Happy Ho Ho!

Of course we're at the 'Bou - with a couple of the staff ---  Foggy - dreary day - shopping center empty - just a few folks in the place.  All in all it's a lonely type day - a good day for reflection and even prayer (of course that's good all the time).

So many folks have noone this time of year - and it's sad.  So many have lots of folks around them right now - yet the still feel that deep deep loneliness.  Perhaps it's all the hype around the day - Perhaps we've built in so many unrealistic expectations that, well, some of us just can't rise that high.

The really sad thing (historical facts aside) is that the day is not intended to celebrate or raise expectations but rather a promise fulfilled.  It is the day we remembeer Christ coming into the world - the beginning of the final Act of God's redemptive plan. 

Maybe it ought to be a more reflective and humbling day -a day of remembering all this one birth meant. 

Maybe we ought to not require anyone to do anything more than just be themselves on this day and talk about the whys and wherefores --

Maybe we ought to just consider Him  - just Him without all the hooplah and expectations.

I guess, all historical and biblical reasons aside, that I don't to the typical Xmas thing is becasue I know that every moment of this day (not to mention the season) is a real hell for lots of people - and I can't gather them together and let them know it's OK to NOT DO Xmas.

For all the loney sheep out there - you are not forgotten - we are lifting you up in prayer throughout the day.  We pray for your healing, comfort and safety.  It's is OK that you're not "doing" Xmas like everyone else - in fact, it mught be better for you!

God bless you and keep you all on this day and all days - until He comes again.

There was only ever one hope!

Dear brothers and sisters,

I want to wear a button that says, "Repent, the end is here!!!!"

I am hardly fit company today after the results of the election.  That my "soul is cast down within me," is an understatement.

Of this, I am forced to repent and seek forgiveness.

I never realized how much hope I had placed in this election.  I am ashamed of how much I had looked to man and away from God.

I do know and I hope you do - that God is still sovereign - He still rules His creation, nothing is out of His control.

I am ashamed of the fear I have (surprise?) of the inevitable loss we will now suffer in terms of our material security.  I am ashamed of the thoughts that run through my mind.  I am ashamed at my lack of faith at God's answer to my payers.

I am ashamed at the thoughts that America, as we know it and love it is done.  I am ashamed of a desire to leave - either the country or civilization.  I am ashamed of my strong desire to drop off the grid and become one of the "invisibles."

I am ashamed of my lack of faith directed at the whole purpose of faith - His glory and honor.

I am haunted by one and only one statement made by Mr. Obama.  "Vote, it's the best revenge."  Though perhaps a slip of the tongue, for me it reveals the very heart of what we will now have to trust God in.   Revenge - the fundamental purpose behind what will not come to pass.

I don't know of anywhere else to go to live.  I don't know how to "get off the grid."  I do not know how to disappear.  Perhaps that's a good thing for I fear it would be an act of faithlessness.

Like many of you, I have been sorely distracted by all the political tension and hope.  My mind has been distracted and my heart wounded by taking my eye and mind off the call of God.

Gun sales and ammunition sales are sky-rocketing.  Self-protection?  From who?  I sense it is not from the "bad-guys" but from the guys who now have the bigger guns.

I have only two consolations.  the first is that my God is sovereign and His will is good.  The second is - well - the prophets, John the Baptist, the Apostles all lived under the cruelest of political powers and yet remained faithful and fruitful.  They stood for God against warped and insidious powers of their day - yet without sin.

We too must stand.  Not primarily for our "liberties," nor our "rights," for, as a nation of laws we are subject to the changing of the laws.

We must stand for Him.  perhaps this is why we find ourselves where we are.  For generations we have have stood for all sorts of social and cultural - even moral "issues," but we have not stood for Him.  I believe that He has been and is disciplining us and calling us back to His purpose for us.

Our fight is against the flesh.  Yes, the world and the devil are involved BUT at the very core of it all is - well - us, our flesh.  It is the flesh that battles against the spirit.  It is the flesh - this body of death - that is our primary enemy.  We must repent - in weeping and even gnashing of teeth at the faithlessness we have shown.

I am "in" the world by His will - certainly not my choice.  We are not to be "of" the world - we are not to fight as it fights - but we have and we must repent.

I am encouraging all of you to examine your hearts.  Look to see what matter most in your life and living.  If God, His glory and His will - your being conformed to the likeness of His Son, is not at the center, repent - please, repent.

I am praying to find brothers and sisters who will join with me in a commitment - a singular commitment -to turn back to the call of God to His prime directive -.

Jesus came to redeem - that is not our job.  Our calling is to call men and women to repentance through the preaching of the Gospel.  We are NOT called to change the world - we never could - we never can.

A subtle persecution has long existed - there is no need for subtlety any more.  There is also no excuse for "stealth" or "compromised" Christianity.  It is time to rebuild the wall between the Body of Christ and the world.  For too long we have allowed them to be dismantled for the sake of acceptance and congeniality.  The wall must rise again.  The distinction between believers, imposters, posers and unbelievers must be made clear.

I am ashamed of my lack of faith and faithfulness.  I never knew its depth until today and now I feel it deeply and painfully.

We must rebuild the wall around God's gate, God's door.  This must begin with each of us.  We must repent of claiming to not be "of" the world and yet craving all it's goodies and making use of all its ways.

The Puritans are our best examples of men and women who forsook the world - perhaps we would do well to follow their lead.

It is now - to what ever responsible degree we can and in God's truth and wisdom - that we must, "Come out from among them,"  Do we have the faith to do that?  Do we trust God enough to seek and follow His path in this?

The world hates Him - the world hates us - what part of that do we not want to understand?

Michael "sheepdog" Sanders
ms@tc2v1.com
336-549-2081