes, my child.

You get to know God by spending time with Him, not by hearing someone else tell you about Him. Do not outsource your spiritual growth and maturing because it’s too important a thing to entrust to someone else.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus, not someone who claims to have seen Him. There is no such thing as spiritual surrogacy. It is a lie. It’s like saying, if you eat two pizzas every evening, your neighbor will get fat. It doesn’t work that way. He who endures to the end shall be saved, but by the same measure the soul that sins will die.    

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

The Principles of Prayer LXIII

 There is a rot in the contemporary church, and the odor of its putrescence has reached such levels as to become intolerable. It’s come to the point that if you go an entire week without some new horror perpetrated by individuals calling themselves the elite of the elite, pastors, preachers, bishops, elders, or prophets doesn’t materialize you chalk it up as a win, breathe a sigh of relief, but only halfheartedly because you know soon enough the other shoe will drop, and a new horror awaits.

It began when we abandoned prayer, fasting, reading the Word, and insisting upon repentance. That was the genesis of it all, the spark that lit the fire that seared the consciences of countless souls, and left only devastation in its wake. It started when we became reliant on the gimmicks of the world to draw people into the house of God rather than on God drawing men unto Himself. It wasn’t quick enough. The growth wasn’t there. God wasn’t moving at a pace we were comfortable with, so why not give Him a nudge? Why not show Him what a little elbow grease, human ingenuity, and wholesale compromise of Biblical standards could accomplish?  Why not start treating the church more like a business than the place where broken hearts came to be mended, broken people came to be made whole, and hopeless people came to receive hope that can only be found at the foot of the cross?

Why keep telling people to be reliant on God when we can shift the focus and make them reliant on men, substituting a relationship with the Lord and King of all with a discounted sort of fandom where everyone’s got their favorite preacher, their favorite teacher, and it is to them they run for succor and spiritual insight rather than to the Word of God?

Why keep resisting the world, fighting against the darkness, when we can call a mutually beneficial truce and exist in a perpetual dusk where it’s never truly dark and never truly light but something in between where both sides can claim victory, where neither suffers defeat, and that which we value above all else will continue its endless flow into our burgeoning coffers?

Why preach the unfiltered, unapologetic truth, chewy bits, skin and all, when we can put it in a blender and make it palatable for so many more individuals, even though by the time it’s said and done, it no longer resembles the truth it once was?

We conveniently ignored that the devil is a liar and he would hold to no truce he agreed to. While we rested on our laurels, enjoying the spoils of fame, enamored by extravagance, and amassing more than we could spend in ten lifetimes, the devil continued his work unabated, the tendrils of darkness leaking into the places that once shone bright, and the hearts of men grew ever colder, harder, and more brittle.

It has festered ever since, gotten worse over time, and men, absent the fear of the Lord, took greater and greater liberties in feeding their flesh, in giving in to their base desires, and by their actions bringing shame to the name of God and the household of faith.

We shamelessly dismissed, abandoned, and disregarded the strictures of Scripture, insisting they are too stifling, too old-fashioned, not compatible with our modern age, thinking nothing of the repercussions our choices would have, or the countless lives our shamelessness would shipwreck.

Men who were supposed to be wielders of truth gave in to the lie that you can have all of God and all of the world in tandem, and even if some of their flock would not understand their new progressive stance on the most heinous of practices, it was unlikely they would ever find out. I mean, how would they? Everyone involved in leadership has a vested interest in keeping the man behind the pulpit there, because he has become a brand, a commodity, and the bonuses and raises every few months don’t hurt matters much either.

Okay, so he doesn’t live what he preaches, but who does nowadays? Yeah, he seems to be a bit too handsy, bordering on inappropriate, with some of the younger ladies in church, but different people show affection in different ways after all, so we’ll give that a pass too.

Well, yes, there have been rumors, and if they are true, it’s not good. However, jealous people often say crazy things. They’re just envious of his gifting; that must be what it is. Plus, the pastor keeps telling us we’re not supposed to touch God’s anointed, so there’s that.

By the time the FBI or local authorities step in and charge the monster with the monstrous acts he has committed holding him accountable at least as far as the law is concerned, the bell has been rung, the milk has been spilled, and innocent people whose one crime was to discount the biblical admonition that cursed is the man who trusts in man are so broken and untethered that their hearts turn to stone and bitterness and resentment become their constant companion.

Anyone who dared to insist that this was not the way, that this was not the truth, that what we were following after was cheap imitation, counterfeits, greed and vanity was quickly brow beaten into silence, and if they could not be made to be silent they were shunned and ostracized by those they once called brothers because to upset the apple cart would be a fate worse than death.

Well, you know, this isn’t helping the church’s image, don’t you? You’re right, it’s not, but the only other option is to sacrifice the truth for the sake of a projected image that is incongruent with reality and hope no one notices. What’s the alternative, pray tell? Ignore it? Turn a blind eye? Tighten the lid on the can of worms and hope it never pops free? Pretend it’s not happening? Sweep it under the rug until the molehill turns into an unavoidable mountain? Remain silent and thereby become complicit and have to stand before God one day and answer for the deafening silence?

This is not about protecting an image. It’s not about protecting a brand. It’s not about preserving a cash cow that keeps chugging along because of the consistency with which the message of the cross is getting watered down.

If that’s all it was about, then it’s been a wasted existence, and we of all men are most pitiable. It’s not about faking it until you make it or projecting an image that is a demonstrable, provable lie; it’s about the body of Christ being whole, strong, vibrant, full of life, amputated and excised of the dead and rotting limbs dragging it down. There’s a reason judgment begins in the house of God, and it’s not because the house of God is packed to the rafters with saints.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.