When I was a young Christian I was a total zealot. There is nothing wrong with that, but sadly I was often a zealot without wisdom – and also WITHOUT LOVE. I cared for “truth” more than I cared for people, and I did not even notice that I was often using Truth as a sword to crush people with, rather than set them free.

A lot of young zealous Christians are like that – but I was particularly bad because I had a ‘prophetic’-type personality – very intense, very black and white. I would walk into a room full of Christians and start an argument at the drop of a hat. I was not afraid to “blast” anyone. Truth was king – the most important thing – and that was all I cared about. This was not just an “occasional” problem with me – this was the way I lived and breathed. Total, all-out zealotry.

I do not have this approach to life any more – though I still care deeply about truth. (-For that is the way God made me). Sometimes I will still debate things with people – though very rarely.

Over the years God changed me utterly. In fact, to change my hardened heart He had to break me and break me and break me some more. And each time He did so, a little bit of LOVE got in. I’m sure He is still doing so today.

I started to realize that from God’s point of view, the most precious thing in all the earth is PEOPLE. We can see this in the most famous verse in the Bible- “For God SO LOVED the world….” There it is – He so LOVES PEOPLE. He sent His son to die for PEOPLE. That is what it is all about.

There is an old Maori saying from New Zealand, which I have to love- “The most valuable thing in all the world is PEOPLE, it is PEOPLE, it is PEOPLE.”

And yet to me in those early years, it was not “people” that I deeply cared about at all. The only thing I deeply valued was the ‘Truth’ that I was trying to put across that day. And so I attacked and spiritually “hacked” at people all day long. I was a walking nightmare.

Do you realize the sheer amount of ‘breaking’ that has to go on in someone like that – to get them to LOVE? -Years and years of awful crushing and brokenness. -Because I was SO BAD – seriously – I was a danger to the church and to myself.

If you love your ‘Truths’ more than you love people, then you are an out-and-out Pharisee. Nothing less. And you will create condemnation and death in people, rather than ‘conviction’ and LIFE.

But if you can get BROKEN enough to truly LOVE PEOPLE – and value them more than anything in this earth – and then speak Truth to them out of that place of love – then you will become greatly effective. It is all about becoming BROKEN and learning to LOVE others from the heart. If you ask Him to, God will do “whatever it takes” to get you to that place.

This is not to say that you will never speak direct or piercing words. You will – but the whole motivation will be different. In fact, EVERYTHING will be different. You may be very confronting, and speak very direct truths – but it will be in the right spirit. And this God can greatly anoint.

I got a disturbing email recently from a relative of someone on our List who says that this person uses some of the things we send out as “ammunition” to attack people or argue or divide from them, etc. Listen, friends, you can do anything with Truth. You can use it to beat people up or set them free. You can use it to become the most “negative” person on the planet, or you can allow it to break your heart and make you a closer follower of Jesus. You can use it in love, or you can use it in zealous self-righteousness to hammer and condemn people. It is up to you – and the true state of your heart.

All I can pray is that those reading this will stop and consider for a moment. Don’t be like me, and take years to discover these most basic things.

Let me ask you a simple question- Do you truly LOVE PEOPLE more than the ‘Truths’ you are trying to make them listen to? Do you value them as God does – and realize that He sees them as the most precious thing in all the earth? (-Especially His children).

How deeply can we come to realize this truth – that GOD LOVES PEOPLE. Yes – repeat it – “GOD LOVES PEOPLE”. -And so must we, if we are to represent Him on this planet.

Please PRAY about these things, my friends?

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People didn’t vote in ancient Israel, nor did they put “KICK THE ROMANS OUT!” bumper stickers on their chariots. But there was plenty of political anger seething in Palestine, even without Fox News, CNN and MSNBC around to stir the pot.

Jews especially abhorred tax-collectors, since (1) tax-collectors
were usually thieves, and (2) they worked for the hated Roman
Empire. Yet when a chief tax-collector named Zacchaeus showed
up to hear Jesus preach in Jericho, Jesus did an unlikely thing.
He called Zacchaeus down from his perch in a sycamore tree
and proposed a meeting at his house…

This was Jesus´ style. He looked beyond race, class, social labels
and sectarian divisions. He was as comfortable talking to prostitutes,
drunkards and condemned criminals as He was to synagogue
officials, high priests and Roman centurions. He looked into men´s
hearts with a piercing laser beam, not so He could judge their sins
but so He could shine the light of His mercy.

And today Jesus calls His followers to love everybody* that way.
*NOTE: “Everybody” includes Democrats, Republicans, bleeding-
heart liberals, Tea Party conservatives, Jesse Jackson, Rush
Limbaugh, left-leaning journalists, right-leaning journalists,
President Obama, Mitt Romney, Joe Biden, Paul Ryan – and,
yes, Clint Eastwood!

I´m saying this now (and preaching to myself) because too many
of us are losing our religion in the current presidential campaign –
which promises to grow more divisive before Election Day. It´s not
just political commentators who are screaming at each other like
banshees on Sunday-morning talk shows; Christians are unfriending
each other on Facebook because campaign rhetoric has grown so
hateful. We can´t even eat a chicken sandwich without triggering
a war of words.

I propose we make some attitude adjustments so we can reflect
Christ both during the campaign season and after Nov. 6 –
regardless of whether Obama or Romney wins.

1. Love people regardless of their political views…
How can I be a vessel of Christ´s love if my heart is full of hate?

2. Quit making politicians into gods. At the root of today´s angry
rhetoric is the mistaken idea that politics can solve our moral
problems. Christians in the United States, especially since the
early 1980s, have embraced an unhealthy infatuation with
presidents and political power. We clamor for a King Saul to
save us when God wants us to trust Him alone.

News flash! Ronald Reagan didn´t save us. Neither did Bush
No. 1, Clinton or Bush No. 2. Neither Obama nor Romney will
deliver us. And let´s not forget that the greatest spiritual revival in
this country in the past 100 years occurred during the presidential
terms of Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon – one Democrat and
one Republican!…

3. Frame your words with kindness. In our culture it has become
in vogue to be hot-headed. Candidates and commentators throw
vitriolic barbs like grenades, and when the discussion is moved
online, everyone starts dropping F-bombs to prove their point.
There is no such thing today as civil debate. In modern American
politics, we thrust, jab, kick, punch, skewer and impale each other
with our words. And this is equally true of Democrats and Republicans.

There is a higher way for people of faith. The apostle Paul called
us to season our conversation with grace (see Col. 4:6) and to put
on a heart of compassion, kindness and gentleness (see Col. 3:12).
But we can´t express kind words if our hearts are full of judgment,
racial bias, hatred of certain people or organizations, or anger
toward those we disagree with. If you hold judgments in your heart,
they will become like buried mines in a battlefield. When someone
walks near them and pushes your button, you will explode.

We must speak the truth, but we must say it in love. It would be
better for us to keep our mouths shut if we can´t say what Jesus
is saying with His tone of voice.

-READ THE FULL ARTICLE-

http://www.charismamag.com/blogs/fire-in-my-bones/15560-jesus-looks-beyond-politics

VISION OF THE SWORD & THE SERPENT
-by L. Vere Elliott.

This is the vision/revelation. I was in the midst of a great meeting
hall (a church), and the walls and ceilings were covered with jewels
and ornaments, and the windows were made of colored glass (a
typical cathedral or church). The hall was full of people, some rich,
some poor, some sick and crippled, mute and blind; but all had
chains on and were hand-cuffed, and no one was free (a picture
of today’s church, they’re in church but they’re not free).

In front of the meeting hall was a large platform, with a pulpit on
one side and a large cage on the other, with a huge green serpent
in it; and hanging over where the speaker would stand, was a
great sword suspended by two strings horizontally; and on the
platform were several ministers, 8 or 10, clothed in clerical robes,
sitting one behind the other, one seated just a little above the other.

The assembly looked upon these men and they looked upon the
church. There was silence for a while, until a thundering voice
sounded from the pulpit, as if it came directly from God, saying,
Who will declare the whole counsel of God? And the first
clergyman arose with a Bible in his hand, and when he did, the
old green serpent uncoiled and stretched out hissing against the
man with sparkling eyes and protruding fangs; and the man of
God, falsely so-called, sank back into his seat and placed his
Bible under the chair. And when the serpent stretched up his
head and touched the sword, he said to that man, Anyone who
obeys the voice of God, I will kill with this sword. And for a little
while, there was silence again.

And then the Voice sounded from the pulpit again, Who will
declare the whole counsel of God? And then the second man in
clerical robes arose as if he would step forward, and again the
serpent uncoiled against him, and he tumbled back with fear and
sat down and placed his Bible under his chair (hiding the Word).
The serpent again touched the sword, and with the same
remark said, I will kill you, if you obey the voice of God.

And for the third time the Voice from the pulpit thundered, and a
third man arose and sat down like the two before him. And again
and again the Voice sounded until each of the clergyman had had
an opportunity to resist the serpent, but fear overcame them all,
like the first three had been overcome. And the serpent smiled
with his evil smile. And then the Voice sounded again from the
pulpit saying, Oh if there were a man, Oh if there were a man; Oh
if there were a man who would declare the whole counsel of God,
that these chained men might be set free! Is there not one man?

Then a man of little stature (meaning he was nothing in the sight
of the world), ascended the platform and stood under the sword,
and he lifted up his eyes toward heaven and said, Into Thy hands
O God, I committ my spirit. Then he opened the Bible and read.
He didn’t add anything to It, and he didn’t take anything from It; he
read the Word, and spoke as a man having authority. And when
he had finished, the old serpent stretched up to the edge of the
sword and cut off one of the strings holding the sword in place,
and the sword swung down and missed him and passed over his
head; because he was a man of “little stature”; and the weight of
the sword made the other string to break, and the sword swung
back and pierced the hearts of those clergymen who were lined
up and nailed them to the wall. And a great scream of despair
sounded from the pulpit; but an even greater cry of joy sounded
from the assembly, for every man’s chains were loosed and they
were set free! (By the word they were set free).

When this vision had vanished, I saw another vision of the Savior
in a cloud, just above my head. He spoke saying, Hear my son
the meaning of these things. The meeting hall which you saw is
the secularized church, having a form of godliness, but denying
the power thereof. They are all covered with the jewels of the joys
of this world, and there is no end to heir silver and gold. The
people which you saw, are those for whom I died, but My people
are destroyed for lack of knowledge; they have eyes, but they do
not see; they have ears, but they cannot hear. They are truly
in bondage and must be set free!

The platform in which you saw, on which the clergymen were
sitting; the platform is the preconceived ideas, having their origins
from the pit of hell. The pulpit is the throne of God; and the
serpent, old Lucifer himself. The sword which you saw, is the
Word of God; and the strings on which it was hanging, mean the
power of the Word to give life or the power of the Word to take life.
Life was given to the man of little stature and life taken from the
clergymen that did not preach My Word! The clergymen that you
saw, are men (& women) from every church who pretend to know
Me, but they teach My people things which are not written in the
Book of life; and their pride and their presumption, and their wordly
spirit force them to obey Satan, who is a liar and the father of lies;
and each of the clergymen try and exceed the other in elegance,
in extensive writings, argumentation and the like; but they only
consider the” letter” of the Word, and leave out the “spirit” of the
Word. And the day will come and now is at hand, when they
shall all perish, just like these.

After having considered this horrible scene, the Lord spoke again
with these words, Do you remember My words in the prophecy
of Jeremiah chapter 23, as well as My words in the prophecy of
Ezekiel chapter 34? Jesus said, Read it. And I opened my Bible
and read, Woe unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the
sheep of My pasture, saith the LORD. (Jer.23:1) In the prophets
I have see a horrible thing, they committ adultery and they walk
in falsehood: (a perversion of the Word of God), and strenghthen
the hands of evil doers. (Jer.23:14).

Jesus said, At the end of days you shall understand this. Woe
to the shepherds that feed themselves, should not the shepherds
feed the flock! (Ezek.34:2). The weak you have not strengthened,
nor have you healed the sick, you’ve not bound up that which was
broken, and neither have you sought that which was lost; but with
harshness and with rigor have you ruled over them. (Ezek.34:4).
I will destroy the fat and the strong shepherds; and I will feed
them with judgement. (Ezek34:16). Then He said to me, That
these false shepherds shall in no wise escape when the sword
falls upon them. But My sheep must be warned, they must be
set free! And again He said, Do you remember My words in the
prophecy of Jeremiah in the latter part of chapter 25? Read it!
And I read these words, And the slain if the LORD shall be in
that day from one end of the earth, even to the other end of the
earth: (Jer.25:33). Howl ye shepherds, for the day of your
slaughter is come! (Jer.25:34).

Then He said to me, These days shall come quickly, the
shepherds shall howl, yea, there shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth; but when the sword has fallen it will be too late forever.
The man whom you saw who was of little stature, is every man
and woman who will humble himself or herself, and be obedient
even to the death of the cross, putting his or her trust in God, and
going forward declaring the whole counsel of God! Oh, if I could
find such a man, can you tell Me where there is one? With such
a man I could shake heaven and earth, saith the LORD.

-Please comment on this article below-

The dry times, those painful seasons of barrenness, are times to
be humbled before the Lord. Jesus said that the Father was glorified
when we bare “much fruit that remains.” Notice when the children
of Israel finally got fruit… after they had walked through the desert.
Fruitfulness is the ultimate objective of God for you when he has
you walking through a desert.

What is precious in the desert? Sand? No, there is shifting sand
everywhere. Sky? No, in fact, there is little protection from the
merciless beating of the sun. What is precious in the desert is water.

A single drop of water can make the difference between living and
dying… Most plants cannot survive in deserts. For those that can,
survival depends on their tap root digging deep through the sand
to find water. Having water is the decisive factor between what lives
and what dies.

Look at the history of God’s dealings with his saints. He led his
people out of Egypt by the hand of Moses… through the desert
headed to the promised Land. John the Baptist lived in the desert
until the word of the Lord came to him. Jesus was “led by the Spirit”
into the desert to be tested by the devil. Paul spent years in the
desert before his commissioning as an Apostle. God has used
the drought of many deserts to forge some of His finest saints.

Deserts are such obscure places. They precede blessing but are
themselves looked upon as curses. They function to bring you to
the place of having to only concern yourself with the basics of
existence. It is when water, symbolic of the Living Word of God,
becomes they only issue of your life, what you live and die by,
are you finally ready to enter into the Masters service. One drop
from heaven is all you need. When all else in this world appears
as sand in your eyes, empty barren waste, you are ready for
Kingdom service.

Plants grow in direct relation to the amount of water available.
When you can blossom with just a little water, you can blossom
anywhere! After the desert, you will be “like a tree planted by the
water” thriving!.. It is when you hunger and thirst for righteousness
that you are satisfied.

Don’t curse the desert times. God is testing you, seeing what is
in your heart. Actually, he is letting you see what He has seen all
along. Allow your roots to grow deep into God so that “out of your
belly shall gush forth rivers of living water.” A river in the desert
suddenly springing forth? Sure, that’s His way.

God often uses the desert to prepare the messenger. When the
messenger is ready, then the message comes. We have our part
to prepare ourselves for the ministries God calls us to. We also
have to be prepared by God for those same tasks. When we can
serve Him in a place of barrenness, we can serve Him in a place
of fruitfulness. It is when we are humbled and broken of our own
power that God can then show Himself strong on our behalf.

There are some beautiful things growing in the desert. Be patient
and let Him finish what he has started in you. It takes a deep,
well developed root system, to be able to not only nourish a plant,
but produce and feed the growing fruit on its’ branches. If there
are no roots, there will be no fruit. And His goal is to bring you to
a place of fruitfulness.

-Please comment on this topic below-

-Copyright (c) Bryan Hupperts, 1997.

I think what a lot of people don’t realize is that this issue is specifically
being used by the devil as the “leading edge” of his agenda in the
earth. He is using Homosexuality to push his religion of “secularism”
massively amongst the youth. More than any single issue, this is
the devil’s favorite.

Think about this for a moment. Today’s Homosexual movement
is not just about “practicing” Homosexuality. They are also about
“preaching” it and `converting´ the youth to embrace it as “good”.
What they push is actually “spiritual” propaganda – a false gospel
of ‘sin-celebration’ that totally undermines the Bible. We need to
start seeing these activists as aggressive “preachers” of a new
religion – a religion designed to totally replace Christianity. These
are some of it’s most zealous ‘missionaries’. And they are
successfully “converting” the youth of all the earth.

The whole idea is to completely rid the planet of any sense of
what “sin” is.

You will notice that in the last 25 years there has been an
enormous push in the media to “normalize” Homosexuality. It
used to be that two men kissing would make everyone want to
gag. But these activists knew that if they put sympathetic “gay”
characters again and again into movies and TV shows, eventually
they would wear down the scruples of the audience. Comedies are
especially helpful for this. And gradually they have “converted” an
entire generation of young people to their cause. In this they have
been overwhelmingly successful. It may be the greatest “propaganda”
victory ever. The battle is already theirs. And they are using the
media to spread it more and more around the world.

We need to start seeing gay promotions and gay TV shows, not
just as ‘Homosexual’ events, but also as “preaching” events. They
are designed to “convert’ people – to make them ‘fine’ with sin – yet
“not fine” with anyone who opposes the sin. Their “preachers”
have been winning this war. It is devil take the youngest.

Because of all this “propaganda”, Christians have become more
and more reluctant to call Homosexuality what the Bible clearly
calls it – an “abomination”. (Leviticus 20:13, Romans 1:27, etc.)
Nobody ever wants to use that word any more. We are frightened
to be thought of as “unloving” or judgmental. And so more and
more we let the devil define what is sin and what is not. I tell you,
if we roll over on this issue, the devil will have us for breakfast -
he really will. Entire generations are riding on our response.

If we let the devil define “sin” then it is over. The gospel cannot
be preached properly when the devil defines it’s terms.

There are actually very few sins that earn the title “abomination”
in God’s sight – especially when it is “paraded” in the open.
Homosexuality is seen by Him as being so bad that it is often
associated with “Judgment” in Scripture. We also find throughout
history that when a culture embraces Homosexuality, it is almost
always very close to the end of that civilization. History shows
this again and again.

One of the biggest lies, of course, is that there is some kind of
“gay gene” – that people are “born with”. This is completely false,
and if you do a search on the Internet you will find that there has
been study after study done in academic circles, with no evidence
of a “gay gene” whatsoever. Not that it truly matters any more.
The ‘propaganda’ war is mostly won anyhow.

But let me be clear on this: It is not OK to treat ‘gay’ individuals
with anything less than Christian love and kindness. It is very
important to go about this with the right spirit. We must always
act out of love and godly wisdom. But we must also speak the
TRUTH. We are not at “war” with individual ‘gay’ people. Quite
the opposite. But the movement and it’s message – that is a
different story. There is a war going on for the hearts and minds
of today’s youth. We are not to fight this in the “flesh” – with politics
or campaigning, etc. But we certainly are to raise our voices and
to loudly “speak the truth in love”. Otherwise the upcoming
generation will be lost to the most powerful and clever “false
gospel” of them all.

In closing, let me say that it is not “loving” to be silent. True love
warns and pleads with people not to follow the way of sin and
death. We cannot compromise on this. It is compromise that is
“hateful” and leaves people stuck where they are. Love warns,
because it knows the consequences if it stays silent. This is true
mercy. So please – do not stop “speaking the truth in love”, my
friends. It is truly a MUST in this hour. An entire generation is at stake.

-PLEASE COMMENT on this topic below-

God bless you all! – Andrew Strom.