The Thing I Don't Talk Much About

 There are a couple of things I have not really ever addressed here:

1. Conspiracy theories

2. The "Illuminati"

The reason I have stayed away from blogging about these things is that there's been a successful campaign to make people who do look crazy. This post title is perfect: There’s a conspiracy theory that the CIA invented the term ‘conspiracy theory’ – here’s why.

I have not read the article because I've heard the discussion plenty of times before. I don't know who invented the term but it certainly has done the job. I no longer use the term because I don't care about the theories surrounding anything that doesn't have to do with the human soul or the battle for it. I will instead say, "The Enemy's Plans".

I use the same term for anything to do with what is so often called "The Illuminati". That term has also been tarnished and beaten into uselessness.

The thing with all of this is that Christians should not be surprised at anything falling under the Enemy's Plans. We might not have known exactly what those plans would look like in our lifetime but we were warned:

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (KJV)

And if that isn't clear enough, here it is in other versions:

 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (NKJV)

For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (ESV)

Because your fight has not been with flesh and blood, but with Principalities and The Rulers and The Powers of this dark world and with wicked spirits which are under Heaven. (Aramaic Bible in Plain English)

I think what we needed to study hardest in that verse is who the "Rulers" and "Powers" are.

Satan is not wandering around looking anything like what man has been portraying him. He is represented by his devotees. They can wander among us looking innocent and beautiful and enticing. 

The goal of the Enemy is to win souls to his damnation before they can accept Christ's salvation. If we die while we are trying to please Satan, we are lost. If we die while we are chasing after the riches or fame or beauty or power that he offers, we are lost. If we chase these things blindly - not realizing who the Power is behind them - we are lost.

When I see people working for these things - power and glory and material stuff - I pray for them to come out of the darkness. I was there once. I once wanted nothing more than to be rich and famous. I was so proud of my beauty and youthful energy and I wanted to make those things help elevate me higher - in employment, in romantic relationships, and in friendships. I wanted to be seen and noticed and regarded. If I'd had access to today's social media platforms, I would have been out of control.

Just as the Gospel is reaching more and more of the world because of better technology and communication, The Enemy is also using those resources.

If we stay focused on our human selves, we will be less concerned with our eternal souls. If we can indulge in every pleasure here on earth, we are less concerned with what happens when we are no longer here on earth.

Do I believe that people sign up with The Enemy in exchange for what they want here on earth? Yes. Do I think that all of them fully understand what they are signing away? I don't know. Maybe. Maybe those are the ones who, in spite of their earthly successes, commit suicide or turn to drugs and alcohol or other deadly vices.

What bothers me is that a lot of us don't believe that this happens - that people are signing up with The Enemy. I am always trying to find ways to point this out to friends and family. But you can't see if you prefer to remain blind.

I recently watched a long video -over 5 hours long - by a man trying to point out some of the work of The Enemy. He is so earnest that he went on a bit at first I had trouble getting through the first several minutes. I'm glad I hung in there. He has probably laid out the most compelling evidence of how we are being manipulated today.

In the video, this man asks a couple of fairly obvious questions that might not occur to a lot of people:

• If Jesus wasn't the Savior, why is he the most hated? You don't see the same hate toward Buddha or Mohammed or any of those.
• Why is Christianity the religion that is most under attack? You don't see the same attacks on any other religion.

I think that we are being so very manipulated in every way. Look at the similarities in the behavior of these well-known people. Are their little poses and mannerisms just coincidentally similar? Are the entertainers and other "creatives" among them that unoriginal? 

Seeing the eye doctor, maybe?

We are distracted by so much news and information and entertainment and other noise that we can't hear ourselves trying to think. 

When Facebook and its various other platforms went offline the other day, I rejoiced. I was hoping that people would use the time wisely. I wonder if any of them used those distraction-free hours to communicate with people offline. Did any of them pick up a book? Did anyone do something fun without worrying about posting photos immediately?

Right now, in our nation, many of us are divided by race and politics. I pray that people will realize that there are no divisions in The Enemy's camp. There are different teams that might want different things for themselves as teams but they all are again the people on God's team.

A lot of us Christians will support and root for politicians and other leaders because they look like us or vote like us or listen to the music we like. In reality, they are not on your team unless they are on God's team. And just saying you are on God's team is not enough. There are many people who will get to Judgement Day for this to be a real thing:

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out devils, and by thy name do many mighty works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7:21-23 ESV) ~my emphasis~

They can hide from us but they will be exposed.

So, please take time to pay attention to what is going on around us. We have to be prayerful and wise and watchful against deceit and trickery. 

Peace

--Free

Money. What Is It Good For?

 I came across this article while scrolling Flipboard recently. My first thought was mean. "That's what they get. Flaunting and fronting." Then, I started thinking about my own vanities.

Even people who have opened a Bible more than a couple of times in life often incorrectly cite 1 Timothy 6:10 and claim that money is the root of all evil. The actual passage is so much deeper than that and goes like this:

the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (my underline)

The love of money certainly caused problems for the people in that article. Their love of it and the people who were trying to steal from them. But they are people living in and for the world. What about the people claiming to be living for the Lord? You know, people like... me.

One of my favorite books is C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters. It addresses with humor so much of the seriousness of the Christian life. I love where Screwtape speaks on one of our weaknesses:

"You will find that anything or nothing is sufficient to attract his wandering attention. You no longer need a good book, which he really likes, to keep him from his prayers or his work or his sleep; a column of advertisements in yesterday’s paper will do. …You can make him do nothing at all for long periods"

See how well the adversary of humankind knows us? **

I have to remind myself quite often not to be lustful for material things and not to be distracted. It rarely works. I can wake up in the morning with every intention to remain focused on prayers and, as soon as I even glimpse an ad for the latest kitchen gadget, I'm Googling to see if it comes in the color I prefer. When I realize I've been distracted, this is how I imaging Satan celebrating:

Money causes me to lose focus on things. If I think too much about the lack of money, I forget to be thankful for all my blessings. If I think too much about any extra money I might have, I forget to be thankful. If I try too hard to figure out how I manage to eat, have clothing and a roof over my head, I forget to be thankful.

This is a little story about how my mother viewed money. (Keep in mind that she had never had a lot of money but somehow always had what she'd needed. Always.)

Once, my sister and I were going over the monthly bills, writing out checks and marking off the Paids and Not Paids. For some reason, this time I was looking at the difference in our income against the outgoing funds. I called my sister's attention to the discrepancy. We started to go back over everything and were about to tally and calculate. My mother walked past the dining room table and saw what we were doing. "Stop that," she told us. And she was using her I-mean-business voice. "Don't question your blessings like that. Just don't."

We were grown, of course, but we always listened to Mama. Later on, she told us that she had long ago stopped wondering how she did what she did with what little money she had. And what my mother had done was raise a family of 6 kids on my dad's meager G.I.'s salary. After my parents divorced, Mama still fed and clothed and took really good care of us - on very little money. By the time,  my sister and I were managing the income and bills, we were three women raising 4 kids. We had a nice home in a good neighborhood. All the kids wore decent shoes and clothes and ate plentiful and healthy food. If they needed something extra for school - musical instruments or field trip fees - they got it. We had the help and support of my brothers but we did most of it by ourselves. We didn't go on a lot of vacations but my brothers took the kids to Hawaii and Disneyland and Seaworld. They got to go to carnivals and circuses and go fishing, hiking, and camping every summer. 

We were blessed and none of our neighbors could ever figure out how we did it. Mama's answer was that we didn't do it but that God did. Of course, we drove the worst cars ever to run on public roads but we weren't taking the bus or walking in those Alaska winters. 

Now I am not saying that God is like a genie in a bottle that grants material wishes. What I am saying is that He promises to provide our daily bread. To this day, when I don't have money for one thing extra, I am never without food. When we were raising the kids, I didn't travel a lot and we drove those raggedy cars but I never once - not eve - suffered a missed-meal cramp.

At one of my lowest points in life, I was living with an abusive spouse. I had spent every saved dime I had to pay rent and keep the utilities on. I was too proud to go to my family for help or even let them know what was happening in my life. My husband had a habit of leaving and staying gone for days. I didn't know anyone in the not-so-safe area we were living in and had no vehicle. I remember being alone for almost an entire week, sitting in a house with only a bed, a second-hand television, and a couple of Dollar General deck chairs. I had a jar of change that wouldn't amount to enough to buy a pack of hamburger meat. I smoked at the time and had 3 packs of cigarettes, some bottled water, a couple cans of soup, and a small bag of frozen mixed vegetables. I had lost so much weight that I was under what I'd weight 15 years before. I think I was hitting the scale at about 107 pounds. 

I remember sitting out on the patio in one of the chairs one evening while it rained. I smoked and cried, cried and smoked, and I wondered how I got myself to such a point. I was totally out of money and knew that if my husband wasn't back before the next rent payment was due, I was done for. 

The day before rent was due, I was out of bottled water (and the tap water in that part of West Texas was not healthy) on my last pack of cigarettes and had one can of soup left. The only thing I had was my cellphone which was paid because it was still on a plan my sister and I shared and she had been taking care of that bill. My husband did not come back that day so I sat on the porch that night, wondering what on earth I was going to do. 

I don't remember what time it was when my phone rang but it was really late. My best friend was calling from across the state. She and I talked maybe once a month at that point because I was newly married and I guess that's how things change. When I saw her number come up, I didn't want to answer. I didn't know what to say and I didn't want to risk breaking down in tears at the sound of her voice.

She left a message and when I checked it, I did cry. She said that I had been so heavy on her mind that if I didn't call her back RIGHT NOW, she was going to contact my family and have them come find me. I called her back. I wasn't crying but she could hear something in my voice and all I said was "Hey, it's me."

Without asking questions or going into details, she told me to tell her where the nearest Walmart was. I told her. She told me to take a cab there and have them wait while I went in to pick up the money she was sending, then call her back.

I left that apartment with one piece of carry-on luggage I had. I picked up the money my friend sent and called her back. She had bought me a bus ticket because the bus station was a few minutes away but the nearest airport was an hour away. I caught a bus to where she lived in another part of Texas and she was waiting at the station. All she did was hug me, get me into the car, and to her house. She had fixed up a bedroom just for me. She put me to bed and I think I slept for two or three days. I ended up staying with my friend for about 5 months before I was strong enough to go home to my family. When God had put that woman in my life years before, he had been answering prayers I never had to pray. 

Some years later, that friend and I talked a lot about how close I had come to dying. Had I not gotten away from that spouse and out of that situation, I would probably have succumbed to the sarcoidosis I didn't even know was in my system. Doctors told me later how the stress had probably caused the dormant disease to manifest so violently not long after I was back safe with family.

Every day, I thank God for looking over me. I thank Him for every bite of food I eat and for every breath I take during the day. I've made it through sickness and loss and depression. In spite of circumstances, I find myself smiling often or even laughing out loud with friends and family. That's not wealth or fame or being thin and beautiful - because I have none of the wealth and lost whatever thinness I ever had! LOL. This, folks, is God and hope and knowing that I have an eternity that will wash away every sadness I've lived with. I want everyone to have that.

So, if I'd had money before now, it would just have been too much. I needed less, I think, to appreciate anything. If I suddenly get rich now, it won't add anything to my life but stuff.

Peace

--Free

**There is an "update" of sorts to Screwtape as written by another author. The book - As One Devil to Another: A Fiendish Correspondence in the Tradition of C. S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters by Walter Hooper - is a wonderful reminder that we are and always will be under attack.

**UPDATE** Christians and the Nature of Reality

**UPDATE** When I posted this in September, I had no idea that a few months later I would be reading a book called "The Story of Reality". It sort of relates to my thoughts here but in a weird way. I highly recommend this book to anyone - Christian, Atheist, or Skeptic. 

I also have another of the author's books "Tactics", but have not read it yet.

The other day while watching YouTube, bouncing from videos under one subscription to another, something dawned on me. I watched a video about quantum computing, then watched a video Bible study on the book of Matthew. It would surprise a lot of people that the Matthew study included sidebars on quantum physics and theories on alternate dimensions. Yeah, really. 

Now I can't discuss physics or computing in detail when talking with smart people, but when I even reveal an interest in those things, some of my online friends are shocked. It's as if they think that the secular world owns all things outside of what they think of as the Christian religion. Most people really do think all Christians are narrow-minded and ignorant.

Okay, we are "narrow" in our beliefs - as in "narrow is the gate" - but that does not mean that we are narrow in awareness of ideas or ignorant of science and technology. The rest of the world is not privy to information that we Christians are blind to. As a matter of fact, we have believed in many things that the rest of the world - including scientists and technologists - are just now understanding.

Here are some ideas that many Christians think about and consider as possible from a Bible point of view:

• That we exist in a digital simulation.
• That time & space is bent.
• The universe as a breathing thing.

Yeah. Really.

One of my favorite Bible teachers, the late Chuck Missler surprised me in a huge way the first time I read of his ideas about our reality. He wrote this article over 20 years ago and I just found it a couple of years ago. There are other Christians - here is the opinion of one of us -  who find Missler's musings to be "anti-biblical". I think they are mistaking his position. He is not being mystical or influenced by New Age ideas. He is thinking of creation as seen from outside the dimension we see. Certainly, God has the ultimate view of His creation and its existence. Also, man didn't invent quantum physics - or any of the science and technology that so fascinated us. Man is only discovering things that God put into existence.

When I consider the ideas of a simulated universe, I don't think of mystical impressions from New Age practitioners. I think of the Bible and the various passages that make me consider the wonder and intricacies of God's creation.

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. (1 Corinthians 13:12)

So, if you want to look at some ideas from the perspective of some Christians, take a look at some of the articles and videos like this one (and this one) where Missler discusses his views.

Peace

--Free