If truth & reality…
Monday, March 18th, 2024
by Ken Pullen
ACP
Didn’t appreciate the photo of the woman with leprosy, or the leprosy hand? Recoiled a bit back from whatever glowing screen you saw those images on? Why?
Really, Christian? Why? This came to mind and is written to all those professing to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, true children of God, not of this world, not children of disobedience or loving the world more than they ought to.
If reality and the truth repel you like the fictitious one-time [no more] comic book hero Superman is repelled by Kryptonite then perhaps this isn’t the place for you.
Then again…
I once had a man tell me that whenever reading A Crooked Path he felt that he needed a shower. This same man, who I no longer have any contact with, and he most likely never seeks out this place, also possessed an unhealthy obsession with a very well-known pastor from California. Couldn’t stop talking about him and how he shouldn’t be allowed to preach or be the senior pastor anywhere [all his facts obtained from online gossip and third, fourth, who knows how many times removed so-called information], and while this man was disgusted by what he found on ACP he also made sure to inform me of people who operated websites that published nothing but gossip, dirt and what certain pastors and churches were mired in. According to these websites and the individuals who operated them. And he provided links to these places and expected me to publish what they were doing, or something very similar.
I’m not into gossip or digging dirt, throwing dirt around.
He told me I needed to publish more positive material, more bright, cheery things. To make him feel better, I guess, and to keep his water bill down.
Ironic how some people see things, hear things, don’t understand really.
Gossip is fine to them, especially when it’s about pastors and churches and others — and these who gravitate to this sort of entertainment dung, and that’s what it is for them, so I imagine they can feel like the Pharisee who prayed that he was so good and special, and not like the poor disgusting tax collector who beat his chest, acknowledged God as the sinner he was and asked forgiveness.
I’m a sinner, thankfully, joyfully forgiven, and saved from my faith in and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ and the Word of God. I begin sinning not long after waking up and entering into the new day that the Lord has blessed me with here on earth. I imagine I’m not alone in this. I make mistakes, and errors in judgment every day. I fall short. I am still in this sinful feeble flesh. I’m sure some stuff, perhaps many things published here that perhaps shouldn’t be. Especially when it becomes more political than spiritual.
I make mistakes. Not excusing them, any of them, but I fail and fall short. Often.
I only hope and pray I am doing the best I can as God measures things out to me and I’m serving the Lord more than serving this world. And in doing so it gets dirty, it gets rough, it makes us recoil at times. As it should. Unless we see, hear, and recognize the awful, the ugly, the terrible, the lost and sinful, the darkness how are we to then recognize the light, the truth, the way out of such stench, dirt, muck, and darkness?
If desiring only feel good things and messages while in this fleeting fleshly life that will end in a twinkling of an eye compared to eternity then perhaps this is not the place for you. Perhaps the banality, the foolishness of the world, the entertainment value [consider the true value] of what’s on American television, what passes for modern-day music, entertainment, distractions from reality — the obsession with people such as Taylor Swift [and the list is long and goes on in the way of distractions from reality and the truth] — if preferring such things rather than the unfolding of history, BIBLICAL HISTORY, PROPHECY, and what is contained in the Word of GOD rather than indulged in by the world — then maybe this isn’t the place for you.
Then again…
…maybe these sort of places, and folks, pastors telling things as they are and as they are to come, making God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Bible and ETERNITY the priority over all else in this world is exactly the place, places to be.
I’m just one small very limited feeble instrument. There are many places and people to read, to listen to the sermons they preach. To grow in faith, to understand where we all are and what is truly happening in our world and why. Just how short the time reality is. And it’s time to prepare. To do something positive about it all.
To true believers, to true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ the reality of events taking place in America and all around the world, what people in the so-called news are saying and doing, what governments are doing — the truth and reality of all these things ought to make one rejoice! Leap for joy! Put the right kind of smile on one’s heart. Signaling their true change of heart, their true transformation provided by their faith and the working of the Holy Spirit within them. To recognize, hear, see the fulfillment of every word — EVERY WORD — come to pass that is written in the Holy Bible.
To know we won’t be here in this muck, this dung, this darkness much longer and the Lord is coming to take us with Him to heaven and our eternal residence. Where we truly dwell.
Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ are to be different than and from the world.
We are to see differently, actually, truly see! We are to hear differently, actually hear what is transpiring! And to have a much different understanding, view of everything taking place. Not hiding from it. Not remaining silent, hidden and idle. To be separate from the world’s darkness, foolishness, banality and insanity, delusions and illusions, the compunction to be drawn to the world’s lies and foolishness keeping them entertained, otherwise occupied from the truth. From reality.
From God.
From the Lord Jesus Christ.
From the Holy Spirit.
From the whole inerrant, infallible unchanging living and active Word of God!
We have feel good church services, feel good and ingest what is said to be sweet and tasty and like physical food and the obesity, the ill health that permeates our nation and much of the world, that which is ingested, taken into the eyes, the ears, the mind, the heart and lived from are empty calories. Drival. Banality. Distractions. A sleight-of-hand dog and pony show. That which does not truly feed or keep one healthy. Spiritually. No different than the physical food we ingest daily, what are we ingesting daily, nightly into our hearts, minds, spirits, and lives while here?
And what passes for Christianity today is seated front and center.
Didn’t like the photos of leprosy? Material posted on ACP? Unsettling? And only want the sugar, the feel good material?
I then contend you are more of the world, loving the world and this life more than of God and thinking, looking eternally.
You can find what makes you feel good and keeps you in darkness, in pleasure, numb, and distracted with one click on a mouse, one push of a button on a remote, and one moment taking that path. Which is VERY WIDE and accessible. Which is what the majority of folks do daily, nightly.
Few take the small off-ramp leading to the narrow gate and the narrow path leading to the wideness, the eternal expanse, and the unimaginable wonder, awe, and amazement that leads to eternal life.
We blank out, sin, and pursue that which pleases us most of the time in a 24-hour day given to us by God. It is by the sheer will of God the sun comes up every morning. That everything is held together — because there is coming a day, sooner than later, when everything will be rolled up like a scroll and dissolved. When the sun, moon, and stars will change. Just as everything now is rapidly changing and all the foundations are being attempted to be broken and removed by Satan, the prince of the air, he who has dominion here on earth for a season. The great distractor. The great lair. The one who appears as an angel of light, as do his ministers, leading or keeping many away from reality, from the truth. From God, From Christ. From the Holy Spirit. From the Holy Bible. From eternal life.
Before the coming conclusion and tribulation beyond comprehension and the world changing as it never has and never will again, much sooner than later, the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back for His Second and Final time. For His people. For His faithful.
But if reality and the truth of what is taking place on this earth which is in accordance with what is written in God’s holy and inerrant infallible unchanging living and active Word then perhaps there’s no need to run up the water bill and it is a good thing to be made aware, to prepare, to tell others — of the gospel, of the Lord Jesus Christ, of God, of the Holy Bible, because the times they are a ‘changin and we’re closer to the end of the world as it has been known than at any other time in history, and all these things, all these events reveal this.
That ought to make every professed believer leap for joy! Be truly happy. Feel good in their soul.
Not want to rush to the bathroom, disrobe, and leap into a shower. Vainly, foolishly imagining what they prefer to ingest is what they ought to be ingesting revealing much greater spiritual disease, much greater spiritual malnourishment than every fleshly disease and ailment known to man and woman.
We all live in Biblical times, friends, dear ones, fellow brothers and sisters, foes, enemies of God and Christ.
We’re in the Bible. It isn’t some ancient book. Irrelevant. Just a bunch of stories.
Want to recoil? See, hear, learn some things to make one shudder if of the mind and live as the world teaches and believes. Then definitely read the whole Holy Bible.
But keep in mind God’s thoughts, God’s ways are not like our feeble, foolish, trite, self-serving, seeking pleasure and the avoidance of reality and truth — and it is God’s love, God’s mercy, God’s Son the Lord Jesus Christ Who that entire book telling of accurate past, present, and future history affords ETERNAL LIFE to anyone who repents, confesses their sin, submits to God, to the Lord Jesus Christ, who allows the Holy Spirit to work in their heart to change it. To become a born anew, transformed person.
Accomplished by God. His free gift of grace. His love.
Accomplished by what God did on the cross and in the empty tomb.
By His coming to earth in skin, bone, blood, and fleshly life, fully truly man while also fully truly God to know before the foundation of the world that He would be coming to this world to be nailed to a tree of shame, the cross, to bleed, to be the Sacrificial Lamb for the sins of man and woman, to be the only way to God the Father, the only way to salvation, the only way to eternal life.
Reality and the truth disturbs you? Think about the reality and truth of God coming to this earth, knowing that He was going to die on the cross for your sin, my sin, the sin of every person willing to believe Him, believe God, believe the Holy Spirit, and believe every word within the Word of God.
Leprosy is nothing compared to that.
Any and every event that has taken place on earth, that is, and that will yet take place is nothing compared to that time in history.
It’s what each person does with that reality and truth.
Rush to a shower to wash and hide and deny vainly, foolishly imagining they can make themselves clean?
Or allowing the blood of Christ to wash over them making their sin as white as snow and forgiven for eternity?
Me? Sure, I would like the world to be different than it is. But I know it cannot be so. It is as man has made it. From our sin and rebellion. From our hatred of God and our love of sin, self, and evil.
That’s reality. That’s the truth.
And everything that happens — EVERY THING — is a result of our initial disobedience and turning from God.
Shouldn’t make anyone recoil and rush for the showers. Rather it ought to make everyone pause. Fall prone or on their knees, or of such posture in their heart and mind turning to God seeking Him and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and living in the Word. Living the Word. Believing every word within the Word.
Preparing. Making ready. Increasing in faith and spiritual understanding and wisdom in this escalating spiritual war.
To discern well and rightly. To divide the Word well and rightly.
To be obsessed with heaven and eternal life rather than this passing world.
What we perceive as reality is not reality. It will all disappear one day. To be FOREVER FORGOTTEN.
No eternal halls of fame, no eternal films, architecture, paintings, or artwork, nothing will be remembered or retained. It all, every bit, will be FOREVER FORGOTTEN.
What is real, what is reality, what is true?
The spiritual realm. The eternal spiritual realm in which there are only two possible paths to take to reach one place or the other — FOR ETERNITY.
And what does occur here on earth daily, especially in these End of Days, these Last of the Last Days.
If I wanted to be popular and be concerned with numbers, and revenue I would run ads here to generate income — like every other place online — and I would resort to the popular, the banal, the distracting, give the people what they want, Barabas, rather than what they need, Christ and Him crucified and resurrected from death and the grave.
It’s just that there also appear here many items of current and past history leading to future history, many current events revealing the times, revealing that every word within the Word of God is true, has come true, is coming true, and will come true.
Every word.
Without fail. Without exception.
And since we are living in Romans 1, Isaiah 5:20, Jude 1:4, 2 Timothy 4, and so many other clear chapters, books, and passages the revelation of Revelation so close now ought to be more of our interest and desire than some feel good story, some banality, and sweetness that is truly bitterness. The world is so accomplished and excellent at providing that because of the father of lies, the devil, Satan whom they follow and believe more than they do God and His inerrant infallible unchanging living and active Word.
The only true Truth is found in the whole Word of God.
Reality, for the time being until it all changes forever, is the unfolding of worldly events revealing the truth of the Word of God.
What each individual does with such facts determines where their spirit, their soul, their eternity will be spent.
It doesn’t matter if you like that, don’t like that, disagree, and protest, or if you have created some other version in your head and heart.
The Truth, the Reality, and the Facts are from God.
To man, woman, and child.
To either believe and live accordingly or to reject and adopt and approve of and live according to the world’s lies, banality, distractions, and phoniness of feeling good, being positive, having happiness, joy and freedom.
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