Oh the grieving God must feel from the Church as a whole. Even more so as Sundays come. We continue on with our traditions. It is criminal how we settle for church as usual, when God has given us EVERYTHING! We have the power of creation in us, but we have built up strong holds in our minds and hearts that have stripped away all that power.

We know the passage “Jesus Wept”. Much has been preached on that verse and most of the time they get it VERY wrong. He was not crying tears of compassion, but of agony because of their unbelief. That verse is John 11:35, but in 11:33 it says “When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, “. He “groaned” in His Spirit because of their unbelief. In verse 36-37 it says “Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him! And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died? “. More unbelief, and guess what follows in verse 38 “Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.” . Yep, He groaned again because of their unbelief.

Welcome to the Church of the Last Days of this Age., the church that is filled with unbelief and turns from faith and trust in God, unto their own reasoning, stripping all power and presence of God.

When will people turn back to God and His Word and quit playing games. Do they know that they are grieving the Heart of God by their complacency and lack of knowledge.

It took me being struck by serious illness and being around church stuff for two years to open my eyes and see the truth. For two years I watched people hear the truth and then turn right back to what they believed prior to hearing the truth, back to the lies they have trained themselves to believe to bring comfort when they did not see the power of God. They hold on to few experiences they have had with God over the years (sometimes only one experience that they hold on to), when God desires all of us to experience Him all the time.

For me it is hard to go to church most of the time as the amount of unbelief that gets sown into you and the unbiblical doctrines people hold onto for one reason or another that they try to poison a person with, thinking they are doing good, they have no clue the evil that is flowing through them.

My journey has brought me to the point where I hear people break and say they cannot even believe the Word, others that pray for people to die as a form of healing instead of praying they are healed, some try to give reasons why they do not receive healing as if God is putting it on them for a purpose to reach someone and even others that are bound in sin and do have zero conviction to stop, even though they know they will spend eternity in hell. I even once heard people thank God for their family almost getting killed as a sign to wake them up. This is all from CHURCH... There is so much flesh and ignorance of Scripture in the church, there is no room for God.

It is truly only by His Grace that most churches are not destroyed by fire. God knows this is the church of the Last Days of this Age and knows most people have no clue, but the Scriptures still ring an almost deafening tone:

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

It is time to open the Bible and through out everything not found in it's pages! It is time to get back to absolute faith in God and not lean to our own understanding! It is time to believe the Word of God and EXPECT signs and wonders in EVERY service. Do I dare say it? If they are not there, how can the presence of God be there either?

If you think you know ANYTHING about God, pay attention and take them to heart, your life and those you love depend on you listening and moving to seek His Holy Face!!!

“We ask for mercy oh God, for you have given us power and authority, you have placed your Holy Spirit with all the power of creation within us, you have made us adopted Sons and Daughters, yet we still look to our own power and ability, we do not look to you and expect from you all things. Forgive us God and help us turn back to you! We repent of our carnal thinking and desire to follow Your Spirit.”

Read the BIBLE!  Believe the BIBLBE!  Live the BIBLE!

It seems to be a common sport to bash televangelists and other ministries for their teachings of Prosperity, Word of Faith or Healing.  Often the battle cry is that they are only after your money.  What is concerning, is the open hostility some have for these ministries.  There are various secular entities that are only after your money, but they seem to draw far less rage and many, no rage at all, among the same people who are ready to crucify these ministers.  What is the difference?

Some might say the reason for the hostility is “Holy Anger”.  Remember Jesus drove out those evil merchants at the temple.  There have been many different battles over why Jesus did this.  Some say that they were cheating people selling them quality animals to sacrifices, but once paid would swap them for sickly and worthless animals.  Some conclude that it was due to selling of tools to worship God.  If your belief is the latter then you should never buy another Christian song or purchase a Bible anywhere, this would be the same thing wouldn’t it?

We need to remember these Scriptures:

Gal 5:22-23 ~  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

2Ti 2:24-26 ~  And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;  And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

I know it is easy to fall into the trap of condemning people or being critical of different ministries.  Even writing this post, I felt conviction of some of the things I have felt and  said in the past and had to repent.  That is the point, we do not continue to do wrong when I see that it is wrong, but repent and change!

False doctrines, are you sure?

One of my first lessons after being Born Again was that I would grow and my views on some doctrines would change.  How can we hope to know everything in the beginning when often we do not even know what is contained in the entire Bible.  When I was a new believer, I thought the Lord would return at the end of what is known as the “Tribulation” because of what I had heard earlier from others and a few passages I read.  Later His return seemed to moved to the middle, and after learning more of Daniel and Ezekiel and some more New Testament passages, I believe His return will be in the beginning. Am I willing to bet my eternal life upon it?  No way, there is too many passages that can go in all ways.

There is the first point, many doctrines have Scripture going in different directions and when we study we find the more-than-likely view, but this has to be tempered by the nature of God and the content of the topic.  There are few things we can be completely dogmatic about, to the extent we will bet our eternal salvation upon them.  One such doctrine is Salvation and the fact Jesus shall return.  These are core to our belief, but other doctrines we need to use the full council of God’s Word.  Of course, this is not to be driven by our feelings or even perhaps by our experiences, but by God’s Word alone.

The most common attacks on doctrine for Televangelists seem to be in the doctrines of Prosperity, Word of Faith and Healing.  Why these three?  Perhaps because so few of typical Christians have a clue as to what the Word of God says on the subjects and when hearing the lofty claims being made, try them out themselves and fail not know the full council of God’s Word.  Their experience then turns into disbelief and often bitterness thereby opening the door for Evil to walk all over them.  Many times, once the disbelief and bitterness has taken root, people tend to make fun of or slam those doctrines and ministers.  In the process our we not slamming the Word of God?  That is, if they use Scripture to make the point, are we not fighting against the Word?  We need to be VERY careful!

Word of Faith:

This doctrine really includes Prosperity and Healing, as it is the doctrine of obtaining from God.  I know people who will slam this doctrine while at the same time embrace it.  We have seen some ministers in the past who went off the map, promoting people can claim anything and as long as they believe it, they will receive it.  Yes, they had people claiming for all kinds of things as if God was some kind of personal genie you could bring out at will to give you every frivolous desire of your flesh.  When the people did not receive because they were asking amiss, doubts or perhaps they had sin in their life, they went into disbelief and followed that with bitterness toward those ministries.

So, for a quickie on Word of Faith, the Scriptures say clearly in many places that if you have faith and doubt not you will received.  For example,  here are a few of them:

Joh 14:12-14 ~ Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

Joh 16:23-24 ~ And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

Mark 11:22-24 ~ And Jesus answering saith unto them, have faith in God.  For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoevery he saith.  Therefore I say unto you, what things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

So, people would grab these Scriptures and pray for expensive luxury car or multimillion dollar home, perhaps millions in cash and some even that they would hit the lottery.  While they had part of the truth they did not know or some did not wish to acknowledge what they already knew, there are conditions.  We have the full power of creation at our finger tips, but how is it wielded and why?  Imagine if everyone was out moving mountains because they wanted a different view?  Yes, that would be silly and God will not put up with it.

Now, are the teachings in Error?  Not completely, most of them just need to add the conditions.  There is nothing impossible for God but there are some things He will not do.  If His word says that He will do something and you fulfill the requirements for the promise, then the promise is yours and God will absolutely do it.  God says He watches over His Word to perform it.  He is not a respecter of persons, if you qualify and your reasons qualify and you have the Word for the promise, it is yours.  It is by your faith without doubts and your knowledge of God’s will on the promise that delivers it to you.  The scriptural reference to the promise insures you have God’s will as long as you know all of Scripture regarding the topic.

You can call it what you like, “Name it and Claim it” or “Word of Faith”, it all comes down to finding what God has to say about a promise, praying in faith for the promise and standing in faith without doubts claiming the promise.  It is a simple truth in the Bible that has been abused a bit, but it is none the less that, the truth.

Still not sure?  How do you think you became Born Again in the first place?  If we did not have the promise telling us that He does save and He had not given us the faith to believe Him for the promise, no one would be saved.  It is by grace that you are saved through faith and that not of your own, but it is a gift from God.

There is power in what you say.  If you are not aware of that, then you need to study more as it is from the beginning to the end of The Scriptures, you are to watch what you say.  People can say a lot of things that open the door to the enemy even though they walk the right path.  Look at what happened to the children of Israel when they murmured.  We should proclaim the goodness of God with our mouths and not the works of the enemy. 

Sure, you can say your are a pickle every day of your life and it does not make you a pickle.  You will never believe you are a pickle and there is no demon of picklism out there waiting to be empowered by your words.  But when you continually confess sickness, weakness, lack of faith, hopelessness, anger, poverty, then you are opening doors not only to your but your family if you are not careful!

Healing:

There have been a number of frauds out there over the century promoting healing and cleaning people out with false teachings.  Typically though, they feed on those that do not know the Word of God and they twist it to the point that you have to “send in” for something such as healing cloths, healing oils and what not.  Given the full council of God’s Word, you would be able to see that healing is for every Christian and is part of the New Covenant.  Yes, our body will be redeemed later so that it cannot ever by harmed and know no pain, but God provides us healing now so that we do not have to die of sickness or disease. When God says our life has come to an end, He will simply stop our heart or breath and we go home.  It is not God’s will for any believer to die a torturous death.

Disease and sickness is from our system being perverted either by what we do to our bodies or what the enemy does to it.  Some of this perversion of our cells happen even before birth as we are in a fallen world and things are corrupt.  That does mean we have to live that way through out our lives, God is our healer, He has provided us healing.  Remember, He lives IN all of us who are Born Again, all the power of creation resides in us and the only requirement is faith without doubts.

Often people think some are not meant to be healed, I mean, look at Paul’s thorn.  It seems that often Paul is used as proof that God does not bless some people or that He DESIRES that some be sick to teach them lessons.  First and foremost, if you believe this way, how do you expect to ever receive from God.  If it is God’s will for people to be sick, then why do you fight against it?  God loves you, He wants you healed more than you want to be healed.  Look to Jesus and you will see how much He values you.  BTW, Paul’s thorn has nothing to do with sickness and there is biblical proof for the reasonable mind.

Others think that God takes different methods to heal people.  You know, that some times you go through surgeries and have them cut out this or that, or make you barely exist while burying you in debts.  What does the Bible say the sick are to do, it is clear?

Jas 5:14 ~ Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

How clear do you need it?  A note here though, who are the “Elders” and what is required of them?

There are many healing passages in the Bible but one of my favorites is in Psalms:

Psa 103:1-5 ~ Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.

So, why are some not healed?  Simply, it is faith, doubts or sin, I know of no other possibilities.  If we have no unrepentant sin in our lives, if we do not have any unforgiveness (again sin) in our heart, and if we have faith without doubts (usually the biggest stumbling block), then we will be healed.  If you go to the elders and have them pray over your anointing you with oil and do not appear healed, then it is up to you to study and draw close to God as you need to remove doubts and develop more trust in Him.  The issue is not with God but with Us!  It is all about relationship, if you have an intimate relationship with someone you will know if you can trust them and if they are trustworthy, nothing can break that trust or cause doubts.  Same goes with God, if your relationship is strong, you will have no doubts.

Prosperity:

This is one area that may have fallen into continual bashing.  While healing is needed at times, many people want prosperity in their lives and if they do not see it, they can get the feeling that people are saying it is due to sin or something they lack or they would be prosperous.  Other times, it is bitterness in them because they have tried and followed some of the teachings out there only to have sunken deeper in debt purchasing books, CDs, videos, etc without any improvement.  When it is all over they blame the teaching or the minister.

There are a number of ministers that virtually flaunt wealth and often their messages are focused on wealth as they sell their teachings or ask for offerings.  Do we throw the baby out with the bathwater? If the teaching lines up with the Word of God, then we should do more study.

The first question is does God want us to be prosperous?

Psa 35:27 ~ Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.

Pro 10:22 ~ The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.

Ecc 5:18-20 ~ Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion. Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God. For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart.

Deu 8:18 ~ But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

It is God who gives us power to get wealth.  It is for us to use that power.  There is a catch however, what do you call wealthy and what is the wealth used for?

Jas 4:2-3 ~ Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

If we want wealth to be wealthy, we only want for ourselves, then we are asking amiss. Often it can be hard to tell if you are asking amiss as we can be quite good and justifying desires that wrong.  In that same line, if we ask without believing or with doubts that it is God’s will, we can be in the same boat.  There are many passages in the Bible that refer to wealth and prosperity, but I find one interesting in Proverbs:

Pro 30:7-9 ~ Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.

I am not sure how much that one applies in today’s world with us having God living inside us, as the Spirit will guide us if we listen, but still the point that we should have a level at which we say “that is enough for me”.  I think anything more than that opens doors to the enemy and a weakness in us.

Well, what about Paul again you might ask.  Yes, he said he had done without and has lived with and without.  In some spots it almost sounds as if he is trying to coerce others into giving to help those in Jerusalem. I go back to the Gospels though, when Jesus sent all the ministers, He sent them without anything and after their ministry, He asked them if they lacked anything and they said they did not.  With the:

• Volume of Scripture showing clearly a blessing upon those that follow after righteousness
• The ministry of Jesus and those He sent out
• Quotes like “I have not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread”
• The fact that Poverty is claimed under the Curse
• We have the blessings of Abraham being grafted in
• We have all Spiritual Blessings in Jesus

The only rational conclusion is prosperity, like healing is there for those that take hold and possess it.  Remember, the enemy will fight you at every turn to deny the Word of God.  We need to study and know what God has to offer.  All of us should be more like Peter, he was always ready to reach out for all that God had to offer, he was the only one who asked to walk on water, even though he was not sure, he still asked and he was the only one of them that did walk on water.

Just because we do not see God move in our lives with something, we must not pull into a shell and say something is wrong without clear study and a close walk with God. 

All about the money?

Okay, in today’s world there are a number of ministries that seem sell a lot of things and there are others that continually beg for money.  Are they all evil?

While I believe there are some ministries only after money and it is business and nothing more, we still need proceed carefully.  I have seen videos of a man back in the 70's that he himself made of him fleecing the flock and being proud of it.  On the platform he sounds like many other ministers but when he left, he was downright evil, rejoicing at how much money he tricked out of the people by lies and acting.  I personally think this type of thing happens although it is not that common in the top ministries, but probably more so among the smaller ones that go from place to place.  Even with that though, what is to be said?

Php 1:12-18 ~ But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel.

What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.

If Christ is being preached and people are pointed to the Bible as truth, then what should we do?  If you have proof that someone is false, in that they are intentionally deceiving people for the purpose of personal gain, then that should be exposed by turning to the leaders of the Church, but if you are moving completely on feelings, then you should be silent as you do not know the person's heart, you are placing yourself as Judge on them without knowing all the facts and that is a scary place to be found.

As an example, I have heard people say that certain TV evangelists are only out for money, they are just milking the people.  First, do you know this for a fact, you have proof or is it just "gut feelings"?  We have to understand that some ministries claim God has lead them to receive offerings. Are you sure they have not heard from God?  What if your eternal life depending on your claims, are you sure they are only after money?  I am not asking are you sure they “are after money”, but that they are “Only” after money.  There is a difference.

Some do fall into the money trap.  I have heard ministers say they promised God they would never beg for money.  Then a few months or years down the road they would have their assistants start asking for money and then eventually, they start down that path themselves until the message about needing money takes more and more time.  What has happened?  Were they false from the beginning?

Often ministers fall into this trap by either other ministers telling them it is God's will or they fall on hard times and instead of shrinking the ministry the find out how much can be brought in by simply making a request.  That is a slippery slope since they are putting trust in themselves and not in God.  But there are few that I think would handle this with control and not fall into the trap, if they do not have good consul around them to warning them when they start to fall.  Can you imagine if you had a large multimillion dollar ministry, the funds dried up and you were looking at a financial collapse, how tempting it would be if all it would take is a few words to the people and you would have more than enough to pay for everything?  Think of how easily it would be in your mind to justify that!  Remember ministers are still just like every one of us, they make mistakes just the same.

What next?

Okay, so you know a ministry that have fallen in a money trap or one with invalid doctrine.  If you know this is intentional and you have proof, then you need to take it to your spiritual leaders and see where to go from there.  I do not believe it is God’s will for you to just spew this out whenever you have a chance to slam against everyone who has a ministry on TV.  There are many things that can be done for false ministries, but often maybe all that is required is for the Church leaders to warn their congregation against that ministry and pray for them.  If however it is a blanket attack against TV Evangelists, then I do not believe it is from God.  Since the creation of TV, God has used the media to reach people through ministers ministering the Word.  Millions of people have come into the Kingdom of God by the use of media. 

Just because we might not like or agree with a certain doctrine, it does not mean we throw away that ministry.  As an example, I am a young earth creationist and do not find any Scriptural proof of a prior world nor billions or millions of years in creation.  There are many ministries that teach an old earth, long creation, but while I have strong feelings against this do I throw out their ministry as evil.  There are some that I have doubts about because of their violent attacks on young earth creationists along with how they twist volumes of Scripture, but it is hard to judge as we cannot tell the intent of their hearts.  Now however, if someone says evolution is the the true creation, then I consider their ministers completely false.  The reason for the difference is simply that you cannot believe in the God shown in the Bible while denying the Creation account and saying that Mankind evolved.  This is complete heresy and must be rejected.

What do we do if you have found a fault in a ministry but we have no proof or it is just a doctrinal issue, are we free to bash them now?  NO!  Is it Christ like to bash others in the work?  Some might say, “Well look at how Jesus talked to the religious leaders”.  What were the “religious leaders” doing or did Jesus claim there were doing?  Often it was simply because they exalted themselves as judge over people, showing themselves as more “Holy” than others and at times because they attacked His ministry as being false and not of God.  Sounds familiar doesn’t it?

For those continually bashing Christian TV and Televangelists, let me ask you a couple of question,

• How long have you fasted and prayed for those ministries before you bashed them in front of others?
• Have you removed all beams out of your eyes first so you can see clearly to make yourself judge over them?
• How many souls have they bought into the Kingdom and how many have your brought in?

We need to examine our intentions and see if they are pure before God.  While all ministries we have seen on TV or off are not perfect and we can find fault with them all, it does not mean we need to attack them mercilessly for ever fault we find, it should be viewed as a reminder to pray for them.  Do you believe in the power of prayer?  If so, then use it!  We do not have time to waste judging everyone for not living up to the true measuring stick, which is Jesus, but we are all called to help.

Conclusion

If you happen to be a person that is given to bashing Televangelist or the doctrines of Prosperity, Word of Faith or Healing, I ask you to look prayerfully inside to see if there is not a root of anger or bitterness.  The Bible is full of Scriptures telling us that God is Good and He is Good to His People.  But we need to be open to Him in order to obtain His Goodness.  God does not force anything on us.

Pick up the Bible (not a reference one with all the commentaries and all that stuff, just the basic Bible) and read it from cover to cover, study!  Do not go to outside studies, focus on the Bible alone.  Be sure to read the four Gospels over and over and over.  Seek out the nature of God and see that God is Good and He only wants Good for you and hate has no place in His Goodness.

If you have a comment, use the “Contact” option at the top of the page to send me a note.

This morning, while laying in bed, spending time with God, worshiping and pondering spiritual matters, the thought “to what do we live our lives” came up.  The answer to that should be easy, but in reality, if many of us answer honestly, we would end up with the wrong answer.  What is the correct answer?

What is the end game here?  That is, when this life is over, what do we expect?  Often it is taught that we will go to heaven and party forever, never again to battle the issues of the flesh, it will just be a glorious time of carnal life.  What, did I say “Carnal”?  Yes, when you look at it, that is often what people believe, that we will kick back in our huge mansion and just have fun for all of eternity.  But is that what will happen?  Think, we will not longer have a fleshly, carnal mind, so why would we be fulfilling fleshly carnal desires?

Let us look a little deeper.  First the Lord comes and we are changed into glorified bodies just like Yeshua, that body will never be sick, feel pain, or ever grow old, it will be perfect.  My studies lead me to believe that Yeshua will come for His believers at the beginning of what is called the “Tribulation” and take us home for seven years until the end of this age has been accomplished here on earth. At which time, all of us will come back with Yeshua to bring the fullness of Yeshua’s Kingdom physically here on earth to continue for a bit over 1,000 years. After that, there will be a final war and this earth and heavens will be destroyed by fire. Then there will be the final judgment of God and for those that are not in the Lamb’s book of life (those not redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb), will be sent to the lake of fire.  At that time, a new heaven and earth will appear and the Holy city shall be brought upon it were we will dwell with God.

All of what is described above is really the continuance of the Kingdom of God.  His Kingdom has always been, just like God.  He has always had a Kingdom (where the King exists so does His kingdom) and it will always continue.  God did not just begin when He created our world and universe, He has ALWAYS been and thus so has His Kingdom. 

Wrap you brain around this one if you can, God NEVER had a “First works”, He has always been and His works, like His Kingdom have always been.  Yeah, ouch, that hurts the brain to try to comprehend, but maybe our finite minds do not have the ability to truly comprehend “eternal” and this is why many have a problem understanding a God that is “eternal”.  What many people fail to understand is that there has to be something which is “eternal” (has always been and will always be) and is without change (change is related to time and this eternal something would have to be outside the realm of time, you can find more on this at http://theawakening.com/Articles/ I_AM_An_Explanation_of_Existence.aspx ).

Okay, so we know that God’s Kingdom has always been, it is eternal, but what is it like?  We have very little Scripture that I know of which describes it.  But we know there is “order” and “responsibility”.  The term “Kingdom” implies “Rule” which also implies “Structure” and with that would be “responsibilities”.

Rev 4:10  the four and twenty elders shall fall down before him that sitteth on the throne, and shall worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and shall cast their crowns before the throne, saying, …

There are “elders” which shows there is “order”.  Do you really think that after we have been trained to work and rule, we will go to heaven and live fleshly lives, given to nothing but whatever pleasures us?  God has made us for far greater things than that.  There is a Kingdom and we are all part of that Kingdom and each one of us has a role.  Why should that stop?

During that 1,000 plus years we will be here on earth with Yeshua.  Here is a picture of how our lives now, at this time, will effect our lives then:

Luk 19:10-27 ~  For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.  And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.

He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.  And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.  But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.

And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.  Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.

And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds.  And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities.

And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin:  For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow.  And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:  Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury?

And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds.  (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.)   For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him.

But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.

Do you see the picture, “to receive for Himself a Kingdom”,  “Occupy till I come”?  He has given us everything, we have the fullness of the Kingdom of God backing us and the “money” we are entrusted with is the “Gospel, our salvation”.  In what is known as The Great Commission:

Mat 28:18-20 ~  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

This tells us there is work now to be done.  Why are we still here?  Why did He not just start the 1,000 plus year Kingdom right then instead of leaving for almost 2,000 years?  It is that the fullness of the world would come unto Him.  There is supposedly more people alive at this time than there was in all of history past put together.  These people are the Lamb’s reward for all He endured for us.  Every time you look at someone in church, think, you are most likely looking at a citizen of the Kingdom of God, a reward to the Lamb.  Let us take this one step further, the next time you see a stranger at the store or out on the street, think to yourself this could also be a reward for the Lamb, if they get the chance to hear the Gospel, if they have people praying for them, if…

The point is simply, we should live our lives for the Glory of the Lamb.  This should be the focus, not trying to get ahead in life, not trying to get another car or new house when the ones we have are fine, not to satisfy all our fleshly desires, but to be busy working in the Kingdom of God.  There will be a test ;)

Back to the Kingdom, do not get me wrong, I am not saying our work will be like toiling during the 1,000 plus year Kingdom on this earth or in heaven as we have done here in the flesh.  Our work should be our pleasure.  Yes, that sounds good, but sweeping floors is a lot like toil.  Well, it is if you are doing it with the focus of making a living.  But if you look at it as a place where God has placed you to show His light, then maybe the work is a bit different.  Remember:

Col 3:22-25 ~  Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God: And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;  Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.  But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.

Eph 6:5-9 ~ Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;  With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.

And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.

There may be a purpose for where you are at.  Back some time ago there was an island filled with over 3,000 slaves and the owner in charge would not allow any ministers to come to tell them about God.  So two young men, sold themselves into a lifetime slavery and used the money to pay their way to the island only to take the Good News to those slaves.  As the ship sailed away, with their loved ones on the shore, they could be heard saying “May the Lamb that was Slain receive the reward of His sufferings”.  Is there any kind of passion for God in us like that?

Steven Baldwin was reached by such a type of service.  They hired a woman from another country to be a worker for them in their house.  Little did they know that she was there working for them, not for the salary she would be paid, but her heart was that she may reach them with the Good News.  And Glory to God, that is just what happened!

Remember this also:

Mat 6:25-33 ~  Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:  And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?  (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Our only purpose here is to further the Kingdom of God.  He has empowered us, but we do not use that power.  He has equipped us, but we do not use those tools.  He has command us, but..

The Kingdom of the Lord is here now, we do not have to wait until the Lord returns:

Mat 16:28 ~ Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.

Mar 9:1 ~ And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.

Luk 9:27 ~ But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God.

Col 1:12-14 ~ Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:  In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

1Pe 2:9-12 ~ But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:  Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.

This is only a sample, but you get the point, the Kingdom is NOW, not just in the future.  Right now, they Kingdom is in you and where you are there is the Kingdom.  You have the power of creation within you, “Christ in you, the hope of Glory”.  If you are a believer, the Holy Spirit is right there in you.  Yeshua commanded us to spread this Kingdom all over the world.  Not by ruling as a government commanding people, but by a conversion of their spirit, by the new birth.  The Kingdom of God is not focused on what we own, but upon those that God owns! 

We have over 6,700,000,000 people out there!  Should not the Lamb of God have His Reward?  It is time to bring in the harvest.  It is time for use to discover our place in the Kingdom and get about the work. 

All of us with the common goal,  “May the Lamb that was Slain receive the reward of His sufferings”!

There is a lot about the Kingdom which I do not have the time to share at this moment, but will write more later.

You might look over these past posts which are related to this one:

http://www.thesaintsinlight.com/post/2008/10/Be-not-conformedhellip3b.aspx

http://www.thesaintsinlight.com/post/2009/01/Reasonable-Service.aspx

http://www.thesaintsinlight.com/post/2008/08/What-time-is-YOUR-wake-up-alarm-set.aspx

http://www.thesaintsinlight.com/post/2007/02/The-Shout-of-Joy!.aspx

http://www.thesaintsinlight.com/post/2009/01/How-great-is-our-God--Ponder-that-question!.aspx

If you have a comment, use the “Contact” option at the top of the page to send me a note.

Today, while reading in Proverbs, I read a passage touching  thoughts that has been on my mind this week while pondering how we may bring gladness to God.  We know we cannot earn our salvation and that our life should be given to Him as a sacrifice as in Rom 12:1-2, that it is our reasonable service.  But, I wonder if there are things that bring a smile to God, that warms His heart. 

My first thoughts would be when we act like Him, when we allow His nature to flow through us.  That took me back to a passage in Proverbs I had read the day before yesterday:

Pro 23:15  My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.  Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.

The passage shows how a parent is happy when they see their child bring forth what they have taught them, when they show the nature they have instilled into them.  Since we are children of God, it only makes sense that God would take pleasure to see us walk in His nature, when we bring forth the fruits of the Spirit in our lives.

But Today, I read:

Pro 27:11  My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproacheth me.

I realized that this is a two-way street.  Not only can we bring gladness to His heart but at the same time, if we do not bring forth that which He has instilled in us, that we bring reproach to Him.  It does not have to be sin, but just in us not producing fruit of the Spirit when the need arises, we allow reproach to our Father.

Just some thoughts I have rolling around this week that I decided I would share.  Still working on them :)

Here is a link to a video a friend sent to me today.  The video has a message which clearly shows a non-believer’s point of view, but the same words shown again in reverse show how that view is changed when they become a believer.  Good job!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIKPeggcOeg 

It is hard to understand how a debate about homosexual acts ever came into the Christian Church.  Scriptures are clear right?

Well here are some, what do you think? :

Lev 18:22-25 ~ Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. 
Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion. 
Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:  And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.

Lev 20:13  If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

Some might say this was under the Law and not applicable today under Grace.  Well then:

Rom 1:26-27 ~ For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:  And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

There is also a passage that some translations translate “Effeminate” as “Homosexual” such as the NIV, Amplified, New Living, etc:

1Co 6:9-10 ~ Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,  Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

Some will point out about Sodom and Gomorrah and say the real reason for their destruction was not for the perversions such as homosexuality, but rather because of their lack of hospitability.  Scripture is clear again:

Jud 1:6-7 ~  And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.  Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.  

Yes, “Strange Flesh” is translated often to “homosexuality”.

People who wish to justify homosexuality for either themselves or people they know or those they wish not to offend, often will say this is not enough, that the passages or too vague.  How much clearer can Rom 1:26-27 above be?  Even this passage some try to say is just talking about lust and not about homosexual sin.  Many years ago, I had a great Pastor, Cliff Kahl that said over and over and over, that “the flesh will justify ANYTHING if we want it bad enough”.  This happens every day in Churches all over the world.

Back in September 2008, when Ray Boltz admitted to “being” homosexual, he said that he always thought the Church had it all wrong about homosexuality and that they were probably wrong about other things too.  See how opening the door to one sin, he then opens it to reject the parts he wants to reject?  This is a man who has done so many wonderful things for the Kingdom of God, but finds himself living in openly gay lifestyle and for what?  Inside, his flesh had to justify the lust he felt even at the cost of his family, work for God and even his own soul until he repents, along with all those that will be weakened in their faith who looked up to him (although I pray and believe that.God will restore him again to the faith once the sin has run its course).  That is the power of justifying your flesh at the cost of God’s Word.

Another commonly used comment you will hear from people choosing that sin, is that they are “born that way”.  Ray Boltz said that God would not send him to hell because God created him that way and that he was only being want God created him to be.  This is another step of deception.  With such statements you invalidate what you believe about God, by thinking God would create a person and force on them a sin which He has already clearly condemned as an abomination.  No matter what anyone tells you, to commit a homosexual sin is just as much choice as any other sin which God condemns!  You are not born to live a life of fornication, nor a life as a liar, nor a life as an adulterer, it is all by choice and when you make the wrong choices, God will condemn them.

Look at the Lev 18:22-25 reference, it says that the nations which were being destroyed before Israel where polluted with these sins and that is why God was driving them out.  It had nothing to do with the Law, He had not given those other nations The Law.  God did not make mankind to be with the same sex and it is a perversion of His creation to do so.  Nothing can change this, the homosexual act is sin regardless of how look at it!

Great Deception?

While it takes several different deceptions to try justifying the act of homosexuality, there is a greater deception, that it is “who they are”!  People approach the act of homosexuality as an all or nothing view.  That is, people are considered to BE a homosexual and thus move with abandonment to the “homosexual community”.  At some point they realize the ARE a homosexual as if there are something different from the rest of people on the planet.  It is this abandonment into the “Lifestyle” which changes the mindset and enforces this great deception.

There is no different between for a  person who commits a homosexual act than a  person who commits adultery, it is simply a sin of choice like anything else and as such can be repented of and forgiven.  While a person who commits adultery is sometimes referred to as an “adulterer” that does not mean they are different from any other people, it is just a title for those that practice that sin.

Many people who are locked into the sin of homosexuality are deceived into believing they are no longer “normal” or that they are different from everyone else and seek out others in the same sin to build a support group so to say, to help convince themselves they are normal people, that their life is not one of perversion and everything is all okay.  They are still completely normal, just tied into an act of perversion.  God still loves them and wants them just as He does anyone that has fallen into sin, but He will NOT accept the sin!  If the people repent and turn to God, He will embrace them, but not with the sin they carry, any more than He will accept someone who is locked into adultery, backbiting, unforgiveness, etc.

There is an even greater issue when they are led to justify their sin and pretend in their minds that God accepts them.  They have deceived themselves into an area that they may not come back from.  It is a horrible thing when people who practice sin can go into a church or create one that accepts the sin they have justified.  There are a number of churches (or so they call themselves) around the globe that are accepting people bound in unrepentant sin, allowing them to believe they are Christian and heading to heaven.  This is not limited to those bound to homosexual acts, but of all kinds of sins.  They have deveined themselves to a point where they feel no conviction and without conviction there will not be repentance and without repentance the sin will remain and the person will NOT be saved.  They are damming themselves to eternal judgment simply because they are want to sin…

God loves the sinner, but will NOT accept the sin!  God is there for those who wish to turn!

Remember Church, we need to love all sinners and pray for them that they will find their way home.  Every time you hear the name Ray Boltz (or any other fallen soldier), pray for him that God will put him in a place were he can repent and be shown the love of God!

Do we all become pew potatoes thinking that we have arrived, this is it, we have a Christian life so now we just wait for that blessed day we go to heaven? 

You would think so, by the appearance of typical churches here in the USA.  We are to be about the work of the Kingdom, not just passing time until we die or the Lord returns.  Every day being upon this Earth is a privilege, to be part of God’s Kingdom, allowed to do His work, to be His hands and feet.  How many more moons do we have left to bring in the harvest?  Remember that old song:

In the Highways:

In the Highways, in the hedges
I'll be somewhere working for my Lord.

If he calls me, I will answer
I'll be somewhere working for my Lord

We need to always be somewhere working for our Lord.  This time of Grace is not for us to simply play around and wait until we can get out of here, it is basic training for us.  If we do not learn and implement God’s ways here, how will we be ready for reigning with the Christ?  Remember, that is what our future holds for us!

What did Jesus say about us working?

Luk 17:7-10 ~ But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.

Then we have Paul who tried to show us that we need to focus on God not our own little fleshly lives:

Rom 12:1-2 ~ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

He says that ye may prove the “will of God”.  To whom, to yourself?  No, to everyone around us.  We are examples unto this world.  Is there much difference between us and the world?  He said “be ye not conformed to this world but be ye transformed”.  Do we see much transformation?

Here we have Jesus saying that the work he has commanded us to do is expected of us and we have Paul saying that we are to present our lives as a living sacrifice which is our “reasonable service”.

Let me ask you this question, does you life show this transformation?  Are you out working for the Lord?  When He comes will He find you busy about His work?

Mat 24:46-47 ~  Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.  Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.

While we still stand on this Earth, we are to be busy.  Not just physical work, we do not want to all become like Martha:

Luk 10:38-42 ~  Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.  And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.  But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.

And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:  But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

We need to be at His feet, learning of Him and using this relationship to reach the world, not our own fleshly methods.  Only when we are filled with Him through the Spirit are we ready to help those that struggle.

Do you realize we are to reach the fullness of Jesus?  This is why we have what some call the five fold ministry:

Eph 4:11-14 ~  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;  For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

It is simple, we are to continually grow unto the full measure of Jesus, that we “be no more children, tossed to and fro”.  The five fold ministry is there to train us up, “perfecting the saints” to take our role in the Kingdom, out in the highways working for our Lord.

It is the hour to learn and to prepare ourselves spending time at the feet of Jesus and putting into practice those things that we learn!

As Christians we are directed to obey the laws of the land as long as it does not cross our religious beliefs:

Rom 13:1-5 ~ Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.  Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.   For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:  For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.  Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.

1Pe 2:13-14 ~ Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.

But what does this cover?  Everything!  Yes, speeding is breaking the law, if they can cite you for your action then it is breaking the law.  Yes, that governs copyright laws also, which applies to movies, music, books and computer software!  It is the restriction by copyright of computer software that brought this issue to my mind many years ago and conviction set in.  Friends would get one of the latest games or perhaps a new develop tool (I have spent a good portion of my life as a software developer) and it was an easy thing to get a copy and use it without paying for it.  Well, however you try to candy coat it, the fact does not change that by our copyright laws it is stealing!

What about music?  Yes, it is just the same, when you copy a song for a friend, if it is copyrighted, it is illegal and is stealing not “Sharing”.  If you have received music you know is copyrighted, then you have either received stolen goods or are in the state of stealing them yourself.

I know it is easy to say, “ah, that is trivial, it doesn’t matter”.  Go back and read those Scriptures above again.  You as a Christian are bound by the laws of the land, it does not say some of them or just the ones you perceive to be important.  Guess what, it applies to taxes too!  This year I noticed I had been doing my taxes wrong for years and will take a hit this year to correct that error.  Oh, I could just ignore them and no one would be the wiser, but God does not miss anything nor does my heart that convicts me.  It is something that has to be fixed.

Okay, let us say that everyone agrees and we know we are not to break those laws.  How far does copyrights apply?  From what I can see,  if you purchase a accompaniment sound track your are purchasing a license to the music and lyrics to perform the song in public.  Without this license, you would be obligated to receive permission to use the lyrics or music.

Take Me In – The Road to nowhere

In the previous post "The Band Petra - Where to Begin?" I mentioned about a song called “Take me in” that my wife wanted to sing at church.  The first step was to find an accompaniment track giving us both the license and music for the song.  Since the song was published a long time ago, there are none available that I could find.

The next step of this journey was to track down the copyright owner and obtain a license to sing this song to our small congregation.  Since the band has retired, I located a place on the Internet where it credited Bob Hartman as the author and so I contacted him.  He graciously replied and directed me to another link:

http://www.growingchristians.org/mfgc/rock/TakeMeIn.html

That gave me a copyright supposedly in 1986 to a “Glory Alleluia Music” company.  I had little success at tracking down that company, but it looks like they may have evolved into, merged with, was bought by or somehow became Tempo Music Publications, Inc.:

http://www.christianguitar.org/csong16203/Kutless-Take-Me-In

Okay, now it is time to track them down.  I then discovered that many years ago they sold off all their copyrights to Lorenz Corporation:

http://www.tempomusic.com/about.htm

After looking into the Lorenz Corporation, I could find no reference to the song but requests to license music must be submitted in writing and to all IIRC, at least 14 days to process.  No mention of costs or anything else.

At this point, my journey down the copyright rabbit hole ends.  All this just to sing a simple song in church.  For what reason, what causes the problem here?  Copyright on Christian media.  I understand that people want to make a living.  I understand that they want to receive from their work and I am not against that, but I sure wish there were more Christians out there that would generate quality public domain work or at least cut deals where after a few years of profit making, their copyrights would expire so they would be available for use.

While it does appear that the song might be covered by the Christian Copyright Licensing Inc, which I am not sure if our congregation has, it still seems overly binding for what is supposed to be the Kingdom of God, the Body of the Christ.

So, at the end of the journey, the song will not be sung, the blessing that may have been there is lost and all do to a never ending copyright.  Yes, I say never ended as the copyright expiration dates always get moved back and have for decades due to Mickey Mouse.  Huh?  Our government seem to extend the copyright durations every time Mickey Mouse’s copyright is about to expire.  At this point it appears we will never have copyrighted material expire and move to the public domain.

Copyrights and the Christian World

As I mentioned before, I can understand people wanting to make a living.  But in our Christian world there should be difference with the secular world.  As an example, look at the copyrights and royalties on Bible translations.  What is the motivation of making a translation, making money?  Translations based on profit?  Hmm..

Look at all the sermons around Christendom where ministers claim “God gave me this message to share with your” and then follow that up with “Order the complete set now for only…” often costing more for the media than secular for profit, educational material of the same size.  And usually always included the dreaded Copyright.  If what they said was true shouldn’t the copyright read “© Copyright 2009 by Almighty God, All Rights To Freely Copy”?  There are some ministries that do give their resources away freely or at the most at cost and I commend them, but often they are still tagged with a copyright notices, restricting others from using the work or substantial portions of the work.

Conclusion

We are tired of these copyright issues and will spend more of our time keeping up with sites such as:

http://www.sharesong.org/

They try to get you to purchase the CCLI for your church, but it is not a requirement, at least when people upload their songs they are on the terms that they can be used with or without a CLLI.

As everyone knows, I keep calling for an awakening, we need one drastically in the music industry also!

Casting Crowns has a number of great songs.  One that of such truth is Slow Fade.  My pastor mentioned at church yesterday how there is usually a path before we come to sin.  I am reminded of the passage:

Jas 1:13-15 ~ Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

We may not always notice the path, but we open the doors in our lives to evil by the little things as much as the big ones.  Everyone of us need to watch out for the signs of that “Slow Fade” and reverse its course before it comes to fruition.

In the song, it says “It's the second glance that ties your hands as darkness pulls the strings”, that is the point where you have opened a door because you have given over your will to the tempter.  The first glance may not require your will, but the second time, it is your will to look.

In another line it says “For it's the little feet behind you that are sure to follow”.  You are an example to those around you including your own family of loved ones.  What path are you leading them down?

One key sign that you are sliding down that path is shown in the line “It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray”.  Do you still see things clearly or are things of righteousness becoming hazy, not so easy to discern anymore?  Often, this is due to us ignoring what the Spirit is saying to us and allowing our own will to take control.  The Spirit of God will become more and more quiet if we do not listen!  Another reason is lack of God’s Word, we much take in God’s Word every day to remain strong and alert. 

While there are many more points in the song, the primary one is, as the song says in “When you give yourself away, people never crumble in a day”, it is by “Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid”.  It is a step-by-step process and every step of the way, we make the choices, as God has already said:

1Co 10:13 ~ There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

We ALWAYS have a way of escape, but we must notice the escape and follow that path.  That ball is always in our court.

I recently was in prayer and had a thought, “If you depend on anything or anyone other than the Christ for your happiness, then you are open for the enemy to spiritually cripple or destroy you.”.  This might sound strange when you first hear it, but after more thought, it is the truth.

In what do you place your trust?  Not just a reasonable level depending on the person or thing, but the kind of trust that would shake you to your core if violated.  Do you place trust in your job or business?  Maybe you trust your close friends or family, or perhaps you have trust in your spouse. 

If you place your full, unshakable trust in anyone or any thing other than the Christ, you have set yourself up to be spiritually and emotionally crippled or destroyed.  Given the right circumstance, in the right environment, with the right conditions, everyone and every thing, other than the Christ will fail you.  Jesus is the only one that will not fail you.  At times it may appear that He has, but He knows the beginning from the end, He knows what will happen in the future and He will never fail you.  We should have our full trust in Him.

Proverbs mentions how words can hurt, how people can fail you and how your emotions can override good sense.  If you place your trust in and/or receive your primary source of happiness from anyone or any thing other than the Christ, then He is second place in your life.  Scripture clearly tells us that He is to be first place in our life and everything else a far distant second place, and for good reasons.

Many Christians know sin is wrong and that you should not intentionally sin.  They would not consider committing adultery or to steal something from someone, nor is telling a lie is not acceptable.  Now, you take that same person who happens to be happily married who was placed their full trust in their spouse which is the focus of their happiness, and let the person find their spouse in an act of adultery.  At that time, their mind and emotions are consumed with hurt, anger, shame and bitterness.  All of the sudden, things of God no longer seem all that important, sin does not seem that important.  Their hurt and anger overrides their common sense because God is not first place in their life.  Their source of happiness, their spouse, is no longer there and all that remains is a vacuum of hurt and betrayal.  Sin does not seem that important to a person in such a situation.  Some people who are emotionally consumed turn to cutting themselves as a source of release.  The pain they feel in their flesh is less than the anguish they feel inside. 

Now, the same story as above, but this time, the primary person has placed God as then center of their happiness, and the person spends quality time with God on a daily basis.  The same incident occurs and they find their spouse in such a situation.  While they may be hurt and still feel some betrayal, the pain is not overwhelming, they are still centered, but this time the turn to God for strength and to obtain His help to forgive the person’s spouse.  This is the way we should handle any offense by others and with God as our source we can do just that.

The point is, if our source of happiness is something other than God, we not only set ourselves up to harm, but give the enemy a target to attack in order to cause us to stumble.

Mat 10:37 ~ He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

We need to keep God as our source for happiness by our love and trust in Him and everyone and everything else a distance second place.