My tears—our tears, One Day, will be wiped away by the very Hand that made this Universe.
The very One who went to the Cross for us, and made a way for us to come Home to Him.
The saints of old—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, David, Moses, Ruth, Jeremiah, Esther, and so many others, longed to see the Day of the Messiah approach!
He, the Lord Jesus, visited them during His three days in Sheol, and on the Third Day when He was risen, He took them as His “First Fruits”-one of the Jewish Feasts that were also fulfilled by Him. He took them Home with Him to present before the Father in Heaven.
Those who came out of their graves, and walked the streets of Jerusalem in Matthew 27:52-53 were the very ones who waited for their Messiah all those millennia, as we now wait for His Return in the clouds, to take us Home. They were witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection from the grave, as they were for their own!
One Day, beloved. One Day, it WILL happen, just as He said it would. No more tears. No more crying. No more Death. Only Eternal Life to look forward to, in Christ, with the Father, and the Ruach HaKodesh—the Holy Spirit.
One Day. Are you ready to have your tears wiped away?
It WILL happen, just as the LORD God said it would.
Shalom and boker tov (good morning)everyone! I HOPE you all were able to watch Episode 8 last night!! If you haven’t, and/or have not kept up with The Chosen for Season 3–OH MY GOSH—what are you WAITING for?
It was amazing! Seriously, I always loved S1E4–that was my “all time” favorite episode, and right behind that was S1E7-Jesus and Nicodemus. Of course, as the seasons continued, it was getting harder and harder to pick favorites; every season built upon the previous, and this one, in ONE word can be describe as “INTENSE”.
There were so many things going on at one time, and many of us can relate to at least one issue within S3’s episodes. But E8–that moved into FIRST PLACE position for me! I won’t say much more, in case you have not yet seen it-or any of them, for that matter.
Some people, I understand, don’t like TV shows or movies that are not “word for word” right out of the Bible. That is okay. BUT—even John the Apostle told us at the end of his Gospel, that “There are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (Jn. 21:25).
There were MANY things, many situations, many “human” emotions from the disciples themselves, their families, friends, etc., that very likely went from low to high, to everything in between. They did NOT all get along all the time-that we SEE for ourselves in the Scriptures! LIFE was still going on for these people as they served the Lord Jesus during those three and a half years He ministered in the public eye. Dallas Jenkins and the other writers have done a most excellent job of character development, writing a lot of very believable “what if’s” into the scripts, showing us how 1st century people were living, what they were dealing with-especially the Jewish people. They WERE and ARE STILL, God’s people!
All I will say of the last two episodes (7-8)—what an EXCELLENT example of the Body of Christ arguing with each other over petty things that in the eyes of the Lord Jesus, did not matter! Now, those people were yet to be believers, but as I first watched those scenes with the Jews, Greeks, Phonecians, etc., the immediate word that came into my spirit FROM the Spirit was, “this is the BODY of Christ today”🙄😞🙁. All too true. We definitely need to come together and UNITE as ONE as the Lord Jesus prayed to the Father about 📖in John 17.
Many testimonies from viewers from all over the world have possibly for the first time were not only able to finally see a very real side of the Lord Jesus in His humanity being portrayed by Jonathan Roumie, but how all who were with him, both family, friend, and foe, also possibly reacted when Jesus did (or did not do, in the case of Simon and Eden via the TV show) his miracles, or preached to the masses.
My prayers from 2018 were definitely answered when I came upon The Chosen for the first time in April, 2020. Finally, there was a TV show dedicated to Christ and His followers and their family members, showing just what could have happened during that time, when THEY were called to serve Him. It wasn’t easy then, nor is it any easier now. In fact, we know as per 📖Scripture it IS going to get worse! But we are getting amazing “what if” illustrations of how it very well could have been for them all back then, WITH many obvious 📖Scripture references wrapped around those very possible scenarios that Dallas and the writers chose to address to the viewers.
I thank God my Father for answering that prayer of mine (and so many others!) to make a show like The Chosen. It has drawn people BACK to their 📖Bibles, and more importantly, to their knees, having them look up and pray, repent, and ask the LORD God for forgiveness, and accept the Lord Jesus into their lives, finally having the 🕊Holy Spirit dwell within them. THAT, my family in Christ, IS the main reason why Abba said, “YES” to that prayer. He saw how many people that would come to Him via this series. It does not have to be perfect; it has been created by imperfect people, with imperfect writers, producers, cast and crew. And, every single viewer is also imperfect!
BUT, a PERFECT God oversees it all, to ensure that people ARE coming to Christ and His Word through it; and THAT is the miracle that keeps on happening every episode and in every season that has been made so far. Baruch HaShem for His chesed-lovingkindness!
May the LORD God keep blessing The Chosen, and using it to bring more people to His Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9)—that table WILL be filled, with people from every tribe, tongue, and nation, and we ALL will be able to cast down our crowns before Him (Rev. 4:10), Who is worthy to receive glory, and honor, and power (Rev. 4:11), because He has called EVERYONE to His Table. 🙏🏼✡️📖✝️✨
REALIZE, child of the LIVING ETERNAL God, that you DO have the THIRD Member of the Triune Godhead LIVING WITHIN you, Who sees, hears, and KNOWS all that you do and say, at ALL times.
He IS the Holy Spirit, the LIVING Spirit of God—the SAME Spirit Who “was hovering over the face of the waters” in Genesis 1:1.
That could be an awesome revelation to you, or, it could be a frightening realization of just how much the LORD God knows how you have conducted your life here on Earth up until now.
I don’t think the late Benedict XVI fully realized how prophetic his statement was. David certainly did not realize many of his Psalms were prophetic either, at the time when he was writing each of them. But we are actually SEEING this happen before our eyes, whether we are part of a “C” Catholic church or not.
The fact is, anyone who considers themselves a Christian—a true believer IN the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost/Spirit, and is baptized (Mk. 16:16), is a child of God, and IS part of the One holy “c” catholic (universal) and apostolic Church, regardless of what sect of Christianity you may hail from.
THIS AFFECTS ALL OF US—not just born-again, Bible-believing Catholics like myself who attend the TLM-Traditional Latin Mass-the very Mass that started it all, and yet the hierarchy has been trying to shut us down. Why? Because the TLM reminds them of how it all started, at the Last Supper between Christ and His disciples-that it’s all about HIM, and not the people in the seats. It’s FOR us in the seats, but the attention is wholly on GOD in that service, no one else, just like it was in the OT when the priests were in the tabernacle and even more so, in the Holy of Holies with the Spirit of God. And they hate that.
If you think that this does not or will not affect your church one day—think again. The power and spirit of AntiChrist has been here since the ascension of the Lord Jesus to the Father in Acts 1:8-11. The Apostle John spoke about it in his letters to the Church. He WARNED us that this would happen, and further more was able to explain and expound upon it when the Holy Spirit “raptured” or “snatched” his spirit up in a vision to Heaven in Revelation 4:1-2, and showed him some things that were at that time in his life that had to do with the Church, but the remainder of John’s vision had to do with what was to come in the latter days-the days WE in the 21st century, are living in presently.
You see, the problem with the CHURCH as a whole, is that one branch of the Tree thinks it is better, or holier, or more “Spirit-filled”, etc., than the others. Some branches do not at all accept the others as fellow believers, and would rather even dare to call them “heretics”; for that, the Lord Jesus will judge them harshly. It was Jesus Himself that admonished John in Luke 9:49-50 about this very thing; John and the other disciples saw someone casting out devils in Jesus’ name, and they told him to stop, just because that man was not in their particular group. Jesus said to John, “Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you, is for you.” But the devils and demons have done an excellent job in getting all of us to see each other as the enemy, INSTEAD of focusing on THEM! May the Lord forgive us for our lack of love toward one another!
NONE of us in any branch of the Church has it “perfect”; as a matter of fact, there wasn’t supposed to BE thousands of splits in the BODY of Christ! As the picture with the Scripture states, we were and ARE to be, ONE BODY, ONE SPIRIT in Christ-ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM, with ONE GOD and Father ruling OVER ALL of us (Eph. 4:4-6). But we managed in 2000+ years, to majorly screw that up to the point even the devils and demons themselves scratch their heads wondering how we managed to let it get that bad!
If after reading all of this, you still think that some parts of the whole BODY of Christ are “heretics” or “non-believers” because they do not worship exactly the same way you do, or sing the same songs you do, or preach the same way you do, or speak the Mass/service in the same language that you do, OR they do not seem to be as “holy” as you and your branch of Christianity is, well get ready to be KNOCKED OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE like Saul of Tarsus was (Acts 9:1-6)!
The Lord Jesus did it then, and in order to get HIS BODY of believers back to where it was wayyyy back in the time of Acts, there’s going to be some —actually, MANY of us who just may be going back to the “catacomb” days that soon followed in that first couple of centuries. So He will ALLOW it to happen, in order for us all TO become what He Himself prayed to the Father for in John 17, that we would be “sanctified in the truth, for Your Word is truth” (vs. 17), and that “the glory that You have given me I have given them, THAT THEY MAY BE ONE EVEN AS WE ARE ONE” (vs. 22). Jesus continued in verse 23, “I in them and You in Me, that THEY (that is us!!) may become PERFECTLY ONE, so that the WORLD may know that YOU sent Me and loved them even as you loved Me.”
The prayer in John 17 by the Lord Jesus has YET to fully be answered, because the BODY of Christ has been too busy arguing, fighting and condemning each other, instead of turning toward the Lord Jesus, and LISTENING to the HOLY SPIRIT, allowing HIM to lead and guide us, and grow us into the true BODY of CHRIST we were always meant to be, with ONE TRUE Spirit —not hundreds of evil spirits leading us into judgment and God forbid, even damnation!
PRAY and ask the Holy Spirit to REVEAL to you, how YOU as a believer in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit —the ONE TRUE GODHEAD—should be praying about this. Allow Him to HUMBLE you, and let Him show you what can do about all of this in this ever increasing evil time when the CHURCH BODY is and will be continuing to go through MUCH TRIBULATION in the days to come.
With much HUMILITY, REPENTANCE, and ALL of us in the Body seeking FORGIVNESS of such sins against each other, we may just be able to once again, stand strong (Eph. 6:10-18) against the TRUE enemy of our souls—the evil ones who have since the beginning of the time of God’s creation of humanity, sought out to STEAL, KILL, and DESTROY (Jn. 10:10) us off the face of the Earth, just because the LORD God loves us, and created us in HIS image. Also, because He sent His Son, Jesus, to SAVE us from our sins (Matt. 1:21), IF we were to ACCEPT Him into our lives.
Mark my words, mark Benedict’s words, and most importantly, mark THE WORD OF GOD—because ALL Scripture will be fulfilled, and the Church WILL go through a time of persecution and tribulation this world has yet to see. But it is coming. And sooner than any of us who ARE watching and seeing it happen, would like to admit.
PRAY and SEEK the Lord God, and His Son, and ask Him to humble you and your church body, in order to work with the other true branches of the Body of Christ. Those who ARE truly His, will desire to do HIS will, and work with one another, in love, in humility, in reverent fear of the LORD God and His living Word, which IS His SON, the LORD JESUS (Jn. 1:1-2, 14), Who is and always will be the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE (Jn. 14:6) for all that accept Him as both SAVIOR and LORD of their lives.
Remember the words of the Apostle Paul in Galatians 3:26-29, and LIVE them out, in love, humility and service to one another, fulfilling the law of Christ, and answering His prayer to the Father:
“For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither JEW nor GREEK, SLAVE nor FREE, there is no MALE and FEMALE, for you are ALL ONE in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to Promise.”
May the LORD GOD Almighty have mercy on us, and forgive our sins of highmindedness, and help us once again to become the HUMBLE servants of the Most High He desired all of us in the Body of Christ to be—one HOLY, CATHOLIC, and APOSTOLIC CHURCH. In Jesus’ most precious Name—Amen. ✨✝️📖✨✝️📖✨✝️📖✨✝️📖✨✝️📖 Pope Benedict XVI visionary….(from 1969)
WE ARE HERE ! The prophecy of Fr. Joseph Ratzinger in 1969: “We will soon have reduced priests to the role of social workers and the message of faith reduced to political views. Everything will seem lost, but at the right moment, right in the most dramatic stage of the crisis, the Church will be reborn. She will be smaller, poorer, almost catacombal, but even more holy. For it will no longer be the Church of those who seek to please the world, but the Church of the faithful to God and His eternal law. Rebirth will be the work of a small remains, seemingly insignificant yet indomitable, passed through a purification process. Because that’s how God works. Against evil, a small flock resists. “
If there ever was a time in modern day “post-Christianity” that we should be calling upon the name of the Lord, it is NOW. He was not “just a fairy tale”… He was not “just a myth”… He was not just a regular man… He was not just “a good man”… He was not just “a good teacher”… He was not just “a prophet”… He WAS in glory with the Father BEFORE He had to fulfill His mission here on Earth (Jn. 17:5)… That mission was to be the one and only acceptable sacrifice (Eph. 5:2; Heb. 9:26; 10:26) that the Father would recognize as a way to save and redeem people from their sins… He IS the ONLY way back to the Father (Jn. 14:6); no other way is possible… His Spirit-the Holy Spirit of God, is placed into every one of us (Gal. 4:6) who “call upon the name of the LORD to be saved (Rom. 10:13)… Jacob himself said, “I wait for Your salvation, O LORD” (Gen. 49:18). Those who longed for God to be with them, finally had that prayer answered when God the Father sent His Son to Earth, to make a way for humanity to be reconciled to their Creator. That night in the manger, Mary gave birth to the One–the ONLY One Who could free mankind from any and all demonic bondage: His Name is called JESUS. And He is the same Savior as He has been-YESTERDAY, TODAY, and FOREVER (Heb. 13:8) Will you recognize Him as your Savior and Lord today, of all days? Get (re)acquainted with Him this CHRISTmas. Make it an eternal present you give yourself; He will be the best gift you could ever receive.💖✝
There is only ONE Person Who will NEVER let you down; ONE Person Who will be there with you ALWAYS; ONE Person Who hears the cries of the faithful, and also the sinful who call out to Him for forgiveness; ONE Person Who will sit and listen to all you have to say; ONE Person Who loves you unconditionally, without any type of prejudice; ONE Person Who remains your Faithful Friend through all the laughter, joys, tears, and sorrows; ONE Person Who will love you enough to tell you when you are wrong, and show you what to do to make things right, when you are humble enough to allow Him to change you for the better; ONE Person Who NEVER changes, His Laws and statutes never change, His Promises never change, and His Word remains FOREVER: That Person, Is the Eternal Triune Godhead-the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Praise Him for His Eternal Faithfulness!
To know that there IS a way to be forgiven and cleansed of all those wrongdoings, iniquities, faults; To know that there IS a Person out there that will continue to love you, no matter how many mistakes you may have made in the past;
To recognize AND account for your sins and faults, whether they were ignorantly done or on purpose; To be FORGIVEN by not only them, but more importantly, the One to whom all Judgment of Mankind belongs;
And to be BLESSED to know that not only is reconciliation possible with Him, but to then be able to spend ETERNITY with Him, having complete PEACE and JOY in your heart, knowing someone loved you enough to forgive you.
How can one not take the Lord up on that Promise of His? Even though others may not want to forgive you, HE WILL. His LOVE endures FOREVER.
Rich or poor, single or married, male or female, old or young. It does not matter where you are from; It does not matter what color you are. It even does not matter what faith you hail from, or have no belief. What DOES matter, is that One Day, you WILL be in front of The One Who created you. You will stand before Him. He WILL judge you righteously. It does not matter to HIM that you may not believe that will happen; it will STILL happen.
That Day is getting closer. These messages and warnings will continue to go out, to all who “have an ear to hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Rev. 2:7,17).
The Time is getting shorter; the days are hastening to the End of Days. There IS an End, for there was a Beginning. Are you ready? Is your soul ready?
Or are you going to dismiss this one as well and call me and the others who warn, “a nut”, “crazy”, “Bible thumper”, etc.?
Say what you want of me; I do will of my Father and my King. I take no orders from man, nor do I serve him any longer. As it is written, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven” (Matt. 6:10). His will WILL be done, whether man agrees with it or not. Where do you stand with Him? Make sure you are on the side of the King, and not on the side of the ones who rebelled against Him. Their sentence is eternal death. Do you wish the same?
Remember what is written, “Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord”, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but the one who DOES the will of my Father Who is in Heaven” (Matt. 7:21). Do you wish to do the will of man, so you may have honor from them? Are they in charge of where your soul ends up? Can they even save themselves? Certainly not.
Where do you stand with Him? Where WILL you stand on That Day—on His left, Or on His right? (Matt. 25:33,41; Eccl. 10:2)
I saw a devotional this morning, that spoke about how we have peace with the LORD God when we are awake, but especially, when we lay down to sleep. It quoted Psalm 4:8, and the prayer taken from it that my Godmother Helen used to have us kids to say before we were put to bed each night when I visited my cousins—“Now I lay me down to sleep…”.
But the verse that stood out to me this morning was from Psalm 23:4. As I read the verse over and over again, the words “valley of the shadow of death” resonated within me. For David, who had many enemies, being under attack by his king, and even by his own son at one point, I can see how this Psalm poured out of his soul and onto paper.
I looked up the verse, and the specific word צלמות “salmavet”, which in Hebrew is “of the shadow of death”. It is also defined as “death-shadow” (of distress, extreme danger), “deep shadow”, and “deep darkness” (of place of the dead). Even though they are mostly used figuratively, I sense there is a more literal meaning of it than we would like to admit.
This world has become more and more “the valley of the shadow of death”. In fact, I dare say that literally walking in this world right now IS like walking through the “shadow of Death”—the same Death that is mentioned in Revelation 20:14–the Greek word for death being θάνατος = “Thanatos”, the name for the ancient Greek god of Death (in Rome, the god was “Mors”). Thanatos may sound familiar, since in recent years the Avengers movies had a supervillain character named “Thanos” which first appeared in the Marvel comics. He most certainly lived up to the name in those movies.
Some other Bible verses that include “the shadow of death” or the other definitions of it are in Psalm 107:10–“There were those who dwelt in darkness and in the shadow of death, Prisoners in misery and chains…” Boy, does that sound a lot like the people who basically are the “walking dead” on this Earth right now, who deny the very GOD who allows them to still have BREATH in their lungs.
Another verse is from Matthew 4:16 which is taken from Isaiah 9:2, “The people that walked in darkness (חשׁך)- kho-shek’, which means “darkness, obscurity”; “darkness”, “secret place”, “death”, “misery”, “IGNORANCE”—!, “sorrow”, “wickedness”. Hmm, very interesting how that is “figuratively” used, because the way our world is right now—actually, it has BEEN that way, but MOST of us have been ASLEEP, eating the “Lotus cookies” (some of you will 😉get that), busy with our own lives, not paying attention to what really has been going on in the world, both physically and SPIRITUALLY.
We human spirits have partaken in “panem et circenses”—“bread and circuses—a WHOLE lot of distraction from what has really gone on in this world—the work of the evil ones who “steal, kill, and destroy” (John 10:10)—the HUMAN PUPPET AGENTS of SATAN who have continued his work for millennia, because he vowed to himself to take as many with him as possible to the Pit and ultimately, to “the LAKE WHICH BURNETH WITH FIRE AND BRIMSTONE; which is the SECOND DEATH” (Rev. 21:8). That “second death” is WORSE than the first, because it is PERMANENT and ETERNAL.
WHAT needs to happen if one wants to avoid that “valley of the shadow of death”? You cannot avoid that, for WE ALL who are living ad breathing, are walking IN that valley right NOW—it is HERE on EARTH; it IS EARTH. Hence the reason why David wrote it the way he did, “Even though I WALK THROUGH the valley of the shadow of death”; David realized he was IN that valley throughout his lifetime. This entire life is about HOW to walk through that valley of death, misery, destruction, evil works, etc., and come out FROM it, with the help of the ONLY ONE Who can “deliver us from evil” (Matt. 6:13) that we see, hear, smell, touch, and taste of every single day of our lives. THAT Person is within the Eternal Triune Godhead—the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus DEFEATED Hell and Death (very real evil spirits) at the Cross, and OWNS the keys (Rev. 1:18)!! He is the ONLY ONE Who was RESURRECTED, and because of His victory at the Cross, as Paul stated in 1 Corinthians 15:55, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” The Lord Jesus has made a way back to the Father—the ONLY way, for He IS “the way, the truth, and the LIFE” (Jn. 14:6), and there is NO OTHER WAY out of eternal DARKNESS, the shadow of DEATH, or DAMNATION, except one who acknowledges Jesus as LORD and SAVIOR of their life (Romans 10:9-10,13).
If you want out of the “valley of the shadow of death”, you first must REPENT (Ez. 14:6; 18:30; Matt. 3:2; Mk. 1:15; Lk. 13:3,5; Acts 2:38; 8:22). The Lord Jesus warns once again of what will happen if people do not repent of their sins and wickedness: “Therefore, repent. If not, I will come to you SOON and war against them with the sword of My mouth” (Rev. 2:16). The “sword” IS His Word, and He, Jesus, IS THE WORD OF GOD.
SEEK the Lord and His Word out. BE HUMBLE and ASK Him to forgive you of your sins, and LIVE as a child of the King, Who WILL hold your hand and walk WITH you, “through the valley of the shadow of death” here, UNTIL the “appointed time” (Dan. 8:19; 11:35; Hab. 2:3; for Him to come back and “redeem His people” (2 Sam. 7:23; Job 5:20; Ps. 69:18; Is. 50:2; Jer. 15:21), and I will end with Hosea 13:14a: “I SHALL ransom them from the power of Sheol; I SHALL REDEEM them from DEATH…”
Walking in the Dark with Faith 