Jesus is near, even if eclipse not a warning, so share the Good News

I've blogged before about whether America would soon be judged. Some feel it already is being judged, of course. The major eclipse on the 21st may not be a sign of doom - but many other things show that we need to return to God, anyway. We must do more, so people know what we're for, not just against, and see God's love in us.

In fact, if you can't do any more, this post should be spread everywhere, in every social media, even if that's all you can do, but there are so many ways to rescue people from evil that we see all around us.

Jesus warns of signs in the Heavens making people very fearful - He doesn't say the signs will *cause* anything, but that the terror will be part of the End Times. We may not have 40 days from the eclipse till judgment as some believe, but we could have only 40 minutes, we don't know when the Lord will return.

How do we prepare?

1. Get Your Heart Right

We must repent, as I've said in various posts, not just what we've done, but what we've failed to do.

Young people can do so much good.You can let the Lord use you even to be the leader of your family, as I wrote in this free blog book and encourage everyone to share.

You are only a single sincere prayer of repentance away from a personal relationship with God who will be that constant guide, comforter, Helper, and friend we all need now, the start of eternal life. 

It is single. Only one time you need to call on Him to save you from your sins, and to make you new inside, then you will be reconciled to him.

It must be sincere. You must truly want Him to save you from the penalty of your sins, which is separation from him forever any horrible place where there is no love or compassion, it is all evil and pain.

And, it must involve repentance. It's as easy as admit, believe, and choose.

Admit you are a sinner, and don't deserve his perfect heaven. Believe Jesus Christ, God in flesh, died to take the punishment for your sins and rose from the dead. And, call on him to save you, choosing to let him forgive you and make you new inside.

You can pray something like this. "Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. I'm not perfect and I don't deserve your perfect Heaven where there is no pain, no suffering. But, I know you died to take the punishment for my sins and rose from the dead. I believe you Lord Jesus are God in flesh and you made a way for me to have that eternal life and peace that passes understanding, with a relationship with you starting now so you can use me to make a difference here. Lord Jesus, I call on you with all my heart to save me and make me new inside. Forgive me Lord, and come work in me so I can be more loving and everything Christ-like. In Jesus name, amen."

You know we can't do it ourselves. This world has too much evil in it. But, we can trust God. You can call and God will answer and move in your situation and community once you know Him. Maybe not exactly the way you want it but according to his perfect plan. And, he is not willing that any should perish but all come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9.

Young people often have hearts more ready to hear of God's love and forgiveness. 

God is personal and wants to help you understand Him. People may have told you different but they have an agenda to control you. They want to make you think like them and feel you're just an animal. However, God gives you freedom to choose Him. We don't do it because we have to. We follow Him and His love and commandments because we want to, out of devotion for what he did for us.

That means letting God the Holy Spirit move in our lives once we have trusted him as Savior. You can go here to learn more but this aloen will help, too.

2. Let the Holy Spirit Move You

Of course, we can't command the Spirit, and we must pray the devil not counterfeit things, as I posted here with a prayer a while back. So, we can't ask God to move ehings for selfish reasons - which connects back to having your heart right above. However, when we step out in faith with our hearts right, the Spirit will lead.  We must beware of the Great Deception, as I posted about a few places.

However, we can trust God the Holy Spirit to work in our lives and in others when we pray and are filled with his guidance and put on the whole armor of God and bear more and more fruit of the Holy Spirit and be filled (controlled by) His Spirit..

God wants to move, but we have quenched the Spirit by ignoring God.  And, we are told we must avoid quenching the Spirit. This quenching is what has caused fires of revival to die, just like throwing water on a fire to quench it.

So, you could say that we have so many problems in this world, with racism growing worse when we are all one (I've posted numerous times, such as this, on how to unite and let God end such evil), with mean people still hurting others, with so many turning away from what is right, because we have quenched the Holy Spirit. We, being the church.

We have refused to be Christ-like. We spend too much time criticizing and complaining and not showing the love that Jesus showed. Yes, we must tell the truth about sin but we must tell it in love, showing that there is a Saviour who can make them new and change them so there "want to," changes, so they desire much better things than they have been chasing after, eternal things, so they want to follow what is right.

We must edify one another  and ensure that we, too, want those better, eternal things so people can't see a difference in us. So we can focus on our home in heaven and not wealth or power or control or this country or anything that will pass away.

The fruit of the spirit, in Galatians chapter 5 verses 22 and 23, show what we should have.

3. Trust the Lord to grow His fruit in you

Love is unconditional love that can only come from the Lord. Family love is very strong but even that is breaking down nowadays. God's unconditional love will give you all that you ever need and fill all the holes in your heart left by people who have disappointed you.

You can find joy and perfect peace in the good things in life, not tear others down. This is why the Bible says to edify one another, we should be building them up so they can know they don't have to turn to the raunchy and mean lifestyle and don't have to follow or heed such awful things.

There cannot be true goodness if we are just animals. And yet, there is good in this world.

There is so much good out there, so many people doing things with altruistic motives that it must be that God created us. He created everything, this world had no sin in it when it was formed.

By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so that death passed on to all men for that all have sinned. Romans 5:12

God gives us freedom to choose to follow him, as noted before, so that we don't have to do good, we get to do good.

That includes being gentle with others, being slow to anger, not showing the wrath of man because it will never produce the righteousness of God. James 1:20. That is also where meekness comes from. Meekness is power under control, using self control which is temperance, another gift of the Holy Spirit.

That self-control is important because we are also to be long-suffering, that is to be patient. We must not keep jumping at each other's throats, but talk cordially. That friendliness is something that is lost so much nowadays because we have turned away from the Lord and quenched the Spirit.

We must have faith that God can provide. We must turn to Him in faith, because Hebrews 11:6 says He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. He will bring that Revival when His people turn to him and call on Him for help, knowing that we can't do it ourselves.

There are other things, such as Ephesians 4:32. Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. That is something which comes from the fruit of the Spirit as well, as does thankfulness, grace, mercy, all those other things which God wants to give us freely and where we should not be quenching the Holy Spirit. Only if we stop quenching it can God give us freely.

That means turning away from the idols of this world, things we put ahead of God, and following Him. If we give those things we treasure over to God, He will use that for His glory and could give them back so that we can use them for His glory.

4. Pray without ceasing

We need to not only repent and turn toward the Lord of again but we must pray consistently. I don't know if we have only 40 days, that is what some say but we could have only 40 minutes. We don't know when the Lord will return. We must pray and witness in love and give out Gospel tracts now.

Let us pray now, with a sample prayer like I have done at other times you can read and pray over so that we can turn to the Lord at this time and call on Him to save this land. Remember, of course, that the first prayer He hears is the prayer of Salvation so you must know Him personally and be right with God before turning to Him on behalf of your family, community, and country.

"Dear Lord Jesus, we realize we have quenched the Holy Spirit. We have failed to show the love and kindness and everything else you want us to show, and turned to meanness and tearing others down rather than building them up. We have followed our own ways and not yours.

"Lord, today we turn from our sins, I first repent of all I have done and said and thought wrong and I invite you to change my heart oh Lord and make me new inside.

"Lord Jesus, please come to this community of mine, my home, my family and  friends, my nation,  and revive us, we no longer want to quench the spirit, Lord we want you to flow down with your unending love and change our hearts. Lord, we need you desperately. We know that there is so much wickedness and evil and it will continue to the end, but we also know that you are full of mercy and grace and can still save. Lord, we know that your Holy Spirit still works in this world, the restrainer is still keeping back the full extent of the evil until it is time.

"So, Lord, we pray that you will work wonders first in my heart and then other's hearts, unite us as one people to accept other races especially and not to put one above another. We do not ask for physical healings and all those other things that draw attention to people. We ask for emotional and spiritual healing and change away from idols and toward you; we pray for a revival like none other. Lord, we invite you, we beg you, come to our churches, even if it is just the youth departments because they are not set in their ways yet, with all of the wickedness we have put in this world, but please come to all of us.

"Lord, we especially ask you to bring revival among the young people. May they all turn from the evil and sensualness of this world. May they share their faith and share their testimonies with Incredible boldness. May their kindness and goodness toward others be so much greater than that of the world, so that people can see there is a difference. Oh, may that Christ-like attitude be evident among your people everywhere, young and old. May an attitude of goodness and grace while standing for what is right be apparent in all of us.

"Lord Jesus, change our hearts, move in a mighty way so that true tears of repentance are flowing, so that people will truly want you at the head of their lives and make you that head, change the wicked ways of this nation and turn us toward you. May all of the young people, teenagers and younger, get saved, covered by your blood before your return, for there being led astray by such evil and they're so impressionable now, and may they share their faith and proclaim the gospel and may many souls be saved in whatever time remains. In Jesus name, amen."

Healing a divided America with revival, respect for life

People call it a divided America, we have such big problems. I give a few ideas below on how to improve things, but it requires a heart change, not just an outward one; we need leaders who won't be Pharisees, and they can come from anywhere - you can be one. Because, if we move forward trusting God, things can improve.

God made each of us special. As Tony Evans said recently, we have too much division, and God's people must lead the way in showing how to heal the many rifts we face. And, that fact is one of those major Biblical facets we must unite in. While each of us is special, we must also realize that means, logically, that others are, too.

Accepting that others are important as living human beings is a big part of starting the healing process, as I've stated numerous times like here, and someone else mentioned in this blog post I found on the importance of teaching kids God made them special. Instead of doing that, though, we tear others down more and more. About the only thing Americans agree on is they are tired of the election, even if Google searches find things better if they contain Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump - or Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton if you want them in that order. :-)

Don't worry. This is the last you will hear in this post of the name Trump or Clinton (or Clinton or Trump) or any world leaders. That's because imperfect people can't create a perfect world the way God can.  Although, the Cubs and Indians making the World Series, the Cubs for the first time since 1945 and the Billy Goat game, may have made some feel a lot better.

We can, however, start the healing process by valuing others the way God does. Only by following God's ways can we truly be victorious, as we trust Him for a Repentance Revival.

Repentance means turning from sin. While people have trouble agreeing on anything, I imagine most would agree that the very destructive climate in our world is sinful. Reconciliation - with repentance both personal and national - needs to take place, because our prayers for revival won't work without us repenting not just for 50 years of sin but for the 400 our nation has done since the colonies were founded. As the last link mentioned, we've all sinned. That leads to things like that example I often used early in this blog, the person who hates and screams at someone for cutting them off in traffic, not bothering to think that the person may have only done so because they were rushing to see a loved one in the hospital - something many of us would do ourselves.

We each struggle with that sin nature, so the world won't be perfect till Jesus returns. However, we e can each begin with ourselves by following the Lord with all our hearts, turning to Him for renewal.

Here are things we can do to unite and end this horrible division.

Why Are We Here? Uniting in God's love

We are here, fearfully and wonderfully made by God, for a reason. No, you are not an accident - in fact, many have said DNA is so complex it proves there was an intelligent designer.

God is many things. He is Holy, He cannot come in contact with sin. He is just. That means he must punish sin. However, He is also mercy and grace. That means that He doesn't want to punish the wicked but wants to offer them that grace and mercy. He has no joy at the punishment of the wicked.(Ezekiel 33-11.) So, God had to make a way to punish our sin that didn't cause us to also be condemned.
 

So, because of the above, God chose to come Himself. Jesus was fully God and fully man. Because He was fully man, He could die for the punishment of each of our sins. Because He was fully God, He was perfectly sinless and therefore didn't have to suffer for His own sins. He could suffer for each of our sins. Also because he was God, after He died on the cross for your sins He rose from the dead.

Knowing the facts isn't enough of course if you don't trust Him to do anything for you.

That trust is all you need, though, just calling on Him by true faith to forgive you and save you from your sins: Admitting that you're a sinner in need of His salvation, Believing when he bled and died He took the punishment for your sins and then he rose from the dead, and Calling on Him by faith to save you and forgive you, choosing to turn from your sins and let Him make you new inside. You are only a single, sincere prayer of repentance away from eternal life. You can even go here and talk to an Online Mentor who will help you grow in faith or answer any questions.

Once we trust Him by faith and are reconciled to Him, we need to show others that love so they can see there is that unconditional love out there.

 Repenting and Returning in Our Hearts

Of course, we've had major problems in our history. I have said numerous times that we must repent not just for 50 years but for 400 years of evil. We have problems with priorities even now, problems which can be corrected by looking at what the Bible, which can be shown easily to be the Word of God - says is important. Sure, we failed int he past because people selfishly wanted to see themselves as superior (still the main problem today in many places) but that doesn't excuse us from our need to avoid that problem now.

This nation must return to the great love God has for each of us. This is the Love which allowed us to disagree without hating each other. It allowed us to overcome barriers and triumph over anything.

This is why in 2 Chronicles 7:14 (and, if you think that only applies to Israel, Jeremiah 18:5-10) talks of the people repenting  (turning from their wicked ways) and then God healing their land. Think about it: You can't just say, "Give me a cure for this disease if you are running away from the doctor at the time. You have to actually go up to that doctor and receive treatment.

Of course, that doesn't mean we have to do everything right and then God blesses us. That return means a change in our hearts and actionst hat show a genuine willingness to change will follow as God gives us strength to do so.

As an example, a person who has been an alcoholic might go to Reformer's Unanimous and make Christ (not just a generic deity but the One who has the Power) the center of their lives. They still have to work day by day to trust God to keep them free those problems, but he gives them strength to avoid the peoplew ho dragged them down, the places that tempted them, etc.. One woman in our churchw as saved out of that and for the last 44 years of her life never entered a restaurant with a bar in it for fear she would return. her friends could but they knew not to do it with her since that would tempt her more. (The mark of a true friend, understanding the other's needs and taking action.)

She trusted God to be her victory. He knew the way she was built and what alcohol had done to her - a logical consequence. There, by the way, is something else we must return to, accepting as common sense that our actions have consequences we can't avoid, something that was easily understood before.) He gave her a way to overcome it that may be more drastic than others saved out of that, but that is something that can ruin the body and casue such problems it is best never to start.

Anyway, the point is that we must trust the Lord to bring us victory by being our victory. We can't bring Victory ourselves because there is a spiritual battle here, and it must be won with spiritual weapons.

Ironically, at times we seem to recognize that it is a spiritual battle. However we are actually on the opposite side of what we should be.

How to fight the enemy, and not fight ourselves

You may guess that forgiveness is a big part of it. That is certainly true. We must fight the enemy by not opposing each other so fiercely, and one reason we do is we don't have that forgiving attitude. It's true that the vicious nature of society today is one of the problems. However, we must also not be united in the wrong things, as mentioned before, such as here and here.

Forgiveness isn't saying something is right. Forgiveness is saying "I love you anyway." Remember, God forgives us by saving us from our sins, but he is also just in that He had to punish sin and took it upon Himself. He still allows us to face the consequences of our sin on Earth, though, it's just that His mercy nd grace give us more chances.

Not only that, but His justice, like anything else, is better than ours because he knows the priorities which matter most, such as described above. the terrible injustice of this world comes about becasue people don't hold to those priorities.

So, you can see how that heart-mind decision to trust Jesus to forgive and sve us and then turning to Him with the intent of correcting such things - and letting Him be our strength in doing so - is cricual.

Ephesians 6:12 says, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but agaisnt powers, against principalities, gaainst the rulers of the darkness of thhis world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." So, when someone opposes us, we should - instead of reacting harshly - say, "We're on the same side against this evil." And, of course, be willing also to work with that person to help them.

Communication with each other, then, is vital, but of course, as noted and linked before, it's still vital to stand for the absolute truth of God's Word. That same devil who tempts us so much 9though we also have our own sin nature)  can also mislead us by getting us to unite in the wrong things. There is great deception coming, according to the Bible; here is how to be prepared not to fall for it. The only way to do that is to know Him personally now, though there may be a chance during the Tribulation it's not safe to presume one will make it alive, so many bad thigns will happen. This discusses that Tribulation and gives other links about it in more detail which you can copy for others.

AS for now, though, we are still here and have a chance to unite in God's perfect love and peace. So, after doing that, what else can we do?

Further Healing the Divide

What are some other things we can do to heal this divide?

1. Proper priorities are needed. As noted above, God sees each person as important. Those priorities, then, should include valuing human life and having a concern for everyone.

2. Build the fruits of the Spirit. Gentleness is mandatory, for instance, God wants us to have it. That's why it's one of the Fruits of the spirit of Galatians 5:22-23. Our treatment of others, especially those who are weaker, must be with the Godly compassion we are called to have. Of course, the fruits of the Spirit can only come if the Holy Spirit lives in you, which he will if you have trusted Jesus to save you. People can have such a deliverate attitude without it, but only God can perfect it, and the Spirit will increase it and will give it to those who don't have it. Especially in families, it's vital to have these fruits. (Note that I've mentioned in other posts about the King James Version's superiority - here is a good show discussing the fruits in depth.)

3. Have meaningful conversations. Try to understand each other's perspectives; when they don't conflict with sound Biblical doctrine, like the Bible says in Philippians 4:2-3, we should be of one mind in the Lord. Some people have been through horrible thigns, and need others to show understanding and compassion.

4. Commit to building meaningful relationships. instead of focusing on social media, we should be trying to talk with each other and not using sound bytes all the time. Our society has a short attention span and we may need to work to lengthen it, but God can do that when we trust Him and turn our hearts toward Him.

5. Give of yourself. Don't just talk about how others matter and pray for others, but be willing to put feet to those prayers and get out and work with others. This isn't just protesting and letting words be heard, this is actively trying to find solutions to problems.

6. Have patience. It will take a long timeand the Bible says things won't be perfect till the lord's return. But, we can improve things for some, at least.

7. Keep the Gospel at the center. Remember that being nice and friendly and all the other thigns are good, but we must ensure that the saving of souls is our top priority.

After all, each of us will some one day, and go to either heaven or Hell. The Lord will return for His people. It's why I've done posts sharing about how to reach Muslims, for one thing, and indeed witnessing to them and anyone.

We must start by uniting, as noted above, in sound doctrine and turning toward the Lord and away from the bitterness which has plagued us int he past as we've let our free will make us think we can do anything. In reality, though, common sense xisted for so long because people knew that with freedom came responsibility.

So, let's all take more responsibility for our own actions and establish that right and wrong as fundamental to our society once more, united as one nation and not a bunch of individuals who don't have any common goal. After all, we were never meant to be just a great big mess of individuals. We were meant to be a melting pot of peoplew ho worked together with a respect for liberty and expected others to respect that absolute right and wrong which we knew had been established since the foundation of the world by the Lord Himself in His Word, including the freedom to accept or reject HIm and the freedom to follow Him and the importance of respecting thsoe who do; something in past times that nonChristians consistnetly did.

In this day and age, we face spiritual battles which are increasingly fighting believers in Christ (but, note, not other religions, because the devil only has to fight the truth). However, God will prevail in this. We just have to make sure we're on the winnings ide.

Part of revival; Avoiding danger in fallen world

Would you avoid something you knew was awful if you could, be it something as awful as a mile fall from a plane or a shark attack, or as simple as spiders or mice, which spook a lot of people?

We all avoid things we think will destroy us. This recent post discussed celebrating the Abundant Life Jesus gives when we trust in Him to save us from our sins, it's so much greater than what we get when we look at only what we can get out of it. And, as much as we say "live life to its fullest," nobody rushes to be attacked by a shark. Even "Shark Tank" has people taking huge precautions. That or falling a mile from a plane without a parachute would be on everyone's list of things to avoid. For some, even something as simple as spiders or mice make them run in horror.

In the wake of the tragic death of Jose Fernandez, I considered that recent post on enjoying the abundant life Jesus gives. It's very appropriate as a subject itself, of course. And, there are so many good thoughts - like these from Philippines 4:8 - which God shows us in His Word are important for us to live happily.

(Notice I didn’t say to be happy? Happy is an adjective. Happily is an adverb which modifies the verb "live" in the old fairy tale ending. They live happily ever after, but that doesn't mean everything is happy. They simply choose to focus on what they are thankful for. Even if Mongols attack there castle or smallpox ravages the kingdom, they can focus on the love they share no matter what happens. We shouldn't let circumstances define us.)

So, God clearly gives us some wonderful things to focus on as we enjoy the abundant life He has given those who trust Him to save them from their sins. It's something we need as only He can give divine protection against evil.
 

However, one should also avoid certain other things just like one avoids the really bad stuff mentioned above. (And as some people avoid spiders, etc.) We can avoid evil, nightmare-inducing things on our own and - as long as we have a relationship with God - improve it. Just as you avoid things that you know will kill you (a shark or a fall from a plane) or that you are really scared of.

Divine Protection From Evil

 The first step to avoiding evil is to make sure you're on God's side so He can protect you - sit in that chair of grace, so to speak.

God is holy and can't touch sin; He can't allow it into His perfect Heaven; I'll explain in the next section where that sin came from originally. You can go to that section if you want and come back, of course, but for now, suffice it to say that God has it this way so those who are covered by His atonement for sin can't have anything bad happen to them in Heaven.

We have a sin problem, though. We are all sinners; nobody is totally, 100% righteous.(Rom.3:10,23, etc.) Though all we like sheep have gone stray, and turned to our own ways, God laid on Him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all.(Isa. 53:6)

So, we all have sin in us, but God reconciled us to Himself by bearing our sins in His own body.(1 Pet.2:24) Jesus, God in flesh, died to take the punishment for each of our sins - yours, mine, everyone's and rose fromt he dead. That gift of His grace and mercy is free to anyone who trusts in Him to save them. It's not about praying certain words, it's calling on Him in your heart to save you and forgive you.

A good way to remember that is ABC - Admit you're a sinner, Believe Jesus, God in flesh, died to take your punishment for your sins, and rose from the dead, and Callon Him to save you from yoru sins, Choosing to repent (turn from your sins) and make you new inside.

You can do that right now, in fact. If you haven't, you should do so now because we never know what will happen. You can turn from your sins and tell God something like this: "Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner, I know I can't get to heaven on my own, but You died to take the punishment for my sins and rose from the dead. Lrod Jesus, I trust you today to save me from my sins and make me new inside, come into my heart today and save and change me. I believe you have saved me not by anything I have done but by the fact I totally trust in what You did for me. In Jesus' name, Amen."

If you don't know Jesus as Saviour, you can't go to God's perfect Heaven where you'll be free from sin and all those burdens when you die. You'll be separated from that perfect love and peace and goodness forever in a horrible, wicked place meant only for the devil and his angels.(Mat.25:41) So, it's important to trust Jesus as your Saviour first.  Here is a great tract with more explanation. Gotquestions is a great site to help with questions, and online mentors here can help personally.

Anyway, we should love God's grace and mercy because He has given it as a free gift to anyone who will trust him to forgive them for their sins. He will cleanse them from all unrighteousness. A saved person can't be possessed by the devil.

However, a saved person can be oppressed, just like Job when he followed the Lord and the devil was allowed to try to ruin his life, but Job apparently kept his sight on those eternal rewards. And, the devil can certainly possess an unsaved person and, made bad enough, can totally wreck that person.

Thankfully, there is hope for such a person, as we see witht he possessed man in Mark 5, but the best thing is to never allow evil to be in your life in the first place.

Yes, i talked about possession. there is a spiritual realm; indeed, superstring theory has proven there are more dimensions than jsut what we can see plus time. I mentioned it because it, and all spiritual warfare, is very real. We need God's protection from that evil so we can enjoy the freedom from oppression God gives us.

 

Making the shark from Jaws look tame

This leads to the main subject - avoiding Deception like mentioned to some extent in the previous post, though it focused more on the devil counterfeiting things. This centers more on a type that would be a big problem even without a movie about it. it is something which can appear harmless but is really dangerous and is something to avoid at all costs.

Before the Sharknado movies - which I have never seen but which I have heard one could make fun of on the level of Mystery Science Theater 3000 - there was Jaws. A shark attack is one of those really important things to avoid, though thankfully there will not be tornadoes with many, many sharks in real life. They almost certainly won't happen even in the tribulation period, that terrible time when God will judge the evil of the Earth and the devil will try to take as many as he can with him to hell.

Even today, however, the devil is at work trying to lure people away from God's goodness and to his evil. And, he does that through things that look innocent.

As discussed before, the devil was a created being that had untested creature holiness, meaning he had not been tested to see whether he would sin. He chose to try to overthrow God. (Isaiah 14:12-15,Ezekiel 28) This rebellion caused him to lose his place in Heaven and he took a third of the angels with them him(Rev. 12) and they became demons.

So, think about it. When you see images of things that are demonically possessed, these are things that hate God and want to destroy His perfect love, peace, compassion, and all the other good things about God. They do not love His grace and mercy.

These things are real and they can and do possess things and even people. It may seem innocent, and when you walk out of a movie theater or turn off a TV you may think it's okay now" - or at least after about a month when you finally go near the water again after watching "Jaws." However, keep in mind that these things not only hate love, mercy, and other good things, they also hate you. The beasts of the field stalk their prey by blending in with their surroundings till they can pounce. Even so, the devil walketh about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.(1 Peter 5:8)

God gives us hope. he gives us freedom from the terror those evil things cause. However, we need to put our faith in Him to do somust as one must put their whole eight into a chair to sit in it; you aren't trusting it if you think it'll collapse and thus you're ready to spring out of it if it starts to teeter.

How To Avoid Evil

As noted numerous times, revival begins with us. That means not just trusting Jesus as your Saviour and then doing good, but also staying away from things which can hurt us, just like you stay away from a shark attack.

 Yes, demonic things and things which have them in them can hurt us. They want to, in fact, because they hate God's creation. Therefore, we should stay away from them.

How far away? Obviously, some people can handle a little more than others. But, there are some limits all need to have as we trust the Lord to protect us.

First, understand that any so-called games or other activities involving magic really are inviting evil spirits into your life, those bad guys that want you to eventually be miserable even if they make things look fun at first.

Next, remember that Hollywood and other places want to make money. They want to make things seem innocent because if they made things really horrible and gory who would watch? Okay, things have gotten a lot worse than they were with Jaws back then, so maybe people would watch.  But, that just shows that the devil is trying to downplay things so that people can be drawn in.

If you have to deal with the subject, bathe it in prayer. Jesus is more powerful then these things. He cast them out all the time, after all. But some can't be stopped without prayer, and lots of it.

This is where I say that some people can handle it better. Look at a passion play, for instance. Somebody has to play Judas, who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver and had so much hatred in him, right? Someone else may play people who shouted to crucify him. Still other performers have played Nazis like the Gestapo and SS. They weren't the bumbling people who were likely in on the prisoners' plans and worked to defeat Hitler in Hogan's Heroes. They were cruel and hateful and despicable people. Some actors and actresses can do that and not have it affect them, well others might find themselves deeply bothered by it.

However, that is when acting is someone's job. There is no need to pretend the scary stuff at other times.

When it comes to certain things, of course, they are urban legends and really can't happen. A youth told me once of a story that if you said "Bloody Mary" she would appear. That is a trick to scare people, although there was a real queen named that - she persecuted Protestants in the 1500s in England. Her spirit won't reappear if you say her name - although it might cause you to then think bout her.

Evil spirits do exist, though, and we should be careful never to attempt to communicate with them or use them. They are not dead loved ones - those types of things are really calling up demons. Same with any sort of fortune telling or astrology. The devil might try to trick you into thinking he's guessing right, but it's usually very vague, and God commands us to live by faith anyway, and He actually does reveal quite a bit to us when we trust Him. He gives us as much as we need to live and the rest, well, some people really want to live an adventurous life, right? Not knowing everything about your future is actually an important part of that adventure. Of course, you want to be sure where you'll go when you die, but that's different.

Things like that prey on the imagination. The imagination can be good, of course. It's great to be creative and use the talents God gave you, of course. The key is, first, people with imaginary friends when pressed will admit they are imaginary, and they serve a developmental purpose anyway, though not everyone has them. They should ot be turning the person away from God, though. In fact, when I got older I prayed and dedicated my stuff ed animals to the Lord to be used however he wanted; because of some developmental delays(possibly very mild Asperger's Syndrome) I knew He could use them to help me and He did.

You know what I found then? They always pointed me toward God or if I was talking with one of them since it was hard to verbalize stuff that "animal" would remind me to talk with God about the situation. Why? because I knew that God was using them. In fact, my biggest struggles in lie came at a time I thought I was grow up enough I'd never need them anymore to help me verbalize things and make sene of thigns in my mind. It was never "them," though - in fact, I readily say I'm them or they're me. That ws God at work using what He needed to use to help me.

Don't let it take you away from God

Whatever it is you are thinking about, then, make sure that God remains on the throne of your heart.

The devil wants control of this world, and one day he'll hve it for seven years of the worst stuff in human history. God will judge the world's sin then. This post tells how to avoid trouble and what to do if it starts and you're still here.

For now, remember that there is great deception out there even without the devil having complete control of things. To avoid deception, stay in God's Word and away from the evil things like the next Ouija movie and any boards or other things like it. There are so many good, family-friendly things you can d, and so many non-spooky characters you can be and things you can write. You don't have to include the Gospel in everything you write - unless God leads you to do it. However, God wants to protect you from bad stuff He knows is out there.

So, stick close to Him, know He is personal and knows you better than you know yourself. You are fearfully and wonderfully made by Him(Ps.139:14) for a special purpose, and that is to glorify Him and show His love, goodness, grace, mercy, compassion, and all those other great attributes of His to a lost and dying world.

The only way to show them is to be following Him and not the spirits of darkness in this world. He died and rose from the dead to give you freedom from all that, and to give everyone else that freedom, too.

How To Avoid Being Fooled

Youthquake just recorded this radio show on Daniel 9 and praying for repentance revival.(Which also faced spiritual attack as it wasn't able to be uploaded on the Youthquake site for a while because of computer glitches.) It meshes with what I've said about the need for a repentant heart, like here, and reconciliation.

Part of that is avoiding deception, too. It's vital to know what's real so you can avoid being tricked, because if you fall for the wrong trick, it can be fatal. It's like if you think your road is clear when there is invisible ice and you wind up skidding and crashing into a tree or slipping and breaking something while walking. The ice can't be seen since your senses (which, being human, can be wrong) may say it's not there, but your faith(trust in what you know of driving) tells you to be careful.

Yes, our senses are faulty at times. Even places like this secular article suggest there are dimensions beyond what we perceive, thus explaining the spiritual realm. The devil uses tricks I'll discuss to turn people away from God.

However, God has unconditional love for each of us and is always longing for people to come to Him for salvation. You are only a single, sincere prayer of repentance from eternal life.

He made this world without suffering or sin in it. However, mankind brought sin in by choosing to rebel(Rom. 5:12), and things have been declining since. Still, each of us - you - have God's Word: You are "fearfully and wonderfully made"(Ps.139:14), a special creation of God here for a special purpose. The devil wants you to think you have no purpose or design, but you do - to show God's love to everyone once you are saved from your sin. While we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God, and we earn spiritual death - separation from God's perfect love forever - because of our sin, God has given each of us the free gift of eternal life by simply trusting Him to save us from our sin.

Indeed, if you or anyone else were the only person ever on the face of the earth. God still would have come to this world, and Jesus Christ, God in flesh, would have died to take the punishment for your sins and risen again. He wants to give each of us life more abundantly, with eternal rewards that will last forever. You can go here to talk to an online mentor who can help guide you in your walk with God.

God reveals His truth so we can avoid deceptions, just like something that can reveal when that invisible ice is there so we don't slip driving or walking.

What Counterfeits Can Trick Us?

Some things have been discussed, like how to pray the devil doesn't counterfeit things in a revival. Others haven't. I'll mention them later, but first, the need to understand and follow sound Doctrine is vital. There are many traps that sound good but aren't. A milkshake might sound great, but one little bit of dog food will make it very yucky and you won't want to eat it. At least I hope not. Yet if it is only called a milkshake and you don't investigate it, you won't know till it's too late that it has dog food in it.

That's why, as some are famous for saying, there are no counterfeit $47 bills. There aren't any real ones. Sound Doctrine comes from the inspired Word of God, and even the original Antiochan texts have been counterfeited. (This is why, while we know the Bible is fully reliable, in places like this,  I've mentioned it's important to use the King James; others come from the Alexandrian texts.)

No, I'm not talking about some weird place that serves dog food milkshakes. If only I was talking about something that simple. It would be funny. However, the devil tricks us with much different things, things which look very satisfying on the outside but are destructive inside, just like having a $5714 bill might feel satisfying till you try to use it and find out it's worthless.

One of those things is the ecumenical movement. Many churches in it do not preach sound Doctrine. That in itself should turn you off. They may be nice people, but they are deceived as to what is most important. God is most important. We can't create a perfect world because we are sinners who come woefully short of the glory of God. God's ways will always be better than man's ways, as posts like this on God's justice shows, and this on His ways versus the world's.

It's just one of the things I warned about here. It's leading to the One World Religion of Revelation which even the devil will fight (2 Thess.2:3-4) before this world of sin is destroyed by God. We must lovingly warn people away from it in a spirit of compassion so God can protect them. It will be the devil's way of trying to draw many to destruction. They are trying to create a world in their image by making works the most important thing, but nobody can overthrow what the Bible says,. The Bible says salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.(Eph. 2:8-9,John 3:16,etc.) It is available to everybody, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.(Romans 10:13.)

Others focus only on the world. They think that God will give us worldly things. However, this idea doesn't even make sense logically. God wants us to focus on treasures that can never grow old, can never wear out, and so on. In wanting what is best for us, God doesn't let everyone become rich with worldly things because He knows those will never last. If a person happens to be rich with them, God expects them to use that for His Glory by giving to missions, tithing, and so on. Sure, he provides their needs, but many people have lived for Him while facing poverty, persecution, and so on - the case of George Muller and how he had to pray and have God provide that day's food that very morning at times is a perfect example. He says, "In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."(John 16:33)

The above factors are important to take into account whenever we pray for revival. There is another solemn assembly being called September 21, but we must be repentant and not just call on God without turning from our wicked ways in our own hearts and lives. We can't say, "Turn this wheel and let me drive North" as we continue to push the gas pedal to the floor and speed South.

Avoid "Science Falsely So Called"(1 Tim.6:20)

 Superstring theory shows that extra dimensions beyond our three physical and time can exist. There is a spiritual realm; we know that from the Bible.What we take in should be tested against God's perfect, inerrant truth.(John 17:17)

Creationism isn't a requirement for salvation, you just have to trust that Jesus Christ died for your sins and rose from the dead and call on Him by faith to save you and make you new, putting all your trust in Him to do so. Still, the devil uses what the Bible calls "science falsely so called" to trick people a lot. This Bible quote shows the Bible supports science but doesn't support pseudoscience, things that are based on false assumptions, etc..

For isntance, even secular Discover Magazine had this article on Neanderthals, for instance, debunking a lot of evolutionists theories about them. Actually, their DNA is present in many Europeans and Asians today, and could easily be said to have just had normal diseases. Much about them has been debunked by science, which keeps changing, whereas the Bible's comments about science, such as here and here, have been true since time began. God told of them thousands of years before we discovered them

 Evolutionists use time to try to prove things, but they claim the simple becomes more complex without an outside force, when it can't, any more than a bunch of airplane parts can form an airplane.Cave paintings of dinosaurs and dragons, all of which are remarkably consistent, seem to indicate - along with some Out of Place Artifacts - that people lived with them and were much more intelligent than we credit them with being.

Let's leave that aside, though, because some are now claiming it was aliens because they can't explain it any other way. This leads to the spiritual realm and an even more dangerous deception. This link is around 2 hours long, but it's a video from December, 2011 that talks about how demonic creatures may appear from other realms pretending to be aliens, but they are not. That link, starting at about 29 minutes, starts talking about string theory and why there are multiple dimensions we can't see. Starting about 1 hour, you'll hear the connection to Genesis 6 and the evil Nephilim.

Even Worse Tricks To Avoid - Occult, etc.

Those are big problems. However, the occult is an even bigger one since there is so much spiritual warfare. In fact, the devil does so much to get into our minds that I've chosen not to link occult stuff; it's not good for even adults like me who are strong in their faith, let alone those who struggle. Event he strong should do lots of prayer and even fasting, immersed in God's Word, before searching the 'Net about it. It is vital to recognize some things are real problems. One video tells of something which clearly exists and speaks of a desire to limit human population to 500 million; this lack of concern for life goes against God, who values each person individually, as I shared above and have blogged in places such as here. He is personal and wants a relationship with you to not only save you from sin and hell but to be a trusted guide, comforter, helper, friend, and so much more.

The devil makes things very enticing, drawing people into it, if they're not careful. People who refuse to accept God's unconditional love will fall for a strong delusion someday in order to continue doing wickedly. The Bible says it's coming. We don’t know what that delusion will be. However, we know two things for certain:

1. Every spirit must be tested, to see whether it is of God.(1 John 4:1) In fact, 1 John 4:1-3 – along with 2 John 7 – show why a certain question from the Bible is important to ask any creature.

2. Today is the day of salvation. Whether or not that delusion involves demons posing as aliens - mentioned in part of this radio show from Youthquake - the greatest evil is being restrained. That delusion will come full force on those who remain after the restrainer (the Holy Spirit) is taken out of the way (2 Thessalonians 2:7) as believers are caught up in the Rapture. Jesus’ return is imminent. He could come at any time.

Superstring theory proves there is a spiritual realm, as noted. The devil could use the idea of aliens when it is really demons appearing to people. Thus, this warning is issued.

There is a lot more out there than we can see, including spirits. Those who experience strange, supernatural things generally view them as scary, and have dabbled in occultic stuff beforehand. These are NOT aliens from other worlds. They are demons. These people did not test things to see if they were of God. They got caught up in evil instead.

That's why this question will allow that person to know for sure if something can be trusted. It must be answered “yes.” Such a question is important.

Before the question - a summary of what the devil/demons are

The Bible warns that God has an enemy, the devil. The devil can masquerade as an angel of light. He hates humans. Why? We are God’s creation, formed in God’s image.

God created everything in the beginning, and gave angels freedom. However, in his pride, the devil – an angel named Lucifer - tried to overthrow God, and become like the Most High. Instead, the devil was defeated by God’s perfect love, goodness, etc.. Now, the devil works with fallen angels which followed him to deceive God’s creatures. That deception is what led to the fall of Adam and Eve, which is when sin came into our formerly perfect world. It’s also what leads to those spooky sightings, if those sightings are of evil spirits and not some experiment.

God is a God of love, though, as well as one of justice. He wants us to believe and follow Him willingly. He gives us free choice. He doesn’t want us to be mindless robots. Still, He wants us to be in His perfect Heaven someday. We can’t get there ourselves, because we are imperfect. We say, think, and do things that displease God; that’s what sin is. We can’t earn our way there, because we can never be perfect. Only perfection can be in Heaven, because it is a place with no pain, no suffering, no tears, no decay, no death. We, as imperfect people, can’t see, hear, or even imagine the wonders that await us. But, we will always have that sin on us unless something is done for us.

God not only made the way, he gave Himself for us. God couldn’t just say “Sin is forgiven” from up in Heaven. He had to come to this world, be born as a baby, and live a perfect life, before He died on the cross as the perfect, sinless substitute for our sins. He took the punishment for each of us, the punishment we deserved. He had to be human in order to die for us humans, to take human punishment. And yet, He was also God the Son, so after He died, He then rose from the dead. God the Father sent God the Son to die for us, but at the same time, God the Son came willingly. He lives in every believer through God the Holy Spirit, and intercedes on our behalf before God the Father in Heaven.

This is why I emphasize salvation so much. We need God's protection from that evil, since we are powerless against it ourselves.

Even the devils – the fallen angels – understand who God is. That’s why in Matthew 8:29, and elsewhere, they cry out that Jesus is the Son of God. This means that he is God. It’s just like James and John were nicknamed the “sons of thunder” because of the way they acted, or Barnabas, the “son of consolation.” The devils feared God, and trembled. However, there is one important difference between those evil spirits and good spirits.

Evil spirits deny that Jesus Christ is God in flesh. That is the spirit of antichrist, as the Bible says. It poses great danger. They deny that Christ’s salvation cleanses from sin. They try to lead people down another path, a path that seems good to people. But, it’s a path that ends in destruction.

That’s why we must test the spirits, to see if they are of God. And, why we are warned so emphatically about the spirits that deny that Jesus Christ is God in flesh. They must *never* be followed, because they lead man away from our perfect, loving, yet holy and just God.

So, what is the question which must be asked?

After all that, i imagine you can guess it. It is this: “Is Jesus Christ God in the flesh?”

What does this have to do with aliens? See, claims of life on other planets would change all of society. However, we’d have to be sure the “aliens” were not lying spirits, since we wouldn’t know what their inside was. It's just like we need to gauge whether a person is saved by how they act and not just by their words. I can say I'm the King of Belgium but it doesn't say anything about the real King of Belgium. And, I sure wouldn't want Belgians thinking I was their king. (Though they do make great waffles. :-) )

Another reason is that strong delusion God warns of in 2 Thess. 2:8-12. That strong delusion could, possibly, be devils disguised as aliens. They could also be the Nephilim of Geneses 6:1-4, about which there is much debate, but which some believe to be part demon, and part human.

Is there intelligent life on other planets?

No, it will be up to those who have been saved from their sins to explore the cosmos once we get to Heaven.

Here’s why: 1. Creation began on Earth, no other planets are mentioned; 2. Jesus died once for all. He didn’t die in several places; 3. God never changes, he is always faithful and true; he wouldn’t have one plan of salvation for one planet, another for another – even in the Old Testament, salvation was always by faith; 4. Jesus’ talk of others “not of this flock” refers to Gentiles, as His followers then were all Jews; 5. God wiped all flesh from the Earth during the Flood, save for those in the Ark, because of the gross evil – in His mercy, He gave them one last time to repent as the waters rose. There is no sign people built spaceships before then. Even 10 Edisons and Einsteins living centuries couldn’t create all that would be needed for interstellar travel. So, that eliminates that option.

Even if there could be, though, that brings us back to the question that must be asked, and why they'd have to say "yes.":

God had a perfect relationship with Adam and Eve until the Fall of Man. If creatures never fell from grace, they’d have a relationship like angels who remained loyal to God. He’d tell what He had done for humankind. Since Jesus died once for all, and Jesus is God, they would know. They would clearly say “Yes, Jesus Christ is God, and He came in flesh as mankind’s Savior, for all who receive Him, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord (Jesus) shall be saved.” They’d testify that the Bible was true. We’d know they were friendly. And, they’d be people. They’d see common history from the start of Genesis. The Word of God is swift, and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, and can easily pierce the hearts of His creation – us. (Hebrews 4:12)

God can’t lie. It’s impossible. When He says something exists, there it is. He tells the story of Creation, the Fall, Redemption and through it all, His great love for His creation. When the fullness of time was come, He came into this world to die once for all of His fallen creatures. He would not leave His fallen creatures without the possibility of salvation.

The Bible is our authority for everything. Jesus Christ alone should be followed, as He alone is perfect love and goodness. Only He provides salvation, as He is God in flesh; only He was the perfect, sinless sacrifice for our sin. The Bible has an answer for everything. One key passage is James 1:5, the promise that God will give wisdom to anyone who asks; He will give cheerfully, and never complain about it. Go to Him with all your questions, and all your problems, because He can help you like noone else.

Jesus is, after all, God, Who came in the flesh; He is well acquainted with our infirmities, yet was without sin, so He could take our punishment when He died on the cross, and then rose triumphantly from the dead. The Bible clearly shows (in Revelation 19) how He’ll come after the Battle of Armageddon, and rule and reign on this Earth.

The reconciliation to God needed for repentance revival

I used to link an incident or two at the start of a post, but so much happened in the last few days that would be very hard. It's better to just start with what is needed to solve it. After all, everyone can tell we have a big mess on our hands.

The Bible speaks of a type of reconciliation that doesn't just involve person-to-person, though. We must be reconciled to God so we can have that proper relationship needed to be the loving, caring people He made us to be.

Yes, we can care about others without Him. However, that is a selfish kind of caring, puffing ourselves up, not God, who is personal and loving and desires a relationship with us. We fall short of His perfect glory, and have a sin nature, but he wants to correct that problem through what he did for us, and then work in us to show His love and improve the world.

We can't  rely on ourselves to fix it because there is such a sin problem, a problem that grows when we fail to focus on God and His perfect ways. We instead try to do thing on our own strength and isntead mess up. The Dallas police protecting a Black Lives matter protest and getting shot provide a perfect example - here were people trying to unite for peace, the police were protecting peaceful protesters, and yet the devil still broke in riling people up outside of it to do mean stuff. (Okay, I linked to one - these police and protesters were working together in what seems to be a Godly fashion. It just shows that we can't rely on people to do this themselves - we need God to be our victory.)

As people, we struggle with things like evil. Not everyone will be tempted to be as violent as some of the people in the news lately. However, we all fall short of the mark of perfection. And, we can't make ourselves perfect. The world's system tries, but that system is much better, as this shows from my ministry blog.

God's justice is better, his forgiveness is better, his mercies last forever. So, how do we receive that if we can't do it ourselves? How do we become reconciled to God? Because, that is what needs to be done for there to be a repentance Revival.

New on the inside

First, one must become a new creature in Christ. As I have mentioned often in this blog, each of us sins - even if we don't commit every type of sin, we still are not perfect. So, we must be made new on the inside. It is being a new creature that allows us to be reconciled to God. It's as easy as ABC - Admit you're a sinner, Believe Jesus died to take the punishment for your sins and rose from the dead, and Call on Him to forgive you and save you from your sin, Choosing to trust in Him completely as having done all that was needed to make you new inside.

That reconciliation allows God to have a personal relationship with us. God reconciled us to Himself by taking the punishment for our sins when he came to this Earth as a man, fully God and fully man, died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead. It Is by trusting Him, calling on Him by faith to forgive and save you, that you become reconciled to Him.

When you do this, Jesus comes to live in you through the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit is how he works in you to help you grow more Christ-like in things like the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. He will help you be kind and tender-hearted, like in Ephesians 4:32. You can learn to focus on the many positive thigns of Philippians 4:8. Many other verses which show God's perfect love.

Once a person is reconciled to God, so they know they can go to heaven, they will have life more abundantly here on Earth too, as I speak of here.

More importantly, they will have gain the ministry of reconciliation so that they can be ambassadors for Jesus Christ and share his love with others.

Represent God With Love

An ambassador's job is 2 represent his or her country in another country. An ambassador will work too ensure that businesses have the help they need and working with that country. And, more importantly, the Ambassador will work to ensure his or her nation's citizens are not mistreated and provide help where they can. They speak to the government for the citizens.

As Christians, our role as ambassadors fits perfectly into the admonition to be in the world but not of the world. An ambassador cannot represent his or her country without going to that country. And yet, they also would not be doing their jobs if they broke off contact with their home country and decided they were going to become a citizen the country they were in. That would be laughable if they did that.

Romans 12:1-2 says, among other things, that we should be transformed by the renewing of our minds. That means continuing to allow our minds to be made more in the image of Jesus Christ in our love, compassion, and so on.

We need to care for non-Christians as well as Christians. Ultimately, God wants everyone to come to know him as Saviour. It's just that we fail sometimes because that old fleshly nature wants to do other things. It wants to seek revenge or spout off angrily or do other things that will hurt people.

Thankfully, of course, we are fully reconciled to God and will not lose our Salvation. However we will lose blessings and rewards if we don't take advantage of that relationship and let God work in us to help us to grow spiritually and glorify Him.

So, the key is to reconcile others to God, leading to the Gospel. Gospel is a word that means good news. We have good news to tell people, that the God of love has reconciled us to Himself despite our sin. In His perfect Heaven, we will all gather around the throne and celebrate forever no matter what we do. That is, members of every tribe and kindred and tongue and nation.

In other words, we will all be equal in heaven and that equality should start here on Earth. God is personal and only looks at the heart, not the outward appearance.(1 Sam.16:7) We must put aside differences - while standing firm on sound doctrinal facts that are from the Bible, sharing with others that Jesus save, not man's works - and come together in the spirit of unity.

The answer must involve remembering God's love

It is in the spirit of unity we need to realize that all lives matter - black, blue, green with red polka dots and orange swirly thingies, whoever you are, you are special to God. You matter to Him, and you are special to people here on Earth too. We should see each other as special.

The problem, of course, is that some people, on both sides, don't seem to recognize that. There are too many people acting in anger and frustration. That is a spirit of the devil witch comes only to destroy, rather than to build up. That verse where Jesus promises to give us life more abundantly is in the same place as Jesus warning that the thief does come only to tear down and destroy. That life more abundantly comes as we encourage others and let God encourage us in our walk with him to be more Christ-like in our love for everyone. After all, we are all created in God's image.

In order to do this, we must remember that God is still in the picture. In many ways, we have sadly chosen to ignore God. There are many times when people will only do that which is right in their ownsight(Jud.21:25) , instead of the common sense God gave which allows us to realize other people matter and that we can't simply do whatever we want. True freedom can only come in Christ and what He did for us.

It can sound like a broken record, of course, to say that we need to share with others how they are creations of God and should not be tempted to do violence - and how we need to realize that ourselves so we do not feel tempted to do it to others but instead recognize that God loves them and does not want people to be acting rashly against them.

There are, of course,  bad things in this world. However, that should not cause us to act in a rash manner. As the Bible says in ephesians 4, be ye angry and sin not, let not the sun go down upon your wrath. In other words, don't let anger fester and turn into sin. Instead, make things right by working together in love with those who hurt you. Do good to those who persecute you, and you will heap burning fire upon their heads. This means that if they do not get saved it will torment them that they did not show that kindness and repent. And, if they do, Jesus Christ will have taken the punishment for their sins, just as He did for yours.

We need His help, however. Just as being strong in the Lord means strengthening from the outside, this work of coming together must come from the Holy Spirit working in us and in the country. And, He can. Jesus says the Holy Spirit isn't come into the world only to dwell in saved people. He came to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment.(John 16:7-12)

So, be reconciled to God, and as discussed elsewhere in this blog, pray without ceasing and encourage others to be, also, so that God the Holy Spirit can work int his nation and bring repentance revival. And, if the devil attack like he did in Dallas, just remember, God has already won the final battle. We just need to help people see His love and feel His perfect peace and comfort here on Earth.

If we let Him, God will be our victory

How would you like to know the key to overcoming anything? This post will show how victory over sin is needed first. Then, however, it'll discuss how we must seek repentance and God's favor over worldly things, but that He can still provide revival. Even with our current political situation.

They say love conquers all. Can it? The question is, which love? There are four kinds in Greek. The right kind of love - agape, God's love - can, because only God loved us unconditionally while we were against Him, before we knew Him. While we were yet sinners Christ died for us.(Rom.5:8)

God values us in a special way, each of us special to someone, especially God - as Psalm 139:14 says, we are each "fearfully and wonderfully made." God is a much better way than even the most individualistic of the world's systems does.(After all, giving someone the freedom to do anything also means that anyone is free to do anything to you.) So, part of this involves God's system versus the world's system(peoples'), a battle discussed more in a post from this ministry blog I've mentioned that has some similar content at times.

Here, though, there is plenty new. For instance, we'll tackle a few things - violence, bullying, etc. - and then political points and how God is the best solution over anyone, along with how to choose and even how to pray for God to change hearts of leaders, too. We can trust Him to - and know He must solve them - because the world's system comes from sin and a desire to defeat God and His perfect system. Because involves His caring for each of us personally, because He is a personal God, as I discuss elsewhere in this blog.

1. Victory Over Sin Needed First

The system people create will never be perfect because of our sin nature. "By one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, so that death passed unto all men, for that all have sinned.(Romans 5:12) So, it doesn't matter if you like Trump, Hillary, Bernie, or Cruz, or any other candidate, they can't measure up to God, who works in peoples' hearts.

Sure, you could argue that people know this and voters don't expect perfection, but that doesn't matter - God does, and He has a way to change hearts. That change in hearts is needed for us to have true national healing, which is what will give us victory over the worst problems. We can't legislate it out - there will always be people doing evil no matter how much we try to stop them or no matter how much we reason with them

God's love is perfect. it is unconditional. He loves each of us even those who do that evil, but He hates sin, and must justly condemn sin. However, He also must lovingly save us when we call on Him for salvation.

So, what did He do? He came to this world as a man, Jesus Christ - He was fully God and fully man. He then lived a perfect, sinless life. Then, perfect justice was meted out in that all of the world's sin was placed on Jesus Christ - He was made sin for each of us, even though He Himself knew no sin.(2 Cor.5:21) He bore our sins in His own body.(1 Pet.2:24) So, when he died, he took the punishment for your sins, my sins, everyone's sins. Then, He rose triumphantly from the dead!

 Many other verses can be used to show this, but the important thing is, along with that perfect justice - every single sin every committed being punished - we see perfect forgiveness, because every one of our sins is forgiven if we simply trust Jesus Christ to save us.

Here is God's simple plan of salvation - you can also see it on the ministry I mention's website, where even the front page has a simple ABC's of salvation - Admit you're a sinner, Believe Jesus Christ, God in flesh, died to take the punishment for your sins and rose from the dead, and Choose to Call on Jesus by faith to forgive you. You can talk to God right now and receive His forgiveness for your sins and invite Him to save you and live in you through the Holy Spirit. You are only a single, sincere prayer of repentance away from eternal life - life that begins the moment you trust in Jesus to save you.

This radio show page features many good shows on the simple fact that we must trust Jesus Christ by faith to forgive us, and everything else is world, God made it so that it is "by grace are ye saved

 through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast."(Eph.2:8-9) it is only after we are saved we can truly do works for the Lord, when we are in Christ Jesus.(Eph.2:10)

Once this happens, however, it's just the beginning - we don't have to serve Him, but we get to - it is our reasonable service(Rom.12:1) given all He did for us.

So, God considers each of us as individuals. he knows we each miss the mark of perfection. However, he provided a way for each of us to get to His perfect Heaven - where nobody has seen, heard, or even imagined the wonders He had prepared for us.(1 Cor. 2:9) He has a mansion for each of us(John 14:1), he has a perfect Heaven where there will be no suffering or pain or any bad stuff(Rev.21:3-4), and so on. We know all these things and yet it will be even more wonderful than anything we can imagine. Just the snippets are wonderful.

And, His system also provides for each of us a wonderful life here on Earth - He came that we might have life and life more abundantly.(John 10:10) He wants to heal each of us from the pain we've felt, the heartache we've been through, and use us on His team to help others sense His love and receive His forgiveness and salvation.

What follows shows how to have victory once that victory over sin has occurred

2.. Victory over bullying, violence, oppression comes through God

We've done a great job of talking about problems, and sometimes have come up with good laws. At other times, we have been too much like Pharisees. Let's look at the good things God provides to deal with these problems to see how we can have victory.

God's word gives us many great things such as the fruits of the spirit in Galatians 5 22-23 and some great things to focus on in Philippians 4:8. The Bible also tells us to look on the heart of a person, not the outward appearance, as 1 Samuel16:7 and Psalm 139 show; we are each fearfully and wonderfully made.

Those things - fruits like meekness(power under control), longsuffering(patience), temprance(self control), and so on aren't in abundance int he world's system, because people try to make all those things fit only their own desires instead of realizing that others matter. Those things of Philippians 4:8 - truth, loveliness, etc. - aren't even accepted at times, as some people scorn truth, virtue, purity, etc. - often so they can have their own selfish way. Yes, there are people that are like Pharisees and try too hard - but when you think of it, legalism is just another of the ways people try to control things with their own system instead of relying on God. After all, Jesus saved His toughest criticism for the Pharisees.

Why? because they didn't consider the individual the way God does. He understands what each person has gone through and wants to lovingly help them out of that pain, to heal them like the woman at the well in John 4 who tried to hide in physical relationships(she'd had 5 husbands and was with yet another man) till she found the unconditional love of Jesus that could heal whatever problem she'd had.

That concern that God has for each individual shows He can provide the victory for us, knowing each of our needs. He knows us better than we do ourselves.

So, He provides us with vast amounts when it comes to gifts, fruit, and so on. I have said often before that repentance revival must begin with us. However, it is easy to see how that can spread if we trust God to send His Holy Spirit to really take hold in this country. That is something He can do if we humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways.

As one example, if people simply had a Godly attitude of love, compassion, understanding, etc. regarding others, there would not be bullying. However, it would also be harder for someone to be intimidated, which is a very good thing. After all, that person would realize that they are special in God's eyes just as we all are.

This does bring up an important side point. I touched on it in the post about the need for context, and that is that we should be less defensive about everything in general. But, even that is just as much about realizing that others matter and therefore having a civil discourse and not just putting others down - we are called to build others up and encourage them. Kindness, compassion, etc. are Godly virtues which we need to return to, turning away from our present sinful ways. There is a spirit of anger, frustration, etc. that is part of our human nature but which we must trust the Lord to replace with the common sense we used to have, including ability to understand context. This is what lets us try to grasp others' views in a constructive way..

  Of course, some ways of doing things are mean, abusive, etc. on their face, and shouldn't be done, such as bullying. As a example, a man and woman in a relationship must be partners, and one should not try to control the other, and certainly should never use physical force to make the other do something. Such things are clearly spelled out in the Bible as being ungodly - men are to love women as they love their own bodies and to treat them with respect, love, and so on. In fact, "there is neitehr...male nor female, but all are one in Jesus Christ."(Galatians 3:28) It is explicitly stated that a pastor or other leader must be "no striker" - meaning not one to lash out violently.(1 Tim.3:3, titus 1:7) And, of course, the fruits of the Spirit include self-control(temprace), gentleness, etc..

God's way is the only way to Salvation because it is by Grace we are saved through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works lest any man should boast.(Esp.2:8-9) All other ways are of works. This is something that is clear from the Bible. It is a fact like that of 2+2=4. One is free to say 2+2=5, but one must deal with the consequences - if one does that on their taxes they are likely to get in serious trouble. As John Adams said, facts are stubborn things.

So, we must trust God to give us victory through us changing our own hearts and turning back toward the common sense compassion, forgiveness, self-control, etc. we used to have, and treat all people with these virtuous things. Our nation as a whole has had 400 years of evil, not just 50, starting with our focus so much on greed that we didn't care one bit about other races. However, there is forgiveness at the cross.

Not only that, but through this civil discourse, when we seek forgiveness, others can grant it and we could have national reconciliation. Which leads to the final point.

3. Victory in Election Comes Through God

All the leading contenders have serious flaws. They are all looking at things from man's perspective. So, when I mentioned certain ones, remember that this is true of all of them, it is just they do it in different ways.

Remember, God cares about us. He doesn't require a Godly leader to heal a nation. He merely requirees His people, called by His name, to be humble and pray,seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways.

Briefly, as discussed in numerous places here, that means to realize we're not perfect and need God's help and honestly seek HIm, turning away from sinful ways and to Godly ones. We can't do this ourselves becasue of our sin nature, even once we trust Jesus Christ as Saviour we must constantly rely on Him for help in avoiding sin.

So, you may ask, why do we need a good leader?

It's not to "make America great again," at least not in the way people mean it. Remember, people are focused on worldly things. They seek worldly office. Are there followers of Christ in office? Yes. However, they aren't necessarily going to call America to prayer and repentance like King Hezekiah and King Josiah did in the Old Testament when the land was filled with evil and violence. In fact, some are part of a group that preaches a dangerous doctrine which says we can produce the Millennial Kingdom ourselfs. That is wrong. Only Jesus can usher int he Millennium. Shows 59-63 here explain very clear that the Jews are still God's chosen people and He and he alone will usher in the Millennium.

So, how do we vote? Let the Holy Spirit guide, not our wallets, not our anxiety. Focusing on the thigns of this world is one thing which can cause God to not hear our prayers, as are others Some candidates try to play on peoples' fears, but if they don't follow a Godly path, it will be much harder for God to bless us because He will be fighting against the ruler himself. He still could, but why make it harder? The Holy Spirit lives in each believer.

Instead, we need to pray certain people repent. I have tried to begin a hashtag "PrayTrumpRepents," and perhaps it will become popular enough to trend - social media is great for getting the word out about needs. However, we can't just be hearers (or readers) of the Word, we have to be doers.

In other words, pray that he turns his heart toward God and receives His forgiveness, which he admits he's never done. While he later backtracked on this, the fact he uttered it at first shows he is - as one mministry friend put it - a Nebuchadnezzar at best.

However, notice that the Babylonian emperor did eventually accept God was sovereign over him, and it's important for evangelicals to realize he still appears to support more Godly positions than his opopnents and vote for him. Each of the other candidates has issues, and did during the primaries, too. Ted Cruz is influenced by worldly thigns and that "Kingdom now" movement I warned against," John Kasich has Common Core, the Democratic contenders want government control of a different sort while totally ignoring God - they almost didn't mention Him in their 2012 platform, and if they do this time it will be mere lip service. They want man's system to prevail, not God's perfect plan for each of us.

That plan, as noted above, involves a major heart change. We can pray for America to have a Godly leader, but if we're not willing to take the lead ourselves in turning from our wicked ways, the Godliest leader in the world won't help one bit.

So, to have victory, we must focus on God's perspective. Pray that leaders and candidates repent, and retweet hashtags like that PrayTrumpRepents - you can do it with any candidate's name. however, most importantly, take the lead in praying for revival.

Remember, the world's system does not give people freedom. As we get closer and closer to the End Times - and as these prophecy updates, among others, show we are very close - we will see more and more movement toward the world's system trying to take over completely. However, God will one day descend and place His feet upon the Mount of Olives and usher in the Millennium. In order to make it there, though, you have to be ready by knowing Him as your Saviour now. Global media Outreach's sites like this are one tool to find out how and talk to Christians who will help you grow in your faith.