God is our Provider

God is our Provider. We might not always recognize His provision, but sometimes He makes it very clear. I write this from a hotel room in my new town 2,000 miles away from the last place He assigned me to. We sold our house and headed out on closing day without a place to go.

Getting the right rental house here was not an easy task. I needed a place to accomodate four adults and one four-year-old. I found out quickly that rentals controlled by property management companies required a background check and credit check on each adult resident. And they charge anywhere from $25 to $50 per adult - a sum we were expected to pay upfront without any guarantee of a rental.

So I focused on owner rentals and spent a couple of days looking at those and what a disappointment. Most were run-down and in bad neighborhoods or directly next to a high school with students coming and going. The only place that looked custom fit for us, even at a lower price than the others was already spoken for. I was so disappointed as none of the available properties stood up to that one in an ideal location, blocks from where our rental truck was parked at the Wal-Mart, a walk-out basement with a bedroom for my married daughter, husband and granddaughter, an office for me with a mountain/lake view, a playground across the street and within a mile from our new church.

I was about to give up and just put all our stuff into storage and the phone rang. The owner called me back from my number that her smart phone saved and told me those she was going to rent to backed out at the last minute. That, folks, is a God-thing!

We are signing the rental agreement in the morning and moving in on Wednesday.

And all your prayers, I am convinced, made the difference. Taking our needs colectively to our Provider brings results. All the praise to our LORD Jesus. I anxiously await His assignment for me in this new place.

"Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever...
He calms the storm,
So that its waves are still.
Then they are glad because they are quiet;
So He guides them to their desired haven.
Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!"
-- Ps 107-1, 29-31

"The LORD upholds all who fall,
And raises up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look expectantly to You,
And You give them their food in due season.
You open Your hand
And satisfy the desire of every living thing.
The LORD is righteous in all His ways,
Gracious in all His works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
-- Ps. 145:14-18

'God's on Our Side'

Since my book, The Fleecing of Christianity, was published I've curtailed my monitoring of Christian television quite a bit. Besides, my family was getting a bit weary of hearing the voices of heretics and con-men coming from my room.

But last week I came across the local religious network's fundraising time and saw that the same arm-twisting come-ons were still being utilized to rob needy people. The same vile men and haughty women were on the set going after the people where they are the weakest. Promising them a special anointing if they would sow a seed that would buy them the miracle they seek for their finances, lost loved ones, and critical illnesses. These deceived men, deceiving others, are and have led countless people into shipwrecked faith and they do so thinking God is on their side.

The late Paul Crouch used to use spiritual threats against his perceived enemies, boasting that those who have come against him and TBN would pay the price. He even said one of them is now dead, referring to the late Walter Martin, and taking credit for his demise, thinking God was on his side.

Now his network is in the hands of his widow, one who has reportedly tried to poison him by spiking his alcoholic drink and who cheated on him with other men as he cheated on her with other men as well. She and her love-child, Matt, a product from one of her lovers it has been reported, continue to live lavishly on the sacrificial giving of the less fortunate. They spend millions of those dollars trying to snuff out any opposition to their fortune and ill-gotten gains. They have even resorted to threats of violence -- hard to imagine they might think God could be on their side.

All these puppets who are being used by the spirit of antichrist to destroy 'the faith once and for all delivered unto the saints' certainly do have powers and principalities working alongside them. I have heard from many of those who have stood up to them testify of demonic attacks coming against them during the battle. I have seen this in my own ministry when I've touched the little gods of televangelism. And I have seen the intense spiritual oppression now being hurled against Paul Crouch Jr's daughters who have dared to take a stand against the evil they have seen with their own eyes in their family. Their own father has stood against them as he protects his own position as a VP of the Word network, one that features the worst of all flock-fleecers, thinking God is not on his daughters' side.

I'm rereading a book right now that was written by Walter Martin's mentor, Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, called The Invisible War; The Panorama of the Continuing Conflict Between Good and Evil. He shows how this long battle has been waging since ancient times. Here we are now at the precipice of its final resolution. The devil knows his time is short and so the battle rages.

Some of us are on the front-line of the war. But if God be for us who can be against us? The battle is the LORD's. It doesn't count that God is on our side; but that we are on God's side.

Pray for His hedge of protection around all those on the battle front.

"Violence shall no longer be heard in your land,
Neither wasting nor destruction within your borders;
But you shall call your walls Salvation,
And your gates Praise.
The sun shall no longer be your light by day,
Nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you;
But the LORD will be to you an everlasting light,
And your God your glory.
Your sun shall no longer go down,
Nor shall your moon withdraw itself;
For the LORD will be your everlasting light,
And the days of your mourning shall be ended.
Also your people shall all be righteous;
They shall inherit the land forever,
The branch of My planting,
The work of My hands,
That I may be glorified.
A little one shall become a thousand,
And a small one a strong nation.
I, the LORD, will hasten it in its time.”
-- Is 60: 18-22

"Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world." - 1Pet 5:6-9

"In One Accord"

"Fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind." -- Phil 2:2

"One accord"? I love the sound of that. Believers living in love and unity with a common purpose and work for the LORD. Do we ever see that in today's churches? Maybe sometimes. It seems to me that as long as a paid pastor is expected to do all the work of the ministry, you won't see that. But when a gathering of believers accepts and receives the gifts of each individual member, you stand a better chance of seeing it.

I looked up "one accord" in my concordance, and guess what? There are an equal amount of Bible passages using that term but applying it to evil work being done by enemies of Truth.

• Those who stoned Stephen in the seventh chapter of the book of Acts, rushed in on him with 'one accord.'

• The Hittites and Canaanites were all in 'one accord' when they formed an army to oppose Joshua in Jos. 9.

• In Luke 14, we're told that the invited guests who had more important things to do than to attend the wedding feast, spoke up and declined the invitation with 'one accord.'

 
So when people gather together to accomplish something, as long as they are in 'one accord,' they stand a better chance of success -- for good or for bad.

Why is it though that today we're seeing the enemy in our midst dividing the church, messing with them accomplishing anything with 'one accord.'? 

Fighting over rapture timing makes it impossible for believers to be in 'one accord,' but rather they are divided and defeated. 

Squabbling over the gifts of the Spirit quenches the Spirit and does not produce 'one accord.'

Evil suspicions and roots of bitterness in our circles paralyzes us from any labor of love done in 'one accord.'

The devil knows how to sabotage all our efforts at getting the everlasting Gospel out into the highways and byways. It's like every ministry must work by itself to accomplish anything since they can't be in 'one accord' with other ministries who share the same purpose. 

We have to learn to recognize the schemes of the enemy and not fall prey to them. The enemy's camp seems to be on 'one accord' and with 'one mind' are persecuting believers and winning the war against what is good and now evil prevails.

Pray for discernment in the body of Christ. Pray that we would recognize the presence of the enemy and know to resist the impulses he projects onto us. Divisions among us should only occur when it is biblically commanded. When petty differences win the day, we lose.

"Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did." - Acts 8:4-6

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm." - Eph 6:10-13

Wagging Heads

"And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads" - Matt 27:39

The older I get, the more tangible is my longing to see my Jesus face to face. The more I desire that, the more vocal I get about Him. I can't shut up about Him. The more I exalt Him, the more people distance themselves from me. If you are His, you've seen this too. Our love for Him is interpreted by unbelievers as a condemnation of them.

While Jesus hung dying on the cross, mockers were heckling Him and "wagging their heads." Can you just picture that? But when darkness fell and the earthquake struck, the wagging stopped as fear overcame them. 

We may live to see this in our own lives, if we are indeed living at the time of His appearing. I can just picture the faces of those TV pundits who have slammed the faith they despise because it shines the light upon their dark lives, when judgment is unleashed. I'll be watching from the mezzanine safely with our bridegroom.

• Kathy Griffin will be grasping her Emmy Award that she received while wagging her head at Jesus.

• Rosie O'Donnell will be hiding under the bed she shared with her same-sex partner and her head will stop wagging.

• Ted Turner who proclaimed, 'Christianity is a religion for losers,' will stop wagging and start crying out to the rocks to hide him from the Judge of all mankind.

• Bill Maher who wagged his head at Bible-believers saying religion 'stops people from thinking,' will be shaking his fists, instead of his head, toward heaven.

But until then we can expect more of the same from those who hate God and thereby hate His followers. 

Hold fast until He comes!! Hold onto your crowns!!

"If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me."- John 15:18-21

“'He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still. And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.'" - Rev 22:11-12