A New Low!

Most of you know I don’t do much politicking. In fact, I abhor politics like some abhor root canals, prostate exams, or five o’clock traffic.

Even though I am currently in Romania, I do keep abreast of what is happening in the grand ole’ US of A, and this past weekend I read that the executive branch is actively working toward coercing the judicial branch of government, calling upon it to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act.

As I read this the only image to come to my mind was that of a man in the middle of the ocean clinging to a giant boulder even though it was gradually dragging him to the bottom of the deep. Somewhere in his mind the man must have known he ought to have let go of the boulder, but his need for self-preservation was overridden by his absolute desire to cling to the boulder at any cost.

We are a nation adrift in the middle of the ocean, clinging to a boulder and refusing to let go of it, even though we’re so far down beneath the surface of the waters the sun is barely a pinprick anymore.

Whether it is God hardening the hearts of men, or men becoming hardened in and of themselves, history teaches us that once a nation, a people, or an empire began the downward descent into the deep it never did let go of what was dragging it down.

It is a diabolical thing to behold what is currently happening in this nation. Upon realizing they could not turn enough towards evil and perversion, they chose to legislate evil and perversion and call it normal. Now, anyone daring to stand for truth, anyone daring to point out the utter disconnect between the will of the people and what our elected officials are doing, is berated and marginalized by a complicit media complex in thrall to the ruling system.

Throughout all these machinations, legislations, amendments and newly enacted laws, the church has been silent, as though distracted by some shiny thing out in the desert, or by the promise of a hundred fold return for their generous offering to the grinning face on television.

As far as the grinning faces are concerned, it is against their self-interest to sound the alarm or point out the reality of what is happening, because they like to have a pacified and placated audience who does not stir but for to write a check.

Evidently, the only way to get a rise out of a preacher today is by threatening to take away their tax exempt status, or to have congressional hearings forcing them to disclose their yearly income. It’s all about them, their selfish needs, and their selfish desires. Just a bunch of pimps offering services at reasonable rates, and as long as they get theirs they are indifferent toward anything else that might be going on.

The handful whose voices are becoming shrill from yelling ‘wake up’ realize that left unchecked, sooner than anyone realizes, it will be a crime punishable by law to stand for righteousness, and call sin, sin.

The enemy we face is playing for keeps, and he is not interested in a truce or an armistice. Especially when he feels as though he has gained ground, has the momentum, and has enough men and women in high office willing to do his bidding.

We are but fools if we think the enemy will let us be if we let him be. We are but fools if we think keeping silent will keep the enemy from getting around to us. It is not the silencing of righteousness, nor is it the crippling of righteousness the enemy is interested in. It is the extermination of righteousness. This is what we must understand in order to rightly contextualize what is presently occurring in America.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.

Faces and Places

If a picture is powerful enough, no words are necessary!

Ephesians 6:2-3, "'Honor your father and mother,' which is the first commandment with promise: 'that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.'"

Pictures taken at the Vladeni-Podeni retirement home while visiting and distributing food this week.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.

From the Road

Few things have the ability to pry me away from the keyboard for more than a few hours, and the work we do here in Romania is one of those things.

For those of you who do not know, we have a ministry here, which includes an orphanage as well as an outreach to neighboring communities.

For the past couple days I've been traveling to the more rural areas with a team from Holland, and we've been distributing everything from clothing, to food, to medicine, to hot cocoa and hot dogs.

Yes, they actually brought a portable stove, and they make cocoa for the village children whenever we stop.
Since I haven't posted anything in a couple days, here are a few snapshots.

If they are enjoyed, I will post more over the weekend into Monday, then hopefully once everything gets back to normal we will commense with our teaching series, some articles, and whatever else the Lord will lay on my heart at the time.

For anyone interested, you can find out more about the ministry at www.handofhelp.com . No, I am not trying to plug the work, but I know the work we do and it's good, so I won't shy away from it either.

Though man may not live by bread alone, sometimes it helps to have some bread handy just in case he's without.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.

The New Book!

As promised some time ago, the first volume of the study on prayer is now available. After receiving some invaluable advice and feedback, we settled on a new title. The primary reason for this is because there are a handful of other books with the same name, and rather than cause confusion, we thought it best to change the title.

And so, the title of the first volume is:

When Ye Pray: The Anatomy of Prayer!

The book comes in just shy of 330 pages, and as far as my personal estimation goes, none of it is fluff. Lord knows if I wrote for the financial aspect of it, I'd start writing some self-help drivel about how you can shape your future with your positive thoughts, but since it does cost money to print and whatnot, there is a price tag of $14.95.

Since we have some guests from Holand and are planning on an extensive excursion into the rural areas to pass out food, clothing and other needed items, I will leave this up for a few days, perhaps even a week depending on how long we'll be out.

As always, feel free to get a copy, perhaps two and give one to a friend, and if you are so inclined please rate it after you've read it.

The Kindle version should be out shortly, and it will be considerably cheaper for those preferrential to electronic books or on a budget, but for now all you get is the paperback.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.


                             When Ye Pray: The Anatomy of Prayer

The Ten Things Christians Must Stop Doing!

As the prophetic times we are living in are becoming more evident and as those seeking counsel or direction are multiplying, countless individuals have been trumpeting their opinions as to what the children of God ought to be doing.

From the ever popular ‘it’s time to get serious about God,’ (as though God was okay with our playing games with, abusing, and dishonoring Him up until it got difficult for us,) to ‘it’s time to grow up,’ (as though spiritual infancy was acceptable until recently,) many voices are telling the household of faith what they must do, and do today.

The way I see it, before we can start doing something new, we must stop doing what we had been doing up to that point. And so, rather than give you a list of what Christians should do, today I give you a list of the ten things we must stop doing before we start doing anything else.

As always they are in no particular order, and you can prioritize them as needed.

1. Christians must stop allowing being called names to affect them, or the fear of being hated and marginalized to silence them.

2. Christians must stop believing teaching without diligently searching scripture to see if the two are in harmony.

3. Christians must stop believing the words of men in lieu of the words of Jesus.

4. Christians must stop allowing denominational dogma to nullify the written word of Scripture.

5. Christians must stop focusing on one dimension of God exclusively while ignoring the rest.

6. Christians must stop refusing to fellowship with brethren who disagree with them on secondary or tertiary dogma.

7. Christians must stop becoming more like the world in the hopes of winning the world for Christ.

8. Christians must stop neglecting the foundational pillars of the faith such as prayer, fasting, and the diligent study of Scripture.

9. Christians must stop being hypocritical in their actions.

10. Christians must stop cherry-picking verses which validate their preconceived notions, and receive the whole counsel of God.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.

Enough Blame To Go Around

There are certain things we would rather not deal with and there are certain realizations we would do almost anything to avoid. We realize full well that once we acknowledge something as being true and assume our own culpability in the matter, we have no choice but to attempt and remedy the situation or live with the knowledge of being willing participants in whatever the issue in question might be.

In and of themselves hamburgers don’t make me fat. I am myself culpable for the excess in adipose tissue around my midsection because I choose to eat the aforementioned hamburger rather than a salad or some yummy, yummy tofu.

Although it is easier for me to blame a slow metabolism, less then optimal genes, or an excess of hormones in the I-hope-it-wasn’t-horse burger, the simple yet painful truth is that I chose to eat the hamburger, found an excuse not to exercise, and am starting to see the appeal of stretchy pants as a direct result.

Say what we might about the world we live in, the simple yet painful truth is that the church is culpable and partially responsible for the world’s condition. Darkness grows in direct proportion to the diminishing of the light, and the more the light of truth was dimmed in our churches, in our pulpits and in our hearts, the darker and more lawless the world around us became.

We’ve lowered the once high standard to the point of nonexistence, then wonder to ourselves why our churches seem so much like the world and why the God we claim to serve is no longer felt among us, no matter how much we might clap or sing or yell and demand He make an appearance.

If those called to be the light of the world can’t manage to shine, what can we expect of a world which lies shrouded in darkness and despair? If we who are to be the salt of the earth have lost our savor, what can we expect of those who never knew truth?

Until the church returns to the heart of repentance and humility God has called it to, until the household of faith returns to righteousness and holiness unto God, we can hope the world will change for the better, but we will be hoping in vain.

If righteousness exalts a nation, then lawlessness disparages it.

Somewhere along the way it was agreed upon that rather than daily live out our faith and exemplify Christ Jesus in all we do, it would be much easier to become a political force and attempt to wield our influence whichever way we saw fit.

Sadly, we’ve come to see that in having abandoned righteousness for the sake of political influence, we’re left with neither influence, nor righteousness.

There is a reason the world mocks the church and it’s because the church isn’t living what it’s preaching. It is so obvious, so glaring, that even the blind could spot the inconsistencies.

I realize full well that if I get any deeper into this, some of you will inevitably lash out and I will be branded a moralist or a legalist or whatever else the new buzzword is that men use to shut the mouths of the few who still dare point out the crux of the problem, but you and I both know that if judgment begins with the house of God, repentance must likewise begin with the house of God.

Between looking to be caught away any day and living with the expectation of a great sweeping revival, most believers are failing to live their lives wholly surrendered to Christ and to daily work out their salvation with fear and trembling. Until this occurs, until the church becomes the Church once more, until the Body of Christ is once more animated, alive, and full of power, we will continue to witness an ever darker world, and be ever more vividly aware of our culpability for its condition.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.

Lord, Teach Us To Pray! Part 226

Prayers of the Old Testament
The Prayer of Hezekiah continued...

2 Kings 19:15-19, “Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said: ‘O Lord God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands – wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them. Now therefore, O Lord our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord God, You alone.”

From the reading of the text a handful of questions spring to mind. Who was this Sennacherib? What did he threaten Hezekiah with? How did his words reproach the living God? Was Hezekiah’s fear warranted?

In order to understand why Hezekiah prayed the prayer he did, we must understand the predicament he found himself in, as well as his inability to remedy the situation on his own. Most often, context sheds light on why an individual did a certain thing, on why they chose a certain path, and why they proceeded to do what they did.

Sennacherib was the king of Assyria, at the time a true power which had already invaded Israel, as well as Judah. Seeing as he could not defeat Sennacherib and his armies, Hezekiah sent word to him desiring a truce, and was willing to pay handsomely for it.

Although his heart was in the right place, Hezekiah had as yet not learned the valuable lesson of not bargaining with evil. Whenever we attempt to bargain with the enemy, whenever we try to find common ground, the enemy will always go back on his word, and ask for even more concessions from us.

The Assyrians demanded a tariff consisting of both gold and silver amounting to the equivalent of forty million dollars today. Since Hezekiah did not possess that kind of gold or silver, he took all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and even stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord and from the pillars which he himself had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

Hezekiah hoped to pacify Sennacherib, but his hopes were dashed when an emissary was sent demanding Jerusalem be turned over if peace was to be had.

One of the greatest lessons we can learn from Sennacherib’s actions – because our ever present enemy acts in much the same manner – is that there can be no armistice or truce between ourselves and the darkness.

Throughout the ages men have tried to come to an agreement with the darkness. They have tried to come to an understanding with sin and the enemy of our souls, and every time they got the short end of the stick. Every time they thought they had an understanding, every time they thought they’d struck an agreement, the enemy came back to the bargaining table demanding more, not content with the concessions already agreed upon.

If you give the enemy a finger he will want a hand, if you give him a hand he will want an arm, if you give him an arm he will want your upper torso, and so it goes until nothing is left and all has been surrendered.

Godly as Hezekiah was, well intentioned as he might have been seeking the safety of his people, he began to bargain with the enemy, and with each concession he made the enemy only wanted more.

Unlike many a soul today, Hezekiah had the presence of mind to say no and refuse Sennacherib’s request when he realized it would never end. If he would have given up Jerusalem, it was only a matter of time before Sennacherib asked for the whole of Judah, and step by step Hezekiah and his people would have become subjects of the Assyrians.

The Assyrians had known so many victories that they had grown self-assured, and in their darkened hearts they began to mock the God if Israel. The messenger who had been sent by Sennacherib took it upon himself to remind the people of Judah that though Hezekiah will insist the Lord would deliver them, they ought not to listen to him, but attempt to make peace by agreeing to his terms.

Even before Hezekiah was able to encourage the people and remind them of the faithfulness of their God, the enemy attempted to sow doubt in their hearts and cause them to waiver in their faith.

Although the Assyrian emissary tried to turn the people against Hezekiah, although he tried to sow doubt in their hearts, the people remained silent, and they did not agree to the terms delivered to them.

We are quick to engage the enemy, we are quick to find common ground, we are quick to try and understand their point of view when the best course of action would have been to take a step back and remain silent.

Sometimes all we can do is remain silent and await the salvation of the Lord.

Try as they might to reason with the Assyrian emissary, Hezekiah knew his mind would not be changed, nor would his demands be lessened. Hezekiah realized it would be fruitless and pointless to try and iron out a better deal, because Sennacherib had all the power, and he knew it. As such, Hezekiah ran to God, his refuge and his strength, the One who was able to deliver Judah and prove to the Assyrians that He was not the same as the other gods they had vanquished in their campaigns.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.