Transhumanism: Marching Toward the Mark

TODAY'S NEWSLETTER... 
 
 

• Featured Article: Transhumanism: Marching Toward the Mark 
• The Greatest Power Grab in History 
• ‘Iran is 5 days away from having enough fuel to build The Bomb’ 
• Barna Study Exposes Great Weakness In The Church: 62% Of Pastors Lack A Biblical Worldview 
• Glory in the Ordinary 
• Daily Jot: Are you waxing cold? 
• Daily Devotion: Critical People 

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Transhumanism: Marching Toward the Mark – Jonathan Brentner - https://www.jonathanbrentner.com/https/jonathan-brentner-g8fgsquarespacecom/config
 
If our world is not on a direct path to the fulfillment of Revelation 13, the only alternative is to assume that something with a most uncanny resemblance to the mark of the beast is coming our way.
 
In other words, if what the globalists’ propose for our world is not the prelude to the mark of the beast, I do not know what it would look like. The plans they have for our future fit like a glove with what the John wrote in Revelation 13:15-18:
 
“And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.”
 
Please understand that this passage does not reach its complete fulfillment halfway until through the seven-year Tribulation, well after the Rapture of the church. What we see today is NOT the mark of the beast, but it’s most certainly both a prelude to and a conditioning for it.
 
John 8:44 is another key passage that’s essential for understanding the agenda of the elite powerbrokers. Though not a prophecy, it speaks directly to what we see in our world today because the devil and his demons control the globalists who wield great power in the governments of the world as well as in the business world.
 
“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
 
The Luciferian elite of our day have two basic goals: First, they plan to reduce the world’s population and second, they intend to deceive and control those who remain through the means of transhumanism. Both objectives are essential to their final goal of forming a one-world government over which they hope to rule and enslave humanity.
 
WHAT IS TRANSHUMANISM?
 
Transhumanism is the combining of machines and human beings with the intent to monitor our behavior so they can later control our behavior and even our thoughts.
 
Wikipedia describes it this way:
 
“Transhumanism is a philosophical movement, the proponents of which advocate and predict the enhancement of the human condition by developing and making widely available sophisticated technologies able to greatly enhance longevity, mood and cognitive abilities . . . Some transhumanists believe that human beings may eventually be able to transform themselves into beings with abilities so greatly expanded from the current condition as to merit the label of posthuman beings.”[i]
 
Leading the way to bring about this change is a group called the World Economic Forum (WEF) with Klaus Schwab as its founder and CEO. Here is a quote from the group’s website regarding the changes they wish to impose on the world:
 
“The Fourth Industrial Revolution [the WEF term for transhumanism] represents a fundamental change in the way we live, work and relate to one another. It is a new chapter in human development, enabled by extraordinary technology advances commensurate with those of the first, second and third industrial revolutions. These advances are merging the physical, digital and biological worlds in ways that create both huge promise and potential peril. The speed, breadth and depth of this revolution is forcing us to rethink how countries develop, how organizations create value and even what it means to be human.”[ii] (my emphasis)
 
The globalists of our day do not hide their objectives; they are in plain sight for all to see if one is willing to investigate. Is it not shocking that they intend for us to “rethink . . . what it means to be human?” The theme of merging “the physical, digital and biological worlds” runs through many of the articles on the WEF website. They do not keep their evil intentions a secret, but openly broadcast them to all who are paying attention.
 
TRANSHUMANISM BEGINS WITH PHARMACEUTICALS
 
On November 20, 2017, an article appeared on Forbes website entitled, Transhumanism and The Future of Humanity: 7 Ways the World Will Change By 2030. The following quote from it appears under the heading of “Our bodies will be augmented.”
 
“The coming years will usher in a number of body augmentation capabilities that will enable humans to be smarter, stronger, and more capable than we are today. Wearables will be one form of body augmentation, but they will far surpass the fitness trackers of today. . . . We will also see increased use of implants ranging from brain microchips and neural lace to mind-controlled prosthesis and subdermal RFID chips that allow users to unlock doors or computer passwords with the wave of a hand. However, the most powerful body augmentation will come from biological augmentation as a result of increased insight into our genomes, advances in IVF technology that may allow us to select the most intelligent embryos, and powerful CRISPR gene-editing technology which may one day give us the ability to eliminate all heritable diseases.
 
These body augmentation capabilities will give rise to humans that are more resilient, optimized and continually monitored.”[iii] (Emphasis mine)
 
Please note that the “CRISPR gene-editing technology” that the writer of the Forbes article says will someday augment our bodies is exactly how the experts today describe the mRNA injections, AKA “COVID-19 vaccines.” What the Forbes article predicted in 2017 would eventually lead to the altering of humans became a reality in 2020-21 with the emergence of “CRISPR” gene therapy injections from Pfizer, Moderna, and other pharmaceutical companies.
 
Notice how the writer of the article stresses the positive possibilities of the “CRISPR” gene therapy injections as eliminating “all heritable diseases” before telling us that they will also lead to the continual monitoring of people. The transhumanists promise great advancements that will benefit humanity, but their final objective is control such as in buying and selling.
 
As further evidence of the long-range planning behind what we see today, ponder this quote from Aldous Huxley, a philosopher and author, at the California Medical School in 1961:
 
“There will be, in the next generation or so, a pharmacological method of making people love their servitude, and producing dictatorship without tears, so to speak, producing a kind of painless concentration camp for entire societies, so that people will in fact have their liberties taken away from them, but will rather enjoy it, because they will be distracted from any desire to rebel by propaganda or brainwashing, or brainwashing enhanced by pharmacological methods. And this seems to be the final revolution.”[iv]
 
Though spoken over sixty years ago, these words represent the blueprint from which the globalists operate today. What Huxley talked about in 1961 has now become reality. “Pharmaceutical methods” have become the weapon of choice for those seeking to change humanity by combining humans with machines. What we see is just the beginning, drugs will continue to play an essential role leading to the mark of the beast.
 
TRANSHUMANISM ON OUR DOORSTEP
 
As evidence that transhumanism already resides on the doorstep of our world, please consider these three related initiatives that are opening the door for what we see depicted in Revelation 13:6-18.
 
1. PATENT WO2020060606: THE TECHNOLOGY OF CONTROLLING THE BUYING AND SELLING
 
Microsoft, along with Bill Gates, obtained this international patent in 2020: Patent WO2020060606 - Cryptocurrency System Using Body Activity Data. Yes, this patent is real as is its number.
 
Here is the legal description of the patent:
 
“Human body activity associated with a task provided to a user may be used in a mining process of a cryptocurrency system. A server may provide a task to a device of a user which is communicatively coupled to the server. A sensor communicatively coupled to or comprised in the device of the user may sense body activity of the user. Body activity data may be generated based on the sensed body activity of the user. The cryptocurrency system communicatively coupled to the device of the user may verify if the body activity data satisfies one or more conditions set by the cryptocurrency system, and award cryptocurrency to the user whose body activity data is verified.”[v]
 
This patent envisions the use of a sensor that detects “the body activity of the user” and reports it to an outside digital computing source. The behavior of the individual then becomes the basis for his or her award of “cryptocurrency.” The reward or lack thereof results from what the senor reports regarding the conduct of the individual.
 

Now imagine a world where all currency exists digitally, and that day is coming, and your receipt of it does not come entirely from the fruit of your labor, but from behaving according to the desires of a distant governing body that sets the parameters by which the computing source rewards you. They will know your every move because your activity is monitored by a chip inside you or a mark on your body.
 
This is the future envisioned by Patent WO2020060606 - Cryptocurrency System Using Body Activity Data.
 
2. ID2020: INCLUDING THE “SMALL” AND THE “POOR” IN THE ANTICHRIST’S PROGRAM
 
ID2020 is another Bill Gates and Microsoft initiative that seeks to provide 1.1 billion people in the world with the legal identification that they currently lack; it will give them a digital ID along with a vaccine, of course. They will be one and the same.
 
Here is a description of ID2020 from the official Microsoft blog, dated January 22, 2018:
 
As discussions begin this week at the World Economic Forum, creating universal access to identity is an issue at the top of Microsoft’s agenda, and we think technology can be a powerful tool to tackle this challenge. It was last summer that Microsoft took a first step, collaborating with Accenture and Avanade on a blockchain-based identity prototype on Microsoft Azure. Together, we pursued this work in support of the ID2020 Alliance – a global public-private partnership dedicated to aiding the 1.1 billion people around the world who lack any legal form of identity. To say that we were encouraged by its mission would be an understatement. We were inspired by it.[vi]
 
Notice the players include the World Economic Forum (WEF) that vigorously promotes both the Great Reset and transhumanism. ID2020 is not some isolated initiative that does not relate to transhumanism or the effort of the globalists to control people. It’s all about identifying everyone on earth so the globalists can include them into their system of worldwide control, vaccinate them, and thereby continually monitor and dictate their behavior.
 
3. QUANTUM DOT TECHNOLOGY: THE TATTOO
 
So far, we have looked at the plans of the globalists to incorporate everyone on the planet into their scheme of controlling the flow of digital currency. But how do they intend to do this?  
 
“Quantum dot” technology may answer that question; I believe this will become the means for the antichrist to deliver his infamous mark and accompanying vaccine to the population of the world. By it, he will mark those who belong to him by tattooing their right hand or forehead.
 
A diagram of how the “Quantum Dot” will inject a vaccine and leave a tattoo on the skin at the same time.

 
According to Bill Gates, quantum dot delivery of a future vaccines will connect the recipient to an external digital source via the ID2020 technology to verify the vaccination. Initially, this will vaccinate the individual as well as leave a tattoo, perhaps visible, that will electronically reveal his or her vaccine status.
 
Together, these three initiatives lay out a clear path to what will become the “mark of the beast” by the halfway point of the tribulation. By then, the electronic tattoo will appear on one’s forehead and hand and reveal one’s ability to buy and sell as well as to the degree they are able to participate in such activities.
 
Later, this tattoo will be the only means of participating in market of goods and services.
 
Before the dawn of this century, it would have taken an army of several hundred thousand to control the buying the selling across the planet and even then, it would not have been foolproof. Now with artificial intelligence and all the many advances related to transhumanism, the technology exists for one person to do this.
 
That person will be the antichrist. The globalists will have everything in place before he steps onto the world stage. Because of the speed at which technology and transhumanism are advancing, everything will be ready for him when the time comes for him to appear on the world’s stage.
 
 My new book, The Triumph of the Redeemed-An eternal Perspective that Calms Our Fears in Perilous Times, is now available on Amazon.
 
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The Greatest Power Grab in History - By Jan Markell - https://myemail.constantcontact.com/The-Greatest-Power-Grab-in-History.html?soid=1101818841456&aid=8b0rPBG1mug
 
If you feel like you wake up to a stunning shock daily, you’re not alone. But this story was flying under the radar until a few people blew the whistle, starting with former Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and journalist Leo Hohmann.
 
In a few days, the World Health Organization (WHO), with assistance from the Biden Administration, is set to vote on a provision that could give this organization control of the health directives of 193 countries around the world. If passed, it could allow communist China, which controls the WHO, to dictate our national health decisions.
 
Simply stated, in the name of public health, the Biden administration plans to literally hand over America's national sovereignty to the World Health Organization when the next health emergency hits—and such an emergency is waiting in the wings.
 
According to Politico’s health beat reporters, the U.S. has been in “backdoor negotiations” with the WHO since January about a “treaty” that gives the WHO “greater powers to act” during a medical crisis.
 
Is this just another scheme by the global elite who are now very drunk on power and control? Even in one’s wildest imagination they cannot comprehend the danger of a foreign entity seizing control of one of our most important and even precious possessions—a nation’s healthcare.
 
Leo Hohmann writes, “By amending an existing health treaty called the International Health Regulations of 2005 (IHR), they are able to bypass U.S. Senate approval, which means no public debate and no media coverage of this sovereignty-killing power grab. It will all be done under the cloak of darkness in Switzerland, when the WHO World Health Assembly meets May 22-28.”
 
Hohmann says, “If the United Nations World Health Organization gets the desired new powers that the Biden administration has proposed to give it, look out. These 13 proposed amendments would create a beast with teeth at the United Nations.
 
“Let’s be clear on what’s happening. They are building the infrastructure for global governance and strengthening the infrastructure that’s already in place.”
 
The writer states, “If Biden and his Health and Human Services chief, Xavier Baccera, get their way, the nations of the world will not have their sovereignty snatched away. No, they will hand it over.
 
Hohmann concludes, “The vote takes place May 22-28 in Geneva, Switzerland. All that’s required is a simple majority vote and poof, there goes the sovereignty of 194 nations of the world over matters of ‘public health emergencies,’ which could include a wide range of issues, not just viruses.”
 
Have you seen images of the Chinese locked in their apartments pleading for help? That can be duplicated around the world under the direction of the World Health Organization. The American lock down of a year ago is minor compared to what these globalists and the WHO plan for the world.
 
Simply stated by Bachmann, “The Biden administration is bringing amendments that would propose that all nations of the earth cede their sovereignty over national healthcare decisions to the World Health Organization.”
 
Keep in mind that another 193 nations would also would lose their sovereignty to the World Health Organization as well. This organization is a subsidiary of the Chinese Communist Party who would then have authority over the U.S. and these many other nations.
 
The Gatestone Institute calls this a death trap for America. Gatestone Institute states that, “Unfortunately, this ‘next pandemic’ is neither far off nor a hypothetical ‘conspiracy theory.’ According to multiple credible reports from the U.S. Department of State, to the executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Peter Jennings, China has been preparing for bio-warfare using pathogens for more than six years.
 
They conclude, “Unfortunately, the WHO already has proven itself to be a willing organ of China's Communist leaders. Providing it with international, legal binding authority over global pandemic response must never be allowed to happen.”
 
The Biden administration's amendment will make the U.S. legally obligated by international treaty to follow whatever the WHO decides.
 
The sweeping new powers will be invested in the Director-General of WHO to act on his own. The Director-General is Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, commonly known as Tedros. Tedros, the first non-physician director-general of WHO, is an extremely controversial Marxist activist and politician from Ethiopia installed by the Chinese Communist Party.
 
During the pandemic itself, the American public witnessed their federal, state, and local governments forcibly shut down tens of millions of businesses, churches, and schools in fear of a virus that, in reality, proved to have a survival rate of 99%. That authority would presumably fall to the WHO under the new treaty.
 
The World Health Organization is working on a Vaccination Credential Initiative to implement "vaccine certificates" that can be authenticated across international borders.
 
The globalists are having a field day! Gaining inches some days and miles the next, they are marching toward their one-world system more each day. The four horsemen of the apocalypse are out of the barn but cannot show up until the Church is Raptured.
 
Write your reps in Washington although even those on the right have been silent about this pending outrage by the WHO.

Prayer may be the best weapon we have at this point. It says in Psalm 2 that God sits in the Heavens and laughs at the schemes of wicked men.
 
Find another informative article here.

 


 
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‘Iran is 5 days away from having enough fuel to build The Bomb’ - Joel C. Rosenberg - https://www.allisrael.com/exclusive-iran-is-5-days-away-from-having-enough-fuel-to-build-the-bomb-senior-official-tells-all-israel-news
 
Key question now: Does the world have the will – and a way – to stop Iran before it’s too late?
 
JERUSALEM—The most chilling piece of information that I learned as I met with senior officials in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Israel is just how close Tehran is to being able to build nuclear weapons.
 
Each of these countries – along with the United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other nations in the region – has long been deeply concerned about the threat posed by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
 
Especially since Iranian leaders are actively fomenting terrorist attacks against their neighbors and have openly talked about destroying the U.S. and “wiping Israel off the map.”
 
But those fears are being compounded in one capital after another by the growing realization within the intelligence community of how advanced Iran’s capabilities have become.
 
“Iran is now just five days away from having enough fuel to build The Bomb,” a senior official in the region told me.
 
“If the Iranian regime was to make the decision today, in five days they would have enough highly enriched uranium to start building nuclear weapons,” he explained.
 
“That’s how serious the situation has become.”
 
Uranium used for peaceful civilian nuclear power plants is typically enriched to 3.5%.
 
Military grade uranium capable of being used to create nuclear warheads must be enriched to between 90% and 95%.
 
The official stated it would likely take Tehran another year or so to actually perfect a fully operational nuclear warhead, and noted that –to the best of his knowledge – the Iranian regime has not perfected its ability to attach nuclear warheads to ballistic missiles.
 
Still, the regime has crossed all of Israel’s previous red lines.
 
In remarks at Reichman University on Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that Iran is completing the production and installation of 1,000 advanced centrifuges at an underground site near Natanz.
 
“Iran continues to accumulate irreversible knowledge and experience in the development, research, production and operation of advanced centrifuges. It stands just a few weeks away from accumulating fissile material that will be sufficient for a first bomb, holds 60 kilograms of enriched material at 60%, produces metallic uranium at the enrichment level of 20% and prevents the IAEA from accessing its facilities,” Gantz said.
 
The questions now are sobering:
 
• How soon might Iran make the decision to “break out” and finish its uranium enrichment process?
 
• Will we know when they’ve made that fateful move?
 
• Is there any way to still stop Iran from building a nuclear weapons arsenal, short of war?
 
• Does any state in the region have the stomach to use force if absolutely necessary to try to neutralize Iran’s nuclear program?
 
• And would a series of air strikes on Iran’s known nuclear facilities even be enough at this point to neutralize the threat?
 
Bottom line: Does the world have the will – and a way – to stop Iran before it’s too late?
 
We seem to be running out of time and out of options.

 


 
Barna Study Exposes Great Weakness In The Church: 62% Of Pastors Lack A Biblical Worldview – By David Fiorazo - https://harbingersdaily.com/barna-study-exposes-great-weakness-in-the-church-62-of-pastor-lack-a-biblical-worldview/
 
We cannot fix something until we know it is broken. And according to the latest Barna research, the American Church is in dire need of repentance, repair, and revival.
 
This time, the study focus is on Christian pastors, their philosophy and worldview. It’s common sense and only natural to expect your church leaders to have a proper foundation and understanding of Scripture, but the new nationwide survey of pastors shows a large majority do not even have a biblical worldview.
 
Yes, you read that correctly. This then begs the question, what in the world are they teaching their congregations?
 
I’ll get right to one of the takeaways from this new study by quoting the Director of Arizona’s Cultural Research Center, George Barna:
 
“It certainly seems that if America is going to experience a spiritual revival, that awakening is needed just as desperately in our pulpits as in the pews; …This [research] is another strong piece of evidence that the culture is influencing the American church more than Christian churches are influencing the culture;
 
The culture has more influence than the church. This is not a shock considering our moral decline over fifty-plus years.
 
If you’ve read any of my books and articles, you know some of us have been sounding the alarm about this compromise and decay for years.
 
According to the research, slightly more than a third (37%) of Christian pastors have a biblical worldview and the majority (62%) possess what is referred to as a “hybrid worldview” known as Syncretism.
 
Syncretism simply means having a combination of different forms of belief or practice, often representing personal preferences. Why is this so disappointing to some? Because in this context, we’re referring to pastors and spiritual leaders who should be deeply established on the truth of Scripture and sound in the doctrine they teach.
 
An obvious consequence of pastors conforming to worldly influences and philosophies is that the people they lead are likely to also lack a biblical worldview. To be blunt, many churchgoers today are not even converted or they’re in contradiction between what they claim to believe and how they live their lives.
 
Rather than know, study, and live out God’s Word, too many have a country club mentality or what I refer to as “cotton candy Christianity.” Love is redefined and overemphasized while biblical truth is minimized and seen as too rigid. Others seek to please man and put progressive ideas ahead of the Bible; things that may sound good or compassionate like social justice, diversity, inclusion, equity, and being “welcoming.”
 
Another concerning part of the new study is even more alarming: only 12% of Children’s and Youth Pastors today have a biblical worldview.
 
Why does this matter? It is well known that a young person’s worldview primarily develops before their teen years, after which it gets refined into their twenties.
 
So, another takeaway from the research is the fact seven out of eight youth pastors lack a biblical worldview. These are the so-called leaders of Christian children. This explains why according to Barna, “so few people in the nation’s youngest generations are developing a heart and mind for biblical principles and ways of life.”
 
Sobering, yes. Irreversible? Probably. Can this be fixed? You tell me. This all contributes to the rejection of truth, delusion, and depravity in our society over the last several decades. America is on the road to destruction and the church is not helping!
 
In March of this year, I reported on a similar study revealing a mere two (2%) percent of parents of pre-teens in America have a biblical worldview, but a majority of them claim to be Christian.
 
It is now necessary to clarify and define what it is to be a true believer and how to apply the Bible to our lives. Too many have conformed to this world and not only lack discernment, but a basic understanding of God’s Word. There is disagreement over the essentials of the faith.
 
Most would say and have said they consider themselves to be a ‘good person’ or Christian. The problem is they don’t have an accurate understanding of what it means to be a disciple or follower of Christ and to trust in Him alone for salvation (apart from good works).
 
The confusion and disconnect is in part a result of losing focus on the authority of God’s Word, syrupy sermons, topical ‘relevant’ series, a refusal to teach Bible prophecy, accommodation of sin, a fear of man, and failure to address culture, confront evil, and equip the saints.
 
The reason the new study from Barna is shocking to some and concerning to most is because it exposes great weakness and wokeness in the church. This is more than a chink in the armor. It starts at the top and deals with leadership, Bible ‘teachers,’ CEO pastors, youth leaders, and potential worldview shapers.
 
This research is disheartening and yet it helps us understand why the American church has generally caved to culture, lost influence, and declined so rapidly. And yet, thank God for the remnant. Hold the line, friends!
 
The Bible has much to say about men who have crept into the church as well as others who fall away from the truth.
 
Jude 1:3-4 KJV – “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.”
 
‘Contend’ here means to agonize or wrestle. Jude warns against the dangerous practices and doctrines that put the gospel of Jesus Christ in peril. Also, notice that these men apparently went unnoticed! This has happened today across the country in too many churches. We gave the enemy a foothold and the father of lies and of worldly philosophies diluted sound doctrine.
 
 There is a decreasing number of bold pastors and solid men of God today. Find and support them. We now see even more clearly what happened to the preserving salt and guiding light in a nation that desperately needs Christ and was once a strong, shining city on a hill.

 


 
Glory in the Ordinary - Myra Dempsey - https://gcdiscipleship.com/article-feed/glory-in-the-ordinary
 
My laptop currently sits on our island in the middle of our kitchen, and I stand here typing while I flit between making coffee and unloading the dishwasher. When I was a kid my mom bemoaned my lack of ability to stick to one task until it was completed, a frustration I can totally empathize with now as a parent! She would tell me that I was “fluttering around” like an off-task butterfly, and I can’t help but laugh at how much that pattern persists in me today. So, as I land momentarily on this flower of writing, let me encourage you that whatever mundane task you put your hands to today, for whatever length of time, you can experience glory in the ordinary.
 
God’s glory is no small or trivial topic, and this article isn’t going to get anywhere near unpacking it as fully as humanly possible. But I’m thankful God gives us—his forgetful children—a vast array of gospel reminders. My husband recently defined glory in this way: “splendor, honor, fullness of, the most truthful expression of, weightiness.” We see this meaning of the word in a passage like Ephesians 1:11–14, which uses the phrase “to the praise of his glory” two separate times. The surprise to the believers is that it’s talking about us! We are meant to display God’s splendor.
 
If you’re like me, you may wonder, “How is my ordinary life supposed to honor the weightiness of who God is?”
 
JESUS DOESN’T NEED OUR PR
 
Whenever I’m confronted with difficult things in Scripture, I turn too quickly to my own fleshly solutions. If my life is meant to be to the praise of God’s glory, then I must need to step up my PR game and put a pretty picture out there for the world. Maybe God wants me to billboard my productivity or church involvement. Maybe my kids will model quick obedience or my written words will garner enough likes and shares to boost my brand of “good Christian.”
 
But the truth is Jesus doesn’t need our PR. We don’t craft or clean up Jesus’s image to help the world see his glory. He is already utterly glorious. As we submit to his kingship and allow his Spirit to mold us, we become more clear conduits for the glory that is already there. My best attempts at shining up the gospel apart from abiding in Christ serve more as blockages, like the clumps of mud and leaves I scooped out of our gutters this past fall. The living water of the gospel can’t flow through me powerfully when I pack in my own good works too.
 
When I try to give Jesus good PR by looking good on the outside but my heart is not resting in the finished work of Jesus, I subconsciously pass along a burden to those who actually need to hear Jesus say, “Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). His burden is easy and his yoke is light because he has done for us what we could never do for ourselves. Paul reminded the saints in Ephesus that, “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ . . . by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:4–5, 8).
 
God knows we tend to drift back toward our flesh, including our self-sufficiency and works based righteousness. The Spirit inspired Paul to make the grace-based nature of the gospel plain to his audience, and we still need those reminders today.
 
God has graciously given us his Word and his Spirit to constantly course-correct and return us to the fountain of living water. Ad fontes, or back to the sources, was not only a necessary war cry during the Reformation, but also a needed, daily reminder for Christians in 2022.
 
I know I’m falling into the “Be good PR for Jesus” trap when I desperately hope people are impressed by me. Or when I walk away from an interaction thinking, “Wow, she is awesome,” rather than, “Wow, Jesus is awesome!” These moments point out to me that it’s actually my own PR that I am most concerned with, not Jesus’s, and the greatest threat to that is confession of sin.
 
CONFESSION IS THE WAY FORWARD
 
The truth is one of the greatest ways to reflect God’s glory to the world around us is through vulnerable confession and transparency about our neediness. The very thing that our flesh fears will diminish God’s glory being seen in us is precisely how he has sovereignly chosen to most clearly display his glory through us. As we confess our sin and lack, we point a neon sign to his mercy and strength. And through confession we are changed and set free! We let go of the crushing weight of performing perfectly and instead embrace that beautiful, easy yoke of the gospel.
 
Because we are already fully accepted in Christ, admitting our shortcomings and dependence loses its stigma. We don’t have to fear being needy. We must actively reject the lie that self-sufficiency equals maturity, or that self-improvement should precede confession. Aren’t we more comfortable sharing our struggles in the past tense? How often we let fear and pride rob us of one of God’s greatest means for help and comfort—each other. Christ’s atoning death purchased and sealed a collective of people, not autonomous individuals. God sovereignly chose to give us his Spirit, so in our times of need will we believe him and allow the Spirit in other believers to minister to us?
 
The Greek word for “confess” in Scripture can be translated “to say the same thing; to agree.” When we share our struggles with others we are agreeing with the gospel—that it is not our works we boast in, that our identity is secure in Christ, and that we will find joy and freedom as we obey our Father’s commands (James 5:16). In just an ordinary, perhaps awkward-feeling conversation, we can experience and display the glory of God.
 
EMBRACING THE ORDINARY
 
The gospel frees us from finding our identity and worth in our performance, which enables us to confess our sin to one another; it also sets us free from believing cultural definitions of success. Every gathering of humans throughout history has decided what is good, beautiful, and desirable and what is not. Having a platform and lots of followers on social media are current hallmarks of success, and we still tend to laud the famous. Christians are tempted to believe that extraordinary talents widely seen are the most effective for building up the Church. But the same Savior who willingly put on flesh and dependence also embodied an upside-down definition of kingly rule. His humble servant’s posture grated on people’s expectations like the sand he washed from disciples’ feet. Jesus taught with his life and words that obedience to God will always supersede conforming to human expectations.
 
Wherever God has placed you, obeying him will lead to your joy and the praise of his glory! I’m thankful for brothers and sisters who are tasked with standing on stages and proclaiming the good news—that is their ordinary. Before we hear them teach, they have prayed and prepared, likely spent years using their God-given gifts in their local churches, have battled their flesh over and over, have repented and confessed to others, and have struggled to wait on God’s timing. And all of that continues when they step off of the stage as well. Don’t believe the lie that others have “arrived” while you alone still struggle. We are all on this gospel mission together, equally dependent on the Spirit moment by moment.
 
God is too big and too good to reserve his exciting mission for just a select few. How could I believe wholeheartedly that our incredible Creator designed every atom, every mountain range, every vibrant shade on every species of animal, yet only handpicks extroverted and eloquent speakers to proclaim his glory? You, dear friend, have been hand crafted by our sovereign God to uniquely display his glory in this world. Please don’t believe the lie that you need a platform to be significant or a certain type of gifting to be useful. You—right where you are—have access to hearts and minds who need to see and hear the gospel proclaimed. And it’s through abiding in Christ in everyday, ordinary moments that you will accomplish that grand mission.
 
Maybe you feel the weight of the seemingly insignificant rhythms in your home—changing diapers, or endless laundry, or unimaginative meals prepared to keep your family sustained. Or maybe you wonder if your job is holy enough as you pour your time and creativity into a team that rarely speaks about Jesus unless it’s on the verge of cursing in frustration. Take heart, because you are not there by accident, and there is more happening behind the scenes than you realize!
 
THERE’S GLORY IN THE ORDINARY
 
Even in life’s mundane tasks, God is shaping us into a people who beautifully reflect his glory to the world. Left to our own devices, we will never naturally drift toward holiness. We rely totally and completely on God to rewire us and re-mold us, making us more like his son, thereby making us more and more holy. Because he loves us so perfectly and immensely, there isn’t a moment of our existence that he won’t use to accomplish just that. Those late-night work hours, those early morning feedings, those middle-of-the-day grocery store runs, they are all clay cutters in the hands of our perfect potter, wielded with precision to trim away all that does not drive us deeper into him. He knows that we are only alive in him, that all of the joy and purpose we crave is found in him alone. Nothing is wasted, dear friend, and you are not in a green room waiting for that call up to the main stage.
 
You have been knit together by an intentional God, and his Kingdom is not of this world. Our culture, like every other gathering of humans throughout history, has decided what is beautiful, what is successful, what is desirable, and what is not. When you are regenerated and filled with the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead, your citizenship changes. Believer, you are made new and set free “from”—from the penalty of sin, from our old patterns of thinking and behaving, and from the exhausting task of trying to measure up to this world’s standards.
 
You are also set free “to”—to rest in Christ’s finished work on your behalf, to embrace others without comparison or expectation, and to search the Scriptures joyfully to learn more about your new kingdom and the King who reigns there and in your heart simultaneously. God is creating us into people who can enjoy and obey him now and also thrive in his physical presence for eternity to come. Jonathan Edwards said, “God is glorified not only by His glory being seen, but by its being rejoiced in.” May we be a people who see God’s glory as we behold him, who display it clearly and vulnerably to the world around us, and who rejoice in it—even in the most ordinary moments of life.

 


 
Daily Jot: Are you waxing cold? - Bill Wilson – www.dailyjot.com
 
For centuries, many have wondered if they were the generation that would see the return of Christ. When you look at the headlines around the world, one can entertain the idea that this generation is living in what could be considered “the beginning of sorrows” described by Christ in his Olivet Discourse. Contemplate some of these headlines: New generation of killer: Shedding blood with internet winks, memes, livestreams; California church shooter motivated by anti-Taiwanese hate; Middle schoolers sued for sexual harassment for not using preferred pronouns; Pro-abortion protestor to pro-lifer: I don’t love abortion, I just f****** hate you; Russia moves nukes to Finland border. You can’t make this stuff up.
 
As a student of history, I am constantly reminded of the cruelty of mankind. Wars, persecutions, genocides, infanticides, tortures—you name it and mankind has done it to his fellow man. Christ said in his Matthew 24 chronology of the end times that there would be wars and rumors of wars, famines, pestilences and earthquakes marking the beginning of sorrows. He said that his followers would be hated and persecuted for his name’s sake; that there shall be betrayals, hate and deception. Does any of this ring a bell just based on today’s headlines? If we are not living in the beginning of sorrows, we certainly must be standing on its precipice. One thing for certain, each day that these things escalate and Christ does not return means that it is only going to get worse according to prophecy.
 
Christ says in Matthew 24:12, “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” The King James translation is very powerfully poetic. A word study on this verse reveals that “iniquity” is lawlessness, sin. He is talking about sin and the breaking of God’s laws—essentially a breakdown of society from the laws of God. King James uses the word “wax” referring to how the love of many becomes cold. The word study actually gives this meaning: “to breathe cool by blowing, to grow cold, ‘spiritual energy blighted or chilled by a malign or poisonous wind.’ Essentially, the poisonous wind of sin and spiritual blight blowing over the people causes their love to grow cold, like death.
 
The word “love” is mentioned over 400 times in the Bible. In Leviticus 19:18 the Lord God says, “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” Christ repeated this many times. In Matthew 22:37-39 after being asked which is the greatest commandment of the law, Christ responded that the first and greatest is to love the Lord God with all your heart, soul and mind, “And the second is like unto it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” In a world of hate, what is the prescription? As followers of Christ, a prophetic people, we must stand for righteousness, but we also must not be affected by the poisonous wind that causes our love to wax a deathly cold. Let’s resist being entangled in the hateful rhetoric and instead speak the truth in love.

 


 
Daily Devotion: Critical People - by Greg Laurie – www.harvest.org
 
Some of those at the table were indignant. ‘Why waste such expensive perfume?’ they asked. ‘It could have been sold for a year’s wages and the money given to the poor!’ So they scolded her harshly.  —Mark 14:4–5
 
https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/critical-people/ - Listen
 
Sometimes the people who complain the most actually do the very least, and the people who are aiming accusations at you are revealing something about themselves. The thing they’re accusing you of actually may be something they’re guilty of themselves.
 
After all, it was Judas who sold Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, yet he complained when Mary anointed Jesus with a jar of expensive perfume at a dinner in Bethany. Now, this probably was a family heirloom. The Bible tells us that it was worth a year’s wages (see John 12:5).
 
Just a few drops from a bottle like that would be sufficient. But Mary poured all of it on Jesus and filled the entire house with its fragrance. But the point wasn’t how much the perfume cost. It was how much Mary’s act of devotion cost her. She gave the most precious thing she owned to Jesus.
 
Judas, however, knew the price of everything and the value of nothing. He calculated it and declared it was a waste. And it did seem like a waste, but it was no waste at all.
 
From the outside, Judas looked thrifty, careful, and spiritual. And Mary looked frivolous, wasteful, and silly. But the very opposite was true, because John’s gospel gives us this detail: “This [Judas] said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it” (John 12:6 NKJV).
 
In reality, Judas was evil, greedy, and wicked, while Mary was thoughtful, godly, and committed. So things are not always as they appear.
 
That’s why we need to be careful if we’re always emphasizing a certain sin in someone else’s life. We may be telling people more about ourselves than we want to reveal.

 


 


 
FROM THE HEART
    
Let Us Make the Short Time We have Left,
Count for ALL of Eternity!

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