Reflection....Innocent holiday or demonic participation?

Now that Halloween is over (thank goodness) I really feel as though I must reflect and speak my mind on this "holiday". Throughout the month of October I have shared numerous articles regarding how specifically Christians should handle Halloween and surprisingly I have not had a one of my Christian friends or family either like an article or respond with their agreement. In fact, I have seen quite the opposite...I have seen more of my Christian friends and family participating and compromising with this holiday than I expected. I have seen numerous Christian and Seventh-day Adventist brothers and sisters dressing up as the most scary and evil things they can possibly be. I have seen them make excuses and say that it's innocent and they just don't think it's that big of a deal. I have even seen secular friends call their own child "little devil" which doesn't surprise me, still hurts me. This breaks my heart to the very core because I know from personal experience just how wrong this is. This has been something that has been weighing on my heart for the last few years and this year I just feel like I cannot let my voice be silent anymore.

Father God, 

I come to You right now before I write this blog asking humbly at your Son's feet that what I am about to say will glorify You and will speak your truth, I know Father that not everyone who reads this is a Christian and I pray that you will send your Holy Spirit to their hearts and minds that they may receive your message through me. I know that many who read this Lord will be believers in You and I pray that you will block any attempt by Satan for them to hear Your message through me and that Satan will not be able to cause them to feel offended or not be able to be receptive of Your word through me. Father, please bless my every word and help it to be pleasing to Your ear and may I not out step my knowledge or say anything that does not glorify You. 

In Jesus precious name I pray, 

Amen!! 

To give you some history about myself, full self-disclosure, and admittance to my own sin, I want to state that I am NOT without sin in this topic. Growing up in a pretty liberal Christian home I was taught early on the evils behind Halloween both at home, in school, and in church. Our church celebrated by having the alternative "Harvest Party" for many years during my youth but I do admit that my parents did allow me and a girlfriend to go out "trick or treating" in costumes. The first costume I remember wearing at Harvest Party at church was Raggedy Ann...pretty innocent right? The next costumes I remember wearing when I joined the secular world to go to strangers doors and ask for candy was several consecutive years as a Vampire. Not very Godly right? Of course into my older teenage and young adult years I gave up trick or treat night and exchanged it for Halloween parties. My path in the secular world and my history in Satanism and my walk that was contrary from God made it very easy for me to participate in these events and think nothing of it. If I wasn't completely ignoring God and His pleas for me to come back to Him, I was justifying my indulgence as innocent fun because I knew Him and I couldn't possibly praise Satan because I was a follower in Christ. When my son was born both his Dad and I had him also participate in this holiday. His first Halloween he wasn't but 5 months old and we dressed him up as a pea pod because Daddy always called him sweet pea. Again...pretty innocent right? Over the years my son dressed in costumes that were not necessarily "satanic" in nature, I refused the typical vampire, or other type of scary costumes and thought that because he went as a "greaser" or Darth Vador, or Spider-man, or King Tut, that we were not glorifying Satan at all and that taking him door to door trick or treating was just an innocent right of passage that every kid got to experience and because I believed in God, we went to church, and he went to church school that we were immune from Satan's influence and all was wonderful with the world. 

( I have TONS of photos I could show you of super cute and funny Halloween costumes my family has dressed up as over the years but, I won't show you because I truly feel as though my sin and my open showing you of my sin causes you as my sister and brother to sin and I refuse to do so)

Over the years I have read many articles and inspiration by my church such as What Every Christian Should Know About Halloween and I have again scoffed and thought, oh whatever, that's not me, that's not how I feel. I'm not like that. Seven years ago when Halloween fell on the Sabbath (the 30th being a Friday night and the 31st being on Saturday) I chose against the warning of my Dad to participate and go out with some friends bar hopping in costume. Without going into too much detail that would be a whole other blog of its own, our "innocent" night ended in complete and utter disaster and began a rode through a hell that I never in my life would have imagined I would ever go through. The following Halloween I again, instead of learning my lesson, indulged in this holiday and took my son out in costume trick or treating, all in the midst of walking through this complete and utter devastation I was experiencing in my life. Some may argue that what I was going through was just a coincidence and had nothing to do with my indulgences but I can tell you that the experiences I was going through were very real, very raw, and Satanic influences were swarming around me. Have you ever been praying intently about something and a picture that represented something important in your life fly off the wall by itself? Have you ever had everything in your life taken away from you in a swift singular moment? Have you ever had nightmares night after night after night of the most horrendous demonic subjects that you were afraid to sleep? Have you ever felt depression, anxiety, and migraine headaches to the point that you wanted to end your own life? Have you ever drank yourself into a complete numbness including taking medication on top of it that you forgot where and who you were and didn't care if you lived or died? Have you ever sat and listened to music so dark and depressing and evil and felt the forces of evil surround you and yet didn't care because your life didn't matter anymore?  If you have and you can even attempt to tell me that it had nothing to do with demonic oppression then I would love to know your secret. 

Why do I call out Halloween now you ask? Why after all these years of openly observing and celebrating this holiday with no question and no regard would I now be a hypocrite now and say please for the love of God stop? I will tell you... Sin, is sin. We can be the most accepting and liberal Christians there is and I grew up in a home like that and I did and do it with my own child. We can try as hard as we can to justify our sins as innocent and that we are not harming anyone but the bottom line is that we as Christians CANNOT EVER partake and justify evil or sinful behavior and claim to be God believing and fearing folk and expect to ever win the secular world onto our side in our active sin. 

You and I can try and justify many issues in our life and ultimately make a decision if we should proceed or not. We can justify celebrating Halloween, fornication, homosexuality, the use of marijuana, etc, etc, etc. But to our own shame, it is "we" that is justifying and not the word of God as our one and only authority. In other words, we are and become hypocrites. We condemn certain sins like homosexuality, yet  practice fornication outside of marriage. We celebrate Halloween, yet we are called to the the salt and light of the world (Matthew 5:13-16). We cannot cherry pick Bible versus that conform to our life and leave out the rest.  These 66 letters were written to govern every aspect of our lives, economics, marriage, workplace, friendship, church assemblies, etc. If you're only a once a week Christian who worships on Sabbath or Sunday, the Lord describes you as a woman's menstrual rags (Isaiah 64:6, Proverbs 15:8, Proverbs 21:27). You must reexamine (2 Corinthians 13:5) who is Lord over your life. Satan wants you to be Lord over your life so that you are not dependent on God (Genesis 3:5), when falling for this snare you are accepting the spiritual mark of the beast (666). As Christian parents would you allow your child to practice pagan worship such as playing with tarot cards, or an Ouija board, light candles and have a psychic reading?  No!! Absolutely NOT! Or at least I pray that you would not. Why then is practicing this pagan and demonic ritual such as dressing up in scary costumes and going door to door asking for candy any different? Halloween if you look up the history is nothing more than a demonic pagan ritual that does nothing else but glorify Satan and no matter how you try and spin it as innocent, it will NEVER be that. 

So in short, a Christian should not be celebrating Halloween, instead they should expose it (Ephesians 5:11) to their kids for the filth that it is. Take the time and preach the Gospel to your own children rather than robbing them of the joy of the Lord. "And Whoever receives on such child in My Name receives me; but whoever causes on of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be frowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks comes! Mathew 18:5-7. 

Do not attempt to conform yourself to the world and partake in demonic activities because brothers and sisters, this holiday is far from innocent, far from non-evil, and far from not being Satanic in every sense of the meaning and word. I can personally testify and I have provided you more than enough proof outside of my own experience to show you that this "holiday" is nothing more than glorifying Satan himself.   I know that there are SO many people that will disagree with me and I welcome you to expose yourselves and your reasoning but I know you won't because deep down, you know I tell the truth. Please brothers and sisters, STOP doing this. Stop compromising. Stop letting your children be exposed to this garbage. Please dig and search for yourselves the origination and meaning behind this day and...

Guest Blogger: Critical Thinking...One Christians attempt to justify Atheism

Please join me in welcoming a guest blogger, Frank Holzhauser. A few weeks ago he was challenged by an atheist to put himself in his shoes and as a Christian try to tell him how God could in fact, not exist.

 Frank simply found this request impossible and I advised to use critical thinking in an attempt to answer this question. The following is his attempt to do so and as a Christian myself who absolutely cannot comprehend Atheism, I would say he did a great job....

As a 58 yr old Christian male, growing up in the faith, I can say with all honesty, I never really doubted God's existence. I may have flirted with the notion in my early teens, but I have had clear and definitive moments in my life where I sought (truth without faith).If I were to apply quote unquote, "critical thinking", I would likely find a hybrid between Christianity and infidel-ism, something along the line of Karma and Nirvana, or the idea that man being somehow a product of his conception. Most likely I would trend towards Intelligent Design, even if God did not exist, I just can't wrap my mind around "nothing created everything", so I will present some of the debates I have had in my own mind. I would try to rely on science, math, physics and biology, as much as it would try explaining my circumstances, but since the world would revolve around me, life would be all about pursuit of me. I readily admit, faith asks a lot, Santa Claus would be about as believable as God. I have said it this way, imagine a prearranged marriage; it was done before your birth and everyone tells you what a great gal your promised to. But you have never met her, felt her, tasted her, touched her or heard her voice, she has never contacted you, even by phone, you have never slept with or had sex with her, but everyone keeps telling you just wait, she is a great woman. So I remain pure for her, day after day I wait as I am asked to do, but I am aging the whole time, my testosterone levels have came and went, its seems by the time we meet, I doubt I can gain an erection to consummate our marriage, it just seems hard to wait any longer... 

...so then I up and die, what's up with that, what good did my faith in marriage get me? I am dead and never lived one day in an embrace of my beloved bride. While I haven't doubted God, I have doubted his care for me, and some of the things written about or ascribed to him, I just can't help but to believe that there is more to life than this. If there isn’t, it’s a very cruel joke as there is so much evil, that somehow or way must be dealt with. Karma as they say is a bitch. This philosophy would appeal to me, that “what goes around comes around". I might more lean towards living multiple lives until a person "gets it right", but philosophy is much like a-holes, everyone has one, so if there is no ultimate truth, I really think I would likely live only for myself.  I really can't feel anyone else's pain or pleasure but my own, so truth would be exclusive to my reason and understanding, and nothing like a drug or alcohol would be out of my reach in pursuit of knowledge, whatever would place me in a higher plain of understanding. There have been moments in my life where I felt my own intellect sufficient for the journey to truth but, as the lyric in the Don Henley song “The Heart of the Matter” goes, while I know many more facts and have much greater knowledge than I did decades ago, "the more I know, the less I understand". I would have to see it, hear it, smell it, taste it, or touch it to prove it truth cause unless my senses could comprehend it, it must not exist. 

I remember one time on Thanksgiving at my dad’s mother’s house, my parents were playing a game of checkers and my dad was losing, so he knocked over the checker board and of course said “oh excuse me, how clumsy of me”, and then laughed like a fool. Well we all knew the purpose was not to get beat by my mom, but I have often thought of this incident and related it to God and Satan. Yes, I am told that God is stronger and in charge but, Satan is winning the battles, maybe till God knocks over the checkerboard, but somehow that doesn’t seem like a win. When scripture points out “broad is the path to destruction and narrow the path to life”, seems as if Satan is taking out more than God is rescuing, so whatever one’s view of things, it requires some amount of “faith” to trust anything, including your own name, how would I even have known it except my mom saying it over and over? We all rely heavily on other’s hand-me down accumulated knowledge, so what’s to be trusted and what’s to be excluded...is the ongoing debate and battle... 

Clearly the problem with faith is it is intangible that by its nature, cannot be proven by human sciences, whether anatomy, chemistry, medicine, biology, physics, math, psychology, psychopathology, astronomy, physiology, psychiatry, philosophy, arts, literature...so, whatever one concludes really comes back to circular reasoning, and whatever archeology can unearth to validate or invalidate mans faith, or reinforce theory and speculation. Prime example, the matter of Clinton, Lewinsky, and a blue dress. DNA science can only determine a sample to be Bill's or not, so what if the dress was washed or destroyed?  Then we are left with faith in Bill's story or Monica's word, provided there is no witness to the event but, if the blue dress didn't exist, did the private event not happen, so even science cannot prove everything?  Then what, back to faith, or theory and speculation? Science demands proof and absolutes, but morals demand absolutes also, so until archaeology digs up indisputable evidence, man escapes the bounds of this solar system or God comes... 

No one I guess has any better idea than the other but; I have hope, another intangible that can't be proven, miracles can't be proven. Here is a story, many a folk root for the Cubs. In sports you have many unproven intangibles. Let's say a team on paper is clearly a superior team, well science should say, that team should always win but, many factors can come into play. Maybe a player’s family member has died, a team can rally around that event, to play over their normal capability, but can that be proven, or even measured? Momentum, home field, injury, a bad call, weather...many factors can catapult an inferior team to victory, but again, can those be proven or measured? I've heard science say that a curve ball is physically impossible, that your eyes are deceived, so is perception reality. Everything we know is really an exercise in faith, it takes faith to believe in God, and it takes faith to not believe in God, so what's the common denominator here mathematicians? You’re right...GOD !! 

Then there is the matter of truth. Can truth be truth if it’s not absolute?  We enter the realm of relative or subjective truth, is a truth here a truth somewhere else?  There are absolute truths to physical law…you jump you fall. But if a Christian says "you sin, you die", they are immediately accused of placing value judgments. See, mans nature is to really do as he pleases, and moral law gives restraint to that, physical law restrains him also, but he will concede that for self-preservation, so even indulging in things of pleasure too much, can come at a heavy cost, to health or life? The Christian is merely asserting not to perish in an un-forgiven state and risk losing salvation. Then that will be met by, “how can salvation be proven”? Back to faith. Some will say it’s all a big bang, you live once and there is nothing past the grave. Well, again we are back to faith, and neither can prove to the other, that their truth isn't theory...

I have my own theory as to atheism that I've been working on for a few months now. Hopefully God will say it's just about complete soon :) As always, feel free to share your thoughts and opinions....

Is it Gossiping to say that someone is Gossiping?

Gossip. Lies. Stories. The fish that keeps getting bigger and bigger. The telephone game. Oh how many of us have been assaulted, hurt, betrayed, and ruined because we have told someone something about ourselves that they felt the need to go tell someone else? How many of us have trusted someone with personal and private information and it has been spread like wildfire? How many times has someone told you something and you went and told someone else? It happens every single day. It happens not only in the secular world but it sadly happens in the church as well, and even more sadly, it happens in the church far more than you would ever imagine or want to admit. 

I have seen this gossip trend increase within my church to the point that I just can't keep it inside anymore....

Father God, 
I pray over my words right now. I pray that you bless this message and that you speak through me. I pray that what I am about to say does not make me a sinner in gossip but that my message will enlighten, educate, and inspire others. Father, please let my plea to others be not be distorted by Satan but be blessed by You! 

In Jesus Christ name, 
Amen, 

The very last thing that a Women's or Men's Ministry leader, a Pastor, a Deacon, a Deaconess, etc., should be doing is gossiping right? When we come to Christ we should emulate and display the Fruits of the Spirit..."But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law" Galatians 5:22-23. 

A leader in the church that ministers and is responsible for hearing private things about others should never ever take these things and talk about them to other people other than those trusted church members who are responsible for the prayer. Leaders of our church are responsible to keep private matters private and to protect the innocent as well as the guilty. Leaders of our church are responsible for leading others to Christ. Who agrees or disagrees with that statement? 

I want to tell you of my own experience with this so that you understand the weight that this brings on my heart and soul because it is real and it is serious...
Recently my family suffered the loss of a dear family member to a long term illness. Funerals are never easy. No one knows what to say or how to act. It is a difficult and hard time to comfort those who have lost someone to death. At a funeral families should come together and comfort one another and to uplift and give words of encouragement and of peace. At this funeral however a family member used gossip about other family members as small talk. The first thing that came out of their mouth was gossip and lies of embarrassing proportions against other family members. Does this happen? Of course it does. People gossip ALL of the time and really think nothing of it. As heartbreaking as that is, it is the truth and it is very real. The last thing that needs to be discussed at the funeral of a family member is other family members troubles in their marriage or troubles in their personal lives right? But this kind of behavior runs wild within our social circles and our families. Since when did other's troubles and shortcomings become small talk? Well, since the existence of time really. Who influences this behavior? Satan. 

Ellen G. White says, "It pains me to say that there are unruly tongues among church members. There are false tongues that feed on mischief. There are sly, whispering tongues. There is tattling, impertinent meddling, adroit quizzing. Among the lovers of gossip some are actuated by curiosity, others by jealousy, many by hatred against those through whom God has spoken to reprove them. All these discordant elements are at work. Some conceal their real sentiments, while others are eager to publish all they know, or even suspect, of evil against another. I saw that the very spirit of perjury, that would turn truth into falsehood, good into evil, and innocence into crime, is now active. Satan exults over the condition of God’s professed people. While many are neglecting their own souls, they eagerly watch for an opportunity to criticize and condemn others. All have defects of character, and it is not hard to find something that jealousy can interpret to their injury. “Now,” say these self-constituted judges, “we have facts. We will fasten upon them an accusation from which they cannot clear themselves.” They wait for a fitting opportunity and then produce their bundle of gossip and bring forth their tidbits.
In their efforts to carry a point, persons who have naturally a strong imagination are in danger of deceiving themselves and deceiving others. They gather up unguarded expressions from another, not considering that words may be uttered hastily and hence may not reflect the real sentiments of the speaker. But those unpremeditated remarks, often so trifling as to be unworthy of notice, are viewed through Satan’s magnifying glass, pondered, and repeated until molehills become mountains. Separated from God, the surmises of evil become the sport of temptation. They scarcely know the strength of their feelings or the effect of their words. While condemning the errors of others, they indulge far greater errors themselves. Consistency is a jewel.
Is there no law of kindness to be observed? Have Christians been authorized of God to criticize and condemn one another? Is it honorable, or even honest, to win from the lips of another, under the guise of friendship, secrets which have been entrusted to him, and then turn the knowledge thus gained to his injury? Is it Christian charity to gather up every floating report, to unearth everything that will cast suspicion on the character of another, and then take delight in using it to injure him? Satan exults when he can defame or wound a follower of Christ. He is “the accuser of our brethren.” Shall Christians aid him in his work?
God’s all-seeing eye notes the defects of all and the ruling passion of each, yet He bears with our mistakes and pities our weakness. He bids His people cherish the same spirit of tenderness and forbearance. True Christians will not exult in exposing the faults and deficiencies of others. They will turn away from vileness and deformity, to fix the mind upon that which is attractive and lovely. To the Christian every act of faultfinding, every word of censure or condemnation, is painful.
There have always been men and women who profess the truth, who have not conformed their lives to its sanctifying influence; men who are unfaithful, yet deceiving themselves and encouraging themselves in sin. Unbelief is seen in their life, their deportment, and character, and this terrible evil acts as does a canker. 

Testimony Treasures, Vol. 2, p. 22-23. Jealousy and Faultfinding Condemned 1882, Testimonies for the Church. 

Friends....How powerful is that???? If that doesn't convince you as to the dangers of gossip please reference: 

What effect can gossip have? It breaks down relationships.  Exodus 23:1, TLB. "Do not pass along untrue reports. Do not cooperate with an evil man by affirming on the witness stand something you know is false." 

Gossip is as harmful and lasting as physical wounds. , Proverbs 25:18, TLB. "Telling lies about someone is as harmful as hitting him with an axe, or wounding him with a sword, or shooting him with a sharp arrow." 

Gossip wastes valuable time.  II Thessalonians 3:11-12, TLB. "Yet we hear that some of you are living in laziness, refusing to work, and wasting your time in gossiping. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we appeal to such people—we command them—to quiet down, get to work, and earn their own living." 

Gossip can ruin friendships.  Proverbs 16:28, TLB. "An evil man sows strife; gossip separates the best of friends." 

Gossip is based on rumors.  Proverbs 11:13, TLB. "A gossip goes around spreading rumors, while a trustworthy man tries to quiet them."

According to God, the punishment for gossip should be death!!!! You are literally committing murder, you are killing another person by gossiping about them and telling lies! You are breaking a Commandment issued by God...

"You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor". Exodus 20:16. 

This family member who chose to gossip about other family members is also a member of my church. This person is considered a leader in my church. The church I grew up in. The church that I consider my home. The place that I should feel safe. That we should all feel safe. This person is allowed to serve in leadership positions and have personal and private information about other people is the same person who will take this information and gossip and lie about them. Am I gossiping by telling this information? Maybe. I don't know. What I do know is that I cannot set by idly and silent while this happens. I feel compelled by my heart to reveal this information in hope and prayer that leaders of church will read this and will think twice about who we let "minister" to others. This is the time friends and family that we cannot let Satan infiltrate our churches and our homes like we have let him infiltrate our society. We are not of this world. We don't belong on this earth. The things that happen here, the sinful, horrible atrocities that happen in this world are foreign to us because Christ calls us to be better and to rise above, yet, we allow it in our own church home that we should feel peace and safety. Satan is not the red horned devil with the long forked tail and the scary teeth that Hollywood portrays him to be. He is your neighbor. He is your "friend". He is your "family" member. He is the person setting next to you in the pew at church. Satan is charming, he is handsome, and he has been studying you and your family for thousands of years to know that exact thing that will tempt you to fall and disgrace your Father in Heaven. 

Church family WAKE UP!!! Wake up an discipline your church members. Think about who you are allowing to minister to the sheep of your fold. Think about the new members that you are trying to convince of your faith and your teachings. Think about those who are broken and down and who need uplifting and pray about who you are trusting to serve over them. Now is NOT the time to let just anyone into positions of power. Everyone is welcomed into the church of God, everyone deserves a second chance and everyone, EVERY ONE, is loved by God, BUT, not every one is of honorable intentions. We must be careful and watchful because "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" Ephesians 6:12. I do not tell you these things out of hatred but I tell you these things out of prayer, honest and sincere prayer, that these individuals will recognize their sin and will repent and will stop their evil tongues from destroying another person. It hurts me. It breaks my heart. It makes me stay away from the only church family I have ever known because I KNOW THE TRUTH. I have been the victim of this person's lies and gossip and murder. I see how they have snowballed everyone into thinking they are a true follower of God when in reality they are murdering others with their words. 

I can only pray that my words are taken to heart by you who are reading this and that you will be brave enough to stand up and speak against this when you see it happening in your own church and your own family and your own social circle. 

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous hand". Isaiah 41:10

Do you long for Sisterhood in Christ?

I read something yesterday that really struck my heart and I wanted to share it and some of my own thoughts with you today about sisters, sisterhood, friendship, and sisterhood in Christ. 

I have a handful of really great women in my life that I am lucky enough to call my dearest friends. These aren't family members, these are women that I have formed a bond with that has lasted through thick and thin, through bickering, through good times, through trials. These women have stuck by my side even when we go long periods without talking to each other. These women are strong and faithful women and I believe that God brought them into my life for a reason and for them I am eternally grateful. I know that these women will be my friends long into my earthly life and into my Heavenly future. 

When I think about sisters and friends however, my heart does ache because there are many women out there that don't have this type of bond with other women for whatever reason. There are women out there that I thought were going to be my sister and friend and for many different reasons have now faded away from my life. It's those relationships that I mourn and I long for because I know that by us not treating each other the way we should, we our making our Father incredibly sad. Women are a unique species aren't we? We are strong and yet we are gentle. We can speak words of love and kindness and then turn right around and speak words that tear each other down and hurt each other to the very core. We are emotional beings and when our feelings get hurt our first reaction is to hurt the person who made us feel so terribly about ourselves. We are competitive, we are jealous, we can be slanderous and hateful. These actions make us a disgrace to ourselves and to our God we profess to love. 

I ran across a blog entry that I want to share with you by one of my favorite Godly women and I wonder what you think of it or if it strikes you the way it did me? 

How differently might our lives be if we women didn't have to fear the harsh criticisms of other women? Might we be willing to step out a little bolder for Jesus? Might we live our lives a little less guarded?
Oh sweet sisters, women judging other women must absolutely break God’s heart.
The crazy thing is when we judge others, we elevate ourselves past the ability to recognize our own propensity to sin in the very area we are criticizing. Show me a woman who is leveling a judgment against another person, and I will show you a woman who is wrapped in sin herself.If it’s not the very same sin she’s criticizing, it will be a sin just as dangerous — pride.
It's a subtle shift that Satan invites us into. Voicing criticisms against others will coat the eyes of our soul with smut so thick, we become blinded to our own sin. Pride and self-righteousness will detour us from God’s best path and lead us on a treacherous journey of denial. We’ll deny our own sinfulness. We’ll deny our own need for grace.
Those who can’t see their own desperate need for grace, refuse to freely give grace to others.
Now, if you’re like me, you may be tempted to start making a mental list of those who you have felt judged by and you started praying a few sentences back: “Please let so and so read this post. Oh I hope she sees herself in this and gets a whammy of conviction.”
But, let’s stop making that mental list and receive this message personally. Even if we aren't naturally critical people, this is an area we can all grow in.
- Lysa TerKeurst

Powerful stuff right there sisters!!! And the last paragraph....whewwwwweeeee! That hit me right in the gut. How often have I posted things wishing that so and so would see it and it would smack her in the face with guilt and conviction. I am guilty. I admit it. And what is even worse is that I read this post and it sinks in but I promise you, I will fall again. I will do it again. It's my sinful nature to want other people who have hurt me, to hurt. It's a daily fight between me, Satan, and God. Oh how I long for this world to end and to gain entry into my Eternal Home and for this struggle to be taken from me. But, that is not our reality right now is it? We are still here, and while we're here we have to battle these feelings, temptations, and sins. These negatives in our lives are truths. We literally do these things to each other without a second thought. But sisters, there is another truth. That truth is that Jesus longs for us as women to love one another, to support each other, to uplift each other, to be encouraging and thought provoking, and to pray for each other, but the strongest of these is love. Sisters, we NEED each other. Life can get so difficult at times with all the responsibilities of being a woman. We have husbands, children, careers, education, God, church, etc, etc, etc. We have obligations and responsibilities. We need to be there for each other, we need to listen to each other, we need to be present with each other, and most of all we need to pray for each other. 

Women of noble character do not slander each other. They do not hate each other. They do not gossip about each other. They do not treat each other unkindly. They do not tear each other down. Those things are what Satan wants. Those are things he whispers in our ears to do to each other so that our church can be ripped apart from the very inside out! 

So how do we prevent this bitterness and wrath towards each other, how do we stop judging each other and tearing each other down? We take up the sword of Christ, we pick up our Bibles and we go to war with Satan using the Scriptures to speak truths about ourselves and each other! 

Here are some powerful truths about what a sister in Christ is and does.... 


“A friend loveth at all times…” Proverbs 17:17
Trying to walk each day as a woman of faith, while facing all this world has to throw at us, is often hard to do.  But the Lord has promised He will never leave us or forsake us, and He often sends into our life, the special blessing of a special sister. 

She is a spiritually mature woman who can offer support and comfort, and is waiting to reach out with encouragement and prayer. 
She has a desire within her heart that compels her to reach out to another who is hurting. 
She has the love of Jesus within her and it shows. 
She is like-minded, understanding, a listener, an encourager, and a prayer warrior. There is a special bond between you as sisters in Christ. 
She can be relied upon to lift you up in prayer and trusted in confidence. This special sister will tell you the truth, even when it may not be what you want to hear. 

“Sisters in Christ are like pillars on a porch. Sometimes they lean on you, and sometimes you hold them up. But it is always good to know that they are always standing by.”

This born-again desire of “sisterly love” is a sure sign that Jesus now dwells within us. 

Are you ready to live your life like pillars on a porch for each other sisters? Are you ready to answer Christs call to love one another? If you are, say this prayer with me....

In genuine sincerity, you can speak to Jesus...Lord Jesus, I know that I am not the woman that you desire me to be. I know I am a sinner and that my sin separates me from you. I firmly believe that you died on the cross for my sins and suffered in my place for the condemnation that I deserve.
I come to you now for forgiveness and to surrender my life to You. I come to you now for forgiveness and to surrender my life to You. You have been patiently waiting outside the door of my heart knocking. I now open the door.Come in, Lord Jesus, and be my Lord and Savior forever.

Your circle will get smaller, but it is worth it!

"Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Matthew 5:10-12

There are a lot of things going on in the world right now. Social media and the news are abuzz with stories about Bruce Jenner, The Duggars, Police Brutality, Christian business being shut down for refusing to glorify sin, etc, etc, etc. And of course in our human nature we all have an opinion about them. Facebook has went from a fun place to share pictures of family and friends and events in our lives to a place of political and religious agenda. It seems to be the only place where you can voice your beliefs to the widest audience. However, with your opinion there is always a counter opinion. Social media is place where you are free to say what is on your mind-to a limit-and with that comes either support and agreement, or personal attack in opposition of your opinion or belief. If someone disagrees with you they are free to "de-friend" or "unfollow" or they are free to comment on your post and start a discussion and/or argument. You are also free to voice your opinion in favor or against someone else's and in turn will either be "de-friended" or "blocked" from their social media lives. 

Recently I encountered this. I had a "friend" or more of an associate, someone I used to work with a long time ago that I followed on FB. He made this huge FB post angered towards the fact that so many people are posting meme's making fun of Bruce "Caitlyn" Jenner and how he is being called a hero for coming out of his cross dressing closet. Many people feel that he should not be called a hero for cutting himself up and trying to change himself into something that he is not when there are so many other hero's out there like our police force, fire department, and military. Others who have eggs in the transgender basket feel that he is a hero for coming out publicly about how he has always felt that he is a woman trapped in a mans body and people feel it's heroic that he is doing this change so out in the open and sharing his story with the world in hopes that other in the closet transgenders will be brave enough to do the same. His post went like this: 

"Changing genders, fighting for our freedoms or being a hero in general requires each and every individual to have courage, and courage takes a hell of a lot more guts than half the people I see wasting their time talking down on Caitlyn Jenner. How about this, instead of posting tasteless memes, you go out and do something that requires courage from you. Put yourself out there and see what happens. Maybe someone will make a hateful meme about you!"

I replied to this post because I am one of those rare people that doesn't think Bruce is a hero. I also took a bit of offense because in general, everyone these days is so up in arms about social issues, which is great, but they are only passionate about what suits their agenda and they don't care about the issues that other people care about. This world is so topsy turvy towards the liberal left agenda and more and more if your voice your opinion or belief against the perversion and sin that has taken hold of our world, the more you are ostracized and persecuted. 

I replied to this post stating that I as a Christian put myself "out there" on a daily basis and face persecution from social media, friends, and family for standing up for my faith, and asked if that takes the kind of courage that he was talking about. You see, I've witnessed this person numerous times make negative comments regarding religion and religious people in standing up for his beliefs in "humanity". Spiritualism runs rampant and is a central theme. So I wondered if he cared about religious persecution and religious freedom as part of his "humanity" stance or if it was just transgender or gay rights he cared about. I was sure to get a reaction but I didn't quite expect the one I got from his wife who I have considered a pretty good friend, even though we've never met in person:

"I guess you missed the part where he said "fighting for our freedoms" which you can probably lump in the religious freedom that you speak of. Instead, you have chosen to make this post about victimizing yourself and the rest of your Christian Crusade. Unlike the close-minded judgement I've seem come from some of your posts, we're accepting of all humans, even self-proclaimed Jesus Freaks (your words on your bio, not mine) like yourself. Perhaps you should re-read before leaving comments as asinine as the one you just left."

I don't know about anyone else but that response didn't sound very "accepting", nor did it feel accepting at all. In fact it felt downright rude and cruel. I know, I shouldn't get offended but I admit, it hurt my feelings to be talked to in this tone when I have been NOTHING but supportive and nice to this girl. I replied to her that she should trust me, that I do not feel like a victim whatsoever because Christ told me in His word that I will be persecuted for believing in Him and declaring His name and I feel pride when this happens because I know I'm doing something right. I told her that I was simply making the point that everyone has a right to their opinion. They have a right to support Bruce Jenner, I really could care less. I pointed out that other people have the right to post "tasteless" memes or to stand up against him being called a hero and that they shouldn't care either, and I waved a white flag. I was again met with a cold and rude tone:

"The  only people that should be offended by his post are the ones posting tacky memes or making comments attacking someone for just being themself, so unless you're guilty of that then there was no need for the comment asking if you fit into his definition of humanity."

She went on to say that she's never made a negative comment about religious issues in the past and honestly, I don't have the time or patience to go back into either of their social media accounts to prove what I've seen so I just left it alone. But to add insult to injury, I discovered this morning that I have been blocked from her Instagram account. This is a person that is a pretty well known blogger and has her own business and I've done more than what I was ever obligated to do by supporting her and spreading the word about her to get her more exposure and more followers. I guess the fact that we have differing opinions means more to her than the word of mouth business that she runs and how she treats people who have a different opinion than her own. *SHRUG*

My point in this is that right or wrong on the fact that I probably should have left the post alone in the first place...this is the type of thing that is running rampant on social media these days. If you are ANYTHING but a conservative Christian then you are stuck up for, you are defended, and you deserve your rights to do anything you want to without anyone saying anything against you. If you are a Christian however, you are hated, you are slandered, you are made fun of, you are de-friended and blocked, you are persecuted, your business is threatened with lawsuit and shut down, you are called a bigot, closed minded, told you are following a hate filled God, etc, etc. In fact in response to one of my comments on this post another person came up to say

"Christians put themselves out there for mocking by trying to justify hatred and bigotry using an irrelevant, ancient book." - MB

Irrelevant and ancient book. That's what I see constantly. The insults are slung around about Christians so freely these days that it is almost as if we should go to legislation and try to make it a hate crime like everyone else does for their agenda. Here is the thing though....ALL of this is already predicted in the Bible. Christ already warned us and told us this was going to happen and has told us that "If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you." 1 Peter 4:14. I found 72 verses alone about persecution towards Christians, and I know there are far more than that. I've experienced all kinds of persecution regarding my religious beliefs my whole life. As far back as I can remember I have been made fun of because I observe the true Biblical Sabbath, I've been made fun of and actually had people get angry with me because I don't eat pork. I don't know if it's because I am an adult now and I'm more aware of it, or if the persecution is just getting worse, but in today's society it seems that if you speak the name of Christ you are immediately hated. The sad part of it is, we are so misunderstood which is the claim of the other side. I want to make it clear, I don't hate Bruce Jenner, I don't hate transgender people, and I don't hate gay people. I don't hate atheists or agnostics. In fact I very much love them. Christ loves them, so I love them. The secular world fails to understand that all we as Christians to is pray for them and lift them up to Christ asking Him to have mercy on them and give them enough time to come to Him and ask for forgiveness and turn from their sin so that they might enjoy the peace and comfort in Christ that we have. I want the whole world to be in Heaven. I loathe the thought of Satan winning any life over to his evil agenda. I loathe the thought of any person falling victim to his lies and losing their salvation. It simply breaks my heart. 

The closer you become to Christ the farther away from the world you become. You become an alien to society and to the worldly ways and the secular view becomes more and more disgusting. The closer to Christ you get the easier Satan's lies become exposed and if you believe in God your natural instinct is to talk about Him, to tell people about Him, to reject things and people that reject Him. In doing this you will come to realize that you are going to lose people in your life. Those people that you thought were good friends or even your own family members will turn against you for your beliefs. It will hurt. It will cause you to feel offended. Embrace that pain because Christ is sifting the wheat from the tares. Christ is putting this world through great labor pains to weed out those who will follow Him and those who will not. Not everyone you lose is a loss. The closer to Christ you become, your circle will get smaller and it is worth it. Surround yourself with like minded people who will be able to lift you up and keep your strong in these final days on earth. Don't feel bad about cutting people out of your life that do not have the same beliefs as you. You don't have to be "friends" with everyone and not everyone that comes in and out of your life is meant to stay there.