Posted in Faith, Leadership, Life Inspiration, Peace, Political, Word of God

We Have Hope in the Desert

There are times that I have to take a break from all forms of media. It gets so overwhelming on my soul and leads me into a time of depression and frustration. But the problem with me is I shut down from everything. Including God. Add to that a life that is chaotic, ballgames, work woes, laundry piling up, dishes in the sink and the reality that I don’t have maid service,  and I’ve dug myself quite a pit. So what’s a chick to do on a day like that? Get in God’s word and dig my way out!

One of the greatest culprits of my state of mind is the state of our Nation. I’m going to share some thoughts here that may rub some folks the wrong way, but as my old friend Doyle Ballengee used to say, “If that ruffled the cat’s fur, turn the cat around.” Oh he cracked me up! But our nation has gone mad. From the national to the local level; we’ve lost our ever lovin’ mind. And for those of us with an ounce of sense, (which comes from Heaven, nothing on our own) we know that the lies and hypocrisy are so deep they end in China. Which according to one of the youth in my teen class, if we dug our way to China the earth would whistle… total random thought. That too is where my mind is at right now. 

But deep in the book of Isaiah, in a lesson for Israel, I found a lesson for me. There will come a day when God will shut up the lies and hypocrisy, but until then, just know 

Truth Flows from Above

Isaiah 41:17-24 KJVS

[17] When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. [18] I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.

Rivers in high places? That’s kind of strange place to find a river isn’t it? But not for the children of God! Oh glory that thought makes me so happy. I’ve been feeling so dry and barren lately. This world just is just getting “hopeless-er.” I know… not a word. But when you look at the world from a human perspective, it’s worse than hopeless. What’s happening on a national level has made it’s way into the local level and the depth of it’s depravity has yet to be understood by most people. Sound dramatic? Our public schools have become a petri dish for the liberal left to test their theories of race, gender and misinformation on. And our “so called” educated people are the lab rats turned loose on our children by exposing them to anti-Christian rhetoric, sexual reorientation of elementary school children and panic porn medical officials creating fear in children and parents. Still sound like I’m being dramatic? It’s being taught at West Virginia University to their up and coming teachers on how to present the BLM curriculum. This image is a coloring page from it for elementary school. Is that close enough? And so, that is why my mind was in the low, dry place.

But God said He would make us rivers in the high place, not the valley. So get out of the valley Shari! God has heard my cry. Through His word He is pouring hope into this gal. 

Wisdom is in the Fountains of the Deep

 [19] I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together: [20] That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.

A pine tree in the desert? Who but God could make that happen? I have to believe that in this spiritually dry and barren world we’re living in, it’s us who have been planted planted by rivers and fountains of life giving water that keep us sustained and give the lost hope, in a world that has gone absolutely mad. God has given us the ability to “Know, and consider, and understand together,” that we have the truth and He is providing us the wisdom to fight against this attack on the moral fibers that He has made us up of. “Together.” He planted a multitude of different trees in that dry land, and there is a multitude of churches planted on this earth. So long as their roots are grounded in the foundational truths of God, we can comfort this fearful people. I realize that I’m speaking in a lot of metaphors today, but it’s how the Lord spoke as well, so I’m going to run with it, hoping that it encourages your soul as it is mine. 

Ignorance is in the minds of Men 

 [21] Produce your cause, saith the Lord ; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. [22] Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. [23] Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together. [24] Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.

I love it God calls someone out. I’m seldom brave enough to do it. I’ll speak my mind, but I generally leave stupid people to stupid ways. But not God! God tells them to put their money where their mouths are. If they believe their gods are so powerful, prove it. He did the same thing with Elijah and the Baal worshippers, Daniel in the Lion’s den, The three Hebrew boys, and now he tells these worshippers of the “little g” gods to prophesy in the name of their gods. They can’t. Nor can this tribe that’s on earth today that believe in nothing, give hope to a world looking for it. But we can. And that is why God has a remnant of us here to proclaim and prophesy that the Lord is returning. And when He does, they’ll have figured it out too late. 

Satan is making yet another attempt to get at the children in our nation. The California Department of Education will soon vote on a new statewide ethnic studies curriculum that advocates for the “decolonization” of American society and elevates Aztec religious symbolism—all in the service of a left-wing political ideology. The new program, called the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, seeks to extend the Left’s cultural dominance of California’s public university system, 50 years in the making, to the state’s entire primary and secondary education system, which consists of 10,000 public schools serving a total of 6 million students.

In theoretical terms, the new ethnic studies curriculum is based on the “pedagogy of the oppressed,” developed by Marxist theoretician Paolo Freire, who argued that students must be educated about their oppression in order to attain “critical consciousness” and, consequently, develop the capacity to overthrow their oppressors.

What used to take ten years to make its way across the United States to West Virginia seems to take less than a year now. 

The Black Lives Matters Curriculum that has made it’s way into West Virginia and every other state is going to mar our children’s minds in an unrepairable way if we don’t stop it. If you’d like to see more on the curriculum, follow this link. 

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1LGslwJwhXvpVnDgw0uC-n794l6EGzpuH.

Now is not the time to be lacks. Share this blog, share this information and make your voice known. In the words of King David, “Is there not a cause?”

Posted in Christian Service, Leadership, Political, Word of God

This is Serious

Today, I want to share with you some things that are heavy, heavy on my heart. I emphasized heavy but even that doesn’t do it justice. Yesterday evening I attended church and was encouraged by the pastor’s message from 1 Timothy. I felt the Spirit of God as we sang “What a Friend we Have In Jesus,” and loved sitting by my bestie Glo. She is my sounding board in life and ministry. So are you that read my blog! And I thank you! I am grateful for every day I can spend in the house of the Lord, especially with the recent pandemic closures, but I was a little more than disheartened over the lack of attendance, yet I understood. I realize that my sometimes gung-ho approach to life isn’t always appreciated. But having been saved out of dead religion was a life altering experience for which I’ll not apologize, which was followed by being given a ministry of the Lord which is something that I alone will stand accountable for. Which brings me to the burden of today. 

After I got home from church last night, I tuned into a Blaze special by Glenn Beck. It was not on public television, it is not on YouTube or Google, because they’d have taken it down. Glenn’s investigative reporting unveiled the dark side of this world we’re living in right now as I would have never thought possible. But I’m a cockeyed optimist. I still am, but I want to be optimistically informed as well. And so I pay my BlazeTV subscription and I tune in to what most of my Democratic friends and family would call a radical right approach to life. Can you be too far right? Just asking…

The unfortunate part of my television viewing last night was, I was tired. Which means my attention span would waver. But not much. Especially when he got to the root of the nights show which was to reveal the truth of Black Lives Matters (BLM) that most Americans are probably clueless to. These times are far scarier than you think. Starting with Susan Rosenberg.

This statement is from Wikipedia:

As of 2020, Susan Rosenberg sits as vice chair of the board of “Thousand Currents”, a foundation- and contribution-funded international grant-making charitable organization which supports grassroots organizations in the “Global South” as well as acting as a fiscal sponsor of the Black Lives Matters Global Network.

Also according to Wikipedia she is an American far-left revolutionary terrorist, author and advocate for social justice and prisoners’ rights. Rosenberg was active in many radical movements of the 1970s. After living as a fugitive for two years, she was arrested with an accomplice, Timothy Blunk, in 1984 while unloading 740 pounds of dynamite  and weapons from a car into a storage locker in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. She had also been sought as an accomplice in the 1979 prison escape of Assata Shakur. Rosenberg was sentenced to 58 years in prison on the weapons and explosives charges. She spent 16 years in prison, during which she became a poet, author and AIDS activist. Her sentence was commuted by President Bill Clinton on January 20, 2001, his final day in office.

Might this help you understand the violence happening in our streets? If you go onto the BLM website, you’ll discover that their agenda doesn’t have quite so much to do with black lives as it does, gay, transgender and ridding the world of the  “biblical defined family.”

I believe that a lot of good American people, who believe they’re defending black families, have inadvertently gotten themselves on the wrong side of a dark organization and when they realize it, it will be too little too late. We are a country who thrives on underdog stories. We love seeing the little guy win! But this isn’t a little guy story. This is a white political funded organization that has a designed objective. We’re talking about millions and millions of dollars funneled through the BLM organization. But that’s not where the money’s going. And that was the Glenn Beck show. He listed the organizations and the people who were receiving that money. Because I only know enough to be dangerous I won’t even get into that. Just take note that I’m telling you its scary stuff, it’s very political. And what’s happening is meant to do one thing, “take down America.” And they’re making a good attempt. Starting with our President and anyone who supports him. 

So. Back to my heavy heart. While America is a burden, it’s not near the burden that my people are. The political deception is not only a tool of Antifa, but Satan is living his high life as he watches souls headed for Hell and clueless that they are pawns in his plan. 

My church was pretty empty. I pray they were watching on line. But that’s not enough to assure me that they’re okay. I know how hard it is for me, the Jesus Chick, to stay focused on my ministry work. It was hard for me to write these words today, and wonder if it would cause my site to be taken down. Causing yet another source of the gospel to be lost.

But then I read the story of Philip and Simon this morning. Not Simon Peter, but Simon the sorcerer. He loved the entertainment side of his work. But something happened. Phillip happened. He began to make a difference in his part of the world, so much so, that even Simon got saved!!! But there was still apart of him that like the entertainment. So when he saw the apostles casting out spirits and healing people he wanted some of the action, even offering to pay for the gift of the Spirit of God. But Simon Peter said to him in verse 20 of Acts 8:

“Thy money perish with thee, because trout hast thought that the fit of God may be purchased with money.”

So much for that theory of Catholics.

But Simon repented and said in verse 24 “Pray the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.” 

And so they went on to continue preaching the gospel in Samaria.

The gospel isn’t a show. Too many churches and people love the pretty, entertaining side of the church, but when it comes to standing for the Word of God, they’re found lacking. So the story of Simon gave me hope! Those of us who are standing on the side of right, speaking out against what’s happening, sewing love, not hate, but always speaking the truth of the gospel can make a difference in the lives of the Simons of this world who like a show. We can turn them around until they too are converting others into in the name of Jesus and taking down those who are trying to tear down America. 

Yes I’m a cockeyed optimist. But it’s not a false hope. It’s a belief that I serve a God Who can stop this nonsense and put our world back on the right track. But not without the voices of His people. Don’t be silenced. And if you can, go to church. The Lord needs His people in the battle. 

Posted in Bible Journaling, Christian Service, Church Unity, Grace, Life Inspiration, Uncategorized

The Truth About Cats and Dragons

cats-and-dragons

Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. ~ Acts 10:34

As a disclaimer I feel that I must confess that I grew up in a 99% white community. Why I feel that I must confess that I really don’t know, other than to provide the reader of this blog an understanding of the culture for which I grew up in. For most of my life (other than a two year stint in the big city of Parkersburg, WV) I’ve lived in rural West Virginia. Very rural!  We have no Walmart, we have no red light… we do have a caution light, but I’m pretty sure that’s only to alert visitors that there is an actual town there. In my high school there was one black family. Was there any prejudice? Of course there was! Being rural doesn’t exclude you from stupidity, it just takes longer to get here.

I can only speak for me when I say that I had no prejudice because I wasn’t brought up with it. My parents taught us to love people; they never once suggested that a different color of skin, economic status or belief was a reason to disassociate yourself from the person. I had plenty of other issues, prejudice just wasn’t one. And while I agree that black lives matter, so does white and every other life regardless of color. So this morning as I read in Acts 10 of Peter’s message from God (the very first PowerPoint presentation) I thought to myself, “O God, I wish Your messengers of today could get through to people.” Then again… there’s a few of God’s messengers that haven’t got the message themselves!

The Difference between Cats and Dragons

Halloween brings with it a varied opinion in the Christian community as to whether it’s right or wrong, demonic, worldly, etc.; but for me it’s just a fun day for kids to get to be something they’re not… kind of like many adults in church… Oh… did I got there?

I personally don’t feel a kitty cat and a dragon or even a zombie is going to send some child on a pathway to Hell. Let me say, however, if you’re exposing kids to demonic zombies of the Hollywood (hellywood) variety you’re messing them up. Because you’re putting evil thought into impressionable young minds that shouldn’t be there. But that’s all I’ll say. This isn’t about that. The difference between Cats and Dragons isn’t the costume, it’s the kid on the inside and the inside of the kid.

The costume is man created. The kid is God created! The costume may or may not reflect who the kid is on the inside. A zombie kid may be a timid little guy that is tired of being scared and wants to be the scare-er for a change. Or maybe it has nothing to do with that. The little kitty cat may be a tiger personality but that’s the only costume she has and the same holds true in real life. Our outward appearance does not necessarily reflect our inward design. Sometimes it’s just the only thing we had to wear.

I have to wonder about all the haters out there. Is that their real face… or the face of someone else? Why are you a hater? I’m sure there’s some psychological reason but it boils down to you’re not listening to God. Because loves every one of every color.

Do I think this blog will make this difference in a hater changing to a lover? Umm… not likely. But Peter wasn’t a hater, he was Jew and just doing what Jews were supposed to do. But that PowerPoint presentation by God on the roof changed how he believed about gentiles and gentile’s ways. We’re not talking sin, we’re talking culture. God doesn’t excuse sin, and He doesn’t exclude culture. But some Christian’s do.

You’re not my church, therefore you’re not my people. Cats and Dragons. We should look to understand the inside of the person not the costume or the denomination they wear. Amen? Just a thought…