We have all been fools. We have all believed lies, because we have desired lies more than the truth. That is why we keep falling into the same traps of the devil, over and over again. Man has not changed and God and the devil have not changed. So the devil’s lies that worked before, will keep on working as long as man keeps his sinful nature.
I am mainly talking about the reason Jesus was rejected upon His first coming. Men were expecting a different kind of savior and king, a physical earthly savior. For the very same reason, Jesus’ second return has also been rejected by man. The reasoning or lies of the devil that man wanted to believe ended up having the result of crucifying Jesus Christ on the cross the first time He came. For the very same reason, men have rejected Christ’s second coming. Men are still looking for a physical reigning king. Men have been fools for the devil, over and over again. As long as man clings onto his/her selfishness, we will be fools and take in the devil’s lies for our own truth.
What is this major lie that we have believed about Christ’s return? It is an assumption by man that Christ or God wants to setup His kingdom and reign on earth as an earthly or physical king. An earthly/physical kingdom is the last thing God wants His kingdom to be. God is Spirit and His kingdom must also be Spirit. Just because we are stuck in this physical earthly realm for a small amount of time, doesn’t mean that God wants to be stuck to a physical earthly kingdom. Just because we are in a physical body for now, doesn’t mean that God wants to be limited to an earthly physical body. With God you have to start thinking out of the box – by getting out of your box.
People have been waiting for God to rule over His kingdom with a “rod of iron.” Of course we automatically think of a physical rule of Christ where everyone is kept in line by God’s great power and will conquer all that is evil or bad. Please think again! There are only two great powers that control every person’s heart and actions. They are fear, which is out of loosing something of one’s own self, and love, which is all about giving of one’s own self. So, does the words “rod of iron” indicate that God wants to rule out of fear or love? Most have taken it to be out of fear. We have been fools, this is not God’s way, especially under His new covenant with us. The only one that wants to rule out of fear is the devil, his demons, and the people with the devil’s nature (selfishness). God on the other hand has always wanted to rule His people out of a pure love for Him and others.
People have greatly under-estimated the power of these two loves, the love of God and the love of self. These two kinds of love rule over every spirit on earth, in heaven, and in hell. It is the “love of God” that is the “rod of iron”, for nothing is stronger than pure love. The next ruling power under God’s love is the love of self (the devil’s nature). We currently live in a realm where there is both the love of God and the love of self. If a person is ruled by God’s love which has filled their heart, then they will have the nature of God and will always do God’s will. It is God’s love that will rule everyone in His kingdom. If a person is ruled by self love, then they will think and do as the devil has done from the beginning. It will be the self love that rules and destroys every soul in the devil’s kingdom.
Can anyone point to a time in history when God ruled His people by fear? It is true that everyone should reverently fear God for His greatness, but he has never ruled anyone by fear. God only punishes by fear. God has brought people to the point of fearing Him out of His wrath, usually for their past disobedience, but He always allows them to become disobedient before He sends His wrath. God has always wanted to rule His people by His people loving Him and the people being obedient to Him out of that love. It is only after people weren’t obedient, out of love, that He would send His wrath. God’s plan is not to whip us into shape and into obedience; He wants to love us into His perfect spiritual kingdom. The only ones that God has to discipline and show His wrath to are the ones that are still in the devil’s spiritual kingdom, the selfish and disobedient.
Somehow through our selfish assumptions, man has assumed that there will only be a peaceful or perfect kingdom during Christ’s millennial reign, that there will be no evil. Why did we and why do we still assume this, because we want to believe it. We don’t want to have to fight the evil ourselves; we want God to do it all. We want God to create an environment where everything is perfect, where there is no evil, and there are no temptations for our selfishness to take up on. Why do we keep fooling ourselves, where ever there is selfishness, there is evil. There can be no perfect environment where there is still any selfishness.
During Christ’s millennial reign, the scriptures don’t indicate there is no evil. The scriptures just say that the devil is locked up for those thousand years while Christ reigns. There was still evil during that time, because there were still a lot of people with their selfishness. Selfishness is evil; self love is the spirit or nature of the devil. No where does scriptures mention that Christ reigns over and controls every person during His millennial reign, again we assumed that. We have assumed wrong.
So, all of you that have been fooled by the devil’s tricks and are still waiting for Christ’s second coming, quit fooling yourself and realize that men have already rejected Christ’s second coming for the same reasons that they rejected Christ’s first coming. Christ has already returned and is waiting for more souls to enter His kingdom. If you keep rejecting His return, then you will probably miss out on Him reigning in your heart as well.
The Lamb and the Lion have already lain down together. The Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God have already laid down on the cross together. Don’t let the devil deceive you any longer. His kingdom is here and Christ wants you to fight for it.
As for our near future, we are all to see God’s wrath come upon us, because we have rejected Christ and His kingdom. It doesn’t matter that we were mistaken and deceived, because we let ourselves be deceived. It doesn’t matter if we believe God’s wrath is coming or not, God doesn’t need for you to believe in order for Him to do what He has already decided to do. Even though God’s wrath will not be stopped, any person that still wants to die to his own self love and be filled with God’s love will enter into His eternal kingdom.
Date: 4/20/2011
Michael W Reid
Showing posts with label devil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label devil. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Our Children’s Spiritual Foundation
Dear friends,
What does Proverbs 22:6 mean to you?
Proverbs 22:6 - Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
Most of us think this means that if we train our child in the ways of the Lord, then he/she will not depart from that truth they have learned as a child, because they first learned God’s truth in their life and it then becomes the foundation for the rest of their life. This is true.
This verse (Proverbs 22:6) is also loved by the devil, because it works in his favor also. If the devil can make sure that his deceptions are what our children learn first and depend on, then the lies of the devil become the foundation for these deceived persons.
What ever foundation we believe in – it is that same foundation we will also build upon. In our life - we will build upon the foundation with more of what is already contained in the foundation. If our foundation is God’s truth, then more truth will be built upon that foundation. If our foundation is not of God’s truth, then lies and deception can only be built upon that foundation.
So what foundations are you letting being built in your children? Are you giving over your children to the world to create the foundation, or are you protecting your children from the world until they have a Godly foundation completed in their life? Who or what has the most influence in your child’s life? Where are they getting most of their training? Where is most of their time spent?
The verse that proceeds Proverbs 22:6 is what we need to do concerning our children or for that matter any believer that is not mature in God’s Spirit yet.
Proverbs 22:5 - In the paths of the wicked lie thorns and snares, but he who guards his soul stays far from them.
Many of us are heart broken, because we have children that have grown up and gone away from the Lord or have children that have never really came to the Lord, and we ask ourselves “why did this happen”. Well, if we let our children be given over to the wolves in sheep’s clothing to train our children, how can we be surprised when they don’t submit to the Lord and His ways when we have let their foundation be laid by the world which values selfishness instead of Godly love. Also, like most builders already know, and now we have sadly realized – once the foundation has been laid, it is very hard to remove it and lay a different foundation.
You may ask – but what can we do? Don’t our children need an education to make it in this world? Yes they need an education, but what is the education they need? Do you want your children to prosper in this earthly life even if it means forfeiting their eternity in heaven – the devil is very happy with this plan. Unknowingly - this is the plan that most of us have found ourselves following. But, there can be a Godly balance – we need to educated our children on the ways of the Lord first and realize every other kind of learning must fall under and have less priority then learning about God and committing ourselves to Him. We must not put the cart before the horse – we must keep God the priority or all is lost and worthless.
Remember – the devil wants to get at our children first, because he wants to lay the foundations of their life before God can. Are you going to let him?
Your caring servant in Christ,
Michael Reid
What does Proverbs 22:6 mean to you?
Proverbs 22:6 - Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
Most of us think this means that if we train our child in the ways of the Lord, then he/she will not depart from that truth they have learned as a child, because they first learned God’s truth in their life and it then becomes the foundation for the rest of their life. This is true.
This verse (Proverbs 22:6) is also loved by the devil, because it works in his favor also. If the devil can make sure that his deceptions are what our children learn first and depend on, then the lies of the devil become the foundation for these deceived persons.
What ever foundation we believe in – it is that same foundation we will also build upon. In our life - we will build upon the foundation with more of what is already contained in the foundation. If our foundation is God’s truth, then more truth will be built upon that foundation. If our foundation is not of God’s truth, then lies and deception can only be built upon that foundation.
So what foundations are you letting being built in your children? Are you giving over your children to the world to create the foundation, or are you protecting your children from the world until they have a Godly foundation completed in their life? Who or what has the most influence in your child’s life? Where are they getting most of their training? Where is most of their time spent?
The verse that proceeds Proverbs 22:6 is what we need to do concerning our children or for that matter any believer that is not mature in God’s Spirit yet.
Proverbs 22:5 - In the paths of the wicked lie thorns and snares, but he who guards his soul stays far from them.
Many of us are heart broken, because we have children that have grown up and gone away from the Lord or have children that have never really came to the Lord, and we ask ourselves “why did this happen”. Well, if we let our children be given over to the wolves in sheep’s clothing to train our children, how can we be surprised when they don’t submit to the Lord and His ways when we have let their foundation be laid by the world which values selfishness instead of Godly love. Also, like most builders already know, and now we have sadly realized – once the foundation has been laid, it is very hard to remove it and lay a different foundation.
You may ask – but what can we do? Don’t our children need an education to make it in this world? Yes they need an education, but what is the education they need? Do you want your children to prosper in this earthly life even if it means forfeiting their eternity in heaven – the devil is very happy with this plan. Unknowingly - this is the plan that most of us have found ourselves following. But, there can be a Godly balance – we need to educated our children on the ways of the Lord first and realize every other kind of learning must fall under and have less priority then learning about God and committing ourselves to Him. We must not put the cart before the horse – we must keep God the priority or all is lost and worthless.
Remember – the devil wants to get at our children first, because he wants to lay the foundations of their life before God can. Are you going to let him?
Your caring servant in Christ,
Michael Reid
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Are the USA Churches a Friend or Foe to God?
During the first few centuries of the church after Jesus Christ was resurrected, the Christians of the Church were much different than most of the professing Christians of our day. The Christians of the original church knew that by accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they would be heavily persecuted and face death for professing their faith. Actually most of these original church Christians did lose their life because of their faith in Christ. During the severe persecution by the Roman Empire against all Christians, most Christians were hunted down and killed during the first three centuries of the church’s history. These original church Christians knew to receive eternal salvation, they would have to give their lives as a living sacrifice, by living holy and blameless by the power of the Holy Spirit, even unto death. They knew they were God’s light in this world and that their only purpose for living was to glorify God. They humbled themselves and became totally submissive to God’s Holy Spirit in order to spread His Gospel and shine His holy light of love. The goal was not to see what God could give them of worldly possessions in their current physical life, but was to glorify the one and only almighty righteous God and to be found worthy of eternal salvation in God’s everlasting kingdom. Matt 10:37-38 - Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
The original church was mostly made up of totally dedicated born again believers with a small percentage of false converts that the devil used to try to change the truth of the Gospel. In Apostle Paul’s letters he seems to constantly be warning the original church against these false witnesses. Since most people of the original church were born again believers, they had the real truths of God planted within their hearts and were able to reject these false prophets of the devil.
So if we understand that God never changes and His Gospel truth never changes, what God expects of a true Christian doesn’t change either. God still requires us to love Him above everyone, including ourselves. God still requires us to die to all our selfishness and pride so he can use us as a living sacrifice. So how does the professing Christian of our day measure up to God’s requirements? What is most of the U.S. churches telling their congregations about what is required to become a born again Christian?
I want to point out where most of the U.S. churches have fallen way short of God’s glory and righteousness, but first I would like to point out that when I say most of the U.S. churches, this doesn’t include any true holiness churches that still teach and preach that we must become righteous and holy through and through by God’s grace to have the gift of eternal life. A small percentage of these true holiness churches still remain. These holiness churches usually have a very small congregation because most people are unwilling to believe that we must be made holy, righteous, and blameless by His Spirit, because this would require too much of a sacrifice from their current selfish living lifestyle.
Most U.S. churches try to look holy and righteous by outward appearances or actions, but are really like dirty rags on the inside. To give an example of this: I was previously attending a church that made a 15 to 16 year old girl that had a baby out of wedlock ask for the churches forgiveness in front of the whole congregation. I could tell that this action was forced upon her by the church leadership and she didn’t really want to do it. So far this might not seem so strange except for one other big factor. In a Sunday message to this same church congregation, the church’s pastor said very emphatically that everyone in his church are sinners and will continue to sin. He said no one can have sin conquered in this lifetime and that even if someone is living by the Holy Spirit – sin could not be conquered. Well if this is the case, why should the church require someone to ask for forgiveness from the entire congregation if the congregation are all still sinners themselves? What makes the daily sins of the people of the congregation any less sinful than the sin of one person? Matt 7:3-5 - Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. The really sad part of this true story is that most churches have these same beliefs as the church above. They are just religious clubs and not really God’s true church. If a church teaches that sin cannot be conquered in this life through Jesus Christ, then they are teaching and pointing their congregation directly toward hell. These churches need to make a decision. Either accept that they are of the devil and instead of having someone ask for forgiveness from the congregation, the congregation should welcome the sinner into the congregation club of sinners. 1 John 3:8 – “He who does what is sinful is of the devil” But it would be much better that the churches repent and realize the full power of God’s grace and live righteous and holy lives by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Many U.S. churches also preach the “prosperity gospel” to draw people in, because this is what people want to hear. The prosperity message helps grow the congregation and boosts up the giving to support the pride and salaries of these prosperity pastors. The prosperity gospel goes along with what these churches think they need to support their lifestyle. These pastors think they are doing the congregation a favor by getting them to say a one time sinner’s prayer for salvation and then giving them an outlet to allow them to send in their money, or the new phrase “your seed”. Almost everything these fake preachers say are a deception of the devil. Salvation is not brought on by a one time sinner’s prayer; it is brought on by a life of repenting and dying to ones selfishness. We also can’t give money with the idea that we will receive it back with a greater return. God will bless those who give out of an unselfish heart, but will not bless those that give in order to expect more back in return. God wants us to give out of pure love for Him and others. If we give with the thinking of getting more back, we are still acting out of our selfishness - not love.
Most U.S. churches teach and preach that you are born again of the Holy Spirit upon that first sinner’s prayer and cannot lose that salvation. This is a lie that will end up sending most people to hell. First off the sinner’s prayer is not supported anywhere in the Bible. Sins are not forgiven by just asking to be forgiven; they are forgiven when we have truly repented of the sins. If we haven’t repented of a sin, then we are not forgiven of that sin either. The penalty of sin for all people has been paid for by Jesus Christ dying on the cross, but the forgiveness of sins is on an individual and conditional basis. We can only be born again of God after we have fully dedicated our whole self to God by dying to any selfishness and pride in us. We have to become His disciple before we can be born again. Luke 14:33 - In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. Matt 10:38-39 - Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. The devil has deceived almost all churches that we are born again from the very start of our relationship with God. Anyone that has been born again has been brought through a process of sanctification (or pregnancy time) to get them to the point of being born again. It is God’s Spirit that brings us through this process to get us to the point of being born again. Most churched people have been deceived by the devil’s lies that they are born again when really they are still in the pregnancy stage. This is where the devil wants to keep all believers - in the pregnancy stage. If the devil can deceive people into thinking they are already born again instead of in the process of getting there, the devil wins and all the souls still in this pregnancy stage will go to hell if they aren’t truly born again before they physically die. It is only upon being born again of God that we receive a new pure heart and after this is when we might be able to say we cannot lose our salvation.
The truth is – the devil is directing the leadership of most of our U.S. churches with his deceptions. In the original church of the first centuries there were mostly true born again Christians and a small percentage of fake converts, now in our current U.S. churches we have mostly fake converts and a very small percentage of true born again believers. The current U.S. churches on a whole have become an abomination to God. Our U.S. churches are mostly filled with people loving all what the world has to offer and religiously doing their time of service one to two hours a week going to church. James 4:4-5 - You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Most of the U.S. churches and their congregations are committing adultery with the world and in turn have become the enemy of God. The majority of the pastors of our U.S. churches are not born again and are proclaiming the deceptions of the devil instead of the full Gospel truth.
So suffice to say, most of the U.S. churches are not the light of the world any longer. The church should be like a light house shinning brightly to guide people through the darkness to the truth of God, but instead has been reduced by the devil’s deceptions to less than a nightlight where the church cannot even see the truth in this dark world.
If our country is going to have any true revival we must have these false teaching churches die and replace them with churches that require only the true Gospel to be preached. So my strong advice to anyone, to save your soul and possibly get this country back on God’s faithful footings, is to find one of these faithful small churches that still preach and teach the holiness and righteousness of God and also teach how we need to be made holy, righteous, and blameless through the workings of His Spirit to enter God’s eternal kingdom. After you have decided to move you and your family to one of these true holiness churches, find and take some of your friends with you.
God Bless,
Michael Reid
The original church was mostly made up of totally dedicated born again believers with a small percentage of false converts that the devil used to try to change the truth of the Gospel. In Apostle Paul’s letters he seems to constantly be warning the original church against these false witnesses. Since most people of the original church were born again believers, they had the real truths of God planted within their hearts and were able to reject these false prophets of the devil.
So if we understand that God never changes and His Gospel truth never changes, what God expects of a true Christian doesn’t change either. God still requires us to love Him above everyone, including ourselves. God still requires us to die to all our selfishness and pride so he can use us as a living sacrifice. So how does the professing Christian of our day measure up to God’s requirements? What is most of the U.S. churches telling their congregations about what is required to become a born again Christian?
I want to point out where most of the U.S. churches have fallen way short of God’s glory and righteousness, but first I would like to point out that when I say most of the U.S. churches, this doesn’t include any true holiness churches that still teach and preach that we must become righteous and holy through and through by God’s grace to have the gift of eternal life. A small percentage of these true holiness churches still remain. These holiness churches usually have a very small congregation because most people are unwilling to believe that we must be made holy, righteous, and blameless by His Spirit, because this would require too much of a sacrifice from their current selfish living lifestyle.
Most U.S. churches try to look holy and righteous by outward appearances or actions, but are really like dirty rags on the inside. To give an example of this: I was previously attending a church that made a 15 to 16 year old girl that had a baby out of wedlock ask for the churches forgiveness in front of the whole congregation. I could tell that this action was forced upon her by the church leadership and she didn’t really want to do it. So far this might not seem so strange except for one other big factor. In a Sunday message to this same church congregation, the church’s pastor said very emphatically that everyone in his church are sinners and will continue to sin. He said no one can have sin conquered in this lifetime and that even if someone is living by the Holy Spirit – sin could not be conquered. Well if this is the case, why should the church require someone to ask for forgiveness from the entire congregation if the congregation are all still sinners themselves? What makes the daily sins of the people of the congregation any less sinful than the sin of one person? Matt 7:3-5 - Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. The really sad part of this true story is that most churches have these same beliefs as the church above. They are just religious clubs and not really God’s true church. If a church teaches that sin cannot be conquered in this life through Jesus Christ, then they are teaching and pointing their congregation directly toward hell. These churches need to make a decision. Either accept that they are of the devil and instead of having someone ask for forgiveness from the congregation, the congregation should welcome the sinner into the congregation club of sinners. 1 John 3:8 – “He who does what is sinful is of the devil” But it would be much better that the churches repent and realize the full power of God’s grace and live righteous and holy lives by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Many U.S. churches also preach the “prosperity gospel” to draw people in, because this is what people want to hear. The prosperity message helps grow the congregation and boosts up the giving to support the pride and salaries of these prosperity pastors. The prosperity gospel goes along with what these churches think they need to support their lifestyle. These pastors think they are doing the congregation a favor by getting them to say a one time sinner’s prayer for salvation and then giving them an outlet to allow them to send in their money, or the new phrase “your seed”. Almost everything these fake preachers say are a deception of the devil. Salvation is not brought on by a one time sinner’s prayer; it is brought on by a life of repenting and dying to ones selfishness. We also can’t give money with the idea that we will receive it back with a greater return. God will bless those who give out of an unselfish heart, but will not bless those that give in order to expect more back in return. God wants us to give out of pure love for Him and others. If we give with the thinking of getting more back, we are still acting out of our selfishness - not love.
Most U.S. churches teach and preach that you are born again of the Holy Spirit upon that first sinner’s prayer and cannot lose that salvation. This is a lie that will end up sending most people to hell. First off the sinner’s prayer is not supported anywhere in the Bible. Sins are not forgiven by just asking to be forgiven; they are forgiven when we have truly repented of the sins. If we haven’t repented of a sin, then we are not forgiven of that sin either. The penalty of sin for all people has been paid for by Jesus Christ dying on the cross, but the forgiveness of sins is on an individual and conditional basis. We can only be born again of God after we have fully dedicated our whole self to God by dying to any selfishness and pride in us. We have to become His disciple before we can be born again. Luke 14:33 - In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. Matt 10:38-39 - Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. The devil has deceived almost all churches that we are born again from the very start of our relationship with God. Anyone that has been born again has been brought through a process of sanctification (or pregnancy time) to get them to the point of being born again. It is God’s Spirit that brings us through this process to get us to the point of being born again. Most churched people have been deceived by the devil’s lies that they are born again when really they are still in the pregnancy stage. This is where the devil wants to keep all believers - in the pregnancy stage. If the devil can deceive people into thinking they are already born again instead of in the process of getting there, the devil wins and all the souls still in this pregnancy stage will go to hell if they aren’t truly born again before they physically die. It is only upon being born again of God that we receive a new pure heart and after this is when we might be able to say we cannot lose our salvation.
The truth is – the devil is directing the leadership of most of our U.S. churches with his deceptions. In the original church of the first centuries there were mostly true born again Christians and a small percentage of fake converts, now in our current U.S. churches we have mostly fake converts and a very small percentage of true born again believers. The current U.S. churches on a whole have become an abomination to God. Our U.S. churches are mostly filled with people loving all what the world has to offer and religiously doing their time of service one to two hours a week going to church. James 4:4-5 - You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Most of the U.S. churches and their congregations are committing adultery with the world and in turn have become the enemy of God. The majority of the pastors of our U.S. churches are not born again and are proclaiming the deceptions of the devil instead of the full Gospel truth.
So suffice to say, most of the U.S. churches are not the light of the world any longer. The church should be like a light house shinning brightly to guide people through the darkness to the truth of God, but instead has been reduced by the devil’s deceptions to less than a nightlight where the church cannot even see the truth in this dark world.
If our country is going to have any true revival we must have these false teaching churches die and replace them with churches that require only the true Gospel to be preached. So my strong advice to anyone, to save your soul and possibly get this country back on God’s faithful footings, is to find one of these faithful small churches that still preach and teach the holiness and righteousness of God and also teach how we need to be made holy, righteous, and blameless through the workings of His Spirit to enter God’s eternal kingdom. After you have decided to move you and your family to one of these true holiness churches, find and take some of your friends with you.
God Bless,
Michael Reid
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