Hello Everyone. The last time I wrote was before the nightmare Covid 19 started. Florida went crazy. It’s been a while but the world has lost it’s mind. I’m so tired of all this fear and inflating the truth! I pray everyone is safe and have food to eat. I don’t know what to say or how to begin I’m so disgusted. Our government is corrupt to the ninth degree. Epstein was just a drop in the bucket. The truth always comes out in the wash my mama says. There are a lot of things going on and we are being distracted. That’s all I’m going to say about that for now.
We have a real problem! All of this is just my opinion but this is more about good and evil because some of us haven’t realized exactly how deep the rabbit hole goes? And it’s both sides. There is so much under age shenanigans. And I mean little kids ladies and gentlemen. The news won’t tell you about the thousands of people flooding Hollywood every day protesting to save the children. Pedosexual will be added to LGBTQ if a certain party has their way. It’s deplorable.
Halloween is upon us yet again. My God, time flies by so quickly. It truly seems like I just got through the holidays not long ago and they’re already here. Please everybody like I say all the time don’t be creeping around these graveyards and old warehouses. I’m telling you it’s nothing but trouble! I’m getting more and more emails and being contacted about situations going on and evil is very real and it’s very prevalent and it has many forms. There’s probably about 800 different people on YouTube trying to get a TV show filming themselves doing very dangerous things. I was hoping this would be a phase that would pass because like I said there was a day I had to hide this information or people would’ve thought I was nuts. I had to hide what I did on the side for fear of being deemed crazy and losing all my friends. Now everybody is a professional! Jesus help them.
I understand a lot of people are suffering with anxiety, are depressed, suicidal etc....People are broke. People didn’t ask to lose their jobs or for their jobs to go out of business because of the lockdown. It’s not gonna be pretty. It’s only going to get worse after the election. I pray for peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be upon each and everyone of us. I pray that there’s food and shelter and that you are surrounded by peace and not fear. Avoid watching the news. Only a few YouTube channels tell the truth. Plus on social platforms if you say anything at all that goes against the deep state agenda they are going to censor you. Are we slowly losing our freedom of speech? Are they trying to normalize this? Like making people so afraid they need to wear a mask. They act like you’re gonna die if you don’t have one on all the time.
Now a different topic totally....
Demons and Meth? A Door to Darkness. is a blog which attracted a lot of comments. It was written in early 2014. Now on the Internet there is so much more information about it. Here is a link to the second part: Meth and Demons Part Two. Just like sleep paralysis. I did a blog about that and I noticed now there’s 10 times more on the Internet than there was when I originally researched that. I still receive comments on those Meth blogs. All drugs are doorways but there is something about crystal meth that is just downright more sinister than what you could ever think. I don’t know from personal experience. I only know from what people have shared with me. And I’ve also shared comments that I recovered on the Internet in my blogs. If you’d like to go back and take a read feel free.
Many people have sent me a video of them blowing crystal meth smoke into the air into light and they form into terrifying looking images. Sure it could be Matrixing. There are just some things in my humble opinion that are not coincidences. But evil isn’t behind every single door either. You don’t want to give the enemy that much credit. Please feel free to do your own research and come to your own conclusions. It’s a very scary thing for someone to process.
In conclusion, the way the world is right now is almost anarchy. Some have descended into anarchy and it’s only going to get worse. We need God more than ever! We need God to step in once again and set things right. Bring all this evil, all this disgusting perversion to the light for everyone to see. Stop all this division on our fellow man. Love one another. We are all humans. All this division is being orchestrated and stirred up by our own. If you do research you’ll understand what I mean. Please love your fellow man and show compassion. A lot of people are very scared and unsure right now. I plead the Blood Of Jesus Christ upon this Country. This world. The needless murders need to stop. All the homelessness needs to stop. It’s like a Third World country going outside. They are trying to normalize us to get used to this being at home more and wearing masks. They really love to push the fear of the new second wave of Covid they claim is coming or is already here. Get ready for all the bogus cases written off as COVID again. Use caution of course but this fear mongering is ridiculous.
I wish everyone a great and safe weekend. Don’t forget to bring your animals inside.
When I used to hang out on MySpace back in 2007, I often came across people who had the following quote on their profile:
“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”
It was a quote that seemed to concentrate on life’s highlights. What took people’s breath away? A dramatic sunset, a rainbow, blooming flowers, majestic waterfalls, kittens and puppies, new fallen snow, seeing a loved one after a long absence, and so on. While I appreciate any of the above, I want to be able to breathe with no obstructions. I’ve been practicing yoga for many years. Breathing is essential, you can’t go more than a few minutes without dying.
Yet due to this alleged virus, sometimes referred to as a disease, we are supposed to be wearing face masks/coverings and resemble women living under Sharia law. Right after the 9/11 terrorist attack, anyone wearing a head covering was considered an enemy. Two decades later, Americans and those in many other countries, are being forced to cover most of their face because of Covid-19/corona virus, a sickness with an incredibly low mortality rate.
Our ‘new normal’ is of a society that discourages hugs and handshakes. Smiles are hidden. Prayer, singing, and chanting are forbidden in churches and temples.
The forced mask-wearing in most parts of the world is all about fear, fear of germs and viruses. Fear of each other. Fear vs. faith. It is to make people more compliant. To take tests that are very inaccurate and to test positive can make some quarantine for two weeks. It’s house arrest. The next step is to make fear-ridden people clamor for a vaccine so they can return to normal. A vaccine that will allegedly eradicate coronavirus/Covid-19. Will it? Will the flu shot stop the flu? Why is it called a flu shot instead of an ANTI-flu shot?
The mass hypnosis/hysteria around a flu that can’t survive in the high temperatures of summer is insane. It messes with people’s minds and makes them OCD, incessantly using hand sanitizer. Doctors and other experts are telling us to wash our hands with soap and water, and to do so for at least twenty seconds! Have we regressed to kindergarten?
SANITIZE, SANITIZE, SANITIZE
Another way they’re trying to keep us from breathing properly is to poison us with hand sanitizers. The ingredients contain mostly alcohol with some fake fragrance that can contain up to 200 ingredients, but the FDA doesn’t require them to be listed.
These alcohol-laden sanitizers are liberally sprayed on shopping carts and baskets. All products on store shelves, along with the shelves, are covered with sanitizing chemicals to keep that alleged Covid-19 at bay. Want to touch and inhale [even through a mask] more synthetic chemicals? You will when you check out and discover that all the store’s surfaces have been sprayed. A clerk said it had to be done every hour. Wow, what a fun job she had.
Germaphobes must be giddy with relief, feeling they’re getting their time to be in a world awash in sanitizer.
When the virus scare began in March, I was astonished to see customers waiting for an employee to spray down each shopping cart. I saw that nonsense and took a cart from the parking lot and pushed it in, avoiding the free chemical spray.
It’s now the land of “we spray it for you” and they use the power stream setting. I encountered a shopping cart that had been so over-saturated in sanitizer that I thought it was drunk. I flagged down the masked and gloved employee, who, through foggy eyeglasses, noticed that the plastic seat flap was now a pond. She insisted on cleaning it off and it made little difference.
10 minutes later I felt my throat was closing up. I choked back a cough and a sneeze. My nose started to run. Even blowing my nose would’ve garnered fearful glances from masked customers. I was a suspect! It was all so ludicrous. A year ago, such a scenario was unimaginable.
I went outside and into the fresh night air. I felt fine again. It was obviously the germ-free cart that was upsetting my allergies.
In mid-July the mandates from governors and mayors increased and the big chain stores were requiring all customers to mask up. A few that weren’t were advertising the fact. I went several miles out of my way to shop at a store that wouldn’t bother customers about covering their faces. I was hoping I’d be around unmasked people like it was 2019. Hah! Every employee and customer sported face diapers. I chatted with the teenager cleaning the carts with his spray bottle. He was cordial but I noticed he pulled his mask higher.
There is a simple way to clean off any sanitized cart or basket. It’ll take you about 30 seconds. Bring along a few paper towels or clean rag and wipe off that germ-free cart or basket. Pay attention to the handle[s]. It does the job and you won’t be inhaling toxic fumes.
I have a book about Tibetan Ayurveda [medicine]. There’s a section about skillful behavior and if you suppress the urge to breathe, which is what wearing a mask does, then this is what can happen: * Dulling of mental clarity * Tumor formation * Heart disease
Additionally, wearing a mask for long periods of time can result in headaches, a weakened immune system, acne, and a staph infection may occur if the mask isn’t cleaned or changed frequently.
If we continue to allow our rights to be taken away, what do we have to look forward to? A police state of perpetual surveillance, lockdowns, social distancing, vaccinations, medical tyranny, restricted travel, no belief in God or freedom of a spiritual path. There will be no allegiance to anyone but the leader of the new world order–the Antichrist.
One of the saddest images I saw occurred when I was waiting in line to enter a supermarket. A frail, elderly man limping past the masked shoppers, leaning on a cane, looked at us and softly apologized for not wearing a mask.
Why should a disabled senior citizen apologize for wanting to breathe? Why should any human being, regardless of age and physical condition?
Many Christians and readers of the bible think these are the end times. But God also helps those who help themselves. Buddha Shakyamuni spoke of the degeneration of society 2,600 years ago. Mahatma Gandhi said “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” That is possible, if you believe it. Start by not wearing a mask. By smiling at those you see whether they are covered up or not. Don’t be angry at those who live in a state of delusion and march lockstep to unjust rules and fear mongering. They worship the god of this world. Love them, love them as they have that seed within them that is the same that is within you. Be at peace with yourself and others will be at peace, too. We are not alone. We never will be. We are all interdependent. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lisa Maliga is an American author of contemporary fiction and cozy mysteries. Her nonfiction titles consist of how to make bath and body products with an emphasis on melt and pour soap crafting. When researching her cozy mystery, she discovered the art of baking French macarons. She has written three dessert cookbooks, including two on macarons. When not writing, Lisa reads an assortment of books, takes photos, and is working on a series of baking and soaping video tutorials. Visit her website at:https://www.LisaMaliga.com
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This has been on my heart for a long time to discuss this again. I’ve received a lot of feedback from a lot of different people from the first two blogs in 2014. Some contacted me privately. Somebody also mentioned there was something called the meth Bible. It contained directives on reaching three different realms or dimensions. It was something to that nature. That is a very dangerous tool to play with. Researchers believe sleep paralysis is caused by a very rapid eye movements because it mostly happens as people are falling into or coming out of REM sleep. During this stage, the brains normally paralyze their muscles anyway so they don't act out their dreams. So what is still making people see demons and such demonic things only when on crystal meth? Below will be a few testimonies that I found at random websites. A lot of testimonials out there since 2014, people still going through this and it’s not getting better. The following are testimonies from random websites about this: “Meth is the devil's drug and it ruins lives and takes away everything that ment so much to you everyone that you love will leave you and move away far away and sometimes you do finally see the light its to late but don’t let that discourage you God will always forgive and will be by your side just believe in him and his plan for you. I lost a great woman one of a kind and a great son over this. I miss them so much there’s not a second that goes by that I don’t think of them. But as long as they are happy and safe it puts a smile on me and yes I will always want them back but when im a 100% better but when that time comes and it’s to late I will accept it I love you guys and miss you so much” “My daughter was using meth for 6 years. There were two incidents where she attacked me and tried choke the life out of me. She was screaming I will kill you bitch! I saw her face and it was not my childs. Her eyes were black and her features were strange, I saw the devil in my childs face. I could feel the presence of pure evil….I started praying Psalm 23: the Lord is my sheperd, I shall not want…..somehow I was ablec to alert my son in thecother room and he stooped hercfrom killing me. Whencshec got clean, her facial feautures became softer more like my childs. Very scary and heartbreaking to watch someone kill themselves.” “You have Satan and you have the demons that he controls. All the other drugs are pretty much the demons. Methamphetamine is Satan itself,” he said. “I mean, I don’t think you can get any more evil than meth.” At StAugustine.com “Plain and simple meth is an evil drug. Those using it for many years end up just a shell of their former selves. We've all seen the “Faces of Meth” pictures. Which include a person's initial picture and then pictures throughout their use. And you can just see them disintegrating. Also in some cases people who have been awake for days and days on end will end up in a kind of psychosis. Uncontrollable movements, can't understand what they're saying at all or what they are saying is just nonsense. Plus all the physical damages the person's inflicted upon themselves from picking.” Please choose life! Choose God. He will bring you out of this if you truly want that. It’s a awful dark place to be. Don’t you want light and happiness? Don’t let Satan take over your mind because he will if he can. Even inadvertently he can sneak in. Be obsessed with angels, peace and praise in the Lords Glory! The enemy will always have his demons out to thwart our calling but even the devil knows he can’t defeat the word of God. They must flee at the name of Jesus! Speak loud with authority! Your life is so very valuable and Jesus will bring you through. [SATAN: "The profoundly evil adversary of God and humanity, often identified with the leader of the fallen angels; the Devil. (Judeo-Christian and Islamic religions): chief spirit of evil and adversary of God; tempter of mankind; master of Hell."] MANY who are struggling with, or have overcome, methamphetamine addiction often speak of being plagued by demons, or of “possession” by negative forces preying on their weakened state. They flatly deny dreaming or hallucinating, insisting that their experiences are lucid, sober and objective. lifeordeath.com "Professionals have diagnosed paranoid schizophrenia, but although a doctor can say what you're experiencing isn't real, to me it is as real as any object I can reach out and touch." Lifeordeath.com There are so many more but you can research for yourself. Very many stories and testimonies. This is so very upsetting. The Lord will help you. Reject Satan and all his devices. We cannot be ignorant to satans devices. The mind is the enemies playground. They can torture you worse than any physical pain. Trust me I know. This is a very serious issue. My first blog was in 2014 on this subject. Now there is so much more information and knowledge then there was before. And this drug is running ramped all over the United States. Why aren’t the authorities not worried about it? It’s worse than opiates. I know I had a OxyContin addiction I shared with you in a blog from my early 20’s battling Endometriosis when no one ever heard of it. It’s a female ailment. It triggered pre-cancer cells. Anyway, all drugs will make you hallucinate. And they will make you see things but what is it about crystal meth that seems to be the absolute worst? Not all these people are lying. Halloween is almost here. Please, people no creeping around cemeteries please? Demons love those places due to the tears shed from loved ones passing and others paying respects to their loved ones who has been passed on already. That’s a lot of emotion and energy for the perfect storm! You think I’m playing? I sat in the devil's chair in the cemetery at 17. Cassadaga is a small town known to be haunted. Police usually patrol this location all year round. Thank God. It’s a beautiful town. But we all know looks can be deceiving. And yes, I was stupid to do what I did. I’m sharing it now so others learn from my ignorance. Being a preacher's kid, I’ve seen others fall victim to that urban legend that was brought into existence in my opinion. Talk about it enough it can create its own negativity. Like a poltergeist. Willed into existence as some would say. But that’s a whole other blog. Bring in all your animals on Halloween. I don’t think I need to explain why. If you're confused I’ll clear it up. Just leave a comment. Everyone reading this, you can be anonymous and share your story in the comments section. Read part one and two as well if you haven’t already. I can be contacted personally as well. That happens a lot. Until next time may your pleasures be many and your worries be few. Written By Jennifer Auld Read the blog that started it all: http://eyeontheparanormal.blogspot.com/2014/02/demons-and-meth-door-to-darkness.html
Part 2: https://eyeontheparanormal.blogspot.com/2016/03/meth-and-demons-part-two.html
Hello everyone. I hope you had a great weekend so far. We are dealing with hurricane season again. We were Please pray for The Bahamas. Donate if possible. Pray for The victims as well as their families. Dorian did devastating damage.
This was a difficult blog for me to write. If you have ever seen this on TV, they leave out important details. I’m going to try to fill them in during my research. This was a tricky blog for me. But feel free to do your own research.
I’m going to talk about a satanist who named himself Pazuzzu Algarad. His real name was John Lawson. Ironically Pazuzu is actually the name of a demon....Pazuzu. I knew I heard that name before. He was definitely influenced by the demonic. This young man chose to live in just absolute filth. He felt it made things and him much stronger. Huge tattoo saying Satan on one of his for arms. This story is both sickening and sad. The teachers just had written him off. And I wonder if the police had been forced to do something about it.....And to tell his mother he must be evaluated. This is when Satan sneaks in. Oh that makes me so mad. I wonder if that would’ve made any difference? But the enemy as the Bible says “is prowling about like a lion seeking whom he may devour.” This man cut a slit in his tongue to be like a snake. I’m guessing Satan got a hold of him during weakness, I’m not saying he should be excused. He eventually killed himself.
People would literally go to the bathroom anywhere they wanted in the house. It was the house with no rules. It was a den of iniquity really. Even though it was filthy some went there and hung out and did drugs. Or they were trying to get away from their real life problems at home. It was a small town and not much to do in Clemons, near Salem, North Carolina. Many of his followers were drug users and his house had no rules. He had a way with words and knew how to manipulate very well. Just like Satan. I believe this man was oppressed possibly possessed. He drew people in with a certain appeal. Yes it was gross but his friends said it was a escape for most people. (Idle hands are the Devils tools) the drugs and no rules appeals to people out of work in a small town. It’s sad in many ways but the devil will use these situations to drag your soul to hell.
Let’s take a look at what Pazuzu means? A couple of things depending on personal belief.
“In ancient Mesopotamian religion, pazuzu also called Fazuzu or Pazuza) was the king of the demons of the wind, brother of Humbaba and son of the god Hanbi. He also represented the southwestern wind, the bearer of storms and drought.” He was the demon in the first Exorcist film.
According to Wikipedia, Pazuzu is featured in the 2014–15 NBC television series Constantine in a two-part episode "The Saint of Last Resorts". The protagonist, John Constantine, summons Pazuzu to combat Lamashtu, the primary antagonist of the first part, and later willingly allows Pazuzu to possess him to save himself from another powerful demon. However, Pazuzu has no wish to leave his new host, and emerges whenever Constantine is in danger, causing the deaths of at least eight dangerous gangbangers. Luckily, Constantine's ally Anne-Marie is able to exorcise Pazuzu by the end of the second part.
No one should EVER call on a demon for help. Only call on Christ and you have a calling and have The Lords hedge of protection as the Bible (KJV) tells us. See how these movies are and people believe it to be true. As if you need to summon a dangerous demon for help. That’s a terrible idea floating around.It’s dangerous and becoming highly popular. All over social media you can learn so much dangerous information. It is truly frightening. The world is bad enough without letting demons have a legal right to enter your life. It’s relentless until they have your soul. That’s all they think about. They HATE HUMANS. It goes back to Lucifer when he was an angel. (Another blog for another day.)
A lot of people for some some reason believe pazuzu is also Zozo. A demon that is known to prey on Ouija boards. I’m not sure where they get that connection. The Exorcist was a sensationalized true story. They had to keep the young boy protected. His name was never released. I’ve read in an article somewhere (this is just a side note) that the producer got a true story sent to him in the mail and said this would make a good movie so he read this person‘s true life story. And they add things and change things out in the movies. Most people know this I think. The boy is now a grand father. He remembers nothing from his traumatic experiences. Praise God for that, Satan likes to harass you for life! You’re mind is the devils' playground. Remember this friends. Jesus can remove him from your life. They flee at the name of Jesus when met with someone with rock solid faith. They only want to bring you heartache.
Pazuzu is a demon in charge of a lot of hell. Remember..... I look at this from a biblical point of view. Just my humble opinions when I blog. I have been at this over 25 years. (I'm 45). I started seriously at the age of 19. I took courses on Spiritual Warfare at a local church with a long term boyfriend at the time who was a youth pastor. We learned related subjects too. Later I took courses at Trinity Bible college. No degree. Just a certificate of completion. I’m no expert. Just because my father was a Pentecostal Minister means nothing. It afforded me a great head start on a calling. Okay, back to the blog. I wanted to get that out of the way again. In case someone doesn’t know reading this. As scholar Stephen Bertman notes, "though short on pizzazz, Pazuzu made it to Hollywood: he is the only Mesopotamian demon to have starred in a movie - The Exorcist". In the 1973 horror film (based on the 1971 novel by William Peter Blatty), Pazuzu is the demon who possesses the Linda Blair character and is associated with the Christians Satan and the forces of evil.”
You can research this on your own. But ironically it was on TV two weeks ago. But some things were left out of the documentary. He had three fiancee's. They all lived together. His mother was a Satanist, too. They didn’t say that on the documentary. His followers stipulated while he was very high on crystal meth (Crystal Meth and the devil) he grounded down his teeth to a point so he could bite into his sacrifices easier. He (Pazuzu) stated he had bodies in the basement. Witnesses claimed this house smelled like death. Not to mention it was a very filthy place to live. He didn’t clean or bathe for over a year. People would just use the restroom anywhere they wanted and it wouldn’t get cleaned up if the dogs didn’t eat it. He felt that gave him more power.
His childhood friends said he was picked on a lot. Kids called him names because he always smelled. His mother had him seek mental health several times. But when he took over her home, I know why she did not put her foot down. It could be a generational issue but that is just my guess. I’m guessing it just really did not do well because they failed this young man. When he dropped out of school he decided to become everybody‘s worst nightmare. He was 18 and a freshman. Because he smelled nobody gave him the time of day and they just wrote him off according to what I’ve researched. It’s kind of sad. That’s what I mean about people not judging their fellow man. We know not what they may be going through. As he became older the situation became much worse.
He was arrested once for choking his mother. She didn’t press charges. But she lived at this home too. It was her house. Which a lot of people said it was a nice big home that she kept very nice. It makes me wonder how could she live in that environment and not only that, how can she ignore her son's mental health? It did not take a genius to know something wasn’t right. And throwing drugs into the mix just made things worse. He murdered someone's son as a way to initiate his rituals. That speaks volumes. He was even receiving disability for some type of a anxiety disorder. He could get all the drugs he wanted. All the cigarettes and alcohol too. That makes it even more dangerous when they have a monthly income to support their way of living.
I don’t know how people get away with that. I know people who are truly suffering from cancer and other serious illnesses and they cannot get any Social Security disability. Everybody is always denied at first but they say if you keep trying it after a certain amount of time you get it if it is a legitimate illness. However, people slip under the cracks. Maybe if this man would’ve received the proper mental health treatment when he was younger perhaps two people would still be alive and his soul may have been able to be saved. It started in his teen years. He was 30 when arrested, I believe. They finally found two bodies in his backyard. And there was possibly more. One victim was his ex-girlfriend’s husband and the other one was a young man who was part of the ritual initiation.
Side note: They had to demolish the house as it was deemed inhabitable. That’s how bad it was. One of the neighbors bought the land so no one can build there. They felt the land still had evil ties. God only knows what went on over the years. His mother hasn’t said anything since her son died. She won’t speak to reporters or police.
When he went to jail he committed the suicide. Remember.... during a crystal meth bender he grounded all his teeth down to a point. The jail had a hard time with him on suicide watch. He kept biting into his arm and legs and would be treated by medical. He finally was able to lose enough blood to die one night after biting into his arm. He was found in a pool of blood. But the police are very tight lipped about it all. Remember he had his teeth all grounded to a sharp point. He wanted to be what everyone feared. But what the documentary I saw left out his own mother was a satanist. Now we are getting somewhere. That is probably where he found his ideas. Or inadvertently opened legal doors. And worshiping Satan is one of those doors. It never turns out well. He was fine for years but the devil turned on him. Turn to Jesus Christ. He loves you so much. Just as you are. This was another example of the devil.
Until next time, may your days be bright and your thoughts be light.
Hello everyone. I hope you had a fantastic weekend. It’s hurricane season so here in Florida we’re a tad nervous. Orlando was in the ‘eye’ of Irma when hit. We also had four hurricanes in 2004 back to back make landfall here in Orlando and surrounding areas.
The subject this week was brought to my attention by a few emails. How do people come up with these ways to contact the devil? They need to be contacting God! If people were focused on being kind to one another instead of putting so much energy into trying to see the devil or a demon, the world would be a lot better. People need to be obsessed with Christ, be obsessed with angels, be obsessed with kindness and showing respect to your fellow man.
Contacting demons isn’t new. I knew about this back in the mid-90’s. But now YouTube has step-by-step videos with instructions on various ways to get in touch with the dark side by making a devil's toy box. Plus, instructions on how to summon demons and make your own Ouija board. This is very dangerous. There is easy access to so much danger on YouTube.
Using six mirrors all the same size is put together forming a cube and tightly seal making sure all the reflective surfaces of the mirrors are pointing inward. Once you put this together, you let it sit around a while and eventually over a period of time it's said by some that noises can eventually be heard coming from the box. This is sort of an old tactic. Not that it makes it any safer. I remember it in the early 90’s. From the box, apparently growls can be heard along with hissing. The notion is that the reflective properties facing each other creates a perpetual and focused feedback loop. Some type of energy that bounces back-and-forth off the mirrors' surface. If done properly and in alignment, can open a portal of which anything on the other side can pass through into our world and/or dimension and into the box and be heard.
The length that people will go to reach a demon or the devil is astounding.
My Ouija Board Experience
I was about 19 years old, and I knew better! My dad used to preach about those things in churches--that Ouija boards were conduits for demons to come through. I don’t know till this day what compelled me to want to do that. I knew better. I don’t have the excuse that I didn’t know what they were. So without further ado here is my story.
Three friends of mine were hanging out at his house. It was him and my girlfriend and I. I saw the Ouija board up in his closet and suggested that we use it. My friend said that was all fake he didn’t believe in it and then I found out he was just really scared as he didn’t want to do it. But being a guy he probably didn’t want to show his fear, as we were so young. The planchette only moved with my fingers on it and to prove to people I wasn’t pushing it I took my hands off of it and it flew up in the air. You don’t have to believe me. Make your own conclusions. I have no reason to lie. I’m not gaining anything from it.
I started asking various questions. Nobody else would ask. Such as ‘ are there truly demons coming from this board or can you travel through this board’. As I said I took control of the board. And it spelled out my dad’s name and even his middle name, which nobody knows. It was bringing up things in my girlfriend's past that had to do with the splitting of her parents. That was very private information that I didn’t even know. And we were best friends. It was trying to instill fear. The light started to flicker and it became extremely hot and too quiet...for a few moments. I was challenging it show itself. My friend had two Rottweilers and they were barking at hallway and we could not see anything.
Both of them started throwing up a green substance. Which according to the owner hasdnever happened before. He had his regular diet as usual. But that wasn’t the worst of it. We heard growling coming from the dark hallway and we could visually see with our own eyes a yellow-eyed shadow person who shot right out of the bedroom down the hallway through the living room and scared us half to death.
We discarded the board in a dumpster about 20 miles away after breaking it in half. After that, I had an attachment. The Lord showed my father this several hundred miles away. He was taking over a church just until the original pastor could get over his surgery. When, unbeknownst to me and my mom, he took a plane and flew back home. My dad wanted to know what was going on with me. Again, you don’t have to believe me but this is what happened.
I had protection prayed over me. A deliverance prayer for people who help others who do the type of work. I was Oppressed. Other than it messing with me big time, I didn’t have any physical marks. I put myself on their radar. I guess I was trying to be rebellious. I don’t know what compelled me and I knew better. I would see shadow demons in my apartment tormenting me and my cat I had at that time. It was just a big mess and it was very scary. They were not good beings! I’m ashamed of myself because I knew better.
Needless to say we did not go back to my friend's house that night and we all stayed the night at my friend's apartment we were so shook up.
So that is my story. I’m not proud of it, but I’m sharing it as an example. Anything you use to contact the dead, another realm, is taking a chance especially the Ouija board. And I say to the people who want to do this is it really worth the risk? Think about that.
Until next time may your days be bright and your thoughts be light.
Hello everybody. I hope you’ve enjoyed your weekend and you’re having a good Sunday. It’s definitely hot here but I don’t have to tell you guys that. I just pray that Fall gets here quickly. It’ll be nice to have it cool off a little bit here in Florida. Before we know it just in a couple of months it’ll be Halloween and the holidays again. I can’t believe it! It seems like time flies by so quick. No day is promised.
In my beliefs in my humble opinion, so many people are deceived. Now some Christians say that you can still be a Christian and practice witchcraft for the greater good, which is false. It is breaking my heart that there is this kind of evil in the churches and so called men of God and church leaders are not talking about this issue!!!!! Why?????? They really need to address this and explain the ramifications. People with the very best of intentions will inadvertently open the wrong doors. The dangers of attachment is so high. I’m not saying that people do this on purpose because they’re looking to conjure evil and do all this trouble..... of course not. Like I said I don’t believe everybody has bad intentions. But, sadly, like any religion, it can be taken too far.
It’s an oxymoron. Christian Witch. You can’t be lukewarm in Christ with one foot in and one foot out. That’s exactly what this is. The Bible forbids this type of activity. Any type of divination tools as well. And warns against all this and the consequences. It’s just not worth it. I was very much a thrill seekerchris as a teenager and I’ll never touch one of those spirit boards again after my experience. I still keep in contact with one of the people that were there that night. It was when I was 19-years old. To this day, he won’t even discuss it. He refuses to, I think, because he’s scared to do or say anything to stir that up. It really was a frightening experience. And I’ve never touched one since and I never will. Call me a chicken or crazy all you want. Not worth it to me.
I was able to speak to a Christian witch via Skype. We had a forty-minute civil conversation. Great women. And because we have the same beliefs I could biblically come at her for lack of better words. In a nice civil manner, not nasty at all. Basically, according to this Christian witch they only do good 'spells’ and are called Christian light bearers. At least her group. I brought up all the verses that are very clear about staying away from witchcraft, divination, wizards, fortunetellers, speaking to the dead, casting spells, conjuring demons, etc.
Basically it’s so new that there’s no particular rules set forth yet according to the women I interviewed. She could not answer me as to why this subject has not come up before and why are we just finding out now that Christian witches exist? Just like the paranormal field, it’s not governed. This is a very new group that has emerged. Again, I am not speaking against anybody’s religion. Like I’ve said before there’s always people that can take it too far no matter what you believe in or do not believe in. And when you start dabbling with things that you don’t know about or you think you’ve watched enough TV shows to know what you're doing and you start messing with -- you're inadvertently opening the doors that lead to darkness.
Deuteronomy 18:10: “There shall not be found among you . . . anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens.” First Samuel 15:13 compares rebellion to the “sin of divination.”
Leviticus 19:31
“Regard not them that have familiar spirits, seek after familiar spirits, wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.”
But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
Angel Spirit Boards
Well nothing is sacred anymore. People are buying something called an Angel Board. It’s the same thing as a Ouija board, only they are decorated with pictures of pretty angels in pastel colors. That’s the only difference. You’re not talking to angels. Anything can come through those. It’s no different than any other Ouija board or any type of device channeling the dead. It just leaves the door open for any and everything to come flooding through. And it leaves the door for any and everything to go wrong as well. Please understand I’m not trying to put fear into people. I’m just trying to inform you and to be ready when you do you mess with these type of things because there are always people that will. but the dangers are no different. Please don’t be deceived..
There’s always somebody that’s going to test it to see if it really works. Like what they see on TV/Internet. Or some think it’s a bunch of hocus-pocus so they want to prove it by doing the ritual or using the spirit board. Please expect anything to happen. It’s just prudent not to start that kind of thing to begin with. I know several people that wish they never touched one. It actually ruined their lives. It’s like I said the familiar spirits easily can come through and are quite convincing. They will mimic children or maybe somebody who died there. Worst of all, they'll prey on your emotions by claiming to be one of your loved ones.
It’s so important to always have your armor of God on. Every morning and every night suit up and pray up. The worst is yet to come in this world. And again these are just my particular beliefs and I know everybody has different beliefs and I may not agree with them but you do have the right to an opinion and your own beliefs. I’m just putting out there what’s going on in the world. There is so much you don’t see on the news. There’s so much going on that I don’t see on the news and I want to know why? Completely unrelated to this subject I’m speaking of other things that the news is conveniently not letting everybody know about. I’m thinking of writing about it so everybody is aware.
Until next time. May your days be bright and your thoughts be light.
Before I start, I would like to say that this is not targeting anybody of any religion whether I agree with it or not. Everybody has the right to believe in what they want to believe in. I respect that. As I’ve said many times I go at it with a biblical point of view. But I do not tear down what others believe in. I’m not perfect, no one is. And on the other side of that I will never deny or be ashamed of giving my heart and soul over to Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. That doesn’t require being perfect. You’re allowed to still love Jesus whether you’re perfect or not. But no one is perfect. However, no matter what they do, if they repent God forgives. You can’t tell somebody they still can’t love the Lord Jesus Christ because of mistakes they made. That’s completely ridiculous. If they are in a leadership type of position that’s a different story.
I know that there are Wiccans that mean well. They want peace and joy and are genuinely kind people that have their personal beliefs. I spoke to one for about 25 minutes before I wrote this blog. They want peace. Just like any type of group or society or religion you’re going to have your radicals. Just like in politics. That’s a good example to use. You know someone going dark. Taking it too far. There are ‘Christian witches’ (oxymoron) now. I received a couple of emails asking me if that was in the Bible, and it’s not. Christians that were also witches but for doing good. That will be a whole other blog that I intend to explain into further details about that. I’m seeing more and more of that as well.
I’m nondenominational. I believe in what the King James Bible says. So I guess you would call that Christian. I’m not a member of any church. In my humble opinion the churches just preach and preach about things that really make them look bad. A lot of them hardly read out of the Bible. They promise crazy things if you send them money and what happens is that leaves a bad taste in people‘s mouth, as it should. But it ruins it for the people who are honest and their church uses those resources to help feed the hungry or when there’s disasters like hurricanes and things of that nature. But there are still good churches around, don’t get me wrong, but it’s mainly turning into this new age from what I have been told.
Here’s a little information on a Christian Minister who took his beliefs way too far. Jim Jones was a man who was responsible for, I think, about 912 people who drank poisoned Kool-Aid. It was a mass suicide in the name of God. He wasn’t stable mentally. He took his beliefs way too far and wanted to be like God. He wanted to be worshiped and revered. Doesn’t that sound familiar? That’s exactly what Lucifer did in heaven. That 1979 event was the origin where that phrase was coined. ‘don’t drink the Kool-Aid’. I think. I will actually be blogging about that in more detail very soon. I just wanted to use Christianity as an example. I have no illusions, denominations just divide people. And I know some people in the church are very corrupt. Some of these churches are not safe anymore. They are cherry picking out of the Bible to their convenience. Or even worse, rewording it. They need to be preaching the word of God and explaining the end times. They need to dig into the Bible and try to save as many souls as possible. Yes, people should tithe, I believe you should give what you can. That helps them feed the hungry and help out in disasters, that’s the reason why. To do God's work.
There are so many accounts of evil spirits in scripture to really affirm the reality of powerful spiritual forces of evil and wickedness. Evil spirits (also known as demons or devils), are depraved and quite familiar with our human weaknesses and desires. They know them very well. Some are more vile than others. It is said that evil spirits speak to all of us to inject ungodly beliefs into us. These are thoughts that steer us away from our relationship in and with Jesus Christ.
YouTube is full of HUGE resources on how to summon demons, cast dark spells, blood atonement, etc. Some of you may not understand what blood atonement means. That is another topic that I will go into and explain. If I try to explain it now it would get too far away with our original subject. But it really blew my mind -- with just a few words I typed into the search engine generated all of this stuff and everything related to it. There are satanic temples being built. The first one is in Boston. With a very large baphomet statue in the front. It will also show people doing stuff on camera going into places or playing with ouija boards and that is just opening the door to possible negative activity.
There is a gentleman who has a YouTube channel with a large following, I won't mention his name as I do not want to advertise for him, but he is showing step-by-step instructions on how to do all kinds of rituals. A lot of them have to do with summoning Satan and all kinds of demons. This individual has many viewers backing up his beliefs. They have the right, and he has the right to believe in that. I am just pointing out how easy it is to gain access to dangerous information. This person even showed how to do a revenge ritual and he even warns ‘be careful that you are mentally capable to handle any bad consequences you send that person's way, including death.’ This man has such a huge following and support. He claims to work with a lot of demons. He does demonstrations in the desert, in the woods... in different places. And thousands watch. And how many try to emulate it? God only knows.
This is scary. And it’s not getting any better, it’s getting worse. There are so many things out there to target the youth or anyone who is interested. They’re already trying to push pedophilia on people. They’re trying to groom us, by normalizing pedophilia. They want us to think ‘God pedophiles have been around for years’ (pedosexual is another term they prefer). They may not see it as a present danger. And all this blood atonement is quite real. As I said in any religion or belief things can go too far and go radical. There’s always somebody that will take it too far. You can count on it.
I feel like I need a shower after my researches. For real! There’s only so much I can research in a day without it really taking an emotional toll. That’s why I do it in increments. And when I’m done, I don’t think about that subject and I go on about things till it’s time for me to research and write a blog. I can’t dwell on it. If I did I’d go crazy. People need to be aware of it. Which is why I've written this blog and am writing many more--to help spread light and truth in these dark times.
Thekchen Chöling, Dharamsala, HP, India - At his residence this morning, His Holiness the Dalai Lama met 58 members of Iranian CEOs of small and medium sized enterprises who describe themselves as messengers of peace. As His Holiness entered the room they greeted him with friendly applause.
“I’m very happy to meet people from Iran,” he told them. “Some people are suspicious of Iranians, but I recall that there are reports of links between Tibet and Persia during the time of King Songtsen Gampo during the 7th century. And whereas Persians were described as rich, the Mongolians were referred to as war-like.
“I have certain commitments. As just one among 7 billion human beings, who all want to live a happy life, I’m committed to helping people understand that this can be achieved if they cultivate a calm, happy mind based on love and compassion. Simply put, if you can be compassionate and warm-hearted, you’ll be happy.
“Secondly, as a Buddhist monk I feel a moral responsibility to promote inter-religious harmony. On a philosophical level there are all sorts of differences between religious traditions, but the common message of them all is the importance of cultivating love. I’m convinced that religious harmony is possible—look at India where so many religious traditions have lived side by side for thousands of years. Because I value religious harmony I’m happy to meet members of other faiths, so it’s a real honour for me to meet you Shia brothers and sisters today.
“These days to see people fighting and killing each other in the name of religion, whether in Egypt, Burma or Afghanistan, is really unthinkable. Next week in Delhi I’ll be attending a meeting to celebrate diversity among Indian Muslims. I’ve heard no reports of friction between Sunnis and Shias in India, so I’ve encouraged my friends in Ladakh to take more active steps to reconcile differences between their brothers and sisters of different denominations.
“When I meet people of different spiritual traditions, I remember that at a fundamental level we’re all the same as human beings. In the part of Tibet where I was born, we had Muslim neighbours and as children we played together joyfully with no differences between us. Once I reached Lhasa, our capital city, with the name Dalai Lama, I found there was a small Muslim community there too. They’d been there since the time of the 5th Dalai Lama who gave them land on which to build a mosque. There were almost no reports of disputes between local Buddhists and these Muslims, who were peaceable, cooked delicious food and spoke with an impeccable Central Tibetan dialect.
“I’m looking forward to the coming meeting and hope that representatives of the embassies of various Muslim countries will also attend. I believe it will be an opportunity to promote religious harmony.”
Among the questions put to him, His Holiness was asked if Buddhists don’t believe in God, how do they account for creation? He replied that like Jains, Buddhists believe in life after life with no beginning. Whether you have a happy or difficult life depends on how you’ve conducted yourself before. Being kind and compassionate to others and avoiding doing them harm are good causes for a happy life in the future. The important thing is to make life meaningful—His Holiness mentioned that he appreciates how thinking of your fellow beings as children of a merciful God can help you do that.
Asked his response to the harassment of Muslims in Burma His Holiness explained that when he first heard about it he was in Washington DC. He expressed his sadness at what was happening and appealed to the Burmese Buddhists not only to remember the Buddha, but also to reflect that if he was there, he would have protected these Muslims. His Holiness explained that he had also expressed his dismay to Aung San Suu Kyi, who replied that the situation was very difficult and there wasn’t much she could do. As a mark of his sympathy and concern for the well-being of these displaced people, he directed the Gaden Phodrang Foundation of the Dalai Lama to make a donation towards their relief and rehabilitation through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The Iranians showed their appreciation with another burst of applause.
Before the occasion came to an end, the visitors gathered around His Holiness in smaller groups to have their photographs taken together—clearly very happy to have met him.
Have you ever been frustrated with the gap between your head knowledge of God and your heart experience of the Living God? Of course you have; and so have I. I can speak with such certainty because I have never met a person who was completely satisfied with their experience of God moment by moment. The Gap, as I’m calling it, is ubiquitous and in a sense will always be with us before we see God face to face. When you understand the biblical tension between the now and not yet, then so much of the bible will become intelligible. However, I think that the gap does not need to be nearly as large as it usually is for most of us. How do we overcome it?
May I ask another question: how would you define the gospel or what a Christian is? There is more than one way to answer that, but Paul never used the term ‘Christian’, and when it is used in the NT (3 Times) it is probably not a term of endearment. For Paul, by far his favorite way of referring to Christians are those who are ‘in Christ.’ About 160 times in his writings that or a similar phrase is used. That little prepositional phrase is sooooo easy to overlook when reading the bible, but once you see its significance you begin to see it almost everywhere! When Paul is addressing people in an epistle, he will often refer to them as so and so ‘in Christ.’ The church of (blank) in Christ Jesus. What is being referred to is our union with Christ. ‘In Christ’ is shorthand for the most central motif in all the bible—our union with the Triune God through Christ. We are in Christ, and Christ is in us (John 14)—and as a result, we are to abide in the Lord. It is interesting how Pauline John sounds in his gospel, or the reverse.
I actually delayed doing this segment because it is so rich, and so crucial, that I never felt that I was ready or adequate to explain it. I still don’t..but am plunging ahead. We NEED to grasp this teaching.
We live as pilgrims in a foreign land. Nevertheless, I am convinced that knowing our union with Christ is the key to substantially decreasing the size of the The Gap. Yet many Christians are ignorant of this notion of union with Christ. Union with Christ—what is that?
Satan is the great identity thief; he confuses Christians as to who they are in Christ; to close our eyes to being ‘in Christ.’ He wants us to struggle and see ourselves as ‘in me.’..which is terrible news and recipe for anxiety ridden life. Satan muddles our essential identity as people who are no longer ‘in Adam’ and are now ‘in Christ’. It answers the age old question: who am I? Identity! Being in Christ includes being forgiven of our sins but it is so much more.
To say that we are in union with Christ contains two elements: we are in Christ, and Christ indwells us. Our union is unchangeable, unalterable (cannot be increased or decreased) instantaneous and irreversible. But our abiding in Christ is what we do; it is our active communing with the Christ with whom we are in union. I am not going to exegete this text in Ephesians, but I chose it to show how prevalent this notion of ‘in Christ’ is. But being in union with Christ is like having an indissoluble umbilical cord between you and the Lord Jesus in heaven.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 (full stop—all of our spiritual blessings find their origin in our union with Christ) even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world (union with Christ is from eternity past to eternity future), that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5he predestined usb for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9making knownc to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guaranteed of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it,e to the praise of his glory.
11 times in 13 verses he speaks of us being’ In Christ’! This is picked almost at random because it so common that it is a phrase that one easily passes over without ever really seeing it. But for Paul it was everything! Some have said that both in the OT and NT union with Christ is the central motif. And the apostle John was so similar in his assertions to Paul, using pictures of our union, like the vine in Jn 15.
1If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is youra life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.(Col.3:1-4)
The first thing to note about our union with Christ is that it extends from eternity past to eternity future.
And that Christ is our very life.
The Colossian Christians were under attack. It seems that false teachers were preying on new converts, who are so susceptible. They have come to Christ and freed from occult bondage in mighty way, but as time passes they inevitably discover that this sin is still in them; bondage broken but they still wrestle with the world, the flesh and the devil. So, they are ripe for false teachers who come along and say: “Are you frustrated? Well, what Paul said is all well and good but to get fullness, you need to do x,y and z.” The key word of these false teachers seems to have been ‘fullness/pleroma’—and this seems to be a proto-gnostic type heresy. The key to false teachers was that they sought to add to Christ to bring them to fullness of spiritual reality. But in reality, in Christ is all the fullness and to be in Christ is to have all the fullness. That is why it says in Eph 1 all spiritual riches are found in Him. Same in Col.
30 And because of hime you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Cor.1:30-31)
This is why in chapters 1 and 2 of Col. Paul stresses how all the fullness of deity dwells in Christ bodily. To be united with Him who is fullness of deity is to experience full fullness; why seek angels (as we do today as well) to round out or top off Jesus Christ, when angels are infinitely inferior to Christ—He made them! But more importantly, why look to angels and (supernatural experiences) or human traditions to make you more spiritual when you already have all you need in Christ? How many believers hop from one conference, video, experience or book to the next because they are restless—seeking some something that will add to ‘just having Jesus.’ We do not need more; what we need is to understand more fully what it is that we have already, as Paul prays in Eph 1 and 3. As I said, few Christians have even begun to plumb the depths of the meaning of our union with Christ. It is not talked about very much from pulpits, which is odd given how often it is mentioned.
What does it mean to be saved than to be united with our savior? So, the eminent theologian John Murray asserted: ‘Nothing is more central or more basic than union with Christ…it is the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation.” The accomplishment and application of redemption is brought to our experience via our union with Christ.
Elsewhere he likens it to the hub of a bicycle wheel—all the salvation blessings flow out like spokes from this central core. We come to experience all of Christ and all He did by our union with Him. Christ came, lived, died, rose and ascended so that He might bring us into vital union with Him. He speaks of this in His High Priestly prayer in John 17.
We must not separate what Christ has done FOR us from the person of Christ who indwells us. We must not separate the benefits from the Benefactor. Union with Christ first brings us into vital union with the Person of Jesus Christ, and His death and resurrection FOR US.
1. Let us first look at our being ‘in Christ’. In Rom. 5 we are born into the world ‘in Adam’ as our representative, and when he sinned, we sinned with him. It is as if we were there with him because he was our federal head/representative. When Adam sinned, we inherited his guilt and corrupted spiritual nature which has darkened every aspect of our humanity and left us spiritually dead (Eph 2:1). Guilty and totally corrupted and darkened.There are only two kinds of people in the world: those who are still ‘in Adam,’ and thus spiritually dead and under God's wrath, and those who are ‘in Christ’ and have been regenerated and baptized with the Holy Spirit, which water baptism represents—and united with all our new Adam accomplished for us.
But being united to Christ by faith, our new representative is Jesus Christ. Everything He did He did as our representative. Now the astonishing thing is that, starting with the Incarnation, if we are in Christ, then we were with Him in all these salvation events. Since we are in Christ and He is our very life, then we can say: that we were united with Him in His incarnation; His 33 years of perfect obedience to the law and to the Father, it is as if we were living that perfect life. His righteousness is imputed to us.
And, we were crucified and died with Him (Gal, 2:20; 2 Cor 5:21; Rom. 6:1ff)
20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
There is a very real sense in which when Jesus hung on the cross, we were with Him. As our substitutionary penal atonement, Jesus died for our sins. ‘Huper’ is Greek word ‘for us’ and since we are united with the whole Christ then we are united with the whole of what He did. He died for us and He accomplished what He set out to do.
Next, we were with Christ when He was entombed.(Rom. 6:4) The Holy Spirit was perfectly united with the corpse of Jesus in the grave, just as Christ is united through the Holy Spirit with our dead bodies. We were raised with Him, ascended and glorified with Him, and now in some wonderfully mysterious/mystical way, our life is now hidden in heaven with Christ (Col. 3:1ff) and we reign with Him; that is eternal security. Even our dead, rotting bodies in the grave are in union with Christ because our bodies matter to God—and they will be raised incorruptible on the Last day. 1 Cor 15; 2 Cor 5. And it is as if Jesus considers Himself incomplete as long as all those whom the Father has given Him are not with Him.
And the dead in Christ will rise first (1 Thess 4) 13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord,d that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
Dead in Christ? What can that mean since glorified saints have never been more alive.
Paul cannot be talking about glorified souls because they are not dead—they are in Christs presence. He is referring to our bodies, which are ‘sleeping.’ What a lovely truth that even our corpses are precious to our Lord and are in Him! And at the Second Coming He will raise our bodies from the grave and make them wonderfully glorified bodies, such His own is now.
I have thought about this and the decaying bodies of believers are holy to God, so I do not think the demonic can mess with them but I do think that demons inhabit cemeteries because of the bodies of unbelievers, which are unholy. Why do so many foolish folks seek to have experiences in cemeteries? There are many sad tales of people being followed home by unclean spirits because of doing this.
These realities are so amazing Paul actually invented new words to convey our being crucified and raised with (Greek-syn)Christ. And we read in Rom 8:11 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
We can rest in Christ and cease anxiously striving and trying to prove ourselves through our looks, actions, ministries ect. We are in union with Christ NOW, and this union is unbreakable.
Christ has so closely identified Himself with us that He asked Saul why was he persecuting Him?! To touch those ‘in Christ’ is to touch Him. This is a union of extraordinary closeness.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.b The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Cor.5:17)
We have a new identity in Christ. Many speak of the battle of the old man and the new man, but this is confusion. The old man (identity) is gone forever—that would be like Adam and Jesus fighting inside us!! But indwelling sin does remain. So, the new man does battle with sin, world and devil—but not with old self/man. I have heard even the finest theologians get confused on this point. With Christ, we have died to old identity and to tyranny of sin. In heaven the very presence of sin will be evacuated.
When we are baptized (as children or adults—there are good arguments for both) we are given a new name. When I was born my parents named me Mark Andrew Hunnemann, which is quite a mouthful! It became what I responded to as it represented me. It was/is my name…its me. Someone says ‘Mark Hunnemann’ I know who they are talking about.
In baptism the old name of Adam is replaced by the name of the Triune God (Jesus said baptize them in the Name….), in whose name we are baptized. Paul refers to this in Romans 6. So, our baptism and the Lord’s Supper both celebrate our union with Christ and each other. It certainly is a devilish thing that we fuss and fume over amount of water to baptize with when the focus is on being ‘immersed’ (if you will) into the new identity of being in Christ. We have placed on us the mark of our union with the Triune God. That is why Luther, when troubled, would often say to himself-“I have been baptized.” We have a new identity. So many today are on an unconscious quest to discover who they really are. But being ‘in Christ’ is our new identity. It is a glorious new identity which entails all that Jesus accomplished and the Holy Spirit applied to us.
2. Not only are we in Christ, but through the Holy Spirit, He is in us--Christ indwells us. So He not only gives us a new identity but new power to live holy lives. Union with Christ is of the most intimate nature. Christ comes into our entire beings as a homemaker (John 14) 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him (John 14)
Christ was telling His disciples that it was to their benefit that He ascend and send the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the agent of the Trinity, so when He indwells us, then the entire Trinity indwells us. Indeed, in a lovely reality, the Triune God comes into us as a homemaker. Those of you ladies who are homemakers know what this entails and think of the dignity this homemaking of God gives to your calling, as it patterns after God’s own crowning work in us. But let us focus on God and His indwelling of us and how we not only have a new identity, but because the Trinity indwells us we have a new power. There was a massive change inside of us at regeneration and then we were united to Christ by faith and this power of the omnipotent God now indwells our feeble and frail bodies. Regardless of whether you feel His presence is not the issue—His presence is more certain than our fluctuating feelings.
What Christ did for us on the cross in defeating sin and becoming a curse for us, He now indwells us to give us the power to live in a way pleasing to God. In Col. we are then told to put off the old man and put on the new man. Some communions still have the practice of providing new and clean clothes for all those who undergo baptism. We are to become who we are in fact. The imperitives are grounded in the indicatives of our union with Christ. An indicative is a statement of fact and imperative is a command. So, before we are TOLD to be like Christ, we are filled with Christ, so that we have the power to become in practice what we are in fact.
Remember that the pattern for Christ was suffering and then glory, so we who are in union with Christ are to follow that same pattern: we shall suffer here but it shall prepare us for glory.
The beauty of union with Christ is that the guilt and power of sin are both dealt with.
“How few of us are experimentally (experientially) acquainted with this privilege of holding immediate communion with the Father in love.” So said the great Puritan, John Owen. The Trinity now has made His home in us and we are to abide in the Vine. How is this done? Union is a fact, but abiding is something that we do. It was George Mueller of Bristol England who stated that he made it his first priority of the day to get his heart happy in the Lord; which is another way of talking of abiding. I think that is a helpful way to view reading/prayer as a means of abiding. God has given us His means of grace by which we abide in Him. The temptation is always there to drift. May the Lord put a short leash on us and gently but quickly pull us back when we begin to drift away from sweet communion with Christ.
See this lovely quote from Calvin:
“We see that our whole salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ. We should therefore take care not to derive the least portion of it from anywhere else. If we seek salvation, we are taught by the very name of Jesus that it is of Him. If we seek any other gifts of the Spirit, they will be found in His anointing. If we seek strength, it lies in His dominion; if purity, in His conception; if gentleness, it appears in His birth. For by His birth He was made like us in all respects, that He might learn to feel our pain. If we seek redemption, it lies in His passion; if acquittal, in His condemnation; if remission of the curse, in His cross; if satisfaction, in His sacrifice; if purification, in His blood; if reconciliation, in His descent into hell; if mortification of the flesh, in His tomb; if newness of life, in His resurrection; if immortality, in the same; if inheritance of the Heavenly Kingdom, in His entrance into heaven; if protection, if security, if abundant supply of all blessings, in His Kingdom; if untroubled expectation of judgment, in the power given to Him to judge. In short, since rich store of every kind of good abounds in Him, let us drink our fill from this fountain, and from no other.” Institutes of Christian Religion
Our part-Abiding. What is the first thing you think of upon awakening? What must I do today?…I do..I..I…I? Instead we should ask: Lord, what shall WE do today? I have an 87 year old friend and prayer warrior who says every morning: ‘Lord, what shall we do today?” In addition to that, I frequently add: I am in union with You, please help me to abide in You as intimately as is possible this side of heaven. God desires deep intimacy with us, and abiding in Christ is the key to bridging the gap between our head knowledge and heart knowledge. 4Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15)
I heard recently the experience of Hudson Taylor, the founder of China Inland Mission which touched countless lives. He died in 1905 but not before seeing extraordinary fruit in China. But he labored for a number of years and suffered terrible trials before he had a life altering experience of discovering union with Christ. It is not that he got something he did not have before, but as Paul prayed in Eph that we would understand more fully the extent of God’s love for us; to more fully possess our possessions, as one man put it; to know more fully what we already know. Any good pastor knows that a big part of pastoral work is patiently explaining to people what Paul was praying for in Eph 3—a deeper awareness of the depth of God’s love. One day as Taylor was laboring under immense weight, he received a letter from a friend which outlined the freedom of knowing and resting in our union with Christ and learning to abide and rest in that union. (this is not passive rest because we must fight) Learning that apart from abiding in Christ we can do nothing. Nothing! Notice the dual emphasis on us in Christ, and He in us, and then the call to ABIDE. Another word might be communion with…walking intimately with.
His son wrote a few decades later that this event was no ephemeral passing fad—his dad was forever changed, and he never seemed perturbed amidst the most stressful situations. He knew in his heart the beauty of his union with Christ—with the whole Christ and all He did. When Taylor understood the implications of being in Christ it melted his heart and he was a changed man. He saw God’s sovereignty and He released his anxieties into the arms of Him whom he was in intimate union with. He learned to abide in his union amidst the terrible tragedies he suffered.
Extravagant grace and radical discipleship are often presented as two opposite ways of pursuing the Christian life; but both are drawn together in union with Christ. While some fall prey to hyper-grace and others to heavy burden of striving for radical discipleshsip, both the beauty of grace and the call to mirror holiness are wed together in our union with Christ. Union with Christ is the key to balance in the Christian life.
But Christ is always greater than our experience of Him, and cannot be reduced to our experience.
My prayer is that by understanding our union with Christ, and the utter security that entails, that we would be forever changed as well. Our anxiety ridden striving would cease. We are accepted in the Beloved , now-we do not have to prove ourselves to God or anyone. Yes, we strive against the world, flesh and devil until we die BUT we now know how much God loves us and that the power of sin to enslave us has been broken. We view ourselves as being in Christ and united to every aspect of His saving life and death, resurrection and ascension. The immense security and sense of significance that should flow from this awareness is staggering. We have a new identity and a new power.
Apart from Christ we can do nothing but sin, but in Christ we can begin to drink deeply from the wells of Living Water. May you begin to experience a depth of communion with the Triune God that you’ve never known, and experience joy unspeakable, IN CHRIST.
Thekchen Chöling, Dharamsala, HP, India - This morning, His Holiness the Dalai Lama met with a group of 51 students and 6 staff members of Kivunim. This department of Hebrew College offers an academic gap year program for North American High School graduates based in Jerusalem with field trip visits to 11 other countries. His Holiness welcomed them to Dharamsala—his home for the last sixty years.
"All of us seven billion human beings are mentally, emotionally and physically same,” he told them. “Whether you are a Muslim, a Jew, a Christian or belong to any other faith, there is no difference in the way we are born or the way we die. We begin our lives basking in our mother’s affection, without which we would not have survived.
“Scientists have evidence that basic human nature is compassionate. They have also found that the opposite, constant anger and hatred, weaken our immune systems. Therefore, just as we teach physical hygiene to preserve our physical health, in order for people to learn how to maintain a happy, peaceful mind, they need to learn emotional hygiene—how to tackle their destructive emotions.”
His Holiness explained that he is committed to promoting basic human values because of his concern that people should be able to lead their lives in joy and peace. In this connection he is also committed to encouraging religious harmony because, despite differences in their philosophical views, all major religious traditions convey a similar message of love and compassion, patience and tolerance and so forth. He acknowledged that belief in a merciful creator God is a powerful basis for viewing our fellow creatures as brothers and sisters. Being responsible for your own actions, as taught among non-theistic traditions, has a similar effect.
His Holiness mentioned how sad he feels to see conflict in the name of religion:
"Religion is supposed to bring people closer together, so it’s unthinkable that it should be used create conflict. It is particularly sad when members of different denominations of the same religion, such as Sunni and Shia Muslims, quarrel with each other, however this doesn’t seem to be a problem in India.”
Although he has retired and passed his political responsibilities to an elected leadership in 2011, His Holiness remains deeply concerned about keeping Tibet's rich culture and language alive.
"As far as the Nalanda tradition is concerned, its approach to reality, which depends on the use of reason, is scientific and unique among Buddhist traditions."
Regarding the need to protect Tibet’s ecology, His Holiness reported that scientists have told him that because the natural environment at high altitude is more fragile, when it is damaged it takes much longer to recover.
“Historically, according to Chinese documents, Tibet, Mongolia and China were independent nations in the 7th, 8th and 9th centuries,” His Holiness remarked. “However, the past is past. We need to take account of the reality today. We are not seeking separate status for Tibet. We are prepared to remain with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), provided there is mutual benefit. I have great admiration for the spirit of the European Union that puts the common interest ahead of the interests of its individual members.”
His Holiness answered several questions from the audience and posed for a photographs with them before returning to his residence.
I want to do a 3-part series on how to view the world: sentimentalism, cynicism, and gratitude—the last of which is, though it is not a comprehensive response to these other two, it is a good beginning to seeing the world through biblical spectacles.
We are ‘Glorious Ruins’ as Francis Schaeffer so aptly put it; glorious because we are made in God’s image, and ruins because of the Fall and our rebellion against our Creator. In this 3-part series I am going to look at two enemies of the Christian faith: sentimentalism and cynicism. Sentimentalists, as we’ll see, fixate on the ‘glorious’ aspect, and cynics the ‘ruin’ part. Or Jesus said that we should be ‘wise as serpents and innocent as doves’ (Matt 10); again, sentimentalism focuses on the second part and cynicism focuses on the wise as serpents. They are both destructive of biblical Christianity, and on a spectrum they are polar opposites, they pull in opposite directions. However, the cure is to not to mix one with a bit of the other. In that case, we no longer have a one-headed monster but a two-headed monster! (cynical sentimentalist or reverse!)
We all have laughingly groaned about some overly sentimental cards we may have received, but that barely scratches the surface of what we are looking at. It goes much, much deeper than shallow cards.
Sentimentalism may sound sweet, nice and innocuous, but in its strong form, it truly is destructive of our faith because it renders Christ's death unnecessary, as we’ll see. I believe that sentimentalism is incredibly huge in America/UK and is having an enormously corrosive effect on our culture and the truth—but very few see it for what it is because it is so NICE. (reminds me of the beautiful side of evil) It is massive in scope and I’m convinced that it is thoroughly under-evaluated, under-analyzed, and under-appreciated for the negative impact it is having on culture and the church. Why? Again, because on the surface, it appears and sounds so sweet and nice, especially compared to some foes of the faith that are more militant—like paganism or atheism. Strident atheistic critics of our faith are much more easy to spot and to respond to.
Both sentimentalism and cynicism are like glasses through which we view all of reality; they are worldview glasses. Some of you wear glasses but you are not aware that you are looking through them when you wear them. You may take them off to clean them or go to the optometrist to make sure that you are seeing clearly. And that is what we need to do—clean our worldview glasses; take a long, hard look at how these ‘glasses’ of sentimentalism effects how we see everything. It effects how we see ourselves, our inner life and emotions, reality, God, His redemption, our relationships, ect. Remember that sentimentalism has become ubiquitous and can be seen in every aspect of American culture; art, media, politics, entertainment, relationships, etc. Its devastation is all the more insidious and dangerous because it sounds so lovely on the surface. I won’t have the time to dissect how it has effected culture in all respects because it is enormous, and because some of it depends on human taste and subjectivity (e.g. art).
First, let me say very strongly that I am NOT coming down on emotions or sentiments. We need emotions to be human and they are a lovely part of life. Nor am I criticizing strong expressions of strong emotions/sentiments—just think of the emotional life of our Lord and how He showed deep emotion or sentiment (e.g. tomb of Lazarus). So, the issue is not emotions/sentiments per se, but a selfish or twisted use of them.
Let me define sentimentalism, and then you will see the need for concern. (I need to give credit to Dick Keyes from L’Abri who helped in this study) In it’s strong form it consists of three things: first, there is a denial of evil, sin, ugliness, dirtiness, brokenness and complexity; second, emotions are self-referential—emotions turned in on themselves (I’ll explain this shortly); and lastly, emotions do not lead to action, especially if it is self-sacrificial or costly in any way.
There is an inner coherence or twisted logic that holds these three together, though they may be experienced individually at times.
Let’s look at each one and then show how they collide with biblical Christianity. The first aspect of sentimentalism is the denial of evil, sin, suffering, ugliness and complexity. What it wants and sees instead is: goodness, niceness, sweetness, peace, and simplicity. In fact, it’s watchword is ‘niceness.’ It does not want to face the ugly side of life. It refuses to see it. It will do all in its power to mask, trivialize, or downplay the harsh realities of life in a fallen world.
That is not real life in the fallen world, and sooner or later they will have a very rude awakening to the harsh edges of God’s world. We may deny evil and sin but we cannot escape living in God’s world. But this sin and ugliness denial is so very prevalent, and it starts young. Think of the message of Barney and Friends—all areas of life are covered with a pink cloud of optimism and PC values. Disney has created a similar world, which is also devoid of God, sin and redemption. Our kids are being exposed to a sentimental view of life from early age. Sesame Street and Kaptain Kangaroo had real kids without scripts and things went bump. Even classical children’s stories that speak of evil step-parents are being downplayed. We want stories that always have happy endings but that is not life in the real lane.
Let me give an adult example. Joseph Goebbels was the Minister of Propaganda for the Nazi Party from 1933-1945. He had a fascinating strategy for masking the evil that was becoming increasingly ensconced in that culture. On State radio he mandated the music. One might think that he would have played Wagner and military marches but instead he required the playing of non-stop syrupy and sappy love songs. Hour after hour, year after year, Goebbels played these love songs while all the while all around them Hitler was turning their country into a police state based on racism. The people’s perception of profound evil was being affected and distracted by this relentless barrage of sentimental music, which blinded the people seeing what was right in front of their noses. The trivialization and denial of evil, ugliness and suffering through music was state controlled and very effective in controlling the masses.
I am amazed that after the bloodiest century in the history of mankind (170 million non-combatants were slaughtered by Communists) we are experiencing this profound evil denying worldview.
Immediately it is apparent how this radically impacts one’s ability to see a need for a savior. If we deny sin and evil, then there is no need for a savior; Jesus becomes an irrelevant nice guy or even a joke. Sin is the whole reason Jesus came into the world, so if we deny or trivialize sin then we will not see a need for a savior. They may like Easter (because of its positive energy) but not Good Friday. Do you see how serious this is? And we are talking about a view of the world that has become enormously popular, and aspects of it have entered the church as well. Not so sweet and innocuous as it first sounded is it? It is sending many to hell because it is undermining the entire message of redemption; no sin, then no need for a savior. With these glasses, the gospel seems primitive and obscene.
But it is not just salvation. It blinds people to the true suffering that people are going through. This mindset is reflected in what is the life goal for many: personal peace and affluence; just leave me alone and I don’t want to see the ugly underbelly of your life. I read recently that one woman said that all she wanted from life was to be drama free and to have fun and laugh. That is a recipe for not only wasting one’s life here but for losing it eternally.
The mega-popular authors and pastors alike often avoid speaking of dark themes which the bible speaks so frankly about. We live in a terribly broken and fallen world, in which we are glorious ruins. However, sentimentalism is: we just want to have fun and no drama in relationships. They fixate on the glorious aspect to the total neglect of the ‘ruin’ that has befallen all of us.
A singer songwriter from NC is James Taylor who is internationally famous. And the song which jumpstarted his career in 1970 was ‘Fire and Rain.’ This song is about drug addiction/heroin withdrawal, suicide, career slide and emotional collapse, as he was institutionalized a few times. Nevertheless, at a large fund raiser 40 years later, there was Taylor grinning as he sung this song about horrible realities but brought back sentimental feelings for the audience—they were grinning and swaying. There was a total disconnect between the awful lyrics and our wanting to squash harsh reality and focus on sentimentalism. That is an example of musical sentimentalism. I hate to face the ugly side of life so leave me alone.
This avoidance of the ‘ruin’ is what is driving many people’s fanaticism about fitness. Fitness is wonderful and I enjoy it, but for many, they do not want to think about the ugliness of death, so they throw themselves into all kinds of activities that distract them from thinking about the inevitability of death. Instead of doing the rational thing and making sure we are ready to die well, we avoid and deny it. In truth, we are not ready to live well unless we are first ready to die well…it will always be haunting us. So, sentimentalism denies or mutes the harsh realities of life, like sin, brokeness and suffering. They don’t have a corner on denial of evil; paganism and a host of other -isms deny evil too.
From Genesis 3 to Revelation God’s assessment of all mankind is that we are sinners: ‘for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.’(Rom. 3:23) So, this aspect is a total denial of reality, as we know and experience it, and most importantly as God declares it to be. Our feelings are not the ultimate criterion of truth; God’s Word is. Our experience is to be sifted through the bible and not vice versa.
Second, sentimentalism is emotionally self-referential; emotions are turned inwards. Its directing your emotions towards your own emotions, so you are the subject of the expression of your emotions. What I mean is that we are more concerned about our experience of our emotions than we are for the people who we are emoting to because of their pain. Instead of feeling true sadness for a person who is suffering, the sentimentalist feels good about themselves that they are expressing sad emotions. So, what may look like feelings for others, really may have ‘me’ as their object. For example, do I really love this person or do I love how this person makes me feel? And what happens when they don’t make you feel good about yourself? Sentimentalism has done great damage in relationships and marriages because true love is not the goal—self sacrificing love. Many on dating sites speak of initial chemistry, how this person makes me feel? It is fine and good to be attracted to the one you want to marry but how will this chemistry handle the first argument you get into, when they no longer make you feel good? As a former pastor who has performed many weddings, I really like the classic vows because they force one to think through all the possibilities of when your spouse may not be ‘chemistry on fire’ anymore; for better/worse, richer/poorer, sickness/health, til we are parted by death.
It has been said that sentimentalists see all of reality revolving around them. Whatever happens, their response is always: how does this affect ME? It is a terrible situation where they cannot even acknowledge that there are other people, and an entire external world, which is outside of them.
A biblical example of self-referential feelings is King Hezekiah. In Isaiah 39 Isaiah rebukes the king for his hubris in showing all his riches—he tells the king that his country will be utterly destroyed. And Hezekiah’s response? Classic self-referentialism—‘what you have said is good.’! He had positive emotions because all the devastation would occur after he died. Incredible selfishness.
The media is very good about eliciting an emotional response from the audience that makes them feel good about their emotional response of feeling bad. It is all about making one feel good about the fact that they have expressed themselves; pride in one’s emotional response. It is quite twisted.
Have you ever told a friend about a trial you are experiencing, only for them to reply how this inconveniences them? ‘I had a flat tire’. ‘Oh what a bummer because I wanted to borrow your car tomorrow.’ That can get old real quick for those on the receiving end. Or take the counselor who feels the need to be needed, and so he does not really want you to get healed. Pastors sometimes do this too; need to be needed.
Worst, perhaps, is when a person has heard potential or real devastating news regarding their friend's health. But they express extravagantly (perhaps on Facebook) how much it has kept them up at nights, but you have not even heard from them. They are more concerned about how noble they feel about the sadness they feel for your devastating news.
Those who are on the receiving end of such self referential emotions feel like prey; they can tell that its more about the other person and their feeling pleased about themselves, than a proper compassionate concern for you. After such an encounter the true sufferer may likely have a ‘hunted’ look on his face—he has fallen prey to this persons selfish quest for emotional self-validation as a ‘caring person.’ The reality is that they are emotional vampires.
This of course flies in the face of countless biblical texts about putting others before oneself. It is also destructive of true expressions of genuine compassion. Jesus was quite indignant about those who did good things for show. This aspect undermines all true compassion and turns people into selfish folks…deep down, shallow people. However, I need to add that we all struggle with hypocrisy at some level.
The third aspect of sentimentalism is that our emotions do not lead to appropriate action; especially if that action is sacrificial or costly. If we refuse to see evil and our emotions are self-referential, then it only makes sense that that person is apt to close their eyes to evil/suffering and do nothing.
I heard the story of wealthy couple in 19th century England and they go to the theatre on a cold wintry night. They are both moved to tears about the story of a poor person who is belittled and battered by uncaring rich folks. Meanwhile, the carriage driver who drove them is outside and almost froze to death while waiting in the cold. He forgot to clean the snow off the step of the carriage and the woman got snow on her shoes. The husband gets verbally abusive and furiously horsewhips the driver for this oversight. They are totally oblivious to the disconnect between their response to a play and how they treat their driver in real life. They can weep at a play but have no compassion on the poor man outside, nearly frozen to death—sentimentalism can elicit strong emotion but it does not lead to costly expressions of love.
For the sentimentalist, their strong emotions stop with their emoting and feeling good about their emoting. They don’t feel any compulsion to reach out to anyone who is need, especially if they have to roll up their sleeves to do so. If there is no evil, and if the feelings we do have are self-referential, then it only makes sense that that person is not likely to do anything to help.
This is why sentimentality is so dangerous because it is all about niceness and warmth. It is very easy for Christians to overlook because it looks so sweet and kind and we are used to getting worked up about raving atheists, like the late Christopher Hitchens. But to realize that much we value is being undermined by niceness is a strange shift of gears for us. The bible is full of warnings about the dangers posed by sentimentalism. The following passage from James captures and condemns all three aspects of sentimentalism.
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
Do you see how sentimentalism is not just confined to Hallmark cards? It is an entire worldview that has America and the west in a tight death grip. With its categories, the redemptive work of Christ is rendered useless and unneeded. If there is no evil and man is basically good then who needs a savior? That is why we must hammer home the law to reveal that all of mankind is in desperate need of a savior.
The beguiling attractiveness of sentimentalism is that it can be mistakenly connected with fond memories of a loved one. Please, I am NOT saying that we should be cold and emotionless robots. It all depends on how we define sentimentality. My deeply fond memories of my deceased parents and siblings are a profound sentiment of mine. But deep sentiments is not to be equated with an -ism, in this case sentimental-ism. In most instances, the root word is perfectly fine until the suffix ‘ism’ is added.
In close, I want to reiterate how massively sentimentalism has infiltrated our society and the insidious damage it has done, and continues to do. It is wrecking havoc in every area of life. But the tragedy is that this tsunami leaves hardly a trace of even a wake, because it is not being seen. Our glasses are fogged. It is truly the child of the angel of light; a ‘nice sin’ of omission.
