I was on my way home from our church fellowship. I had just taught on “signs and wonders that follow” the believer. I shared many of the miracles of Jesus, as well as the healings that are spoken of. (37 collectively, though the scriptures in John 21:25, say “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”
And then, I heard the words “judgement free”. Now, lots of people use those words, including Planet Fitness, but, what does it mean to the church at large?
I read the news. Part of me was “not surprised”(If you are around long enough you see a lot.) while there was another part of me that just sat there in disbelief. Another person I spent years with, tragically dead. I sent the news on to my siblings. They wrote me back in disbelief. Death at the hands of a family member. It is not the first time in the last few years I have “been here”. I would like to tell you it is a dream. But it is not. Continue reading Anger He Wrote→
Do you ever wonder where you dreams come from or the whys. I do. All the time.
I was out late last night for the fireworks, baseball game. My daughter and grandchildren were going to spend the night. By the time I crawled into bed it was approaching the 1AM side of life. I went to sleep. 5AM hit hard. I wandered out, started the coffee and turned the AC on. I went back to bed and fell asleep.
The first dream-I was somehow working undercover in a community much like where I lived. I recognized the building style and even some of the people. In the dream some well known people were using their influence to control people. Their method was through a medication familiar to many former drug or opiate users. Suboxone® or buprenorphine. The purpose of this medication is to provide enough of an effect so as to avoid withdrawal and yet provide a ceiling of sorts-no super high.
Agonist-An agonist is a chemical that binds to some receptor of a cell and triggers a response by that cell. Agonists often mimic the action of a naturally occurring substance. Whereas an agonist causes an action, an antagonist blocks the action of the agonist and an inverse agonist causes an action opposite to that of the agonist. (Emphasis mine)
In the dream I found myself working to uncover what they were doing. I found that the people were just as addicted to the “replacement” as they were with their first choices of heroin and such. What I also found was that they felt bad, guilty and without value or hope.
At one point I found the table set up before one of the buildings. On the table was a Bible with a cutout carrying these medications. As I thumbed through and found the hidden hollow, the men pulled guns. I took off running as fast as I could. They were older and I was faster but I did not think I could keep it up. I ran up in the woods and they continued to follow. The dream ended there as I thought “climb a tree” or “hide in a cave.”
Dream 2
It happened seemingly on top of the first. In the dream I had been identified as one who advocated “freedom without restraint” and many were opposed. They had control of people’s money, housing, food and even relational choices. I found myself forced “underground” sharing the scriptures of His freedom, His calling, His hope. Many were “brainwashed” as to what scripture said, often taking it out of context and reducing it to rules. As I explained that the scriptures were not a set of rules to govern by, but in fact the representation of a person in Jesus Christ, I was found guilty and chased.
I began to speak loudly against the controls, the laws that held in bondage. Throughout the night and day, I found myself going house to house. Each house once darkened, turned to light in my wake.
I awoke.
It is clear to me that the “law” will not work or set people free. Whether that law is from the Old Testament or a rule made up in the minds of men to have people act proper.
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
1Corinthians 15:56 The sting of death [is] sin; and the strength of sin [is] the law.
In both cases, men used the law to constrain, to withhold the goodness of God. We are on the cusp of an outpouring of His grace in this country. It is not rules but relationship. It was once said that “rules without relationship breed rebellion.” Much of what we see in this country from our schools to our government and even to much of the church is a system of flaw, empowering sin by the setting of rules with no understanding or grid (Acceptance of Christ is part of that grid.) for change, for it has little value. We have exchanged education for enlightenment. We have traded relationship for rules. Cared more for godly experience than Godly expression. And in many cases wrapped it in scripture to make it “right.”
We are in the midst of a change. Many will be surprised. We are encouraging people to imbibe more of the same. I have said for years we have “inoculated people with just enough Jesus to make them miss the real thing.” Perhaps that is wrong on one level meaning that if they get Jesus, it is His job to overhaul. At the same time has our presentation of Christ and who He is made them have no hope?
Even as I type this I see a groundswell of His goodness. Is it too easy? Yes! Perhaps that alone is what pulls it out of the realm of “us” and puts it into the realm of “Him.” 1 Corinthians 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
Do not steal from others what is His to give. Do not offer a Jesus not in keeping with New Testament realities.
