Lookahead:  If we find ourselves in a position where we are unable to forgive a heathenish person who has behaved monstrously, God can do it for us.  We just need to ask Him for His help.  Forgiving does not mean that we condone the behavior, tolerate it any way, or allow it on our watch.  … Continue reading How-To Post #12 – On the Highway to Hell

Lookahead: That means that they may wear “Jesus Loves You” tee-shirts with matching baseball caps, and plaster ichthys (🐟) bumper stickers all over their cars, and sing Hillsong worship songs in 5-part harmony, and speak enough fluent Christianese to make a Pentecostal Church Mother weep; but you get the Holy Spirit when you become a … Continue reading How-To Post #11 – Riot Inciting Scoffers

Look-ahead:  Along those lines, it’s hard to understand what Enoch (and his great-grandson, Noah) went through. They were surrounded by people who had been utterly, irreversibly corrupted by the enemy.  The point that I’m trying to make is that, if I can remind myself in the middle of a trial with difficult people, that at … Continue reading How-To Post #10 – Blaming + Boasting + Flattering Hyprocrites

Lookahead: I view Balaam as such a sorrowful case—someone who backslid so far that he couldn’t come back.  But as we will see in subsequent verses, just because a heathenish unbeliever—or even a church person—is particularly difficult and exhibiting wicked behavior, we can’t assume that they are Balaams. But these people blaspheme all that they … Continue reading How-To Post #9 – Balaam Type: Greedy/Rebellious

Lookahead:   I know this because Mother had become an absolute beacon of love in her last days.  You couldn’t be around her for more than a few minutes without her telling you that she loved you. It didn’t matter who you were or how long she’d known you.  She would say, sometimes shout, “I love … Continue reading Emergency: By His Stripes We ARE Healed

Lookahead:   A few weeks ago, a young woman in our church gave us several powerful scriptural references prior to the members taking communion.  She spoke about how Judas Iscariot was present during pivotal moments of the Last Supper.  Jesus knew exactly what Judas was going to say and do as soon as he left the … Continue reading How-To #8 – Cain/Korah Types: Jealous/Rebellious