Welcome…Thanks for joining this month’s discussion!
The Word du jour
“And this is the basic law of the Temple: absolute holiness! The entire top of the mountain where the Temple is built is holy. Yes, this is the basic law of the Temple” (Ezekiel 43:12 NLT).
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Martin Luther was right on some points
We all know he was right on the fact that salvation could not be earned by doing good works alone, particularly keeping those Jewish laws Paul referenced so often. And, like us, he believed those Catholic indulgences similar to “get out of jail free” cards were outrageous! We also know he, like other reformers of that age, stopped short in his Reformation break with the RCC rather than returning to the bold apostolic faith of the first century Christians. Yet the founder of a denomination that claims millions of adherents still today said some other things worth noting.
On the Scriptures:
“Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in the councils alone, since it is well 
known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted, and my conscience is captive to the Word of God.” (Roland H. Bainton. Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1978, 182.)
“From the beginning of my Reformation I have asked God to send me neither dreams, nor visions, nor angels, but to give me the right understanding of His Word, the Holy Scriptures; for as long as I have God’s Word, I know that I am walking in His way and that I shall not fall into any error or delusion.” (azquotes.com)
“A simple layman armed with Scripture is greater than the mightiest pope without it.” (Ibid.)
“I am much afraid that the schools will prove the very gates of hell, unless they diligently labour in explaining the Holy Scriptures, and engraving them in the hearts of youth. I advise no one to place his child where the scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution in which means are not unceasingly occupied with the Word of God must be corrupt.” (Ibid.)
On marriage:
“Marriage is no joke. It must be worked on, and prayed over. …To get a wife is easy enough, but to love her with constancy is difficult, for the mere union of the flesh is not sufficient; there must be a congeniality of tastes and character. And that congeniality does not come overnight.” (Roberts Liardon, God’s Generals: The Roaring Reformers; New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 2003), p. 166.)
“Nothing is more sweet than harmony in marriage, and nothing is more distressing than dissension.” (Ibid.)
“There is a lot to get used to in the first year of marriage. One wakes up in the morning and finds a pair of pigtails on on his pillow which were not there before.” (Ibid., 163.)
On the papacy and the Roman Catholic Church:
“If no one ventures to speak of the evils in the church and if everyone is to keep silence, the stones will eventually cry out.” (Ibid., 154.)
“[I am] more pleased over this deed [the burning of the Papal Bull] than any other deed of my life.” (Ibid., 152.) [The Pope was into burning too, but mostly men and their books with them.]
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Five ways to know when REVIVAL has come to your church
- When a passion for souls permeates the congregation
- When prayer has become a priority
- When worship is churchwide and cheerleading is unnecessary
- When folks start catching up on their tithes
- When no visitor is ignored
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Thoughts make us what we are
The source of Charles Swindoll’s thoughts about Great Britain’s former Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, has escaped me. From somewhere in his mountain of written works came his comments on her determination, decisiveness, and discipline that gave her the edge she needed to ultimately become the first woman Prime Minister of Great Britain. One of his favorite Thatcher quote was:
“Watch your thoughts, they become words;
watch your words, they become actions;
watch your actions, they become habits;
watch your habits, they become character;
watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”
Swindoll: “These words are profound. They describe, in detail, our life journey and the significance our thought life has on our future. We must learn to be selective with the thoughts we allow to circulate in our minds. God’s Word instructs us to do this. Every thought has an agenda…to shape our philosophy of life and prompt us to move in some direction. We must filter our thoughts with truth. Otherwise our feelings will control our minds and eventually produce words and actions that take us in a direction we will finally regret. To move in the direction God intended, we must begin by finding out what God thinks. In Isaiah 55:8 God says ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD. As you and I think about His thoughts, we will find that His words begin to shape our thoughts and words. Actions will follow. Good habits will form and shape our character and destiny.”
Other Thatcher quotes he favored:
“Right thinking is your best light in this dark universe; it is your best hope in your worst hopelessness!”
“Life is an ocean and every ocean necessitates right thinking and right action, or else sinking becomes the only fate realizable!”
Thanks for sharing those insights, Chuck.
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Well said
“The trouble with so many of us is that we are on the right side of Easter but the wrong side of Pentecost, the right side of pardon but the wrong side of power.” – Graham Scroggie
“Once government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.” – Harry. S. Truman (1950; Democrat U.S. President)
“The freedom of America is the freedom to live your own life and take your own chances. The American Revolution was more than a rebellion against England. It was rebellion against the whole idea that some special anointed one could tell everybody else what to do. The Constitution of the United States is pervaded with the conviction that no one is to be trusted with too much power.” – Thomas Sowell, July 1, 1986; Compassion versus Guilt, p. 237.
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Have you noticed this?
• Christianity is learned in three ways: 1) studying the Scriptures, 2) observing others who live the biblical principles, and 3) experientially, through fellowship with God . Both 2 and 3 are subject to number 1. A man is not born naturally into the faith, neither can he be educated nor inducted into it. All who are truly born again into the kingdom of God have taken the apostolic path outlined in Acts 2:38.
• When post-Apostolic Christianity began to tolerate and inculcate false doctrines, the miracles and healings dropped off commensurately. The purer our message, the more privileges the church has to enjoy the favor of God. The renewal and recovery of doctrinal imperatives in the last century saw a return of the miraculous ministry of the Holy Spirit.
• The quickest way to be overwhelmed by burnout is to be hypocritical.
• Those whose ministry is built on prophetic teachings alone seem to seldom go back over their predictions to evaluate their accuracy. Why are their headlines usually in the form of a question that is not answered in the text that follows?
• Jesus called John the Baptist the greatest prophet. Why? Perhaps the answer is in John 10:41—he always told the truth. A phone 
saleslady called one day to try to entice me to buy a retainer from a group of attorneys. In her sales pitch she claimed that the lawyers in this group were “relatively honest.” I asked her to hold the phone while I wrote that line down. John wasn’t “relatively” honest; he always told the truth. What a great attribute.
• If reports were really wrong about the leftist motives of the tech oligarchs and liberal politicians, they wouldn’t have to cancel them.
• Statistics can be disheartening. I recently read that of 15 women who are pregnant today, five will get an abortion. Of the ten left, six will have no husband. Of the four left, two will get a divorce while their kids are still in school. That reveals that our culture is on the a frightfully wrong path.
• Ronald Reagan noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.
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I heard…
…that you can’t buy happiness, but you can buy a bowl of gumbo in New Orleans and that is close enough.
…that gas prices were shooting up faster than Biden’s vote count at 2:00 a.m. on election night.
…that praising the government for reopening the country is like thanking your abuser when they stop beating you.
…that our oil comes from Russia, or Iran, or Saudi Arabia or Latin America, but the dipstick is in DC. If fossil fuels cause global climate 
catastrophe here, won’t it also do it there? Aren’t we on the same globe?
…that America has been poking the Russian bear. We secretly put biological labs funded by the Dept. of Defense in Ukraine, next door to Russia. Should they not be concerned? When the Pentagon and Dept. of Defense denied their existence through the fake media, why shouldn’t Russia be concerned? Would we want such Wuhan-type labs or potential weapons in Cuba or Ontario? (Perhaps they are already there.)
…that any government, be it conservative or libertine-based, that operates from a perspective of consistent lies is headed either for extinction or authoritarian power. In which direction is America headed?
…that the U.S. is currently the perfect example of what can quickly happen to a prosperous business when you hire all the wrong people.
…that Putin still has a Twitter account but Trump doesn’t. Can anyone guess why?
…that Hunter Biden’s religion is called Crystal Methodist. Uh…what could that possibly mean?
…that all the virtue-signaling celebs demanding “Justice for Jussie” got what they wanted. That true?
…that Biden hopes $6 gas will push us into electric vehicles and away from dependence on Russian oil. Does he know that Norilsk Nickel is the world’s largest nickel producer, with vast operations in Siberia?
…that Nancy Pelosi said that “government spending reduces the national debt. It is not inflationary.” Perhaps she using one of those crack pipes Biden is handing out.
…that Kamala said in Poland, “I am here, standing here, on the Northern flank—on the Eastern flank talking about what we have in terms of the Eastern flank and our NATO allies and what is at stake at this very moment.” Got that? Did she really know where she was…at that very moment?
…that on another European stop, the VP spoke about the Internet: “The significance in the passage of time…the significance of the passage of time…So when you think about it, there is great significance in the passage of time in terms of what we need to do…and there is great significance in the passage of time.”
…that shutting down Russia’s oil production will cripple their economy, but shutting down ours is good for our economy. Send that copy to the news media, they are waiting and will gladly disseminate it.
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Wo[man] of the Year
Democrats love it when a man is selected as “Woman of the Year.” USA Today selected Rachel Levine as their Woman of the Year. The Babylon Bee selected her as the “Man of the Year” and got kicked off of Twitter. Canceled. Which is she? Evidently only biologists know, according to Ketanji Jackson, Supreme Court nominee—and they aren’t telling.
“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” —George Orwell, 1984
“Disney, schools, and transgender ideology are all pushing the LGBTQ+ agenda beyond the pale.” – Emmy Griffin
The social engineers are no longer hiding their rabid efforts to indoctrinate our children. Somebody please clean up the swamp in DC and take out the trash in our schools.
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What is the definition of “woman”?
When asked if she could tell the questioning Senator what a woman is, Ketanji Jackson, who has been nominated to the Supreme Court, answered, “I cannot define what a woman is…I am not a biologist.” Are we going to put a woman on the Supreme Court who does not even know whether she is a woman or not? If she doesn’t know what she is, how did Biden come to the knowledge that she was “a Black woman” that he had promised to place on the court? Is Biden a biologist? How could she ever decide for women’s rights if she has no knowledge of what makes one a woman? Incredible! One woman, who knew what she personally was, said, “I am not a veterinarian, but I know what a dog is.” And let me add—I am not Eve, but she and I both were/are aware of what makes a man a man (Genesis 4:1).
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Opinion:
WHILE ROME BURNS: Should Apostolic Christians concern themselves about politics and government?
That question has arisen in part due to the fact that we have allowed our national history, among other vital subjects, to be rewritten or removed entirely from school curricula. Americans have seen it slip away while they were on vacation in Cabo, or Cancun, on a world cruise, or basking on the beach. Perhaps they are too busy with the latest man-toys from China, items that will be of little use in the coming society. A few have finally awakened to recognize that academia got “woke” while they were asleep. Other segments of the culture are either getting in line or counting the cost. We find our collective selves staggering around like rum-soaked sailors. “What’s happening?” we innocently ask as socialism steadily saturates our nation.
History is history—passé in the college classrooms. Lies and propaganda now pour forth from the professorial lecterns into the empty 
heads of students, both home-grown and foreign, who never learned to work, to serve, or grow intellectually in an objective way. To the ruling class, America is just another rung on the ladder to world domination. Parents have long ago left teaching and training up to someone who didn’t birth them. That paves the way for witless folk to get elected to office, fill our school boards, write our laws, destroy our monuments, empty our prisons, and elevate prima donnas to lead our troops and fight our wars.
“What can we do?” you ask. Well, doing what we have largely been doing—nothing—is certainly not working. Some seem fearful of even praying about the situation lest we cross the will of God. God Himself may be orchestrating what we are witnessing, many say. Just because you don’t see God’s hand in action does not mean He is in favor of what is taking place or that we should fall in line with everything the world wants us to do. He put Adam in the Garden to tend and take care of it. He was to be in charge. He dropped the ball. We now live with the judgment for his failure.
Can Christian pacifism be taken too far? Inaction equals surrender. Many believers don’t even know where the polling places are in their county. That attitude led to Nazism in Germany, resulting in millions of Allied casualties in WWII, including six million Jews. An interesting study for pacifists might be to determine what the Roman Catholics were doing as Hitler rose to power. The history is out there. Then take note of what the Protestants were doing as the hob-nail booted Gestapo ravaged their country and the nations around them. They played the quiet game. Just ask Niemöller. The Coptic Church in North African countries haggled over how many fingers are required to make the sign of the cross while Muslims and anti-Christian religious armies took over their nations. Methodists once had serious discussions about what to do with leftover communion crumbs. The day the Communists took over in Russia, the black-robed Russian Orthodox priests 
were in council trying to decide on the color of threads to be sewn into their priestly robes.
Why are Australian Christians bowing to tyrannical edicts and mandates with muted voices? Have they not read history? A while back it must have seemed wise to present their guns to be destroyed by the authorities in an effort to make it a “safer” country. Do they really feel safer now? Diminished potential defense invites a more haughty offense. Officials will do what they want when there’s nothing that can be done about it. Now those who defy the harsh edicts handed down in the name of “health” are being removed and quarantined in “health camps.” Similar camps were originally called “labor camps” in Eastern Europe but were later known by names like Auschwitz, Birkenau, Dachau and Treblinka. Elective surgeries have been suspended in Australia. In at least one case, parents were denied the ability to identify their dead son’s body. And how’s all that working out for stopping the spread of pandemic viruses? The Reuters’ headline in January said it all: “Australia suffers record Covid cases.”
“We are afraid of losing our tax status if we speak out or express our loyalty to America and our traditional values,” some Christians admit. What about losing our children? Is our money more important than our kids? And how about our personal freedoms? Our inalienable rights? A solid majority of Americans still claim Christianity as their belief, even if many of them are not regular attendees at church. If their voice is stilled, we are doomed to another kind of government. As in some other countries, it may become punishable by 
imprisonment to teach the Christian faith to one’s own children here in our own nation.
If we just “let this happen,” without doing something to contribute to the preservation of our freedoms, we will have little room to grumble. All of this will be thought of in a different light if one cannot get emergency treatment for his wife or child because he doesn’t have the right skin color, or he is wearing a cap with the wrong words, or he doesn’t have a card expressing political allegiance to the party in power. The time will come when one can’t get a loan to buy a house or car, or even buy the food he needs without proper “papers.” And that could be in place months or years before the Antichrist mandates his personal mark.
Ignorance, apathy and ambivalence of our citizens are what the Communists are counting on. They are trusting that Americans won’t stand up, that we won’t know enough or care enough to do anything about it. Silence gives consent.
Someone was fiddling while Rome burned.
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The Southern Baptist Convention decides to take a stand
They got tired of denominational leadership leaning to liberalism and “wokeness.” The false social gospel had made deep inroads because of their concerns about “the watching world.” Those who are taking a stand are lifting the banner of “God is watching, too!” When we get to the place where we are too plugged into the culture and fearful that some may not like us if we counter the wave of anti-Christian leftist propaganda, we will lose the favor of God. Some might prefer the favor of the world rather than that of God. Such a choice pushes any religious movement toward 
compromise and heresy.
The Baptists point to faculties in their seminaries where CRT and other liberal philosophies are pushed onto students. The churches, ministers, and laymen alike have a right to know who is teaching future ministers/pastors in organizational colleges and seminaries, what they believe, how they live, and what they are instilling in the students. To blindly support that which is largely secretive, well-covered and virtually hidden is foolish. “When you have done all to stand, stand therefore….” It is time to fight!
Visit this site for more details: https://patriotpost.us/articles/87144-the-southern-baptist-convention-pushes-back-2022-03-24?mailing_id=6554&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.6554&utm_campaign=digest&utm_content=body or just Google “The Southern Baptist Church Pushes Back.”
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Where do you end up on the diversity path?
No one should countenance racial injustice or supremacy of one race over another. Only foolish persons, biblically and constitutionally illiterate souls, would say otherwise. So, to underscore that philosophy, some virtue-signaling groups have climbed aboard the “diversity” bus with the current culture, thinking it is the means to express fairness and racial equality. Suddenly, they are stopping to pick up the crowd at the “inclusion” station, then the “equity” stop for non-ticket holders, followed by the LGBTQ++ crowd who are thumbing a ride, who then insist on stopping to pick up the 
“woke folk” and the trans advocates who are waiting at the next stop, and then…and then… There is no end to the diversity trip on the crowded bus. There’s always another special interest group waiting to board. We can’t see the end from here. It is virtually unimaginable. Like Lot, who just couldn’t imagine where he might end up if he pitched his tent south toward Sodom. Now, according to the Supreme Court nominee, one must be a biologist to identify a woman or know what one is. Have we arrived at a place where only men are allowed to call themselves women [aka, Lia Thomas]? Just a few years ago, no one thought we could be where we are today. Using the language of the culture is not benefiting the kingdom. Rather, it poses a serious threat.
Somewhere in an old black-backed Book I read: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.” Does that still have meaning for true Christians?
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Books
Adorning the Doctrine
by J. R. Ensey
This book deals with the relationships of doctrine and spirituality, doctrine and the Book of Acts, doctrine and “three mentions,” and how to curb the influx of false doctrine. For truth seekers only. Only 21 copies left in paperback. Order today! AM price $4.95
The Pastoral Epistles
by J. R. Ensey
The apostle Paul wrote three letters to two younger ministers whom he affectionately called his “sons.” The epistles became part of the canon of Scripture and have served since then as the best instruction available for those in ministry and church leadership. Doctrine, practical church discipline, lifestyle and much more is all here. The verse-by-verse commentary is accompanied by a complete outline for ease of study and teaching. AM price $13.95
Go to: advanceministries.org/store to order
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Book Review
God’s Generals: The Roaring Reformers
By Roberts Liardon
Whitaker House Publishers, 2003; hardcover
In last month’s blog, I reviewed a book by the same author with a similar title: God’s Generals: The Healing Evangelists. Book Two of this short series is God’s Generals: The Roaring Reformers. In this volume, the author pens his views as he looks back several centuries to focus on six reformers who shook the Roman Catholic Church to its core. He does so through the lens of his modern day Charismatic background.
Liardon has accomplished the almost impossible task of cramming into a nutshell the larger-than-life minds and ministries of John Wycliffe, John Hus, Martin Luther, John 
Calvin, John Knox and George Fox. I virtually guarantee you will find information here you have not known. While many books of historical biography have been written about each of them, the author distills in readable form what is probably most important about their lives and ministries. He gives them kudos as well as a few knocks when necessary to maintain an objective stance. He unoffensively injects bits of his own philosophies along the way for personal spice and application.
I think you might enjoy this read as well as be informed by it. If you like history, you will love this book. It won’t waste your time. It was hard to put down.
Available $18.79 new from Amazon; used for less from other sources
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Something to chew on
Only from Scripture can we truly discern right from wrong. In part, the reason is that we mortals judge each other and then form opinions from that judgment, but real convictions are drawn from the Word of God. – Anon.
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Artists see it a different way
The Home Depot a few years ago decided to embrace the LGBTQ++ agenda. But once stepping onto the freeway of sexual social engineering, there is no place to stop. Someone posted their latest publication for employee training (below). You might check out your local hardware and lumber company as you bypass the big box store.
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The Last Word
“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3). The foundations of this Christian-based nation are rapidly crumbling. One wonders what will appear next on the news. The nation changers have gone around the constitutional roadblocks to remove the freedoms we enjoyed for centuries. “Not our problem,” some say. “God is taking care of everything.” Do you read “mankind has no social responsibilities at all in this life” in the Scriptures? Within mankind is a people who form the kingdom of God. They have been redeemed by the blood of Christ and owe their first allegiance to Him. Beyond that, we are citizens of the greatest democracy the world has known. It has fostered the work of the kingdom of God on the earth, financed global missions, and supported biblical principles that form much of the flesh and bones of government polity. It is worth preserving, regardless of what the BLM activists and Antifa radicals say. We must have a vehicle, a society, a culture through which the faith can be promulgated and passed along to our children.
Let’s pray up, pack up, stand up, speak up, so we save ourselves and others—and be prepared to go up.
Blessings on every reader. Share the blog with others whom you feel would appreciate its content.
JREnsey
PS: As I have said before, this blog and its contents represents no other person or entity but the signatory above.
JREnsey Blog 
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