My Cause !
"MY STORY"
"The Great Sign In Heaven"
About the Eclips On Sept. 26. 2017
Go to my favorite movies.
Food For The Soul
TAKE A KNEE
Food For The Soul
God took Butch home at age 19
There was a young Native-American man named Butch who God took home at age 19. Butch came to know Jesus more personally than most. There are several reasons why God calls people home who have not enjoyed a long life here on Earth, of which the most beautiful by far is that the person loves God so much and vice-versa that God takes them to be with Him. Enoch is an example of that. You can read about Enoch in the book of Genesis.
Included in the book The Governed of God, Butch’s writings are featured. His writings because they were written while he was “under the anointing,” and others need to be exposed to this young man’s divine revelation. This kind of Holy Spirit writing is rare. John the Elder wrote under a similar anointing when he wrote the book of Revelation. If you aren’t sure what I’m talking about, then this blog may not be for you. I will thank Butch personally for giving his life to God, the Father of Wisdom, and Wisdom Himself, when I meet him in Heaven. Butch wrote in poetic form. Here are just a few small excerpts.
Worthy Is The Lamb
“Worthy is the Lamb, states the congregation that shuns His blessings.
We are stubborn and set in our ways like sheep distrustful of strange things.
Bless my days with the counsel of your infinite wisdom. Speak of things eternal.
There are masks used of the serpent of darkness, the author of deceit and doubt......a mask
on the face of confusion that leads to temptation to travel the wide road of self-indulgence.
O Gracious Master, reveal Thy splendor, to you we open our hearts in wonder.
.....to heed the calling of the cross, to hear the voice of wisdom.
They want to make me into some form I have no desire to be.
Lord, sometimes it gets so lonely when the ones you love don’t even care, when the ones
you want to do things for don’t receive your love, refuse to share. When they are
too busy with their games of chance to
really share what you paid such a price to give them.”
- Butch -
Angels at our Gates
Jesus said to His disciples,
“Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?”
(Mark 8:17)
Has God’s approach to humankind evolved and changed drastically since ancient days, or are we simply unaware of the presence of angels because we’re not expecting them? Old Testament encounters with angels and other celestial beings such as the Cherubim have been frequently recorded in the sacred texts.
And this awareness carried over to New Testament days. Angels physically appeared at the birth and ascension of Jesus and continued their encounters with Peter, Phillip, Cornelius, and many times with Paul and beyond. Yet today beings from on high are rarely mentioned throughout Christendom; unanticipated and unknown. Instead of our connection with the Heavenly world to come, for most Christians angels are alien beings seldom thought of and rarely utilized.
How favored the saints must have felt when they visibly encountered angels. How blessed, how connected.
Jesus warned His disciples about their own blindness to their celestial partners and yet some of them were still able to make the connection. So what has happened? Did God change the agenda? According to
James 1:17 “God never changes,” so I would resoundingly say no. The problem is with us. Our celestial partners long to descend and ascend between Heaven and Earth visiting the heirs of salvation. That would be us. For they haven’t experienced the miraculous experience of salvation that we have. As blissful as their existence in the realm of God’s glory is, they know not the joy of redemption.
All the while the Cherubim and Seraphim fly back and forth from the very throne of the Holy One, often with coals of fire from the altar to anoint the tongues of servants here below who speak forth the Word of God.
Jesus has exhorted us to open our eyes and ears that we might not only be aware of our Heavenly partners but to live with the immediate expectancy of connecting with our “ministering servants” who anxiously await our summons. If we could only see the great cloud of witnesses which surrounds us, the chariots of fire and the horses of Heaven, and the myriad of angels assigned to protect and watch over us, then we would walk taller and stand firmer in our faith than ever before.
Soon the angelic beings will all appear with Jesus when He triumphantly descends from the ethereal clouds above. Wrapped in splendiferous glory to take His children home, Matthew 25:31 puts it like this: “When
Jesus comes in His glory with all His holy angels, He will then return to sit on the Heavenly throne above.”
There are angels at our gates longing for us to let them in.
Alameda Pearce wrote one of the most compelling hymns of all time titled When He Shall Come
When He shall come resplendent in His Glory,
To take His own from out this vale of night,
O may I know the joy at His appearing,
Only at morn to walk with Him in white.
When He shall call from earth's remotest corners
All who have stood triumphant in His might,
O to be worthy then to stand beside them
And in that morn to walk with Him in white.
When I shall stand within the court of Heaven
Where white-robed pilgrims pass before my sight,
Earth's martyred saints and bloodwashed overcomers
These then are they who walk with Him in white.
ALIENS AND STRANGERS
"To you who believe, this stone is precious”
(I Peter 2:7)
There is no argument that the disciple Peter was rugged and strong, a man’s man as it were, and he may have been cruder than not. Peter followed closely the One whom God sent, Jesus, who was a steadfast and decisive leader. Jesus Himself threw over the tables of the money changers in the temple courtyard in righteous rage. This was not the act of a weakling. In a masterful voice of thunder, He called forth Lazarus from the grip of death. He cast demons into swine from his authoritative being, and he challenged his ridiculerswithout flinching. This was the person of the Son of God who Peter gave his life to, not someone who chose the easy road or backed down in the face of adversity.
Yet Peter called his Master precious. He saw in his Savior the very qualities of a loving God, the radiance of God’s glory, the exact likeness of God’s being. To walk as Jesus walked is not a prospect desirable to the weak. To the humble yes, but not to the fainthearted. When Scripture tells us that Jesus is the Rock of our salvation, there’s nothing soft and cuddly about that. Yet Peter still tells us that Jesus is precious.
Observe the rushing waters cascading over boulders in a mountain stream, ever thrashing downward,
carrying with them a plethora of leaves and grasses, twigs and logs, all the carnage it can uproot and displace; relentlessly, quickly, commandingly. At the bottom, however, it empties into a pool of clear blue water; refreshing, soothing, peaceful. Delightful little sparrows splash, gentle toads chirp,
and fishes meander in and out of gentle liquid pathways in their own private paradise.
Only those who truly belong to Jesus can even begin to comprehend the contrast which is his very essence. No wonder Peter says we are aliens and strangers in this world (I Peter 2:11).
Those who haven’t given themselves to Him cannot possibly catch the vision, nor are they inclined to.
Looking directly into Jesus’ eyes, the rich young ruler was drawn into a realm of love and compassion which was precious beyond anything he had ever experienced. He felt the all-consuming love,
and simultaneously the shame of his own sinful state hit him like a ton of bricks.
One day, when every soul will stand before Jesus, not a word will need to be said. Sinners will instantaneously realize that they have not returned the love which was freely given to them. They will instantly get the whole picture, bow their heads in remorse and unworthiness, and walk toward that great abyss into eternal horror. Hell is so horrific that God, with back turned, cannot face it. Each and every soul whom God has created was done so out of love. Rejecting that love is unforgivable. Those of us who have accepted the great sacrifice of Jesus’ dying on the cross, borne out of love, will cling to that One who has become so precious to us.
ALL WE HAVE
“Many in that day will cry Lord, Lord.
Did we not do many things in your name?
…..then Jesus will plainly tell them
‘depart from Me, I never knew you
!’”(literally translated from Matthew 7:21-23)
If I was a betting person, I would wager that almost all Christians would say that this verse has nothing to do with them. And yet, Jesus is clearly talking about people who have prophesied in Jesus’ name and people who have done many things, even great things like miracles, in his name. But, the argument would be…..”He knows me.” That’s missing the point. Jesus will be saying this in disgust – as in – I know you, but I am disgusted with you and reject you as if I never knew you at all. Why is he disgusted? Because many followers of Christ are claiming that their good works will get them into heaven.
Nothing, absolutely nothing that we can do will satisfy our holy God. People somehow get caught in a
narrow-minded view of their relationship with God and with the world in general. Even Christians think
they’re something when they’re not. God is a great and wonderful Being. God is the epitome of love,
power, and glory. God is light. Everywhere God has been as he has passed through his journey through eternity, darkness has been transformed to light, and life has been created. And that, from nothing.
God’s glory is so magnificent that even in our glorified state in heaven we will not be able to approach the presence of his glory. Will we be able to see God? Yes, from afar, but never up close. Out of love, he created the world. His right hand of power and authority stretched forth and he said: “let it be.” His left hand of love stretched forth and blessed it. I’m talking literally – not theoretically.
We were created, beginning with Adam, to glorify Almighty God. The God of wonder and light. There’s
only one reason that we breathe, one reason the blood flows through our beings, one reason our hearts beat, and one reason we have souls capable of obtaining eternal life with our Creator. It is to worship and serve Him. Everything is for Him. We were not made for each other. We were made for God.
If for one minute we think that God needs us, or that we can accomplish something for God
because God depends on us, then that’s being caught up in self-centeredness, and can lead to eternal destruction if we’re not careful. If no one ever believed in God, or in his Son Jesus Christ, God would still be the resplendent Being that He is. God would still rule eternity. God has always been, is, and will be.
Performing miracles in Jesus’ name, casting out evil spirits in His name, is a wonderful thing as long as
we sincerely give Jesus all the honor and glory. We cannot glory in ourselves, for there’s nothing to glory in. The only virtue and merit we can claim are that of Jesus. He’s our only ticket out of our mess.
He’s not only all we need, He’s all we have. We should want none other.
God Reached Out
​“.....the One and only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth”
(John 1:14)
Only a loving secure Being would grant “free will” to His own creation. Our emotions run the gambit and are often forces so powerful that we surprise even ourselves. Made in God’s image (man and womb-man), we have some understanding of loneliness and longing. We have a little trouble with patience but we muddle through it. But these are attributes of our God and even though ours are evident to a lesser degree they are always a part of us because we have been made in God’s image regardless of exactly how literally we care to interpret that.
So what did God do? God reached out, humbled Himself, and did whatever it would take to reestablish the communication, the intimacy with His creation which He had desired with Adam first, and subsequently with Adam and Eve as a couple. The signs were there early on - Adam experienced loneliness and longingjust as his Creator did.
“Out from among you will come One who will be a ruler over Israel, whose origins are from ancient times.” (Micah 5:2) Become intimate with My Son and you will become intimate with Me. My Son Jesus will serveas a lifestyle model for you; the kind of ideal life which you’ve already forgotten over a comparatively few generations. Jesus will renew your relationship with Me. You will again be having access to an existence
with meaning and purpose.
It is beyond my comprehension how an infinitesimal Being of resplendent purity and burning glory could possibly take on the lowly human physicality and persona in the form of a newborn baby, yet that’s exactly what the Perfect One did. That in itself is enough to command our worship and adoration, but living among us and ultimately enduring the most brutal and cruel death imaginable, conquering death on our behalf and
successfully lifting us up to an everlasting state of tranquility and happiness is something which clearly could only be borne out of, and accomplished from an all encompassing and unconditional love.
"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our know ledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness."(I John 1:3)
God's Jewels
It was the late 70’s but it seems like yesterday. The double storefront we had rented on the east end of Sunset Boulevard was hardly in the better part of town, but that was the point. Metropolitan Community Church downtown was now the third largest congregation in the city of Los Angeles, and it had been very successful in its outreach so far, most particularly to the gay and lesbian community, but we all knew there were more lonesome souls out there who were being missed. My good friend Don Pederson was to be our pastor. His credentials were a mile long, including pastoring the MCC “mother church”, and the purpose was to
reach the unreachable, namely the gays and lesbians nobody else wanted. We knew enough about what Scripture was really saying to know that they were exactly the ones Jesus wanted.
The project was our own, and it had plucked at the heartstrings of not only some spiritually dedicated saints like Vince, Paul, and Ruth & Paulette, but it also drew in a number of MCC clergies like Earl, Joan, and myself, along with Brant Baker who had his own miracle ministry in Long Beach. As for Brant being there, the way it went was that if his gay friends were enthusiastic about something, Brant would soon find a way to join us, busy as he was. Sometimes he and I were like the Bobsy Twins, always winding up together again, no matter what or where. He was one of the most fun friends I ever had, and that’s because it had
the added spiritual depth.
Physically putting the project together was not unlike the movie “Brother Sun, Sister Moon”, and I remember our elation when the beautiful alter arrived. A carpenter friend had made it. The Church Of The Good Shepherd - we built it and they came. On Sunday nights you’d find standing room only in the small store-front sanctuary as dozens of newcomers came aboard and returned week after week. Our prayer circles, our tearful and joyful experiences in body ministry in the Holy Spirit – the cherished memories have never left me. I can still see first-timer tall Bruce in the back row, towering over everyone else, tears streaming down his face as he encountered Jesus up close and in person among friends; among love. I see the compassionate
Joan embracing Jerry in her arms up front by the piano, and leading Jerry to Christ. Jerry would one day become an organist in the Shekinah ministry. I see Vince and Brant sitting on the floor with Danny between them as he was baptized in the Holy Spirit and began speaking in tongues. Body ministry at its best.
It didn’t last all that long, but this special ministry served God’s purpose. Many would find Christ in this small church and many would experience the fire of the Holy Spirit. Some would become the word of knowledge workers in Shekinah Fellowship, and others would enter into full time anointed ministries of great variety. This is what a fledgling gathering of God’s special children can produce. Do not think for a split second that this was anything other than directed or anointed of God. The gifts of the Spirit were received quickly by receptive
and precious souls who God loved so dearly, and for whom He gave His only begotten Son. God’s other children – the Jewels in His crown.
"They that feared the Lord often spoke with one another, and the Lord heard this,and a book of remembrance was written of those that feared the Lord, and loved to think about their God. "And they shall be mine," says the Lord of Hosts, "in that day when I make up My jewels"
(Malachi 3:16-17)
