All posts by Glen Jackman

Finding a fresh breeze in a close-minded world

There are periods in life when things seem pretty stressful. They come and go through life. You rely on your meditative discipline to stay calm. Yet, life seems to have a series of struggles we must learn to overcome in business, family life, and social interactions.

With the pandemic and its lockdowns, the leftist social and news media cross-examining everything on behalf of the elites, the polarization of society increases. A disallowance of debate affects business lockdowns, family solidarity, and social distancing. Sadly evident are the counter-punching divisive views whacking the truth about natural health immunity, fueling a narrative for a draconian civic duty to get vaccinated at all costs. The inability of the Christian church to find one authentic voice is not unified but somewhat divisive. Questions are posed: “Are we facing an apocalyptic plague”? “Are we in the final throes of the earth’s history”? Just how soon is Christ to return”? Others may be content to ask: “did you get your double jab”?

When many paradigms in life are shifting and seem to be going wrong, Christ says, trust Me, abide in Me. When your life feels increasingly out of control, thank Him for reminding you of your need. Then allow Jesus to lead you by His Spirit to lift you above your circumstances.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing...If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. (John 15: 4-7)

If you do what comes naturally in the face of life’s trials, you may fall prey to fear. Fear breeds negativism already building in an angry collective consciousness pervading society with an increasingly closed-off mindset.

A few complaints can slide you down the slope of delusional despair. It will fog your ability to weigh all the facts before you find clarity. In times like this, ask the Lord who promises guidance, remain calm and wait. (Proverbs 3: 5-6, 4:11; Exodus 15:13; Psalm 23:2-3, 48:14, 139:9-10, 37:23-24; Isaiah 58:11)

To hear and sustain truth in your mind takes ongoing patience. The payoff is a fresh perspective and a mindset reliant on Christ. I find that I must write out everything I question and ask for guidance, tweaking out lies and deceptions. (Revelation 14:12)

We must turn away from following the ideals of the global elitists of the world, which is increasingly controlling society. Ask, “Will I want to surrender my reasoning powers to accept any mandate interfering with my right or anothers’ right to freedom”? Many now comply with societal surveillance employed by the conjoining governments of the entire world following one lock-step agenda. (Revelation 13:8 NIV)

We are vulnerable if we think: “my alternate opinion flowing from my mouth or pen won’t find an ear to hear or an eye to see what matters most right now”. Don’t fear censorship, either. Avoid that slippery dark descent of angst. Paul’s guidance is helpful:

God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too, at the present time, there is a remnant, chosen by grace.  (Romans 11:2-5)

The solution is to cry out to Christ for His Spirit to lead you! Affirm your trust in Him, regardless of how you feel. Thank Jesus Christ for everything; though this may seem unnatural—it’s not irrational. The Spirit of Christ honours trusting faith that aims to glorify Him. (Isaiah 30:21; Philippians 2:5)

Gradually you will begin to ascend, recovering your lost ground. When you are back on ground level, you can face your circumstances from a humble perspective. If you choose supernatural responses this time—trusting and thanking Christ—you will experience His unfathomable peace. (Psalm 13:5)

The concept applied to this period in life is inspired by portions of the ideas from Young, Sarah. Jesus Calling (Jesus Calling®) (p. 290). Thomas Nelson. 

The Divine Truth

The ultimate truth of all life, is Jesus.

The Exclusive Claims Of Christianity

Isaiah 43:11 (NIV) “I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no saviour.”

Hosea 13:4 (KJV) “Yet I am the Lord thy God… and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me.”

John 14:6 (NIV) “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Mohammed, Buddha, Krishna, and others taught a way to God, some truth about God, and gave instructions on how to live life. These religions did not originally claim to be exclusively true, just better than competing brands. Christianity, however, is unique. It claims “revelation” truth: that God has once and for all “expressed Himself” through Jesus Christ — the exact representation of His Character.

Hebrews 1: 1–3 (ESV): Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. (see also Matt 21:38, 28:18; John 1:3; 2 Cor 4:4)

Colossians 1:15-18 (ESV): He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 

John 14:6 (Phillips): “I myself am the way and the truth and the life. No one approaches the Father except through me.”

Acts 4:12 (NIV): “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

The Parable of The Various Opinions About The Door

Imagine that you are trapped inside a large building, where people are arguing about various opinions about if there is a door and how to get out. Some believe that this wall has a door in it, others that wall. Groups are formed to encourage belief in which phantom door is best. One group asserts that the way out is up through ladders that extend into the sky. And here is a group trying to tunnel out using dark, secret, ancient maps. Another group is sure that any wall will have a door if you “just believe” in yourself. And yet another group insists that “the door” and “outside” are merely a state of mind. Some have seen through all this nonsense and given up the search entirely.

Enter one who says: “I have some good news! There is a way out, but only one. It’s narrow, there isn’t a large door. I will prove it. Give up your deep, sophisticated, or silly notions and follow me!” But the various groups are so enamoured with their own ideas that few pay much attention. The “phantom door” group thinks it unsportsmanlike to assert that there is only one door. Intellectual evolutionists might complain that this “good news” lacks sophistication or intellectual appeal. The “deep ones” go to inspect the door, collect facts about it, even “hang out” around it, but never go through it. They become experts at door trivia. The “just believe” types are always happy to hear of a new door and are emboldened by this news to try ever harder to walk through revolving doors that don’t exist. In the end, for various reasons, very few make it out through the revealed door.

One Way?

John 10:7, 9a-10 (NIV): Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever come before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved…The thief comes only to steal and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

Acts 4:12:  “In no one else can salvation be found. For in all the world no other name has been given to men but this, and it is by this name that we must be saved!”

Many find this aspect of Christianity offensive. “How arrogant! What an insult to the other great world religions!” But consider this: If God ever did desire to express what He was like, wouldn’t He also make sure to say: “This is it–the true version” to differentiate His revelation from contradictory, man-made religions? If God ever has really revealed Himself, that religion would “stick out” by claiming from the foundation of the world through many generations — as it has through the Jews — to be exclusively true. Some are likely to be upset by this, but if there is any truth to be had, it must be packaged like this.

God Decides To Communicate With Man

John 1:1-2,14 (Phillips): At the beginning God expressed himself. That personal expression, that Word, was with God, and was God, and he existed with God from the beginning…So the Word of God became a human being and lived among us.

John 1:14b (NIV): We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

1 Timothy 2:5-7 (Phillips): For there is only one God, and only one intermediary between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. He gave himself as a ransom for all men–an act of redemption which stands at all times as a witness to what he is… (I speak the sober truth; I do not lie)….

Fact Or Fiction?

Christianity has claimed to be true from the very beginning. These events really happened.

1 Corinthians 15:1-7 (NEB): And now, my brothers, I must remind you of the Gospel that I preached to you; the Gospel which you received, on which you have taken your stand, and which is now bringing you salvation. Do you still hold fast the Gospel as I preached it to you? If not, your conversion was in vain. First and foremost, I handed on to you the facts which had been imparted to me: that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the Scriptures; that he was buried; that he was raised to life on the third day, according to the Scriptures; and that he appeared to Cephas, and afterwards to the Twelve. Then he appeared to over 500 of our brothers at once, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, and afterwards to all the Apostles.

1 John 1:1-4 (Phillips): We are writing to you about something which has always existed yet which we ourselves actually heard and saw with our own eyes: something which we had the opportunity to observe closely and even to hold in our own hands, something of the Word of life! For it was LIFE which appeared before us: we saw it, we are eyewitnesses of it, and are now writing to you about it. It was the very life of all ages, the life that has always existed with the Father, which actually became visible in person to us. We repeat, we really saw and heard what we are now writing to you about. We want you to be with us in this–in this fellowship with the Father, and Jesus Christ his Son. We write and tell you about it, so our joy may be complete.

Acts 3:15 (NIV): “You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.”

Acts 2:32 (NIV): “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.”

The Gospel Truth

Acts 13:30-31 (NIV): “But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he was seen by those who had travelled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people.”

Acts 10:39-42 (Phillips):”Now we are eyewitnesses of everything that he did, both in the Judaean country and in Jerusalem itself, and they murdered him by hanging him on a cross. But on the third day, God raised that same Jesus and let him be clearly seen, not indeed by the whole people, but by witnesses whom God had previously chosen. We are those witnesses, we who ate and drank with him after he had risen from the dead! Moreover, we are the men whom he commanded to preach to the people and solemnly witness to the fact that he is the one appointed by God to be the judge of both the living and the dead.”

2 Peter 1:16-19 (NIV): We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honour and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “this is my Son, whom I love; with him, I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain. And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

2 Corinthians 4:2b-4 (Phillips): We speak the plain truth and so commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. If our gospel is “veiled”, the veil must be in the minds of those who are spiritually dying. The god of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe and prevents the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, the image of God, from shining on them.

The Truth Has Nothing To Fear From Scrutiny

1 Thessalians 5:21 (NIV): Test everything. Hold onto the good.

Acts 17:11 (NIV): Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

2 Corinthians 13:8 (NIV): For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for it.

The Whole Truth And…

1 Timothy 4:1-2,6-7 (Phillips): God’s Spirit specifically tells us that in latter days there will be men who abandon the true faith and allow themselves to be spiritually seduced by teachings of demons, teachings given by men who are lying hypocrites, whose consciences are as dead as seared flesh…You will be a faithful minister of Christ Jesus if you remind your church members of these things. You will show yourself as a man nourished by the message of the true faith and the sound teaching he has followed. But steer clear of all these heathen old wives’ tales.

An Open Mind is A Cesspool of Thought. Rather:

2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV): We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV): “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.”

Truth As Trivia?

• A.W. Tozer: “Truth in Scripture is more than a fact. A fact may be detached, impersonal, cold and totally disassociated from life. Truth, on the other hand, is warm, living, and spiritual…. At what point, then, does a theological fact become for the one that holds it a life-giving truth? At that point where obedience begins…Truth that is not experienced is no better than error, and may be fully as dangerous. The scribes who sat in Moses’ seat were not the victims of error; they were the victims of their failure to experience the truth they taught.”

The Responsibility of Knowing The Truth

James 4:17b (Phillips): If a man knows what is right and fails to do it, his failure is a real sin.

Hebrews 10:26 (NIV): If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.

Philippians 3:16 (Phillips): It is important that we go forward in the light of such truth as we have already learned.

Do We Really Love The Truth or Do We Pick and Choose?

• A.W. Tozer: “We can hold a correct view of the truth only by daring to believe everything God has said about Himself. It is a grave responsibility that a man takes upon himself when he seeks to edit out of God’s self-revelation such features as he in his ignorance deems objectionable.”

2 Thessalonians 2:10b-12 (NIV) They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason, God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

2 Timothy 4:2-5 (Phillips) Preach the word… Reprove, correct and encourage, using the utmost patience in your teaching. For the time is coming when men will not tolerate wholesome teaching. They will want something to tickle their own fancies, and they will collect teachers who will speak what they want to hear. They will no longer listen to the truth but will wander off after man-made myths. For yourself, keep your mind sane and balanced, meeting whatever suffering this may involve. Go on steadily preaching the gospel…

The Spirit Of Truth

1 John 2:20-21,24a,26-27 (TEB) But you have had the Holy Spirit poured out on you by Christ, and so all of you know the truth. I write you, then, not because you do not know the truth; instead, it is because you do know it, and also know that no lie ever comes from the truth…Be sure, then, to keep in your hearts the message you heard from the beginning…I write you this about those who are trying to deceive you. But as for you, Christ has poured his Spirit on you…For his Spirit teaches you about everything, and what he teaches is true, not false…

John 16:12-13 (NIV) “I [Jesus] have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.”

The Truth Is Worth Repeating

2 Pet 1:12-15 (Jerusalem Bible) That is why I am continually recalling the same truths to you, even though you already know them and firmly hold them. I am sure it is my duty, as long as I am in this tent, to keep stirring you up with reminders, since I know the time for taking off this tent is coming soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ foretold to me. And I shall take great care that after my own departure you will still have a means to recall these things to memory.

John 8:31b-32 (NIV) “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 8:31b-32 (NEB) “If you dwell within the revelation I have brought, you are indeed my disciples; you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”

Does Nature Fully Reveal God?

“He made all things, and without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3)

I aim to answer the friend who says: That God is revealed in nature. Well, God has indeed revealed his creative powers in nature — this is true — yet it is a statement that needs qualifying. 1

Nature reveals the existence of God, but how little it tells of His character.

Nature manifests His natural attributes—His power, His wisdom, His immutability, etc.; but what does nature say to us of His moral attributes—His justice, His holiness, His grace, His love?

Nature, as such, knows no mercy and shows no pity. If a blind saint unwittingly steps over the edge of a precipice, he meets with the same fate as if a vile murderer had been hurled over it.

If I break nature’s laws, no matter how sincere I may be, there is no escaping the penalty. Nature conceals as well as reveals God. To acknowledge and reveal God, beyond nature, we need his insight found here in the Word of God.

“He made all things, and without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3).

How this brings out, again, the absolute deity of Christ! Here creation is ascribed to Him, and none but God can create. Man, with all his boasting, is unable to bring into existence a single blade of grass. Observe that the whole of creation is here ascribed to Jesus Christ, the Word—” he made all things.”

1 Arthur Pink, Exposition Gospel of John

Are you Standing Free in Christ?

“But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the LORD. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people”. – Jeremiah 31.33

Jeremiah noted the heart of stone would become a heart of flesh. This is a metaphor 1 of being reborn via the Spirit writing the Royal law on our hearts, thus radically changing it to love the Spirit-led way. Christ offered this to all at the cross, as his sacrifice instituted the New Covenant in his blood. (Jeremiah 31:33, Romans 8:14; Galatians 5:18, 22-25; Matt 26:28, Luke 22:20, 1 Corinthians 11:25, Hebrews 12:24)​  ​

If one then cannot find joy, peace and righteousness in each of the conjoined body, mind, and spirit that you were born with, there will be angst, an indication that one is giving way to darkness and disobedience is being potentiated. These are the warnings of the Holy Spirit: restlessness, joylessness, lack of confidence, confusion and zero peace. (Romans 14:17; Isaiah 48:22)

To achieve this confidence and freedom in Christ, call unto him for help to overcome any sin or obstacle hindering your walk with him. He is the author of your salvation and he will and he desires to help you. (Philippians 1:6; Revelation 3:20; Psalm 51:10)

Waste no time to submit to the Lord, call on Him to block the portals you’ve opened to Satan, wake up and stand guard over your soul. Obedience demands discipline of your entire being. Stand free in Christ, empowered by his indwelling abiding Spirit. May joy and peace be yours as you stand guard over your soul and your fellow believers. May God help you to never surrender to the dark side! (Luke 11:36; Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 9:15, 8:13; Ezekiel 11:19, 36:26; 2 Corinthians 1:12, 3:3; Acts 2:26)

1 A heart of stone pictures selfish uncaring, unkind arrogance. A heart of flesh pictures a heart with the capacity to be loving and free in joyful unity with others via the Spirit activating God’s guidance when the heart submits to Christ, born anew in the Spirit.

Do you ask: Why is this Pandemic such a trial?

There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name. This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus. Revelation 14:11-12

​Our current predicament calls for patience. The God of grace, who has established a covenant with his children, hears your cry and responds with a series of visions collected in a book called The Book of Revelation (The Apocalypse of John). The message carried by these visions is simple: While at this moment the children of God suffer in a world where evil appears to have the upper hand, God is Sovereign and Jesus Christ has won the victory.

Yes, you suffer as a resident of this world that bears the imprint of Adam’s sin. Yes, you experience persecution as a light-bearer of the gospel, but God the Father will preserve and protect you as well as each one of his children so not one true follower of the Lord will be lost. In addition, Christ will achieve ultimate victory over Satan and his hosts when he judges and punishes the wicked.

So, hold on. Don’t give up. Remain faithful to your calling as a child of God. Live by faith, not by sight, for your Sovereign Lord has defeated Satan. You will reign with Christ, for the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Sovereign Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ which will be very evident at the Second Advent of Jesus to this earth with all His angels on Judgement Day!

The Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4;16–18

The Ethics and Risks of mRNA Human Genetic Modification

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvellous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Psalm 139:13–16 (NLT)

The above text written by the prophet king David, informs us from the Bible, that we are created by God and under his Sovereign watch-care whilst we are forming in the womb from the very beginning of conception. David’s prophetic text expands to inform us that all children are allocated by God as know individual souls to be born into a human experience! — which is profound and illuminating. “You saw me before I was born”.

I argue that the aborted child is to be viewed with the same compassion and overarching joy that every single child of every single nation should be known as in fact, a wonderful image of our Lord’s kindness to humanity — to his Sovereign rule over all his creatures! oh my, the Love of God is so immense toward man and woman!

I believe it is imperative that the remnant of the sanctified church reckon with the glory of our Lord to be known when you look mindfully into a child’s eyes. Moreover, in Genesis 1:27, Moses as a great teacher of justice and mercy, reckons the truth that the child forming in the womb is: created in the image of God: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Knowing this, many born again Christians, are choosing to not receive any vaccine utilizing gene therapy based on human mRNA which would never have been achievable without historic abortions upon which the genetic coding used to make the mRNA vaccines are sourced. The theologian, Dr John Piper makes some observations for Christians who are pro-life here noted:  1, 2

Science Magazine, early on reported that at least five coronavirus vaccines under development in the States were created using one of the two human fetal cell lines. But thereafter it became clear that the two leading vaccines here in the States, those from Moderna and Pfizer — the vaccines currently being shipped — though they do not contain these fetal cell lines, they have indeed relied on the code discovered from two aborted fetuses.

In the case of Moderna, this claim has since been called into question. But in either case, it was later reported that both Moderna and Pfizer used the HEK-293 cell line in the testing phase of their vaccines’ effectiveness. So while there appears to be less of an ethical dilemma concerning the composition of the Pfizer vaccine, and possibly the Moderna vaccine, both raise yet another ethical dilemma for some pro-life people over the use of fetal cell lines in the testing phase.

As we record, ethically derived and ethically tested coronavirus vaccines (without the use of mRNA) are in process, but they are much slower in development and will likely be more expensive, rarer, and more difficult to get. That’s the prediction at least. So should committed pro-lifers get the fast, available, free vaccines? Or should they wait? Pastor John was asked: how do you think through these ethical dilemmas? His following observations are pertinent.

We should never do evil that good may come. First observation: in Romans 3:8, some of Paul’s adversaries accused him of “do[ing] evil that good may come.” Paul responded to this, that it was a slanderous charge. In other words, he distanced himself from that kind of ethical stance. And I think we should too. We shouldn’t do evil that good may come. God alone has the infinite wisdom to manage an entire world of sin in which he can turn horrible things for wise and good purposes. He never tells us that we have such wisdom; we don’t. We are to live our lives guided by the principles he reveals in his word, not by our calculations about how much evil we can conjoin for some greater good. So, if we really believe that the killing of unborn children is abhorrent to God and falls into the category of the shedding of innocent blood, for which God’s judgment fell, we should not think of turning this wickedness into a wonder drug to save our lives. We should not do evil that good may come.

We value Christ and his kingdom more than security or health. Second, God frequently, in the Bible, calls us to do things and avoid things that are very costly to us personally, in order to demonstrate that Christ and his ways are more precious to us than safety or security or comfort, and that we sacrifice in order to do what’s right. When we are told not to return evil for evil (Matthew 5:38–39), or that we should love our enemies (Matthew 5:43–44), or turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39), or go the extra mile (Matthew 5:41), or do good to those who hate us (Luke 6:27), all of those kinds of commands are designed to show that we are not in bondage to this world, and that the deepest contentment of our lives does not flow from needing to avoid risk or show vengeance. By denying ourselves comfort or satisfaction or safety for the sake of testifying to Christ’s value to us, and testifying to the sanctity of another person’s life, or testifying to our hope for another person’s well-being, or testifying to our confidence in God’s reward beyond the grave, when we deny ourselves in that way, we aim to exalt Christ and his ways over mere self-preservation. So, if a scientist avoids using tissue and organs harvested from babies killed in abortion, or if an ordinary citizen avoids using a medication that they know has been developed specifically through such harvesting and research, the aim is that the Christian conscience is preserved and Christ is made much of as more valuable than any security or safety or health we might get through sin.

We testify to the sanctity of life. Third, avoiding such research and avoiding the use of the products of such research is only one way of testifying to the truth and value of Christ in the sanctity of the unborn persons. But another way that should be added is the proactive engagement in whatever way we can to speak and act against the taking of innocent human life in the womb and the use of those children for research and experimentation.

So, I’m saying renunciation (that is, the avoidance part of our ethics), which is being asked about — Do we avoid the medication? — the renunciation of the use of such drugs has value. Yes, it does. And supplementing that value should also be the proactive engagement of resisting and discouraging abortion and the use of aborted babies in research.

God blesses principled action in his name. And the final observation, the fourth one that I would make, is the one that’s most difficult to articulate, but may be the most important. The observation is that acting on principle — in this case, the principle that we do not want to be complicit in the desecration of dismembered human beings — acting on principle often does not look like the most obvious way to be a blessing to the greatest number people.

For example, if you try to act on the principle of not participating in the desecration of these children by avoiding medicines developed from their dead bodies, someone will say, “But look, look at all the good that is coming through the medication.” And they will say that they can’t see the good that may be coming from your principled action. So, what I’m saying here is this: God has ways of honoring and blessing and multiplying the effectiveness of principled action in his name, which, to the human calculation, may appear futile.

This is certainly the case with many martyrdoms in history, for example, or other kinds of sacrificial principled actions, which didn’t look like they were going to have any payoff at all for the suffering person or their family, or for the cause of Christ — just a dead-end street at the stake of suffering. The sufferers simply acted because their consciences wouldn’t let them do otherwise, while the world sees that as futile and foolish. “Just save yourself and your family and others and stop denying yourself the privilege of life or health or prosperity.”

And my point again is this: God is God. He honors integrity and principled action that is rooted in his truth and his beauty and his worth, even where the world cannot see the point. We have no idea what explosive effects, in the depths of God’s providence and purposes, our principled action might unleash by God’s grace.

So, I’m saying, let’s not act as researchers or as ordinary consumers in a way that desecrates the bodies of unborn victims and treats those children as though they can be killed and their tissue harvested for our benefit.

Media, politics, and the propagandist echoing complaints of the world.

Enter summer of 2021: The mainline media has been publishing many articles that blame conscientious Christians for the lack of success of the vaccines and new increasing cases of Covid 19. Their bully pulpit echoes the media-driven vilification lassos all of humanity who resist. This includes resisting due to the experimental nature of the vaccine, others who rely on the immune system or alternate protocols, those who will not partake of any drug-related mRNA code from aborted fetuses, and those who have a high risk of cardiovascular harm.

Unfortunately, this divisive propaganda-empowered voice is promulgating an Orwellian message worldwide — a narrative now shared by many vaccinated Christians who use dark sarcasm about their own Christian congregants via Social Media. They metaphorically relegate others to the whipping post for an alternate view depicting vaccine hesitancy — including politically conservative views. Only after this clear defiance of respect for the freedom of conscience within the enlarging gate of Christiandom, does it now seem that the wide-gate church is going neo-dystopian, following the world. This reminds me of Nazi Germany’s rising then voted by the masses into totalitarianism.

The Dim Hypothesis is that this vaccine has also become the current modus operandi for the sifting of the church. Oh Church, we must put on the eye salve of the Spirit that we may see the truth of this onerous agenda, and get out of Babylon by crying unto the Lord for freedom from having any part with this world’s tyranny. I trust that the Sovereign Lord will guide and lead us by revelations along the Allegiant  Way.

Let’s look at the mRNA Factual Dangers:

  • Robert Malone invented the mRNA and DNA vaccine core platform technology. He has grave concerns about the lack of transparency of side effects, censoring of discussion and the lack of informed consent that these bring.
  • Free SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is biologically active — contrary to initial assumptions —and causes severe problems. It is responsible for the most severe effects seen in COVID-19, such as bleeding disorders, blood clots throughout the body and heart problems. These are the same problems we now see in a staggering number of people who have received the COVID-19 vaccine.
  • The spike protein also has reproductive toxicity, and Pfizer’s biodistribution data show it accumulates in women’s ovaries. Data suggests the miscarriage rate among women who get the COVID vaccine within the first 20 weeks of pregnancy is 82%
  • Israeli data show boys and men between the ages of 16 and 24 who have been vaccinated have 25 times the rate of myocarditis (heart inflammation) than normal.
  • The COVID-19 injections have emergency use authorization only, which can only be granted if there are no safe and effective remedies available. Such remedies do exist but have been actively censored and suppressed.

To counter politicized groupthink of the media and the ensuing public echo, dedicate some serious time to listen to How to save the world, in three easy steps, or take a shorter 15 minutes to listen to the wisdom of  Dr Malone. mRNA inventor, as he discusses the bioethics of the mRNA vaccines with a PhD Bret Weinstein, and an entrepreneur, Steve  Kirsh about the flawed vaccines.

Proof of mRNA from aborted fetuses

One of the erroneous arguments that pop up in the news is that the abortions occurred due to a medical necessity; a potentially deformed or a child with a health anomaly; or a risk to the mother in childbirth. This is based on a misapplied term, “Elective Abortion” – a personal moral judgment masquerading as medical terminology. This use in the media is clarified by The Journal of Ethics, American Medical Association. Excerpts describe this ethical confusion when speaking or writing about mRNA used in the Covid vaccines.

  • Every abortion is elective. No pregnant woman with health problems is required to terminate her pregnancy—she can choose to deliver a baby with a disability or a terminal condition, risk her own health to deliver a baby, or decide the risks outweigh the benefits and choose abortion. But like women considering non-medical risks and benefits of pregnancy and parenthood, every woman analyzing medical indications for abortion also has a choice.
  • Alternatively, perhaps no abortion is elective. Pregnancy is a radical bodily change, and the risk of death from childbirth is 14 times higher than from abortion. Deciding whether to bring a new child into the world is a serious moral commitment and doing so can cause some women economic or interpersonal harm that could result in deeper or more sustained suffering than many medical conditions. Several physicians who perform abortions have told me that many of their patients do not perceive themselves as having any choice at all—dire social circumstances lead them to see abortion as their only option.
  • The term elective abortion or voluntary abortion presents a perceptive dichotomy — confusedly describes the truthful interruption of pregnancy before viability is at the request of the woman, but not for medical reasons.
  • Most abortions done today are elective, and thus, it is one of the most frequently performed medical procedures. Thus, using the term correctly an elective abortion is the interruption of a pregnancy before the 20th week of gestation at the woman’s request for reasons other than maternal health or fetal disease. Most abortions in the United States are performed for this reason.

Christian leadership advocating mRNA Vaccination

The USA and Canadian media such as the New York Times, CNN, and Vox, CBC, and Globe and Mail vilify those that oppose the vaccination. They focus on the American Republicans, the conscientious unvaccinated – both Christians, as well as properly informed individuals who will not go ahead and be subservient to the government.

In an Orwellian way, they have radically blacklisted 12 key activists as if criminals, for the waning number of people getting vaccinated. The latest is Vaccine Passports are coming to Quebec, supported by Trudeau to encourage the hesitant to get the vaccine now.

Social media giants like Facebook, Google, and Twitter continue to censor freedom of speech advising this view — that the whole truth is not being told, but rather hidden. Many clinical doctors are censored for use of alternative treatments such as Ivermectin, Hydroxychloriquine, and others.

Aborted Fetuses for Gene Modification Continues. The world has put a certain amount of trust in Dr Fauci who has had a great influence on the world’s politicians and lock-step viewpoint on mRNA. As noted in Nature, he is further funding the use of mRNA from aborted babies for ongoing experiments to humanize mice. 3

The inventor of mRNA defines Four Flawed Assumptions. Dr Malone, who is not anti-vax — but is rather vaccinated — created the mRNA technology, states that there are four problems that world politicians are unaware of, while the Biden Administration in the USA and Trudeau in Canada push the vaccine program overlooking grave concerns. Malone points out four flawed assumptions that raise ethical questions in his blog. 4

  1. The first is that universal vaccination can eradicate the virus and secure economic recovery by achieving herd immunity throughout the country (and the world).  However, the virus is now so deeply embedded in the world population that, unlike polio and smallpox, eradication is unachievable. SARS-CoV-2 and its myriad mutations will likely continually circulate, much like the common cold and influenza.
  2. The second assumption is that the vaccines are (near) perfectly effective. However, our currently available vaccines are quite “leaky.” While good at preventing severe disease and death, they only reduce, not eliminate, the risk of infection, replication, and transmission. As a slide deck from the Centers for Disease Control has revealed, even 100% acceptance of the current leaky vaccines combined with strict mask compliance will not stop the highly contagious Delta variant from spreading.
  3. The third assumption is that the vaccines are safe.  Yet scientists, physicians, and public health officials now recognize risks that are rare but by no means trivial.  Known side effects include serious cardiac and thrombotic conditions, menstrual cycle disruptions, Bell’s Palsy, Guillain Barre syndrome, and anaphylaxis.
  4. Fourth, unknown side effects which virologists fear may emerge include existential reproductive risks, additional autoimmune conditions, and various forms of disease enhancement, i.e., the vaccines can make people more vulnerable to reinfection by SARS-CoV-2 or reactivation of latent viral infections and associated diseases such as shingles.  With good reason, the FDA has yet to approve the vaccines now administered under Emergency Use Authorization.

1 John Piper: Can I Take The Vaccine Made from Aborted Babies?

2 John Piper, Desiring God, republished in Grace Proclaimed blog

3 Nature: Humanizing Mice

4 Dr Malone’s blog

 

Christ’s Pre-Ascension Message – Abide in Me

Jesus has two intimate calls to each of us: ‘Come to me.’—Matt. 11:28, and ‘Abide in me.’—John 15:4 

Perhaps you have heard and listened to the call of the Lord Jesus: ‘Come to me‘.  Just as important, is the ongoing invitation to stay close to the same loving Saviour and hear his admonition: ‘Abide in me.’ 

Many have never repented for not having come at the abiding call for a close union. You experienced that His Word offers the truth; all His promises He fulfils; He made you partakers of the blessings and the joy of His love. Was not His welcome to you most endearing, His pardon full, generously accessible, His love most sweet and precious?

Why do blessings we enjoy, the love and joy of your first meeting with your Saviour fade instead of deepening? Why do we become faint and feeble? 

What is the cause of our spiritual weakness?

At your first coming to Him, you had no reason to complain of disappointment: yet as time went on, somehow perhaps your expectations were not realized.  Often, you may wonder what the cause could be, that with such a Saviour, so mighty and so loving, your experience of salvation is still at a loss for a fuller true communing relationship. The answer is straightforward. You may have wandered from Him, or you may have rebelled.

The blessings He bestows are connected with His ‘Come to me’ and are only to be enjoyed in close fellowship with Himself. You may not yet fully understand, or did not rightly remember, that the call meant, ‘Come to me to stay with me.’ This union in a close relationship — was His object and purpose when He first called you to Himself. It was not to refresh you simply for a few days or months after your conversion, but with a continuum of the joy of His love and deliverance. He had destined you for something better than a short-lived blessedness — not an experience only to be enjoyed during one day in seven, or in times of particular need and prayer. We wander unbeknown in times due to stress, overwork, cultural influences, distractions, or of late: pandemic health fears.

We zig-zag emotionally at times, from desiring God to the pressing administrations of life’s business. Thus our joy diminishes or fully passes away. The anxieties and pressures of life can diminish our zeal.

Remember that Jesus has prepared for you a daily abiding indwelling of His Spirit. You can enjoy unbroken communion with His Spirit. It is this close fellowship He desired when he drew you tenderly: Come to me. Never forget that He added the conjoined call of loving Grace: Abide in me. — walking daily in close union, while allowing Christ’s Spirit to lead you. He will empower and direct you to live a vibrant, thriving life. As a result of this, the treasures of His presence will bring blessed rewards.

It was not that He said: Come to me and abide with me, but, Abide in me. Communion was not only to be unbroken but most intimate and complete. He opened His arms freely accept you, to press you to His bosom; He opened His heart, to welcome you there; He opened up all His Divine fulness of life and love, and offered to take you up into its fellowship, to make you wholly one with Himself. 

There is a depth of meaning to realize in His words: Abide in me.  He still pleads with a great lesson: Abide in me – without me, you can do nothing! By every motive that had induced you to come, did He not implore you and me to abide?

Was it the fear of sin’s curse that first drew you? The pardon you received by first coming can only be confirmed and thoroughly enjoyed while abiding in Him with all the blessings flowing from Him. Was it the longing to know and appreciate the Infinite Love that was calling you? Was it the weary longing to be made free from the bondage of sin, to become pure and holy, and thereby find rest, the rest of God for the soul? This entire calming union can only be realized as you abide in Him—only whilst walking in the Light with Jesus.

To enter into this promised inherited union in Christ is a foretaste of our promised glory. The presence of the Infinite One is granted only to those who abide in Him. This call is for you as it is for me: Abide in Him. You did well to come; you do much better to abide — share with Him in all the glory of His royal life and priesthood.

Some may have heard the words: Abide in me, yet did not know that such a life of abiding fellowship is possible and within reach. 

Others, though they believed that such a life was possible and sought after it, have never yet succeeded in discovering the secret of its attainment. And others, alas! will confess that it is their unfaithfulness that has kept them from the enjoyment of the blessing. When our Saviour would have kept them, they were not ready to stay; they were not prepared to give up everything and always, only, wholly to abide in Jesus.

What can you do now to abide in Christ?

To all such, now: in the name of Jesus, your Redeemer and mine, the blessed warning remains: Abide in me, lest you can do nothing. With its various aspects, the possibility, during wearying work and continual distraction, of keeping up with the world, instead of being kept in Christ’s abiding communion.

You and I cannot undertake to remove all anxious obstacles; this Jesus Christ Himself alone must do by His Holy Spirit via abiding close union with His Spirit to lead and guide you. Each man or woman must acknowledge the need, realizing that there can be no true allegiance to our Lord without simply and heartily accepting this as one of His commands.

Meditate on this word of His calling us into abiding union, with an eye fixed on Him alone. Let us set ourselves in quiet trust before Him, waiting to hear His holy voice,—breathing its quickening Spirit within us, as He speaks: ‘Abide in me.’ The soul that truly hears Jesus Himself speak the Word receives with the Word the power to accept and to hold the blessing He offers.

And it may please You, blessed Saviour, indeed, to speak to us; let each of us hear Your heavenly voice. May the feeling of our deep need, and faith in Your wondrous love, combined with the sight of the wonderfully blessed life You are waiting to bestow upon us, constrain us to listen and to obey, as often as You speak into our heart: ‘Abide in me.’ Let day by day the answer from our heart be more apparent and fuller: ‘Blessed Saviour, I do abide in Thee.’

This may also interest: What we have if we abide in Christ.

This study is a modern edit and expansion by Glen Jackman of Andrew Murray’s  Abide in Christ: Thoughts on the Blessed Life of Fellowship with the Son of God (pp. 13–20). (1895, now in the public domain)

What we have if we Abide In Christ

Here are a few of the results of abiding in close union with the Spirit of Jesus. What we have in Christ:

  • Answers to prayer. Jn. 15:7
  • Comfort, help and peace. Jn. 14:15–26
  • Increased confidence. 1 Jn. 2:28–29
  • Deliverance from judgment. Jn. 15:6
  • Discipline and correction. Jn. 15:2–3
  • Spiritual Fruit such as good works, and obedience to His Word. Jn. 15:5–8
  • Keeps one from sin., 1 Jn. 3:6
  • Power. 1 Jn. 2:24; 2:27
  • Salvation. Jn. 8:31
  • Unashamedness. 1 Jn. 2:28
  • The reward for abiding in Christ is confidence in the day of Judgement. 1 Co. 3:13–15

 Leadership Ministries Worldwide. (1996).

Words by which Jesus began His ministry

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.” — Isaiah 61:1 ESV
  • This blog text is written by Pastor Mark Johnson, a good friend of mine. Today he shared this thought on Facebook. These words of the prophet Isaiah were quoted by Jesus at the beginning of His ministry to redeem the human race. As we follow Christ, they will guide us as well. There are 4 significant thoughts that will influence how we live and make decisions:
  1. There is a focus on the poor. Throughout Scripture, this theme is sounded repeatedly. A good Sabbath afternoon activity would be to study what God says about poverty and how to relate to it. It may change our lives as we gather His teaching and act on them.
  2. The second emphasis is on the brokenhearted. There are a lot of hurting people around us. What if we planned to do something tangible each day to thoughtfully lighten specific pain for others
  3. Thirdly. Two words: liberty and captives. Offering freedom to those who are limited by personal evil is an important act of humility for each one of us.
  4. Finally: no limits. To anyone who has been captured by evil, the witness of the follower of Christ is “You’re free!”
As we look to Jesus, each of these becomes a reality. And what we offer to others on His behalf can be ours as well. What if each of us were to choose to live the reality of each of these victories continually in our pilgrimage?

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit

Baptism Of The Holy Spirit is prophesied in the old testament. (Isa. 32:15; Joel 2:28, 29; Ezek 36:27). It is promised by the Father and the Son (Matt. 3:11; John 14:16, 17, 26).

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not to be confused with water baptism (which testifies to allegiance to Christ), which most of the disciples would have had John the Baptist do long before this occurred. Conversely, the initial baptism of the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost 50 days after the resurrection. Acts 1 says he gave proof of his resurrection for 40 days. Then he told the disciples to wait. The Holy Spirit came 10 days later post-Ascension. (Acts1:3-5, 9)

The Holy Spirit’s indwelling is a definite experience of the converted man or woman witnessed to, by the Spirit (Heb. 10:14, 15).  When I say converted, I mean the individual has exercised faith, has believed on the name of Jesus Christ as Lord by faith. Thus it is obtainable only by believers who are converted (John 7:39). And this belief is not class-specific, nor church specific, but a universal baptism of the Holy Spirit for all believers. (Acts 2:38, 39). Moreover, the indwelling Spirit is a necessity for true Christian living (John 16:13).

The Experience occurs Subsequent to Regeneration

Since it is given only to believers, one must be converted to receive Him (Acts 19:1-2, 5; Eph. 1:13). The Spirit dwells only in the individual given over to holiness and obedience by faith, and not in the unconverted man (I Cor. 3:16-17). There are several points that I would like to make:

The Resultant Signs of the Spirit’s Baptism are:

  1. It sanctifies, meaning purifies one from sin. (Acts 15:8,9; Rom. 15:16).
  2. Perfects in the unity of Christ’s love (Acts 4:31-33)
  3. Sheds God’s love into the heart (Rom 5:1-5).
  4. Gives spiritual power (Acts 1:8)

The Baptism with the Holy Spirit is promised:

This is baptism promised by Christ (Luke 24:49); promised just before Pentecost (Acts 1:5); it is a baptism coming evidenced as:

  1. A divine power (Luke 4:14 with Luke 3:21,22).
  2. A comforting power (John 16:7)
  3. Witnessing power (Acts 1:8)
  4. Power for spiritual boldness (Acts 4:31).
  5. Speaking power (Acts 2:1-4)

To Be Sought as a Divine Gift with Assurance:

We must realize God’s Willingness to Spirit-baptize us. (Acts 2:38,39). Activate your faith by looking up these texts by simply hovering over them:

  1. More willing than we think to give us this gift. (Luke 11:13).
  2. Visible tongues of fire symbolized its purifying effect at the original Pentecostal experience. (Acts 2:1-4).
  3. Oil symbolizes its spiritual healing (Rev 3:18) and illuminating power (Matt 25:1-4).

The effects of This Baptism of the Holy Spirit are several:

  1. The Holy Spirit’s offers inflowing availability, like rivers of living water. (John 7:38)
  2. Anoints the lips for verbal testimony. (John 15:26)
  3. Opens the soul for divine instruction. (John 14:26)
  4. Purifies the heart by faith. (Acts 15:8,9)
  5. Empowers us to walk obedient, keeping the divine statutes. (Ezek 36:27)
  6. Gives holy freedom and confidence through guidance. (Gal 5:18)
  7. Opens avenues for divine communion, as we call out to the Lord.  (II Cor 1:21-22)