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The message herein is as relevant as it was when it was first written two years ago. Therefore, for the benefit of those who have not toured my website or read my book, I offer the following two exhortations. Please consider carefully the application of the Word thus demonstrated and compare this with what you see taking place now in 2003. The following was first printed and published in November 2001 and again in December 2002. Please see http://nicholasscrolls.cephasministry.com/invite_me_to_speak.html Not long ago, in 2001, we were house sitting for some friends. I remember it was during the Veterans Day Holiday. As my eldest daughter sat at the coffee table doing her homework in US History, I was relaxed on the sofa behind her, watching the local news broadcast. Breaking News Bulletin, this just in; American Airlines, Flt. 587, flying out of New York, crash lands in a residential area of Queens. This, just two months and one day after the infamous terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon in Washington, DC. Towering icons of America’s power (wealth) and authority were the targets on September 11th, 2001 and now it appears that even quiet American suburbs are not safe from potential attack.” Within a couple hours of the initial breaking news, authorities announced that the fate of flight #587 was not due to a terrorist attack but blamed on mechanical failure instead. At the time, they were speculating that it was a failure of some struts or fasteners. I cried out, “Foul!” there simply was not enough time to make such a determination. How can they possibly make such a declaration? The neighborhood and scattered parts were still on fire at the time of this announcement. Though equipment was on its way to pull other parts of its wreckage out of the River, they still had not yet seen any evidence to make such a determination! Was it a mere coincidence that it was about the same time of the morning as when the World Trade Center was struck and on a National holiday! No sufficient time had passed for an investigation to show that sabotage was the means by which the terrorists struck. America was on the thresh hold of the Holiday season when such a truth might devastate the already crippled airline industry. Could America economically afford to tell its citizens the truth? Could America possibly admit they don’t yet have control of terrorism inside its boarders? That would certainly put holiday travel to a standstill. Further, it would send this Nations economy to the bottom of the well. Remember, America was fighting against Anthrax poisoning at this time too. All this was overwhelming to the American public. Better to lie to them and lead them to believe that these French built planes just can’t stand up to turbulent air and they simply fall apart in the sky. Right? How many of you actually believe that the fate of flight #587 was not the work of sabotage? Remember my daughter sitting at the coffee table doing her homework? I was so upset by the obvious deception in television reporting, I proclaimed to her this kind of reporting to be lies and that even I was bewildered by the fact that most of the viewers believe this garbage and accept it as truthful reporting. Everyone it seems, believe the lies and are so easily swayed one way or the other being pushed about by various trumped up, selective fear tactics. “How horrible it would be if people were told the truth, I asked? “Tell me dear, what are you learning in School about American history,” I asked? “Well, she says, we learn about our progress and how far we’ve come. We learn about our accomplishments.” I then asked, “When are you most likely to learn the lessons that have real value? How do you learn life’s most valuable lessons?” My daughter hesitated and then replied, “By our failures and mistakes.” I then asked, “How much time do you spend on learning from our past mistakes in history?” She answers, “We mostly learn about the pride and glory of our Nation.” I summarized, “Then instead of learning the truer lessons of our turbulent past, you are learning the things which make and build up pride and justify past action. Is that it?” She replied, “Yes.” I then asked, “Dear, what comes before a fall?” She answered, “Pride.” I said, “History is likely to repeat itself for those who failed to learn from their past mistakes.” In the background, the news broadcast continues, informing Washington State residents that while much of the country is enjoying lower fuel prices, we are paying an average 10 to 15 cents per gallon more and we can look forward to a new proposed fuel tax to support a multi billion dollar transportation project that has been on the debating table for over 10 years. This of course, we are told will help ease the gridlock residents are experiencing during their commute to and from work. The project will be completed some number of years in the future, after a third of the residents leave our state because of economic failure. There should be more room on the freeways by then! When the time to vote came around, the States residents gave a resounding NO! The States governor pleads with residents, “The money has to come from somewhere.” In other news, County tax payers are informed that they’ll be coughing up extra dollars on their property taxes to help pay for increasing Teacher salaries and benefits. You know, these Teachers in whom we place our children’s trust, are making good money. We expect them to educate our children well. It seems though; they’re never satisfied with the salary and benefits they receive. Some, as the news reports, walk off the job and strike in the middle of the school year. The kids are sent home and we’re in the middle of a buckling economy! Our children’s education gets put aside for selfish and often vain monetary gains. A couple of weeks later, a settlement is reached and the Teachers go back to their classrooms to teach the lies, half-truths, liberal dogma and general hypocrisy. What is often born from this half-hearted effort is a weak and mediocre people, unable to discern the difference between falsehood and truth. A kind of citizenry made powerless by bureaucracy and the pursuit of status, monetary wealth and power. These children are most likely to continue the pattern of error and transgressions in their adult lives and thus, teach their children the same. The seemingly endless web of lies and repeated mistakes in our past are likely to continue as a result of failing to teach today’s youth the lessons of our long history of error and transgression. Is this not what giving over your power to the Beast looks like? Are any of us without choice? Who robs you of your will to choose and question? Why don’t we hold the media accountable for more responsible reporting? Why were they’re no objections raised at the apparent spreading of lies and misinformation over the flight of #587? Where were the concerned parents screaming objections about the teachers striking in the middle of the school year? How can anyone with a conscience put their own needs ahead of others when so many are struggling in the same economic down turn? Does one teach because of a desire to share knowledge or simply earn a paycheck? Which is more important, a larger paycheck which is quickly consumed by an aggressive market or a child’s mind which hungers for the truth? Do you accept the lies of the local powers and authorities? Don’t you know that holding your elected officials and government accountable for their word is an act of love? Where is the light in you and what of the salt? Have we become a tasteless formula for mediocrity, a bland ingredient to stale bread? Where is your substance? Why do I find most choosing the lesser of two evils rather than taking the radical position of truth? Where is this country’s real courage? Where is the honor? Sadly, America is entrapped by its own indifference and hypocrisy. Blindness has struck this nation like a plague. Have you been caught by the snare? Did you fall off course somewhere? Did you fly into the spiders’ web? Did you fall into the vipers’ nest? If you feel imprisoned, your hopes are diminishing. You could pray for deliverance, deliverance for yourselves and your neighbors. If you prayed for your enemies, they might leave you alone too. I pray for you but it generally takes more than one for agreement. What do you pray for? In 1999, I started writing a series of exhortations. The first seventeen were published in a book called “Apostasy Revealed.” GOD, our Father, sent warning through his messenger that if the people did not soon repent (turn away) for their wickedness and indifference, it would be “like a mountain erupting…The ramparts are beginning to crumble and soon the walls will give way…like pine trees on a mountain slope being laid waste…” I warned of the increasing earthquakes, huge flaming forest fires, droughts and volcanic awakening. I warned of the graft and corruption within corporate America and the rise of chaos and various crimes. I said these things would be evident and the light would expose the darkness. I first exposed the sexual immorality within the priesthood two years before it became headline news. I warned you because I was sent to warn you. I wrote letters to President Bush and sent videotapes to major News Networks but it all fell on deaf ears. I tried to gain entry into Christian Churches and the messenger was shut down. Have you noticed that since the year 2000, seismic and volcanic activity has increased 300% on a global scale? What about the droughts and long burning forest fires? How about the fall of ENRON and 250 catholic clergy? Have you made any money in the Market over the last few years? Do you think September 11, 2001 was a coincidence? America’s icons of power (world trade and financial wealth) and authority (Pentagon, Military HQ) were the targets. Biblical prophecy is being fulfilled in these, the latter days. These things surrounding us are no coincidence. They are real and the threat to America’s survivability is no longer a speculation. Rather than asking GOD to bless America, I am shouting with a loud voice for America to bless GOD! I am asking you, whether young or old, male or female, to obey your convictions of truth and duty, even at the cost of your friends, family and life itself. Don’t you want a better world to live in? Are you ready to stand firm and resolve to stem the tide? How much do you love truth and justice? What is the price you will pay for restoration and reconciliation? And the Spirit responding said, “Guilt is something you run from and conviction is something you obey. Grace is something you receive and something you honor. Mercy is undeserved but something you have and something you give. Justice is something you seek and something you do. Hope is something you have and something you inspire. Love is My Word to you and your Word to Me.” Thank You Lord for your Noble answer is utterly true. “But a noble man makes noble plans and by his noble deeds, he stands” Isaiah 32:8 Exhortation Twenty-OneConfession of Another Kind My mind is in all but a fit of rage! It is all I can do to muster up strength to discipline my reaction to the many annoyances and atrocities surrounding me. Everywhere I look, everywhere I turn, I fail to see genuine faith; supposing to be within us yet, most are found without, deficient of any good measure. A celibate priest was once considered trustworthy, even safe. The hidden transgressions of priests recently revealed is only the tip of the iceberg regarding the activities behind church walls. Within those ornately adorned temples are lairs where dragons and serpents gather. Unbeknownst to many, this silent corruption has been taking place for centuries. Don’t you remember? Lucifer had to go off and make war with the holy offspring since he could not take down the Son of GOD. He has been doing so since he fled from the mountaintop. He intends to wear all down and trick you into believing you are powerless and unable to stand up to the commands of Jesus. The results are surely evident today in the work places, schools, media, corporate infrastructures and government. Everywhere you turn you are witnessing the kind of extreme graft, lust, adultery, greed and random mayhem, which, if gone unchecked, will lead to the biblical chaos Jesus, described long ago. By the very freedoms we practice, we are authoring our own demise. The sins of our fathers remain because we have failed to distinguish the differences between right and wrong! The wicked ones have been empowered by freedoms to indulge their fleshly appetites while the more prudent spare their usage of freedom and generally practice discipline. A job or a duty was once a place to trade a service or skill for a few credits. Yet now, most are seeking to take advantage of their employer, stockholders and employees. They care not what they might give only, what they can get. The attitude was once, “how might I serve thee?” Today, it sounds more like, “how might I take advantage of thee?” Oh sure, they tell you what you want to hear but beneath the lines of flattery are many lines of deception. Everyone it seems though not all, driven by lust, driven by greed. They are thoughtful only of self, expending more energy to justify selfish wants over the common good, the needs of many. Forgotten are the orphans and the widows. A generous man will give only ten percent yet a righteous man gives all he has. Both are a rarity. Today, customer service is an oxymoron. Service is all but extinct. Respect is no longer definable. Love is misunderstood and sex is a game. The news is sensational gore and political mockery distracting the masses from the apostate reality surrounding them. Television is a medium where-by the masses can be hypnotized into believing the economy is good in the face of increasing lay-offs, taxes, consumer pricing and corporate bankruptcies. Justice in the courts is becoming a vague memory. Even the elected officials are found in contempt of the very laws they pass while pocketing your hard-earned tax dollar. The seeds of hypocrisy are well rooted. Yes! The seeds of hypocrisy are well rooted. Look at the many churches crowding today’s neighborhoods. Most of these churches are mere corporations into which the charitable give their money while the starving poor are sent away with rotting bananas and stale bread. The merchandise is freely given by local supermarkets, which would otherwise be sent off to the pig farm or landfill. Do you really think that’s what Jesus meant by feeding the poor? I tell you, the poor are still starving, the orphans are distressed and the widows continue to suffer. Quite a contrast to what James exhorted in his letter, don’t you think? The churches have replicated secular models of government and business while wearing the costume of religion. Many temples are adorned with the finest crafted materials, new and old yet, within these structures gather the wicked. The air reeks of rottenness and pomp. Members of these churches spend more time casting stones at the churches down the street then they do convicting the hearts of those who are in attendance. They practice untamed judgments rather than demonstrating unwavering love and faith. The people honor their elected leaders of men who are later found out to be wicked and vile souls seemingly depraved of God’s grace. They’ve learned how to forgive the unforgivable and unrepentant. I don’t think this was the kind of rock Peter was made of. Though not all I say but most are this way. This is the state of things today. If repentance (turning away) is required of us to confidently receive redemption of our transgressions then it stands to reason that we act, behave and carry out our human interactions with one another in the same way. It is what I’ve been saying all along, “As Jesus has demonstrated, so, we too, are to follow Him in all like manner and respect.” Jesus didn’t suffer and die on the cross so you wouldn’t have to; He died and suffered so you would also. The divine power you’re witness to and of is proportionate to the measure of your example. I find it irony that the world as a whole honors the birth of Jesus more than any other event in biblical history. Christmas is oddly enough, celebrated by both, Christian and non-Christians in large scale. At the same time in our continuum, the plethora of churches around the world are best thought of as places to be born in Spirit and nourished while young in the faith. Staying in the cradle though is good only for a while. Does not every child born first suckle the milk then later take in solids? Does a baby not first learn how to crawl then walk and later run? Do a son or daughter not eventually leave their parents and join with a spouse? It is our nature to follow this fundamental pattern of growth and maturity. It is by His design. It is the natural way things ought to stay. Therefore, should it not be necessary for those who are moved by the Spirit of God to grow from one level of maturity to another eventually leaving the places of their birth (generally churches) and going out to become the living, abiding, ever-moving church of God? While a few are cast out, judged to be apostate, others leave behind what they believe to be apostate. However it happens, separation is made by a few. Of them, the faithful are His church (those gathered unto Him). My Pain, My Despair; The Cross I Bear My Dear Brethren, So that you may not misinterpret my last letter to you or take offense at such LARGE words; allow me to quote the following message from Paul to the Thessalonians and also to the kinship of fellow servants: Regarding persecutions and endurance in the face of many afflictions (adversity); "This is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment so that you may be considered worthy of the Kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering." (2 Thessalonians 1:5) I know clearly that this message is to me and those who have also traded in their earthly inheritance for something better, remembering Yahweh is ever faithful. This message is explicit throughout scripture. Read the rest of this passage and get a feel for the reality of its context. My life has become thus the same and it is remarkably different than the majority who are called by His name. Hence, my frustration with so many and yes, even you at times. I am lonely, I am disappointed and I know I need to work on my impatience. Most people I know have family and are not without company during these cold winter months. If only those whom I know were able to recognize the Spirit led choices I have made and they were able to accept that this indeed is what Salvation looks like, then perhaps a few chosen souls would accompany me as I tread where most men fear to go.... I cannot turn back to the former way of life for then I would be a grave disappointment to my Master. I must endure this conflict of hardship and I will do so to my last breath and drop of blood. Again, I say it is very lonely out here and I am questioning even now, who loves Jesus? Now, do you understand why I get so worked up over apathy and indifference, hypocrisy and mediocrity? My tear banks are bankrupt and all I have left is a voice, which echoes from out of the wilderness. Is there anybody out there...out there...out there? I know, at least in part, I am under judgment as was promised so that I too may inherit the Kingdoms promises. As Paul, who was called after Jesus, endured his penance for the sake of Salvation, so too, am I to enter in by the same gate. Glory to GOD in the highest, whom is right and just in all His ways. AMEN The world today is being led; even seduced into believing that Tolerance is a divine virtue. The United States Government is promoting Tolerance and advocating liberal allowances for transgressors. Indeed, this once great Nation has now become a cesspool for absurd alternative lifestyles and pagan traditions, which as history has shown, leads to the utter ruin of entire Nations by Yahweh’s faithfulness, the fulfillment of His Word. He, who is our Father, abhors the kind of tolerance that leads Nations into defeat. Sodom and Gomorrah stood for a while but were utterly destroyed by the will of our Father because no righteous ones were present. How many escaped this seemingly harsh and final judgment? What ever happened to the wealthy Egyptian empire? How complete was Jerusalem’s destruction and later, the fall of the Roman Empire? While preaching tolerance, The US is wielding its strong arm to force Iraq and other militant Middle East countries to disarm themselves of any weapons of mass destruction while they are themselves in possession of a horrific nuclear arsenal pointed at the rest of the world. Though there is no offer from the US to dismantle its current inventory of their own weapons of mass destruction, they intend to restrict Korea from their sovereign policies regarding tools of defense. Of course, that would be a major political mistake if you were to engage in further disarmament while facing terrorists’ religious and political agendas. So, here we are involved in other Nations political and religious agendas, not for the purpose of being a big brother to them but so that we may gain control over the world’s petroleum supplies. At the bottom of this agenda is the primary motive, money derived from resource, which equates to power and influence. I am asked to be tolerant of hypocrisy and go with the mainstream ideals that promote pride and justify murder, greed, oppression, elitism, homosexuality and idolatry. I’m expected to be tolerant of the so called ordained and degreed while they puke out liberal garbage to sow the seeds of descent and degradation. I marvel at how man is so susceptible to the charismatic influence of fallen angels and men who are themselves, depraved of reason and truth. Can mankind declare ignorance in the face of witness and testimony? Is it not true that we choose our pathways and live by the choices we make? Are we not where our prior generations led us? Who’s to blame but ourselves? I’m expected to be tolerant of the excessive taxation and spending by the liberal authorities to promote endless increases in convenience and salaries for lawmakers. Two thirds of the money spent on building a new school goes towards vain architecture rather than pure functionality. The teachers in today’s economy strike and squabble over increased pay, benefits and job security at the expense of timely school starts. Some have the audacity to strike in the middle of a school year! Their motivation largely of course, is from the economic stresses, which stifle us all. Yet, many promote exercising your right to vote at the poles for this program or that initiative, this ballpark or that incumbent. So we make our destiny by getting duped into choosing the lesser of two evils thinking that one is better than the other. When our votes do count as a sound majority, our elected officials cram down our throats what we voted against anyway. To whom are we listening when our choices lead us into utter moral defeat? What example and role modeling are we establishing for our younger generations? What are they learning from our example? I therefore submit my bold opinion that tolerance leads to moral decay and utter dysfunction of reason and common sense. This system will inevitably collapse in on itself. For the cause of freedom, we allow the miscreants a voice in matters of health, welfare and education. Our future generations are learning well how to be comfortable with hypocrisy and mediocrity. Tolerance of liberal lifestyles and behavior is the way of the world. Just how tolerant was Jesus with these same influences that precipitated moral decay in His day? The priests of His day lived lavish lifestyles at the expense of the poor. Our religious leaders of today live very comfortably as they did then. They enjoy the acquired wealth stored up by the generosity of parishioners. Did our Lord actually mean for us to lie down as carpets and be stepped on? Are we called to be weak or take a bold stand against these abominations? Was Jesus not a barrier breaker? There is so much liberal trash out there written by the so-called ordained and degreed, I want to scream! As I work hard to tone down my frustration with contemporary values and common Christianity, please allow me to remind you that Jesus was not born into wealth and neither was John the Baptist anything remarkable by civilized Roman standards. Neither John nor Jesus was content with this kind of tolerance. The majority make-up of the disciples was of common Hebrew stock. They became apostles through their tenacity and were firm in their commitment. They developed cell groups of believers called churches (gatherings). They were a minority then as God’s Appointed ones are today. They didn’t follow mainstream ideals then but clung steadfastly to Christ’s teachings, which I have accepted and practice as a way of life. The rest of the world then was as deceived and enslaved as the world is today. Their world was under siege then by secular powers just as our world today is at the mercy of the same models of Government. Christianity today promotes its own brand of elitism. The religious authorities today are largely tolerant of sensual deviance and abhorrent authority. Religion has in part lost its zeal because the message has been so watered down that it has lost the power to keep the believers faithful. The majorities are backsliding and many now are falling into pits. Jesus made a point of rebuking the aristocratic class of Pharisees for these reasons and others. One could then surmise that what we are looking at is judgment and we are ignoring the lessons history has taught us. A few are able to escape indoctrination but not without the help of our Lord’s example. Those who are able to understand and accept the works, teachings and life of Jesus know what the outcome of our abominations will be. By free will, we are makers of our own destiny and we so quickly forget the lessons of our bloody history. So why are we heading straight on to moral defeat again? Who is the one who rides a black horse? Whose face is behind the mask of indifference? Who has seated himself upon a throne and exalted himself as God? To whom is the world listening?
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