SMALL

         A million drops of rain fall from the sky onto my face as I look up searching for blue amidst the storm. The road I walk has been arduously long; longer still than I ever imagined. Just when I thought I had come to the end, the end becomes a bend that leads to another stretch that seems to have no end. Trees watch over me as I pass by, they have gazed upon the myriads who have tread this path before me, and will spread their arms to greet all those who will march by long after I disappear. I am small.

         My aching feet absorb the earth beneath me as I strive to reach walks end. They remind me of each shift and stone, all those things I never see. They speak to me as they flatten out from all the years that have come and gone, of all the things I have forgotten, things I’ve missed and never known. To often they said go right when I turned left down paths to nowhere, and they carried me back all those times that took so very long. I am small.

         My eyes have watched my choices made; all the right, and ones that went so wrong. They have seen the eagle soar above looking down from peaks so high, and they watched each baby born to me as wonder filled my mind. And they weep for the child who is no longer here after cruel years of despair. They have seen those dreams and visions that filled my restless mind, and pondered how one so brilliant could be deaf and dumb and blind. I am small.

         The sun, the moon and stars, and the earth that seems so large remind I am dust, a tiny speck minute in size. Oh the grandeur and the magnitude of God’s expansive mind, creativity unending who masters space and time. And to think that God who breathed it can hold it in His palm is beyond the scope of reason and baffles my tiny mind. I am small.

As I walk this road so quiet, so peaceful and serene, I listen for His voice to speak and call me my name. He knows my name, it's true, how can it be? How can He know me or even care? I dare to reach for higher, things to marvelous to know. If I could leave here for a moment and bow before His throne, close enough to hear Him remind me that though I may be small, to Him who loves me deeply, My Creator, I am tall!

© 2014 Steven Bliss

* A special thanks to Elena Shumilova for her brilliant photograph that brings these words to life! 

DEAD MEANS DEAD?

      The idea of something being without life for us who live on this planet speaks to us a permanent finality. It announces the end of something and its inability to ever live again. We pass graveyards everyday that abound with what once was and no longer shall be. Death is something every human being must come to grips with, yet every human being, whether openly or secretly, fears nor wants to imagine for themselves, much less anyone or thing they love, dead.
      Permanency to us does not have the same meaning to God who created all things. After all, if you believe the Bible’s version of creation and its fall, it was man who brought the curse of death upon himself, not God. On the contrary, God created within the secure borders of the Garden of Eden a tree that’s sole purpose was to give life to all who would eat of it. Unfortunately for all of us that choice was not the one made and from the moment of that choice until now we are under the terrible consequence of that decision. But death is not always death, and final is not always the conclusion of all things.
      There is something profound that belongs to the Author and Creator of all things. It is called resurrection; life from the dead, a strange and surreal occurrence where something that once existed and now is without breath is brought back fully to life; maybe even better than it was before it died. It is what most would consider the ultimate unbelievable miracle, but to others who understand the love, power and sovereignty of God: just one of the many amazing things He does!
      I say all that to hopefully convey something that will speak to you as it just did to me. Death doesn’t just mean the end of a life, it is something that speaks to a lot of things, in this case I’m talking about the feeling of purpose and usefulness. The idea that I have no more life or meaning in regards to the purposes for which I was created is to be dead; though I may be alive I have no hope of ever being used by God or valuable to His purposes in this world. I know many can relate to what I’m saying. You feel you have failed one too many times or you struggle with the idea that God even hears you anymore. Maybe all the things you have dreamed of or hoped for have all crashed and burned. Maybe you have sinned, maybe way too many times in your mind and feel it impossible to ever be forgiven or the condemnation you or others have places upon yourself has paralyzed you and you no longer feel like you can go on. Whatever it may be, all amounts to the same thing, dead! But I want to remind you that as long as you are still breathing, there is hope and forgiveness. God is the Author of LIFE.
      There is something that has been said at funerals forever, that being “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away”. Not necessarily the most encouraging thing to hear in a state of grief, right? But I believe God wants you to know something right now... He is the One who resurrects that which was dead back to life. He says to us all that though you “were dead in your transgressions and sins… God, being outrageously rich in mercy, and because of His great love with which He loves you, even though you were dead, He has and will continue to, resurrect you; not only back to life, but eternal life as well and placed upon you the highest esteem one could have bestowed upon them… SONSHIP with His Son!” He says in the very same breath, “not because of your works or your own doing, so that you will never be able to boast and say look at what I did.”
      When God was going to reveal His choice as to who would be High Priest out of all the families of Israel He had one from each tribe who thought they should be priest bring a rod with their name on it and lay it before the alter of God. He showed His choice by causing Aaron's dead rod from an almond tree to not only produce flowers, but almonds as well.
      At times in my thirty plus years of being a believer and follower of God I have become by my own hand a dry branch, brittle and without life. But each time I have humbled myself and cried out for mercy and forgiveness He has caused my dried up and seemingly useless branch to not only come back to life, but produce fruit. No matter how anyone judges you, no matter how useless and worthless you may feel; no matter how great your sin, the love and mercy of God will never, and I mean EVER, turn its back on you.
      Death has its permanency, but in the hands of God who is abounding in mercy and lovingkindness, taking great pleasure in those who will humble themselves before Him, resurrection is a constant reality. As long as we have breath in our lungs and hearts that are willing to acknowledge our desperate need for forgiveness from Him, and we lay ourselves before Him like Aaron laid his dead branch before the Mercy Seat of God; though we appear to be dead, dried up and no longer of any use, God will cause us to not only live, but bear fruit once again.


© 2014 Steven Bliss

BE KIND...

Lately I’ve been hearing things people say that are rancid with self-righteousness and arrogance. Self-deception, self-centeredness and denial are rampant everywhere. Finger pointing based in false accusations amongst those who are unwilling to see themselves for who they truly are… no better than the ones they point fingers at, is like a virus infecting the masses. When you take yourself out of the equation and baptize yourself in some sort of false humility as though you yourself are above the fray and holier than others, you create FOR YOURSELF a judgment you won’t soon forget once it arrives at your door to greet you.

Scarier still... those who talk about themselves in the third person as though they are disconnected from their own filth; amazed that they, that is the real them, are incapable of any such disgraceful acts. Psychologically they are gasping for air in the quicksand of self-deceit. They have become as Jesus said “white-washed tombs”. They impress the few on the outside, yet are barren within. They fry all their senses to the point that reality becomes only what they imagine it to be as their minds become dull and deluded by their own blissful machinations making it impossible for them to see the truth. As Jesus said, “If the light within you is darkness, how great then is your darkness?”

Humility on the other hand is invaluable yet comes with a price. Its fruit is brokenness resulting in true righteousness; a righteousness imputed by God Himself. Find that and you’ve found life itself. Only then can living water truly flow out of your belly bringing hope and life to others.

Humility produces kindness… so BE KIND! God says to the arrogant and self-righteous, “Go and learn this, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” We are all in the same boate been hearing things people say that are rancid with self-righteousness and arrogance. Self-deception, self-centeredness and denial are rampant everywhere. Finger pointing based in false accusations amongst those who are unwilling to see themselves for who they truly are… no better than the ones they point fingers at, is like a virus infecting the masses. When you take yourself out of the equation and baptize yourself in some sort of false humility as though you yourself are above the fray and holier than others, you create FOR YOURSELF a judgment you won’t soon forget once it arrives at your door to greet you. 

Scarier still... those who talk about themselves in the third person as though they are disconnected from their own filth; amazed that they, that is the real them, are incapable of any such disgraceful acts. Psychologically they are gasping for air in the quicksand of self-deceit. They have become as Jesus said “white-washed tombs”. They impress the few on the outside, yet are barren within. They fry all their senses to the point that reality becomes only what they imagine it to be as their minds become dull and deluded by their own blissful machinations making it impossible for them to see the truth. As Jesus said, “If the light within you is darkness, how great then is your darkness?”

Humility on the other hand is invaluable yet comes with a price. Its fruit is brokenness resulting in true righteousness; a righteousness imputed by God Himself. Find that and you’ve found life itself. Only then can living water truly flow out of your belly bringing hope and life to others. 

Humility produces kindness… so BE KIND! God says to the arrogant and self-righteous, “Go and learn this, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” We are all in the same boat… sinners… it is therefore imperative to humble yourself… then, BE KIND!

© 2014 Steven Bliss

TIME?

Yes, Israel and Hamas have been at it before and they're at it again. And of course, the media’s interpretation of it all is one-sided as always. And sure, they have been saying that Jesus is coming for two thousand years... so what else is new, right? Well, plenty. This time, though seemingly familiar, is not like before, and even if there were to be a cease-fire and a temporary calming down for a moment, this is not going away. This is escalating in many ways leading to a greater reality; not just the conflagration we see between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, but a global insurrection against Israel and the Jewish people has escalated to a fever pitch. Though there has been a steady rise of anti-Semitism over the last seven years or so, we are now in a full-blown worldwide anti-Semitic front. But then again, Islam has infiltrated the majority of the nations on the earth.

Twenty-five years ago the Lord plunged me into the world of Islam... I didn't get it at the time. What He showed me was scary but to me, back in 1989, was incomprehensible. When I would talk about it and share it back then, most questioned my hearing or thought there was no way a bunch of desert fighters who used swords and rode camels were ever going to amount to any such world threat. Nonetheless, I journaled what I heard. It would be far greater than what was happening in Israel in the mid 1980's and early 90’s. It wasn’t going to just be bus bombs in Israel; it would become a global movement that would eventually take the shape of a beast. And so it has.

I will make this brief and give you the facts. On April 18th, 2011 I was standing in my kitchen cleaning dishes as I watched the news. It was Erev Pesach/The evening that Passover begins. It was also my son Aaron's 20th birthday. As I stood there I heard a voice as clear as my own speak to me. Everything, including the TV I was watching, became silent around me. The voice said, "Today begins a shift to the swift." I had an immediate knowing that all we know that is time related would suddenly begin to pick up at an unusual pace. What before seemed like forever would now be minutes, an acceleration of all things racing to a conclusion. I was a bit stunned as I immediately wrote it down. That night I went to friends for Seder and told them what I had heard. Weeks went by and then on what I now know was Shavuot/Pentecost, I heard the voice again. It was the same scenario, me in the kitchen watching the news. This time the voice was louder saying, "THE FIERCE ONES ARE COMING!" I knew they were dark ones... fallen angels, perhaps Lucifer himself and a band of dark princes. Whatever it was, it wasn’t holy! (I can only convey what I experienced) If you actually go back and start tracking the news you will see something shifted and that much has accelerated since, especially the rise of some extreme Islamic based situations around the world. But none equal what is now spinning out of control. 

The news media barely tells the truth. The United States government never tells the truth. The veils of deception are pulled tight and the darkness that covers the minds of most is staggering. Far more than what meets the eyes is taking place and much of it in plain sight. But it is not what is seen that boggles the mind, but what is not. But here's the truth. Here are the cold hard facts that tell us more perhaps prophetically than we want to know. Anti-Israel/anti-Semitic sentiment is fire burning out of control everywhere. Anti-Semitism has risen 383% worldwide since 2013, according to a World Zionist Organization (WZO) - including a 436% hate crime hike in Europe. Greater than that which consumed Germany in the 1930's and 40's. In the current situation Israel is being accused of doing to Gaza what Hitler did to them then. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Islamic terrorist organization Hamas uses women and children as sympathy attracters. http://grid.pjmedia.com/?cmd=view-show-profile-article&id=1934 Their strategies are shrewd and calculated. They know what they are doing as they dig tunnels into Israel with a plan to invade, kill many and take hostages on Rosh haShanah 2014, and they not only test their strategy, they video it and release for all to see as I write this. http://www.vocativ.com/world/israel-world/hamas-post-video-deadly-attack-israeli-outpost-via-tunnel/ Israel on the other hand is extremely humane in the way they go about their business. They give warning after warning of their impending actions taking up to three days before they make their move in order to avoid as many civilian casualties as possible. But have you heard that? Do you know they do such things? No, of course you don’t.

Yet the world doesn't hear those things... and as a result the world rages against Israels' supposed inhumane aggression calling it war crimes. We don’t hear about the things Hamas has done that have both instigated and sustained Israel’s warranted response. We are at the point now where reading Zechariah 12 has become today's headlines. It's happening right before our eyes. 

http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/We-are-looking-at-the-beginnings-of-a-Holocaust-369165

There is so much more to say... but I will leave you with something I wrote in 2010. I had been specifically asking God for something and needed to know that what I was doing was right. For weeks I prayed. Then I heard that same voice say to read Genesis 5 and 11. As I did I then heard "add up the years". The rest I will leave for you to discover. http://stevenbliss.blogspot.com/2010/09/adam-to-abraham-what-it-means-to-us_17.html

I say all this because we live in perilous times just as we were warned would take place. The warnings and signs of many things being "at the door" are all around us. Discernment is sorely lacking. Darkness has covered the earth, though the natural eye is incapable of perceiving it. We are overwhelmed with so many things that distract us. The insidiousness of what surrounds us is beyond comprehension as it smothers our ability to discern. We close our eyes, don't want to talk about it, we deny its existence and pretend we've got years as we buy into the lies of self-preservation.

Time is truly short; shorter than anyone wants to believe. Even the elect are being deceived. Now is the appropriate time to stop and take account of what is happening. It is time to cry out to God to help us all.

© 2014 Steven Bliss

AS A MAN THINKS…

The Bible delivers a deep truth when it says, “For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he”. With that being said, how critical is it that the foundation of all one thinks not be based in human reason or understanding? Something not easy to comprehend or understand, yet vital to the health our soul and whole being is understanding that truth is not subjective; its foundation firm.

In this crazy world of the self-indulgent, the psychobabble concept propagated of “your truth” being all that matters, regardless of what is real, is a lie of those who seek to enslave you to their way of thinking for their purposes. But “your truth”, as though there are 7 billion truths, does not exist; for all truth emanates from Kingdom of Light and God Himself. There is no shifting or bending within it for there is no other truth other than that which is filtered through God, and God alone. 

Jesus said this, “If then the light that is within you is darkness, then how great is your darkness?” Think about that for a moment. If “your truth” is not His truth, how dark is your perception of truth and your ability to discern what is real?

That being so, when you find yourself in a dilemma of thought, I encourage you to come to your conclusions wisely… for you will become what you choose as your decisions carry with them the fruit they will bear; for the seeds you sew will reap a harvest; those sewn to righteousness, righteousness, those sewn to evil, destruction.

Let me encourage you with a pillar of truth… GOD ALWAYS HAS YOUR ANSWER. Whether you choose to THINK that or not, all truth begins and ends with this statement from Proverbs… “The fear of the Lord (Yahweh) is the beginning of wisdom, knowledge of the Holy One (Him) is understanding.”

© 2014 Steven Bliss

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GOD IS!

Where no one else sees… Where no one else hears… Where no one else comprehends and the world just disappears…

God knows, God sees, God always hears... 

GOD IS!

© 2014 Steven Bliss

(Video beautifully created by TSO Photography, Oslo, Norway. http://vimeo.com/terjes)

If you like this article, please spread it around! Tweet it, Facebook it… just hit the share buttons below! Your comments are always welcome; so please feel free. Thanks! SB

DEEP DARKNESS

            The prophet Isaiah was used by God to speak a word about the end that is often ignored or glazed over. God shows him the condition of not only the earth, but its inhabitants well before the great and terrible “day of Yehovah”. Isaiah said this, “For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and His glory will be seen upon you.” 

            The darkness he speaks of in the first part of the sentence is the saturation of the kingdom of darkness as never before to the point that it virtually overtakes and consumes the entire globe. It becomes the ruling force. The deep darkness he refers to is the insidious infiltration and overtaking of the hearts and minds of man as he gives himself over to the will of the evil one, believing he’s spiritually, socially and morally right, all the while steeped in deception. And like the frog in the kettle, he is slowly and comfortably boiled alive. Though it may take years of desensitization, once achieved it will rule mans mind completely making way for the consumption of evil and the total abandonment of all reason and truth. At that time, God will have no place in the mass of humanity. Madness will overtake sensibility; insanity will become the norm. Shock and horror will arise with no conviction within the heart, and mankind, as a whole, will be doomed and condemned; becoming a sacrifice upon the alters of hell for the great destruction of all living things.

            The voices of demons and dark angles will be so dominant that they will block all sources of light and truth. They will speak in the language of perception using deceptive persuasion to tear to shreds the fabric of righteousness. They know the power of repetitive phrasing and as a result know how to cause the mind, God’s super computer placed between our ears, to question God, His existence and His story of redemption until one so doubts the truth altogether, that he fully believes the lie. They are programming masters creating viruses that shut down the hard drives in our heads until the virus itself takes over every cell, deleting all internal sensors and dismantling all warning capabilities that protect us from the lie and leads us towards God. Ultimately enslaving the mind to Lucifer himself.

            They are hunters and trappers, evil taskmasters and overlords. Though you can’t see them now, they are everywhere. And the day fast approaches when what was hidden from our eyes is suddenly seen by all. By then, it will be too late; the trumpets will have sounded. There is not a horror movie ever created that could capture the absolute terror these dark princes and their unholy beasts will unleash.

            Scare you? It should! As a matter of fact, it should terrify you. Why? Because it’s not just out there in the world somewhere feeding on some obscure, third-world depraved population; it’s weaving its way through society, even the minds of those who claim allegiance to God. The virus has spread throughout the "house" itself. Insidiously it dwells within those who have an appearance of righteousness. How can you tell? The litmus test is arrogance and hubris, a complete lack humility! A contaminated self-righteousness that claims superiority as it drunkenly staggers from compromise. And ultimately, the defining characteristic of all… a complete power outage.

            What is my point and why promote such a frightening vision? Because what is happening now, right before our eyes every single day, is the manifestation of all I’ve just described. It will only increase in the years ahead until it becomes the norm in society. Until we become so numb, that we no longer recognize its presence. That’s called saturation! Sadly, we ignore it or turn a blind eye. We don’t want to be bothered. We no longer fight! We surrender without even waving a white flag. 

            Take for instance the story I read this morning. Two 12 year old girls were seduced by the voice of a demon named “Slenderman” in some dark game commanding them to do an unthinkable and insane act: kill one of their best girlfriends. I have put the link here so that you can read for yourself.(https://www.cnn.com/2014/06/04/opinion/robbins-slenderman-stabbing-girls)

            This is no anomaly. These are not psychologically disturbed girls! That’s exactly what darkness wants us to believe. These girls have been demonically overtaken and seduced into surrendering themselves to the beast and his bidding. What you will find interesting in the dialogue of the article is that these two girls consciously wrestled with good and evil, right and wrong; whether to take her life or letting their friend live. These types of things are happening minute by minute around the globe. And it will get worse! Children are the prey. Brainwashing, mind control, or radicalization… the future is always the children. And when you see the rise of children doing inconceivable evil… know the crossover has happened.

            I appeal to all of you who read what I have written. I plead with you to turn to God and ask Him to open your eyes. Not just any god, the Only God! Ask Him to show you the truth of what’s actually going on around you. In the movie the Matrix, the main character, Neo, is offered a choice between two pills. One blue, the other red. The blue pill would remove all remembrance of what was taking place at that moment forever, returning him to life as he knew it. The red pill would permanently open his eyes to reality, the Matrix, from which he would never be able to not know.  Altered and aware, forever.

            Today, if you hear God's voice and don’t harden your heart, He will make you aware of what presses down upon the whole earth, and the darkness that is permeating and penetrating the hearts and minds of men, women and children, everywhere.

You can only change you… start there.

© 2014 Steven Bliss