Tranquility of soul

The Spirit-filled Christian is peaceful because he or she experiences the perfect love that drives away fear (1 John 4:18).

Ask God to give you His peace in the midst of the storms you are experiencing.

The peace that the Holy Spirit produces within us is the supernatural tranquility of soul. Storms can be raging all about us, but within us is the calm assurance that God is in full control of our situation(s).

When we have this peace despite a personal crisis, the world is stunned and we witness God without effort.

Truth about 'The Emerging Church & Inclusive Gospel’

The Word of God tells us to, “sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” 1 Peter 3: 15

Nevertheless, the trend of the ‘Inclusive Gospel’ of ‘Emerging Church’ is “Christians can not truly evangelize unless they are prepared to be The evangelized in the process. In sharing the good news, people are enriched by the spiritual insights, honest questions and depth of devotion demonstrated by those of other faiths. Including others involves listening to them, learning from them. Much of what exists in other faiths may not necessarily be hostile to the kingdom. Christians can learn a lot from other walks of life.”

My dear brothers and sisters do not fall into the trap of the ‘Inclusive Gospel’. The children of Israel were warned by the Old Testament prophets about joining hands with pagans, however, they ignored God’s warning. As Jeremiah proclaimed:
“And the LORD said unto me, a conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers. Therefore thus saith the LORD, behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.” Jeremiah 11: 9-11

In spite of such clear warnings from Scripture, the very thing that happened to the children of Israel is what is being repeated today, only this time in the name of Christianity.

It is apparent what is happening. Instead of proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ that saves sinners from hell, the gospel has been redefined and totally nullified. The narrow pathway that Jesus proclaimed leads to heaven through faith in Him alone now has been broadened to permit open access for the sake of establishing the “kingdom’.

The new evangelization formula promoted by the emerging church promises to provide a bridge to unite all religious beliefs in the name of Christ, by circumventing the gospel of Jesus Christ, is anti-Christ.

The early church was called “The Way” because the members of the church were following Jesus, who said He was “The Way.” Jesus also said the “Way” is a “narrow way” and the “only way” to get into heaven. The Emerging Church way or emergent conversation or whatever name is used to describe this so-called New Reformation, is a wide way that many are traveling and heading in the wrong direction.

Beloved children of God, be like the Bereans, and check out what is being proclaimed as ‘Christian’ with reference to the Scriptures for the sake of your immortal soul. Jesus alone is the lover of your soul.

Wonderous Gift

This is Christmas:
not the tinsel,
not the giving and receiving,
not even the carols,
but the humble heart that receives
anew the wondrous gift, the Christ.
- Frank McKibben

“Santa Claus is Coming to Town theology.”

Friends, the following is an excerpt from Dave Burchett's article.

Begin Quote
You better watch outBetter not cryBetter not poutI am telling you whySanta Claus is comin’ to townHe's making a list…checking it twice…three times…every dayGonna find out who's naughty and niceSanta Claus is comin’ to townHe sees you when your sleeping, nows when your awake, he knows when you've been bad or good so be good for goodness sake.
Oh, he's watching. Waiting for you to screw up so you will get coal instead of a bicycle. You had better please him. And we teach our kids to put on the mask and be something they are not. Because Santa Claus is comin’ to town. This omniscient being who is judging our every deed is coming to town…and we learn to do the dance early. Buck up…be good. Don't cry. Don't pout. Santa Claus is coming to town (© Copyright 2003, William Thrall, Bruce McNicol, John Lynch. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication prohibited).

He is exactly right. We learn that we get good things and receive love only when we are good. Santa is pleased (and we later substitute God) when we obey. So we learn early. We had better be good. Or least fool everyone around us to think that we are being good.
Ask any child this Christmas if they are being good and I will wager you will never hear this response. “Well, to be honest, I am really struggling with the whole being nice thing. I have actually been pouty and I cried yesterday. It just isn’t working out this Christmas so I suspect the video game system will have to wait.”
Nope. What you hear is the lie that we learn early and too often keep handy in our arsenal for a lifetime.
“Oh yeah. I am being really good!”
I remember (vaguely) the tension of the Santa Claus years. I knew I hadn’t really changed much. I tried to modify my behavior for a week or two leading up to Christmas but I knew I had failed to really be good. I learned a couple of things early. I learned how hard it is to change behavior by sheer willpower and I learned that I could fool Santa by living a lie. I learned that that he would bring me presents in spite of my failures. I did not learn about grace. That maybe Santa gave me gifts because of who I was and maybe he came to my house because I was lovable instead of rewarding me for what I had done to please him. I figured I had fooled him and to get the good stuff I would have to continue to hide the little boy who broke an ornament and then hid it.
Isn’t that too often how we view God? We had better not cry. Better not sin. I’m telling you why. Jesus is coming to town. He’s making a list and He is checking it not once or twice but every moment of every day. God knows if you’ve been bad or good so if you want to be healed or happy or prosperous you had better be good for goodness sake. If I do mess up I am scared to death that I will get a bad life or miss all that God has for me. So I put on the mask and try to be really good for Jesus. If I can fool those around me maybe, just maybe, I can fool God too.
Satan sells the lie so convincingly. And we buy it for months and years and even decades.
But God and Santa are very different in their approach. God does not keep a list. He is not impressed by our hernia inducing straining to control sin. What God sees is Jesus in Dave Burchett when I sin.
Jesus offers us so many gifts. But the one we seem to have the hardest time unwrapping is the gift of grace. The gift that allows us to become who God desires us to become as we simply trust Him and quit trying to be “good” for goodness sake. We are saved by grace and faith in Christ. We become like Him by the same radical strategy. Faith that He has changed us into a new creation. And understanding the grace that gives us good gifts even when we don’t deserve them.
Don’t let the Santa Claus theology live into the New Year. Go straight to the gift of grace that Jesus left under the Cross. Open it. And clothe yourself in His salvation, acceptance and love. It may be the best gift you have ever given yourself.
Dave Burchett is an Emmy Award winning television sports director, author, and Christian speaker. He is the author of When Bad Christians Happen to Good People and Bring'em Back Alive: A Healing Plan for those Wounded by the Church.

End Quote

Is God lying? Did He make a mistake?

As Anointed children of God, there is the oil of anointing upon each one of us. Oil always attracts dust, and dust sticks where ever there is oil. What is this dust?

Jesus gave His disciples authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness (Mat 10:1) and sent them to neighbouring cities.

In Mat 10:13-14 He tells them, "If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. 14If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. ref Matthew 10:13-15

Then the Disciples and now we are bearers of the anointing power of God and as we leave an unwelcome home or town with our message of peace, the dust (depression, rejections, bitterness etc) will attach itself to you. Often we are unaware because the anointing protects us and we move on to other homes etc. However, we soon recognise that our former enthusiam is no longer within us. There is a downward drag! This is why Jesus forewarned us to purposely dust off, shake off, the dust that attaches itself to us then and there. (we can do this either by a prophectic act like dusting our shoes or by speaking the dust to shake off us. Be careful not to wound anyone in your act, and do the same discretely)

Now listen, Genesis 3.14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, "..........Cursed are you ..........and you will eat dust all the days of your life. " Let me assure you, scientifically serpents do not eat dust! No, it doesn't! So is God lying? Did God make a mistake?

The evil one is often represented as a serpent in the Bible. After Jesus' vistory on the cross, satan's position has been under the foot of every believer. He is alive and still upto his old tricks but his position is under our feet. Jesus has commanded us to shake off our dust when we come out of an unwelcoming home. This dust of anger, depression, bitterness, shame etc is food for this ancient serpent of Genesis fame.