If you think about it, it's really kind of funny!

I have no idea what brought it to my mind the other day, but out of the blue, I suddenly thought of all the people I know who believe in a post tribulation rapture. I've seen these people singing songs about the rapture and they seemed so sincere and like they longed for it to happen and couldn't wait for it to happen. And that's the ironic and funny part. Funny in an ironic way if you will.

Think about it. If they have any idea of what the Tribulation is going to be like, how in the world can they sing songs like that and long for the rapture??? If we assume that there is no rapture until after the tribulation, that means that anywhere from 75-95% (closer to 95% - I just don't feel like doing the actual math right now) of every single human being alive, will have died a terrible, fearful, and painful death before the rapture happens. By "fearful" death, I mean a death that will have been preceded by a great deal of fear. By "terrible", I mean a death that's not "usual", not dying from disease or old age or even a simple accident. Instead, dying due to something like a horrible world wide earthquake, or a world wide war, or famine, or terrorism, etc. I said "painful" simply because it will be.

Some people seem to live in a fantasy world thinking that the way things are now are a lot like it will be during the Tribulation or at least the fist half of it. But that's all it is, a fantasy! Just think about the judgments that will be happening:

In Revelation 6 we have the Antichrist, world war, famine, death, martyrdom, a world wide earthquake, the stars falling out of the sky to the earth.

In Revelation 8 we have hail and fire falling and burning up a third of all vegetation, a great mountain burning with fire cast into the sea causing all kinds of havoc and death; a third of the sea turning to blood; a third of the sun, moon and stars turning dark and a third less light on the earth, again causing all kinds of havoc.

In Revelation 9 we have supernatural locust type beasts stinging all unbelievers so that the severe pain causes them to want to die, but no matter what they do, they'll be unable to die. If they throw themselves in front of a car, or jump off a bridge, they'll simply add to their injuries and pain, but they won't die and won't become unconscious; an army of supernatural horsemen kills a third of the humans left alive on the earth at this time! Yet another great world wide earthquake and hail, killing more people!

In Revelation 14 we have an angel flying through the air announcing the gospel and that people should worship God and not the antichrist; we have other angels announcing various judgments to mankind so they can never claim ignorance. They'll be visible to everyone and everyone will hear them. Here we see that there will be a great wave of martyrs for Christ and an even worse holocaust for the Jew's then there's ever been in history. That will actually start sometime near the start of the Tribulation and just keep getting worse and worse. Oh, and of course we have the mark of the beast introduced. We also see a bit about Armageddon introduced showing us that the blood of God's enemies will run so deep it will be around 4 feet deep and about 180 -200 miles around!

In Rev 16 we see unbelievers getting awful sores that again cause a tremendous amount of pain, and again won't allow them to die. The entire sea and all the fresh water turns to blood, and all the living things in the water die; The sun begins to literally scorch the earth and this too causes pain and death; Then complete darkness which also causes great pain covers the earth. The Euphrates River dries up.

In Rev 18 we see the fall of Babylon happen in one day, with great violence; again with much pain and death.

And that's just a brief outline and doesn't contain all that will happen, as there's plenty more spoken about the Tribulation in lots of other books too. Plus, I know I left some things out. But surely, that's enough to show that the Tribulation will make the very worst things we've ever known about in history, look like a Sunday Picnic in comparison. In Matthew 24, Jesus tells us outright that if He didn't intervene that not one single human being would survive it! And in Luke 21, He tells us that men's hearts will fail because they'll be so terrified during this time.

Now, knowing all of that, put that together with these people who think the rapture will happen after the tribulation. Imagine them singing those songs and longing for the rapture. Why in the world would anyone in their right mind long for the rapture if they knew those things were going to precede it???? Personally, I'd much prefer longing for death as soon as possible if I believed that! THAT is their blessed Hope???? They "hope" God will put them through pure hell, keep them alive through it all, and then come and get them? Which of course if He did that, He would then have to instantly turn everyone around and have them all return with Him for the second coming, which also makes no sense at all.

The more I thought about it, seeing in my minds eye those people singing those songs like that, it became clear to me that their understanding of God's Word wasn't even logical, much less scriptural! I felt so sorry for them, and thanked the Lord that although they may not understand it, they too will be long gone before the Tribulation starts. It gave me a very clear view of how Satan blinds even Christians about God's Word when they rely on either other people or their own intelligence instead of the Holy Spirit's guidance and teaching, or when they don't study His Word daily with Him as He commands us to. It's also a embarrassing that they tell unbelievers this garbage, because it gives those unbelievers a very legitimate reason to think that Christians are fools; for who in their right mind would thank a God who told them that He was going to put them through all of that????

No, our sins have already been judged and the sentence carried out on our precious Lord. He suffered the consequences for us so we wouldn't have to. God's wrath is coming against those who have not been saved, not against us, and praise Him, He's promised to keep us from that wrath!

It doesn't surprise me though that things like that are being taught. Many people teach all kinds of "reasons" why the church will supposedly go through the tribulation and unless you understand the purpose of the Tribulation and God's revealed plan for Israel and His plan for the Church, it can sound reasonable. That's what happens when we use our human reasoning though.

See, once you understand that the Tribulation is all about Israel and a return to the last 7 years of the age of the law, you realize too that the Church has no business being here then anyway. It wouldn't make any sense for us to be here. That's another thing that people don't understand. Many people think that everyone that's ever been saved or ever will be saved, is part of the Church - the body of Christ, and that's simply not true according to the Bible. Everyone who's ever been saved or ever will be saved, has been saved by Faith, but not everyone is a member of the body of Christ, the Church. God has a different plan for the Church and for the faithful remnant of Israel. All of the Jew's saved before Christ came the first time are part of God's plan for Israel. They are not part of the Church. All the the Jew's saved after the rapture and during the Tribulation, will also not be part of the church. They will be part of God's plan for Israel. Don't get me wrong...both plans are wonderful and awesome and good, they're just different. And we will all be together, both Israel and the Church, but our inheritances are different and will be according to the plan we are part of. Of course the one part of our inheritances that is the same is that we'll all enjoy heaven together, so it's not going to be real obvious except perhaps during the Millennium.

We tend to see everything as being about us, but it's not. In fact, the Tribulation is all about Israel and has little to do with the Gentiles (or non Jew's) at all except as far as how they will treat the Jew's during the Tribulation and whether or not they'll be saved.

When Jesus came the first time, He came to offer the Jew's the Kingdom - what we call the Millennial Kingdom. But they refused to recognize Him as their Savior. (which of course He knew they would do) Individual Jew's were saved, and started the Church, but the nation itself, refused Him. If they had accepted Him, acknowledged Him as their Savior, then Jesus still would have had to die as the perfect sacrifice, but after His resurrection, instead of starting the Church, He would have set up the Millennial Kingdom that they so much sought after. Because they didn't accept Him, they lost it all. At least for a time. They were set aside, the age of the law was interrupted, put on "hold", and the Church was begun so that the Lord could offer His salvation to all of us. One day, as the prophets foretold, Jesus will take His Church away from this earth, so He can continue the Age of the law for it's last 7 years. During the Age of the law, just as before, God's focus will be on Israel. The purpose of the Tribulation will be to bring the Jew's to the realization that Jesus is their Messiah and save a remnant of them so that God can then fulfill all the promises He made them in what we call the Old Testament. All those promises will be fulfilled during the Millennial Kingdom.

I was totally astonished when I finally took the time to study this all for myself. I was astonished because of how vast and grand God's plans are, and I know that I was only getting a small sampling of them through what His Word was saying. It also astonished me because by understanding all this, it opened my eyes to "why" so many other things were true in scripture. It was like this was the framework of a jigsaw puzzle and once it was in place, all the other pieces just fell into place. It still amazes me to reflect on it!

The bible tells us that more and more will teach and suggest lies until there won't be many left that believe that the rapture happens before the tribulation like the Bible says. They'll even say that the timing of the rapture isn't all that important as far as what we believe, but that's a lie too, for it affects our understanding of everything else the bible says. We've talked before about how the pre-trib rapture will become more and more "unpopular" and even hated, by Christians. But then when you read 2 Timothy 3:1–5 about how Christians are going to act, it makes sense I guess. Sad though.

Romans 5:9 —Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! *
Romans 5:10 —For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! *
Romans 1:18 —The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
1 Thessalonians 1:9–10 —for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, *and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. *
Revelation 3:10 —Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth. *
Psalm 91:8 —You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. *
1 Thessalonians 5:9–10 —For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. *He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. *

Are We There Yet?

Children are always asking their parents, "Are we there yet?", and like them, we ask our Father in Heaven, if it's time for Jesus to come for us yet. Are we there yet Lord? He showed me in His Word, the same answer most children here: "Almost!" Let me show you why we can know for sure that it's "almost time".

We know God is sovereign and that all things happen only when He deems it time for them to happen. He doesn't play things by ear, and nothing is chaotic, even when it appears to be to us. We're told in Galatians 4:4-5 that Jesus was born that first Christmas morning, "when the fullness of the time had come". In other words, God planned His first coming right down to the last second, so that everything that would happen afterward, would be according to His Will. Even then our Father was thinking of you and me. He wanted to be sure that you and I were saved, so He planned it very carefully.

The same is true of our Lord's coming to take us off this earth to be with Him forever! (and also of His 2nd coming) In 2 Tim 2:19 we're told that God knows who belongs to Him. Many times we're told that He's known us and planned for us since before the creation of the world. Knowing that God planned for His Son's birth into this world at the perfect time, we can look back and see how miraculously the Church grew after it was born. We can see how things came together that first day the Holy Spirit came on the disciples and they preached - how people from all over the world were right there to hear them, and thousands were saved in one day. Coincidence? I hardly think so!

God has planned for the rapture with exactly the same care. Knowing how impatient children are, the Lord even tells us when the rapture will happen. Rom 11:25 says: I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. Up until the church was born, Israel was God's tool to teach others. Because she didn't do the job and rejected her Messiah, God blinded or hardened Israel and created the Church to teach others about Him. Another part of His plan for the Church was to make Israel jealous, (Rom 11:14–15) in order to prepare her for the day the Lord takes the blindfold away from their eyes; but that won't happen until the "fullness (or full number) of the Gentiles has come in".

We've often spoken about God always having a remnant that belonged to Him. A remnant that were truly saved. That's been true since the very beginning of creation. God has never been without His faithful. But, there's another thing we need to realize about that. God knows who belongs to Him and has since creation, and He knows each by name. He's never been surprised because there was an "extra" person saved as part of His remnant, nor has He been taken by surprise because there was one short. Nothing is ever left to chance; God plans everything carefully, especially concerning those who belong to Him. In 1 Kings 19:18 God tells us He had kept 7,000 who were really saved and He'd known their exact number and each of their names since creation. At that same time, He also knew the exact number of Gentiles that would ultimately be saved after the church was born. That's the meaning of the "fullness of the Gentiles". When the last Gentile to be part of the church is saved, then the Father will tell Jesus to come and get us!

Did you notice that I underlined, "to be part of the church"? That's important! God has a plan for both Israel and the Church. What most of us don't realize or stop to think about, is that they're different plans. We tend to think of everyone that's saved as part of the church, but that's not true. Many Jew's were saved before Jesus was born. They aren't part of the church; they're part of God's plan for Israel. The Old Testament especially (but not exclusively) tells us a lot about His plans for Israel, including many promises that won't be fulfilled until Jesus sets up the Millennial Kingdom. He does that for Israel, not for us! While there will be Gentiles in the Millennial Kingdom, they will be under the rule of Israel. All who are part of the Church will already have their permanent immortal and incorruptible bodies by then and will live in New Jerusalem. The Church (us) is the bride of Christ. We are engaged to Christ now and Jesus will soon come to get His bride at the rapture and then, finally, we will have our wedding feast with Him in Heaven as we're told in Revelation 19:7.

Israel is often called God's wife in the Old Testament. This is where it gets confusing because God did not divorce Israel and do away with her. Remember, God hates divorce! In Isaiah 50:1–3 we see that Israel was "forsaken" by the Lord for her unfaithfulness, but not divorced. Hosea illustrates the story of Israel and God. Israel was unfaithful, but while God has and will discipline her, He has not and will not divorce her. He will save her and she will always be His "wife". The problem that causes confusion is that we become to literal in trying to figure out how God can have one set of people as His bride and another as His wife. God chose those terms to show us what His relationship with each of us is like, both Jew and Gentile, not because we are literally his wife or bride. For one thing, obviously men can't be brides or wives, but only husbands. So you can only take those terms to a certain point.

Those who are saved since the resurrection of Jesus and before the rapture, both Jew and Gentile are part of the Church. Those saved before Jesus was resurrected are part of Israel (yes, even the Gentiles) and those saved after the rapture will also be part of God's plan for Israel. (again, including the Gentiles) They won't be part of the Church.

We know too that we are currently living in the "times of the Gentiles". This period of time started when Nebuchadnezzar invaded Jerusalem in 605 bc and continues until the second coming. During this time, Gentiles will occupy Israel and the rightful heir won't be ruling from David's throne. Let me quote Luke 21:24 in context for you: Luke 21:23–25 —How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. *They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. *“There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. As you can see by the context, Jesus is speaking of the end of the Tribulation and His second coming here. So Gentiles will keep their noses in Israel's business right up until then. All this and more, causes them to once more look for their Savior.

We can see in the news how Israel is becoming more and more of a focus and how the church is becoming less of one - except for derogatory remarks anyway. The Church is falling away just as the Lord said it would during the last days, and people are going back to making up their own gods, often themselves. If we look closely, we can see God's Hand in all that's taking place.... in our own country and all over the world. The Church has faded from her formerly high position to one which she is barely holding onto by a thread now. When the last gentile to be a member of the Lord's Church has been saved, the rapture will take place just as the Father has planned. There will no longer be any reason for the Church to be on the earth, because when the tribulation begins, God will be restarting His prophetic clock, restarting the Age of the Law when His focus was on Israel. (that's what age it was when Jesus was here the first time. It ended when the Church was born and the Age of Grace began)

So as we look out the window of our cars and see the scenery changing - the church losing prominence, and Israel being trampled on, and ask our Father, "Are we there yet?" We can hear Him say, "Soon!"

Suffering for the Truth

Suffering for the Truth

Ever since I was a child, I always found it important to stand up for the truth. I'm talking about the truth that is only found in Scripture. My childhood church turned emergent during the 1990's. I noted that something was wrong right away. My family had held on there for years because of our friendships that we had there. We knew that if we left we would lose them. (Sounds like great friends eh?) I was only taught Arminian doctrine.

Eventually, there was a complete exodus of most of the members of this church. The next church my family attended went emergent and word of faith. I didn't know these terms back then. I just knew something was wrong. During my time at this church, I got married and had my daughter. My parents and siblings continued to attend along with us. One Sunday the pastor of the church announced that any who disagreed with the direction of the church could find their way to the nearest exit. He said that he was leading the congregation south and we were welcome to head north. Not surprisingly, we left that church.

My husband and I were left extremely discouraged. We decided to try a church that a family friend had recommended. Once we attended there, it was like a breath of fresh air. The pastor preached from God's Word. He spoke out against Rick Warren, The Secret, Oprah, and The Shack. He taught us about the errors of the Emergent Church , mysticism, and contemplative prayer. For the first time in my life I felt like I belonged to a church family. My husband, my parents, and I got involved in the church. Our pastor introduced us to "The Way of the Master." My husband began an evangelism ministry that was fully supported by our church. He and a number of other men went to the "Ambassador's Academy." Every Friday night they would go out and share the gospel. This ministry was thriving. We had friends, ministries we loved, and the truth from the pulpit. Life was great!

After being at the church for a number of years, things began to change. Our pastor became cold and distant. He took a six month sabbatical and wrote a book. His wife (who called me frequently) became inaccessible. The church had an elders' board. This was a unelected board. The men on the board simply appointed new elders. The head elder was always one of two men. No others on the board would ever have this position. Our pastor became known as a "teaching elder."

Strange things began happening. The evangelism ministry was called into question. The elders wanted the open-air preaching to stop. Apparently, there were some complaints from our community about this ministry. The men in the ministry were adhering to all the laws and bylaws for our community. This was just persecution. An executive decision was made by the elders to dissolve the evangelism ministry. The people in the ministry could still go out and witness but they could not use the church's name when witnessing. They were to be completely separate from the church.

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My Hearts Cry

My Hearts Cry

If I had just been saved, or just awakened to the knowledge that Jesus was coming for us soon and my life wasn't pleasing to Him, you wouldn't be able to get my nose out of the Bible, because I'd be studying it for all I was worth every spare second I had! And when I didn't have a spare second to study it, I'd be practicing it. The thought wouldn't leave my mind, because I'd be expecting Him any moment and I'd want to be as ready as I possibly could. Every day that went by without the rapture happening, I'd dedicate myself to even harder studying and harder practicing, so that when I met the Lord on that wonderful day, He would smile and be pleased with me, and I wouldn't have to stand before Him ashamed.

That has been my hearts cry to everyone for several years now. I've had a very strong inner urging to warn everyone, unbelievers and believers alike, that time is running out. My heart aches for all the people who will have to stand before Him ashamed and be unable to do anything about it because they ignored all His warnings, or else didn't take them seriously enough. For some reason, I feel this even stronger now and pray that I and everyone I know, will study just as hard as they can and apply His Word to their lives with all their hearts, all their minds and all their strength, every moment of every day. Then we'll be able to stand before Him rejoicing in His salvation and thanking Him, knowing we're unworthy, but not having to be ashamed.

Please join me in praying that we will all be ready for His coming.

1 John 2:28 —And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. *

1 John 4:17 —In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. *

Hebrews 10:35–38 —So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. *You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. *For in just a very little while, “He who is coming will come and will not delay. *But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.” *

Philippians 1:20 —I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. *

Hell On Earth

As I read Isaiah again, I'm continually reminded of so much, including how very few people will live through the tribulation. And that again just goes to show that the pre wrath and post trib positions are false. There won't be that many people left, besides that fact that to be joyful about looking forward to a rapture at that point is ludicrous! Listen to Isaiah:

Isaiah 13:12 —I will make man scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir. *

Isaiah 24:5–6 —The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. *Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left. *

Isaiah 34:2–3 —The LORD is angry with all nations; his wrath is upon all their armies. He will totally destroy them, he will give them over to slaughter. *Their slain will be thrown out, their dead bodies will send up a stench; the mountains will be soaked with their blood. *

Other verses in Isaiah and other books also paint this same picture, and if that's not enough, Jesus himself tells us that no one would survive without divine intervention:

Matthew 24:22 —If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. *

It is going to be hell on earth during those 7 years, not just the last 3 and a half. I'd say the only difference between the first half and the second half of the tribulation is that we can just barely imagine, barely! what the very beginning of the tribulation will be like. And that's not even really accurate because there's most likely going to be a gap between the rapture and the start of the tribulation, and it's that "gap" really, that we can imagine what it will be like. That and the first few months of the tribulation our minds can grasp, but after that....no. If you study, what every book in the bible says about that period of time, you can't help but come away from it knowing that it's going to be like nothing mankind has ever even thought of in their worst nightmares!

I think the reason so many think that only the last half is going to be really bad is because so many authors and teachers stress the point that the judgments get worse as they go along and that as far as the Jews and Christians being martyred goes, that becomes a lot worse in the 2nd half of the trib. That's all quite true, but instead of realizing that the entire tribulation is going to be quite literally like hell on earth, instead we tend to think of it as starting slow and easy so that it's not much different then now. That's not true though.

The birth pangs we're seeing now are like "mini previews", and I do mean "miniature" in every way. Compare the worst natural disaster you can think of with a world wide earthquake that's so severe it's off the scale and kills billions. That's the difference. The difference between the first half and the second half of the trib, ONLY in the way the Jew's will be treated, is that during the first half they'll be treated generally the same as the Christians- tortured and killed. During the second half though, what happens to them will make the holocaust look mild!

To start with there are going to be at least 3 major earthquakes during the tribulation and two of them will be world wide....world wide! One of the world wide earthquakes will be during the first quarter of the first half of the tribulation and another toward the end. The bible says that during these two earthquakes there will also be many volcano's erupting and that ash and debris will fill the sky. We can only attempt to imagine what will happen with the oceans...tidal waves... talk about horror! And friends, God has set the first earthquake to happen during the first quarter of the first half of the tribulation.

There are 182 weeks in 3 and a half years. If you divide them by 4 that's 45.5 weeks. As you can see then, this first earthquake will happen before the first year of the tribulation has gone by. And that's just one of the many horrors that's coming, and coming soon. It's just one of the things that our neighbors are going to go through if they're not saved beforehand. If we can't work ourselves up to being bold enough to speak up to them about Christ and His salvation because we know they will spend eternity in hell, surely knowing that they will be going through this should cause us to run over and start pleading with them to give their lives to Christ!

On the other hand, if you believe God is the kind of God who would put His Church through this - for any reason, then I guess it just doesn't matter since they'd go through it anyway. Sorry, but it's just ludicrous to me that anyone could believe such a thing, or that if they did suspect it might be true, wouldn't then grab their bibles and not take their noses out of it until they'd studied the entire book from Genesis to Revelation with God's help to determine what God really says about it.

That right there shows another reason why these kind of false teachings are being taught. Because even if people do pick up their bibles, they're just studying the "proof verses" they're given or at most the main books they think it's talked about in, like Revelation, Daniel and Isaiah. The problem is that they can't get the whole picture until they know the whole bible. God had a reason for every word He gave us and if we don't know it all, then we can't know His plans for us, the Jew's or anything else. No Christian should just accept what I say, what their pastor says, or what any famous author/teacher/pastor says. They should instead commit to obeying God and knowing His Word and finding out for themselves what's true.

How we can tell the end is nearly here!

You know what's really bad about all the false teaching and the way many churches have turned into country clubs? Look at what God says about it in Isaiah:

Isaiah 29:13–14 —The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. *Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.” *

When people have been told the Truth and refuse to listen to it, refuse to accept it, which is exactly what we're seeing today, then God makes them spiritually blind, just like He did Israel over 2000 years ago. It's not a sudden blindness, but rather their hearts harden more each time they refuse to accept the Truth, and each time that happens, they become more spiritually blind, until finally God says "enough!" and then they will just accept more and more lies, never the Truth. (See John 9:39–41 and 2 Thes 2:1–12.)

That's what scared me every time I told someone the Truth, and they refused to accept it. Most of them continued to deny it as truth, insisting that the false teachings they were following were instead. I knew their hearts had just been hardened again, whether they realized it or not, because God says so. It made me not want to tell them the truth sometimes but the Lord says we must, and so I continued. But what was even worse, were those who would hear or see something and acknowledge that it was something God had said, but would still refuse to accept it. Oh, they "believed" it, but they wouldn't accept it and would literally say so! Those are the ones I felt the worst about and feared for the most.

And then, you all know how many times, and how many ways, I've tried to call people back to God's Word, and remind them that God commands us to "stay" in His Word daily; that it's to be like our daily food and drink. Again, many have "believed", but also many have refused to accept it, to apply it. That makes me just weep for them, for we never know when our chance to accept God's Truth will be over. Like that verse from Isaiah says, they come near to God with their mouths, but not with their hearts. In Ezekiel 33:31, God says that they listen to his words, but don't put them into practice, with their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. They seek God's hand but not His face, they want what He will give them, but not enough to do what He says or to seek Him with all their hearts. And again, that's what we're seeing today. Over and over Jesus and the apostles tell us not to be just hearers of the Word but doers of it, and that too isn't just a suggestion.

We know that we are living in the last days of the end times and that Satan is very active right now. We've talked about how the list of what people will be like during these times in 2 Timothy 3, is about "Christians", which should really shake us up because it sounds like the worst of unbelievers! But the Christians it's talking about are those who refuse to acknowledge or accept the Truth, and insist on hanging on to lies instead.

What's the next thing to happen after this? 2 Thessalonians 2 says, next, the lawless one is revealed! We know that the rapture happens before that (which is in that passage too) but I wonder how many people really realize just how close we are to that???? We've heard the expressions like "He's standing at the door", or "you can almost hear His footsteps" and others like that so many times, that I think it's kind of lulled us to sleep somewhat. Instead we need to be fully awake and alert, waiting expectantly for His call to join Him, and doing all we can till He calls us, to wake up everyone we know that's still sleeping. For as long as we're here, they still may have a chance to accept the Truth. We really need to act on that, praying that the Lord will open their eyes and soften their hearts so they'll accept His Word with the honor it deserves.

Romans 13:12–14 —The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. *Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. *Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. *

1 Peter 4:7–8 —The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. *Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

King David teaches us about idols and false gods

I've been really wanting to share all of what the Lord showed me this morning and taught me from 2 Samuel 12. It's really amazing!

The year before this chapter begins, David had sinned against the Lord. He's seen Bathsheba naked and did not take his thoughts or imagination captive. Instead he dwelled on the thoughts of lust and let his imagination run wild with them. Next, he used his position of authority to get Bathsheba into his house and have sex with her. When she became pregnant and his scheme began to fall apart, he then used his authority (which the Lord had given him) to have her husband killed. During all this time he was also sinning by not taking his sinful thoughts captive and replacing them with God's truth. Plus he was continually trying to hide his sin instead of confessing it and repenting because he didn't want to stop. He now had a false god and idol. He had placed fulfilling his lust above God, showing that he loved himself, more then he loved God.

David must have been happy during that past year though right? I mean after all he got to play with Bathsheba during that time and that's what he'd wanted, right? Wrong! Psalm 32 and 51 tell us a little of how he felt during that year: Psalm 32:3–4 —When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. *For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Selah * He was being disciplined by the Lord during that year as the Lord wanted to bring him to repentance and that discipline began as soon as he refused to take that first thought captive! He eventually became sick and weak, unable to do the things he normally did due to his illness. He was sick at heart as well as his body for he knew he was living in sin. Yet, he still wouldn't give it up or confess it, and he still continued to sin, to hide it and then to sin more by having her husband killed. He lost his joy, he was no longer a good witness for the Lord, and his power. The Lord wasn't going to answer his prayers when he was doing this, that's for sure! He probably became short with people, snapping at the least little thing, as well as grumpy until he became downright depressed.

Strange isn't it. He got what he wanted, even though he knew it was a sin, and yet instead of being happy, he winds up depressed! We see that the Lord gave David more then enough time to confess and repent of his sin on his own...over a year, but still he refused, so the Lord sent the prophet Nathan to him with a message.

Nathan pretended he was telling David about a case that needed to be judged, though he never said that. He just let David think so, and told him about a rich man who had badly used a poor man by taking the poor man's one and only ewe. David got very angry when he heard what the man had done and said that the man should be put to death for it, and should have to pay back what he'd taken 4 times over. Although angry, he was still being fair because that's what God's law calls for in such a situation. Isn't it funny how easy it is to see other people's sins and judge them, but how hard it is to see our own at times?

It was then that Nathan revealed to David that he was the man he had been talking about. Nathan then told him what God said about it: that He'd given David all he had, made him King, given him power and authority and all the women and servants he had, made him victorious over all his enemies, etc. and still David took another man's only wife and then had him killed. He then told David what his sin would cost him. I'm sure David was totally stunned, but to his credit, he finally stopped hiding, didn't try to make any excuses, and immediately confessed, agreeing that he had indeed sinned against the Lord.

At that point, Nathan assured David that the Lord would allow him to live even though the death sentence was what the law called for for what he'd done. However, there were severe consequences for his sin which would still come to pass. Those consequences, all of which the Lord had told him, began as soon as Nathan left that day. One of my commentaries explains this better then I can so I'll simply quote what it says:

God was ready to forgive David’s sins, but He could not prevent those sins from “bringing forth death” (James 1:15). God’s grace forgives, but God’s government must allow sinners to reap what they sow. Psalm 99:8: "you were to Israel a forgiving God, though you punished their misdeeds." “He shall restore fourfold!” David had declared punishment concerning the man in Nathan’s story, so God accepted his sentence. The sword never did depart from David’s household: the baby died; Absalomkilled Amnon, who had ruined Tamar (both men are David's sons and Tamar is his daughter); then Joab killed Absalom (2 Sam 18:9–17); and Adonijah (David's son) was slain by Benaiah (1 Kings 2:24–25). Fourfold! Add to these trials the awful ruin of Tamar, the shameful treatment of David’s wives by his son Absalom (2 Sam 12:11; 2 Sam 16:20–23), plus the rebellion of Absalom, and you can see that David paid dearly for a few moments of lustful pleasure. He sowed lust and reaped the same; he sowed murder and reaped murders, for “whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Gal. 6:7). Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines

We often console ourselves thinking, "Well, David's sins were awful so that's probably why there were such terrible consequences". The problem with that kind of thinking is that God considers all sin the same. It doesn't matter if it's telling a little white lie, not studying His Word, cheating, or killing someone. The consequences of all sin is death. I'm not saying that if we tell a little white lie that someone in our family is going to die-not at all! God is always just. What I'm saying though is that we tend to make our own sins seem very little, especially in comparison to what David did. Yet David's first sin was that he simply didn't take his thoughts captive and replace them with God's Truth. How often do we do that??? And we usually think we get away with it too, don't we? But we never do. Never. Not because God is mean - far from it! But because God is righteous and just and fair and mostly because He loves us and wants what is best for us. It's always easy for us to say the way we've been treated isn't fair, but if someone were to do the same thing to us, we certainly wouldn't want them to get off the hook.

The consequences of David's sins lasted the for the rest of his life and the lives of his children. Again, not because God's mean, but simply because that's what sin does. It's done that since the very first sin. Look at how long the consequences of Adam's sin has lasted... it's still going on! I have looked back on my own life and can honestly say that I can see how my own sins, even "little sins" have affected my children and are still affecting them. It's another aspect of sin that we often choose to ignore and not think about. Especially if the sin is something we want to do like David did. But our sins affect our children and other people as well. It is not just us that is affected by them. Everyone pays when someone sins. That's why God hates sin so much. He hates to see us hurt. He loves us. Think how we as parents feel when we know someone or something is hurting our child - we'll do anything to stop it! We hate it! Well, that's a small taste of how God feels toward all sin because He knows far better then we do, just how horribly sin hurts us, His children whom He loves.

He knows we are enslaved to and by sin and because He loves us and hates how it hurts us, He was even willing to come and die so we could finally be free from it. And so we are, just as David was freed when God forgave his sins. Yet the consequences of those sin continued just as ours do. God will not stop the law of gravity because someone was stupid enough to think they could fly off their roof. Nor will he stop the consequences of our sins because if He did, there would be nothing to stop us from continuing to sin. God's grace forgives us, but His government must allow us to reap what we have sown, even though it hurts Him as much as us.

The Lord shows us something else that's very important in this story that we often overlook. Often when we sin, especially if we think it's a "terrible sin" like I'm sure David did, we then decide that He can no longer use us, that we're no good to Him anymore. We'll spend hours, days, months, sometimes years, thinking about what a horrible thing we did and how bad we were and "now God can't use us". But that too is a lie that needs to be taken captive and replaced with the truth God shows us here. Because after David confessed and repented, God did indeed use him and bless him. He even sent Nathan back to him to assure him that he was being blessed.

After the child that had been conceived in sin had died, God caused Bathsheba to become pregnant again, with another son. This time she gave birth to a boy they named Solomon. The Lord sent Nathan to tell David that He loved this child and of course David knew that the child had been given him by the Lord as all children are. Next the Lord gave David yet another victory over his enemies and another crown.

We see that as soon as David had confessed and repented of his sin, although there would be consequences from the sin, his relationship with the Lord was completely restored. This is shown in more detail in psalms 32 and 51. It's very true of all of us as well. When we're forgiven, God promises to never bring our sin up to us or anyone else, not even Himself, ever again, and to never use it against us. What an awesome God we serve! When we're forgiven, God restores us to our previous place of service and our relationship with Him is repaired. We once again have the joy of our salvation. So we must never allow Satan to trick us into thinking that we've gone too far or that we can't be used by the Lord anymore etc. Where sin abounds, grace abounds more!

Of course there's much much more in this chapter then what I've shown here, but this will have to do for now. Please read 2 Samuel 12 and then read psalm 32 and psalm 51. When reading the psalms see if you can see what David lost and how he felt during his year of sin and what he gained and how he felt when he finally confessed and repented of his sin. The reason being that his experience is one we all share when we sin, regardless of what our sin is. If there's any portion of the psalms or of 2 Samuel 12 that you'd like to discuss, I'll be happy to do so. I hope you also see how this all relates to our false gods and idols as well.

• The Civilized World’s Made Things Harder For 
• Examples of Modern False Gods and Idols
•  Important points about False God's and Idols
•  The times we're most likely to turn to an idol
• What are your false gods, your idols?
• I used to think that I couldn't ever be an Idolate...
• I used to think that I couldn't ever be an Idolate...
•  From the heights of revelation to the valley of id...

Important points about False God's and Idols

There are several points in this discussion about idols and false gods that are important to understand and reflect on. The first being just how much we personally, really believe in God and how much we believe He can, will and does interact with us and our lives.

Like I said in the beginning, if we really believe in God and that He does and will interact in our lives, then our words and actions will show that.

Secondly, we need to know that God commands us to be in control of our thoughts and emotions all the time. That's one reason He tells us to take our thoughts captive and replace those that are lies with His Truth. There's so much written in His Word about how we're to control our thoughts and feelings, that it's rare to find a single page that doesn't say something about it in one way or another. When Adam sinned, his mind was corrupted by that sin and that was passed on to his children, and ultimately to us. That's why no unbeliever can understand God or His word unless He's being enlightened by the Holy Spirit. Once we're saved, that doesn't mean that our minds are suddenly supernaturally healed of that corruption though. Instead, God gives us His Holy Spirit to dwell within us and teach us what His Word says. The "trick" is that we have to ask Him to teach us and listen to Him when He does. This is why even someone who is saved and has the Holy Spirit within them, can read the Bible and still not understand it. Without God's teaching and guiding, we will simply apply man's corrupted philosophy to God's Word.

However, with the Lord's guidance and teaching, and if we are applying His Word to our lives - living it, doing what it says, and not just reading it, the longer we're in His Word, the more and more our minds will be transformed to be more like His. They'll still have the corruption of sin, but because we've filled our minds with His Word and reflect on His Word so much, that will in a sense overcome the corruption to a large degree. At least to the point where we're able to have stored so much of the Lord's Word in our minds and hearts that our thoughts, feelings and our life itself, reflect Him more then the corruption of sin. Still, even then we can never rely on our own knowledge, but instead must continuously rely on His Word. Our minds won't be without corruption though until that great day when we finally receive the completion of our salvation and receive our new bodies, with our new minds and hearts that don't have the taint of sin.

As I've heard so often said, and it's true, the battle is for our hearts & minds. God wants us to love Him with all our hearts and minds and strength. So that's why Satan does his best to keep our minds as corrupted as possible so we can't escape him.

Why do you think that Satan has set forth the worldview that we have to "love ourselves"? This isn't anything new. It was one of the big things that brought down the Roman Empire eventually. We're following the very same path they went down, and they followed Satan's idea that we should make ourselves "number one" and "love ourselves" first and foremost. This is what Satan's worldview has taught from the time Satan fell from his heavenly position. This is so ingrained in us all now, along with the self esteem garbage the worlds mixed in with it, that most people never even question whether or not it's scriptural. They're so used to it that it's like the law of gravity to them - it just "is". And I include most Christians in this too.

This is how Satan set us up to have ourselves as a false god, and for some people, to have our community or nation as a false god as well. One red flag to look for to see if you've made yourself a false god, is if there's a lot of what I call the self sins going on in your life. One of the big self sins is "pride" and it's also one of the few that don't have the word "self" attached to it. Often people think that we must be proud of ourselves to make ourselves into a false god or idol, but while that certainly happens, it's not always true. A person who's depressed is often actually taking pride in their self pity in a perverted sort of way, although they don't usually realize it. They're often so consumed by themselves that they can't see the forest for all the trees. It often takes someone else to get them to step back from themselves long enough so they can actually see what they're doing. In a strange way though, that's very much like what Satan did when he fell. He was totally and completely consumed with himself -though not due to depression. He was more like the joke we've seen where the person is so taken by themselves that you see them primping as they stare into a mirror, admiring themselves.

Thirdly, we need to also recognize that while we most likely do make ourselves into a false god at times, we have also set up other false gods to run to as needed. We need to take a look at those thoughts and emotions that we take captive and see if any of them lead to a false god or two. If we suspect they do, then we need to hold them up to our view of God and see how they stand up to it. Is our view, our belief in God stronger then our false god? Or is our belief in the real God so low that we have no trouble hanging on to our false gods? If so, then we obviously need to work on making God more real to ourselves. (actually, that's not a bad idea even if we don't find any false gods) We do that through continued daily study of His Word with Him and just plain talking to Him about it and asking Him to help us make Him more real to ourselves. The more we do that, and the longer we've done it, the more our faith and trust in Him will grow. The more real He will be to us, and our lives will show that.

Lastly we have to remove the false gods from our lives and give that space back to the real God.

Other posts about this subject:

• The Civilized World’s Made Things Harder For 
• Examples of Modern False Gods and Idols
•  The times we're most likely to turn to an idol
• What are your false gods, your idols?
• I used to think that I couldn't ever be an Idolate...
• I used to think that I couldn't ever be an Idolate...
•  From the heights of revelation to the valley of id...

Examples of Modern False Gods and Idols

I was asked to give examples of things we might be worshiping today without knowing it. Let me first share something that will help you identify things in your own life that either were false gods in the past or are false gods to you now. Whenever something, or someone becomes very important to you, there's a danger of it being or becoming a false god. Normally when something or someone is real important to us, we attach very strong feelings to it. Those strong feelings then can be a "warning sign" for us to look and see what is causing the feeling. We've already learned to take our thoughts captive, so this will simply be one more step to take whenever we are feeling a strong negative emotion like anger or bitterness, or fear, etc. When we feel those things, the first thing we need to do still is to take it captive and replace it with God's Truth. Once we've done that though, we should then ask ourselves some questions to determine if that anger or fear or whatever we felt is pointing to a false god. Please know that just because we get really angry, fearful, jealous, sad, or something does NOT mean that there is definitely a false god involved, but it is possible. What is does mean for sure is that if nothing else we need to talk to the Lord about it and find our what is causing it so we can overcome it with His help.

Any thing or person that is a false god in our lives is going to cause us to have strong emotions about it, so that's why they can be used as warning signs. What are some questions you could ask yourself to find out if there is a false god behind those feelings? I ask myself things like: “Why do I feel threatened?” “What am I afraid I am going to lose?” “What goal, desire, or belief is being blocked or threatened?” “What’s so important that it's causing me to explode or lose control?” "Where is this coming from?" "What's adding fuel to this emotion?" If we want to discover our false gods, it's important to trace overwhelming feelings and reactions back to their source. Most important, we need to ask the Lord to help us look behind these feelings to discover if we may have turned something or someone into a false god - into the "ultimate thing of importance" in our lives.

As for examples, the easiest way for me to do that is to share what the Lord has shown me in my own life. I have to admit though, this one really shocked me! Many here know that I've had some difficulties with my adult children over the years. Something happened recently that caused me to feel deeply hurt and disappointed with some of them again. (notice the strong emotions I felt) I did take the thoughts and emotions captive and began to dwell on God's truth instead of the incident in order to replace those thoughts and feelings with Him and His Truth. Once I was sure that I was under control, I then began talking to the Lord about it.

That was when He pointed out to me that my children had become a false god in my life. To say I was shocked would be an understatement! I wanted to deny it; I didn't want to believe it, but I knew the Lord was right. My children and my relationship with them as a whole, had indeed become a false god. They were the thing in my life that was "most important". They had taken God's place in my heart. I was looking to them for love, acceptance and approval, instead of looking to God for those things. In fact, I wanted those things from them, more then I wanted them from God. I would sometimes allow thoughts and feelings about my children, or about something they'd done or not done, to determine how I acted or felt instead of being obedient to God.

The Lord showed me all that and more and of course I repented of it. Since then, I've felt a great deal of peace about that whole situation that had been missing for a long time.

Since then, I've been studying about it and have discovered that our loved ones can often become our false gods if we're not careful.

Other people that often become a false god are those people that we think do not love us, but who we want to have love us. In fact, I'd say that was one of the biggest dangers of all.

Some other things that can become false gods are our pets or animals that we love deeply. It all boils down to a desire to be loved, accepted and appreciated by someone/something. The Lord tells us that He is the one who loves us though and we're to lay our expectations of other people at His cross because other people are always going to let us down. If we leave our expectations at His cross and go to Him for our love and acceptance and approval, then, God can heal the broken places inside us so that eventually we can have a healthy loving relationship with other people too.

Other false Gods might be the false god of materialism, or money, or success, security, false gods of image, outward beauty, youth, etc. Or as John pointed out things like cars or motorcycles or other inanimate objects can even be our false gods if we make them that important in our lives.

Whenever we see a quality about ourselves, such as beauty or youth, etc. as something that we must have or maintain or as something we strongly desire, it may be a false god. It may be that we think that if we have that quality that it means we will be loved and accepted and approved by either: the world, men, the one we want to love us, or by our boss, or the public, etc. We have made that quality about ourselves into the thing that makes us worthwhile, but that's a lie. (which is why it's a false god) God is the one who makes us worthwhile. He is the one who loves us and accepts us, and we do not need that quality in order for Him to love and accept us.

One of the things I discovered a long time ago was my false god was my job. I thought I was the best at my job and did it well. It wasn't until I got hurt and couldn't work anymore that I discovered it had become an idol, a false god, to me. I defined myself by my job. Really, I defined myself by two things: my job and my children -being a mother. So in reality, my children were a false god even back then.

As before, the Lord showed me that what I did, did not make me worthwhile and loved.
What I had did not make me worthwhile and loved.
What I could contribute did not make me worthwhile and loved.
Whether I was good looking, had money, worked, or anything else, did not make me worthwhile and loved.
God made me worthwhile and He loved me and it wasn't due to any of those things.

So really anything that we think causes us to be worthwhile or loved, can be a false god in our lives. I have a feeling that we all have a bunch of them that we didn't even realize were there. But our Lord will help us discover them and get rid of them so we can have the peace and joy He wants us to have now.

Positive feelings could also indicate indicate a false god or idol. I'm trying to think of times in my life and the things that I now know were false gods in order to give an example.....

For instance, when I was seeking love and acceptance from men instead of God - always looking to my husband instead of God, my feelings were mixed, but at times - when my husband happened to be giving me the love I thought I wanted, I'd be very happy. It was only when he wasn't doing that, that I'd be unhappy.

Another false God I had was first my school work and then later, when I was older, my job. I worked hard and made mostly A's in school, and when I'd make an A, I'd be happy, and that was most of the time. But when I'd get even one question wrong, even though I'd still get an "A", because it wasn't perfect, I'd be very unhappy. I know that sounds ridiculous to most people, but that's how I was. I strove for perfection because deep inside I thought I had to be perfect to be loved and accepted by God. My school work, and then later my job, became false gods because I was looking to them to prove my love and acceptance, or to prove that I was lovable and acceptable, however you want to look at it. I remember how I would get very stressed out when it was time for our boss to do our job reviews. Again, I was striving for perfection and worried that I wouldn't measure up. All my reviews were very good, but the problem was, the last question on each review was "What can your employee do to improve?" To me, that was the same thing as saying that I wasn't good enough. My mind knew better, but my heart didn't. So I always got very upset when it would come to that last answer no matter how gently my boss tried to word his answer. It wasn't until I knew the Lord and gave up my false gods and accepted His love and acceptance, that those things no longer bothered me. Because then I finally understood that by myself, I could do nothing good - and that was ok because everyone is that way; but that the Lord loved and accepted me anyway, even at my very worst, and because He did, His love made me worthwhile. I no longer needed to strive to make Him love me, or strive to prove I was lovable. Instead, I could just love Him back and rejoice in His love for me.

One way to tell is to ask yourself who is being glorified by your thoughts and feelings. Is it you? Is it another person, place or thing? Or, is it God

I suspect that everything in this life, and every person we know or wished we knew, as well as we ourselves, could be a false god and idol for us. I guess I need to just state that instead of giving examples like I did. No, not really...I think the examples help some too because hopefully they show how perfectly ordinary things can be a false god. Because a false god is simply something or someone that we think is super important to us in some way, shape or form. In fact, here's another one that really surprised me because it's not something anyone would "want" to have... 

I also discovered that the pain I'm in can be a false god or idol to me at times. For example, that time I wrote about in the pain forum, when I trusted in the pain more then I trusted God, remember? At that moment, it became an idol; a false god for me. I guess I should explain that in case anyone who's not a pain forum member reads this:

I'd been in a great deal of pain, especially at night and one evening got very upset and didn't want to go to bed because I "knew" what would happen when I did -the pain would get worse. So I wound up staying up all night.

The Lord pointed out to me that the reason I had the problem and got so upset that night, was because I'd turned away from Him and allowed myself to dwell on the possibility or likelihood of the pain instead. I'd basically put my faith in the pain happening and me not being able to handle it instead of taking the thoughts and fear captive and replacing them with God's Word which says that His strength is made perfect in our weakness and that He is our strength and is always, always with me and loves me and will sustain me and give me peace. So, really, I traded my peace for fear and self pity.

The Lord pointed that out to me the next day and I was quite ashamed of myself then, especially when I realized that I'd literally put the pain ahead of Him. See by focusing on the pain, it promised me that I wouldn't get hurt if I just stayed up, but it lied, as false gods always do. If I had taken those strong emotions of fear, anger, and self pity as a warning sign, I would have realized something wasn't as it seemed. But during that time I was determined to be disobedient to the Lord. I knew I should take the thoughts and feelings captive, but I refused to. I even lied to myself and told myself that they were there to "warn" me - meaning that they were warning me not to go to bed. Well I was half right. They were warning me, but it wasn't about that. They were giving me the same warning they always do and telling me to take my thoughts captive because they were lies. But I chose to believe the lies and to dwell on them instead of on God and His strength and His help.

So you see, even something as unpleasant and disagreeable as severe pain can become a false god and idol if we allow it to.

Another big one that most of us have had at one time or another is our past. We often give our past much power over us instead of taking those thoughts captive like we're told to and replacing them with God's Truth about us. .

Still another one that we've all probably had at one time or another is ourselves. Yes, we even make ourselves into a false god at times, like in the example I gave Eva.

It just goes to show that anything can be a false god. 

More posts about idols:

• The Civilized World’s Made Things Harder For U
•  The times we're most likely to turn to an idol
• What are your false gods, your idols?
• I used to think that I couldn't ever be an Idolate...
• I used to think that I couldn't ever be an Idolate...
•  From the heights of revelation to the valley of id...

The Civilized World’s Made Things Harder For Us

The civilized world has taught us that we're independent and don't need anyone but ourselves. We are taught to think of ourselves first, to love ourselves, to be ourselves, to do for ourselves. We're taught that no one can make us do anything and we can do and be anything we want to. We're told anything and everything is ok as long as it makes us feel good and that we should feel good. We're taught how great and wonderful we are. We're taught that the stars are our limit -in other words there is no limit to what we can do. (sounds an awful lot like the tower of Babel to me) It's funny, but the more I study God's Word, the more I find that the world has lied to me about many, many things and has corrupted the meaning of many things as well. As I was studying Deut 5 I came across something surprising that I'd like to share with you. It's something else that our civilized world has made it hard for us to understand and relate to.

Deuteronomy 5:6 —“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery."

Let's look closely at this first sentence. "I am the Lord your God". Before we can really be saved or have the fear of God or love Him or anything else, we first have to know that He is. As Hebrews 11:6 says: And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Now that may seem strange to us, because we rarely question His existence, but then again, if we really believe He exists and is aware of us and all of that, wouldn't we tend toward being obedient to Him a whole lot more? No, I'm not suggesting we don't really believe in Him, but I am suggesting that we might benefit a lot from focusing on His existence and reflecting on it until we really, really knew it. At least, that's what I determined for myself.

I've thought for many years that because we're so "blessed" to live in such a "civilized" country, that we really don't understand concepts such as "God", or "slavery" or things like that. We know the definitions of them, but we don't have any real personally emotional attachment to them. Most of us have had jobs and bosses we may not have liked at all, but we could always quit. When I dwelled on the concepts of Lord's and slaves, and tried to imagine what it would be like to wake up in the morning, knowing that another person owned me and that they could literally kill me at their whim, it was hard to do that and make it "real" to myself. Sure, I can imagine it, but it's more like a fantasy then anything possible, even though I know that there were and are slaves all around the world. When I imagine it, I think I'd "run away" or find some way out of it - I can't make it last in my mind for a lifetime.

Yet, it IS real. God is real. God created us and He sustains our very lives every moment of every day. He can wipe us out en mass, or one at a time or any way He chooses, whenever and however He chooses. The fact that He doesn't do so, doesn't mean that He can't. He can bless us or curse us, give or take away. Yet for the most part, we ignore Him and go on with our lives as though He wasn't there. If we were slaves in this world with a physical Lord over us, we couldn't do that. He'd be in our face constantly and be a constant reminder that if we don't obey Him instantly, He could and just might, have us killed. See what I mean about why I felt I needed to dwell on that and make God more "real" to me?

So first, we need to know that God IS. He is God, He is the Lord. But, there's another word in that sentence that makes a HUGE difference in it's meaning. It doesn't say, "I am the Lord God", it says, "I am the Lord your God". Out of all the other people on this earth, He is MY God and I am His. He's personal. He knows and acknowledges me and wants me to know and acknowledge Him. It's more then that though. Because He's not "my God" and no one else's. He says that to everyone. It's up to each individual to accept Him as their God or reject Him. And that means something very important for each of us and this is what kind of blew me away when I realized it.

Everyone has a "god", it's just not always the One True God. In fact, everyone generally has quite a few gods. We all serve someone/something. That may change according to what happens during the day and how we're feeling, but regardless, we all serve something. It's just that in our civilized world, we don't think of them as gods. The problem with that is that The One True God does think of them as gods and He doesn't want us to serve any one or anything but Him. See, God designed us to be in relationship with Him -with God and so we seek that constantly whether we realize it or not. That's what I've always thought of as the empty "hole" we're always seeking to fill, that will make us "happy" and "complete". It's the something missing that we all search for even when we don't know we're looking for it.

Whenever we're not in an intimate relationship with God, we will be in an intimate relationship with something/someone else, because that's who our hearts have been designed. We have to be in an intimate relationship with something/someone. Many women look for it in a man. Many men look for it in a woman. Others look for it in work or school, money, children, booze or drugs, or books, movies, porn, sex, parties, friends, food, the internet, computer or video games, our homes, gardens, etc. or for instance when we endlessly strive for the approval of others, or the love of others. The things we look for it in aren't necessarily bad in and of themselves, although they can be at times, but they become bad no matter what they are because whether we know it or not, we become slaves to them. (Rom 6:16)

So we're all slaves, all the time. We're simply slaves to different things or people or "gods". Remember too, Jesus tells us that we cannot serve 2 masters. We have to choose. Besides which, God also tells us that He will not "share" us with others. It's Him or them. That's why Jesus pleads with us and says in Matthew 11:29–30 —Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. *For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” * A yoke is what's used to join 2 cows or horses together so they can pull a plow. Jesus used that word because whoever or whatever we're slaves to, we're joined together with. We're "yoked" to them. That's again why we're told not to be "unequally yoked". If you yoke a little cow with a large horse, it won't work. They can't pull the plow evenly. Back to the point though, when we serve someone or something besides God, we are slaves to that and we're yoked to it whether we realize it or not.

And that too is something I really needed to dwell on because generally, in our day and time, we don't realize that. We think we're just hanging out with people or just eating junk food or just drinking, or just running after a man to love us, or whatever. We'd be more inclined to think of them serving us rather then the other way around. The Truth though, is that we're serving them; we're slaves to them. That's why we run to them every time we're scared, or depressed or worried or lonely, or whatever our personal triggers are.

Here's the really bad news for us who are saved. When we do that, we're not just slaves to those things, we're slaves to false gods. They are our "idols". We have put them in God's place in our lives. We can know that because if we didn't have any false gods or idols, we'd be running to the One True God, "our God", when we felt that way. All the various things we each choose as our idols and false gods, generally look pretty good to us. If they didn't, we wouldn't run to them. But in reality, they're cruel masters. For example, those of us who choose food, then must constantly worry about our weight and/or our health because our idol has messed up our cholesterol and our weight. Our false gods have made us promises to make us feel good and they can't keep those promises; worse, they lead to death. But there is a True God who will help us, if we will just choose to take His yoke on ourselves instead. Yes, we will still be yoked to someone, but this God is loving and His yoke is easy and the burden is light.

That brings us to the last part of that first line -“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery". The One True God tells us that He is our personal God and He qualifies that, even though He certainly doesn't have to. He says that He is "our" God because He brought us out of the land of slavery. He doesn't want us yoked to those false idols that lie to us and use us and throw us away. He created us to be in an intimate relationship with Him, not with them. He wants 100% of us though and He wants us 100% of the time. All day, every day. He wants us to be yoked to Him and nothing else. Can you imagine yourself literally yoked to Jesus? That's what I try to do to remind myself that no matter where I go, what I do, what I look at or who I talk to, He is with me. He's not just a passive partner that I'm dragging around with them though. No. In fact, He's bearing most of the burden for me, making my burden lighter, just because He loves me and He's "my God."

Speaking of bring us out of slavery, some folks might say, that's not talking about me, that's talking about the Jew's when He brought them out of Egypt, and so it is. But it's also talking about you and me. Well, at least me for sure, because I know without any doubt at all that He's brought me out of my slavery. He rescued me from myself, from the occult, from the new age, from depression, from loneliness, from fear and worry, and from so many other things that I've been a slave to all my life that it would take too long to list them all. And He's still doing it. He brought me out of that slavery and shows me every time I start to slip back or sneak back into one of them. He says we all are enslaved to various different things, and if He hasn't freed you from those things yet, He wants to and He will, if you will let Him.

When we do finally agree with that first sentence and can say, "He is the Lord my God, who brought me out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery", then He adds a command to it. Then He tells us, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. *“You shall have no other gods before me. * (Deut 5:6–7) Most of us don't even think twice about that statement. I know I certainly didn't used to. Not until I understood what a false god really was. When I finally understood that it could be other people, other things, and put it together with who I ran to when I was hurting, instead of running to Him and His Word, only then did I understand what a false god and an idol was. It's not necessarily some statue in a church that we kneel before, light incense to, pray to or "worship". (although that certainly can be one too). That's often what it was during the time when the Lord brought the Jew's out of Egypt, but times have changed and we worship other things now. Even they often worshiped other things besides their stone idols. Whether the idol is stone, wood, a person or thing, doesn't matter. It's still a false god and an idol and we should run away from it as fast as we can.

Why? Because He IS God. Because He is OUR God. Because He loves us and paid an awful price to bring us out of slavery and set us free from slavery to sin so we could be slaves to righteousness instead. Now our slavery doesn't lead to death, instead His yoke is easy, our burden is light and it leads to eternal life with Him.

This is now something I try to dwell on daily and reflect on it as it's important to let it really soak in. He is God and I am not. (in spite of what I often seem to think) I imagine myself literally yoked together with Jesus and try to hold that picture in my mind several times every day. I'll pick out something I do regularly, like opening the fridge or something like that, and every time I do that, I imagine myself yoked to Jesus to remind myself that He is here and He is REAL and that He is God.

Somehow we have to get past this "civilized" world's training that I'm god and make ourselves realize that we're really not and He really is, and just what that means. How can I love God with all my heart, with all my mind and all my strength if I don't really get what God is, what a Lord or Master is, or what a slave is? How can I fear God if I don't understand those things?

I've chosen the idea of imagining myself yoked to Jesus and remembering Deut 5:6-7 as well as Romans 6:16–23 and reflecting on them regularly every day.