SECRECY #1 - No Secrecy With Truth & Light

SECRECY #1 - No Secrecy With Truth & Light

We are starting a new series today about "secrecy."  Our society is filled with secrecy in so many areas - governments, media, schools and even churches.  In this series we are going to expose the truth (God's Truth) and shine light on some of these dark areas. 

Truth and light can NOT live in secrecy.  

Luke chapter 8, verses 16-18 talks about a lamp - who lights a lamp and then puts it under a bed?  The answer is: nobody - that light is meant to brighten up the entire room.  Also, it's about the kingdom of God.  God's light is to be shared with EVERYONE - there is no secret password required to access that light.

Notice the phrase in the Scripture passage below:  "whoever has ears to hear."  That phrase is seen often in the Bible and it means that those who are filled with the Holy Spirit are able to see through satan's lies and are able to see and hear God's Truths.  When we learn that we have eternal life through Jesus Christ we want to share that love with everyone.  It is evil and false to make salvation through Christ a secret. 

  

The Scripture passage in Ephesians makes it very clear - we as followers of Jesus are light in this dark world.  Jesus Christ is glorified through us by the way we live, by the way we talk, by the way we act ("walking as children of light").

Now, one thing that modern believers have failed at miserably is exposing this evil secrecy.  Notice in the passage below it says that it is shameful to even talk about what the evil people do in secret but we must EXPOSE THEM.  Expose their evil deeds and thereby stop it from ever happening again.  

Nobody can ultimately hide from justice.  As we learn in Psalm (see below) - God knows everything that happens in the dark - He knows our most intimate secret.

"For God knows the secrets of the heart."
Psalm 44:21

Remember that saying/quote:

"Evil triumphs when the good do nothing."

We MUST expose all evil secrets in order for righteousness to prevail.  We can tweak that saying a little:

Good triumphs when ALL secrecy is exposed. 

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Parable of the Wheat & the Tares (The Evil Are Removed - NOT Us)

Parable of the Wheat & the Tares/Weeds

(The Evil Are Removed - NOT Us)

Last year I did a series on the Book of Jude - a seven part series (remember, Jude was one of Jesus' half brothers).  In that small but power packed book of the Bible, Jude quotes directly from the Book of Enoch (click HERE to view Part#4 which quotes from the Book of Enoch:  "Apostates Depraved & Doomed").

After reading Jude in detail, it was the Holy Spirit who directed me to read the Book of Enoch and in the first chapter I read this (and it just filled me with awe and clarification): 

 Did you read the yellow portion??? - "When all the wicked and godless are to be removed."  I truly believe that we have been mislead about the "Rapture."  We are NOT going anywhere - it is the vile evil who are being removed from God's glorious creation.

Then, just recently I reread the Parable of the Wheat & the Weeds and I was thrilled to realize that that same Enoch message was in the New Testament!

Let's study this parable today.

Good seed has been planted but before it germinated, the servants were sleeping ("while men slept") and the enemy was able to creep in and scatter weed seeds.  This is exactly what has happened to all of our societies - we're all sleeping!!  Evil has crept into all aspects of our lives:  blasphemous, debaucherous and atrocious behavior is everywhere!  Human trafficking and the raping of precious children (even babies) and we've been sleeping through all of it!!!!

This evil is the weed seed that has been planted (infiltrated) into our good crop - satan has quietly spread his diabolical seeds throughout all of our goodness (see Scripture above).  (And in the picture below you can see these weeds that are growing throughout the wheat field).

What did the owner of the field do (in the Parable)?  He's calm - He knows exactly what to do.  The servants ask if they should pull out all of the weeds (remember - they are still young plants).  Not right now!!!  Only when the time is right can the weeds be pulled, otherwise the good wheat plants would be uprooted when the weed is pulled.  

Verse 30 is the best!  Our Heavenly Father is the owner of the field and only He knows the exact time of the harvest - not even Jesus Christ knows the harvest date (read Matthew 24:36).

Now here comes the best part:  "FIRST gather together the weeds" (see Scripture above) - in other words pull them;  remove the tares.  And then, bundle them together so that way none of the evil will get away.  Finally, the most important part is to burn the weeds (the evil) - totally DESTROY them.  When weeds are burned there can never be anymore evil seeds to spread anywhere - they are annihilated.

And, all of God's goodness is gathered into His barn.

All throughout both the Old and New Testaments we read how our Heavenly Father intended for us to live in abundance.  He made everything for us!!  (below are just a couple of those "abundance" verses):       

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11

And also in the Bible verse below:

"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."
John 10:10

I know that this way of thinking may be shocking to some, but please pray for discernment.  It took me a while but the Holy Spirit guided me to clarity about this subject and Matthew 13 just confirms that revelation even more.

Previous PARABLE posts:

PARABLE OF THE VINE - "The True Vine & the Father Gardener"
PARABLE OF THE VINE - "Be a Fruitful Branch Instead of a Withering Branch"
PARABLE OF THE VINE - "Producing Joyful Fruit - God's Love Remains Forever"
PARABLE OF THE VINE - "Everlasting Fruit & Everlasting Friends"
The Prodigal Son PARABLE - The Son Who Ran Away
The Prodigal Son PARABLE - The Son Who Stayed Home
PARABLE of The Good Samaritan - Love God First
PARABLE of the Good Samaritan - Love Others
PARABLE of the Sower - Along the Pathway
PARABLE of the Sower - On Rocky Places
PARABLE of the Sower - Seeds Among Thorns

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Baker's Dozen #3 - SPRING

Baker's Dozen #3 - SPRING

This is the third post in my 2024 series celebrating the 13th year of "God's Growing Garden".  The term "baker's dozen" comes from medieval England where there were strict laws about the price of bread/wheat.  If a baker was caught cheating on the size of bread they would be fined or even punished physically.  To make sure that punishment never happened bakers started adding an extra baked good in with each customer's order. 

Once or twice a month I will post in this series.  I will choose a topic and then share 13 previously published posts on that chosen topic.

Today's topic is:

SPRING

ENJOY!

click on each title to view the entire post:


Spring Cleaning the Garden

20 Springtime Sweet Treats

Homegrown Mushrooms

SONrise Easter Eggs

Spring Thaw of 1986

Early Spring Greens - Lamb's Lettuce

It's not about the rabbit.... It's About the LAMB

Springtime Chicken Pot Pie with Parsnips

German Easter Egg Tree

Parable of the Sower - SOWN ON GOOD SOIL

Grapevine Trimmings Wreath

Easter Egg Decorating - Tape Method

Larger Than Feet Parsnips

Other "Baker's Dozen" posts:

WINTER

CHOCOLATE



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TREES#10 - Roots

TREES #10 - Roots

Last year in this series we focused on different types of trees, now we move onto different parts of trees like: roots, branches, trunk and leaves.

In today's continuation of the trees series, we will be focusing on Roots

This is Part#10 on "Roots".

The symbolism of tree roots (or any root of any plant) have many meanings.  We will begin with growth & health.  The Scripture below was originally used in my "FearNot Friday" series ( click HERE to view "No Fear When Heat Comes"), but it applies here also.  Notice that when a tree is able to have a deep, strong root system (or foundation) - it remains green, healthy and strong all the time!!!  Even bearing fruit during a drought.  Likewise, when we have a strong foundation in God's Word and a deep relationship with Him, we remain steadfast even during the most difficult of times.

Plant roots can also symbolize endurance and discernment.  In the Parable of the Sower (see picture below) we see how that when a plant does not have a secure, deep root system it will be blown or washed away.  This is just like a new believer who is tricked by a false prophet or washed away by a mocking neighbor.  When we have a deep foundation in God we will have discernment to see through fake doctrine and have the knowledge to stand up to persecution.

(click HERE to read "Seeds on Rocky Places" - part of the Parable of the Sower series)

Thirdly, having a deep root system means having God's power and strength within us.  In the Bible passage below, look at the end of the second line ("being rooted and grounded in love") - Jesus' love is powerful!  When we are filled with the Holy Spirit we have the love of Christ that surpasses all understanding!

(click HERE to read "God's Power Within Us#2 - The Holy Spirit's Might")

Finally, roots symbolize family & genealogy.  Let's take a look at Jesus' family roots foretold in the Old Testament and then quoted in the New Testament (see picture below):

Remember that Jesse was David's father.  We know that Jesus Christ was descendant from David, so the "Root of Jesse" or the "Root of David" are both referring to Jesus Christ the Messiah.

 

When we are deeply rooted in God we will grow healthy and strong with great discernment!

Previous Tree posts:

Part#1 - Visual & Edible

Part#2 - From the Fall to Forgiveness

Part#3 - Fruit

Part#4 - Olives

Part#5 - Mustard, Faith & Mulberry

Part#6 - FIGS: From Genesis to Revelation

Part#7 - Cypress, Pine, Cedar

Part#8 - The Tree of Life

Part#9 - Zacchaeus & The Sycamore Tree

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DAY#31 - Freedom Quotes: Sound of Freedom

DAY#31 - A Month of Freedom Quotes:

Sound of Freedom

This is the final post in the "Freedom Quotes" series and this is the most important of all the posts.  Today, the movie "Sound of Freedom" is at the theaters and it is based on a true story about the work Tim Ballard did to rescue children from sex trafficking.

  

All month we have been talking about freedom but here, under all of our noses exists the most egregious of all slavery ever unimaginable!

Tim Ballard is an ex-Us Special Agent who helped rescue children from sex trafficking and whose true story is being told through the movie 

"Sound of Freedom".  He has founded a rescue organization called:  

"Operation Underground Railroad".

Trailer to the movie "Sound of Freedom" below:

(Posted by: Sound of Freedom Movie)

In the video below, at about 12:30 in (twelve minutes and thirty seconds into the video), Tim Ballard speaks about his experience with rescuing the trafficked:

shared by: Trump White House Archived

Executive Order 13903—Combating Human Trafficking and Online Child Exploitation 

in the United States

(click HERE to read the entire E.O.)

I know that this is difficult to watch but below is the true story about a woman who survived being sex trafficked as a child.

Remember, EVIL PREVAILS WHEN GOOD PEOPLE DO NOTHING

posted by "Unfiltered Stories"

"But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea."

Matthew 18:6

click HERE if you missed yesterday (DAY#30)

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TREES#5 - Mustard, Faith & Mulberry

TREES #5 - Mustard, Faith & Mulberry

In today's continuation of the trees series we will be focusing on two parables about the Mustard tree.  This is Part#5 on God's glorious trees - "Mustard, Faith & Mulberry".

First, here are a few interesting facts about the "Mustard tree":

- mustard seeds are small but not the smallest (basil seeds are much smaller)

- it can grow between 6 feet and 20 feet tall!!

- 50% of the world's mustard crop is grown in Canada of all places!!! (I always thought mustard enjoyed very hot temperatures).

- mustard is healthy - it has anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties (again - I am NOT a doctor - read my disclaimer below).

The first parable that we are studying is "Faith and the Mustard Seed." (we will be looking at this exact parable in the books of Matthew and Luke).

In the Bible verse below we see the comparison of our faith/Christian walk compared to a tiny mustard seed.  It only takes that little spark of faith to move mountains!!  NOTHING is impossible with Jesus Christ! (Luke 1:37)

"So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you."
Matthew 17:20

I believe that it is even more of a miracle to uproot a mulberry tree than to move mountains with our faith (you will see why in a moment).  In Luke it uses the analogy of our tiny bit of faith being able to uproot mulberry trees. 

In the collage below your will see how large a "mulberry bush" can grow (it is actually a tree, not sure why it is referred to as a bush).  The root system is crazy strong and wraps itself around the roots of neighboring trees.  It is absolutely impossible to totally rid the garden of these trees.

The second parable compares the growth of the mustard seed to the Kingdom of God.  This parable is detailed in 3 of the 4 Gospels:

Matthew 13:31-35

Luke 13:18-19

Mark 4:30-34

 The Kingdom of God begins with just a tiny seed of faith and grows into a huge beneficial tree that can not be ignored and can not be hidden.  This tree (Kingdom of God) is a place of abundance, peace and life for the "birds that nest under its shade".

  

It only takes a tiny spark of faith in Jesus Christ to uproot the most stubborn of  pesky plants.

Previous Tree posts:

Part#1 - Visual & Edible

Part#2 - From the Fall to Forgiveness

Part#3 - Fruit

Part#4 - Olives

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