Herod’s conscience was John the Baptist. Herodias disliked the influence John had on Herod, so she deceived Herod into having his conscience removed. We are usually under the influence of one or more people whose opinions about our actions have weight. Sometimes that influence is great enough to make us serve their values instead of our own. If their directions about how to make decisions are rooted in how to […]
Category Archives: Kingdom
Close but Quiet
If I turn my radio on and it is too loud, I have a volume control knob, and I can turn it down so low that it makes no sound at all. The station is still broadcasting. My radio is still on, and receiving the signal. I can hear nothing because I have closed the door to the sound, though. The Spirit of God is as close as my identity […]
Looking
Stereotypically speaking, Looking back is done in sorrow or angerLooking around is done in fearLooking forward is done with humility and hopeLooking up is done in faith You cannot change the past. Most people who bring it up the most often are trying to control people by controlling their narrative of it. You can create the future. Do it with hope and with faith. Being a crusader may make you […]
Looking Back
At the crack of dawn the angels urged Lot on: “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.” But he hesitated, so because of the Lord’s compassion for him, the men grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters. And they brought him out and left him outside the […]
Prepared by Repentance
Repentance is a change of mind. The results of having our minds changed include changed behavior and changed values and changed futures. We can’t get to New York on the train tracks that lead to Chicago. To change destinations you must change tracks if you’re going by train. John prepared people he baptized by leading them to repentance. They were not ready for Jesus yet… He was preaching: “Someone more […]
In The Anointing
In response to a share via another medium of my recent blog “In Christ,” someone responded, “Saying being ‘in the Anointing’ means the same thing, but adds a beautiful dimension.” Being “in the Anointed” and being “in the Anointing” are really very different. One is being in the King, and the other is being influenced by Him. I had wondered why nothing I have ever said about the Kingdom had […]
Proving Faith
Suppose we gathered with many leaders in our city: leaders of various versions of Christianity, of Muslims, false religions like Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses, and unbelievers. Suppose that we each took our turn sharing our lives with each other. Not our theologies, not our doctrines, but what we have experienced, and thereby, what we have verified from our beliefs and philosophies. What would you share? What have you been able […]
Led to Next
100 years ago it was 1919. 50 years ago it was 1969. The technologies, the music, the transportation, the styles of news propagation shifted from 1919 to 1969 in unimaginable ways. The changes since 1969 have been much more vast than the differences between 1919 and 1969. 10 years from now may show as great a shift as the last 50. In some areas of the planet, however, there have […]
In Christ the King
The morning that I became a believer, I woke up in a condition and mindset that was pretty open to any possibility regarding what the truth might be regarding the source of power and control that had created and continued to manage the universe. I had been in that condition for a while. I was 22, and since I had been 16, I had been convinced by the behavior and […]
Up The Mountain
In Matthew 17:1-9 and Mark 9:2-10, the story is recorded of Jesus taking Peter, James and John up a high mountain. When they got to the top, Jesus was transfigured: His face became as bright as the sun, and His clothes were whiter than any cleaner could clean them. Then, Moses and Elijah appeared with Him and were talking with Him. Peter’s response to the event was, “Rabbi, let us […]