Response To A Letter

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.

Happy Mother's Day!

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

With love in Chris,
Michael Boldea Jr.

The Squeaky Wheels

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

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

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

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

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

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

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.

Sometimes Silence Speaks More Than Words Ever Could!

What of the True Gospel?

There are many gospels to choose from. Blink, turn your head, cough into your hand, or get distracted for more than a millisecond and another gospel pops up, seemingly out of nowhere, and the easily beguiled flock to it as swiftly as they did to the previous one.

To be honest, I’ve gotten so sick of what’s been happening in Christendom of late, I’ve been ‘off the grid’ as the kids like to say, just me, my Bible, my wife, and time to think about where the church is headed if something is not done about the destination we’re barreling toward.

Up until a couple days ago the gospel du jour had to do with blue moons or red moons or blood moons or some hyper spiritualized thing someone borrowed from some long lost pagan mystics while they were still dancing around fires in loincloths.

I don’t even know who came up with it, I just know I got allot of e-mails warning me that the moon would bring with it much global chaos, more than likely sparking the third world war, and I should, forthwith and without delay, get to my safety pod.

Everyday it’s something, and in the dustup Jesus gets left behind. We lose sight of Him, and eventually forget to remember Him altogether.

There are many gospels making the rounds today. There is the do nothing gospel, there is the big tent gospel, there is the magic genie gospel, and as I watch them come and go, and oscillate in popularity I keep asking myself what of the true Gospel?

Will the true Gospel ever have center stage again? Will the true Gospel ever be received and embraced again, or are we watching the last flailing spasms of a dying thing once known as the church?

I’m struggling here. I’m struggling to understand how so many can be so blind, indifferent, deceived, and callous while still claiming to be of Christ, and insisting upon fidelity to His standard. I’m struggling with how so few see the wolves for what they are, and treat the true shepherds with a disdain formerly reserved for torturers and sadists.

We are on the edge of profound, cataclysmic change, and if this is the best the church can muster, if this is the level of watchfulness and alertness we can bring ourselves to given everything that’s been happening in the world, the slaughter will be unprecedented.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.

Sometimes It's You!

With the removal of personal accountability and responsibility for one’s individual actions, the entire construct of civilized society begins to crack and creak and eventually crumble in on itself. All one need do in order to utterly dismantle civilization is do away with the notion of each individual being individually responsible and accountable for his or her actions, and sooner or later, the gears will grind to a halt, and what we came to know as civil normalcy ceases to be.

Wherever you turn, whatever the context happens to be, we see that the notions of taking responsibility for one’s actions, or being accountable in some form or fashion have long been dead and buried.

If you’re fat, it’s not your fault; it’s the burger and pizza joints down the street. If you run out of money halfway through the week because you just had to get that seventieth tattoo on your back of a worm on a hook that has real deep and personal meaning, it’s not your fault; the mean-old-meany you work for just isn’t paying you enough. If you can’t get a job because you purposefully and willfully made your face to look like a crash test dummy after the fact, replete with ear gauges, nose studs, and lip rings, it’s not your fault; people today just don’t want to understand individuality and artistic license.

‘What about not judging a book by its cover, huh, what about that?’

Well, contrary to popular sentiment, you can tell quite allot about a book by its cover. I know, I know, it goes against the grain of today’s society, but there it is, the truth unfiltered. If the cover depicts a bleeding skull skewered by knives and spears, chances are better than good the contents of the book will not chronicle the heartwarming relationship between a boy named Boo and his three legged puppy Tripod. So, yes, more often than not, the cover will give you hints as to what the book contains, but that’s not what this post is about.

 Yes, partially this post is a vent of sorts, but there is a bigger picture sort of angle I wanted to get across, and that is, we’ve taken this idea of zero personal responsibility and accountability, and seeing as it worked so well for the world, we’ve spiritualized it and brought it within the household of faith.

We’ve driven ourselves into this intellectual cul-de-sac, put the car in par, shut off the engine, and have commenced to waiting for something, anything to happen to vindicate our newly minted stance that try as we might, there is nothing we can do in regards to our spirituality, that the game is rigged, the die is cast, the story is told, and whether you’re in or out is a pre-established thing that has nothing to do with whether you repent or not, live holiness or not, worship Christ or not, or deny yourself and pick up your cross or not.

‘You have no say so, and have nothing to contribute. You’re just a speck on the river of eternity, unable to do anything but to let the currents take you where they may. It’s not your fault!’

But you see, sometimes it is. Yep, sometimes it’s you! Sometimes it’s your fault! Sometimes the outcome of the decisions you’ve made up to this point is the reason you find yourself in the place you’re in, and you’ve got no one to blame but the individual staring back at you in the mirror. We are all subject to certain universal laws, and one of these laws is that there is no action without an equal and opposite reaction. Another is that there is no decision we make whether for good or evil that does not come with inherent consequence.

Rather than wait to be pursued by God, rather than wait for Him to drag you into heaven, why not do as the Word instructs and pursue Him instead? Why not knock and see if He opens? Why not ask and see if He gives? Why not seek and see if you find?

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.

Random Thoughts

Recently, the loss of a basketball game in Tucson was enough to compel fans to rampage, and start a riot. Police in riot gear were called out, and they disbanded the crowd who had by then started to hurl beer cans and other things at the line of police.

Keep in mind this was over a basketball game.

We think ourselves a civilized lot. We think ourselves sophisticated and evolved enough to deal with any issue through diplomacy and conversation, never resorting to violence, and rarely if ever allowing our tempers to get the better of us. What we think of ourselves is a lie, and the high and lofty stature we see ourselves in is an illusion.

Some of you may think I’m blowing this out of proportion, or wondering what if anything this has to do with anything, but to better contextualize my random thoughts I would pose the following question: If seemingly intelligent individuals would do this over a basketball game, what would they do to survive?

I keep getting e-mails on how I think people should prepare for the eventual, inevitable turmoil on the horizon. I am asked, repeatedly, whether I think it’s a good idea to stock up on food, on water, on guns, on ammunition, and a dozen other things.

My answer is always the same, because I can give no other answer. If God tells you to stock up on food, on water, or on anything else, then do what God tells you to do. If you proceed to do these things thinking that they will somehow save you, spare you, or be an acceptable replacement for the protection of God, taking it upon yourself to do proceed without His specific instruction, then you are of all men most pitiable.

There will be angry, terrified, desperate people in the streets when those days come, and they won’t be angry over a basketball game, but rather starving and with nothing left to lose. There will be no police in riot gear, there will be no tear gas and rubber bullets, there will only be chaos, wherein every man will fend for himself, and the strong will do their utmost to take from the weak if they are able.

Every safety net we've come to rely on, every government agency sworn to protect the average citizen, all of it, in an instant will be nonexistent, and the vile among us will have free reign doing in full view what they now do in the shadows.

One need only think on the reverberations the total collapse of societal etiquette will have for an instant, to realize that save a supernatural protection, save being safe under the shadow of His almighty hand, all we do to spare ourselves, to save ourselves, or insulate ourselves is woefully insufficient.

Sometimes we need to be reminded of the reality of human nature absent the light of God’s grace illuminating it, and it isn't shiny, happy people chasing butterflies and playing harps… it is hooligans doing their utmost to destroy anything and anyone in their path just because they can. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea Jr.