Who's Controlling You?: Encountering the Ultimate Connectedness

By Mardi Harjo

Why would anyone be more willing to embrace a lie and suffer the consequences rather than know the peace of being reconciled to the Truth? By what means are we even able to recognize unchangeable truth and in whom it is found? Why do humans persist in the ongoing irony of attempting to render credence to the very thing they strive to overcome? Is there any alternative? Though we are responsible for the choices we make, do our choices run the show and dictate the final outcome? Is a sovereign God at the mercy of our choices? With transparent personableness, boldness, humor and pathos, the author engages Christians and non-Christians alike, offering thought-provoking and hope-inspiring biblical responses to some of the deeper questions skeptics and believers ask. Moving beyond the necessity of addressing the effects of human insubordination, this book cuts to the chase by uncovering the root cause of mankind's self-destructive behavioral dilemma and unmasks the God-hating, authority-despising, dichotomous, self-genocidal nature that continues to drive us all unless we be mercifully interrupted by the Holy Spirit of Jesus. Emphasized throughout is the wonder of God's astonishing love as was epitomized in the magnitude of what took place on Calvary's tree when the innocent Christ took the death penalty in our place, reversing the curse upon this universe and ushering in the powerful phenomenon of spiritual regeneration and resurrection Life. Observed herein as well is the tragic human response which would rather blame one's sinful self on a Holy God rather than put aside the pride, repent, and plead for His forgiveness. Diverse topics are discussed that many a reader would relate to, all of which reveal that the heart of the matter is a matter of the heart-so compellingly unveiled in the author's autobiographical summation. Mardi Harjo expresses appreciation for her book having been chosen in its category as Pinnacle Book Achievement Award Winner by the NABE (National Association of Book Entrepreneurs) for Fall of 2020.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098009755

Book preview

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Who's Controlling You?

Encountering the Ultimate Connectedness

Mardi Harjo

Copyright © 2019 by Mardi Harjo

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

All scriptures used are from the Oxford NIV Scofield Study Bible New York. Oxford University Press, Inc.1967

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Rattling the Cage

Who Is My Mind in Subjection To?

Junk or Treasure?

Saved—from What?

Exposing the Corpse

Encountering the Genuine

There Had to Be a Sacrifice

Endorsement

I have been Mardi’s pastor for ten years. She loves Jesus and is unwavering and uncompromising. If you are looking for a biblical perspective presented in a way that shows mankind’s greatest need is the forgiveness of sins through turning to Jesus, then this book exposes man’s lostness and self-deception. If you want to deepen your understanding for biblical truth, this is a must-read for all.

—Avi Porat

In loving memory of Muriel (Fat Boy) Harjo, Jr.

Acknowledgments

Foremost, I render my utmost gratitude to the Creator and Savior of my inherently mutinous and estranged undeserving soul, who graciously adopted me into His universal family and delivered me from the homeless zone. I am hugely amazed that according to predetermined divine intent, I was transported from cluelessness to newness and now exhale in the assurance that the King of all creation doesn’t kick His kids out of His kingdom. My heart bows fearfully before a loving Heavenly Father who gave His only begotten Son to take upon Himself my death penalty and pay my ransom note at a colossal cost, offering His perfect life in exchange for my corruptible one. I thank Him for awakening me to the stark realization that self-destructive fires just can’t put themselves out—much less be willing to admit they’re a fire to begin with: the tragic human oxymoron. I applaud Jesus who accomplished something supernatural in my place that I am utterly incapable of making happen for myself: relationship and fellowship with God. I praise the Holy Spirit who revealed to me the one true, triune Supreme Being, the real Jesus rather than a fake Jesus, who produced in me the miracle of spiritual new birth in Him thereby branding me for life and making me an entirely new creation in which it would be impossible to return to what God has already rendered dead. I rejoice in His Holy Word, the Bible, which is not of human origin and is a most precious gift that reveals the mystery of all ages—from the very beginning to the very end.

With love and appreciation to my dear husband Chumsey, whose steadfast encouragement, input, and insight mean more that he may realize. With deepest thanks to Mary Israel, who spent so many hours typing the manuscript, for her gift of Christian friendship, and for her esteemed knowledge in the faith. Thank you, Deborah Combs, for pointing me in Mary’s direction! With much gratitude to Donna Avis, Sandy Lane, Bill Harjo, Barbara Gann, Bing Gann, and Charles Little Eagle for contributing toward this literary endeavor. Thank you to my precious son and daughter for your interest and support. And thank you, Avi Porat, outstanding expository Bible teacher who has helped me gain valuable perspicacity regarding the Christian faith from the Jewish perspective. Shalom.

Foreword

The purpose of this book, with prayer for the Holy Spirit’s illumination, is to unmask the murderous darkness of humanity’s inborn spiritual bankruptcy, which nobody can overcome apart from the substitutionary sacrifice of God our Creator’s Messiah, Jesus Christ. It exposes the uncrossable canyon of difference between the insufficiency of fallen man’s response to evil and a Heavenly Father’s incredible, merciful, redeeming response.

Prologue: A Proclamation

A Proclamation

Been there nowhere. Somewhere now.

Want change that won’t betray? You can count on the change that counts. And you don’t have to waste any more years on a scenic route to nowhere, unaware that your life’s passage is dictated by the inborn insurrection that imprisons you, if that be the case.

Is there anyone out there who still enjoys reading? If you don’t, pass this on—the TV’s waiting. This entire testimonial dissertation is not about a religion as many would define such or a personal religious opinion. However, it will touch upon the vanity of human religion in contrast with a genuine saving faith which stands in diametrical opposition to that. Friend, this faith I profess is not just another religion among many on the buffet table of different strokes for different folks. If that were the case, you’d have every justifiable reason to throw this into the trashcan!

Oh, yes, this a Christian’s testimony with the focus on the Originator—not me. And I’ll be using the word God frequently, so if that radically ruffles your feathers, the TV’s still waiting. But I hope curiosity gets the better of you and that you’re open toward the prospect of investigating and uncovering the root of any revulsion. Because there is definitely something significant to be grasped about that. Consider—just consider—that unknowingly you’ve been enticed and duped by the bombardment of this world system’s graveyard rhetoric and humanistic worldview propaganda. It may be the only kind of message you’ve ever heard and you have no other frame of reference upon which to draw comparisons. And maybe you’re resenting that suggestion but I must stress up front: The psyche has been exposed and the conscience has been amplified by a transcendent Someone whose diagnosis is untainted and in whose mercy lies our only hope. I would invite you to consider as well that this God thing might be well worth investigating!

The stereotypical reaction to the term Christian testimony may include thoughts such as the following: (1) I’ve checked my brains in. (2) Someone used to be a drug addict or got off the streets and were rehabilitated by embracing some phony crutch or religious philosophy—well, whatever works, it’s all good. (3) My faith is in religious politics. (4) My faith is in religion. (5) My faith is blind. (6) I’m one of those phobic, unenlightened, close-minded types who has no grounded basis for making a valuable judgment on anything—particularly if it should challenge a twisted definition of ethical and spiritual freedom. (7) I’ve pathetically and narrow-mindedly embraced the totality of biblical Scripture as the ultimate, flawlessly imparted, and conclusive spiritual revelation which would include all depth of illumination and knowledge anchored uncompromisingly and exclusively in that. (8) I’m hemmed in and suppressed by impossible rules. (9) Rules are a bad word. (10) I’m a chubby-faced, short dark hair plastered sideways, political right-wing evangelical extremist racist. (11) I get some kind of masochistic thrill out of beating myself up spiritually because of a chronic condition of low self-esteem. (12) I have sold myself short by admitting to my spiritual depravity and the need for divine intervention. (13) I’m morbidly serious and in an emotional straitjacket—unable to have fun, laugh, or enjoy marital intimacy. (14) TV game show Christianity, gimmicky, commercial churchianity or pompous religious parading are not your cup of tea and I don’t blame you. (15) You can believe in anything and make it work. (16) I haven’t realized the god within and my full human potential. (17) If I need the God thing, have at it but keep it to myself. (18) The topic is personal and inappropriate for discussion, etc.

Dear reader, my conversation will be continually coming from a spiritual perspective, as is already obvious. Significantly, it’s the Holy Spirit—the Spirit of Jesus—not some other spirit. And it would be vain, presumptuous, and unacceptable to lay bare the human condition apart from the authority of that spiritual perspective. Therefore let it be emphasized that none of this will be based on my opinions; it will be based on a transcendent Truth which has always been and never changes. It is of no consequence whether or not I should presume to authorize it; its fixed reality was never dependent on anyone’s stamp of approval. So I suggest chewing before digesting. In the pages to come and within the best of my grounded understanding, I purpose by God’s grace to place under the lens of divine Truth’s microscope a potpourri of viewpoints and issues common to a corruptible human race. Big picture—bottom line. Though it’s impossible nor would it be profitable to zero in on everything, I wish to at least be inclusive enough to drive home the point.

The cancer of the soul is a terminal, evil, shady, proud, merciless entity. No human can cure it or even be willing and able to recognize it for what it is without some outside Help. We are all born guilty of having it, we have all been guilty of indulging it, all human suffering has come as a result of its inception, and the majority has chosen to remain enslaved to it. Because of it, we are all destined to perish as spiritually alienated from our Creator as we were when we came crying into this world—headed for the eternal cosmic landfill. In essence, it’s the definition of who we are unless we are able to proclaim that it’s who we once were. The only way for it to be gotten rid of is to kill it and replace it with something entirely new. Truly, unwillingness to believe and receive our Creator’s terms of deliverance from its power over us is akin to spiritual suicide. To live, we absolutely must die to our own terms. My friend, I was crucified with Christ. It’s the best death anyone can ever know because what emerges from that is a new creation, resurrection life, and ultimately eternal bliss in the glorious presence of God—from glory to glory. There is a beautiful place beyond this life awaiting the forgiven.

Of necessity, important topics will be reiterated throughout and you will hear me repeat periodically as aforementioned. I don’t pretend to claim expertise in things not clarified to me or to walk in light not yet been given which, naturally, would damage the whole endeavor. My only claim is that which has been revealed to me by the witness of God’s Holy Spirit who authored the Scriptures. This kind of God-to-man-to-God dialogue is by no means conjecture as many would dismiss it as being—this is the real ordained deal. Our Creator communicates by causing the Word He has imparted to come alive in anyone who has been connected to Him according to the terms He has offered. Most excellently, biblical Scripture interprets itself and is self-revelatory with no contradictions, as some would contest. Any problem would be a misapplication or limited grasp of Truth’s congruency and broader context on the recipient’s part. There is always more to learn of this great infinite One who never betrays His own character or His own word because in that He would nullify Himself! It is the Holy Spirit who is faithful to correct or qualify regarding expository teaching of His Holy Word; an individual must be called to that and it is a highly accountable and esteemed position. The depth of God’s Word is most exclusive and most sacred which becomes very apparent the more one has delved into it. And so I strive to seek God’s heart in what He has communicated and pray that it takes root in mine; prayerfully, fruit will come in His perfect time. Ultimately, it’s about heart surgery.

Why get right with God? Why the need for His forgiveness? To whom will all give an account after exiting this physical life? Light has a way of exposing the darkness; the invasion may be welcomed or resented. The brighter the diagnostic light of God gets the more frantically the cockroaches scatter and guilt gets sweatier by the second. Those who are offended recoil, choking and gagging inwardly at the prospect of confessing the need for divine forgiveness. If they manage to speak the name of Jesus, it is with pinched lips and a mouth appearing as though it were packed full of chewing tobacco. Attempts to disguise the prideful indignation with a veneer of unassuming temperance are most often a transparent case of bad acting. They may have partially succeeded in fooling themselves or others but most certainly not the Creator they’ve disavowed. However subtle or sugarcoated a negative response to God’s light may be, it’s all as lethal as cancer. And it’s embedded in every human on the globe, however latent it might appear. There can never be a positive response to the light of the Holy Spirit without His having penetrated the walls of defense and wrought transformation. Then flowers will bloom, birds will sing, the sun will not scorch, and glittering rivers of living water will flow from the redeemed soul. Lives turned inward will become lives poured out. The twisted, inverted, perverted, backward, inside out and upside down hybrid soul resultant of an unholy alliance will be done away and the marvel of what has replaced it will never be taken away. It is a picture of having been set apart for a specific purpose—a picture of ongoing sanctification resultant of a most holy alliance. The entire creation longs to behold the glory of it in its fullness.

To sum things up at this point: I have recognized God’s Messiah, Jesus, and believe He is everything He said He is. He physically walked upon this earth and rose from the grave in a glorified body. And now He abides in the glory of the heavenly realm from whence He came. He will return to this earth in a physical, glorified body and of His kingdom there will be no end. Because of who He is and what He’s done, there is hope for every lost soul. This God thing was designed by Him to be expressly relational. And so as His disciple, I do not count myself beyond His reproach or correction in whatever way He should choose to implement it because He is worthy of the honor due Him. There is no believer who has not stumbled, and there have been times when I’d dragged His beautiful name through some serious mud. Without some heavenly discipline, He could not have loved me as His legitimate child. I am but one of many who have felt compelled to share the lessons of eternal value life’s years have brought forth, having realized God’s initial intervention and purpose in it. Maybe when you know that blood is red and the sky is blue and you didn’t invent color, it’s all right to talk some. For me, perhaps it’s just an appointed time…

Whether you are an authentic Christian, someone who has been deceived into thinking he is but isn’t, an alleged atheist, an agnostic, a new-ager, someone who has redefined Christianity apart from following Jesus or according to terms more personally palatable, someone who is polytheistic, a pragmatist, pantheist, humanist, Satanist, or (God forbid) latent terrorist—I deeply and earnestly hope that your heart be found bravely open to the very best your Creator has made available to you. Even if it means abandoning the lies which were the false sense of security you clung to for too long. Even if it means laying down the pride and the poison that has fed it. Even if it ultimately means being rejected and belittled for standing firm in the Truth.

Dear reader, might you be someone who just thinks you’re okay and don’t need the baggage? Perhaps you’ve already been completely turned off by traditional organized religious institutionalism because unfortunately that may have been the only representation of church or deity you were ever associated with or taught to recognize. Maybe your brain’s been warped by the damage of false doctrine and a false gospel or has become enticed by the more peripheral, universalistic definition of God’s grace which nullifies divine elective purpose and the offence of the cross. Or maybe you’ve been put off by the easy-believism, cheap grace, popularly embraced current church with all its casual moral compromise, marketing hooks and gimmicks. Maybe it was a confusing and constipating flood of pseudo-spiritual, pretentious charismania that wasn’t delivering what its presumptuous promises claimed. Maybe because of personal disenchantment with such you have drifted into the realm of sects, cults, or new age occultism. Maybe your religion is the prison of worldly knowledge, humanistic psychology or neuroscience; maybe a culture you claim has become an idol. Most pointedly, perhaps your religion is yourself. Maybe you’ve been burned, battered and scarred by suffering and have consequently chosen to attribute evil to the God whose existence you have simultaneously denied. Or perhaps you’ve chosen to rule out the spirit realm and are driven to define reality only in terms of the physical. Perhaps you’ve never drifted from any kind of spiritual pursuits and like most are just out there somewhere in the quagmire of subjectivism and pragmatism—resolutely self-tailored, seldom satisfied or content, and striving to navigate your way in an uncertain world with no certain hope or consideration of a Supreme Being in the dynamic.

Whatever your mind-set, worldview, foundation, background, or life experience, I challenge you to allow yourself to be challenged and go the whole nine yards without selling yourself short. And dear reader, I don’t mean this haughtily or arrogantly because I am absolutely nothing apart from the Identity which has so mercifully been imputed to me. I claim no rights or entitlement; everything I have has been graciously given including my own saved life. Everything belongs to the Giver who owns it all and He does not revolve around me. The majority of people have deliberately or unwittingly missed the boat with a superficial, distorted, or damaged religious concept of Christianity. And the majority don’t want to get out of the spiritual Titanic they’re in either. Whether you can fully relate to much of what I’ve already discussed or it seems utterly foreign; if you are offended by my occasional sarcasm and it even makes you angry—I beseech you to be my listener. It is not my heart’s intention to be maliciously contentious or ungracious, but hey, some abrasiveness can be spice in the pot which adds flavor to the point! I realize I can be a bit feisty. If by some chance this entire message was meant for you in a very personal sense, I want you to know that it’s an ongoing personal reminder to myself as well. I have lived a large percentage of my years with little awareness of or reverence toward the will of a very real God for my life and bearing the consequences—a sadly selfish and shallow existence. Sometimes judgment is mercy. And in the person of the Savior, there is the ongoing reminder as well of His grace and ever-present kindness which is far more impacting than any memory of past failures or current discouragement. Grasping the gravity of what I’ve been rescued from has caused me to be all the more humbled and amazed by His kindness and faithfulness.

A

Declaration of Dependence

I must declare most emphatically, my friend, there absolutely must be an authentic, sovereign, unchanging, sustaining, foundational, living powerful truth upon which to measure and justify everything—without which, there would be nothingness, meaninglessness, ethical confusion, and universal chaos. It must be recognized as the final and ultimate authority upon which all else in the physical and spirit realms with all powers or principalities operating in either—must answer to and are subject to. Pursuing the persona of deity is the most laudable obsession and in whom the highest knowledge and wisdom are embodied. When the lost gets found, the best can only get better infinitely. Contrarily, the relentless stockpiling of information and intellectual striving which determines to exalt itself above the knowledge of God has never been more than a vain and impotent metamorphosis, forever falling short. In that separateness lies the persona of hostility toward the transcendent and higher truth—an aberration inherent in the human condition which will be addressed ongoing. Embodied in that state of separation are the thousands of man-made laws forever subject to change proclaiming a truth that is forever elusive. Foundations built on sand continue to erode, kingdoms, nations, and empires rise and fall, and the proud edifices crumble. Mankind will persist in rebuilding the anthills—striving to overcome his suffering and rise above himself while shaking a fist at the God he proclaims not to believe in.

Lawlessness is obvious. And if there be lawlessness, Law has to be there first. Moving the bull’s-eye doesn’t eliminate the problem of missing the mark; it lowers the standard which, again, was there first. To the extreme, humans will legitimize their lawlessness and consider themselves emancipated, sinning responsibly with no shame and boasting there can be a greater chance of peace in the path of subjective interpretation of the moral factor. But there can be no real justice apart from the perfect divine mandate. Any humanly contrived deviation from the sovereign Creator’s righteous standard and calling itself free is an arrogant delusion that will ultimately incur divine recompense. At the end of the day, God’s justice rules, and the defiance of man will never prevail against it. The saga of human history portrays that powerfully. And the Adamic attitude personifying man’s spiritual derailment will rise to its ultimate rejection and malice toward Jesus the Messiah at the close of this dispensation as has been prophesied in the sacred text. Rejecting or ignoring God reaps judgment, my friend—whether on a global scale or in one’s own life personally. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline (Prov. 1:7)

This great I AM—this powerful holy persona in whose image we were made is the great mystery revealed within the unfathomable height, depth, and breadth of biblical Scripture. This awe-inspiring, majestic I AM is the One who put into effect the vast, intricate, and immaculate patterns of the physical universe—consistent patterns upheld by Him which man has termed laws. He is sovereign over the universe that He created by the power of His Word and is not bound by the physical universal laws He set in motion. He does whatever and however He wishes—whether it takes seven days, six thousand years, or six seconds. Being God, it is not within His holy nature to lie and He can only be nothing other than true to His Word. He is true to what He has decreed, true to who He is and the only One reliable to run the show and dictate the final outcome—right down to every individual human life among millions. We’re talking about revelation, my friend—not superstition! This is the eternal, omniscient, self-dependent, omnipotent God whose ways are beyond tracing and far beyond the limits of human experience, knowledge, imagination, extra-sensory subterranean vanity or any physical verification. Yet His signature is all over the place, permeating the picture of who or where you are in relation to Him. Right down to every hair on your head, every random thought that enters your mind, and your last heartbeat. The entire creation and the miracle that life can even exist in it as even the most skeptical scientists have been forced to conclude is an expression of praise to Him and bears witness to Him. It would be beyond ludicrous to entertain the thought that any high-tech microscopic or telescopic proof be of necessity in authenticating or confirming the self-affirming deity, who is spirit! Worldly knowledge serves its own purpose in a self-centered orbit where there forever will be nothing new under the sun.

Always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. (2 Tim. 3:7)

Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since he judges even the highest? (Job 21:22)

If you call out for insight and cry loud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of God. For the Lord God gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. (Prov. 2:3–6)

The biblical account reveals our Creator’s involvement in the epic panorama of natural and human events from Genesis to Revelation wherein everything is divinely caused or allowed and orchestrated for His ultimate purpose. It all revolves around the triune Godhead and a Father’s reward to His Son. In that reward are the redeemed, those whose inheritance is His kingdom. Father, Son, and Spirit are the three different expressions of the one Jehovah God and there is no other one divine; no other mediation between man and his Maker other than that of Jesus Christ. Anything beyond that is idolatry bordering on blasphemy. The thread of redemption weaves throughout; the physical messianic lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob brought forth in a uniquely chosen covenant people is realized in its root: Jesus-Creator-Savior incarnate as human whose foreordained sacrificial death destroyed the power of sin and death. His physical advent within the frame of time which He created and all that took place regarding Him within that time frame was a supernatural phenomenon that is the pinnacle of the ages and the beginning of a new creation, established before the foundation of the world.

We were created for the highest purpose: to know, love, fellowship with, worship, serve, and magnify God with all joy and effortless abandon which can be fully realized beyond this life’s shackles—the most supreme ecstasy and state of eternal bliss—wonderful beyond imagination. This infinite, commanding, brilliant, magnificent, and humanly immeasurable deity is the only One worthy of our most ardent attention and adoration. Man once walked with Him and then became separated after which worship became directed everywhere and elsewhere. There is a void in that state of separation only Christ can fill. He is the connection—the only One who can bridge the chasm between lost humanity and God the Father. The divine person of Jesus fulfilled in Himself all the just requirements of the sacred Law yet became as though He were the worst criminal by taking upon Himself our death penalty in order that we, the guilty ones, may go free. Calvary was the most intense manifestation of God’s love and also, God’s wrath.

How the redemption story all began and where and how it all reaches its climax is revealed in the ancient parchments. Even that which in His mercy has been exposed to us already is but a tip of the iceberg compared to the glory that the redeemed will behold after departure from the temporal, corruptible physical body. This is a declaration of His Word, not wishful thinking or best-selling fiction. It is the greatest hope ever for anyone willing to turn himself in and take hold of—a hope secured in a promise not yet seen and by a faith which is established upon having heard the Word of the Creator. A hope so great that even suffering must pale in comparison to it. A hope so deeply anchored that it subjugates the fear of death—a fear which all are born with because of the soul’s inherent separation from the fellowship of God. It is a genuine, living hope which rests on a sure foundation—not some self-contrived psychological opiate, drug-induced escape route, or pragmatic point of view.

The ghastly, terminal malignancy that has affected the spirit of every human born of Adam’s race carries with it the fallout—and until everything has run its course and reached its final culmination—the fallout continues. The whole of the creation mirrors it; dogs bite, thorns bedeck the rosebush, and a plant can poison us. Man’s spiritual holocaust is the picture of all human suffering. None of us is a stranger to it, and striving to alleviate it or divorce ourselves from it undergirds our every pursuit. Life in this fallen world has shown its colors in the picture of our struggles with heartbreak, physical and emotional breakdown, mental turmoil, disillusionment, abysmal depression and despair, horrific abuse and exploitation of one another, poverty incurred by selfishness, greed, incompetence or irresponsibility, negative attitudes, violent power struggles, wrenchingly complex issues and hearts burdened with hatred and unforgiveness. Our all-pervasive victim mentality and attitude of entitlement cry out and object that we are deserving of none of it and worthy of better. We are blind to the shades of our abnormality or we question God’s goodness and love, maligning His character and judgment. We find it incomprehensible worshipping a God who has allowed the entire tragic scenario. In our anger and sense of helplessness and hopelessness, we refuse the comfort He has offered that can get us through the pits of despair. We reject the priceless Word our Maker has imparted to us, which reveals the truth about it all and the blessed Hope which has prevailed against the worst imaginable. Yet our murderous hearts have rather attributed evil to Him as being the author of it thereby claiming a basis for disowning Him altogether. How twisted that we would persist in believing we can get rid of our Creator who we’d rather say doesn’t exist or that He is evil because He has allowed evil! We don’t realize that it is His mercy which has allowed evil because it is indeed He who could have justifiably wiped out the human race at the onset after the cataclysmic fall of Adam. And as will be reiterated ongoing, He has used what has been meant for evil to turn evil on its head. How can God eternally defeat every imaginable manifestation of evil without having allowed it to exist in the first place whereby it will be defeated? But it goes deeper and we can’t trace God’s inexhaustible foreknowledge—only believe by the grace He’s given us that He’s trustworthy and knows exactly what He’s doing. How pitiful we are to think that in and of our polluted selves we could unleash the power to deliver ourselves from our suffering selves! We would have yet to realize that it is God’s love which has made the way for us to be truly free from the wages of our sin. Yet we blame ourselves on Him, after which the canvas of our true colors blatantly reveals what we wanted to do in the first place: pursue manufacturing our own utopia according to our own self-serving terms. It is a painting reflecting the worst of bad art hanging in a mausoleum. And the fallout keeps falling.

Dear friend, this spiritual cancer I’m talking about is sin—all of which in its essence is a venomous, rebellious, malicious heart against divine authority and goodness. Sin: the proverbial politically incorrect and distasteful word. And its completely fair recompense is physical and spiritual death—eternal separation from our Creator. Yeah, like it or not, we’re all that bad. To reiterate, the terminal cannot emancipate itself from its terminality. Again, lawlessness is obvious in which one must conclude that divine Law is the embodiment of righteousness—the Law of God as was given to Moses. For apart from that, humankind is nothing but a law unto himself with no unchangeable standard to measure himself by or aspire toward. There are a million hybrid deviations regarding law. But our Maker’s holy standard reflective of His character is beyond comparing—revealing our nature truthfully and our need for Him. It can never be done away. And obedience to God’s Law doesn’t bring eternal life; eternal life brings forth obedience. Eternal life is realized in Jesus who, when by His Spirit has penetrated the psyche and claimed it for Himself, will write His Law on the landscape of the heart. The heart is the issue. For a heart of stone toward God can play by all the rules and never know eternal life. A heart of stone will glory in the insufficiency of its own righteousness, refusing the gift of God’s righteousness. It accredits to itself as opposed to receiving the divine imputation.

Our Creator reveals to us in the Scripture the reality of powers and principalities which operate in this universe—a vast realm of spiritual hierarchies subordinate to the throne of the Most High God. And as brought forth in the Holy Scripture, sin came into the universe and defiled the spirit of man by way of a fallen archangel. If you have scoffed at the revelation of Satan, rest assured he has you right where he wants you and you have exposed yourself as his affiliate—for again it is to his great advantage your refusing to acknowledge his existence. After all, as has been from the beginning—if he can deceive you into believing that God is not trustworthy and cause you to despise Him, the agenda has been satisfied. Dear reader, we don’t operate on any neutral ground. Have you ever asked yourself where lying comes from? Why does the propensity for that exist in all of us along with all the other self-destructive tendencies? Whose idea was lying and stealing? Did a holy and righteous God initially create an original blueprint that was separated from His immaculate presence? From the incontestable standpoint that God could have no darkness in Himself whatsoever or He along with everything else would be nonexistent—the question would demand a truthful response: God cannot lie so who is the father of lies? The devil, my friend (John 8:44). And he hates you intensely. If you hate God today it is because you have subscribed to satanic suggestion. It’s never been a question of God’s love for us; it’s a question of our love for Him! I would wholeheartedly implore you not to dismiss the consideration that there is wisdom in a posture of humility and holy fear—of being cognizant of the fact that when God, who does not lie, says that if you do this—then that will happen. Sin reaps death. Insurrection started somewhere when somebody was enticed by a liar who caused them to question the One who is true and it all went downhill from there. Those who are perishing have relegated man’s fall to the pages of comics and kiddie Bible books shoved in between fantasy literature in doctor’s offices—scoffing themselves into an infinite terror.

Many cultures have their creation stories, but the only people that God made covenants with in whom His redemptive strategy was originated were the Jews. That has been God’s choice; it is always His preeminent choice. No man works the plan; God works His plan in man, selecting some of the most obstinate and unlikely candidates. We may ask, Why, Dad? And it is entirely enough for him to answer, Because I said so! Anyone apart from Jew who has become a disciple of Jesus has been grafted into that spiritual heritage in which all have become one new man—one new creation—one new race. God hardened the hearts of the Jew whereby the Gentile would be included in the sacred promises. It’s gone global, my friend. Individuals from every race on the face of the planet have become a part of the awesome new creation in the making. The biblical account is the real story—the big one. It’s the only one in which our Creator has accomplished for us that which we are incapable of accomplishing for ourselves. It all will come back around full circle in which a remnant of the Jewish people will be saved—the very people who would have abhorred the idea of being blessed in any way by a Gentile (non-Jew)! Again—all are invited to become one in Christ with no dividing wall of hostility in the picture (Eph. 2:14). And God doesn’t choose the super spiritual lest any man or race boast. Contrarily, He chooses the foolish things to confound the wise (1 Cor. 1:27). Typically, people will align themselves with a culture of their choosing in order to identify spiritually. Rather than seek who the god or God of the culture is, the culture itself becomes a god. One does not make a god out of the Jew by gaining insight into one’s spiritual heritage in Christ from the Jewish perspective, as significant and indispensable as that is. In culmination here, I go back to the subject of the lie, which I rebel against and will further expound upon. Mercifully, the truth has been given. And if one has rejected it, it is because he has loved darkness instead of light. It is a terrible thing when someone would sacrifice their own life for a cause such as that. My soul screams in horror and anguish in response to it. And the fallout keeps falling.

We may not be able to understand why God, who foreknows all, would have even allowed the potential for mankind’s mutiny and all the misery that has transpired as a result of it. But there is also wisdom in trusting the One who has made no mistakes in the implementation of His flawless plan of redemption and all that He has determined must take place in order that the curse be reversed. Man’s intrinsic violent tendencies toward his fellowman are not descriptive of God’s righteous character, yet God has always used it to bring forth the redemptive outcome—as only He could know whether it be deemed expedient in a given scenario. You can best believe that our Creator has all the bases covered. If in the foreknowledge of God was included the allowance of an inevitable spiritual anarchy, might that not also have included foreordaining the means by which He would do away with it eternally? God will do what God must do and we must trust Him in whose hand is the final blessed outcome. As the Scripture says, His ways are beyond tracing. There was never a promise that it would be easy and the storms of this life are sure to come. Jesus informed His disciples: In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world (John 16:33).

I would never belittle or trivialize anyone’s suffering any more than I would want anyone to do that to me. God’s perspective on this is not some compassionless, simplistic, pat answer. It is what we desperately need to get through this veil of tears. To somehow grasp that even in our suffering lies a higher purpose causes us to know it’s not all in vain. To drive home the hope: there has been given a promise of everlasting joy and tranquility so awesome as to make suffering shrink in comparison—and the One who doesn’t lie has granted that forecast to all who have received the gift of His forgiveness and been made new. Like it or not, not all will be recipients of that divine inheritance; darkness despises the light which exposes it. Like it or not, we’re all walking shades of insanity striving to find balance in our decadence. And this present insanity must play out; it must run its course. Incredibly, in the very midst of it all, our Creator has provided the exit which becomes the entrance—into Himself!

Dear reader, you have no idea how urgently I want you to be found reconciled to your Maker and operating on the side of life. If you’re still in limbo-land, I earnestly beseech you to do some diligent investigating that you may know who this Jesus is—and not to heedlessly place the issue on a shelf until you’re in the mood to further consider it. People sing silly songs about raising hell before getting to heaven or working to get there—not! When the Holy Spirit turns the lights on and quickens your spirit, you’ll be able to see enough of hell to know without question that it’s not worth taking a casual chance to be found tormented in that place eternally. When the cockroaches scatter, which direction will you take? You can’t clean your own house enough. The Holy Authority that we humans in our height of arrogance have been fools to interrogate as if He were some common conniving charlatan or dared to hold accountable to us is patient that none of His should perish. And I will be continually addressing the root of our pride, defiance, and animosity toward the One who loved us despite ourselves—the One who fulfilled the will of the Father by bearing the colossal magnitude of all human sin and suffering and becoming a bloody human sacrifice to reconcile us to God.

Whether or not you’ve come to terms with the authority issue, why not keep the blinds open and just consider that maybe there really is something to all this, and why risk missing it? In a do your own thing, acceptance culture which shamelessly and boldly accommodates lawlessness and unrighteousness, the words of Jesus have pointedly expressed: Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it (Matt. 7:13–14).

And so I hereby narrow-mindedly declare that, as aforementioned all diversive, compromising human opinion and puffed-up philosophizing which strives to exalt itself above the authoritative knowledge of God is vain, presumptuous, impotent, destructive, and undependable. It is nothing I could take to the bank. I also narrow-mindedly declare that my own personal convictions hold no value if not founded in the sacred Word of Truth. In other words, it’s not about what I say regarding spiritual things, but what the Creator God says and He hasn’t left us clueless! Friend, you are already serving on a spiritual path whether you realize it or not. One path is death and the other is life; there are only two with no neutral zone. What does that mean, and which one might you be on?

B

From Clueless to Newness

Let’s open up the topic of cluelessness for a moment. I admit that I’ve sometimes struggled with an inner ungraciousness toward anyone appearing to be a clueless, status quo, bandwagonized, worldly trend and cause follower who seldom searches or aspires to see the bigger picture regarding what he does or thinks, what he’s heard, nor even cares. At which point I must add that being a pilgrim on God’s path of life doesn’t render one impervious to cluelessness either! For certainly, I’m guilty of having been the most gullible person on the planet and must humbly guard my heart against any lofty presumption. Branding, stigmatizing, and stereotyping people can become a habitual, self-righteous form of entertainment—however accurate one deems the picture to be. The attitude of the heart is the crux of the matter. I need the Shepherd’s wisdom to hem in my mind, give discernment or clarity, and even compel my lips to remain sealed as He deems necessary. I am better off mute than as one who is a stumbling block, even as I know that Jesus is the stone that causes men to stumble (1 Pet. 2:8). I remind myself that as a messenger I must never lose cognizance of the fact that the Holy Spirit alone is more than capable of convicting and transforming the most obstinate heart. He may not be calling me to hastily pronounce motives or seize every opportunity to remind others of how they are to appropriately think, feel, perceive, or react in emerging situations. If I would desire to help clear the path, I wouldn’t want to simultaneously be getting in the way. Though I be used, there are times when I am called to do nothing but stand respectfully back, behold His power move mightily and be awed. For I am reminded as well that apart from Him I can barely ascertain the pit of my own depraved heart much less posture myself as judge, jury, and executioner of another’s! The Word of God is quick. Being straight up without the temperament of the Holy Spirit is a fearful consideration and so I will tell you, dear reader, that writing a book like this is scary—even as I am prompted. May His Life in me keep my flesh submissive and God forgive me if I have overstepped my boundaries. And may the ingenious bedside manner of the Holy Spirit prevail.

Maybe my artistic temperament or a misguided satirical sense of humor have been factors in my inclination toward the radical. For there was a time when I had blossomed into the proverbial zealous rebel with a clueless cause, barking up a lot of wrong trees. It truly was a pathetic portrayal of wasted, misdirected vainglory because the bottom-line great cause was the proverbial me-myself-and-I. Self-justified, clueless defiance. And the irony was that in my ignorance, I was an integral part of the very system I held a personal vendetta against! When fire fights fire, everyone’s a loser no matter whom or what enthrones itself in the winner’s sear for any given time. Kingdoms divided against themselves cannot stand. In the end, iniquity will all be burned up.

The Scriptures declare that in Christ, we are more than conquerors; it is He who has overcome the world. Bottom line again is that the most significant and worthy cause is the cause of Christ! By no means does this suggest using His name in vain to endorse personal agendas, ulterior motives, diverse circumstances, or creeds. The cause of Christ is to proclaim the Gospel—to lift up His powerful name everywhere. All other causes to which a person may feel called, whether noble or ignoble, are mere reflections of an unstable, temporal world system which is destined to pass away in the annals of unregenerate humanity. The cause of Christ recognizes that everything is subject to the Creator’s sovereign intent and administration, which move to bring forth the ultimate outcome He has foreknown and decreed before planet Earth ever came upon the celestial landscape—regardless of whether or not we mortals approve of the way events pan out. We are on a train making millions of choices but are still sure to get to point B from point A—on one train or the other. Dear reader, step outside tonight and behold the starry firmament. Then take another awestruck breath you didn’t give to yourself.

I don’t know what you may have already grasped regarding this but the response could very well identify the train you’re presently on—for you may not have changed kingdoms. If you’ve already been translated because you traded your life for Jesus’s life, praise God for that miracle. You’ve been adopted, sealed by His Spirit, and delivered from eternal separation from the Father. Your name has been written in His Book of Life, and because of that, your own life has radically shifted. He plucked you out. And if you’ve been plucked out, finding your place in this decadent world system will no longer be the big issue. It will no longer be the issue of which platform you endorse, which politician is supposed to be able to make a difference, which people group you have chosen to align yourself with and represent, who came first or who deserves better. If you’ve been plucked out, your entire perspective has completely changed; you see with new eyes. Your heart’s focus has become redirected. You may be upholding an honorable and righteous cause, but it will be to the glory of God in all that you do—not to the edification of the unregenerate. And unregenerate humans fawn all over each other, misplacing faith—forgetting or refusing to acknowledge that none of us has anything of value God didn’t designate to us to begin with. To the inevitable extreme, the unregenerate makes gods out of humanistic causes and idols out of cultures. Naturally, the real God is always dismissed or trivialized. And of course, the unregenerate is always inclined to adorn himself with the clothing of religious pomp and ceremony in an attempt to earn divine favor or cover up the polluted landscape of his heart. But if you’ve been plucked out, you are clothed with Christ who stands in your place. You have been immersed into the universal body of Christ’s beloved—all who have ever sojourned here and all who are yet to come to the very last who says yes to Jesus. And it’s dwindling down, as has been foretold. Indeed if you have been plucked out of this old creation, you have been united with all those saved by the mercy of God from every race and culture that has ever existed—people who have been known by their Creator-Savior from before the foundation of the world. You have realized your eternal home and your eternal family. When it comes to finding your people, the ones who love Jesus are what matters. That’s the big one, again. You meet here in the temporal zone as Chinese, Russian, Ethiopian, Native American, European, or Aborigine; your unity in diversity is the work of God in Christ. From eternity past, you’ve been connected. And you can’t get any more indigenous, if you will, than being born again in Jesus and becoming a new creation. The old has already been done away. And it doesn’t get any more ancient than the ancient of days. (Dan. 7:9–10)

There have always been the many who have grossly misrepresented Christ, executing every kind of vain, presumptuous, and abusive agenda imaginable. It’s the ongoing satanic campaign which is an attempt to discredit the holy and righteous persona of Jesus Christ. Sinful humans are prone toward jumping on all the wrong bandwagons and thinking they’re doing Him a favor. In the name of religious politics, not God—the damage continues right up to the present until such time as God determines to wrap this thing up. The God who saves is the God who died to save us from religion and replace religion with His grace. All of humanity’s arrogant and rebellious self-positioning on its own self-driven terms must be replaced with the Savior’s positioning man in accordance with His terms. Many have died for the cause of religion, but relatively few have taken up their cross and denied themselves to follow Christ. It is missing it to blame religion on God, my friend. And every culture, indeed every individual, espouses some form of it. In the name of justice and to His glory, God will bring down the towers. It shouldn’t be faith-shattering or shocking that the most sacred and powerful name in the universe has been smeared and blasphemed in so very many ways. Again, the battle was won by way of the Messiah’s sacrifice, and when the fallout has played out, there will be no more spiritual warfare or contention with truth. If one has seen through the façades and smokescreens, they won’t latch on to the original lie and be found running with the mobs of this perishing world. Their hope will be anchored in eternity where home awaits them and no earthly turmoil can discourage them. Whatever their calling in life, it will all be for the personal purpose of bringing honor to His precious name. It will not matter if the world has not recognized that; what matters is that God knows—the Ancient of Days in whom the reward is infinitely greater.

There have always been the many claiming salvation but revealing scanty evidence of having crossed over. Perhaps faith was misdirected, giving credence to rituals, ceremonies, traditions, or a religious institution posturing itself as a salvation agent. Maybe there never sprang forth a sincere, thankful desire to identify with the holiness of God’s character and exemplify that in one’s personal life. It might have been a persistent cleaving to cherished sin patterns while boasting in having released the rest with no intention of complete surrender any time soon. It might have been a false gospel and a fake Jesus. Genuine salvation does not make a mockery of God’s grace by continuing in a lifestyle of defiant transgression with the idea that one is covered by His blood and forgiveness can be drawn from the account later on down the road. All in the name of freedom, nobody’s perfect, and we’re only human—the classic copouts. Authentic salvation becomes manifest outwardly by what’s going on in a person’s heart regarding his relationship with Jesus—whether he is consumed with Him or not. If God’s not the main event, it becomes obvious over time. And sometimes, too, fruit grows in the shade. The Savior deals uniquely with each individual. Hypocrisy pretends to believe outwardly but inwardly really does not; it is a show for whatever reason. Hypocrisy pretends to be okay; salvation is the willingness to admit one is not. One is pride—the other remorse. One self-affirms—the other is convicted. Only the Spirit of God can accurately discern the depth of each heart ultimately.

Bottom line is that there are only two