Spiritual Growth

July 22, 2024

Praying for your nation without double-mindedness

"It is for the king to ensure justice, and the saint to ensure charity," said G. K. Chesterton famously. In other words, the role of the government is to uphold civil law. The role of the church is to administer Christ's benevolence. Over the last century, government has usurped the role of the church and offered handouts - not because it has any inherent godliness, but because it seeks power over the one receiving its "benefits." In the last couple decades, governments around the world have taken this to a new extreme, abdicating their role to uphold lawfulness altogether and offering the money of hard-working citizens to criminal vagrants. This is heavily due to the spirit of lawlessness at work through globalists in the United Nations and WEF and their corrupt influence over national and even local authorities. Even God-fearing Christians are greatly confused about their own role and the government's in this matter, and as a result, cannot think about this in a single-minded manner. Thus they cannot pray effectively.
June 26, 2024
cynicism, idealism and fatalism

Hell’s trifecta trap: Cynicism, Idealism, and Fatalism

Without fervent prayer, God's will is largely held back from what He purposes to do in the earth. As Chip Brogden stated, "“If God will do whatever He wishes, regardless of whether we pray or not, then we do not need to pray at all, and the Lord’s instructions on praying for the Kingdom and His will are superfluous. . .Apart from Him, we can do nothing. Apart from us, He will do nothing.”
February 10, 2024

The frightening truth about failing to pray

"Inattention to prayer actually gives place to the devil to advance his cause and evil." -Todd Smith, Unless We Pray An incident happened a couple years ago of which I only grasped its implications this week. It was July 2021. I had gone to a Wednesday night prayer meeting. There were only a few of us gathered, although our pastor was often reminding us as a congregation not to fall into "vacation mode" and lose spiritual focus, just because it was summer.
June 11, 2023
Pharisees, Lawlessness, Trial of Jesus

Was legalism really the sin of the Pharisees? 

In my previous post, I listed 23 characteristics of the Pharisees spelled out in the Gospels. Their true nature, collectively, was manipulative, vicious, authoritarian, and outright murderous. Jesus called them “children of [their] father, the devil.” For this reason, we should exercise caution before labeling fellow believers who disagree with our position, “Pharisees.” For while there are preachers and teachers with whom we would disagree, even strongly on particulars