Foreword;

The author does not lean on his own understanding and reasoning, nor does he speculate or use conjecture. He consistently and repeatedly asks in prayer for guidance and wisdom from the Holy Spirit when he studies the Bible, our great book.

Note;

There are some repeated statements, including this one. The reason for this is just as it is in the Bible - repetition is the key to retention.

S0me will say there is a lot of negativity in this book, others will not want to hear about sin and the enemy. Well it is about truth. Sin and satan are mentioned many in the Bible so God warns us about the evil one. Over the years I have experienced the work of the evil one, he is real and we are warned in the scriptures.

Tim Skon

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

CHAPTER 1

#JesusLovesYou

The Enemy

The enemy creates fog and twists our thinking in the most subtle of ways without us realizing it. His desire is to detune us, fog and cloud our thought process and judgement. He'll do anything to create doubt, fear, and worry.
He wants us to set a bad example as a Christian; like judging others, driven by pride, disliking or hating someone, unforgiving, and having doubt, all things the Lord detests.

The evil one will do anything to create doubt, diversion, confusion, side tracking, and offbeat focusing away from righteousness.

The enemy is about temptations, so subtle, so smooth.

The variables of subtle complexity is staggering.

Whatever the enemy can do to destroy he will.

If we don’t think satan's evil spirits (fallen angels) are everywhere we are fooling ourselves and that’s what the evil one wants us to do.

The evil one rules the World.

We only have two choices, we live by the World or we live by and are guided by God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

We can’t have two masters.

We must face reality, the Bible says there are many many false prophets and false teachers in the World today, they are everywhere; on TV, on YouTube, commentaries, book authors. They are guided by an evil source and many don’t even realize it. There are blatant and twisted cults that deceive and the enemy is behind them.

God warns us, we must be prepared, we must not rust, we must stay tuned up. The enemy works overtime because he knows his time is short.
We cannot have two masters, we must decide.
We must resist and fight off the evil one daily. ®️

Thank you Jesus for teaching me the way and the truth. Thank you for the Bible, your infallible Word, our operators, reference, technical, and instruction manual for life here on earth.

In todays world the enemy attacks prayer warriors that pray over individuals for healing with a vengeance, satan hates healings.

Anyone who decides to be a prayer minister or prayer warrior should be taught this and be forewarned. The enemy will place doubt in their mind, they will have persecutions...

The angel of light hates with a passion Bible studies, preaching, teaching the scriptures, praying, and fasting.

Wake up, today we are in a great spiritual battle, a spiritual warfare.

I don’t try to impress others with my thinking or logic related to my understanding of the scriptures, that’s all about pride.

If we are pastors, chaplains, teachers, or prayer warriors we must be extremely cautious, it's even more so because the enemy knows if he can get us sidetracked it will effect the masses. in addition, the scriptures say we will be judged and criticized more.

In the last days the enemy is mad and knows his time is short so he's relentless.

The evil one shoots flaming arrows at us. He detests Christians and Christianity and will do anything to attack individuals and the masses and create doubt in their mind.

The lawless one is the son of destruction.

God is real, satan is real, read it in the Holy Scriptures.
Even satan believes in one God our Lord.

I hear this periodically; "don't give the enemy more credit then he deserves".

I believe the enemy deserves more credit then we think he does.

1 Peter 5:8

Be sober and alert, your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, is on the prowl looking for someone to devour.

We need the Lord's protection, wisdom, and guidance from the Holy Spirit. That's why it's imperative that when we pray and study the Bible we ask for guidance and wisdom from the Holy Spirit. In addition, we ask for a shield of protection to fight off the flaming arrows of the enemy. In addition, we ask for guidance and wisdom from the Holy Spirit.®

We live in these modern day distractions of liberalism, secular post modernism, political correctness, and self-righteous which are all tools of the enemy!

The enemy has many tools in his evil toolbox.

The enemy has many many evil spirits which are fallen angels working for him. He and these fallen angels turned their back on God, that is the unpardonable and unforgettable sin against the Holy Spirit! It is apostasy, they can’t get back, they are condemned to eternal damnation.

The deceitfulness of the lawless one, the angel of light, the enemy, is all about obfuscation, he is the personification of evil and expert of subtlety.

He blurs and confuses our vision and hearing.

Exodus 15:9

“The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; My desire shall be gratified against them; I will draw out my sword, my hand will destroy them."

The pernicious enemy cunningly destroys and deceives.

The angel of light is pestilence that stalks in darkness and light.

Some of his favorite tools (words) are pride, doubt, hate, and unbelief which are cancerous growth into our hearts and minds.

Even satan believes in the Lord our God, to him there is no other God!

Why is it the enemy doesn’t go after any other religions?

It’s the same reason the evil one doesn’t pay attention to non-Christians.

Are some of us Christians running with blinders on? Has the fog confused us?

Why do we some of us shun away from any talk or scriptures, and discussion about satan and demonic spirits?

Why do many suppress any talk about the enemy?

A great pastor friend of mine once said; “ I cannot count the number of times I have been repremended for talking about sin and the evil one in a sermon.

Many people don’t want to hear preaching about sin”. They state; “I’m a Christian now, I don’t sin anymore”.

The evil one is happy when people blame God for misfortunes and tribulations in their lives!

1 John 4:1-6

Testing the Spirits

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God; every spirit which confesses that JesusChrist has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of antichrist, of which you heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are of God, and have overcome them; for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are of the world, therefore what they say is of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are of God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and he who is not of God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Do we believe If we have God we aren’t attacked by the enemy?

We must always remember when someone does anything that is unrighteous it’s the source behind them. If we are attacked by an individual, we must forgive them, the evil one is the source behind them.

Do we believe once we are saved it’s for ever and the enemy can’t get at us?

There are many people that don’t want to hear about or talk about the enemy!

The Lord our God warns about the enemy in the scriptures.

We are warned in the Bible to be cautious and on the lookout for the evil ones diversions and subtle ways, why is that?

The scriptures talk about satan, do we pick and choose scriptures to live by?

Satan is the father of lies.

John 8:44

You people are from your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.

We are living in a bubble if we don’t want to hear about sin and the evil one. The enemy is happy about this.

We must continually ask for and study the scriptures with wisdom and guidance from the Holy Spirit only.

1 Timothy 4:1-5
Apostasy
4 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, 3 men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; 5 for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.

We must wake up and listen to the truth, it’s right there in black and white print, it’s in the scriptures!

As a Christian in this current day and age we are in a spiritual warfare. We must not turn our heads, we cannot wear blinders, we must face reality.
A subtle spiritual warfare continues by forces of the evil one.
We cannot sweep this under a rug, it’s real!
If we state; “I don’t want to hear about it” or “I don’t believe it” we are doing exactly what the enemy desires.

_________________

Chapter 2

Doubt
Doubt creates negative feelings and destroys confidence and decision making, it is from the evil one, it can tear us down and apart.

Doubt can destroy faith in the Lord.

The opposite of doubt is trust.

The enemy’s favorite word is doubt, he is cunning and subtlety can create doubt in Christians. That’s why we must stay tuned up.
How do we do that?

How do we combat doubt?
In our daily prayers we ask for a shield of armor of protection around us to fight off any flaming arrows from the enemy and his cohorts.
In addition, we ask that the Holy Spirit moves on us for strength in faith, wisdom, guidance, and casting doubt away.

We must remember God wants us to go through life as Christians with an optimistic outlook, to shine, smile, laugh and be good examples to all others.

When any negative thoughts crop up we must stop and state; “I rebuke you satan, get behind me, go away”.

Dictionary;

to call into question the truth of; to be uncertain or in doubt about.

_______

Faith, works, and, justification.

Proverbs 16:20
One who pays attention to the word will find good, And blessed is one who trusts in the Lord.

Proverbs 3:5-6
5 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
and He will make your paths straight.”

Psalm 28:7
The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart triumphs, And with my song I shall thank Him.

We are not to fear the world.

Philippians 4:6-7
“Don’t worry about anything, instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

We must build ourselves on a rock.

Luke 6:47-48
47 Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like; 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.

To be strong in faith we must never doubt.

Matthew 21:21

And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and NEVER doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will be done.

If we doubt God we are condemned.

Romans 14:23

But he who has doubts is condemned, if he eats, because he does not act from faith; for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

2 Corinthians 11:3
3 But I am afraid that just as the serpent deceived Eve by his treachery, your minds may be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

We must live by the spirit

Galatians 5:22-26
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

Justification by faith is instantaneous at the time of our salvation and accepting Jesus into our hearts.

Romans 5:1-5
Results of Justification
5 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

We must keep watching and praying.

Matthew 26:41
“Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

We must remove any doubt. Prayers go unanswered when we have doubt!

James 1:6
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

Faith without works is dead.

James 2:14-26
Faith and Works
14 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
18 But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” 19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. 20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

We are dead to God without the

Spirit.

We must trust God with no doubt.

Psalm 37:1-11
Security of Those Who Trust in the Lord
1
Do not fret because of evildoers,
Be not envious toward wrongdoers.
2
For they will wither quickly like the grass
And fade like the green herb.
3
Trust in the Lord and do good;
Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
4
Delight yourself in the Lord;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.
5
Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him, and He will do it.
6
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light
And your judgment as the noonday.
7
Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.
8
Cease from anger and forsake wrath;
Do not fret; it leads only too evildoing.
9
For evildoers will be cut off,
But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.
10
Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more;
And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there.
11
But the humble will inherit the land
And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.

Timothy Skon, Chaplain, Prayer Minister
serving others, guided by Jesus

3/12/16
Updated 3/8/21

___________________________________

CHAPTER 3

Sin

What is sin?
____
Dictionary - sin
transgression of the law of God.
an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law.
____

Sin is another negative key word in the Bible.

As Christians we do sin and sin is at our door and we fight off sin, we know it's wrong.

Non believers sin habitually.

The Word tells us all unrighteousness is sin.

As Christians, we must forgive others for their sins against us.

Sin is transgressions of the law of God.

Sin is rebellion against God.

There is the ultimate sin which is apostasy.

Transgressions are sins.

There is personal sin which is committed every day by every human being. Because we have inherited a sinful nature from Adam, we commit individual, personal sins, everything from seemingly innocent untruths to murder. Those who have not placed their faith in Jesus Christ, must pay the penalty for these personal sins, as well as inherited and imputed sin. However, believers have been freed from the eternal penalty of sin—hell and spiritual death—but now we also have the power to resist sinning. Now we can choose whether or not to commit personal sins because we have the power to resist sin through the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, sanctifying and convicting us of our sins when we do commit them (Romans 8:9-11). Once we confess our personal sins to God and ask forgiveness for them, we are restored to perfect fellowship and communion with Him. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness”(1 John 1;9).

1 John 5:17
All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.

Genesis 4:7
Is it not true that if you do what is right, you will be fine? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it.”

Genesis 6:12
God saw the earth, and indeed it was ruined, for all living creatures on the earth were sinful.

Genesis 18:20

So the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so blatant.

1 John 5:17
All unrighteousness is sin, but there is sin not resulting in death.

Isaiah 1:18
Come, let’s consider your options,” says the Lord. “Though your sins have stained you like the color red, you can become white like snow; though they are as easy to see as the color scarlet, you can become white like wool.

Matthew 1:21
She will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Matthew 3:6
and he was baptizing them in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.

Matthew 6:14-15
14 “For if you forgive others their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15 But if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive you your sins.”

Matthew 9:2
Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”

Matthew 12:31
And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

Matthew 13:41
The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.

Matthew 18:15
[ Dealing With Sin in the Church ] “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.

Matthew 26:28
This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Mark 1:4
And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

2/12/18

_______

CHAPTER 4

False Idols

False idols, Prophets, and Teachers.

We must wake up, there are many false prophets and teachers today.
How do we know?

Who is a false prophet?
How do we discern?

What do the scriptures tell us about true prophets vs false prophets and teachers?

Reality is we are in the birth pains. The enemy is working overtime because he knows his time is short.
Before the second coming we are warned there will be
many false teachers and prophets.
We are warned, many will fall away, we must stay tuned up with God’s exhortations and precepts.

We cannot lean on our own understanding and reasoning, it’s so easy to do, it’s about pride, the Lord wants us to get wisdom and guidance from the Holy Spirit.

False prophets will come in sheep’s clothing. They are everywhere; on TV, YouTubes, social media, news media’s, books, etc!
They are coming out of the woodwork, they lust for recognition, fame, and economic gains.

Many of these false teachers and false prophets tell us they are experts and can predict the future, the second coming date and time, what will happen soon, and what has happened in recent times relating to the Bible.

We must be very cautious, these false teachers are so subtle and cunning. If we listen to them enough we will be entwined in their spider web.
They are guided by the world, not from God!

We are warned these false prophets are so convincing, so smooth our reasoning can be
twisted easily. We must listen to and pray to God for protection and discernment. We must be guided and given wisdom from the Holy Spirit only.

How do we know, how do we discern?
By praying and asking for the Holy Spirit’s wisdom and guidance each time we listen to a prophet or teacher and before studying the Scriptures.

If someone teaches and does not mention Jesus in their heart and does not mention they are led by Jesus serving others with love - do not listen.

Psalm 119:104
Your precepts give me discernment. Therefore I hate all deceitful actions.

If someone doesn’t focus on love and the fact that Jesus Christ is the way and Jesus is their number one priority in their life and they love Jesus and Jesus is in their heart - don’t listen to them, turn away.

______

Matthew 7:15
“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves."

Jude 1:17-25
Keep Yourselves in the Love of God
17 But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, 18 that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” 19 These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on some, who are doubting; 23 save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.
24 Now to Him who is able to protect you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen.

1 Peter 5:8-9
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

Ephesians 6:10-20
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness.

1 John 4:1-6
Testing the Spirits
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God; every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God.
This is the spirit of Antichrist, of which you heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are of God, and have overcome them; for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are of the world, therefore what they say is of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are of God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and he who is not of God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

2 Peter 2
The Appearance of False Prophets
1 But false prophets also appeared among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Many will follow their indecent behavior, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; 3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, held for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a 3;,., with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example of what is coming for the ungodly; 7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the perverted conduct of unscrupulous people 8 (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from a trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt passion, and despise authority.
Reckless, self-centered, they speak abusively of angelic majesties without trembling, 11 whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a demeaning judgment against them before the Lord. 12 But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, using abusive speech where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, 13 suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions as they feast with you, 14 having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having hearts trained in greed, accursed children; 15 abandoning the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the reward of unrighteousness; 16 but he received a rebuke for his own offense, for a mute donkey, speaking with a human voice, restrained the insanity of the prophet.
17 These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. 18 For, while speaking out arrogant words of no value they entice by fleshly desires, by indecent behavior, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, 19 promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what anyone is overcome, by this he is enslaved. 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. 22 It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”

2 Peter 3:3-18
The Coming Day of the Lord
3 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue just as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, 6 through which the world at that time was destroyed by being flooded with water. 7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly people.
8 But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.
A New Heaven and Earth
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be discovered.
11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
14 Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found spotless and blameless by Him, at peace, 15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which there are some things that are hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unscrupulous people and loose your own firm commitment, 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

______

Paul stated the scriptures where created by God, not man;

Galatians 1:11-12
11 But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 1:20-21
20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,
21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will,
but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

2 Timothy 3:16-17
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

1 Thessalonians 1:5-6
5 In that our gospel did not come to you merely in words, but in power and in the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. 6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, when you received the message with joy that comes from the Holy Spirit, despite great affliction.

1 Corinthians 2:1-5
Paul’s Reliance upon the Spirit
1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, 4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

Matthew 24
Signs of Christ’s Return
1 Jesus left the temple area and was going on His way when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. 2 But He responded and said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”
3 And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”
4 And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will mislead many people. 6 And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pains.
9 “Then they will hand you over to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. 10 And at that time many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will rise up and mislead many people. 12 And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will become cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end is the one who will be saved. 14 This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
Perilous Times
15 “Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the Holy place—let the reader understand— 16 then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. 17 Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get things out of his house. 18 And whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. 19 But woe to those women who are pregnant, and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 Moreover, pray that when you flee, it will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. 21 For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will again. 22 And if those days had not been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘He is over here,’ do not believe him. 24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and will provide great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. 25 Behold, I have told you in advance. 26 So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. 27 For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28 Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.
The Glorious Return
29 “But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. 31 And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet blast, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
Parable of the Fig Tree
32 “Now learn the parable from the fig tree: as soon as its branch has become tender and sprouts its leaves, you know that summer is near; 33 so you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.
36 “But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. 37 For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 At that time there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left.
Be Ready for His Coming
42 “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. 43 But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 44 For this reason you must be ready as well; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.
45 “Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household slaves, to give them their food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. 47 Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My master is not coming for a long time,’ 49 and he begins to beat his fellow slaves, and he eats and drinks with those habitually drunk; 50 then the master of that slave will come on a day that he does not expect, and at an hour that he does not know, 51 and he will cut him in two and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Deuteronomy 13
Shun Idolatry
1 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you.
6 “If your brother, your mother’s son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’ (whom neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end), 8 you shall not yield to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him. 9 But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. 10 So you shall stone him to death because he has sought to seduce you from the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 11 Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you.
12 “If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to live in, anyone saying that 13 some worthless men have gone out from among you and have seduced the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’ (whom you have not known), 14 then you shall investigate and search out and inquire thoroughly. If it is true and the matter established that this abomination has been done among you, 15 you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it and all that is in it and its cattle with the edge of the sword. 16 Then you shall gather all its booty into the middle of its open square and burn the city and all its booty with fire as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God; and it shall be a ruin forever. It shall never be rebuilt. 17 Nothing from that which is put under the ban shall cling to your hand, in order that the Lord may turn from His burning anger and show mercy to you, and have compassion on you and make you increase, just as He has sworn to your fathers, 18 if you will listen to the voice of the Lord your God, keeping all His commandments which I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God.

Jeremiah 14:14
Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds.

Jeremiah 23:9
[ False Prophets Denounced ] As for the prophets; My heart is broken within me, All my bones tremble; I have become like a drunken man, Even like a man overcome with wine, Because of the Lord And because of His holy words.

Jeremiah 23:14
“Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing; The committing of adultery and walking in falsehood; And they strengthen the hands of evildoers, So that no one has turned back from his wickedness. All of them have become to Me like Sodom, And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

Jeremiah 23:25-26
“I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsely in My name, saying, ‘I had a dream, I had a dream!’
26 How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart.

Jeremiah 27:15
for I have not sent them,” declares the Lord, “but they prophesy falsely in My name, in order that I may drive you out and that you may perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you.”

The Abomination of Desolation
Mark 13:14-23
14 “But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be” (let the reader understand), “then those in Judea must flee to the mountains. 15 The one on the roof must not come down or go inside to take anything out of his house. 16 The one in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. 17 Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing their babies in those days! 18 Pray that it may not be in winter. 19 For in those days there will be suffering unlike anything that has happened from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, or ever will happen. 20 And if the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would be saved. But because of the elect, whom he chose, he has cut them short. 21 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe him. 22 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, the elect. 23 Be careful! I have told you everything ahead of time.

2 Peter 1:3-21
Believers’ Salvation and the Work of God
3 I can pray this because his divine power has bestowed on us everything necessary for life and godliness through the rich knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence. 4 Through these things he has bestowed on us his precious and most magnificent promises, so that by means of what was promised you may become partakers of the divine nature, after escaping the worldly corruption that is produced by evil desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith excellence, to excellence, knowledge; 6 to knowledge, self-control; to self-control, perseverance; to perseverance, godliness; 7 to godliness, brotherly affection; to brotherly affection, unselfish love. 8 For if these things are really yours and are continually increasing, they will keep you from becoming ineffective and unproductive in your pursuit of knowing our Lord Jesus Christ more intimately. 9 But concerning the one who lacks such things—he is blind. That is to say, he is nearsighted, since he has forgotten about the cleansing of his past sins. 10 Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to be sure of your calling and election. For by doing this you will never stumble into sin. 11 For thus an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be richly provided for you.
Salvation Based on the Word of God
12 Therefore, I intend to remind you constantly of these things even though you know them and are well established in the truth that you now have. 13 Indeed, as long as I am in this tabernacle, I consider it right to stir you up by way of a reminder, 14 since I know that my tabernacle will soon be removed, because our Lord Jesus Christ revealed this to me. 15 Indeed, I will also make every effort that, after my departure, you have a testimony of these things.
16 For we did not follow cleverly concocted fables when we made known to you the power and return of our Lord Jesus Christ; no, we were eyewitnesses of his grandeur. 17 For he received honor and glory from God the Father, when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory: “This is my dear Son, in whom I am delighted.” 18 When this voice was conveyed from heaven, we ourselves heard it, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 Moreover, we possess the prophetic word as an altogether reliable thing. You do well if you pay attention to this as you would to a light shining in a murky place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you do well if you recognize this: No prophecy of scripture ever comes about by the prophet’s own imagination, 21 for no prophecy was ever borne of human impulse; rather, men carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

Tim Skon, dedicated to serving others in Jesus name

4/7/21

_______

CHAPTER 5

Unpardonable sin

Apostasy

Abandonment and turning away from God after living a life of righteousness and Salvation with Jesus in our hearts.

The doctrine of the unforgivable sin has been a subject of controversy by Bible scholars and Pastors for hundreds of years. It is one of the largest doctrines that have caused heated arguments and disagreements. These heated arguments have dissolved long lasting friendships.

One side says; “once saved always saved, if an individual falls away and slips into apostasy they were never a Christian.”

Others and I believe; one can lead a life as a Christian growing with sanctification and righteousness with Jesus in their heart following Gods commandments, precepts, and exhortations, and yet turn away and assault the Holy Spirit by stating there is no God - this is the definition of Apostasy.

Dictionary;
Apostasy is turning away from a an act of refusing to continue to follow, obey, or recognize a religious faith - abandonment of a previous loyalty, defection, and desertion.

Let me clarify, I’m not condemning, judging, or criticizing others. I respect brothers and sisters with their opinions. It’s ok to disagree with love and diplomacy.
I’m not attempting to prove others wrong, I don’t attempt to impress others with formal education and and a PhD.

I do not attempt to impress others with my understanding, reasoning and wisdom.
I do not lean on my own understanding.
I ask continually for wisdom and guidance from the Holy Spirit, I give God all the credit who leads and teaches me.

I’m just a humble Chaplain and Prayer Minister who dedicates his short life here on earth to serving others in Jesus name.

I work full time for Jesus, the pay is out of this world.

I thank the Lord our God daily for all that He does and has done.

I have this great thirst instilled in me which is never quenched by the Holy Spirit to study the scriptures several hours a day.

I’m an infrequent sinner that repents and asks for forgiveness, not a habitual sinner.

I believe we must resist and rebuke the enemy on a daily basis. The evil one and his cohorts strike out in the most subtle of ways because they hate praying, Bible studies, teachings, and preaching, etc.

We must fight off arrogance and pride, we must stay tuned up with Jesus and not rust or we can slip away.

Turning away and not believing in God anymore, the ultimate sin, the unpardonable sin, the attack on the Holy Spirit!
We are warned against this in the scriptures.

The turning away or falling away from God, denouncing God, giving up Christianity.....the ultimate sin, the unpardonable sin, the sin against the Holy Spirit - Apostasy!

Great examples of apostasy are; - Satan and his falling angels.

- The United States of America was led by God but now turned its back on God. We don’t need God anymore, we lean on are own understanding.

- Martin Luther was led by God but turned his back on and attacked the chosen ones, the Jews. He was the leader of antisemitism. Hitler was in awe of him and was guided by Martin Luther’s autobiography.

- Fallen angels were led by God but turned away.

1 Timothy 4
Apostasy
1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, 3 men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; 5 for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.
A Good Minister’s Discipline
6 In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following. 7 But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; 8 for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9 It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. 10 For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.
11 Prescribe and teach these things. 12 Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. 13 Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. 14 Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. 15 Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. 16 Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.

2 Peter 2
The Appearance of False Prophets
1 But false prophets also appeared among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Many will follow their indecent behavior, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; 3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, held for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example of what is coming for the ungodly; 7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, who wasoppressed by the perverted conduct of unscrupulous people 8 (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from a trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt passion, and despise authority.
Reckless, self-centered, they speak abusively of angelic majesties without trembling, 11 whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a demeaning judgment against them before the Lord. 12 But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, using abusive speech where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, 13 suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions as they feast with you, 14 having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having hearts trained in greed, accursed children; 15 abandoning the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the reward of unrighteousness; 16 but he received a rebuke for his own offense, for a mute donkey, speaking with a human voice, restrained the insanity of the prophet.
17 These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. 18 For, while speaking out arrogant words of no value they entice by fleshly desires, by indecent behavior, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, 19 promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what anyone is overcome, by this he is enslaved. 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them.

Romans 11:20-22
20 Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; 21 for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. 22 See then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; for otherwise you too will be cut off.

1 Timothy 4:1-5
Abandonment of Faith
1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, 3 who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; 5 for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.

Hebrews 10:26-39
26 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has ignored the Law of Moses is put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” 31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32 But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, 33 partly by being made a public spectacle through insults and distress, and partly by becoming companions with those who were so treated. 34 For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better and lasting possession. 35 Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.
37
For yet in a very little while,
He who is coming will come, and will not delay.
38
But My righteous one will live by faith;
And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.
39 But we are not among those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith for the safekeeping of the soul.

Tim Skon, Chaplain, Prayer Minister,
serving others in Jesus name
4/8/17

_________

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 6

Oppositions

diametric opposition

The great book the Bible is about opposites, good vs bad. It’s about a good moral life vs an evil worldly secular lifestyle.

Our God is a moral God.

Worldly life is driven by sin, extreme confusion, lies, and complexity.

Love and forgiveness vs bitterness and hate,
God does not want any root of bitterness springing up.

The Lord loves unity and detests pride, bitterness, opposition and division.
The enemy loves pride, bitterness, opposition and division,
He hates unity and love.

The phrase diametrically opposed means to be completely and directly in opposition to something. The scientific reference is to the two opposing points on either end of a diameter line drawn across a circle.

________

Hebrews 12:15
See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.

Galatians 5:17
For the desire of the flesh is against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, in order to keep you from doing whatever you want.

Do we lean on our own understanding or ask in prayer for wisdom and guidance from the Holy Spirit?

Proverbs 3:5-6
5 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
and He will make your paths straight.”

1 Corinthians 1:19-20
19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.”
20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

Proverbs 28:26
He who trusts in his own heart is a fool.

Life is about two opposing directions; the good vs the evil, the positive vs the negative, the moral vs sin, light vs dark, pride vs humility, unity vs separation, God vs satan….

Pride enters into opposition.

Opposition causes disagreements, bitterness, fighting, wars, and divorces.

Opposition destroys friendships and family diversion and division.

Opposition causes heartaches and unforgiveness.

Opposition causes your glass to be half full or half empty.
With Jesus our glass is overflowing.

Do we live a life attempting to please ourself’s or please Jesus by serve others.

Is life abut self-indulgence with false short term satisfaction and happiness or is life about serving others and long eternal term and happiness with Jesus?

What does Jesus do?
What do the scriptures tell us to do?

Psalm 39:10
Remove Your plague from me; Because of the opposition of your hand I am perishing.

Matthew 5:39
But I say to you, do not show opposition against an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other toward him also.

Acts 14:1
Acceptance and Opposition

In Iconium they entered the synagogue of the Jews together, and spoke in such a way that a large number of people believed, both of Jews and of Greeks.

Acts 26:9
“So I thought to myself that I had to act in strong opposition to the name of Jesus of Nazareth."

1 Thessalonians 2:2
but after we had already suffered and been treated abusively in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition.

2 Timothy 2:25
with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth.

Hebrews12:1-3
The Lord’s Discipline
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us, 2 keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Think of him who endured such opposition against himself by sinners, so that you may not grow weary in your souls and give up.

Romans 16:17

Final Instructions

I appeal to you, brethren, to take note of those who create dissensions and difficulties, in opposition to the doctrine which you have been taught; avoid them.

We to are avoid those who create dissensions and difficulties in opposition of the doctrines in the scriptures which we have been taught.

Galatians 5:17
For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want.Hebrews 12:3
Think of him who endured such opposition against himself by sinners, so that you may not grow weary in your souls and give up.

Isaiah 1:16:17
Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.

12/12/21

_________

CHAPTER 7

Drifting away

Hardening of the Heart

Turning completely away from God, turning your back on God and blaming him for a tragedy,
Apostasy is the ultimate unforgivable sin against the Holy Spirit.

The ultimate sin is turning our back to the Lord. I.E., if one is a Christian and blames (repudiates) God for a tragic event and disavows as an unbeliever with bitterness - this is blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and an unpardonable sin, apostasy. There is no returning!

The enemy is involved, he wants this to happen.

Example;
If a Christian man/woman losses a son or daughter and he blames the Lord, turns away and disavows his belief in God that is an unpardonable sin.

tim skon
4/23/16
________

Hebrews 2:2-5
Warning Against Drifting Away
(this is not for unbelievers! They were never there! How can you drift away from nothing?)
2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?
5 For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.

If we turn our back on God after we have accepted Jesus into our heart and soul it’s the worst thing can happen, its blasphemy agains the Holy Spirit!! We cannot return because it is the unforgivable sin!

Exposition of Psalm 8; Jesus and the Destiny of Humanity
5 For he did not put the world to come, about which we are speaking, under the
control of angels.

Hebrews 10:26-31
26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 28 He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:
29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
30 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

2 Peter 2:20-22
20 For if after they have escaped the filthy things of the world through the rich knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they again get entangled in them and succumb to them, their last state has become worse for them than their first. 21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment that had been delivered to them. 22 They are illustrations of this true proverb: “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and “A sow, after washing herself, wallows in the mire.”

Hebrews 3:7-11
7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,
8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.
11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)

Hebrews 3:7-11
Exposition of Psalm 95; Hearing

God’s Word in Faith

7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
“Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks!
8
“Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness.

9
“There your fathers tested me and tried me, and they saw my works for forty years.
10
“Therefore, I became provoked at that generation and said, ‘Their hearts are always wandering and they have not known my ways.’
11
“As I swore in my anger, ‘They will never enter my rest!’”

Tim Skon, Chaplain, Prayer Minister,
serving others in Jesus name
4/5/15

______________

CHAPTER 8

Suffering
joy in trials

If we suffer for doing what is right we are blessed.

We we are attacked by another Christian or non-Christian what is our immediate reaction?
What are we suppose to do?
When we revert to habit, the flesh, we want to fight back or get even? Flesh and habit are the subtle tools of the enemy.

We feel the hurt; "why would someone do this?"
We must remember the enemy attempts to intervene, he attacks, he's the source behind it, not the attacker.
Many times jealously and hatred are involved with the attacker. It's the flesh talking and the enemy is involved with our flesh.
We think with our reasoning why would a Christian would do this?
This reverts back to; "do not lean on your own understanding".

Do we suffer today when we have nightmares ?

What happens to people who suffer today that don’t have Jesus ?

Do we suffer when the enemy attacks us?

Suffering helps us to grow with faith.

How much did Job and Paul suffer?

When we are attacked by a Christian it's worse but we must remember the source, it's not that individual, it's the source behind him/her. The enemy works overtime on Christians anyway he can! If satan can get a Christian to attack another Christian the he is happy.

We we must never attack another.
It's extremely dangerous to attack another Christian, the Word says if we cause another to turn away from God we are in grave danger and destined to the road of perdition.

The scriptures tell us; if we suffer for doing right, we are blessed, (1 Peter 3;14).

When we are attacked by another we must place it in Gods hands.

If we suffer for doing good we should be happy, that's what the scriptures tell us.

If we are attacked we must wait (Psalm 37) and let the Lord take control.
If we are attacked we must say silently to ourselves; "satan, go away."

Do not fear for you are an anointed one.
If we are hurt or worry, what good does it do? It creates doubt, it causes less faith, who is behind that? We must not lean in our own understanding.

Do not fear because the Lord will protect you, you will be vindicated.

Tim Skon
2/4/14

________

1 Peter 3:8-18
Suffering for Doing Good
8 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For,
“Whoever would love life
    and see goods days
must keep their tongue from evil
    and their lips from deceitful speech.
11
They must turn from evil and do good;
    they must seek peace and pursue it.
12
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
    and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” 15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the bodybut made alive in the Spirit.

1 Peter 4:12-19
Suffering for Being a Christian
12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15 If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler.16 However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And,
“If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”
19 So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

Psalm 25:17
Deliver me from my distress; rescue me from my suffering.

Psalm 25:18
See my pain and suffering. Forgive all my sins.

Psalm 31:9
Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am in distress! My eyes grow dim from suffering. I have lost my strength.

Psalm 92:8-11
8 But You, O Lord, are on high forever.
9
For, behold, Your enemies, O Lord,
For, behold, Your enemies will perish;
All who do iniquity will be scattered.
10
But You have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox;
I have been anointed with fresh oil.
11
And my eye has looked exultantly upon my foes,
My ears hear of the evildoers who rise up against me.

James 1:2-18
Joy in Trials
2 My brothers and sisters, consider it nothing but joy when you fall into all sorts of trials, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you will be perfect and complete, not deficient in anything. 5 But if anyone is deficient in wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without reprimand, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith without doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed around by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8 since he is a double-minded individual, unstable in all his ways.
9 Now the believer of humble means should take pride in his high position. 10 But the rich person’s pride should be in his humiliation, because he will pass away like a wildflower in the meadow. 11 For the sun rises with its heat and dries up the meadow; the petal of the flower falls off and its beauty is lost forever. So also the rich person in the midst of his pursuits will wither away. 12 Happy is the one who endures testing, because when he has proven to be genuine, he will receive the crown of life that God promised to those who love him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. 15 Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death. 16 Do not be led astray, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change. 18 By his sovereign plan he gave us birth through the message of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

Psalm 37:1-20
Security of Those Who Trust in the Lord, and Insecurity of the Wicked.
1 Do not fret because of evildoers,
Be not envious toward wrongdoers.
2
For they will wither quickly like the grass
And fade like the green herb.
3
Trust in the Lord and do good;
Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
4
Delight yourself in the Lord;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.
5
Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him, and He will do it.
6
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light
And your judgment as the noonday.
7
Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.
8
Cease from anger and forsake wrath;
Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.
9
For evildoers will be cut off,
But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.
10
Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more;
And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there.
11
But the humble will inherit the land
And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.
12
The wicked plots against the righteous
And gnashes at him with his teeth.
13
The Lord laughs at him,
For He sees his day is coming.
14
The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow
To cast down the afflicted and the needy,
To slay those who are upright in conduct.
15
Their sword will enter their own heart,
And their bows will be broken.
16
Better is the little of the righteous
Than the abundance of many wicked.
17
For the arms of the wicked will be broken,
But the Lord sustains the righteous.
18
The Lord knows the days of the blameless,
And their inheritance will be forever.
19
They will not be ashamed in the time of evil,
And in the days of famine they will have abundance.
20
But the wicked will perish;
And the enemies of the Lord will be like the glory of the pastures,
They vanish—like smoke they vanish away.

Romans 5;3
And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance.

1 Peter 3:14
But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled.

2 Timothy 2:3
Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

1 Peter 2:20
For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.

Revelation 2:10
Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Timothy Skon, Chaplain, Prayer Minister,
serving others, guided by Jesus
2/4/14

________________________________

CHAPTER 9

Today’s World
God is watching us

We are in a great Spiritual warfare! The enemy is working overtime, he knows his time is short.

Gods grace, mercy, peace, and love will be with us when we follow His commandments.

We must stay tuned up and not rust.

We have the greatest assurance, and the greatest life insurance
policy with Jesus.

God says in the last days many will fall away! He’s not talking about non-believers.

Spiritual Wisdom vs human wisdom. It’s imperative we pray and ask for wisdom and guidance from the Holy Spirit every day especially when we study the scriptures so we don’t lean on our own understanding.

Deuteronomy 13:3
You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of dreams;
for the Lord your God is testing you
, to know whether you
love
the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Matthew 13:19
When anyone hears the Word about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches what was sown in his heart; this is the seed sown along the path.

James 4:17
So whoever knows what is good to do and does not do it is guilty of sin.

✝️
Below are scriptures that define and prove that we MUST ask for spiritual wisdom and guidance in prayer to God each time we study the scriptures and or speak up explaining the scriptures so we don’t lean on our own understanding and reasoning or by someone else’s false reasoning;

The Spirit of God
1 Corinthians 2:9-14
9 But just as it is written, “Things that no eye has seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined, are the things God has prepared for those who love him.” 10 God has revealed these to us by the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the things of a man except the man’s spirit within him? So too, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things that are freely given to us by God. 13 And we speak about these things, not with words taught us by human wisdom, but with those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. 14 The unbeliever does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

1 Corinthians 1:20
Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the
debater of this age?
Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world
?
(Leaders and scientist's who lean on their own understanding, they don’t need God. We use to be a country led by God)

1 Corinthians 1:19
For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will thwart the cleverness of the intelligent.”
(This means people, political leaders, scientists, false teachers and prophets of the world that don’t need God and lean on their own understanding)

(We cannot serve two masters, we can only be led by God or the world)
Romans 7:14-25
The Conflict of Serving Two Masters
14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold into bondage to sin. 15 For I do not understand what I am doing; for I am not practicing what I want to do, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 However, if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with Gods Law, that the Law is good. 17 But now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20 But if I do the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the onedoing it, but sin that dwells in me.
21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 22 For I joyfully agree with the law of God in the inner person, 23 but I see a different law in the parts of my body waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin, the law which is in my body’s parts. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

(God makes foolish the wisdom of world and the ones led by the world)
1 Corinthians 1:20
Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

(We are to encourage one another so we stay tuned up and don’t fall away. We are warned not to fall away with hardening of our hearts)
Hebrews 3:12-19
The Peril of unbelief

12 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, 15 while it is said,
“Today if you hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me.”
16 For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.

Proverbs 4:2
“for I give you good precepts; do not forsake my teaching.”

Job 22:25-28
25
Then the Almighty will be your gold
And choice silver to you.
26
“For then you will delight in the Almighty
And lift up your face to God.
27
“You will pray to Him, and He will hear you;
And you will pay your vows.
28
“You will also decree a thing, and it will be established for you;
And light will shine on your ways.

(We are to love God and observe His precepts and exhortations)
1 John 5
Overcoming the World
1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the childborn of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—OUR FAITH.
5 Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 6 This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and
with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify; 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. 9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son. 10 The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. 11 And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.
This Is Written That You May Know

13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.
16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.
18 We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. 19 We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

2 John 1
Walk According to His Commandments
1 The elder to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth; and not only I, but also all who know the truth, 2 for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever: 3 Grace, mercy and peace will be withus, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
4 I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father. 5 Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. 6 And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.
7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. 9 Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.
12 Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, so that your joy may be made full.
13 The children of your chosen sister greet you.

(We must have works with faith.)
James 2:26
For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

1 Corinthians 1:20
Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
(Leaders who lean on their own understanding, they don’t need God. We use to be a country led by God)

1 Corinthians 1:19
For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will thwart the cleverness of the intelligent.”
(This means ALL people of the world that lean on their own understanding)

(We must be humble)
1 Peter 5:6-7
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

Timothy Skon, Chaplain, Prayer Minister
dedicated to serving others in Jesus name
3/2/20

______________

CHAPTER 10

Life

Our Life

Our short life here on earth

What is life about?
What is real wealth and riches on this earth?
Is it money, gold, security or is it Jesus in our hearts?
Which can we take with us when we pass on?

Life in today’s world is about the transitory nature of earthly pleasures.

There is life here in earth which is a very short time.
We are just chasing the wind, life is meaningless without the Lord our God.

Is life all about the very short life here on earth or is life about eternal life with God?

Do we live in fear today, do we live with anxiety and hopelessness or do we live with hope, faith, and protection with the rock and shield of Jesus in our heart?

What is better in this life, high intelligence or Spiritual Wisdom from the Holy Spirit?

Do we lean on our own understanding, reasoning, and logic, or do we ask for Spiritual wisdom from God?

Doe’s God want us to have pride and impress ourselves and others or doe’s God want us to be humble and serve others?

In today’s world do we want to please God or please ourselves?

There is nothing wrong with ambition and success as long as we are humble and put Jesus at a higher priority than all else, this pleases God.

Do we know God hates pride and loves humility?
Do we know the enemy loves pride and hates humility.

Do we know God loves love and hates hate?
Do we know The enemy loves hate and hates love?

The scriptures are full of precepts and exhortations, which are God’s moral rules and encouragements that He wants us to live by.

We are here today with Jesus because of the prayers of our parents, grandparents, relatives, and siblings prayers!

We must fight off doubt, hate, impurities, criticism, pride and greediness, which are all tools of the enemy.

God wants us to be like Jesus, serving others, sure that is a tall order and it might not be easy but with faith He will guide us.

It’s not about me and my ego and self-indulgence, which we think is happiness and the key to success.

What are our ulterior motives in any endeavor?

At times Gods Will is different than our will and what we want.
There are times we want what we want to please ourself. That might not be what God wants.

When God doesn’t give us what we want it’s not His Will. Are we sad and mad about that or do we ask God what His Will is or what have we done wrong?
When we pray and ask God to do something for us is it for our needs and desire?

Is life all about self gratification and attempting to please ourselves instead of pleasing God and others?

Jesus stated He came to this earth to serve others not to be served.

Gods Will for us is about faith with works, faith without works is meaningless.
Life here on this earth without Jesus is meaningless, the scriptures, Gods Word tells us so.

Are we to love ourselves and pleasures, or our we to love God and others?

Is life all about accomplishing more? We go through life believing we are pleased with our own accomplishments, independence, decision making, and security.
“I did it all on my own and I’m proud of it, I’m smarter than others!”

Without Jesus we are continually trying to quench a thirst that never ends, just one more false short term happiness.

Why do you think Jesus selected men as disciples that were mostly of simple means?
He knew they were humble and easier to convince. If Jesus would have selected 12 men of wealthy and successful backgrounds it would have been impossible to please and convince them to leave everything and follow Him. I.E.,they made it on their own, they would be self made men, they would be filled with false satisfaction and false happiness, they didn’t need God.

___________

Matthew 22:34-40
The Greatest Commandment
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied; ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it; ‘’Love your neighbor as yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Life is meaningless without Jesus

Ecclesiastes 1:2-3
2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!”
    says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
    Everything is meaningless.”
3
What do people gain from all their labors
    at which they toil under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 1:12-14

Earthly wisdom Is Meaningless
12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

________

1 Peter 3:8-22
Suffering for Doing Good
8 Finally, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, affectionate, compassionate, and humble. 9 Do not return evil for evil or insult for insult, but instead bless others because you were called to inherit a blessing. 10 For
the one who wants to love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from uttering deceit.
11
And he must turn away from evil and do good;
he must seek peace and pursue it.
12
For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer.
But the Lord’s face is against those who do evil.
13 For who is going to harm you if you are devoted to what is good? 14 But in fact, if you happen to suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. But do not be terrified of them or be shaken. 15 But set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess. 16 Yet do it with courtesy and respect, keeping a good conscience, so that those who slander your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame when they accuse you. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if God wills it, than for doing evil.
18
Because Christ also suffered once for sins,
the just for the unjust,
to bring you to God,
by being put to death in the flesh
but by being made alive in the spirit.
19
In it he went and preached to the spirits in prison,
20 after they were disobedient long ago when God patiently waited in the days of Noah as an ark was being constructed. In the ark a few, that is eight souls were delivered through water. 21 And this prefigured baptism, which now saves you—not the washing off of physical dirt but the pledge of a good conscience to God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who went into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels and authorities and powers subject to him.

John 17:21-23
21 that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me. 22 The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me.

1 Corinthians 1:10
10 I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to agree together, to end your divisions, and to be united by the same mind and purpose.

2 Corinthians 13:11
11 Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice, set things right, be encouraged, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.

Ephesians 2
New Life Individually
1 And although you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you formerly lived according to this world’s present path, according to the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest…
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, 5 even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you are saved!— 6 and he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 to demonstrate in the coming ages the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared before hand so we may do them.
New Life Corporately
11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh—who are called “uncircumcision” by the so-called “circumcision” that is performed on the body by human hands— 12 that you were at that time without the Messiah, alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility, 15 when he nullified in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man out of two, thus making peace, 16 and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, 18 so that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, 20 because you have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Ephesians 4
Live in Unity
4 I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live worthily of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you too were called to the one hope of your calling, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he captured captives; he gave gifts to men.” 9 Now what is the meaning of “he ascended,” except that he also descended to the lower regions, namely, the earth? 10 He, the very one who descended, is also the one who ascended above all the heavens, in order to fill all things. 11 It was he who gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, that is, to build up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God—a mature person, attaining to the measure of Christ’s full stature. 14 So we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes. 15 But practicing the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head. 16 From him the whole body grows, fitted and held together through every supporting ligament. As each one does its part, the body grows in love.
Live in Holiness
17 So I say this, and insist in the Lord, that you no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts. 19 Because they are callous, they have given themselves over to indecency for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. 20 But you did not learn about Christ like this, 21 if indeed you heard about him and were taught in him, just as the truth is in Jesus. 22 You were taught with reference to your former way of life to lay aside the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires, 23 to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and to put on the new man who has been created in God’s image—in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth.
25 Therefore, having laid aside falsehood, each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on the cause of your anger. 27 Do not give the devil an opportunity. 28 The one who steals must steal no longer; rather he must labor, doing good with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with the one who has need. 29 You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 You must put away all bitterness, anger, wrath, quarreling, and slanderous talk—indeed all malice. 32 Instead, be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you.

Romans 4
Consecration of the Believer’s Life
1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—alive, holy, and pleasing to God—which is your reasonable service. 2 Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God—what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.
3 For by the grace given to me I say to every one of you not to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but to think with sober discernment, as God has distributed to each of you a measure of faith. 4 For just as in one body we have many members, and not all the members serve the same function, 5 so we who are many are one body in Christ, and individually we are members who belong to one another. 6 And we have different gifts according to the grace given to us. If the gift is prophecy, that individual must use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is service, he must serve; if it is teaching, he must teach; 8 if it is exhortation, he must exhort; if it is contributing, he must do so with sincerity; if it is leadership, he must do so with diligence; if it is showing mercy, he must do so with cheerfulness.
Conduct in Love
9 Love must be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another with mutual love, showing eagerness in honoring one another. 11 Do not lag in zeal, be enthusiastic in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints, pursue hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly. Do not be conceited. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil; consider what is good before all people. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all people. 19 Do not avenge yourselves, dear friends, but give place to God’s wrath, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 Rather, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing this you will be heaping burning coals on his head. 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

1 John 3:11-24
God Is Love, So We Must Love One Another
11 For this is the gospel message that you have heard from the beginning; that we should love one another, 12 not like Cain who was of the evil one and brutally murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his deeds were evil, but his brother’s were righteous.
13 Therefore do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have crossed over from death to life because we love our fellow Christians. The one who does not love remains in death. 15 Everyone who hates his fellow Christian is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. 16 We have come to know love by this; that Jesus laid down his life for us; thus we ought to lay down our lives for our fellow Christians. 17 But whoever has the world’s possessions and sees his fellow Christian in need and shuts off his compassion against him, how can the love of God reside in such a person?
18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue but in deed and truth. 19 And by this we will know that we are of the truth and will convince our conscience in his presence, 20 that if our conscience condemns us, that God is greater than our conscience and knows all things.21 Dear friends, if our conscience does not condemn us, we have confidence in the presence of God, 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing to him. 23 Now this is his commandment; that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he gave us the commandment. 24 And the person who keeps his commandments resides in God, and God in him. Now by this we know that God resides in us; by the Spirit he has given us.

Romans 5:5
and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Romans 8:39
nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separateus from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Thessalonians 1:3
constantly keeping in mind your work of faith and labor of love and perseverance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father.

Romans 49:1-10
The Folly of Trusting in Riches.
1
Hear this, all peoples;
Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
2
Both low and high,
Rich and poor together.
3
My mouth will speak wisdom,
And the meditation of my heart will be understanding.
4
I will incline my ear to a proverb;
I will express my riddle on the harp.
5
Why should I fear in days of adversity,
When the iniquity of my foes surrounds me,
6
Even those who trust in their wealth
And boast in the abundance of their riches?
7
No man can by any means redeem his brother
Or give to God a ransom for him—
8
For the redemption of his soul is costly,
And he should cease trying forever—
9
That he should live on eternally,
That he should not undergo decay.
10
For he sees that even wise men die;
The stupid and the senseless alike perish
And leave their wealth to others.

Leviticus 26:18-21
18 If also after these things you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. 19 I will also break down your pride of power; I will also make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze. 20 Your strength will be spent uselessly, for your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit.
21 ‘If then, you act with hostility against Me and are unwilling to obey Me, I will increase the plague on you seven times according to your sins.

Proverbs 8:13
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; “ I hate arrogant pride and the evil way and perverse utterances.”

__________

The scriptures warn us against pride in ourselves, that is arrogant pride.

God opposes the proud.

It’s all about egotistical self-centered pride.
There is other pride.

Narcissistic pride leads to disrespect and disobedience for God.

The enemy loves ego and pride which is the top list of sins.
Pride can destroy a Christian, pride can keep a non-Christian from becoming a Christian.
Pride can keep us from entering the Kingdom of Heaven!

We as Christians must guard against the sin of self-centered narcissistic pride. It can creep up so subtly and of course the enemy likes this.

We must never come across as self-righteous.

The scriptures refer to ego pride which is sin. Many wealthy people think they don’t need God, they got where they are on their own.
“God is for poor people,
I did it on my own, I have every thing I need.”

According to the God’s Word there is arrogant self serving pride and there is humble pride, being proud and boasting about Jesus, which is good.

Humble pride is pride in knowing and having Jesus in your heart as a Christian. The pride that’s boasting about Jesus Is a good pride.

A scripture says the only thing we can personally boast about is our weaknesses.

If I am 1/2 as smart as I think I am I would be twice as smart as I am now.

James 1:9-12
9 Now the believer of humble means should take pride in his high position. 10 But the rich person’s pride should be in his humiliation, because he will pass away like a wildflower in the meadow. 11 For the sun rises with its heat and dries up the meadow; the petal of the flower falls off and its beauty is lost forever. So also the rich person in the midst of his pursuits will wither away. 12 Happy is the one who endures testing, because when he has proven to be genuine, he will receive the crown of life that God promised to those who love him.

We must not trust in riches or materialistic things, if we do than they are false idols.

Romans 49:1-10
The Folly of Trusting in Riches.
1
Hear this, all peoples;
Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
2
Both low and high,
Rich and poor together.
3
My mouth will speak wisdom,
And the meditation of my heart will be understanding.
4
I will incline my ear to a proverb;
I will express my riddle on the harp.
5
Why should I fear in days of adversity,
When the iniquity of my foes surrounds me,
6
Even those who trust in their wealth
And boast in the abundance of their riches?
7
No man can by any means redeem his brother
Or give to God a ransom for him—
8
For the redemption of his soul is costly,
And he should cease trying forever—
9
That he should live on eternally,
That he should not undergo decay.
10
For he sees that even wise men die;
The stupid and the senseless alike perish
And leave their wealth to others.

Leviticus 26:18-21
18 If also after these things you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. 19 I will also break down your pride of power; I will also make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze. 20 Your strength will be spent uselessly, for your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit.
21 ‘If then, you act with hostility against Me and are unwilling to obey Me, I will increase the plague on you seven times according to your sins.

Proverbs 8:13
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; “ I hate arrogant pride and the evil way and perverse utterances.”

God detests pride.

God says we can only boast about our weaknesses.

We can boast about having Jesus in our lives.
I believe it’s ok with God if we our proud of our family, spouse, children, and parents, etc.
The pride God hates is self pride when we boast about ourselves.

Proverbs 16:5
The Lord abhors every arrogant person; rest assured that they will not go unpunished.

Proverbs 16:18-19
18 Pride goes before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall.
19 It is better to be lowly in spirit with the afflicted than to share the spoils with the proud.

Proverbs 29:23
A person’s pride will bring him low, but one who has a lowly spirit will gain honor.
(Lowly means humble)

Psalm 5:12
They speak sinful words. So let them be trapped by their own pride and by the curses and lies they speak.

Ecclesiastes 7:8
The end of a matter is better than its beginning; likewise, patience is better than pride.

Isaiah 13:11
I will punish the world for its evil, and wicked people for their sin. I will put an end to the pride of the insolent, I will bring down the arrogance of tyrants.

Isaiah 13:19
Babylon, the most admired of kingdoms, the Chaldeans’ source of honor and pride, will be destroyed by God just as Sodom and Gomorrah were.

Isaiah 16:6
We have heard of the pride of Moab, an excessive pride;
Even of his arrogance, pride, and fury;
His idle boasts are false.

Isaiah 1:4
Alas, sinful nation, People weighed down with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the Lord, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have turned away from Him.

(America is now a sinful nation)

Peter 2:1-10
The False Teachers’ Ungodly Lifestyle
1 But false prophets arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. These false teachers will infiltrate your midst with destructive heresies, even to the point of denying the Master who bought them. As a result, they will bring swift destruction on themselves. 2 And many will follow their debauched lifestyles. Because of these false teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation pronounced long ago is not sitting idly by; their destruction is not asleep.
4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but threw them into hell and locked them up in chains in utter darkness, to be kept until the judgment, 5 and if he did not spare the ancient world, but did protect Noah, a herald of righteousness, along with seven others, when God brought a flood on an ungodly world, 6 and if he turned to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah when he condemned them to destruction, having appointed them to serve as an example to future generations of the ungodly, 7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man in anguish over the debauched lifestyle of lawless men/women, 8 (for while he lived among them day after day, that righteous man was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard) 9 —if so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from their trials, and to reserve the unrighteous for punishment at the day of judgment, 10 especially those who indulge their fleshly desires and who despise authority.

1 John 3:10
By this the children of God and the children of the devil are revealed; Everyone who does not practice righteousness—the one who does not love his fellow Christian—is not of God.

Ephesians 6:12
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.

Isaiah 13:11
I will punish the world for its evil, and wicked people for their sin. I will put an end to the pride of the insolent, I will bring down the arrogance of tyrants.

(this is happening in todays world)

Ephesians 6:10-12
says, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” This text teaches some crucial truths; we can only stand strong in the Lord’s power, it is God’s armor that protects us, and our battle is ultimately against spiritual forces of evil in the world.

In our daily prayers we must use the statement; “I ask for a shield of armor of protection around my; children, wife, friends, myself, pastor, etc…”

Ephesians 6:10-18
Exhortations for Spiritual Warfare
10 Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11 Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. 13 For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm therefore, by fastening the belt of truth around your waist, by putting on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 by fitting your feet with the preparation that comes from the good news of peace, 16 and in all of this, by taking up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 With every prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit, and to this end be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints.

Psalm 37
1
Do not fret when wicked men seem to succeed!
Do not envy evildoers!
2
For they will quickly dry up like grass,
and wither away like plants.
3
Trust in the Lord and do what is right!
Settle in the land and maintain your integrity!
4
Then you will take delight in the Lord,
and he will answer your prayers.
5
Commit your future to the Lord!
Trust in him, and he will act on your behalf.
6
He will vindicate you in broad daylight,
and publicly defend your just cause.
7
Wait patiently for the Lord!
Wait confidently for him!
Do not fret over the apparent success of a sinner,
a man who carries out wicked schemes!
8
Do not be angry and frustrated!
Do not fret! That only leads to trouble!
9
Wicked men will be wiped out,
but those who rely on the Lord are the ones who will possess the land.
10
Evil men will soon disappear;
you will stare at the spot where they once were, but they will be gone.
11
But the oppressed will possess the land
and enjoy great prosperity.
12
Evil men plot against the godly
and viciously attack them.
13
The Lord laughs in disgust at them,
for he knows that their day is coming.
14
Evil men draw their swords
and prepare their bows,
to bring down the oppressed and needy,
and to slaughter those who are godly.
15
Their swords will pierce their own hearts,
and their bows will be broken.
16
The little bit that a godly man owns is better than
the wealth of many evil men,
17
for evil men will lose their power,
but the Lord sustains the godly.
18
The Lord watches over the innocent day by day
and they possess a permanent inheritance.
19
They will not be ashamed when hard times come;
when famine comes they will have enough to eat.
20
But evil men will die;
the Lord’s enemies will be incinerated—
they will go up in smoke.
21
Evil men borrow, but do not repay their debt,
but the godly show compassion and are generous.
22
Surely those favored by the Lord will possess the land,
but those rejected by him will be wiped out.
23
The Lord grants success to the one
whose behavior he finds commendable.
24
Even if he trips, he will not fall headlong,
for the Lord holds his hand.
25
I was once young, now I am old.
I have never seen a godly man abandoned,
or his children forced to search for food.
26
All day long he shows compassion and lends to others,
and his children are blessed.
27
Turn away from evil! Do what is right!
Then you will enjoy lasting security.
28
For the Lord promotes justice,
and never abandons his faithful followers.
They are permanently secure,
but the children of evil men are wiped out.
29
The godly will possess the land
and will dwell in it permanently.
30
The godly speak wise words
and promote justice.
31
The law of their God controls their thinking;
their feet do not slip.
32
Evil men set an ambush for the godly
and try to kill them.
33
But the Lord does not surrender the godly,
or allow them to be condemned in a court of law.
34
Rely on the Lord! Obey his commands!
Then he will permit you to possess the land;
you will see the demise of evil men.
35
I have seen ruthless evil men
growing in influence, like a green tree grows in its native soil.
36
But then one passes by, and suddenly they have disappeared!
I looked for them, but they could not be found.
37
Take note of the one who has integrity! Observe the godly!
For the one who promotes peace has a future.
38
Sinful rebels are totally destroyed;
evil men have no future.
39
But the Lord delivers the godly;
he protects them in times of trouble.
40
The Lord helps them and rescues them;
he rescues them from evil men and delivers them,
for they seek his protection.

_________

Keeping Gods Commandments.
Words of Assurance.
Warning about false teachers.
Children of God.

1 John 2
1 (My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.)
But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous One, 2 and he himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world.
Keeping God’s Commandments
3 Now by this we know that we have come to know God: if we keep his commandments. 4 The one who says “I have come to know God” and yet does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in such a person. 5 But whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him. 6 The one who says he resides in God ought himself to walk just as Jesus walked.
7 Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have already heard. 8 On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 The one who says he is in the light but still hates his fellow Christian is still in the darkness. 10 The one who loves his fellow Christian resides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But the one who hates his fellow Christian is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
Words of Reassurance
12 I am writing to you, little children, that your sins have been forgiven because of his name. 13 I am writing to you, fathers, that you have known him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young people, that you have conquered the evil one. 14 I have written to you, children, that you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, that you have known him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young people, that you are strong, and the word of God resides in you, and you have conquered the evil one.
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, 16 because all that is in the world (the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions) is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away with all its desires, but the person who does the will of God remains forever.
Warning About False Teachers
18 Children, it is the last hour, and just as you heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. We know from this that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us, because if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But they went out from us to demonstrate that all of them do not belong to us.
20 Nevertheless you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. 21 I have not written to you that you do not know the truth, but that you do know it, and that no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but the person who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This one is the antichrist: the person who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either. The person who confesses the Son has the Father also.
24 As for you, what you have heard from the beginning must remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25 Now this is the promise that he himself made to us: eternal life. 26 These things I have written to you about those who are trying to deceive you.
27 Now as for you, the anointing that you received from him resides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, it is true and is not a lie. Just as it has taught you, you reside in him.
Children of God
28 And now, little children, remain in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink away from him in shame when he comes back. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you also know that everyone who practices righteousness has been fathered by him.

Hebrews 2:1
Warning Against Drifting Away
1 Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

____________

Temptations
we are tempted by the enemy

Genesis 3:1
[ The Temptation and the Fall ] Now the serpent was more shrewd than any of the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that God said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?”

Deuteronomy 4:34
Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

Matthew 4:1
[ The Temptation of Jesus ] Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Matthew 6:13
‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’

Matthew 26:41
“Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Luke 4:13
When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.

Luke 8:13
Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away.

Luke 11:4
“And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation."

Luke 22:40
When He arrived at the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation."

Luke 22:46
and said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

1 Timothy 6:9
But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.

2 Peter 2:9
then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment forth day of judgment.

__________________

CHAPTER 11

Love

What is love?

"Love" is the is the key word in the Bible, the ultimate rule and extreme importance.

of the unconditional love of God and the unconditional love we must have for God and all others. We are warned not to find fault with others but to look for the good in others, we are to love them as they are. Love is not about changing someone to our needs.

Love is the key word in the Bible!

Love is the strongest emotion.

Conditional Love

Unfortunately love has many variables in this world. Love means different things to different people. Some people love others if they are nice to them. Love too many is conditional; "I love you as long as you are nice to me and you love me."

Many people use the word love too easily and believe love is basically caring.

True love is not conditional.

If one truly loves someone they want to please that individual and make them happy, this is not self serving.

When you love someone you aren't selfish. When you truly love someone you really care about their well being.

Love is a wonderful feeling; it's about caring, empathy, sympathy, concern for another person’s happiness and well being.

Unconditional love is the ultimate love.

No matter where on earth people live, their nationality or religion there is a common denominator, Love and marriage.

Who created love and marriage? There is God’s love, his love for us, it is unconditional love. There is our love for Jesus. The Word teaches us about love and the importance of Love.

Love is not judging or criticizing others, . Only the Lord has a right to judge others.

The enemy loves when we judge others.

The Lord despises us when we judge others.

When we judge others we are criticizing Gods creations.

The scriptures tell us we must love others and Jesus unconditionally, it's spelled out in the Word.

In the NIV version of the Bible the word "love" is mentioned 686 times!

Love is the key word in the bible; we are instructed to love others. Not just selective love or people that love us or are nice in our mind, we are to love others unconditionally just like the Lord loves all unconditionally.

Love gives us character, stability, and confidence.

Love is a brotherly concern for others; empathy and sympathy.

True love is unconditional love; loving someone for the way they are, not wanting to change or criticize an individual. Love is not getting upset with someone when they make a mistake, that's judging which has nothing to do with love.

The Bible tells us as a Christian we must love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our mind, and all our soul. We must live our neighbor as our self. That means not only all neighbors but all others.

Worldly Love

In our secular world and flesh love is defined as a feeling of strong or constant affection for a person as long as we are treated nice. If we don’t we can divorce.

The strong affection felt by people who have a romantic relationship, a person you love in a romantic way. Love is the strongest of emotions.

Is there jealous love? Is there conditional love? I love you if; your nice to me, you make me happy, you do things for me, you never complain.

Can you imagine if Jesus made these stipulations?

__________

Dictionary

An intense feeling of deep affection. Babies fill parents with intense feelings of love. A person or thing that one loves. She was the love of his life".

__________

How we use the word "love"

Love is a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes that ranges from interpersonal affection (I love my mother) to pleasure (I loved that meal). It can refer to an emotion of a strong attraction and personal attachment. It can also be a virtue representing human kindness, compassion, and affection-the unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another. It may also describe compassionate and affectionate actions towards other humans, one's self or animals.

Love is the number one Key word in the Bible.

______

1 John 4:7-14

God Is Love

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 By this the love of God was manifested in us that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

The Greatest Commandments

Matthew 22:34-40

34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question; 36 Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?

37 Jesus replied; Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it Love your neighbor as yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

John 15:9-11

9 Just as the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you; remain in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love. 11 These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

Romans 12:9-21

Conduct in Love

9 Love must be without hypocrisy, which is evil, cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another with mutual love, showing eagerness in honoring one another. 11 Do not lag in zeal, be enthusiastic in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints, pursue hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly. Do not be conceited. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil; consider what is good before all people. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all people. 19 Do not avenge yourselves, dear friends, but give place to God’s wrath, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 Rather, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing this you will be heaping burning coals on his head. 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Love of God

Romans 5:5

And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Romans 8:39

Nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

James 1:12

Happy is the one who endures testing, because when he has proven to be genuine, he will receive the crown of life that God Promised to those who love him.

1 John 2:15

But whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him.

1 John 4:9

By this the love of God is revealed in us; that God has sent his one and only Son into the world so that we may live through him.

1 Peter 4:7-19

Service, Suffering, and Judgment

7 For the culmination of all things is near. So be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of prayer. 8 Above all keep your love for one another fervent, because love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without complaining. 10 Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of the varied grace of God. 11 Whoever speaks, let it be with God’s words. Whoever serves, do so with the strength that God supplies, so that in everything God will be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. 12 Dear friends, do not be astonished that a trial by fire is occurring among you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice in the degree that you have shared in the sufferings of Christ, so that when his glory is revealed you may also rejoice and be glad. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory, who is the Spirit of God, rests on you. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or thief or criminal or as a troublemaker. 16 But if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but glorify God that you bear such a name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin, starting with the house of God. And if it starts with us, what will be the fate of those who are disobedient to the gospel of God? 18 And if the righteous are barely saved, what will become of the ungodly and sinners? 19 So then let those who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator as they do good.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

The Way of Love

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have love, I receive no benefit.

4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful. 6 It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. But if there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be set aside. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, 10 but when what is perfect comes, the partial will be set aside. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known. 13 And now these three remain; faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Deuteronomy 10:12-20

An Exhortation to Love Both God and People

12 Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you except to revere him, to obey all his commandments, to love him, to serve him with all your mind and being, 13 and to keep the Lord’s commandments and statutes that I am giving you today for your own good? 14 The heavens indeed the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, as does the earth and everything in it. 15 However, only to your ancestors did he show his loving favor, and he chose you, their descendants, from all peoples as are apparent today. 16 Therefore, cleanse your heart and stop being so stubborn! 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God who is unbiased and takes no bribe, 18 who justly treats the orphan and widow, and who loves resident foreigners, giving them food and clothing. 19 So you must love the resident foreigner because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. 20 Revere the Lord your God, serve him, be loyal to him and take oaths only in his name.

Deuteronomy 11:1

"You shall love the Lord your God and always keep his charge, His statues, His ordinances, and His commandments"

Deuteronomy 30:16

What I am commanding you today is to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to obey his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances. Then you will live and become numerous and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are about to possess.

Deuteronomy 30:6

The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.

Deuteronomy 30:20

and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Joshua 22:5

But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you; to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.

1 Kings 10:9

Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness.

1 Chronicles 16;34

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Genesis 29:18

Since Jacob had fallen in love with Rachel, he said, I’ll serve you seven years in exchange for your younger daughter Rachel.

Genesis 29:20

So Jacob worked for seven years to acquire Rachel. But they seemed like only a few days to him because his love for her was so great.

Genesis 34:3

Then he became very attached to Dinah, Jacob’s daughter. He fell in love with the young woman and spoke romantically to her.

Genesis 37:4

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them; they hated Joseph and were not able to speak to him kindly.

Exodus 15:13

By your loyal love you will lead the people whom you have redeemed; you will guide them by your strength to your holy dwelling place.

Exodus 20;6

and showing covenant faithfulness to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Exodus 34:6

The Lord passed by before him and proclaimed; The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness.

Leviticus 19:18

You must not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the children of your people, but you must love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

Leviticus 19:34

The foreigner who resides with you must be to you like a native citizen among you; so you must love him as yourself, because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

Numbers 14:18

‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in loyal love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children until the third and fourth generations. '

Deuteronomy 6:5

You must LOVE the Lord your God with your whole mind, your whole being, and all your strength.

Deuteronomy 7:9

So realize that the Lord your God is the true God, the faithful God who keeps covenant faithfully with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.

Deuteronomy 13:3

3 You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer, for the Lord your God will be testing you to see if you love him with all your mind and being.

Deuteronomy 30:6

The Lord your God will also cleanse your heart and the hearts of your descendants so that you may love him with all your mind and being and so that you may live.

Deuteronomy 30:16

Deuteronomy 30:20

I also call on you to love the Lord your God, to obey him and be loyal to him, for he gives you life and enables you to live continually in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Joshua 22:5

But carefully obey the commands and instructions Moses the Lord’s servant gave you. Love the Lord your God, follow all his instructions, obey his commands, be loyal to him, and serve him with all your heart and being!

Joshua 23:11

Watch yourselves carefully! Love the Lord your God!

Psalm 11:5

The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion.

Psalm 23:6

Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Psalm 33:5

The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.

Psalm 31:23

Love the Lord, all you faithful followers of his! The Lord protects those who have integrity, but he pays back in full the one who acts arrogantly.

Psalm 33:18

But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love.

Psalm 37:28

For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones. Wrongdoers will be completely destroyed; the offspring of the wicked will perish.

Psalm 34:3312

Do you want to really live? Would you love to live a long, happy life?

Psalm 36:7

How precious is your loyal love, O God! The human race finds shelter under your wings.

Psalm 40:10

I have not failed to tell about your justice; I spoke about your reliability and deliverance; I have not neglected to tell the great assembly about your loyal love and faithfulness.

Psalm 40:11

O Lord, you do not withhold your compassion from me. May your loyal love and faithfulness continually protect me!

Psalm 42:8

By day the Lord decrees his loyal love, and by night he gives me a song, a prayer to the living God.

Psalm 45:7

You love justice and hate evil. For this reason God, your God has anointed you with the oil of joy, elevating you above your companions.

Psalm 59:17

You are my source of strength! I will sing praises to you! For God is my refuge, the God who loves me.

Psalm 70:4

May all those who seek you be happy and rejoice in you! May those who love to experience your deliverance say continually, May God be praised!

Psalm 91:14

Because he loves me, says the Lord, I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

Psalm 97:10

Let those who love the Lord hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

Psalm 100:5

For the Lord is good. His loyal love endures, and he is faithful through all generations.

Psalm 103:17

But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children.

_____________________________

CHAPTER 12

Bitterness and Slander

What is bitterness?
It is intense animosity.

Bitterness and unforgivingness equals hate.
Hate in Gods eyes is murder.
Bitterness and hate is cancerous and a bottomless pit, it can destroy a persons health.

Bitterness will cause broken hearts.

Bitterness is a captive to sin.

Bitterness is a decay, it’s cause great stress, it’s cancerous, tears away and destroys. It tears people apart, ruins health and causes cancer.

If God can forgive us for our sins than why can’t we forgive others?

Bitterness and hate will destroy our lives.

Bitterness and hate is the opposite of love and forgiveness.

Bitterness cast righteous to the ground.

The enemy loves bitterness and unforgivingness. The Lord our God hates bitterness and unforgivingness. If we can’t forgive someone the Lord cannot forgive us.

Bitterness and unforgivingness can go on for many years and will destroy many lives.

Job 21:25
Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having enjoyed anything good.

Amos 5:7
There are those who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground.

Acts 8:23
“For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”

Ephesians 4:31
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.

Job 7:11
“Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.”

Proverbs 14:10
Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy.

Proverbs 17:25
A foolish son brings grief to his father and bitterness to the mother who bore him.

Lamentations 3:5
He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.

Lamentations 3:15
He has filled me with bitterness, he has sated me with wormwood.

Lamentations 3:19
I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.

Romans 3:14
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”

Hebrews 12:15
See to it that no one fail to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” spring up and cause trouble, and by it the many become defiled.

__________

Slander

Ridicule
Hypocrite

What is slander ?

Dictionary - Slander;
the utterance of false charges or misrepresentations which defame and damage another's reputation.
a false and defamatory oral statement about a person.

Slander is a vicious attack on another.
It relates to arrogance, pride, doubt, judging, and deceitfulness.
The enemy is the source behind all this.

These are words the Lord detests. Many times in the scriptures we are warned not to cast any slur or judge others. If we do than we are putting ourselves in grave danger, and our prayers go unanswered.

Psalms 101:5
I will destroy anyone who slanders his neighbor in secret. I will not tolerate anyone who has a haughty demeanor and an arrogant attitude.

James 1:26
26 If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile.

What is James saying here?
James is saying here that anyone who says they are Christians, but do not exercise control over their tongues are just fooling themselves, and their religion is worthless.

Matthew 12:36–37
36 "But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Romans 1:30
slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents.

1 Corinthians 6:10
nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Leviticus 16:19
“Do not go about spreading slander among your people. Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the Lord. "

Psalm 50:20
You sit and testify against your brother and slander your own mother’s son.

Proverbs 10:18
Whoever conceals hatred with lying lips and spreads slander is a fool.

Proverbs 30:10
“Do not slander a servant to their master, or they will curse you, and you will pay for it."

Jeremiah 9:4
“Beware of your friends; do not trust anyone in your clan. For every one of them is a deceiver, and every friend a slanderer."

Psalm 101:5-7
5
I will destroy anyone who slanders his neighbor in secret.
I will not tolerate anyone who has a haughty demeanor and an arrogant attitude.
6
I will favor the honest people of the land,
and allow them to live with me.
Those who walk in the way of integrity will attend me.
7
Deceitful people will not live in my palace.
Liars will not be welcome in my presence.

2 Corinthians 12:20
For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.

Ephesians 4:31
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.

Colossians 3:8
But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.

Titus 3;2
to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone.

James 4:11
Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.

1 Peter 2:1
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.

1 Peter 3:16
keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

Jude 1:10
Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.

Tim Skon, Chaplain, Prayer Minister,
dedicated to serving others, guided by Jesus

8/5/15

__________________________________________________________

CHAPTER 13

Disobedience

Cursed

What is disobedience ?

Dictionary -
refusal or neglect to obey.

Synonyms-
balkiness, contrariness, contumacy, defiance, frowardness, insubordination, intractability, obstreperousness, rebellion, rebelliousness, recalcitrance, refractoriness, unruliness, waywardness, willfulness.
_______

It is written, if we are disobedient to the Lord we will suffer the consequences.

We can be cursed by God

If we don’t listen to the Lord our God his vengeance can come down on us. We are warned and fearing him is the beginning of wisdom.

He is a merciful God and if we repent and ask for forgiveness He will forgive.

Disobedience is sin.

God made us to have disobedience so he could correct us and show mercy

God wanted to teach us and show mercy to us.

Dear Lord, help me to fight away disobedience towards you and others…

Curses for disobedience

The wrath of God

We are warned if we don’t follow the law.

If we don't follow Gods commandments and decrees we are in danger.

If we or our church turn away from God, and listen to a man as a leader, consultant, author of a commentary, or one who calls himself an expert we will be cursed.

_____

Romans 11;32
32 For God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all.

Deuteronomy 28
The Covenant Blessings
1 “If you indeed obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth. 2 All these blessings will come to you in abundance if you obey the Lord your God: 3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the field. 4 Your children will be blessed, as well as the produce of your soil, the offspring of your livestock, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. 5 Your basket and your mixing bowl will be blessed. 6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. 7 The Lord will cause your enemies who attack you to be struck down before you; they will attack you from one direction but flee from you in seven different directions. 8 The Lord will decree blessing for you with respect to your barns and in everything you do—yes, he will bless you in the land he is giving you. 9 The Lord will designate you as his holy people just as he promised you, if you keep his commandments and obey him. 10 Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you belong to the Lord, and they will respect you. 11 The Lord will greatly multiply your children, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil in the land which he promised your ancestors he would give you. 12 The Lord will open for you his good treasure house, the heavens, to give you rain for the land in its season and to bless all you do; you will lend to many nations but you will not borrow from any. 13 The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always end up at the top and not at the bottom, if you obey his commandments which I am urging you today to be careful to do. 14 But you must not turn away from all the commandments I am giving you today, to either the right or left, nor pursue other gods and worship them.
Curses as Reversal of Blessings
15 “But if you ignore the Lord your God and are not careful to keep all his commandments and statutes I am giving you today, then all these curses will come upon you in full force: 16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the field. 17 Your basket and your mixing bowl will be cursed. 18 Your children will be cursed, as well as the produce of your soil, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. 19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.
Curses by Disease and Drought
20 “The Lord will send on you a curse, confusing you and opposing you in everything you undertake until you are destroyed and quickly perish because of the evil of your deeds, in that you have forsaken me. 21 The Lord will plague you with deadly diseases until he has completely removed you from the land you are about to possess. 22 He will afflict you with weakness, fever, inflammation, infection, sword, blight, and mildew; these will attack you until you perish. 23 The sky above your heads will be bronze and the earth beneath you iron. 24 The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; it will come down on you from the sky until you are destroyed.
Curses by Defeat and Deportation
25 “The Lord will allow you to be struck down before your enemies; you will attack them from one direction but flee from them in seven directions and will become an object of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 Your carcasses will be food for every bird of the sky and wild animal of the earth, and there will be no one to chase them off. 27 The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, eczema, and scabies, all of which cannot be healed. 28 The Lord will also subject you to madness, blindness, and confusion of mind. 29 You will feel your way along at noon like the blind person does in darkness and you will not succeed in anything you do; you will be constantly oppressed and continually robbed, with no one to save you. 30 You will be engaged to a woman and another man will rape her. You will build a house but not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but not even begin to use it. 31 Your ox will be slaughtered before your very eyes but you will not eat of it. Your donkey will be stolen from you as you watch and will not be returned to you. Your flock of sheep will be given to your enemies and there will be no one to save you. 32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another people while you look on in vain all day, and you will be powerless to do anything about it. 33 As for the produce of your land and all your labor, a people you do not know will consume it, and you will be nothing but oppressed and crushed for the rest of your lives. 34 You will go insane from seeing all this. 35 The Lord will afflict you in your knees and on your legs with painful, incurable boils—from the soles of your feet to the top of your head. 36 The Lord will force you and your king whom you will appoint over you to go away to a people whom you and your ancestors have not known, and you will serve other gods of wood and stone there. 37 You will become an occasion of horror, a proverb, and an object of ridicule to all the peoples to whom the Lord will drive you.
The Curse of Reversed Status
38 “You will take much seed to the field but gather little harvest, because locusts will consume it. 39 You will plant vineyards and cultivate them, but you will not drink wine or gather in grapes, because worms will eat them. 40 You will have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with olive oil, because the olives will drop off the trees while still unripe. 41 You will bear sons and daughters but not keep them, because they will be taken into captivity. 42 Whirring locusts will take over every tree and all the produce of your soil. 43 The foreigners who reside among you will become higher and higher over you and you will become lower and lower. 44 They will lend to you but you will not lend to them; they will become the head and you will become the tail!
45 All these curses will fall on you, pursuing and overtaking you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping his commandments and statutes that he has given you. 46 These curses will be a perpetual sign and wonder with reference to you and your descendants.
The Curse of Military Siege
47 “Because you have not served the Lord your God joyfully and wholeheartedly with the abundance of everything you have, 48 instead in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and poverty you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you. They will place an iron yoke on your neck until they have destroyed you. 49 The Lord will raise up a distant nation against you, one from the other side of the earth as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand, 50 a nation of stern appearance that will have no regard for the elderly or pity for the young. 51 They will devour the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your soil until you are destroyed. They will not leave you with any grain, new wine, olive oil, calves of your herds, or lambs of your flocks until they have destroyed you. 52 They will besiege all of your villages until all of your high and fortified walls collapse—those in which you put your confidence throughout the land. They will besiege all your villages throughout the land the Lord your God has given you. 53 You will then eat your own offspring, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you, because of the severity of the siege by which your enemies will constrict you. 54 The man among you who is by nature tender and sensitive will turn against his brother, his beloved wife, and his remaining children. 55 He will withhold from all of them his children’s flesh that he is eating (since there is nothing else left), because of the severity of the siege by which your enemy will constrict you in your villages. 56 Likewise, the most tender and delicate of your women, who would never think of putting even the sole of her foot on the ground because of her daintiness, will turn against her beloved husband, her sons and daughters, 57 and will secretly eat her afterbirth and her newborn children (since she has nothing else), because of the severity of the siege by which your enemy will constrict you in your villages.
The Curse of Covenant Termination
58 “If you refuse to obey all the words of this law, the things written in this scroll, and refuse to fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, 59 then the Lord will increase your punishments and those of your descendants—great and long-lasting afflictions and severe, enduring illnesses. 60 He will infect you with all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will persistently afflict you. 61 Moreover, the Lord will bring upon you every kind of sickness and plague not mentioned in this scroll of commandments, until you have perished. 62 There will be very few of you left, though at one time you were as numerous as the stars in the sky, because you will have disobeyed the Lord your God. 63 This is what will happen: Just as the Lord delighted to do good for you and make you numerous, he will take delight in destroying and decimating you. You will be uprooted from the land you are about to possess. 64 The Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods of wood and stone. 65 Among those nations you will have no rest nor will there be a place of peaceful rest for the soles of your feet, for there the Lord will give you an anxious heart, failing eyesight, and a spirit of despair. 66 Your life will hang in doubt before you; you will be terrified by night and day and will have no certainty of surviving from one day to the next. 67 In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ And in the evening you will say, ‘I wish it were morning!’ because of the things you will fear and the things you will see. 68 Then the Lord will make you return to Egypt by ship, over a route I said to you that you would never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”

2 Timothy 3;2
For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy.

Titus 1;16
They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.

Titus 3;3
For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.

1 Peter 2;8
and, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.

Romans 10;21
But as for Israel He says, “All the day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”

Romans 1;28-32
28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

Jeremiah 17;5-8
This is what the Lord says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord. That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.

Genesis 3;17
To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.

Warning against cursing a father or mother.

Leviticus 20;9
‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death. Because they have cursed their father or mother, their blood will be on their own head.”

Deuteronomy 27;15-26
15 “Cursed is anyone who makes an idol—a thing detestable to the Lord, the work of skilled hands—and sets it up in secret.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
16 “Cursed is anyone who dishonors their father or mother.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
17 “Cursed is anyone who moves their neighbor’s boundary stone.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
18 “Cursed is anyone who leads the blind astray on the road.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
19 “Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
20 “Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his father’s wife, for he dishonors his father’s bed.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
21 “Cursed is anyone who has sexual relations with any animal.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
22 “Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
23 “Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his mother-in-law.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
24 “Cursed is anyone who kills their neighbor secretly.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
25 “Cursed is anyone who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
26 “Cursed is anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”

Deuteronomy 4;25-31
Threat and Blessing following Covenant Disobedience
25 After you have produced children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, if you become corrupt and make an image of any kind and do other evil things before the Lord your God that enrage him, 26 I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that you will surely and swiftly be removed from the very land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not last long there because you will surely be annihilated. 27 Then the Lord will scatter you among the peoples and there will be very few of you among the nations where the Lord will drive you. 28 There you will worship gods made by human hands—wood and stone that can neither see, hear, eat, nor smell. 29 But if you seek the Lord your God from there, you will find him, if, indeed, you seek him with all your heart and soul. 30 In your distress when all these things happen to you in future days, if you return to the Lord your God and obey him 31 (for he is a merciful God), he will not let you down or destroy you, for he cannot forget the covenant with your ancestors that he confirmed by oath to them.

Leviticus 26:14-46
Punishment for Disobedience
14 “‘But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, 15 and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, 16 then I will do this to you: I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and sap your strength. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it. 17 I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.
18 “‘If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. 19 I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze. 20 Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of your land yield their fruit.
21 “‘If you remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over, as your sins deserve. 22 I will send wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few in number that your roads will be deserted.
23 “‘If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me, 24 I myself will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. 25 And I will bring the sword on you to avenge the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be given into enemy hands. 26 When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied.
27 “‘If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me, 28 then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over. 29 You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. 30 I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I will abhor you. 31 I will turn your cities into ruins and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings. 32 I myself will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who live there will be appalled. 33 I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins. 34 Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. 35 All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it.
36 “‘As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them. 37 They will stumble over one another as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies. 38 You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you. 39 Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their ancestors’ sins they will waste away.
40 “‘But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me, 41 which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, 42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. 43 For the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected my laws and abhorred my decrees. 44 Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the Lord their God. 45 But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’”
46 These are the decrees, the laws and the regulations that the Lord established at Mount Sinai between himself and the Israelites through Moses.

Ephesians 5;6-8
Live in the Light
6 Let nobody deceive you with empty words, for because of these things God’s wrath comes on the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be sharers with them, 8 for you were at one time darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.

Hebrews 4;1-13
God’s Promised Rest
1 Therefore we must be wary that, while the promise of entering his rest remains open, none of you may seem to have come short of it. 2 For we had good news proclaimed to us just as they did. But the message they heard did them no good, since they did not join in with those who heard it in faith. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my anger, ‘They will never enter my rest!’” And yet God’s works were accomplished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he has spoken somewhere about the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works,” 5 but to repeat the text cited earlier: “They will never enter my rest!” 6 Therefore it remains for some to enter it, yet those to whom it was previously proclaimed did not enter because of disobedience. 7 So God again ordains a certain day, “Today,” speaking through David after so long a time, as in the words quoted before, “Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks!Do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken afterward about another day. 9 Consequently a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God. 10 For the one who enters God’s rest has also rested from his works, just as God did from his own works. 11 Thus we must make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by following the same pattern of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from God, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.

Nehemiah 9;26
“But they became disobedient and rebelled against You, And cast Your law behind their backs And killed Your prophets who had admonished them So that they might return to You, And they committed great blasphemies.

Isaiah 50:5
The Lord God has opened My ear; And I was not disobedient Nor did I turn back.

Luke 1:17
“It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

Acts 19;9
But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the people, he withdrew from them and took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.

Romans 1;28-32
28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they aregossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

Romans 10;21
But as for Israel He says, “All the day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”

Romans 11;31
so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy.

2 Timothy 3;2
For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy.

Titus 1;16
They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.

Titus 3;3
For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.

1 Peter 2;8
and, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.

1/2/21

CHAPTER 14

The beginning of the division at NHLC 2013

We must comprehend how the enemy works, he attacks subtly and viciously anyway he can!

The lawless one uses people as pawns, indirectly and directly.

The evil one insidiously attacks churches, bible study’s, prayer warriors for healing, clergy, and individuals that focus the charismatic correct way with Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit as one. In this day and age the evil one knows time is short and he’s mad, his favorite tools are doubt, confusion, pride, political correctness, and self indulged gratification and reasoning.

Why is the Christian religion the only religion that is attacked by the satan?

Why is it no other religion do uses it’s God’s name in cursing?

Why is it if you are led by the world you hate Christians?

Why is it if you are a Christian you love others?

Why do people of religions other than Christianity dislike and hate others?

Why does satan only believe in our God who is Lord?

Why is it a Christian fears God and not fear the world?

Why is it non-Christians fear the world and not God?

Why do we have hundreds of different bible versions and commentaries on the scriptures?

False Prophets

Everyone seems to have their own theories and reasoning and desire to express their personal views to get noticed. It’s about disagreements, pride, egos, and self indulged understanding and gratification.

Who is the source behind all this?

Who is happy if we get sidetracked and our thought process is tuned away from what the scriptures tell us?

What happens if we start to rust and doubt?

What can we do to prevent this?

What is with the personal reasoning and logic?

About the author-

As a NH member, Chaplain, and Prayer Minister and leader of many ministries. in late 2013 At North Heights Lutheran Church in St Paul MN I was asked to take candid photos of an all day seminar which included the keynote speaker and separate sessions/classes throughout the day. The seminar was an organization called 3DM.

I introduce myself to the leader and asked questions, and listened.

I met with the leader Mike Breen,

I learned that 3DM was a management organization designed to lead churches down a path of new growth.

As the day went by I listened intensely as I hit the shutter release on my cameras. What struck me was no one was speaking about the importance of the Holy Spirit giving us wisdom and guiding us, or being led by Jesus, our Messiah, the Son of God.

At the end of the day I left for home baffled and confused. Something was amiss, I tossed and turned in bed all night.

After a few weeks our church was in a chaotic state, members were speaking up, there was disillusionment everywhere. The leadership of our church were persuaded by this organization that was directing our church. Church leaders were listening to a man telling us how and what to do. Our church leadership was leaning on this individual’s understanding. They turned away from God and listened to this organization. After a while the Lord was upset and stood back and let them take over.

We were on a down slide, some members were leaving because of the disruption and chaotic bickering.

We were split apart, like the scripture states; “a house divided against itself cannot stand”

The Lord gave me a job to do, little did I know I would be fighting this issue 7 days a week 14-16 hours a day. As a Chaplain to members and staff people became very worried and frustrated. They needed someone to listen, someone to pray with and encourage them.

FACTS

(In early 2015

I was asked by a NH pastor to go over to Mindys previous church.

Over 100 hours was spent by me interviewing people and writing about the history and controlling atmosphere of Mindy Bak)

Facts March 21st, 2015

• There was a court “gag” order against Mindy making any negative or disparaging statements about Gethsemane Lutheran Church of Maplewood MN which she was a member of. Mindy preached a sermon at North Heights Lutheran Church on July 27th 2014 and stated how terrible the Gethsemane Lutheran Church treated her.

• Mindy was previously removed and escorted out of Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Maplewood Minnesota for making false accusations, lying, and deceiving members.

• Mindy falsely accused a well respected interim Senior Pastor at Gethsemane of sexual advances. Mindy wanted him gone so she could obtain his job, he had to resign in shame. Women of Gethsemane Lutheran Church of Maplewood Minnesota stated he was a great man and never would have done such a thing.

• Several women from Gethsemane Church stated, “SHE almost destroyed our church”.

• Women from Gethsemane Lutheran Church have warned men at NHLC not to be in a room alone with her because she could accuse them of sexual harassment.

• Mindy maliciously fired staff people at the school at Gethsemane Church because they didn’t agree with her devious way of thinking.

• “She hates men” this comment was stated by several women from Gethsemane Lutheran Church.

• SHE went to the Council of Elders at Gethsemane Lutheran Church and made a false statement about how a respected woman pastor of 30 years physically assaulted Mindy. Mindy wanted her fired from that church so Mindy could move into that position.

• Mindy has verbally and maliciously attacked two well respected male pastors at North Heights Church, and one retired well respected Senior Pastor from NHLC.

• MINDY is doing everything possible to remove Pastor Greg Berglund from our church. SHE has attacked Pastor Greg Berglund with false accusations, lies, and deceived him numerous times. She wants him gone because he states the truth and he is in her path of destruction.

• Mindy has lied and deceived Horace Beale who was on the Council of Elders at NHLC, she pressured and threatened to sue him until he finally resigned.

• Mindy continuously lies, assaults, and deceives many of the staff at NHLC.

• Many members of NHLC have stated SHE continuously uses our church pulpit for political statements about running for the position of senior pastor.

• Mindy has stated to more than one member of our church; “I am not running and have no intentions of running for the position of senior pastor, if I am asked, I will pray about it.”

• An individual at The Masters Institute with whom Mindy worked with stated; “she is a liar and deceiver.”

• Mindy was heavily involved and believed in 3DM at our NHLC in 2013 and 2014. In 2014 the NHLC Council of Elders announced that our Church will not be involved and disavowed with the 3DM organization and stated anyone who believes in 3DM should resign from our church. Mindy did not leave NHLC so she falsely denounced 3DM because her motive was to step into the interim senior pastor position.

• Many respected NHLC members stated Mindy turned against 3DM when she realized the opportunity to remove and push out other pastors and staff from NHLC so she could strategically fall into the position of interim senior pastor.

• SHE was never hired at our NHLC as a pastor, only as a staff person.

• When Mindy was hired at our church there was never a job history and background check conducted on her by Jean Bearden who hired her.

• Currently (March 2015) is secretly involved with 2 or 3 other church members in a rewrite of the Constitution for NHLC.

• Mindy recently asked the executive leaders of our church to write an essay on “Women in Leadership”.

• Our church Council of Elders meetings are all about her controlling agenda which she forces on the Council members for almost the full 5 hours of the meetings. Therefore no other pertinent issues are discussed.

• Mindy plans and rehearses strategies with certain Council members before the Council of Elders meetings at our church.

• At least once a Council member of NHLC during a Council of Elders meeting requested a discussion without Mindy present, she refused to leave.

• More than once Mindy brought in a non-council member Ronda Dipon to the Council of Elders meetings to persuade and “sell” the Council members on Mindy's controlling agenda and women in leadership.

• Mindy intimidates everyone in her way with a condescending, controlling, and superiority complex.

• In staff meetings Mindy treats staff including pastors like they are of elementary school age.

• Mindy “sells” herself to the congregation at the pulpit, emails, and the weekly bulletin on the fact that our NHLC is doing much better financially now that she is in charge.

• Some members have mysteriously stopped receiving weekly updated status emails from her.

Mindy is driven by liberalism, political correctness, and the women's movement- all non Biblical secularism, all tools of the enemy.

• Many women members at NHLC and non-attending, non-members outside the NHLC have stated; “The finances at our church are much better than before because a woman is now running the church. Before our church was run by men and that’s why the finances were in terrible shape.” That is a total devious and fabricated lie.

• No one talks about the REAL reason as to why our church finances are in better shape now. It is a fact that last year 16 or 17 people on staff people left the church and that alone dropped overhead of $500,000 or more a year in salaries alone.

• Pastor Marcus Haug resigned from our church last year because SHE lied to him more than once.

• SHE stated, “The Lord told me to write the white papers” which is a prejudicial anti-men political statement.

• SHE said “yes” to the time Horace Beale and Pastor Greg Berglund when they asked it if it was ok to hand out the “white papers” at the time she presented them. When Horace and Greg handed them out to a few people, Mindy denied that she ok’d the distribution and attacked them viciously.

• Mindy has stated to more than one member; ”I’ve not been seeking the position of Senior Pastor.” This is a blatant lie.

• A respected individual on staff at NHLC has written five pages describing how she has lied, deceived, and falsely attacked him.

• Mindy treats the men on NHLC staff with a controlling and condescending attitude.

• At Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Maplewood Minnesota Mindy verbally attacked Council of Elder members with false accusations and attempted unsuccessfully to dismiss them.

• Mindy stated to women members of Gethsemane Lutheran Church; “the Council of Elders are a bunch of women haters”. Women in that church said; “Mindy was very manipulative, demeaning, and controlling.”

• Recently members at our NHLC have questioned Mindy's poor decision making. She announced a NHLC congregational meeting 9 days in advance without discussing it with members, staff, or Council OF Elders. At approximately 9:00 pm the night before the scheduled congregational meeting she cancelled the meeting by email to some of the NHLC members and staff without a detailed truthful reason why she cancelled. Several people showed up for the meeting because they weren’t notified of the cancellation.

• Mindy has stated, “Most of the staff has post mortem stress from the 3DM issues last year.” That is a total manipulation and diversion away from her controlling and intimidating demeanor. In reality, the staff at NHLC are afraid to speak one word for grounds of attack and dismissal.

• Many members of NHLC have stated they have stopped giving tithes to NHLC until Mindy leaves for good.

• Many long time well respected members of our church are leaving and have left because of Mindy's underhanded, controlling, and deceitful ways.

• Many women and men members of NHLC have stated; “if Mindy gets the position of Senior Pastor at our church we're out of here”.

• Many members have said; “I’m not going to give another dime to this church until Mindy is gone”

• Some members have said; “I’m seriously considering removing our church as a beneficiary from my Will”.

• Many senior male members of NHLC have been labeled by Mindy as, “sexist old men.”

• Mindy has been secretly recording meetings at our church in various rooms and reading members emails without they're permissions or notifications.

• SHE has an armed bodyguard with her many times when she’s on the premises. Why would a pastor be in fear of the congregation of a church unless she/he has done something seriously wrong?

• One bodyguard was asked a question by a member of the church: “is she in any danger?” The bodyguard responded “no”.

• Mindy shut down an ongoing weekly prayer meeting on the Church premises organized by a well respected member. She told the group no more prayer meetings on the church grounds.

• How can an Interim Senior Pastor lock out tithe giving members desiring to pray for unity, wisdom, and guidance, for the staff, Council of Elders, call committee, and finance committee?

Mindy has stated; “the Bible was written by a bunch of old sexist men.”

There are hundreds of witnesses, men and women that will attest to the validity of above information. The ELCA Synod has complete records and documentation on HER past history at Gethsemane Lutheran Church.

Daniel 8:25

25 She will cause deceit to prosper, and she will consider herself superior. When they feel secure, she will destroy many and take her stand against the Prince of princes. Yet she will be destroyed, but not by human power.

released in an email

to the congregation on or about

March 21, 2015.

_________

On or about September 21, 2015 Melinda(Mindy) Bak ordination license was revoked by International Ministerial Fellowship (IMF).

Many NHLC members, men and women have stated: "the issue at our church is a character problem, this is not a gender issue".

Since the closing of the NHLC Roseville Church on Rice St by the Council and interim senior pastor Mindy Bak, there has been a steady decline in attendance at the AH campus.

There has been a number of key staff people at the AH campus that have resigned because of the misguided leadership at NHLC.

More recently hundreds of members and staff of NHLC at AH have moved on because of misguided church leadership and are attending Sunday services at AmericInn or other churches.

Melinda(Mindy) Bak was hired by Jean Bearden as a staff person at NHLC in approximately 2007. There was never a background check done on Mindy by Jean.

Melinda Bak's history at Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Maplewood is less than upstanding. She was never a pastor there.

She accused a female pastor of physically attacking her which was totally fabricated.

She accused a wonderful male interim senior pastor of sexual harassment which was totally fabricated.

She fired several school employees from Gethsemane because they did not agree with her underhanded tactics.

Several women from Gethsemane Lutheran church in Maplewood MN stated; "Mindy Bak almost destroyed our church".

The ELCA is completely aware and has a detailed record of Melinda Bak's devious past history at Gethsemane Lutheran Church.

Melinda Bak has a history of doing whatever it takes to destroy and remove anyone that does not agree with her underhanded tactics.

The accusations against Melinda Bak from NHLC and Gethsemane are NOT about a gender issue which she uses as a combat tool. It's about her character; ask previous staff members at NHLC and women at Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Maplewood Minnesota.

Many fine, wonderful, well respected Christian sisters at Gethsemane Lutheran Church and North Heights Lutheran Church are and have been in leadership roles at both churches.

Mindy’s favorite tools are; liberalism, political correctness, and the women's movement, all tools not found in the Word!

Many Christian brothers at NHLC are NOT against a woman pastor with an upstanding character.

There are many women at NHLC and Gethsemane that are against the character and leadership guidance of Melinda (Mindy) Bak and her controlling of the Council of Elders.

Many women members of North Heights Lutheran Church have stated that she is totally destroying our church.

Many women at Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Maplewood Minnesota have stated; "she almost destroyed our church".

There was a successful vote by members of Gethsemane church to remove Melinda (Mindy) Bak from position of Principal of the school and as a member of the that church. The members presented it to the church council at that time and the council agreed to dismiss her. They called her in to a meeting room and before they could speak, she quit.

The exiled services at AmericInn event center (Mermaid) has had a substantial increase in Sunday service attendance. There were approximately 450 at Roseville Sunday services to now over 900 at AmericInn. Where are they coming from? They have left the AH campus. Why?

The issue at North Heights Church is a person of unethical character in leadership of Mindy Bak. It has NOTHING TO DO WITH Men against women in leadership. There are just as many if not more women at NHLC that are against Mindy AND WANT HER REMOVED. This is not about judgment it's about discernment OF the truth.

Let's look at the issue with our church, the church we love, there is a great spiritual warfare like no other, it’s destroying our church, it’s devastating with demonic forces, everyone must wake up, open their ears and eyes to the truth, now before it’s too late.

There have been false accusations by Mindy Bak stating there are many in our church that are against women in leadership. This is a complete diversion away from the fact that she hates men. If you don’t believe it, ask women at Gethsemane Lutheran Church, the same thing happened there.

So far there have been 4 men who have resigned from the North Heights Council of Elders in the past year or so, why is that? Mindy lied, falsely accused, deviously attacked, and threatened to sue Horace Beale, ask him.

Mindy was not at the Roseville Council of Elders and members meeting on Monday 4/13/15 at Roseville Sanctuary but she did all the talking. It was a planned program without an open mike, the likes of the Gestapo. Why were members surprised with the outcome? What did they honestly expect?

The Council was defending Mindy and her controlling tactics. Mindy leads and controls the Council of Elders with intimidation and an iron fist. Pastors Greg Berglund and Bob Burmeister were turned away from the meeting by the Council!

By Mindy's direct instructions they where not allowed to attend.

The Lord is unhappy with the Leadership of our church, the enemy is happy.

Mindy has viciously and deviously lied and attacked two well respected, gifted anointed pastors and men of God; Morris Vaagenes and Greg Berglund, ask them.

There never has been anyone; woman or man state at NHLC that they are against women in leadership, yet Mindy falsely accuses many men of such. We have and had many wonderful Christian women that are respected by men in leadership at North Heights Lutheran Church.

The reputation of North Heights Church throughout the State and Country has been dropping drastically in the last 6 months. Christians and non Christians want to know why this is happening.

The NHLC Council of Elders stated last Monday 4/13/15 that they would only look at Mindy’s past history since she’s been at North Heights Church, not before.

Time and time again Mindy's leadership and decision making skills have been questionable and irrational. It's time to wake up and remove the blinders at our church, the lies and brainwashing must stop.

4/20/15

North Heights Lutheran Church

Our church is half burned down; it's time to put out the fire.

There is an issue about character, Mindy Bak’s character. She has lied and deceived many, not only at North Heights Church but at Gethsemane Lutheran Church. If you don’t believe that ask women at Gethsemane Church. She diverts the issue by stating many members at North Heights are against her because she is a woman, which is totally false! There are many humble God fearing women members in leadership at North Heights Church. There are many North Heights Lutheran Church WOMEN members, including previous members and attendee women outside the church and counting that want Mindy Bak removed from the church. Are they sexist? Are they wrong?

Does anyone really understand why people are leaving our church?

Mindy and her followers believe we have "OLD SEXIST MEN” at North Heights Church. She said it at her previous church about men there. IS THIS WHAT GOD TEACHES? Do we learn this from his Word?

The men that she is referring to are well respected humble Christian men in the community that have been members of North Heights Lutheran Church for 20, 30, and 40 plus years.

HAVE WE BEEN TAUGHT BY THE BIBLE THAT A PASTOR CAN MAKE A SEXIST STATEMENT ABOUT ANY PERSON ORGROUP? CAN A PASTOR SAY ANYTHING DEROGATORY ABOUT OTHERS? ESPECIALLY HARD WORKING TITHE GIVING PARISHIONERS THAT LOVE THEIR CHURCH.

At Mindy's previous church/school there was an elderly woman organ player that was a wonderful person that everyone loved. Mindy didn't like her so she fired her, six months later she passed away. If you don't believe it ask women at Gethsemane Lutheran Church.

There were at least three former North Heights Lutheran Church women on staff that Mindy treated very badly because she didn't like them. She treats specific members and staff poorly and wants them gone, is that a proper thing for a pastor to do?

There was never a job history background check done by Jean Bearden on Mindy Bak. Instead she just hired Mindy because she was a woman and she believed everything she said.

On March 23rd, 2015 a North Heights Lutheran Church members OFFSITE prayer meeting was held. North Heights Members had to pay a fee to rent a room to pray for their church. They wanted to pray in their church but they were banned by Mindy Bak from praying and having any discussions on the North Heights church properties.

Can anyone imagine what would happen if a Catholic, Muslim, or Jewish church banned people from praying in their church? It would be a nationwide media blast!

If Mindy treated people like she has to date in a corporate world she would have been disciplined, warned, and fired.

The main issue here is we have a council of Elders that are not Elders. Elder means someone up in years that have grown children and grandchildren. Someone that has many experiences in life and a successful business world, people that are capable with quick decision making experiences. A church of God SHOULD NOT have elders that are guided by the insistence of control, political correctness or women's rights agendas. The only elder we had with with the correct experience resigned! He was forced to resign by our interim senior pastor that threatened to sue him! If you don't believe this ask him. Horace is a well respected, great, and humble God fearing Christian with much life experience. His wife has cancer, and yet he has faith in Jesus, he endures. Mindy intimidated and threatened to sue him so he resigned. She deceived and lied. Where in this world does an interim senior pastor do such things? SHE DID IT AT HER PREVIOUS CHURCH!!! If you don't believe it ask women at Gethsemane Lutheran Church.

Has anyone ever heard of a pastor with a controlling condescending attitude threatening to sue members of a church? What is that all about?

Does anyone know why we haven't selected or at least narrowed to 2 or 3 Senior Pastor Candidates after 11 months? Other churches would have selected one by now. What's the holdup?

In the corporate world it would take 2 months. If we keep up this speed there won't be a church.

In the last 10 months there has been a decrease in attendance at North Heights services Arden Hills.

There has been an increase in attendance at North Heights Lutheran Church Roseville.

A decision was made last year to combine the two services at Arden Hills, but there still are two services over at Roseville sanctuary and Fellowship Hall (one on Saturday night).

Many members of North Heights Lutheran Church Arden Hills have moved to NH Roseville, Eaglebrook, and other churches in the last 12 months!! WHY IS THAT?

When and where have you ever heard of a pastor anywhere threatening members and staff people with a lawsuit? Boy that's all about Christianity.

She needs to control anything and everything; it'd her way or the highway.

North Heights Lutheran Church campuses are supposed to be churches of God;they are supposed to be love in a church of God. These campuses are NOT church's of God. They're church's of the enemy, run by the enemy. The enemy is tearing the buildings down.

How many outside people have we attracted to our church in the last 6 months? North Heights Lutheran Church has a terrible reputation! No one wants to set foot in the church from the outside. The word on the street is; "I wouldn't set foot in that church". The reputation of North Heights Church to the outside world is disgusting.

If we don't see the forest through the trees, it's the beginning of the end.

A house divided against itself cannot stand.

Last Monday's (4/13/15) meeting with the Council of Elders at the Roseville Church was biased and lies were spoken by Mindy but she wasn't there! They Council was guided and instructed by Mindy. A Council of Elders is supposed to defend and protect the members of a Church, but all they did was defend is the interim senior pastor. The council is totally led and controlled by Mindy Bak. The responsibilities of a Council of Elders of a God fearing church are to protect the members of such church and guide and instruct the Pastors of that Church.

Mindy's statement about "across town" referring to the NHLC Roseville complex is an insult to all members and staff of such church.

Her dancing with a rooster at the pulpit is a disgraceful respect for the altar.

_________

James 3:13-16

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 but if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, nonspiritual, and demonic. 16 for where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

But no Christians who harbors’ bitter jealousy in their heart, or are filled with self-seeking ambition, are inspired by God. Rather, they are inspired by the devil, for where there is bitter jealousy and self-seeking ambition so too there is confusion and all sorts of evil and vile practices. Christians must never allow themselves to yield to evil desires and destructive competitiveness.

tcs

4/12/15

__________

There is a man who is a member of NHLC who for over a year and one half dedicated thousands of hours of his time out of his life fighting this Spiritual warfare.

He was on a mission fighting for the Lord. He is the one who was asked by a North Heights pastor in January of 2015 to go to Gethsemane Lutheran Church and interview they're members about the negative history issue they had on an individual. In addition, he did extensive other research. He is in fact the one who introduced the Bond Servants together in the beginning, they didn't know each other as they stated at the last service at the Mermaid. He started the prayer meetings in Fellowship Hall at Roseville.

2015

___________

From John O. 12/21/15;

The Heritage and Vision Fund is going well with a lot of gifts. Here is a little history regarding our name for this fund. “Church in Exile” was the first suggestion, but that was seen as too negative. John prayed about a name, and the “Heritage and Vision” name came to him. We want to embrace our heritage at NHLC, and we did not want to rewrite history, but embrace all what we have done at North Heights over the years. And, we also have a vision for North Heights that is very much different from what the current Council and leadership has.

Comment: John stated that he has asked, and then demanded via emails, and at special meetings, specific things pertaining to accounting records and documents pertaining to legal bills, security bills, and documents from Klein Bank or other lenders, mortgages and lines of credit. He also referenced the State Statute and the church constitution as the congregant’s legal right to view such documents. John was forced to put a Dec. 11th deadline in receiving this data, or the Council would face a legal challenge. He backed it up with reciting the content of MN State Statute 317.461 Subsection 7 that spells out the rights of the church member. John also asked Mark Gregory to call a special meeting to allow the members to vote before it was too late.

On Dec. 11th thirty-two mega bites of data were sent to John O. This was a huge file. The figures showed that between May and October the Council and Mindy spent over $70,000 in legal fees coming from church tithing. In addition to that they spent another $7,725 on security which likely was a waste of congregants funds as there was no viable security threat.

Comment: When John received the copies of bills, he soon found out that there was nothing to learn from these bills as they were redacted (black felt pen lining out pertinent information). Thus, John was unable to know what the bills were for; even the invoice numbers were redacted. We now have the figures, but not the critical information on what the bills were paid for. John was incredulous that the Council (Mark Gregory) would deem invoice numbers as confidential. So, nothing has changed at Arden Hills because transparency is avoided at every turn by the Council. The congregation still serves the Council versus the other way around.

Comment: John points out to Mark Gregory in an email that over a thousand congregants on Sunday are away from Arden Hills, and this alone should speak volumes about the ministry at Arden Hills. Then John adds, Mark should take a look at the fruits of labor from Pastors Vaagenes, Burmeister and Berglund and ask himself, where is the fruit of Mindy Bak’s ministry? Before we have a complete disaster on our hands, we ask Mark and the Council to have the courage to stop this debacle.

Comment: John asked the congregants if they happened to see the latest Council minutes. With few acknowledging that they had read them, John proceeded to highlight the minutes. Now this is very revealing to all: the Council meeting was held on Nov. 15, content was approved for distribution on Dec. 1, yet the mailing of the minutes went out Dec. 21. Why 20 days later? John explains one of the key items within the minutes: The first is that the North Heights auditor has required the financial plan have sustainability. With that, Mark Zimmerman will be contacting the banker on the possibility that the church will need to sell some of its property. So, we probably got the answer for the delay of announcement? The other item in the Council minutes was this: “the committee has solidified for the purpose of member restoration. Material has been forward to the committee. After reviewing, the committee will consider action steps necessary to bring recommendation to the Council based on findings and efforts.” John says that is code speak for disciplinary action. It has nothing to do with restoration; it is everything to do with disciplinary action. This announcement was also delayed for release over a number of days.

Comment: “Going concern clause” explained: In an audit there are a number of things an auditor looks at. They audit over a specific period of time. The auditor also looks at something called “subsequent events” and that is, what has happened to the organization since the end of the fiscal year? If an organization has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in operating revenue, and operating income is at a negative loss, the auditor would consider a “going concern clause” within the audit when the current financial condition of the organization is unlikely to be able to support continued operation. For a bank or other lending institution this could signal a negative reaction. In the case of the North Heights auditor, the audit has not been released yet. The reason for the delay in audit release, maybe that the auditor feels caught between a rock and hard place. If the auditor has reason to believe the organization will fail, and does not include the “going concern clause,” then that auditor could be at risk if the bank loans money or extends credit, when in truth the organization is failing. If the auditor includes the “going concern clause,” it could cause a negative reaction from the bank and creditors, due to a perceived increase in risk.

Comments: The Council report also refers to a Treasurer’s report. John says that the Council is now talking about the possibility of a “going concern clause” when the negative financial signals were abundantly clear months earlier. John says that this is not transparency!

Comments: The most disturbing commentary in today’s Council minutes was the request for ideas of stopping the short fall of revenue. What the Council wants is input from whom they believe have the most vested interest in Arden Hills, and the Council thinks that would be only the congregants of Arden Hills. In short the leadership at Arden Hills is saying that they don’t want the input for the 1,000 or so exiles. The Council adds that the Arden Hill congregants have little interest in having any more special congregational meetings. Not only do they view the special meetings hostile, but also costly. The Council’s plan was to have a town hall meeting after an Arden Hills service, and allow the Arden Hills congregants the opportunity to give suggestions to the Arden Hills leadership. It appears they wanted input without the support of exiles. The town hall meeting was set, and The Bondservants heard about it. Jim Tucker went over to attend, but soon found out that the meeting was canceled. Mindy was there, and when asked by one congregant, what happen to the meeting, she said, “I don’t know anything about it.” This is another example of zero transparency and dishonesty.

Question: What is it that the Arden Hills leadership is trying to get out of bankruptcy?

Answer: It is possible that Mindy sees an opportunity to sell the Roseville campus, and possibly the school for millions, and then operate the Arden Hills facilities for a number of years with that revenue.

Question: Is there any kind of lawsuit against The Bondservants?

Answer: No, certainly not that we know of.

Question: Does it take 2/3 of the congregation to sell church property?

Answer: You are absolutely right, but if there is bankruptcy or foreclosure, then the judge would be in charge, and the judge can void all contracts and override the church constitution.

Question: Is the Senior Pastor over the Council or is the Council over the Senior Pastor?

Answer: The Senior Pastor is one of the Council members. The members are actually over the Council. The Council members have the authority to fire staff members. But as we see the Council members today, we realize that they are determined to be above the congregation. Council members are there to represent you; at least that is the way it is supposed to work, just like in state and federal government. One might add that an interim pastor is not a senior pastor.

Question: Don’t you feel that Mark is intimidated to act, due to Mindy’s history of threatening gender bias?

Answer: I try to not to speculate on what someone might do. I don’t know what they are going to do.

Suggestion from Oldfield: You might send a note to the Council saying something like this; “You won’t let us vote, and now you are orchestrating meetings we can’t attend. Where is the transparency and honesty in that action?”

Comment: The solution for North Height lies here with the 1,000 congregants in exile and their financial backing. The Council is not going to solve the problems of the church, if they do not give us a voice.

John O

_________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________

(note; there are some repeated statements, the reason for this is just as it is in the Bible - repetition is the key to retention.)®

Tim Skon, Chaplain, Prayer Minister, Deacon,
serving Jesus and others,
guided by the Holy Spirit
3/8/15
(updates in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021)

© all rights reserved

©️ ®️

The Fog

Thank you Jesus for teaching me the way and the truth. Thank you for the Bible, your infallible Word, our operators, reference, technical, and instruction manual for life here on earth.

The angel of light hates with a passion Bible studies, preaching, teaching the scriptures, praying, and fasting.

Wake up, today we are in a great spiritual battle, a spiritual warfare.

I don’t try to impress others with my thinking or logic related to my understanding of the scriptures, that’s all about pride.

If we are pastors, chaplains, teachers, or prayer warriors we must be extremely cautious, it's even more so because the enemy knows if he can get us sidetracked it will effect the masses. in addition, the scriptures say we will be judged and criticized more.

In the last days the enemy is mad and knows his time is short so he's relentless.

God is real, satan is real, read it in the Holy Scriptures.Even satan believes in one God our Lord.

Even satan believes in the Lord our God, to him there is no other God!

Chapter 2

Doubt

We are not to fear the world.

To be strong in faith we must never doubt.

Matthew 21:21

Romans 14:23

We must live by the spirit

We must keep watching and praying.

Faith without works is dead.

1

CHAPTER 4

Paul stated the scriptures where created by God, not man;

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

Oppositions

The great book the Bible is about opposites, good vs bad. It’s about a good moral life vs an evil worldly secular lifestyle.

Our God is a moral God.

Acts 14:1

Acceptance and Opposition

Romans 16:17

I appeal to you, brethren, to take note of those who create dissensions and difficulties, in opposition to the doctrine which you have been taught; avoid them.

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 7

Today’s World

You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of dreams;

for the Lord your God is testing you

, to know whether you

love

the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

1 Corinthians 1:20

Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the

debater of this age?

Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world

?

Hebrews 3:12-19

The Peril of unbelief

This Is Written That You May Know

God is real, satan is real, read it in the Holy Scriptures.
Even satan believes in one God our Lord.