In the book of Leviticus God tells us to not spread gossip and rumors. Chapter 19, Verse 16 says, "Don't just stand by when your neighbor's life is in danger. I am God."In the book of Psalms, God calls up the wicked," "What are you up to, quoting my laws, talking like we are good friends? You never answer the door when I call; you treat my words like garbage. If you find a thief, you make him your buddy; adulterers are your friends of choice. Your mouth drools filth; lying is a serious art form with you. You stab your own brother in the back, rip off your little sister. I kept a quiet patience while you did these things; you thought I went along with your game. I'm calling you on the carpet, now, laying your wickedness out in plain sight. "
Proverbs 20:19- "Gossips can't keep secrets, so never confide in blabbermouths."
Ezekiel 22:6-12 says, "Your leaders, the princes of Israel among you, compete in crime. You're a community that's insolent to parents, abusive to outsiders, oppressive against orphans and widows. You treat my holy things with contempt and desecrate my Sabbaths. You have people spreading lies and spilling blood, flocking to the hills to the sex shrines and fornicating unrestrained. Incest is common. Men force themselves on women regardless of whether they're ready or willing. Sex is now anarchy. Anyone is fair game: neighbor, daughter-in-law, sister. Murder is for hire, usury is rampant, extortion is commonplace. And you've forgotten me. Decree of God, the Master. "
Exodus 23:7 says, "Stay clear of false accusations. Don't contribute to the death of innocent and good people. I don't let the wicked off the hook. "
Matthew 5:11-12 says, "Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble. "
Job 27 really gets to the heart of the matter if you are one who has been the object of false accusations, slander, trumped up lies and false evidence meant to destroy your character yet presented to people as fact or as truth.
Verses 1-6, "Having waited for Zophar, Job now resumed his defense: "God-Alive! He's denied me justice! God Almighty! He's ruined my life!
But for as long as I draw breath, and for as long as God breathes life into me,I refuse to say one word that isn't true. I refuse to confess to any charge that's false.There is no way I'll ever agree to your accusations. I'll not deny my integrity even if it costs me my life. I'm holding fast to my integrity and not loosening my grip— and, believe me, I'll never regret it!"
Deal with it.
If you are a tale bearer, gossiper, whisperer and double minded, there is hope that you can move out of that fantasy world and get back to what is real. God is a good God. He loves you and He wants to bless you.1 John 1:9 says that if you will confess, admit that you have set your life in a direction of destruction because of your actions, words and thoughts, and will turn away from those dead end ways of life you will find the ultimate truth. God is faithful.God is just. God is awaiting you to turn to Him, not some personality, HIM ALONE! ONLY HE can forgive you and help you to get back to what is real. Get back in on the real deal of a life of faith toward God that is expressed through genuine love for people and especially for those in the family of God.
PUT AWAY THE WICKEDNESS THAT WILL DESTROY YOU AND EVERYONE IN YOUR CIRCLE OF INFLUENCE. REPENT AND TURN AWAY FROM EVIL THINKING, EVIL SPEAKING AND EVIL ACTING!
God loves you friend. Get back to what is real. Turn to Him today in the name of Jesus Christ and you will find Him there... right there. He didn't move, you moved.IT'S YOUR MOVE. Turn to God today, friend.
Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Sunday, February 4, 2007
The Family of God
Ephesians 2:19-22
That's plain enough, isn't it? You're no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You're no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He's using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he's using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.
Are you living up to that name?
Acts 2:44- And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had.
BELIEVERS- describes people who have convictions regarding the Word of God, the nature of God and Christ. Believers trust God in all ways. They are mountain movers, people of the Word.
Acts 6:3- And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility.
BROTHERS- the company that we keep. Ministering to people as family. We have a common father... our father in Heaven.
1 John 3:10- (NLT) So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers[a] does not belong to God.
1 John 4:20-21- (NLT) If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, [a] that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? 21 And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters.[b]
1 John 2:15-17 Don't love the world's ways. Don't love the world's goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.
1 Peter 3:11- Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it.
Ephesians 4:1-3 In light of all this, here's what I want you to do. While I'm locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don't want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don't want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.
The FAMILY OF GOD is about genuinely loving one another as God would love them and even as you would endeavor to love your self. Any other definition is not God's definition according to His Word of which He watches over to perform.
That's plain enough, isn't it? You're no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You're no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He's using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he's using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.
Are you living up to that name?
Acts 2:44- And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had.
BELIEVERS- describes people who have convictions regarding the Word of God, the nature of God and Christ. Believers trust God in all ways. They are mountain movers, people of the Word.
Acts 6:3- And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility.
BROTHERS- the company that we keep. Ministering to people as family. We have a common father... our father in Heaven.
1 John 3:10- (NLT) So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers[a] does not belong to God.
1 John 4:20-21- (NLT) If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, [a] that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? 21 And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters.[b]
1 John 2:15-17 Don't love the world's ways. Don't love the world's goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.
1 Peter 3:11- Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it.
Ephesians 4:1-3 In light of all this, here's what I want you to do. While I'm locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don't want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don't want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.
The FAMILY OF GOD is about genuinely loving one another as God would love them and even as you would endeavor to love your self. Any other definition is not God's definition according to His Word of which He watches over to perform.
Monday, January 29, 2007
My Eyes
There was a blind girl who hated herself just because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her.
She said that if she could only see the world, she would marry her boyfriend. One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her and then she could see everything, including her boyfriend.
Her boyfriend asked her,"Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?"
The girl was shocked when she saw that her boyfriend was blind too, and refused to marry him. Her boyfriend walked away in tears, and later wrote a letter to her saying, "Just take care of my eyes dear." (He had donated his eyes to her.)
This is how the human brain changes when our status changes.
Only few remember what life was before, and who's always been there even in the most painful situations.
Perception for some people is greater than reality.
We find in 2 Corinthians 4:18 Paul writes, "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
My mentor and spiritual father, Bishop Woody Thomas, would say too those that are blind and pretend to see, 'To them that know nothing needs to be said, but to them don't know, nothing can be said."
In life you will notice people who are so bent on seeing something that they will deceive themselves into believing a lie. In psychology you learn that if something is repeated often enough it begins to sound like it is true.
Cults and cult-like social behavior use these techniques to control and manipulate people
into believing deceptive doctrine. Often you'll find that they'll use social engineering to reinforce behavior and thought modification by incorportating telling someone near you a phrase or physical contact. Though in a positive light these concepts are good, but what is good can also be used to manipulate and reinforce deceptions.
In corporate worship, it is all about worship to the Lord and repeating God's Word.
If you find yourself in a setting where it seems hyped, emotional and your chanting phrases manufactured by the speaker. Make note of what is said and search out the scripture to see if it is lining up with the Word.
Don't give that which is precious to that which is short term, manipulative and will not
exist in heaven.
The guy in the story should have noticed the self deception that was at play.
Notice what the girl was saying about herself and saying about the situation.
Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak.
I had a friend once who was so convinced of a perception being fact, that he acted on
the perception even though it wasn't true. He got into agreement with others and repeated it in his mind so often, that noone could convince him that what he thought was evidence was not true.
Don't loose your sight by being so in love with that which is not true or real.
With that I close this blog with Colossians 3:1-12 from 'The Message' bible,
"1-2 So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective.
3-4Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.
5-8And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That's a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God. It's because of this kind of thing that God is about to explode in anger. It wasn't long ago that you were doing all that stuff and not knowing any better. But you know better now, so make sure it's all gone for good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk.
9-11Don't lie to one another. You're done with that old life. It's like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you've stripped off and put in the fire. Now you're dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ.
12-14So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. "
Isn't it amazing how the scripture flies in the face of the ego motivated, self deceptive talk
that flows from the mouth and is the manner of some people. God says put away the
foolishness and embrace the life that God has prepared.
Don't empower those who would love such ego, self deceptive, manipulative talk by giving them your time and attention. Such non-repentive, lovers of self, whose god is their belly deserve your back and not your face, they don't deserve attention or time because they have disqualified themself from honorable living and sound doctrine.
Being lovers of platforms, microphones and manipulation more than lovers of God.
From such, turn away.
Don't give such people your eyes, because in the end, when you've poured out your life
and made them better, they'll forget you and drop you away like trash.
Don't spend any part of your life with such people. Love them, but move on.
The glory of God is not present in their presence because of their love for self more than lovers of God. Ichabod (The Glory is Gone). To embrace such people who have shipwrecked their faith and eventually their life, will cause you also to be shipwrecked.
From such people who confess to be wise, but act as fools, turn away.
God can deal with them.
She said that if she could only see the world, she would marry her boyfriend. One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her and then she could see everything, including her boyfriend.
Her boyfriend asked her,"Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?"
The girl was shocked when she saw that her boyfriend was blind too, and refused to marry him. Her boyfriend walked away in tears, and later wrote a letter to her saying, "Just take care of my eyes dear." (He had donated his eyes to her.)
This is how the human brain changes when our status changes.
Only few remember what life was before, and who's always been there even in the most painful situations.
Perception for some people is greater than reality.
We find in 2 Corinthians 4:18 Paul writes, "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
My mentor and spiritual father, Bishop Woody Thomas, would say too those that are blind and pretend to see, 'To them that know nothing needs to be said, but to them don't know, nothing can be said."
In life you will notice people who are so bent on seeing something that they will deceive themselves into believing a lie. In psychology you learn that if something is repeated often enough it begins to sound like it is true.
Cults and cult-like social behavior use these techniques to control and manipulate people
into believing deceptive doctrine. Often you'll find that they'll use social engineering to reinforce behavior and thought modification by incorportating telling someone near you a phrase or physical contact. Though in a positive light these concepts are good, but what is good can also be used to manipulate and reinforce deceptions.
In corporate worship, it is all about worship to the Lord and repeating God's Word.
If you find yourself in a setting where it seems hyped, emotional and your chanting phrases manufactured by the speaker. Make note of what is said and search out the scripture to see if it is lining up with the Word.
Don't give that which is precious to that which is short term, manipulative and will not
exist in heaven.
The guy in the story should have noticed the self deception that was at play.
Notice what the girl was saying about herself and saying about the situation.
Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak.
I had a friend once who was so convinced of a perception being fact, that he acted on
the perception even though it wasn't true. He got into agreement with others and repeated it in his mind so often, that noone could convince him that what he thought was evidence was not true.
Don't loose your sight by being so in love with that which is not true or real.
With that I close this blog with Colossians 3:1-12 from 'The Message' bible,
"1-2 So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective.
3-4Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.
5-8And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That's a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God. It's because of this kind of thing that God is about to explode in anger. It wasn't long ago that you were doing all that stuff and not knowing any better. But you know better now, so make sure it's all gone for good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk.
9-11Don't lie to one another. You're done with that old life. It's like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you've stripped off and put in the fire. Now you're dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ.
12-14So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. "
Isn't it amazing how the scripture flies in the face of the ego motivated, self deceptive talk
that flows from the mouth and is the manner of some people. God says put away the
foolishness and embrace the life that God has prepared.
Don't empower those who would love such ego, self deceptive, manipulative talk by giving them your time and attention. Such non-repentive, lovers of self, whose god is their belly deserve your back and not your face, they don't deserve attention or time because they have disqualified themself from honorable living and sound doctrine.
Being lovers of platforms, microphones and manipulation more than lovers of God.
From such, turn away.
Don't give such people your eyes, because in the end, when you've poured out your life
and made them better, they'll forget you and drop you away like trash.
Don't spend any part of your life with such people. Love them, but move on.
The glory of God is not present in their presence because of their love for self more than lovers of God. Ichabod (The Glory is Gone). To embrace such people who have shipwrecked their faith and eventually their life, will cause you also to be shipwrecked.
From such people who confess to be wise, but act as fools, turn away.
God can deal with them.
Friday, January 26, 2007
My Testimony -- God's Message
The Beginnings
The following is a personal testimony, a brief historical record of events in technology and moments with God among His people in times and various places. Information Technology is only one piece of a larger tapestry that God is weaving in this world according to His Will and Purpose. This is in honor of Bishop W.W. and Sister Edith Thomas whose vision is the foundation of the message, God is a good God, He loves you and He wants to bless you!
In November 1971, Intel Corp. announced the invention of the microprocessor. The world did not realize at the time, but the microprocessor was the beginning of the Information Age as we know it today. God was soveriegnly setting the stage for his purpose.
In a moment on Lake Ida in 1976, Bishop W.W. Thomas said yes to God and later discovered that his wife, Sister Edith Thomas had also heard from the Lord. Purpose and destiny met in a moment when Bishop Woodrow and Sister Edith said yes to God's calling to start a church in Margate, FL to reach the world with life. In 1976, the key technology that is the fabric of the internet today was invented by Vint Cerf called TCP/IP addressing or IPV4. Also that year, Dr. Robert Metcalfe invented ethernet which enabled data to move very fast and was a crucial part of Local Area Networks.In my life in 1976 things were about to change drastically. My life and family were devastated when my dad died in a small plane crash in South Carolina. Later that year I was diagnosed with cancer and given a low chance of survival even with chemo and radiation. God did not cause the calamity in my life in 1976, but He was about to fundamentally intervene. God uses people places and things for his purposes. I believe that nothing happens by chance or accident and the fact that Bishop and Sister Edith said yes to God opened up doors for God to move as He pleased. Many things happened in 1976. It was a pivotal year of new beginnings. It was a turning point toward purpose and destiny in my life whether I realized it or not as a nine year old boy who dreamed of the future.
In January 1977, God touched my mother while I was in the hospital in Rome, GA. The course was set, God's will and purpose was being written. I believe because of Bishop W.W. Thomas's act of obedience at Lake Ida in South Florida that the door was opened for God to intervene for His purpose. Not by mistake or accident.
The year of the Bible, 1983, was another pivotal year. It was the year that Sister Edith prophecied over Abundant Life Christian Centre things that God was about to do in the church. In my life, it was the year that I said 'Yes' to God and gave my life to Christ in Albany, GA while watching Oral Roberts on his TV program on a Sunday morning in December. At age 16 the search for meaning that produced two book manuscripts and 4 years of computer work and research found significance in the moment that I gave my life to Christ. In technology, it was the year two key components of the internet were put into place in the network that was to become the internet. Technology was giving birth to things that would affect the world on a fundamental level. The year 1983 was a year of birthings on many levels.
In 1989 in the quiet labs of CERN (Geneva) Tim Berners-Lee and a team invented the concept of the World Wide Web protocol. The world was unaware of the new invention or the impact that it would make. In a moment in God's presence in 1989 in Lakeland, FL, just one month before the 'Iron Curtain' fell in Berlin, Germany, God said in my heart to reach the world with life through a worldwide network. I saw missionaries, pastors and ministers around the world using this network to get the Gospel to the world. I saw God raising up a man of God to whom He was equipping to carry a needed message of hope and life to the world and to other ministers of the Gospel. God said that I would be working to support that man of God with that message. God said that the ministry would be to use what He had given me to supply and support what He was doing to get the Gospel to the World. There were many aspects to the vision and many other things that are yet to be manifested as of this writing. As of today, what the Lord made clear in the vision has happened. I was a college student and there was no accessible 'worldwide network' at that time to do what God had said. In 1992, what God said became a reality when the public gateways to the Internet were established with the stroke of a pen. Following God in obedience led a path to what God was doing at Abundant Life Christian Centre.
In 1997 Abundant Life Christian Centre was in position for transition. There was no significant technology infrastructure, no TV ministry and no outreach on the internet. We had some things in our hand and we began to celebrate what we had and glorify God! Step by step God established things in our midst. The miracle out of Margate is the message that God is a good God, He loves you and He wants to bless you! A message that God gave Bishop Woodrow W. and Sister Edith Thomas in 1976 with the promise that it would go around the world. It was about to happen! Reaching our world with life.
At the end of 1999, the eldership of the church followed the leading of the Lord to move online to reach our world with life over the internet and on TV! God opened many doors for ministry on TV and certain worldwide. Today the message reaches millions of people with life! People in every part of the world are hearing that God is good, He loves and He wants to bless each person. The miracle out of Margate! Like seeds being dispersed, many places have this message from God in their heart thanks to Bishop and God's Sovereign, Holy, Passion for people in this world.
Many ministries have also made the discovery of the tool of Information Technology and the Internet that God has raised up at this time for His purpose. I was destined to help fulfill the vision that God gave to Bishop Woody. I fulfilled that vision and am now a part of the thousands and even millions that will now carry that message!
Bishop Woody went home to be with the Lord in August of 2006.
All that God showed him came to pass in his lifetime. The message that God gave him is now in all of the heart of those who came to Margate during that moment in history. The message is now being dispersed around the globe just like God said that it would. Bishop was my mentor and my Father in the Lord. I thank God everyday that I had the priviledge and the honor to hold up this great man of God's arms and help him see God's vision for him come to pass.
Man cannot control the Spirit of God. God's spirit rests on all of those who call on Him and receive Him. No man could have orchestrated the events that took place described here. God sovereignly did His work. For all of those people that would say YES to God can participate in the blessing that flows. Living from a proper perspective which results in rightly ordered faith which is always expressed through truthful, genuine love for people and especially for those in the family of God! God is Good. He loves you and He wants to bless you! You can be some earthly good if you see the world from God's perspective. Your choice. His perspective.
The Current and Future Role of Technology:
Technology will continue to increase in importance. The Internet will no longer be primarily about words or documents, but will be the major delivery platform for phones, television, radio, movies and music and new media. As it moves off the desktop to inexpensive hand held wireless devices used in countries that have limited communications infrastructure, the Internet is rapidly becoming the dominant window into world culture. It will be accessible without wires, without keyboards and without electricity. It is transitioning from a computer technology to a messaging concept.
Never before in human existence have we had the ability to reach the entire world so quickly with a focused message. God has provided the ways and means for this - the Internet moment in human history.
This is the time when we will see the greatest harvest of people really knowing God and what it means to be a part of His family. God's family spans the globe. He is using people from all parts of the world to share this good news. The internet is now the great equalizer tool that God is using for His purposes. Give God the praise!
The following is a personal testimony, a brief historical record of events in technology and moments with God among His people in times and various places. Information Technology is only one piece of a larger tapestry that God is weaving in this world according to His Will and Purpose. This is in honor of Bishop W.W. and Sister Edith Thomas whose vision is the foundation of the message, God is a good God, He loves you and He wants to bless you!
In November 1971, Intel Corp. announced the invention of the microprocessor. The world did not realize at the time, but the microprocessor was the beginning of the Information Age as we know it today. God was soveriegnly setting the stage for his purpose.
In a moment on Lake Ida in 1976, Bishop W.W. Thomas said yes to God and later discovered that his wife, Sister Edith Thomas had also heard from the Lord. Purpose and destiny met in a moment when Bishop Woodrow and Sister Edith said yes to God's calling to start a church in Margate, FL to reach the world with life. In 1976, the key technology that is the fabric of the internet today was invented by Vint Cerf called TCP/IP addressing or IPV4. Also that year, Dr. Robert Metcalfe invented ethernet which enabled data to move very fast and was a crucial part of Local Area Networks.In my life in 1976 things were about to change drastically. My life and family were devastated when my dad died in a small plane crash in South Carolina. Later that year I was diagnosed with cancer and given a low chance of survival even with chemo and radiation. God did not cause the calamity in my life in 1976, but He was about to fundamentally intervene. God uses people places and things for his purposes. I believe that nothing happens by chance or accident and the fact that Bishop and Sister Edith said yes to God opened up doors for God to move as He pleased. Many things happened in 1976. It was a pivotal year of new beginnings. It was a turning point toward purpose and destiny in my life whether I realized it or not as a nine year old boy who dreamed of the future.
In January 1977, God touched my mother while I was in the hospital in Rome, GA. The course was set, God's will and purpose was being written. I believe because of Bishop W.W. Thomas's act of obedience at Lake Ida in South Florida that the door was opened for God to intervene for His purpose. Not by mistake or accident.
The year of the Bible, 1983, was another pivotal year. It was the year that Sister Edith prophecied over Abundant Life Christian Centre things that God was about to do in the church. In my life, it was the year that I said 'Yes' to God and gave my life to Christ in Albany, GA while watching Oral Roberts on his TV program on a Sunday morning in December. At age 16 the search for meaning that produced two book manuscripts and 4 years of computer work and research found significance in the moment that I gave my life to Christ. In technology, it was the year two key components of the internet were put into place in the network that was to become the internet. Technology was giving birth to things that would affect the world on a fundamental level. The year 1983 was a year of birthings on many levels.
In 1989 in the quiet labs of CERN (Geneva) Tim Berners-Lee and a team invented the concept of the World Wide Web protocol. The world was unaware of the new invention or the impact that it would make. In a moment in God's presence in 1989 in Lakeland, FL, just one month before the 'Iron Curtain' fell in Berlin, Germany, God said in my heart to reach the world with life through a worldwide network. I saw missionaries, pastors and ministers around the world using this network to get the Gospel to the world. I saw God raising up a man of God to whom He was equipping to carry a needed message of hope and life to the world and to other ministers of the Gospel. God said that I would be working to support that man of God with that message. God said that the ministry would be to use what He had given me to supply and support what He was doing to get the Gospel to the World. There were many aspects to the vision and many other things that are yet to be manifested as of this writing. As of today, what the Lord made clear in the vision has happened. I was a college student and there was no accessible 'worldwide network' at that time to do what God had said. In 1992, what God said became a reality when the public gateways to the Internet were established with the stroke of a pen. Following God in obedience led a path to what God was doing at Abundant Life Christian Centre.
In 1997 Abundant Life Christian Centre was in position for transition. There was no significant technology infrastructure, no TV ministry and no outreach on the internet. We had some things in our hand and we began to celebrate what we had and glorify God! Step by step God established things in our midst. The miracle out of Margate is the message that God is a good God, He loves you and He wants to bless you! A message that God gave Bishop Woodrow W. and Sister Edith Thomas in 1976 with the promise that it would go around the world. It was about to happen! Reaching our world with life.
At the end of 1999, the eldership of the church followed the leading of the Lord to move online to reach our world with life over the internet and on TV! God opened many doors for ministry on TV and certain worldwide. Today the message reaches millions of people with life! People in every part of the world are hearing that God is good, He loves and He wants to bless each person. The miracle out of Margate! Like seeds being dispersed, many places have this message from God in their heart thanks to Bishop and God's Sovereign, Holy, Passion for people in this world.
Many ministries have also made the discovery of the tool of Information Technology and the Internet that God has raised up at this time for His purpose. I was destined to help fulfill the vision that God gave to Bishop Woody. I fulfilled that vision and am now a part of the thousands and even millions that will now carry that message!
Bishop Woody went home to be with the Lord in August of 2006.
All that God showed him came to pass in his lifetime. The message that God gave him is now in all of the heart of those who came to Margate during that moment in history. The message is now being dispersed around the globe just like God said that it would. Bishop was my mentor and my Father in the Lord. I thank God everyday that I had the priviledge and the honor to hold up this great man of God's arms and help him see God's vision for him come to pass.
Man cannot control the Spirit of God. God's spirit rests on all of those who call on Him and receive Him. No man could have orchestrated the events that took place described here. God sovereignly did His work. For all of those people that would say YES to God can participate in the blessing that flows. Living from a proper perspective which results in rightly ordered faith which is always expressed through truthful, genuine love for people and especially for those in the family of God! God is Good. He loves you and He wants to bless you! You can be some earthly good if you see the world from God's perspective. Your choice. His perspective.
The Current and Future Role of Technology:
Technology will continue to increase in importance. The Internet will no longer be primarily about words or documents, but will be the major delivery platform for phones, television, radio, movies and music and new media. As it moves off the desktop to inexpensive hand held wireless devices used in countries that have limited communications infrastructure, the Internet is rapidly becoming the dominant window into world culture. It will be accessible without wires, without keyboards and without electricity. It is transitioning from a computer technology to a messaging concept.
Never before in human existence have we had the ability to reach the entire world so quickly with a focused message. God has provided the ways and means for this - the Internet moment in human history.
This is the time when we will see the greatest harvest of people really knowing God and what it means to be a part of His family. God's family spans the globe. He is using people from all parts of the world to share this good news. The internet is now the great equalizer tool that God is using for His purposes. Give God the praise!
Works
Rightly ordered faith from a lifestyle of perspective can only be expressed toward God on this earth through genuine love for people and especially those in the family of God.
That genuine love for people takes the form of "the works" that is evidence of your living faith. Faith without works is dead faith. The manifest demonstrative evidence that faith exists in the life of the believer is the genuine love a person has for other people. It is seen by the works a person does.
All of this is the real aspect of a lifestyle of faith. A lifestyle that will be expressed in being a giver. While it is true that you can't give what you don't have, and God wants to richly bless you with all wealth and prosperity, the real root that defines us as believers is our rightly ordered faith expressed in genuine love and truth toward people. Our ability to give because of the prosperity in our lives is a fruit of a lifestyle of faith and genuine love, not the main objective. God will get it to you if He can get it THROUGH you. Jesus said to seek FIRST His Kingdom and His righteosness (Matt. 6:33) and all of these things (stuff) will be added unto you.
God's Kingdom is His will and purpose according to His perspective. You see the gold and the silver are so common in heaven that it is used to pave the roads. Why would anyone seek that stuff? God will give you wisdom and insight to apply Heaven's type of building material on this earth, but you need to have your head and your heart in the Kingdom of God to know what to do with the common stuff of heaven! Proper perspective that results in rightly ordered faith has only one outlet in this world, it is the corridor by which Heaven comes to Earth, it is our genuine love and truthfulness for and with others and especially those of the family of God.
The old sinful nature approach is to gather the stuff because of the lack and then give when you have enough. The sinful nature revolves around self. The new nature in Christ revolves around Christ, His will and purpose and nature of which we take on in our life.Our nature changes to His nature and is expressed through us uniquely according to the gifts and abilities designed within us. The abilities, the wealth, the wisdom and the insight are all side effects of the core lifestyle of proper perspective, rightly ordered faith expressed by genuine love and godly truthfulness toward people and especially the family of God.
When your head and heart are in heaven, then you will know what to do with the 'common stuff' of heaven on the earth. Wealth, wisdom and insight are side effects of a lifestyle of living, breathing, seeing, loving, interacting according to the Kingdom of God. Seek first really actually means JUST THAT. No addons, peripherals, accessories of imaginations of any vain mind can help it, change it or alter it. If it isn't it, then IT is not IT.
Your life is not expressed in an envelope, You are the envelope delivered to a lost and dying world! While your life will produce many envelopes of giving, careful not to make the material in an envelope your primary work on the earth sent in proxy for someone else to do. No. You are the primary work on the earth. Your lifestyle is what people will see both before they get to know Christ and afterwards. Your life is what will produce in the Kingdom of God. Yes, you will find yourself giving more offerings in envelopes at church, but that is only emanations of the real life that you live.
You can be no earthly good if you are not Kingdom of God minded. You need to be Heavenly minded in order to be genuinely a real force for righteousness and long lasting good on the earth. To be heavenly minded has only one real outlet of expression and it is right here on the earth through the life of the believer living in proper perspective, rightly ordered faith expressed in godly-truthfulness and genuine love toward people and especially those of the family of God.
While it may be true that you don't hear this preached everywhere, it is no less the repeated message of all of Paul's writing, the message that Jesus kept repeating and the entire synopsis of all of the Old Testament. It all boils down to this one thing. The heart of the matter.From here is where a person can produce in the Kingdom of God some 30, 60 and even 100 fold.What is produced in the Kingdom is the people who end up going there and are well equipped, heavenly minded folk who love God with all of there heart and use the stuff of heaven on the earth.
I mean when you step out today, this scarcity minded, fearful world ought to see you and take notice. Like a food truck at a starving, drought stricken village, our life should be decorated with the glory of Heaven. For even the most common things of heaven are priceless on the earth. Our very life lifts up the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and HE WILL DRAW THEM TO HIM. Our lifestyle of being a heavenly steward, ushering those people (all people on the earth) to the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who loves them with an immeasurable love. Those people, including you, are God's passion, His treasure, His desire for them to be a part of His family. He wants to sit them together with Him in His heavenly place as He has with you. That they too can live a life of significance, meaning, purpose and value. Living in proper perspective and rightly ordered faith expressed in godly truthfulness and genuine love toward people AND ESPECIALLY for those in the family of God already!
Works. Friend that is works. Works that last and can be carried with us when we have run the race and finished the course.
Today is your day friend. There is no other day like today. Today is the an only day that will never happen again in all of history. What you do today can last all eternity.
Blessings to you, friend.
In Christ,
Brother Ben
That genuine love for people takes the form of "the works" that is evidence of your living faith. Faith without works is dead faith. The manifest demonstrative evidence that faith exists in the life of the believer is the genuine love a person has for other people. It is seen by the works a person does.
All of this is the real aspect of a lifestyle of faith. A lifestyle that will be expressed in being a giver. While it is true that you can't give what you don't have, and God wants to richly bless you with all wealth and prosperity, the real root that defines us as believers is our rightly ordered faith expressed in genuine love and truth toward people. Our ability to give because of the prosperity in our lives is a fruit of a lifestyle of faith and genuine love, not the main objective. God will get it to you if He can get it THROUGH you. Jesus said to seek FIRST His Kingdom and His righteosness (Matt. 6:33) and all of these things (stuff) will be added unto you.
God's Kingdom is His will and purpose according to His perspective. You see the gold and the silver are so common in heaven that it is used to pave the roads. Why would anyone seek that stuff? God will give you wisdom and insight to apply Heaven's type of building material on this earth, but you need to have your head and your heart in the Kingdom of God to know what to do with the common stuff of heaven! Proper perspective that results in rightly ordered faith has only one outlet in this world, it is the corridor by which Heaven comes to Earth, it is our genuine love and truthfulness for and with others and especially those of the family of God.
The old sinful nature approach is to gather the stuff because of the lack and then give when you have enough. The sinful nature revolves around self. The new nature in Christ revolves around Christ, His will and purpose and nature of which we take on in our life.Our nature changes to His nature and is expressed through us uniquely according to the gifts and abilities designed within us. The abilities, the wealth, the wisdom and the insight are all side effects of the core lifestyle of proper perspective, rightly ordered faith expressed by genuine love and godly truthfulness toward people and especially the family of God.
When your head and heart are in heaven, then you will know what to do with the 'common stuff' of heaven on the earth. Wealth, wisdom and insight are side effects of a lifestyle of living, breathing, seeing, loving, interacting according to the Kingdom of God. Seek first really actually means JUST THAT. No addons, peripherals, accessories of imaginations of any vain mind can help it, change it or alter it. If it isn't it, then IT is not IT.
Your life is not expressed in an envelope, You are the envelope delivered to a lost and dying world! While your life will produce many envelopes of giving, careful not to make the material in an envelope your primary work on the earth sent in proxy for someone else to do. No. You are the primary work on the earth. Your lifestyle is what people will see both before they get to know Christ and afterwards. Your life is what will produce in the Kingdom of God. Yes, you will find yourself giving more offerings in envelopes at church, but that is only emanations of the real life that you live.
You can be no earthly good if you are not Kingdom of God minded. You need to be Heavenly minded in order to be genuinely a real force for righteousness and long lasting good on the earth. To be heavenly minded has only one real outlet of expression and it is right here on the earth through the life of the believer living in proper perspective, rightly ordered faith expressed in godly-truthfulness and genuine love toward people and especially those of the family of God.
While it may be true that you don't hear this preached everywhere, it is no less the repeated message of all of Paul's writing, the message that Jesus kept repeating and the entire synopsis of all of the Old Testament. It all boils down to this one thing. The heart of the matter.From here is where a person can produce in the Kingdom of God some 30, 60 and even 100 fold.What is produced in the Kingdom is the people who end up going there and are well equipped, heavenly minded folk who love God with all of there heart and use the stuff of heaven on the earth.
I mean when you step out today, this scarcity minded, fearful world ought to see you and take notice. Like a food truck at a starving, drought stricken village, our life should be decorated with the glory of Heaven. For even the most common things of heaven are priceless on the earth. Our very life lifts up the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and HE WILL DRAW THEM TO HIM. Our lifestyle of being a heavenly steward, ushering those people (all people on the earth) to the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who loves them with an immeasurable love. Those people, including you, are God's passion, His treasure, His desire for them to be a part of His family. He wants to sit them together with Him in His heavenly place as He has with you. That they too can live a life of significance, meaning, purpose and value. Living in proper perspective and rightly ordered faith expressed in godly truthfulness and genuine love toward people AND ESPECIALLY for those in the family of God already!
Works. Friend that is works. Works that last and can be carried with us when we have run the race and finished the course.
Today is your day friend. There is no other day like today. Today is the an only day that will never happen again in all of history. What you do today can last all eternity.
Blessings to you, friend.
In Christ,
Brother Ben
Knowledge and Insight Without Love
1 Corinthians 8:1-"...knowledge puffs up, love builds up"
The pursuit of knowledge and insight, while good and noble, are destructive if the path is without God's kind of love.Knowledge makes one haughty, arrogant, accusatory, vile, paranoid and lends to vain imaginations and evil thoughts about other people, looking down on people as inferior. Knowledge alone destroys. Paul was saying here the pursuit of knowledge apart from love is insight without perspective.Like a loaded gun shot aimlessly, so is knowledge and insight obtained with any root but God's kind of love.You see Jesus said in Matthew 6:33 for us to 'seek first the Kingdom of God (God's will and purpose) and His righteousness (right order, right perspective) and all of these things will be added'. Knowledge and insight are things.Jesus didn't say seek things. He said seek Him and the things will be added BY HIM! Why, because through Him all things arrive, are viewed, are used according to His will and purpose, right order and right perspective, according to HIS KINGDOM...not our thought, nor our vision, nor our feelings or vain view of life. His way, not our way. Our way leads to mistrusting people, paranoia, fear, isolation, vain imaginations, pride, haughtiness, arrogance, ambition, greed and every evil work. Knowledge alone only destroys. Paul was not talking to those who did not know a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, he was talking to christians, to church leaders, to us all.
I had a friend who got caught up in the pursuit of insight outside of God's kind of love. Suddenly my friend found that they were not seeing the people, the friends and loved ones like God sees them. They began to isolate themself and destroy relationships in their life all in the name of pursuit of knowledge and insight. Their pursuit without love brought only more trouble.
You see God's kind of love does not segment or isolate. God's kind of love in us is expressed because of our faith (which pleases God) and is only expressed as truthful, genuine love for people (God's priority, God's treasure) and especially for those in the family of God.
John said that if you don't love, unconditionally like God loves, those that you see, then how can you love God who don't see with natural eyes. You see, wisdom is only the principle thing when it follows the first commandment and Jesus instruction to us. There will be no other God (or pursuit) other than God, seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness. We call it living life in perspective. Our movement of pursuit has to flow with first thought and first fruit through that perspective. God's priority is 'for God so loved the World'. He gave it all. God loves people. People are His treasure. This is why John ties our love for people with our love for God. Faith is only expressed as God nature expressed. God is love. You know that your faith is living and alive when you are operating in God's definition of love, not a man's definition of love.Man's definition of love is manipulative, exclusionary, controlling, isolating leading to pride, destroyed relationships, evil thinking, evil speaking and evil acting. Man's kind of love is from a corrupt nature and can only breed corruption because of the seed from which it exists.Friend, if you find yourself in a place where either people are standing back from you, there is a reason. A life operated without love is a life with no orientation or right order. Perspective only comes from a first fruit relationship with God which leads to vision, purpose and destiny all in the context of God's kind of love. Faith can only be expressed through us when we demonstrate genuine love for people and especially for those in the family of God.Knowledge and insight without love boils down to foolishness because it is not obtain in God's right order.Such things may have some benefit for the moment, but have no impact in eternity.
Proverbs 24:4 can only be a reality in this life when obtained through proper perspective. Vision cannot happen without proper perspective. Nothing that we can carry to heaven and present to the Lord Jesus Christ happens without proper perspective which leads to expression of truthful, genuine love for all people and especially for those in the family of God already!
Here's to your life of proper perspective leading to genuine love for all people of which you will need precious and pleasant riches.
Love ya!
In Christ,
Brother Ben
The pursuit of knowledge and insight, while good and noble, are destructive if the path is without God's kind of love.Knowledge makes one haughty, arrogant, accusatory, vile, paranoid and lends to vain imaginations and evil thoughts about other people, looking down on people as inferior. Knowledge alone destroys. Paul was saying here the pursuit of knowledge apart from love is insight without perspective.Like a loaded gun shot aimlessly, so is knowledge and insight obtained with any root but God's kind of love.You see Jesus said in Matthew 6:33 for us to 'seek first the Kingdom of God (God's will and purpose) and His righteousness (right order, right perspective) and all of these things will be added'. Knowledge and insight are things.Jesus didn't say seek things. He said seek Him and the things will be added BY HIM! Why, because through Him all things arrive, are viewed, are used according to His will and purpose, right order and right perspective, according to HIS KINGDOM...not our thought, nor our vision, nor our feelings or vain view of life. His way, not our way. Our way leads to mistrusting people, paranoia, fear, isolation, vain imaginations, pride, haughtiness, arrogance, ambition, greed and every evil work. Knowledge alone only destroys. Paul was not talking to those who did not know a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, he was talking to christians, to church leaders, to us all.
I had a friend who got caught up in the pursuit of insight outside of God's kind of love. Suddenly my friend found that they were not seeing the people, the friends and loved ones like God sees them. They began to isolate themself and destroy relationships in their life all in the name of pursuit of knowledge and insight. Their pursuit without love brought only more trouble.
You see God's kind of love does not segment or isolate. God's kind of love in us is expressed because of our faith (which pleases God) and is only expressed as truthful, genuine love for people (God's priority, God's treasure) and especially for those in the family of God.
John said that if you don't love, unconditionally like God loves, those that you see, then how can you love God who don't see with natural eyes. You see, wisdom is only the principle thing when it follows the first commandment and Jesus instruction to us. There will be no other God (or pursuit) other than God, seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness. We call it living life in perspective. Our movement of pursuit has to flow with first thought and first fruit through that perspective. God's priority is 'for God so loved the World'. He gave it all. God loves people. People are His treasure. This is why John ties our love for people with our love for God. Faith is only expressed as God nature expressed. God is love. You know that your faith is living and alive when you are operating in God's definition of love, not a man's definition of love.Man's definition of love is manipulative, exclusionary, controlling, isolating leading to pride, destroyed relationships, evil thinking, evil speaking and evil acting. Man's kind of love is from a corrupt nature and can only breed corruption because of the seed from which it exists.Friend, if you find yourself in a place where either people are standing back from you, there is a reason. A life operated without love is a life with no orientation or right order. Perspective only comes from a first fruit relationship with God which leads to vision, purpose and destiny all in the context of God's kind of love. Faith can only be expressed through us when we demonstrate genuine love for people and especially for those in the family of God.Knowledge and insight without love boils down to foolishness because it is not obtain in God's right order.Such things may have some benefit for the moment, but have no impact in eternity.
Proverbs 24:4 can only be a reality in this life when obtained through proper perspective. Vision cannot happen without proper perspective. Nothing that we can carry to heaven and present to the Lord Jesus Christ happens without proper perspective which leads to expression of truthful, genuine love for all people and especially for those in the family of God already!
Here's to your life of proper perspective leading to genuine love for all people of which you will need precious and pleasant riches.
Love ya!
In Christ,
Brother Ben
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