The Devotional

Papa J's rules for Livin #115

Humans have a helper! His Name is Jesus. All of creation abides under the laws of the Creator, except the human, when it comes to following Him, the human has less integrity than the ant or the locust!

Proverbs 30:24-28

The very first duty station I had in the Navy was at the Norfolk Naval Base in Norfolk, VA and my first assignment was the Personal Accounting Machine Installation. (PAMI) Today these installations are called Personal Support Activities (PSA). Amazing, but my last assignment in the Navy was a (PSA) in Groton, Connecticut at the New London Naval Base. In Norfolk, I was nothing more than a young sailor taking orders. In Groton I was the Supply Officer, giving orders. In Norfolk, my father wanted everyone to know that his son was on a fighting ship, a man of war, so he told all of his friends that I was on the USS PAMI. While on leave, his friends asked me about the USS PAMI, what kind of ship is it? Not wanting to embarrass my dad, I carried on with his lie. In the midst of his friends was a recently retired sailor who came alongside and quietly said, “How do you get the USS PAMI to stay afloat with all that brick and mortar holding her together these days?” There is coming a day when, at the Judgment Seat of Christ that questions of integrity will be raised by the LORD and the cover up will be OVER!

James 4

James 4:1-6 Here is a passage of scripture that is often overlooked because we want to believe that this could never apply to us holy saints of God. We do not want the world to know that we battle and fight with other saints so we are very clever in this cover up. So clever that when our hearts devise wicked imaginations about other saints of God, that we lie to our self and say we've done nothing wrong. To add insult to injury, we do it all in the name of God. Backbiting with other saints we destroy the good character of those we call friends and brothers and sisters in the LORD, even. We destroy the good character of those we are talking to as well since we drag them down to our level of deceit.

James calls this activity, “adultery” and we say, “tish-tosh” I have never committed adultery so this cannot apply to me. Idolatry is adultery in the face of God and it is interesting how He proves this point in Isaiah 57:1-6. Isaiah clearly calls the activity that James talks of; adultery, a religious round table of idle talk and coveting that when it is time for prayer, the direction is out of line with the purpose or plan of God. Our friendships are worldly and selfish these days. Do you know why I know this? I hear a lot of praying and pleading to God and yet, I hear very little praise among us of God answering.

We want help from God, we cry out for answers and we miss the mark. Is this the fault of God? God forbid that we should think such a thing. It is you and me who miss the mark and have nothing to praise God for. The apostle knows more about “grace” than most scholars give him credit for. If we are willing to strip ourselves of gossip (sin) and religion (idolatry) which are the sins pride and adultery. God will see in our humble estate of revival that we are worthy of more 'GRACE” and grace is all the answer to prayer that we will ever need. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. Some will say but grace is not an answer to prayer. Oh! Then why is it said? “For grace you have been saved by faith...”

The Devotional

Papa J's rules for Livin #114

Humanism is much different than rationalism, yet both are formulated by a lack of faith. Yes; work and grace are very different too, but both function by faith! Ephesians 2:8-10

Submarine warfare is not one of my strong subjects, but I remember an incident during the “cold war” period when we were transiting from the Mediterranean Sea and beginning to head north to England. With the Azores to our West and only the open Atlantic to punch through. The Sonar Supervisor reported an enemy submarine very close and that it had positioned for an attack on us, our Captain sounded the “General Alarm” (battle stations). Now both subs were positioned in a stand off. The enemy submarine was a Russian ship equivalent to our fast attack subs. Our submarine was a missile platform with enough explosive power to wipe out the entire continent of Northern Europe. The fast attack fired a torpedo, we were at four hundred feet, immediately we dove to a much greater depth made some tactical things happen and all went well. Later during the investigation of this incident the Russians stated that the torpedo they fired was a training torpedo. No one but those who were on that submarine knows for sure. I suppose for their sake we followed protocol and did not engage by firing back, our torpedoes were not for training purposes, but for defense. There is a lot more to this story but the point is clear. There is an enemy who is on the attack, then when confronted “lies”.

James 3

James 3:13-18 Just as the short story above presents “good and evil” from my side of the story, I am sure that the sailors of that other submarine present their story of good and evil as well. So who is wise and understands the wisdom of such things. It is the one who has a character of good conduct which is done in the meekness of wisdom. For me, our captain demonstrated wisdom to react according to the standing orders he had been given by his higher commanders. The Russian captain had standing orders too, but he did not follow the protocol, he reacted from a self-seeking heart.
 

The Creator is at war with the created, or you can say that the Wisdom of God is in opposition to the sensual, earthly and demonic wisdom of the fallen world. God has rescued or called out the saved of this world to do battle with the enemy. He has equipped us with battle clothing, (Ephesians 6:10-18), He has provided us with power from on high, (Acts 1:8) and He has provided wisdom and understanding to each of us by equipping us with the mind of Christ. (John 15:15; 1 Corinthians 2:16 and Philippians 2:5-11).
 

This is the work of faith and the lack of faith. The wisdom of God is pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to give, full of good works and merciful. If we as believers in Jesus are not acting in this manner, then it does not take a lot of thinking to know that we are failing to do what God has called us to do. Righteousness is sown in the hearts of others by righteousness and peace is the the by-product of those who make peace.

The Devotional

Papa J's rules for Livin #113

Can a man say that he has no sin? Think about it! It is much the same as a man saying; “I have an empty stomach” One bite of the egg and his stomach is no longer empty! One thought of self and the soul is less bright!

1 John 1:8

Did you know that certain men on submarines do not have to qualify as submarine sailors? Cooks, Storekeepers, the Corpsman and Yeoman are exempt from the qualifications program. This could amount to ten percent of the crew. However, the rest of the ship's crew sort of look down their nose at the people they brand as non-quals. Also, non-qualified people cannot participate in most of the military actions that take place on the war platform simply because they have no idea of what or when to take action. Now there is good reason that these men are not required to qualify. Our jobs demanded larger spans of time to complete, responsibilities of financial and fiscal operations, also medical and administrative things that required longer hours then those required by basic engineering and operational needs. I did not like the remarks of people who thought they were better than those who did not qualify. So I decided that this was not for me and I qualified. Determined to do my best, I became the person in charge of all the qualification boards on the ship. In other words, I was the chief qualifications officer and had the final say as to who was and was not qualified. The point! When you put your mind to work on any subject you can be successful and prideful. Is this good or bad?

James 3

James 3:1 James continues his conversation with us about faith and works. When we have faith, faith is to motivate us to do. We are to do what ever it is that this faith is directed at. I have faith that I can drive a car, therefore I drive the car. To be qualified as a person of Christ-like character, God has said in His word that one should control the tongue. We have faith to obey God's directive and we control the tongue. If I know what to do I can instruct others, but in the process of instructing I fail, then I am no longer a doer of this faith and a stricter judgment is imposed since I undo what I proclaim to be true.

The bit and bridle for the horse and the small rudder of a ship are examples of small inventions by man to control very large and difficult encounters with nature and wild life. God places the tongue in the mouth of humans to control their praise and worship for Him, Yet like the experience of my submarine qualifications I went a bit overboard and now seek to boast of great accomplishment. Most of us boast all day long, we brag on ourselves so much that it is like setting a forest on fire.

So then the tongue is a dangerous but needed instrument, with it we boast of selfish things and with it we brag on God. Out of the mouth of mankind there is blessing and cursing, continually. This is like having a drink of vinegar and drink of water and at the same time convincing your gut that you've done nothing wrong. We should have better control over the things we approve or disapprove and we should be careful that when we speak that we have our tongue under control.

A Study of Eschatology

Revelation 12:1-9

The warfare of the unseen world, it is the battle between God and Satan and it is ongoing everyday in our world and in heaven. We are going to look this morning at two great wonders and the war. There are symbols to explore and the purpose of Satan since he fell from heaven. We will also learn what part we play in this heavenly war.

The world around us is at war, it does not matter what century or segment of time in which we live; the war is on. What keeps things in check can be looked at from the beginning of time until today is the undercover operation of God to expose the enemy to the people of God. (The Holy spirit) Spiritual conflict is not something that we tend to think of and when it is exposed it seems so foreign to our natural thinking that it can soon be dismissed or overlooked. For the people who are not God's, or we could say those who have not been washed in the blood the Lamb, They have no capacity to understand this as the natural mind does not receive the things that pertain to God. 1 Corinthians 2:14 (Spiritual wisdom). God is a Spirit, John 4:24. God is a Spirit.

When it comes to Spiritual things our desire is to focus on the love of God and seek the wisdom of worship, but there are two sides to spiritual wisdom. There is a dark side that has nothing to do with God's economy, of which we are ignorant. It is sort of like looking at the moon. One side is visible, clear to the natural eye. The other side is dark and veiled to the natural eye, we know it is there but we do not know the details.

Satan is the exposed enemy who God is completely aware of and he is the stealth enemy of mankind. When we are accepted into the family of God through the death and resurrected son of God we are given a partial inheritance of our eternal estate. Mankind has a spirit within that knows only the things of man, this spirit has no capacity to go beyond the limits of the worldly wisdom and knowledge. 1 Corinthians 2:11. Those of us who are born of God are born of His Spirit, now we have as the scripture reveals; the capacity to know the things freely given to us by God. Spiritual wisdom. We cannot instruct God, but He can instruct us and He does so by giving us the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:16. Now we can move into the book of Revelation.

The first Great Wonder – The Woman

Revelation 12:1-2 The KJV states. “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.” The word “wonder“ in this text means “sign.” This is not a real person. This is an image of a certain event in heaven and earth that we need to understand. This portion of Revelation is misunderstood by the “religions” of the world. Remember: Religions are man made, made of the natural mind. The family of God is made up of “like minded relationships” to God. Religion tries to instruct God, but God has given His family, His mind. 1 Corinthians 2:16. For example:

The Christian Science Teaching on this verse: Mary Baker Glover Patterson Eddy, the founder of the movement taught that she was the woman in this sign and that she gave birth to a man-child who is the movement of Christian Science. According to Eddy, the dragon is the “mortal mind” that is ready to devour the teaching of the Christian Science Religion.

The Roman Catholic View: This religion teaches that the woman is Mary, pregnant with Jesus, undergoing her assumption into heaven. There is no verse or portion of the Bible that teaches or assumes that Mary was taken up into heaven. Not even this passage; think about it. Why would Mary be pregnant with Jesus in heaven when Jesus was born, crucified and resurrected; all of this on earth, and is Himself seated in heaven.

The natural mind of religious people cannot understand the things of God, neither can they know these things.

The Protestant View: Some Protestants, not all; teach that the woman portrayed in Revelation is the Church. The problem with this is that the man-child brought forth is said to be Jesus Christ. However, the Church did not give birth to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ gave birth to the Church. Matthew 16:18.

The Correct View: The interpretation that makes Spiritual connection is that the woman is Israel. Many Old Testament passages describe Israel as being a woman in travail. The prophets described their nation in this way over and again; Isaiah 66:7-8. God's plan for Israel is revealed in Romans 9: 4-5.

The man-child is Christ who came from the Jewish nation. Therefore, the woman in the sign is the Jewish nation, Israel, who is the promised Messiah and the promised Seed of Genesis 3:15-16. The twelve stared crown on her head are the twelve tribes of Israel.

The Second Great Wonder – The Dragon
 

Religion gets it right for the most part, there is no doubt among most scholars that this being is Satan. Well, we have a little help here too, since verse 9 tells us plainly that this is the devil, Satan, “who deceives the whole world.” Note, he deceives both the unbeliever and the believer. This is not a description of what he looks like, but this description describes what he is like. A dragon, a serpent and a deceiver.

The seven heads of Satan, describes his completeness of being evil. His evil is a full-circled strategy to rule heaven and earth. The crowns on his head stand for his abundant authority to be the prince and power of the air (The seen and the unseen world). Satan's strategy is summarized by Paul in his second letter to Corinthians: 2 Corinthians 4:4.

The Tail, historically we know that Satan did not fall from heaven alone, he took with him some of the angels. His purpose is to destroy God and overthrow God's kingdom, the dragons tail represents the power of his agenda, other angels like Satan agree with him. From verse four we can determine that one-third of the angels of heaven chose to follow Satan. The name Lucifer means “star of the morning” and you can read about his fall on your own from Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. We also know from 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 1:6 that there are some angels who are confined in the bottomless pit. (more later on this) But not all angels are confined, some are working with Satan this very minute to oppose God and His children.

The Purpose of this, Satan stands in opposition to the Plan and Purpose of God. From the beginning Satan has tried to overthrow God, Genesis records the battle as God created the known natural world. Genesis 3:15 as we read earlier explains the first attempt of Satan to destroy the nation that God would use to usher in the Son of God. History, both biblical and secular describe battles between God and Satan. When Satan could not defeat God in heaven and when God cast him out of heaven, Satan took his battle to the next level. For example during the Inquisition, history tells us that fifty million Christians were slain because they refused to deny Christ.

The Great War in Heaven, verse twelve describes the war in heaven, Michael and Satan. Daniel chapter 10 describes this battle in that Michael was delayed for three weeks. The hostel power here is described as the Prince of Persia who was able to delay answered prayer to Daniel. Michael and Satan fought, the Prince of Persia is a mighty fallen angel who intercepted God's answer. Michael dispatched another of God's angels who helped Michael get the message to Daniel. All of this is part of the whole picture that we must understand if we are going to know end time events properly.

More next week.

The Devotional

Papa J's rules for Livin #112

There once was a lady from St. Helen who was a noted felon. She spoke often with cursing and needed no rehearsing. Her tombstone; the evidence of a life path. Her epitaph; the evidence of wrath.

Proverbs 10:25

On one of my earlier trips to Italy I was stationed on a destroyer that spent two weeks in Naples. As a good well project, men volunteered to go to an orphanage for some home improvement. The orphanage, during World War Two had been overtaken by the Germans who used it as a headquarters. Many of the “off limit” rooms were bombed out, lockers and German uniforms were scattered about and large bullet holes were everywhere. I remember that there were many children in this place, dirty, skinny and lonely looking. Today, they would be in their late fifties or early sixties. Many of the sailors who came with me, came for one reason. The promise of free vino (wine), all the wine you could drink while mending the bullet holes, patching cracks in the walls and fixing the roof. Things changed though when we saw the children. The water they were allowed to drink was vino too, because the water was used only to wash clothes and then to bathe. Water came once a day by truck, if one tried to drink it they would be scolded. We could just pass over this event as days of long ago, but the fact is that today's world is no different, there are many parts of the world around us that lack two waters. Fresh water to drink and be physically satisfied and living water so that one does not thirst again. John 4:1-26.

James 2

James 2:14-26 Our motive for being like Christ can vary! Did you know that? Philippians 1:12-18. So there are many who preach a relationship with Jesus who are motivated to do so for reasons that do not line up with a sound biblical faith. There is a lot of religious effort to try and please God with works and faith and much of this is nothing more than what is found at the town dump. Isaiah 55:8-9. In your timing you could read Isaiah 55. It is an invitation from God to us to live a life of spiritual abundance.

Within our communities there are many helping hands, there are programs available today for every kind of problem. Many have no “out of pocket” costs, but if you pay taxes then this where you pay. So the helping hands have their own hand open for payback. So some could say; “whats wrong with that, why muzzle the ox?” Nothing really a person has to do what a person has to do, but at best these programs can only act as a temporary fix since these efforts are not founded on biblical principles of faith.

Good biblical faith and works come from within the Lordship control of Christ in a submitted servant of God. Two examples are provided here in this portion of the epistle. Abraham was justified on this faith/works principle by doing the will of God, instead of doing his own will. Rahab a harlot is moved by faith to react and provide safety to the Israeli spies. One example is of a person who had followed God most all of his life. The other of a person who barely knew the name of God.

Biblical faith/works then is the result of doing just the opposite of what you might be inclined to do from a human point of view. Abraham may have thought to use one of his servants in place of his son. Yet his faith in God caused him to be obedient to His will. Rahab may have thought of the reward for giving up the spies, yet she considered the better reward of following her new found faith.