With the upheaval in society the past couple of years, I pray that 2022 is a new beginning where folks begin to realize who is in control, that is the Almighty God.

Degenerate politicians have failed you as well as “scientists” who are basically paid off politicians, sold to the highest bidder. The fear of death is what they prey upon with Satan exhorting this on. Even the most hardened atheist understands that everyone will eventually die, while only the delusional believe they can somehow beat death.

The pandemic should instead be a WAKE UP CALL to those perishing. That reminder that you will never beat your own death as God has affixed the exact date and time. And after death comes judgment. What a sad state of affairs for those who believe this is all there is as they cling to this world like a drunk trying to avert driving off a cliff.

But I have seen this before, many times where an individual is given a personal wake up call from God which comes and goes and they go back to their life of sin. Sooner or later, there won’t be anymore alarms or reminders!

Do you want to live in peace no matter the circumstance? Place your faith alone in the person and work of Jesus Christ. You will live knowing that this isn’t all there is, you will live eternally with Him! If I am wrong, then you have nothing to worry about. If I am right however, and I will unequivocally say I am right because of the myriad of evidence on this, you have plenty to worry about if you reject Jesus. This pandemic and your worldly issues are NOTHING compared to eternal hell, where there are no breaks from the misery, NO HOPE, NO LOVE, just continual torment and despair.

No one will beat the death clock, none have! Not even Jesus could add a minute to His own life here on earth, so what makes you believe you can? If it is God’s will that you die of Covid-19, rest in that will, and you will start living your life! I read story after story of those doing everything degenerate politicians tell them to, and it hasn’t prevented them from contracting this virus. So what if you do? Do your thoughts immediately have to turn to death because you really haven’t thought about it before? Hence the wake up call from God!

You can wear 10 masks, get 15 boosters, curl up in the fetal position in fear of the virus, and then go out the next day and get hit by a bus and die. Because you will never beat that death clock or how you will die. The wages of sin is death, and we ALL have sinned.

So, if you are unbeliever or deceiving yourself in a world religion, I pray in 2022 you try something NEW! Place your faith alone in Jesus Christ, repent of your sins, come INTO His rest and peace and your life will change forevermore! I can promise you this just as the sun arose this morning, that Jesus will NEVER fail you! He is an Unmatched Conqueror seeking sinners who He has chosen!

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

When my dog Leo passed away in late March of 2020, it was a devastating loss. I really clung onto my faith during that time, as I could only hope things would somehow return to normal. He was all that I had, and a symbol to my new life in Christ. God had promised “all things will become new”, and came through with this promise which seemingly ended.

But God’s promise didn’t end, as every ending has a new beginning just like my former life of sin ending. Clinging to my faith and hope, I took a giant leap into the unknown. A new puppy named Joby came along two months later. In my former life, I had really no faith, so there is no way I would have taken that leap.

Now a newness in things doesn’t mean there isn’t a bit of anxiety or nervousness. The uneasiness of the unknown. But when that moment arrived, God took all that anxiety away as Joby was another the new and blessed beginning. It was an instant bond, as Joby seem to know what I needed from the start. His affection and compassion was there from the beginning, always giving a hug and always obedient. God showed me that every sad end is actually just another new beginning just as my rebirth in Christ. And ALL things are made new.

The new beginning of love, joy, peace, rest, is what God by His grace will give. A reset. It doesn’t mean we forget former things, it means we move on and realize the blessings. Joby didn’t replace Leo, the newness meant that I would make new memories now with him. A blessed addition, not a substitute.

He has his own unique character, and as I learned from Leo, I am now learning new things from Joby. Call it as you wish, but this is God’s means and I truly believe He sent them my way for this education. As people, family, friends in my former life couldn’t supply, they have. God knows best! All made possible by the faith He granted me and all to His glory alone.

Every New Year, the mentality is when a the year ends, the slate is clean. There is a newness we hope for. All the worries, sadness, etc. are extinguished in that hope as we now move forward into a new year. And I pray that God gives you a newness in life and that you realize His blessings!

When you are born-again, ALL things are made new, not somethings, but ALL things. The end of your former fallen life now has a completely cleaned slate, and Jesus cleaned that slate by His sacrifice! The end gave you a NEW beginning, just as the new year comes.

Human gift giving is not God’s gift giving. Fallen man will always have strings attached to the gift, no matter how much one tries to rationalize this. So examine yourself, are you really emulating God when you give a gift to another? Or in other words, is it really a gift?

When God gives a gift, there are zero strings attached. It is completely unconditional. He isn’t giving any gift to be a “better God” or just to prove how loving and merciful He is. He isn’t trying to gain favor or allegiance. He does this to glorify Himself, it is just who He is. He is not seeking anything by giving the gift such as loyalty or devotion. The gifts He give are unconditional to His perfect plan and purpose.

Religious zealots will attach failed strings to God’s gifts in the attempt to reduce Him and His glory. They will basically teach that God works as an ATM machine, the more religious loyalty and devotion you give Him, the more He gives His gifts. But this only NEGATES God and His grace, because it reduces Him into a fallen human being.

If you are really emulating God’s way of giving a gift, there is nothing attached, even your own expectation of enjoyment. You give the gift with absolutely no expectation or emotion attached, such as even a “thank you” from the recipient. You gave the gift to totally and unequivocally benefit the recipient, never yourself.

Was it benefiting Jesus to leave His eternal throne and die on a Cross? Or was that gift from God solely the benefit of the recipients of His redemption. Because IF Jesus had attached conditions to His sacrifice, no one indeed would be saved, not a one.

Matthew 6:3 But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing

Jesus makes an awesome point for us to understand. “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing”, because in our flesh which holds sin, we naturally attach strings to our gifts. We EXPECT things. Let’s say you gave randomly an expensive gift to someone you love and that person said nothing, would you be instantly disappointed? Be honest, you probably would because you attached an expectation, you let your left hand KNOW what your right hand was doing. You gave that gift with the mindset it might help that person you love, but ALSO with that it would build your own esteem. In other words the intent was selfish no matter how benevolent you felt you were.

And speaking from experience, it is NOT easy in this because of our natural tendencies. It takes practice, discipline and a total reliance on the Holy Spirit to just give a gift and then walk away from it! But when you do? How much more fulfilling it is! Honestly, when I first started doing this, I would have to be reminded by an individual that I did something for them because I walked away from any expectation.

What I personally learned by studying God’s gift giving was how LIMITED humans are in their gift giving based on conditions and strings and expectations. We tend to give gifts solely and only to those we believe DESERVE them. God on the other hand gives His gifts to those we naturally believe DO NOT deserve them! Think about this!

So if you are enveloped in a religion which is attaching strings to the gift of salvation, that would be a man-centered faith, and time for you to leave! Run to God, who never attaches such strings!

Isaiah 44:22, “I have wiped out your wrongdoings like a thick cloud And your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”

One of the first things those God has given a rebirth will invariably experience a collapse under the heavy weight of sins they have accumulated. Without this collapse, the sinner either deceived themselves or were deceived by another. For the first time, you will realize and fully understand what a sinner is, and indeed it is you who looks in the mirror.

In December of 2010, I experienced this collapse under the weight of my sins and didn’t realize the symbol God sent to signify this until just recently. On December 18, 2010, I posted some photographs of a major cataclysmic event which happened the night before. My back porch had collapsed under the weight of heavy snow. It was around 2:00 AM, when I heard the crash, the whole house shook like an earthquake as it awakened me and probably my neighbors. I didn’t investigate the damage until the sun arose, and discovered it was a total loss.
Now the day after this, December 19, 2010 was when God opened my eyes to His Scripture for the very first time in my life. Reading the first Chapter of the Gospel of Mark, the words were literally bouncing off the page and into my heart. I was asking myself “why didn’t you see this before?”.

I didn’t honestly realize the depth of my wickedness at the point in time, probably I would say a month later when I read and studied the crucifixion of Jesus is when I realized the tremendous weight of my sin. I literally collapsed under that weight just like my porch did under the heavy weight of the snow. A cataclysmic event in my life.

Romans 6:4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.

You see, if you don’t understand this weight of sin you carry, you will NEVER understand the absolute need for a Savior. And when that collapse happens as you realize your very sins were imputed to Jesus Christ on the Cross, you then see Him picking you up out of the rubble and destruction which occurred. Before this point you were literally BURIED under your sins, and in my case I didn’t realize it until God gave me a second birth!

Now literally over 10 years later, I see God sending me a literal example of what was going to transpire. The collapse under my sin weight was coming. I would be saved, redeemed by Jesus Christ!

If you haven’t collapsed under that sheer weight of sin, I would suspect you are still empty, still trying to claim a faith which comes and goes under a religion. Those who have been saved, naturally repent of sin, knowing full well WHO pulled them out of the twisted rubble, it was Jesus Christ alone. You realize you didn’t pull yourself out and there is no way you could have! Or in other words, you understand that you could never save yourself by ANYTHING you do or say!

Before salvation, you see yourself as a good person, there is NO weight of sin experienced. Sure, you might feel guilty at some bad things you have done, but overall you don’t feel the real weight of it because you really don’t fear God. It is by the second birth is when God shows you His eternal holiness in the person and work of Jesus Christ, that is when the weight of sin is realized! Before that point, you will always believe you are a strong porch that has really no snow on top of it.

2 Corinthians 9:15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

And God willing, He collapses or has collapsed you under that weight of sin so that you see your Savior Jesus Christ.

This Christmas of 2021, I would like to provide a witness to all of those who rose up during the Christmas season of 2019 and helped and prayed for my beloved dog Leo who was dying of cancer.

Isaiah 6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Whether you believe God exists or not, my personal witness is that He sent you! Without that unconditional support, without your prayers, I don’t believe Leo would have made it through December let alone November.

I wrote in the past of the daunting trip we made to Colorado, on faith alone. There are too many things to write on this, but will testify when I look back how it could be no other than God Himself which provided us safety and protection and provision. The sheer details would shock many, as to what needed to line up and when. Miracle after miracle is what I witnessed in a short period of time.

Some never even met Leo in person, yet they rose up and supported us. And some of the least expected people did so as well. There were no questions, just love and support. As some know, I was deeply moved by this experience, the appreciation I felt was overwhelming! Never in my life I had done something like this, and God made others aware of this by His grace alone.

On Christmas Eve of 2019, Leo and I went to a church service in Fort Collins. We scaled up a dark stairs and were seated in the balcony. As I sat there with Leo, I thanked God for getting us to that moment! Leo quietly listened to the hymns and service, we then scaled back down the stairs, a peaceful joyous victory in this battle for his life. He was still with me and his health was quite good for the moment, as God placed a memory for a lifetime, as I knew this might very well be the last Christmas Leo and I would share together. There was nothing taken for granted! All made due to the prayers and support we received. God heard them, He sent you!

So I write to those who supported me and Leo before, during, and after to tell you that God sent you! And just as the blessing of Leo was to me, you are also counted as a true blessing from God. And know, it wasn’t the amount of support, whether it be small or large, that mattered, an ounce is all it took! And I do believe God prompted everything for each individual, so we can rest in this!

I don’t think I had a better Christmas in my entire life! It was so peaceful, so joyful, so thankful! So forgive me if years from now, God willing, I am still thanking you! My gratitude is eternal!

Matthew 9:11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” ¹² But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³ Now go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, rather than sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

The common perception of hypocrisy from unbelievers is a valid notion in my estimation. Some who claim to be Christians seem to demand perfect religiosity, church attendance, and morality before God will save a sinner. And then they see these same “Christians” using profanity, getting divorced, committing crimes. The demand is what they see as hypocrisy, but the demand is a false notion!

The Pharisees were an ultra-religious sect. They invented laws over and above what God commanded in religious piousness and expected everyone who were Jewish to meet this bar of religiosity. They would then move the goalpost as well when they saw one coming near that bar so as to prevent them from reaching their level. They didn’t view themselves as “sinners”, but God’s holy ones.

So when Jesus came, they saw no need for Him. The Pharisees thought by their inherent godliness, they were on their way to heaven or as you hear from modern sinners “I am a good person, God will save me”. It didn’t make much sense to the Pharisees if this Messiah, Jesus Christ, was consorting with the lowest of the low, tax collectors, prostitutes, thieves, the most ungodly.

Jesus by a divine common sense and clarity tells them “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick“. The point being He being the Redeemer as the Physician is needed by those who truly know they are sinners and need Him.

I will say from personal experience and my time of witnessing, that one will really never know the sheer DEPTH of being a sinner in God’s sight until He grants them a new heart. Before that point, it is “I am a good person”. But the comparison is ALWAYS based on other sinners, not as a comparison to God. It is when God gives a rebirth, you SEE for the first time the comparison is only made to God. And only then you see yourself as this wicked vile rotten sinner who THEN needs a Savior.

Before it was “I am better than those vicious rioters and murderers”, after a rebirth is “I am a rotten sinner in need of a Savior, Jesus Christ”. And if your church is not teaching this, if they demand that before one can be saved they must meet a list of things first before God will grant salvation, that church would be a church of the Pharisees, not Jesus Christ. God saves the ungodly, NEVER the self deceived religious “godly”!

1 Kings 8:57 “May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. May He not leave us nor forsake us”

Every crisis in life is met with a test of faith. Some attend a church religiously every week, sing praises and adulation to God, but when a crisis comes their faith is exposed. The trust in that faith is tested. Are you turning to God and resting in His purpose and will, or are you abandoning Him to seek answers from the world is that test. The cover comes off on religiosity, as are you practicing what you are preaching?

I can say that only by the grace of God I passed that test two years ago in a crisis which happened this very month. So many things all at once were thrust out of my control, and it would have been easy just to abandon my faith in my former life of sin. If certain things didn’t transpire, I would have doubted God for example. But in my new life as being born-again, I knew that by trusting God and His plan and purpose, and COMPLETELY submitting to this, that I could rest easy.

It is our fallen nature to doubt God, we are born doubting Him, more so rejecting Him. Humanists who call themselves “Christian” will try to balance the fence between God and the world, never giving glory to God alone, and never completely trusting in His plan. An example would be if a bad event occurs, God cannot be involved with it. Or if something doesn’t transpire to our liking, God isn’t involved. To humanists, He can only be involved with the good things of which He shares the glory and boasts with man. The humanist justifies this in their brain by claiming man though is responsible for the bad things.

In every crisis, God is there! It is a matter of faith. Could God rectify the crisis in a blink of an eye? YES! So what does it mean when He isn’t doing this? It means that He is working ALL things, good, bad, indifferent, to the GOOD of those who love Him, those who are His children.

On Friday night, folks in the mid-south region of the U.S. were greeted to utter devastation by a large band of tornados. The sheer power of the storm destroyed entire towns in an instant. And while most tornados don’t touch down for more than a few miles, this one stayed in force for over 200 miles.

People just going on with their lives, probably planning Christmas celebrations, working, going to school, suddenly saw their life turn upside down in an instant. Everything they owned was destroyed.

Some may ask honestly “why God?” And the answer is always we live in a fallen world and this world is slowly passing away. This is not the eternal end, but to show us that clinging to this world and all that is in it is a futile endeavor.

Those without God will be in a perpetual daze after such destruction, trying to make sense of this. Those who delusionally were using God as an ATM machine, hopefully understand there is no such machine. Bad things which happen are not discriminatory. The rain falls on God’s children as well as the unbelievers.

Bad things happen to all! The difference is those with God have Him there to comfort them and move forward. Those without Him are left to their own devices.

What we should be praying for when things like this happen? That by such a major event, those who have gone through it see God’s light! That they TURN from their lawlessness and then turn to God. It is a solemn reminder that you won’t take your worldly possessions and worldly life into the after-life. So cling to Jesus Christ instead of things which will be destroyed in an instant.

“Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance” (Ref Luke 3:8)

Repentance simply is the complete changing of mind and heart from sin, the turning away from that sin in full commitment. It involves no excuses, no rationalizations. It is also a process by which you do not commit sin and by the power of the Holy Spirit, this process becomes fruitful.

With this one needs to understand that reformation is not regeneration. Reforming of oneself comes by self will-power. Regeneration comes only by the Holy Spirit. Reformation will be a temporary fix, regeneration is an eternal fix.

Those not regenerated are delegated to reformation, self will-power. An example would be a criminal or a drug addict who receives some sort of punishment, and by this alone they commit to reforming themselves in actions only, not in thoughts. Ask any drug abuser who went through a program, although they may quit cold turkey, the desire in their heart and mind remains. A thief who was busted may spend time behind bars, but still schemes of ways of another theft. This is not repentance.

Repentance is a gift from God, it is when not only your actions stop sinning, but also your thoughts and desires for that sin. Remember, Jesus said your thoughts are also sin, such as being angry and also being a murderer. Meaning just because you didn’t carry out the act, doesn’t mean you didn’t sin in thought. The same goes for lust. Just because you didn’t commit adultery overtly, doesn’t mean your thoughts didn’t convict you of adultery.

Regeneration brings on repentance, it is the change of mind and heart in the innate desire to sin. So now, not only your actions of sin are not conducted, but also the thought and desires to sin are vanquished. Yes, this is repentance. It is not just making a claim not to sin, it is an internal process of the removal of the desire to sin. You cannot do this by self-righteousness or sell will-power. The only way a fallen sinner could repent is by the power of God.

If regenerated, you will know that repentance is also a process. Some sins are easy to repent of, some are not. The harder the repentance the more power from the Holy Spirit comes. He will convict you over and over so as to remove that desire. He may bring back memories of your former life to show you how very stupid and disgusting you were, speaking of experience on that one! He may remove certain individuals from your life as to help you in this process. He may have you quit a job, move to another place, etc. all in this process of leading you to repent.
The confusion from some out there is if repentance is a one time deal or does it continue. A pastor may have taught you that when you were saved, you repented and that’s all you need to do. The only correct part of this, is you did repent at that time to turn to the Lord, but the process of repentance will remain while you are still in the flesh. Romans 7 teaches us this, that our flesh still holds sin, so the process will continue. The Holy Spirit will continue to convict so as you do repent.

The desire for repentance will grow as well! You realize FULLY what Jesus paid on your behalf on the Cross, and that sin you just committed in deed, action, inaction, or thought sent Him to that Cross. So the natural desire is now to repent! Being regenerated, you stop making excuses and rationalizing why you are sinning, and instead confess and repent. If not regenerated, you will see yourself as self-righting, and fail miserably always in repentance, the boast will always be in yourself that you stopped doing something you shouldn’t be doing. Those who actually repent, will only boast in God for granting them true repentance of sin.

Acts 11:18 “When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.”

On this day in December of 2019, before all this upheaval of the pandemic, I sat next to a frozen city lake in Fort Collins Colorado with my dog Leo who just started chemotherapy for his deadly lymphoma.

It was a quiet morning where ducks and geese were coming and going as we watched. I found a little church in the yellow pages, and decided we were going to attend, both of us. As I watched Leo taking it all in, I wondered if he really understood what laid ahead of him.
As the words of Jesus encompassed me, “don’t worry about tomorrow, take care of today”, an appreciation of God came to light. Leo was still with me! His prognosis of not making it through November came and went. He was also eating again, and things were peaceful.

I think it was those words, which then helped me from looking forward with Leo, but just appreciating each day he was still alive with me. We went to the little church for the first time, it would be Leo’s first time ever in a church. I was pleasantly surprised that they took us right in, and no one asked “why is this dog here”. Rather, they greeted us as if we had been going to this church for decades. This was God’s provision.

I could not help but focusing on those words from Jesus “take care of today”. No longer would I worry about when we could return home some day or if Leo would make it, it was all about slowing down and just appreciating each day.

By the church we attended, God reminded me He was always there with us, so what was there to fear. Although by worldly standards and expectations, it would have been seen as an ordinary day. But to Leo and I, it was an extraordinary day by the grace of God, a great day!

God also taught me by this experience, it was ok to be sad that Leo would be leaving me some day, but the sadness would never incapacitate me because God never would leave. So I should not dwell on being sad, but the comfort from God instead of which He was handing out.

On the bleakest of mornings, God will show you His greatness!