THE CHOICE

What lies beyond the veil? Does God really exist? Is there really a place called Heaven? Is the Bible just an old book of tales and myths that have no basis in fact and without any relevance to our world today whatsoever? Isn’t the god of Islam the same as the God of the Jews and Christians? Isn’t all this doom and gloom propaganda flying around just more of the same old emotional rhetoric of weak-minded religious people who have nothing better to do than whip themselves up into a spiritual frenzy? After all, they’ve been saying that Jesus was coming back for 2,000 years… and after 2,000 years He is still a no-show. Certainly if He was coming back He would have been here by now… right?

            These are just a few of the many questions and thoughts that ramble through the minds of virtually every human being on the planet. They are all valid and all need answers. But as we look around and see the insanity and upheaval of all the nations on the earth, one has to wonder ‘what is going on and how will it all affect me’? We have watched predictions come and go and heard the chatter of so-called prophets declaring Jesus’ immanent return on some specific day, just to watch those who blindly follow sell all they have only to be disappointed and end up looking like fools. Worse yet, and even more disgusting, are those who claim to hear from God, but mislead the many.

            But the question remains, what is happening? Is there anything to all that we see? Is the world coming to an end? Is what we are seeing around the globe just a coincidence, or is there more to it? Won’t all this just settle down once someone figures it out? And honestly, who really knows what all this means anyway?

            In my opinion, these are not mere coincidences that someone or some group will ever be able to fix! The reason I say that is because Israel, which didn’t exist as a nation for almost 2,400 years, now exists. Like it or not, Israel is the lynchpin to everything that is going on. We are seeing things that the prophets had spoken to them from the lips of God, and longed to see with their own eyes, things spoken of thousands of years ago to those who had no idea that the world we now live in would even exist. But now, its no longer the religious that getting that something unusual is going on… now the deep thinkers and intellectuals are beginning to perceive a shift.            

Pat Buchanan writes in his new book, Suicide Of A Superpower that, "America is disintegrating. The centrifugal forces pulling us apart are growing inexorably. What unites us is dissolving. And this is true of Western Civilization... Meanwhile, the state is failing in its most fundamental duties. It is no longer able to defend our borders, balance our budgets, or win our wars. If [Christopher] Dawson is correct, the drive to de-Christianize America, to purge Christianity from the public square, public schools and public life, will prove culturally and socially suicidal for the nation."

I not only agree, but would also add that with the rise of the prevailing anti-Christian sentiment we also see the rise of anti-Semitism around the world; including within Christianity itself. The move is not only to eradicate Christians, but all those who believe in and follow the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is an evil plan, one birthed in the bowels of darkness itself for the ultimate subjugation and destruction of all the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. It has never changed.

But it’s not just about America; it's about the whole world. That's why what we see taking place is not about one specific country or another, but a global crisis. These are not random acts but Divinely orchestrated events that must take place in order for God to finish the story that began thousands of years ago in a beautiful garden, where one single choice changed the history of man forever. And so it will end with the return of God’s Son, Jesus, the Messiah.

The World... it's dying. The universe and everything in it is dying. Yet God has made a way for us to be close to Him through the sacrifice of His Son! That even though it’s all dying, we can live. We will see face to face the God of all creation. Now you may disagree; you may even argue that all I’m saying here is just a bunch of religious nonsense; but there is a verse that reverberates though the corridors of time that every single human being will have to embrace. It says this, "Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Y'shua/Jesus is God!" There will be no getting around it.

We are all in the valley of decision every day; even though we may not feel like it. Time, as we know it, is almost up. The gate is closing. Remember all the questions posed at the beginning? The Answer to them all can be found in one simple choice. That choice determines destiny, both in the here and now, and forever. That choice determines friendship with God, or enmity towards Him. That choice plays itself out before us every single day... it is the choice of life or death. To choose life is accept and believe what God says about our desperate condition, and our need for His Son’s sacrifice. It is the single most important choice you will ever make in your entire life. Moses said this, “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days.” As Moses implored the Israelites, so I echo those exact same words to all those who will read this.

I made my choice. What about you?

Choose wisely!

© 2011 Steven Bliss
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THE QUEST

Recently I sat in Starbucks minding my own business, I was hard pressed to ignore a conversation taking place right next to me, which quite frankly caused me to mull over some things in my mind based upon what these two women were talking about. The discussion revolved around their perceptions on how to live life, making every decision predicated upon what they thought God would think about that decision, and whether or not that decision was Biblically correct. As I sipped my espresso and ate my apple, several things came to mind as they continued to talk. I pondered for a bit what it is that I am trying to achieve in this moment-by-moment walk with God? What is this quest I am on? So I thought I would try and convey my thoughts as best I can.

First, it is a most high and honorable position to seek the wisdom of God in all things; to engage Him as one would a close confidant, sharing your heart and deepest concerns. Without a doubt, in my opinion, this is imperative. After all, who better to talk about life with than the Author of life Himself? At the same time it is vitally important to have people in our lives we can trust, those we can be transparent and vulnerable with no matter what we share, good things, or bad. Most importantly, someone who understands the idea of “in confidence”. They are hard to find, but when you do, they are more valuable than gold. It’s good to get opinions and advice. Proverb says, “there is wisdom in a multitude of counselors” and the honest truth is our hearts are deceitfully wicked and not to be trusted – even if we think we are good people. So it’s important to have those in our lives who are willing to be honest, forthright and unafraid to go out on the ledge with and for us when it comes to telling us the truth.

Though it took me almost an entire lifetime, I try to do things these days not out of what ‘feels right’ or “makes sense”, but out of conversations I have both with God and those in my life with whom I ask questions seeking their wisdom, guidance and advice. I have come to understand that, more often than not, God uses people to speak to me, and very often when I don’t necessarily want it, nor am I soliciting it. And more often than not they have no idea He just used them. This can be uncomfortable at times, but God knows me, and He knows how I am, how I do and do not listen. He also knows that as I’ve gotten older and gone through a lot of the tests He has both brought and allowed in my life for my good, I have learned to listen more attentively than I did when I was younger (though I have certainly not mastered it by any means). So beyond a shadow of a doubt, seeking the wisdom of God, through whatever means He chooses to bring it, is as necessary and maybe even more so, than the food we need each day to sustain us. Jesus said we don’t have because we don’t ask. So in this case asking is not really optional, it is mandatory.

            But I couldn’t help but be struck by the idea that as these two women talked and plotted out their every step, that the tendency for us to get stuck in the horizontal verses vertical relationship can be very easy if we’re not careful. We can become so focused on what others think and say that we loose sight of the fact God is intimate, not even realizing that God speaks as He always has! Some who are reading this will say, “Well, I’ve never heard Him”. My question back would be, “Really? How do you know you’ve never heard Him?”

Most would say that God only speaks to those who are either ‘worthy’ or in some form of leadership. But I want to encourage you, relationship with God is supposed to be what it was intended to be, a relating-partnership! Not a buddy relationship as so many of the modern worship songs erroneously portray Him as, but one in which two individuals are bound together through intimacy and transparency, engaging one another as those do who are “more than friends”. For us, it is based in not only our willingness to be broken and humble, but also our eagerness to engage. God continuously invites us to come close and draw near. That level of intimacy is not found in a building or a movement, or in all the mechanisms of organized religion or a man, but in the transformation that is birthed by our desire to get close… I mean up close and personal, face to face with the Creator of all things.

Too often we mistake a “religious experience” or the acquiring of Biblical knowledge as the means to satisfy our need for a “God fix”. In all honesty, most are not willing to get that close to Him. We prefer a safe distance rather than a personal meeting with Him. It is completely understandable as it challenges every fiber of who we are and shakes the very foundations of what we believe. But the results of keeping your distance are neither life changing, nor life sustaining. It only produces a “form of godliness” rather than the power to transform us. I speak from personal experience, not head knowledge.

A perfect illustration would be where Israel at Sinai. In their minds when Moses went up on the mountain to meet with God, he took way too long to return. They assumed he was dead, and because they had no desire to get close with God out of fear but were content to let Moses go up and do it for them, the result was disastrous. It was a return to the familiar and the results were life ending for many of them. Sound familiar? After all, there is a way that seems right to a man, but its way ends in death. The damaging effects of their unwillingness to be intimate reaped a harvest of what the lack of intimacy always produces in a spiritual sense, religion! In this case it manifested itself in the form of an idol to take God’s place… the golden calf!

As I listened to the women talking about how they make sure every step lines up perfectly, what came to my mind was that there is an unnaturalness to such a perspective. It is not one based in the freedom and joy an intimate relationship with God brings, but rather in the fear and trepidation that every step may be a misstep. As honorable as the idea behind it may appear, the outcome does not reap the desired affect. Rather than unlock us, it enslaves us. The relationship God paid such a great price for is not about rules and regulations, but intimacy and oneness. The same closeness Adam had with God when he walked and talked with Him in the Garden and Jesus modeled for all who would follow Him as what should be the natural tendency and desire of each believer. Originally Adam was unafraid and desired to be close. They had become so close that when it was broken through Adam’s willingness to go against what God had told him, it caused him to become afraid of that intimacy and hide.

Are you hiding today? Are you afraid to get close with the One who loves you more than you can even comprehend? He paid dearly to have the intimate relationship He desires with you.

Paul said, “It is for freedom that Messiah has set us free”. For us then, the challenge is to actually ‘be free’ and not allow that freedom to be a path returning us to our former slavery. If we were set free to be who we are, to worship God intimately and openly based upon that freedom, then the objective is to not come back under that legalism and bondage, but to embrace the power that an intimate relationship with God was created to be.

But for each one of us, the quest is a personal choice.

© 2011 Steven Bliss
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