I don’t know where all of you stand spiritually. I trust you’re not letting others do your thinking for you. All of my students are brilliant and capable of thinking through things themselves. Remember, even Abraham “reasoned” that God could raise the dead when there was no evidence that it had ever happened before. Consider Who will love you unconditionally, when you can’t even love yourself. Consider Who you can trust unswervingly, even when you are in control of nothing and nothing makes any sense in life.

     First, though, a little review.

     Nothing has changed.

     I have never, nor will I ever, lie to you.

     I will always love you … no matter what choices you make in life.

     Nothing I write to you is new … I’m not that intelligent.

     I am available to you at any time at my email above or (803) 608-3261.

1.      Jesus saves … and only Jesus:  The Way, The Truth, and The Life. There is no other way to Heaven.

2.      When the Gospel came to the Gentiles, the barriers/the definitions of race, color, etc changed. There are only two races in the world today: the Saved and the Lost. Both races comprise the great “whosoever” of John 3:16. It is their response to that Gospel that raises the barrier of “race”. We are not commanded to avoid being “unequally yoked” in the sense of black-and-white, or yellow-and-purple. We are commanded, as the Saved, not to marry the Lost.

3.      If our passion is not first devoted to the One who saved us, and the desire of His Will found through the study of His Word, then our passions are misdirected.

4.      Were you to place all of the laws of God, which were given to Israel, in a pot and boil them down until it was as if all of the liquid was boiled away, there would only be two laws remaining: Love God with all that you are and love your neighbor as yourself. We are commanded to love everyone … period. We cannot obey either law without obeying both of them … period.  Must we agree with all of their lifestyles, choices, politics, behavior?  No. Must we love them in spite of the areas we disagree with? Absolutely. There is no room in the life of a child of God for hatred or vitriol … period. (“Vitriol” comes from Old French and Latin for sulfuric acid.)

5.      We, as children of God, are commanded to forgive. If we do not forgive, the Father will not forgive us … period. You must stop to consider how serious a command this is.  (Remember the stories I told you about my mama.) The Lord is faithful and just to forgive us, but we have responsibilities beyond simple confession. He said that if we approach the altar and have anything against anyone else, leave the altar, take care of the problem, and then return.

Where is all of this going, Mr Prescott?

6.      If you are not a Child of God, you will not understand (or will not agree with) anything written here. You are entitled to disagree with my ideas. You are entitled to disagree with Jesus … but only in this life.

7.       If the fact that all of your sins have been forgiven by the King of the Universe is not the most important thing in your life … then your theology is all wrong.  (Bless you, Mr Schreur.)

8.      The essence of life is choice.  (Bless you, Bro Shaw.)

9.      We ought to know more about Grace than we do about sin.  (Bless you, again, Bro Shaw.)

1       We are to be reflectors of the light of Christ.  We can only shine in so far as our reflector is clean and clear.  When we smudge it with the filth of this world (perhaps, even with the things the Lost are passionate about), it cannot reflect the Light.  (This is much like the reflector on the back of a bicycle, needing to be clean to catch the headlight of the car behind you so that you can be seen.)

1      Blamelessness is encouraged and lauded throughout the Bible.  (Nathanael was commended by Jesus as an Israelite with no deceit, no guile.)  It is not that we are sinless, but that we should live a life in such a way that people must tell lies about us to accuse us. In this kind of life there is no room for hatred, bitterness, or vitriol. Although we may encounter only a handful of these people in our lives, we are expected to be these people ourselves.

1      The Holy Spirit is the great force of change in this world.  The Holy Spirit does not block highway traffic further enraging the Lost who cannot get to work or catch their flight home. The Holy Spirit is not glorified through the use of hatred, bitterness, unseemly hashtags, the desire to blow things up, or the desire to see the demise of a president. To assist in evoking change, prayer is the proper beginning. It is much more powerful than marching, protesting, screaming, slandering, or losing your temper.  Do you, as an American citizen, have the right to do these things (free speech)? Of course ... well, mostly.  As a citizen of Heaven, should you? No.

1       The Lord places rulers and kings in their positions … and He removes them.  For you Americans, only time will tell if this one was someone we needed (positive) … or someone we deserved (negative).

     

        Finally, Jesus is coming back!  Today!  And if you wake up tomorrow morning, He is STILL coming back today! (How else can we live our lives.) And when He returns, He will set everything right.  His right ... not yours.

     

       Therefore:

1      Focus on those things which:

a.       have eternal consequences,

b.      spark joy in your life,

c.       enable you to have a clear conscience toward God,

d.      makes you attractive to all other people because of your heart for Him ... not your looks, your intellect, your talents, your position, or your agreement with them.