Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study, Red Pill Diaries

Does Integrity Matter?

Paul v.s. Felix

Paul visits the beloved Ephesian elders in Mielitus. He tells them it is the last time he will see them and they weep. He reminds them of his impeccable integrity in fulfilling the mission the Lord had given them.

I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Acts 20:21
Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. 

Acts 20:26-27

Paul appears to be referencing his obedience to Ezekiel 3.

If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,'and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. 

Ezekiel 3:18-19

Paul then warns them of wolves and twisted teachers that would arise from among them.

In Acts 22 Paul establishes his integrity before his accusers first by declaring his credentials and his obedience to the law up to and including the persecution of Christians. He declares and owns this error that was confronted and corrected by Jesus. He does not back down when faced with the same persecution he had previously perpetrated on others.  Paul’s persecution continues in Acts 23.

And looking intently at the council, Paul said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.” 

Acts 23:1

The high priest responds by ordering those close by to punch Paul in the face. Paul responds by calling a spade a spade, referring to the high priest as a “whitewashed wall.” His assessment was correct. Yet Paul’s eyesight was poor and he immediately repented the moment he learned he had unwittingly addressed the high priest.

“Why would he repent?”

Paul didn’t change his opinion about the high priest. Paul repented because of his own integrity. He repented because, “it is written ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.'” Paul’s respect was not directed toward the high priest. His repentance was in obedience to the Lord who was sending him on to Rome.

In Acts 24 Paul is brought before Felix the Roman governor. The Jews remained relentless in wanting him dead. Paul simply defends his integrity and begins the conclusion of his testimony with,

"So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man."

Acts 24:16
‘It is with respect to the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you this day.’” 

Acts 24:21

Felix and his licentious wife Drucilla protect Paul and give him a haven in a modified prison with privileges. It occurs to me that Paul had the most peace and security during the two years he spent there. Still, Felix was corrupt and had no integrity. He just wanted Paul to bribe him and would eventually face what amounted to corruption charges in Rome.

Integrity
Integrity the quality of being honest, having strong moral principles, and maintaining consistency in character, often described as doing the right thing even when no one is watching. It also refers to a state of being whole, undivided, or complete. Synonyms include honesty, honor, probity, rectitude, and wholeness.

-AI synopsis from six dictionaries-

Mental Fragmentation is the opposite of integrity.  Oxford Academic describes Fragmentation as,

A concept where the overall belief system is split into multiple, sometimes contradictory, sub-states rather than one unified whole.

James describes fragmentation as a double-minded man who is unstable in all his ways.

In any case, integrity seems pretty important to God. That brings me to today.

Just this past week I had two Zoom calls scheduled with people I do not know. I completely rearranged my day around them. I set alarms so as to make absolutely certain that I would remain true to my word. One person ghosted me. The other was kind enough to message me one minute before the call was scheduled,

“Sorry. Something came up.”

For some reason this week several friends have shared their frustration with the absence of integrity of believers. People who were supposed to be at such and such a place and such and such a time and weren’t and won’t even acknowledge this is problematic. People who borrowed things and returned them broken. Others did not return what they borrowed at all. Granted, emergencies happen. But that does not apply in any of these situations. 

A lack of integrity does.

At work, people often don’t show up or show up late without even making a call to say they are going to be late. So what if the overnight person wants to go home? So what if it disrupts the lives of at least twelve other people. 

The sheer volume and frequency of these kinds of events lead me to wonder if integrity was never taught or if people simply don’t care. In all these cases the message is clear.

My time is valuable. Your time is not.

At first, I was tempted to become angry. “They’re just self-centered undisciplined spoiled brats!” That quickly transformed to, “We’ll, Jesus didn’t trust people.” John 2:24-25 Then finally, 

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

I decided to not be convinced that these people are in any way malicious or intentionally inconsiderate. What I see is fragmentation. After all, what is so complicated or hard about

saying what you mean and doing what you say?

While my primary experience is with those in the church, fragmentation seems to every where and growing. Could this be why so many are consumed understanding their own identities?

Paul never wavered or faltered after he encountered Jesus. He knew what he saw and was told. He remained unmoved by flattery or flagellation. He knew God’s word, obeyed it and fulfilled his God-ordained mission. Why are contemporary believers so fragmented?

I did some digging.

Multiple online sources cite the cause of extensive psychological fragmentation within our society as the combined pressures of digital overstimulation, chronic trauma/stress, and a fast-paced, “fad-oriented” modern lifestyle that prevents deep integration of experiences.

  • The average person engages with constant stimuli (96+ smartphone checks daily), creating a fractured, perpetually divided attention span that is often engineered for engagement rather than focus.
  • Modernity causes people to adopt multiple, often contradictory identities (e.g., work, social media, family) rather than maintaining a unified, stable sense of self.
  • When emotional pain is too high to process, people may utilize “splitting” or dissociation as a survival tool, breaking their psyches into fragments that hold pain or fear.
  • Economic, political, and rapid technological innovations prevent the formation of a cohesive, stable, or unified life experience.
  • The decline of traditional social structures, such as religion and stable communities, leaves a void that increases feelings of disorientation.

This fragmentation leads to feelings of disassociation, confusion, and disconnection from the self.

People aren’t just disconnected from others. They are disconnected from themselves. In that context, failing to keep an online appointment carries the same emotional charge as choosing not to pick up one’s phone. 

What’s the beg deal?!

COVID 19

Given that the perceived lack of integrity seems more prevalent among younger people, I wondered about the effects of COVID-19 lockdowns and if there were any contributing factors. Once again I drilled down into multiple online sources. As it turns out,

COVID-19 lockdowns caused widespread psychological fragmentation, characterized by a loss of familiar routines, social isolation, and heightened anxiety. This “uncanny” disruption fractured the sense of time and self, resulting in elevated rates of depression, stress, and unprocessed trauma. Key factors included the loss of social connection, economic uncertainty, and a persistent fear of infection.

  • Temporal Distortion: The blurring of daily routines caused individuals to lose the ability to differentiate between days, disrupting personal memory and perceived time.
  • Loss of Familiarity: The disappearance of daily rituals and familiar social interaction created a “sense of the uncanny” and a fragmentation of the known world.
  • Social and Emotional Detachment: Extensive loneliness and social isolation, particularly among youth and older adults, drove a spike in anxiety, stress, and depressive symptoms.

Still, there is a part of me that wonders if I am simply making excuses for sin. Am I making excuses for people because excuses like trauma and COVID lockdowns are so much more palatable than calling out the fact that people do not fear God. The pursuit of holiness has become ancillary. The word sin if it is mentioned at all is usually a hasty generalization. Meanwhile decades of sexual sin and abuse are being exposed. Why would I hope for, let alone expect integrity in a culture that protects predators and persecutes their victims?

Am I wrong?

“Help me Lord to see the best, hope and believe the best!”

Almost invariably He shows me yet another worldly abomination masquerading as truth faith. Buckle up. The government has allegedly been briefing certain pastors regarding a pending Alien contact disclosure.

Jesus made a whip.

It occurs to me and concerns me that the world as we know it has not returned to normal, whatever that was, since the end of 2021. On one hand, I believe I have an idea of where we are on the biblical timeline, that we have stepped into a period of Matthew 24:4 and 2 Thessalonians 2:11 planáō which is deception and delusion. On the other hand, the increase in deception and delusion should apparent regardless of whether or not you believe in Bible prophecy.

The complete absence of integrity among our current elected officials who have done none of what they promised to do but have exposed themselves as part of what is being called the “Epstein Class” is just the start. Apparently pedophilia and cannibalism are the new normal. Meanwhile, they have started a war that could result in two to four billion people starving to death over the next decade. While Africa and the rest of the world face the greatest risk, Keir Starmer just announced the possible need for food rationing in the UK. Just as some posulated that COVID lockdowns were by design as evidenced in part by the increased economic and political power gained by the so-called Epstein Elite, many suspect that the war with Iran is a similar ploy to cull the world’s population through starvation and war. The discussion is not new and has been ongoing since Thomas Galton invented Eugenics in 1883, followed by a slew of Racial Hygienists, like Margaret Sanger whose founding of Planned Parenthood, at the turn of the last century inspired Adolf Hitler. Paul R. Ehrlich’s 1968 book, The Population Bomb, inspired people like Bill Gates and other technological elites such as Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Peter Thiel, and Pavel Durov, to name a few who believe that only their own bloodlines are worthy of propagation. I could go on. Suffice it to say, that while we should, “Occupy (do business) till He comes.“, Luke 19:13, we should also 

Be sober, watchful for our enemy prowls around like a lion seeking whom he might devour. 

1 Peter 5:8

In my view, we should be prepared for the coming crisis including situations not unlike those that were faced by Jesus, Paul, and all the other disciples. After all the Bible promises persecution, not prosperity. Preparation begins with character not bunkers, supply hoarding, and guns.

Integrity is non-negotiable in a crisis. If I can’t count on you to show up for a phone call, let alone conform your thoughts and behavior to the word of God, amid relative prosperity and comfort, how will I or anyone else for that matter, count on you when the going gets tough? In the words of Jeremiah, 

“If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you,
    how will you compete with horses?
And if in a safe land you are so trusting,
    what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan? 

Jeremiah 12:5

The simple answer is we won’t. I for one am actively distancing myself from anyone I can’t trust or count on. I don’t care how loud you sing, or how much you weep in worship if your word is garbage.

How will you be faithful to God if you lie to man?

Does that sound harsh? Maybe. Yet it occurs to me that Paul never minced words or pulled punches. His uncompromising pursuit of truth above all things underpinned his integrity. Paul knew that love and truth cannot be divorced. Of course it also caused people, especially people of faith to want him dead. He could have walked away at any time after his arrest in Rome. Instead he maintained his integrity and was ultimately beheaded for it. Given that this is a Bible study, it may be worthy to point out that the Bible doesn’t specifically say that Paul was beheaded. Rather,

“Early church historians and fathers, including Eusebius and Tertullian, state that Paul was executed (beheaded) by the Roman emperor Nero around A.D. 64–67.”

-Sean  MacDowell-

Let’s ask ourselves these questions. Do I say what I mean and do what I say? Why or why not? Do I repent when I fail? Am I obedient to the word of God or just the parts that I like and give me a dopamine rush? Is God’s truth the standard for my life or is people pleasing and politicking in Jesus’s name my way? What does integrity or the lack thereof look like in my life?

Does integrity even matter?

Chew on that…

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study

To Judge or Not to Judge

A Paradox?

Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Romans 14:10-12

Paul begins this chapter with examples of disputes within the body of Christ. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables…One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike… The operative question here is not whether the food or the day is legally right. Rather, the issue is one of the heart. It is whether or not the person does it as unto the Lord. Col 3:18-25

The word for”judge” that Paul is using in Romans 14 is the same word Jesus used in Mathew 7.

Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

Mat 7:1

That word is krínō – to try, condemn, punish:–avenge, to damn… In contrast, we have the seemingly contradictory “judge” in 1 Corinthians 2.

The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.

1 Cor 2:15

The word for judge here is anakrínō investigate, interrogate, determine:–ask, question, discern, examine, search…

As Paul has repeatedly pointed out in Romans 12 and 13, vengeance belongs to the Lord. We are to bless, not curse… We are to overcome evil with good. We don’t Krino people. We anakrino.

Right?

Many people ignore blatant sin and call it grace. This is incorrect. “Bless not curse”, doesn’t mean we turn a blind eye to blatant error or sin. We are to confront error and sin head-on. We do so out of love for the one who is in error knowing that each of us will give an account of himself to God.

So often I hear believers misquote and or misappropriate scripture. Some are confused. Others do it to justify or minimize sin. It can be tempting to view these people through the lens of Habakkuk amidst his cry to the Lord especially when their heresy harms others.

Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.

Habakkuk 1:3-4

If I am honest, I have been tempted to call fire down from heaven only to receive the same rebuke that Jesus gave the disciples in Luke 9.

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village.

Luke 9:51-56

In Habakkuk’s case, he got the justice for which he pleaded. The Lord sent justice in the form of the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own. He sent the Chaldeans to seize the dwellings of the hypocrites and abusers. But then Habakkuk was also in their midst. Keep in mind,

If we demand justice, we must be prepared to receive justice.

For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

Mat 7:2

If that weren’t confusing enough, In 1 Corinthians 5 Paul declares we are to Krino those within the church.

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

1 Cor 5:9-13

Wait a minute! I thought we were to anakrino (discern), not krino (condem) another.

“Well…Yes and No”.

Rolland Baker

In Romans 14 Paul asks Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? Krino (condemnation) judgment that results in my despising a brother is a judgment of my brother’s heart. In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul is calling believers to judge the ACTIONS of other believers. A man or woman actively engaged in sexual sin needs to be confronted and possibly ostracized from the body IF they refuse to repent. Still, the fact remains that the underlying cause of their promiscuity may be related to childhood trauma, especially sexual abuse. Hence we condemn the actions, not the soul of a person. Like the father of the prodigal son, we are to remain open to receive them back the moment they are ready to repent. That openness is not dependent on their perfection but rather their willingness to try even if they fail seven times.

for the righteous falls seven times and rises again…

Prov 24:16

Incidentally, “Seven” was a Hebrew idiom equivalent to our contemporary English use of “one hundred percent!”

💯

As in mathematics, there is an order of operations in judging. Scripture commands me to (anankrino) examine myself first to see if am still in the faith. 2 Cor 13:5-7 I begin with the prayer of David.

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Psalm 139:23-24

Is there a Mathew 7:1-5 log in my eye? Many, if not most times, we judge the heart and motives of our brethren because we see our own reflection in them. For example, Paul illuminates that path of sin in Romans 1:18-32. “Amen!” We say. Then comes the proverbial rug pull in Romans 2.

For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things…

Romans 2:1

On the flip side…

The opposite extreme is to avoid passing judgment on the actions of another because we are or have been guilty of the same sins. We confuse the intent of scripture if, after we remove the log from our eye, we ignore or, worse, condone the speck in the eye of another.

We saw this when Lew Engle confessed his struggle with lust at the One Thing conference in 2018. Mike Bickle attempted to shut Lew down by minimizing the sin Lew was boldly confessing. Today Mike Bickle has been exposed for decades of blatant sexual sin. Mike’s argument toward Lew in 2018 was in effect,

“STOP! All this talk about your speck is convicting me of the log I have been rationalizing and justifying.”

No! The path to holiness and the perfection to which Jesus calls is a trajectory, not a single event. A scary albeit paradoxical fact is that our refusal to judge the actions of our brother could be the event that sets our trajectory in a direction that is contrary to what Jesus taught. Scripture tells us that in minimizing or enabling the sin of others we become partakers with them.

Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.

2 John 1:9-11

Recently a woman who wreaked absolute havoc in our community through substance abuse and serial adultery posted on Facebook that she had been sober and walking with Jesus for a year. In truth, she had just been kicked out of the last in a long line of homes where people tried to help her. There were dozens of comments from those who knew the truth yet praised her and her phony achievement. I commented,

“The only people who can not recover are those who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves.”

AA Big Book

She responded by blocking me.

So often, people dilute or avoid speaking the truth in the name of being loving. “Loving” is defined as anything that makes people feel good and preserves a relationship. Yet love does not and can not exist apart from truth.

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols?

1 Corinthians 6:14-16

Still, even the most sincere followers of Christ can make errors. That is why we study scripture together. About a year ago I had a theological discussion with some men whom I deeply respect regarding the subject of adultery. The question at hand was, “is viewing pornography adultery?” I said yes and quoted Mathew 5.

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Mat 5:27-28

Apart from me, the consensus was that adultery required the physical act of intercourse between two people. Otherwise, everyone present would be guilty of adultery. I say amen! Sometimes, the truth hurts. I’m not pointing fingers at anyone but myself. The point here is that the standard for truth, the judgment of our actions and those of other believers, is solely determined by the teaching of Christ according to scripture. Jesus said, looking lustfully at a woman is adultery. Period! Every man I know has been guilty of it at some point. The question is not how close can we get to sin and remain innocent. But rather what does scripture say, and have we repented for what is in our hearts? Is there a difference between daydreaming of sex with a woman, not your wife, and having sex with a woman, not your wife? Of course. One is a thought. The other is an action. One is not better than the other. One sin precedes the other. The second sin brings us closer to death.

How close do you want to get?

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

James 1:14-15

But Brian, Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. This is true. But bear, believe, hope, and endure all things are not synonyms for “IGNORE ALL THINGS”. They are statements of faith in possibilities and potentials. As Cathy likes to say, “There is hope as long as there is breath.” All of God’s judgments are redemptive while we are alive on earth. Love always speaks truth because truth is what sets people free. Our willingness to call a proverbial spade a spade is proof in action that we believe and hope for all things. Love speaks truth Eph 4:15 Bearing and enduring all things often pertains to the wrath and rejection we face when speaking the truth that hurts. One thing seems certain, if we don’t judge our own hearts, others will be left to judge our actions. If we refuse to judge the actions of others, we might be consigning them to God’s Krisis judgment. Suffice it to say that Krisis is the Greek word from which the English word Crisis is fittingly derived. Again, there is a linear progression of judgment for believers, Anakrino, Krino, and Krisis. It is better to face the first two head-on than face the third. It’s better to face the third in this life than the next because,

Each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Chew on that.

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Red Pill Diaries

Making Sense of Calamity

Pondering Sovereignty and Priorities

As the reality of loss from Hurricane Helene begins to settle in and among those directly affected, we are still learning from our own similar experience in Honduras.

Those who know us are aware that Cathy and I survived a landslide caused by Cat 5 Hurricane Iota on November 20th, 2020. It came just ten days after Cat 4 Eta.

Cathy barely dodged this.

The photo above was the first landslide that happened at 3:30 pm. Cathy had just opened the gate and narrowly escaped being buried alive. The effects on the Honduran survivors were beyond what most people can imagine. Landslides were the number one cause of death during both storms.

Eta and Iota survivors in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, set up camp on the median of the highway.

I wrote about the revelations gleaned from wrestling with God’s isolation during COVID-19, the loss of everything but our lives, followed by suddenly becoming homeless in a third-world country. The first was that God had miraculously preserved both our lives.

The large stone is were my head would have been in our bed. The smaller one represents Cathy’s.

The second revelation is that preservation is often attended by a stripping.

The story of Jacob wrestling with God in Genesis 32 has always been one of my favorites.   It was during our morning devotions the other day that the word “preserved” emerged again in verse 30. I’d never really noticed it before. We looked it up and found the original Hebrew word is “Natsal” – to “deliver, rescue and save.“Natsal” also means to “plunder” and “strip”.

Maranatha ( ) Maranatha

We had been stripped of all our worldly possessions and memorabilia.

And yet a strange supernatural peace enveloped us as well as an even stronger bond between us as husband and wife. That bond and peace remain with us now.

Maranatha ( ) Maranatha

We felt instantly closer and more intimate with the Lord than at any other point in our walk with the Him. Meanwhile, the people in our village descended on the ruins, digging out whatever they could find.

A group of women washed the mud out of Cathy’s clothes. It was a genuine act of love from the people whom we had come to love and serve and live among. We were so very grateful.

“How do I tell them?” Cathy asked? 

“Tell them what?” I inquired.

“I don’t want any of it.” She replied.

Something had happened within us individually and as a couple. Granted, we’d surrendered a lot when we left for the mission field. Only now did we truly recognize the proverbial ball, and chain of materialism that drags so many of us down, and the freedom of having it removed. That included twenty thousand dollars worth of photography and video equipment that supported my path and passion for the mission field. In a moment God whispered,

“You’re done!”

Long story short, Cathy gave all her clothes to the village women.

Cathy’s birthday came two days after the landslide. I had nothing to give her so I wrote The Most Incredible Woman and reflected on what a gift from God she was and is to me. This amazing woman never batted an eyelash as we continued our mission.

The featured image in the title of this post is from the before and after video God is Good Testimony. It is a reminder of how precious she is to me and how precarious and short-lived is our existence on earth. At least one hundred people died that day in a country about the size of Tennessee. Only the Lord knows how many just lost their lives in similar circumstances here in Tennessee and North Carolina.

Many more have lost property and generations’ worth of history and family heirlooms. Lots of people have come to dig and rescue homes and possessions from mud and mold. Still, I think God, who is sovereign, omnipotent, and omniscient, is doing something different than many realize. I think He is asking questions that expose the true condition of our hearts. What really matters? Where is our treasure truly laid up? Are we dependent upon Him or the contemporary Golden Calf known as materialism?

To whom do we assign the most power in our minds? Do we believe that “if God is with us, then who can be against us”? Rom 8:31-39 Or do we believe the devil is so powerful that he can override the will of God? Do we believe the word of God? Or do we think that God thinks, feels, and acts like us? Isaiah 55:8-9

We are doing what the Lord calls us to do amid the current earthly crisis. Hopefully, those reading this are doing the same. Those called to dig in the mud should dig in the mud. Those called to clean mud from memorabilia should clean. Those called sit with victims and listen should listen. Those managing and transporting donations should continue until the Lord says otherwise. Just don’t assume that you know why He has called you to do it. Consider the possibility that He might be highlighting our proverbial golden calves – the fragility, vanity, and utter futility of all that is carnal. 

It’s been ten years since we produced the video above. As time went on we found ways to get people out of the dump. We had opportunities for jobs, housing and school for thier children. Not one ever accepted the offer. They were too attached to thier recyclable bottles and metal and whatever else they thought they had and could not part with. That’s when the Lord said,

“that’s you son!”

At some point in eternity even the wealthiest believer among us will see thier money, mansions and jewelry and cars for what they were.

It’s just my opinion and maybe my interpretation of scripture, but I think there are going to be a lot more opportunities to reflect on what I have written here. A lot of circumstances will require a paradigm shift, especially in areas where we have taken things for granted. I think a lot of us are going to realize that much of what we once considered indispensable amounted to junk in the dump. Sometimes the greatest blessings are only found in brokenness.

That being said, this is an Ezekiel 33:1-6 alarm. This storm is but a trailer of what is to come. Roll your eyes if you will. Ten years ago we would have rolled our eyes as well. Our perspective has changed with experience. We have found so many of the things that we once prayed against were in fact, the testing of our faith that we finally learned to count as joy. James 1:2-4 Consider this as a seed – a call to prepare our hearts and minds. As for these tents of flesh in which we currently reside, understand the difference between wants and needs. The stripping must come with our eternal preservation. Be sure you know that through it all Jesus is still on the throne. He has already won.

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study, Red Pill Diaries

Suffering and Provision

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, speak to your people and say to them… Ezekiel 33:1-6

As it turns out, September is National Preparedness Month. I thought now might be a good time to post a Watchman on the Wall blog. I hope that it sparks a discussion, not a freakout.

Suffering’s Source

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. Rom 8:16-17

I posted the video above about a year ago in another blog. It’s a conglomeration of clips from our time on the mission field. Far more people in the world live like this than in the material comfort and prosperity that we enjoy in the West. These people were more open to genuine surrender to Jesus. One reason is that they have no hope for a material or political remedy to their situation.

The people whom we served overseas needed to be rescued from suffering imposed upon them by external circumstances. The people we serve today need to be rescued from the suffering they insist on imposing upon themselves. Does God view these two groups differently?

For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure?

1 Peter 2:20

So many of the prayers I hear today are pleas for God to heal, fix, or change crises according to individual desires. “My will be done in Jesus’s name.” I have observed that people tend to become wiser or more prophetic in their own eyes in defiance of Prov 3:5-8 anytime a crisis is averted or delayed. We ignore or rationalize negative outcomes to prayer.  We Glorify postive outcomes always assuming that our continued comfort testifies that God is pleased with us. We ignore that the first act of worship wasn’t David on his harp but Abraham prepared to slay Issac on Mount Moriah. Gen 22 We proclaim ourselves to be friends of God and heirs with Christ all the while ignoring His recurring mandate.

Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

1 Tim 3:12

How easy it is to cherry-pick feel-good verses and ignore the hard ones in their midst. The Spirit does help us in our weaknesses. God does cause all things to work together for good... But the idolatry of prosperity leads us to redact verses that declare God’s use of suffering, affliction, and tribulation (pressure) to conform us to the image of His son. We allow platforms to define maturity, anointing, and Holiness, all the while forgetting Jesus’s definition of greatness. Mat 18:4  It seems that we have become so idolatrous, so narcissistic over the generations that we have nothing to compare it to. God tested Abraham. He also tests us.  Count it all joy when you face various trials because the testing of our faith produces endurance… When was the last time you heard anyone pray for the wisdom, courage, and strength to endure testing? Even more, when was the last time you saw anyone rejoice in the testing of their faith? James1:2-4 Most people equate discomfort with an attack from the enemy – never of the fruit of disobedience. Gal 6:7-8

It seems like almost every day, another character-deficient golden calf, pop star prophet, preacher, or worship leader is exposed and their celebrity pulpits implode. The church cries out for their restoration before they have even confessed, let alone shown any fruit of repentance.

Are we now so narcissistic that we can not fathom God’s judgment? 1 Peter 4:17, Heb 12:28-29 I challenge anyone to refute that as a nation, we have far more in common with the Biblical Mystery Babylon than a repentant Israel reaping God’s Jeremiah 29:11 promises. I am baffled when I hear prophetic declarations that God is about to bestow healing, comfort, and prosperity upon the United States as if Deuteronomy 28, upon which our pilgrim ancestors made a covenant with God, no longer applies. It all sounds like cognitive dissonance perpetrated by

“Cognitive Dissidents”.

Where exactly did we get the idea that the God who does not change Mal 3:6, the God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever Heb 13:8 no longer judges nations that refuse to repent? We are not appointed to wrath. 1 Thess 5:9 Yet I suspect that many have confused God’s Judgment- Krisis (Greek) from which the English word Crisis is derived with His wrath. Like Him, God’s judgment and discipline are always good. Hebrews 12  We don’t see it that way because we abhor and redact any hint of “Deny Self.” Mat 16:24. Even our service to God is full of self. One thing seems certain. God disciplines and shakes us until we surrender and let go. Shaking causes what is errant and fake to fall off. Meanwhile, everything that is true will remain. Those who pursue truth will find blessing amid the brokenness. The fake and false will fall away into a consuming fire.

I know…

Talk to the wall Brian

I usually listen politely to prophetic Seven Mountain Mandate-type declarations / rants. Other times I echo a paraphrased version of  Jeremiah’s response to Hananiah.

“Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord make the words that you have prophesied come true… Jer 28:6-9

After all, I would prefer healing, comfort, and prosperity as much as anyone else. Sometimes I stand amazed at the tension between my own normalcy bias that wants to drive my head into the sand in conformity to the crowd and the still small voice crying,

“this people trusts in a lie.” Jer 28:15

Typologically speaking, Hananiah proclaimed that Israel would be made great again in two years. Meanwhile, Habakkuk cried out,

Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted. Hab 1:3-4

Both Hananiah and Habakkuk were amazed at God’s reply.

Israel was judged by God.

Given that so many people love to cite and claim Jeremiah 29:11 as their own, especially with tattoos, I invite you read Jeremiah 28-29 and Habakkuk 1 in context. Consider why Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet. Then decide which period in Israel’s history is most reflective of Western Society today.

I am also baffled by the loyal followings of contemporary soothsayers and self-labeled prophets despite their being so blatantly wrong and all too frequently morally corrupt. Entire movements founded upon extra-biblical prophetic words are imploding. One hundred-fifty prophets proclaimed Donald Trump the winner in the last Presidential election. Only a handful refused to gaslight their followers and repented. Several opened online schools of the prophets. Believers everywhere are rejoicing. I want to shave my head and clothe myself with sackcloth and ashes. Meanwhile, messages from men like Dumitru Duduman and Henry Gruver remain unknown or dismissed out of hand by modern renditions of Jeremiah 14:13-22 and 23:9-40. Yes, you should read those too. “But the church is creating on earth as it is in heaven,” you say. 

“Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord make the words that you have prophesied come true…

The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2023 uses the term, (polycrisis) to explain how, “present and future risks can also interact with each other to form a ‘polycrisis’ – a cluster of related global risks with compounding effects, such that the overall impact exceeds the sum of each part”.

World Economic Forum

Polycrisis is emerging in the West.

For the record, I am not sanctioning the decidedly Marxist WEF. Crisis is the soil in which their agenda thrives most. Still, before I list reasons why we might want to prepare for the coming crises,

I’d like to preface it with reasons for hope.

Very few people alive today have endured polycrisis as did my grandparents’ generation. Two world wars, a great depression, natural disasters, famines, and a Holocaust followed by the Korean and Vietnam wars remain unmatched today. Many of those addicted to comfort and prosperity committed suicide when the unthinkable happened, in 1929. Others, like my grandparents, remained relatively untouched.  

While the comfort-addicted Phil 3:19 jumped off buildings as the stock market crashed, my grandmother graduated from college and went off to be a missionary in China. My grandfather courted her by letter from home. She wasn’t interested. But he knew she was going to be his wife before she did and built her a house in faith while she was away.  He sledgehammered the foundation out of Berkshire granite ledge. Then cut and hewed timbers for the house and barn by hand. Even in their 80s, my grandparents produced and preserved everything they needed to live. They only went to the store for incidentals like sugar and salt or medicine for their livestock. As my 90+-year-old uncle Lester said, “We never knew we were poor because we had everything we needed.” “Everyone in the community lived the same way.” That is what dependence on God looked like. COVID is the closest comparison available to most of us today.

It was marked by panic buying of toilet paper. 

A Few Reasons For Sobriety

calm, dispassionate, and circumspect.

  • Currently, we are adding one trillion dollars to the US Debt every quarter. To give you some perspective, one trillion seconds is just over thirty-six thousand years.
  • Meanwhile, there is an ongoing global repudiation of the US Dollar in favor of BRICS. Most recently Turkey applied to join BRICS. Perhaps you also noticed that our current debt-to-GDP ratio is nearly 125%. Hence every US dollar you hold is effectively worth less than nothing and the entire Western economy amounts to a gigantic Ponzi scheme. Historically speaking this is the root cause of World War.
  • Prophetically speaking, Gaza is looking a whole lot like Zephaniah 2. Countries surrounding Israel are steadily aligning with the picture presented in Ezekiel 38. If we aren’t facing God’s simple discipline and shaking, we might be facing the approaching wrath of the dragon. Mat 24:21
  • Ukraine recently attacked inside Russia just 200 Miles outside Moscow using NATO weapons. The USA is currently at DEFCON 2 not seen since before the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Russian resolve and eschatology that I wrote about in Always Faithful remains unchanged. The Russians are saying WWIII is guaranteed if Donald Trump isn’t elected. At no point in my lifetime have we been at such risk for global nuclear war. Meanwhile, the utterly insane rhetoric regarding civil war in the USA is not diminishing.
MPox
  • The World Health Organization is trying hard to pump out a new global pandemic narrative. It’s not working- yet. Earlier this year they attempted a treaty that would suspend our national sovereignty in the event of another pandemic. So far, regular Mpox is a giant nothing burger. Still, COVID gave them alot of power. They like power.
  • There have been multiple FBI warnings in 2024 regarding severe risks to the electrical grid. The WEF is also warning of cyber threats. Meanwhile, these same global players who war-gamed a pandemic in Event 201 just before COVID hit are doing the same regarding a cyber pandemic in Cyber Polygon 2024, due to begin within five days of this writing. The main player is the WEF.

I’m sure it’s a coincidence…

  • Former Green Beret turned Combat Correspondent Michael Yon has spent a lot of time in the Darrien Gap investigating USA, Open Society Foundation, and  UN-sponsored illegal immigration to the US. He claims that a large majority are military-age men with a military gait. While the normalcy bias of many will produce an automatic eye-roll, Yon claims the USA has already been invaded and that these men are prepositioned for future action, e.g. the destruction of infrastructure like the electrical grid. Given recent events in Aurora, CO., and Chicago, it is not unreasonable to consider the possibility of groups like Tren de Aragua being the face of pre or maybe post-election neo-Marxist violence worse than Antifa and BLM riots of 2020.  This seems especially likely if Donald Trump is re-elected and makes good on his vow to deport illegals. Am I saying that these groups will be at your door? No. But consider what could happen to supply lines.
  • We just had the most absurd assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Like Habakkuk, many are screaming. Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted. I can’t help but wonder if Michael Yon has discovered God’s contemporary reply. Again, please read Habakkuk 1 if this sounds confusing.
  • You won’t hear it in the legacy media, but Dr. Jerome Corsi, of God’sFiveStones.com recently exposed what seems to be irrefutable evidence of what many already suspected. Namely, ongoing election rigging. Meanwhile, AG Merrick Garland just claimed they have evidence that Russia is planning to interfere in US Elections.
Here we go again.

I don’t know about you, but the evidence seems to show that we should, at the very least, be considering how we might respond if one or all of the above scenarios emerge.

Some call it fear-mongering.

I call it wisdom.

Having lived in Hawaii, where the threats of Hurricanes, Tsunamis, and floods are a simple fact of life, circumstances rarely produce anxiety in Cathy and me. Here in the continental United States, disaster preparedness almost seems to be a taboo subject. Maybe they are prepping and are afraid of being labeled a “tin foil hat-wearing conspiracy theorist”.  I suppose it makes sense if we consider how many are so fearful that they cannot even bear to watch the evening news. Having survived hurricanes, typhoons, tsunamis, fires, landslides, car crashes, Amazonian headhunters, being held at gunpoint, and the threat of civil war, it is never a question of “if?” but “when?” a crisis will emerge. This is how the majority of the world lives.

Why shouldn’t we think and live accordingly?

Of course, some will undoubtedly equate my thinking with some clinical buzzword like “trauma response” or “trauma lens”. Fair enough. A healthy response to trauma should cause one to review their errors and weaknesses in the context of potential future risks. Trauma should also cause one to differentiate between faith and magical thinking. The patent refusal to use one’s miraculously created, God-given brain and apply the God-authored laws of truth and logic isn’t faith.

It’s Magical Thinking.

Having lived on the foreign mission field, we always knew that safety and survival could never be taken for granted. On any given day, we could be driving down the road, happily discussing the day’s events. Then, the next minute, we could be staring down the barrel of a rifle, wondering if the guy in the baklava was going to pull the trigger. Preparing for potential crises was always a consideration. Not merely for the sake of selfishly saving our own skins. But rather for the sake of sustaining the mission to which we were called. Again, I’m not talking about operating in a frantic spirit of anxiety and fear. But a rather a 1 Peter 5:8 sobriety –

calm, dispassionate, and circumspect.

How the Lord Provides

To paraphrase Mat 6:25-33, Where God guides, He provides. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Take no thought, for tomorrow, is not an invitation for entitled cognitive dissidents to depend on fast food like manna from heaven. Obedience to God is what activates Mat 6:25-33. The question that follows is, what does God expect of us in the course of His provision?

Provision and Testing

During our missionary school, God put it on my heart to follow the example of the founders. They never fundraised for themselves. So neither did we. That is how we lived for nearly six years. Suffice it to say, trusting the Lord became easier as time went on. Still, there is always a test before the next lesson ensues.

It was during COVID and we were locked down in our village in the mountains of Honduras. People who followed us closely and supported us became consumed with their own crises at home. At one point, we were down to two handfuls of beans.  I experienced a nearly overwhelming temptation to step out of trusting God. I was perfectly capable of raising money for ourselves. After all, I’d helped to raise money for other ministries. Just a few months prior we raised five thousand dollars in four hours for a Honduran friend whose legs had been run over by a tractor-trailer truck. “Lord, can’t I do it for us just this one time?” Man did I ever want to. But I didn’t.

At midnight we received a five thousand dollar donation.

I have come to believe that irony is God’s favorite form of humor.

On the mission field, we became well acquainted with the Lord’s miraculous provision amidst regularly occurring crises like frequent total public utility shutdowns. We embraced Jesus’s command to take no thought for tomorrow. Yet it was always in the context of first gathering our proverbial five loaves and two fish. John 6:1-14 Having food and water stored for inevitable interruptions is just wise when you live in the third world. Still, I remember the anxiety of young short-term missionaries when they lost cell service. I just listened to a conversation between boys at the children’s home where I work. They were discussing how crazy people would get if all the phones stopped working.

Our preparation on the mission field helped us to remain focused on the mission instead of our own provision when a crisis hit. That, we think, is worthy of your consideration. At the end of the day, there is a profound difference between depending on God for miracles amid your radical obedience to God versus depending on miracles from a place of complacency and entitlement.

Prepping for the unprepped

While Mat 6:25-33, and John 6:1-14 were our daily norm, there have been times when the Lord led us in the example of Joseph. Gen 41 and in the context of Acts Chapter 2.

And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. Acts 2:44-45

When the landslide hit in Honduras, Cathy had time to grab her Bible and a few other things while the neighbors helped carry out the remaining four hundred pounds of beans and rice that we’d stored to feed victims of the first Hurricane. We’d already distributed 7000 pounds in the previous ten days. That last four hundred pounds helped a fair number of families in our little village when the second storm hit.

The blessing is in the brokenness.

Our being able to remain focused on our mission and not on ourselves caused us to count it all joy amid the loss of everything but our lives. The recognition that we had endured the test of our faith only amplified it. As we’ve said, that particular time brought us closer to the Lord and afforded us more intimacy with God, both individually and as a couple, than any other event since or before.

Sometimes the abundant life is only apprehended in the context of suffering and loss.

The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools is deceiving.

Prov 14:8

Lord Give Us Wisdom!

Again, we are almost certain that hard days are ahead, maybe very hard days. Who wins the election will only determine the flavor of the crisis. At the very least I think we should begin a conversation. What is the Lord saying to you about the days ahead? Are you reticent to speak up amidst contemporary Hananiah voices and competing agendas? Should we continue in the spirit of spiritual entitlement and a twisted understanding of Mat 6:26-34? Or is He calling us to be ready like Joseph in Gen 41? 

What would you do if supply lines shut down for months or years? Experts from multiple government agencies have stated that 90% of the US population could die in a year if there were a catastrophic failure of the electrical grid alone. Lack of preparedness would be the primary cause.

How would we respond if we were faced with hordes of refugees fleeing social collapse in the cities? Is your plan to hunker down in your home or hold them off at gunpoint? Or will you be prepared to embrace them in obedience to God’s word? Exodus 23:9, Leviticus 19:33, Deuteronomy 10:18–19, Jeremiah 7:6, Zechariah 7:10, Malachi 3:5

Is God so pleased with us that He is going to further facilitate our prosperity and comfort ad infinitum? Or do we indeed meet the criteria for His judgment? Are the current risks I highlighted the product of my trauma lens such that I have become pessimistic, hypervigilant, and fear-mongering? Or should we be gathering our proverbial loaves and fish in preparation to feed the multitudes if and when the lights go out? Perhaps we should ask ourselves where we see ourselves in the context of John 6:1-14. Are we numbered among the thousands of hungry desperate hordes who barely know Jesus? Or are we numbered among His disciples who have all they need when they are summoned by Him to bring fish and bread for Him to multiply?

In the words of Oswald Chambers, We have to go the “second mile” with God. Some of us get played out in the first ten yards, because God compels us to go where we cannot see the way, and we say — “I will wait till I get nearer the big crisis.” If we do not do the running steadily in the little ways, we shall do nothing in the crisis...To talk in this way is like trying to produce the munitions of war in the trenches — you will be killed while you are doing it.

My Utmost for His Highest 9/11

Maybe you are unconvinced that God’s shaking, discipline, and judgment are good and, therefore not of Him. Perhaps you haven’t grasped the purpose of tribulation (pressure), including the coming great tribulation. Rom 5:3-5,  Dan 12:10, 1 Pet 1:3-8, Eph 5:27 Consider the conditions that always precede revival and the words Martin Luther King Jr. spoke in Memphis, TN, in 1968.

“Only when it’s dark enough can you see the stars.”

These are the kinds of things that I ponder when I consider the deeper meaning and application of verses like Romans 8:16-17.

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Let’s talk.

Maranatha!

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study, Red Pill Diaries

Character Reloaded

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. 1 Peter 4:1-2

We were locked down in Honduras when I wrote the original version of this blog. COVID cases had begun to double daily. The borders and airports were closed. No one could leave the country.  There was a 6-month to 2-year jail sentence awaiting anyone who violated the lockdown. Ironically it had been just two months since I’d presented a teaching based on the book The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy-What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America’s Next Rendezvous with Destiny. By William Straus and Neil Howe. I had no idea at the time how prophetic it was. My audience was comprised of Millennials and Gen Z-ers who were learning how to be missionaries.  My message was not well received. You can read the book or better yet, its sequel The Fourth Turning is Here,. You can also view my original post for a quick synopsis. Suffice it to say that we are in what Straus and Howe called The Fourth Turning otherwise known as

“The Crisis”

Today we find the globe moving deeper into the Fourth Turning that is scheduled to peak sometime between 2025 and 2030. If the cycle simply repeats it will usher in another First Turn “High”. Just to give you some context, the previous High was 1945 -1965 and gave birth to “The Boomer Generation” and the proverbial “American  Dream”. That the cycles of history repeat is as unavoidable as it is undeniable. The key to surviving and thriving is rooted in recognizing the season and responding correctly. One of the most common errors people make during Fourth Turns is to mistake them for a First.

For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time when it suddenly falls upon them.
Ecc 9:12

The Root of Crisis

Judge and judgment are among the most contentious words these days. This is especially true in the context of Christianity where “judgment” has become a pejorative. The WOKE especially like to cite Jesus in Mat 7:1-3 “judge not lest ye be judged” usually in response to any mention of sin. Today love is increasingly defined as tolerance of sin. Conviction is hate. The Greek word for judge in Mat 7 is krínō, meaning to “condemn or pronounce sentence upon”. The absurdity of one person judging another for judging them aside, we agree that no man should krínō another.

There is more than one word for judgment in the Bible.

“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.” 1 Cor 2:14-15 “judge” is Anakrínō – to discern.

I Anakrínō right from wrong – truth from lies etc. In practice Anakrínō looks like intuition or “gut instinct”. Yet it is a knowing in one’s spirit that can be later verified with God’s word.

And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment… Philippians 1:9

Judgment here is Aísthēsis – perception by the intellect as well as the senses, discernment, Cognition, moral discernment in ethical matters.

Among other things, Aísthēsis is the bedrock of a 1 Peter 3:15 Apologia, a defense for the hope that is in us.

Still, there is one other word for judgement.

That word is Krísis, the word from which the English word “crisis” is derived.

Krísis is God’s judgment.

For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 1 Peter 4:17

Discussions of God’s judgment may trigger charismatic believers. We may encounter a similar emotional response is when discussing spiritual gifts with reformed cessationists. Theological paradigms get rattled and arguments are formed as we debate whether or not God really is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Yet almost no one would dispute that God can not be mocked. We reap what we sow. There is a point on the path of sin where God turns his head and gives those who remain in it over to do that which ought not to be done. Rom 1:18-32 This turning over is for the destruction of their flesh in the hope that their soul might be saved. At the end of the day, the wages of sin is death. God does not cause us to sin. He allows us to sin. It is not God’s desire that crisis falls upon us. He desires that we wake up and rise from the dead. Yet all are without excuse. Rom 1: 18-32. Therefore God does not change the consequences of our chosen rebellion. Does the devil play a role? Certainly! In fact he thinks he is winning. Little does he know that he is God’s stool pigeon. The pressure (Thlipsis- tribulation) that Satan is allowed to impose on us is used by God to conform us to the image of His son Rom 8:29 and remove the spots and wrinkles from His bride. Eph 5:27 Imagine what might happen if we took responsibility for our collective sin and resulting Krísis like Daniel did in Dan 9 instead of assigning power to the devil and deferring blame upon Him.

Consider how that might shape our prayers.

While the scandal at IHOP at least partially inspires this post, the allegations against Mike remain as yet unconfirmed. Please don’t get lost in speculation regarding his innocence or guilt. Rather I hope that you will consider the Krísis that has been brought to light within the body of Christ.

Having attended Ravi Zacharias’ School of Apologetics, I was devastated when his lifelong sexual sin was exposed immediately following his death in 2021. No man has impacted my theology and faith more than he. If I have ever placed a man on a pedestal Ravi was it. I cried when his ministry, life’s work, and legacy collapsed. Yet Ravi’s sin was not the root cause of his ministry’s implosion. It was the leadership team who knew about Ravi’s sin and covered it up to protect the ministry that detonated its demise. Despite the title, the video below is not about Mike Bickle per se. It is Lew Engle’s public confession of his porn addiction at a One Thing Conference in 2018. I think we were in Ecuador on the Amazon at the time and had no idea this had happened. The current scandal at IHOP is the only reason I – and maybe you – have become aware of it now.

Clearly, there is a crisis in the body of Christ.

How did we get here? As Ray Comfort says, “God comes to us with a subpoena in one hand and a pardon in the other.”  Today we love to tell people about the loving pardon. The subpoena…not so much. We emphasize grace and joy and downplay God’s justice. We thank Him for His goodness and redact His severity and Holiness. In a word, there is no fear of God. Instead, we fear man and man’s rejection. We redact the truth in the hope that we will be accepted.

All who live Godly will be persecuted.

Praise God for Lew’s courage and transparency even if it took him fifty years to get there. I’m not being snarky. It’s just a fact. He has ministered to at least two generations of new believers all the while being double-minded and therefore unstable in all his ways. Sexual sin’s portal is a man’s eyes. It is the number one sin that threatens to beset all men. No man is immune. If you think you are then take heed lest you fall. One reason I don’t have a porn problem today is because I know that I could. The other reason is that I understand how real the battle is and how it is fought.

Lew mentioned years of futile prayer and fasting against his compulsion. That makes perfect sense. The Bible tells us to flee youthful lusts. Prayer and fasting is for unbelief. Those who fail to heed the warning to flee soon find themselves caught in the snare of addiction. Now they must expose it Eph 5:11 before they can hope to flee it. Exposure is what many people fear most because the required vulnerability produces suffering. This suffering may be the result of shame, the loss of the esteem of men, position, and or material consequences like the loss of a career or even one’s freedom. Fear of exposure keeps us stuck in our sin. As the 12 Step adage goes,

“We are as sick as our secrets.”

But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. 

What I found most perplexing about the video is that Mike Bickle seemed embarrassed by Lew’s transparency. The words he chose were anything but supportive of accountability. Mike seemed quite familiar with Lew’s struggle as he attempted to minimize and rationalize the sin. Thankfully Lew Engle wasn’t having any of it. The fear of God was on him and he quaked in his boots as he publicly repented.

But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 1 Cor 11:31

The reason for God’s judgment on the house of God and global society is that we have avoided addressing the subject of sin for so long that today we increasingly call good evil and evil good.

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. 1 Pet 4:1-6

Arm yourself with the same way of thinking… is similar to gird up the loins of your mind and having done all to stand, stand therefore… Could any true believer engage in a besetting sin if they were present at Jesus’ crucifixion? Peter is calling us to Jesus’ battle. It is a call to be ready to suffer like Jesus amid a reprobate society. It is the act of resolving to lose one’s life to save it, …to overcome by the blood of the lamb, the word of our testimony and to NOT love our lives onto death. Mind you it is not a call to pursue suffering or martyrdom but a willingness to embrace it if necessary. Still, the question remains;

Suffer for what?

Paul calls it persevering. Once again, tribulation is Thlipsis (pressure) and specifically refers to a form of Roman execution where a large bolder was placed on the victim’s chest and slowly crushed the life out of him. In this context, pressure could be iniquity which includes the pressure to sin. We refer to this pressure as temptation. Yet iniquity left unaddressed becomes generational. The longer we remain isolated in secret sin the greater the iniquity and the more fragmented we become. Fragmentation is the opposite of integrity. Both fragmentation and integrity are opposing expressions of character. Our character is what God seeks to transform and conform to the image of His son. Persevering under pressure is God’s formula for transformation that produces hope.

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Rom 5:3-5

One thing seems certain Krísis reveals character. While it is often misconstrued as wrath to which believers are not appointed, it is in fact, the discipline of a loving Father and a catalyst for transformation. The pressure increases according to our resistance until we surrender and repent or ends in death. The choice is ours. The final outcome is determined by our response. How silly we must look to the principalities to whom we are called to make the manifest wisdom of God known any time we pray against God’s Krísis in Jesus’ name. This is one way many have and will be caught in the aforementioned snare. Everything will be shaken. Only what can’t be shaken will remain…our God is a consuming fire.  Who we are and what we do “will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.”  Only that which is of God will survive. Therefore arm yourself with the mind and character of Jesus. If we suffer with Him we will be glorified with Him.

One thing seems certain. Hard times and big challenges lie ahead. More and more we will see true character exposed both in and out of the church. I understand the importance of the honor that so characterizes my own faith stream. It’s true context applies to missions and becoming all things to all men in order to save a few. We honored Muslims in Africa to earn credibility and the right to be heard by them. Honor was never intended to be a perversion of do not touch God’s anointed – a proverbial bunker in which leaders avoid accountability. God is not having it. My prayer is for wisdom and courage for all of us to judge ourselves and that we allow the transformation of our character wherever needed so that we can faithfully fulfill what God has called us to in these last days.

Every outcome will ultimately be determined by our character.

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Red Pill Diaries

Watchman On the Wall

“so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes…” Eph 4:14

The Acts 17:11 Bereans Bible study made it to Ephesians 4:17 last week. We covered a lot. Someone briefly mentioned that it might benefit us as believers to remain ignorant of evil and its ways, otherwise known as human cunning, craftiness, and deceitful schemes...” After all, Smith Wigglesworth was so single-minded that he wouldn’t even allow a newspaper to enter his home. It makes sense within the proper context. That context is underpinned by fearlessness.

Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 1 Cor 16:13

The strength of which Paul speaks is characterized by complete surrender to God’s will in our circumstances regardless of how those circumstances appear to us.

I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance, and need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phil 4:12-13

We are not to be ignorant of satan’s devices lest he should take advantage of us. 2 Cor 2:11 Jesus commanded that His disciples be wise as serpents and gentle as doves as they went out among wolves. Mat 10:16

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 1 Pet 5:8

Sober is nḗphō calm and collected in spirit, temperate, dispassionate, and circumspect. Circumspect means being careful to consider all circumstances and possible consequences

Circumspect is the Watchman on the wall.

Still, Churches like ours tend to focus on what God, not the devil is doing. Again, that’s a good and correct thing for most people provided they have also done all, to stand…Eph 6:13-14 and aren’t hiding from hard things because they idolize comfort and are terrified of losing it.

I felt a gnawing conviction after our study.

I have always been a watchman. Ironically it’s a calling I fully embraced until I moved to Tennessee.  If I’m honest it’s the fear of man that zips my lips. I don’t want to offend the culture and people I love, and who thrive on joy.

Joy in the third world where we spent the better part of the last decade, is rooted in Col 3:1-3. I perceive that many American believers unconsciously correlate joy with their present health, wealth, and prosperity.

This is known as “Favor”

Facing the possibility of enduring suffering like so many believers around the globe already do is usually not a popular topic of discussion among contemporary lovers of His presence. Hence our stream’s foundational principles of “honoring first”, going “Low and Slow” and the oh-so-slippery slope of always “speaking things in love” can just as easily become justifications for me to bury my head in the sand. 

Watchmen are often confused with prophets because they sometimes project future outcomes based on a current trajectory. But watchmen are not prophets. For example, David Wilkerson was a watchman who repeatedly corrected those who called him a prophet. He viewed the world through the lens of scripture. He could see where we were headed and called Americans to repentance. Jeremiah on the other hand, was a prophet to whom the Lord spoke directly about Israel’s future. For 40 years he called the nation of Israel to repentance.

Israel didn’t and neither have we.

I used to write blog posts from a watchman’s perspective. Posts like Truth or Trump and Better than Ninevah remain published. Others related to situations like COVID were removed because well… “what’s done is done”. More recent posts were never published because I got cold feet. It’s much easier and palatable to proclaim God’s goodness while ignoring His severity. Rom 11:22 This was the problem in ancient Israel, a nation whose moral decline so closely mirrors that of the USA today. Jer 14:13-22, Jer 23, Jer 28

The Conviction

A few days ago, the Lord led me to Ezekiel 33. It was as if I were reading it for the first time. Immediately I felt His rod of correction.

But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes someone’s life, that person’s life will be taken because of their sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.’ Eze 33:6

I confess that I’ve put my head in the sand. Not to hide from seeing and hearing. I put it there to silence myself for fear of offending those whose souls might be required at any moment. Luke 12:15-31

Forgive me, Lord! I repent!

I’m not being a “Debbie Downer” or a “Prophet of Doom” as some are sure to say. The fruit of the spirit including the genuine joy of the Lord does not change if I face plenty, hunger, abundance, or need. Granted, my mood might change if I get a million-dollar check in the mail versus a nuclear bomb in Nashville. But the genuine joy of the Lord is not determined by worldly circumstances. James 1:2 commands us to count it all joy when facing trials that test our faith… To count is hēgéomai and means to take authority.

Count it all joy is an offensive, rather than a defensive action.

In January 2020 I taught a “biblicized” version of The Fourth Turning to a group of young missionaries in Guatemala. In a nutshell, the authors, Straus and Howe framed history as a recurring cycle of approximately 80-100 years comprised of four “Turns” (think seasons) of 20-25 years. They are 1.”The High”, 2.”The Awakening”, 3. The Unraveling and 4. The Crisis. You can buy the book on Amazon or read my synopsis here. 

Most of these 18-21-year-old “gap year” missionaries just rolled their eyes as I challenged their worldview. Others were angry because I’d called their previously prophesized dreams and plans upon which their joy was predicated into question. Less than two months later the entire world went into lockdown as COVID hit. Their dreams were squashed as they and 400 of their peers from around the globe were emergency evacuated back to the USA. Some barely got out before the borders closed. Suffice it to say that we are in a Fourth Turn now. Here are a few timely conclusions from the book.

“Sometime before the year 2025, America will pass through a great gate in history, commensurate with the American Revolution, Civil War, and twin emergencies of the Great Depression and World War II…” “…The risk of catastrophe will be very high. The nation could erupt into insurrection or civil violence, crack up geographically, or succumb to authoritarian rule…” “…Through much of the Third Turning, we have managed to postpone the reckoning. But history warns that we can’t defer it beyond the next bend in time…”

Not since WWII, have we been at such risk for an economic collapse, unmitigated global crisis, and military conflict. Not since the Civil War have we been so divided as a nation. In the words of the World Economic Forum at Davos this year, “The collective vocabularies stored in the world’s great dictionaries didn’t appear to hold a single word, to sum up, all this strife. So here’s a new one:“

“Polycrisis“

“The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2023 uses the term, to explain how “present and future risks can also interact with each other to form a ‘poly-crisis’ – a cluster of related global risks with compounding effects, such that the overall impact exceeds the sum of each part”.

Nothing is new under the sun. Ecc 1:9 And there is a time and a season for everything. Ecc 3:1-8 Crises or Fourth Turns have come and gone and come again throughout history. More often than not they arrive just as people assume peace and security. 1 Thess 5:3 Others clearly hear the trumpet but refuse to heed the warning. Eze 33:4

Normalcy Bias is a snare in a Fourth Turning.

In any case, history teaches us that the primary determining factor in the outcome of any crisis is the individual and collective character of those upon whom the crisis falls. Sometimes God uses a crisis to produce character. Rom 5:3 In the end, Fourth Turnings, in particular, produce one of two outcomes.  Either there is a return to traditional values, religious revival, prosperity, and freedom. Or people descend into darkness, moral depravity, persecution, and bondage. That said, it is within the context of bondage that God’s promise and warning in the oft-misquoted Jer 29 applies. Hence,

Fourth Turns (crises) are not a call to build bunkers or hoard ammunition, and gold, but rather a call to repentance, fearlessness, and faith amid turmoil.

It may be worthy of note that the word “Crisis” is derived from the Greek word Krisis which means “God’s judgment.” The purpose of God’s judgment, not to be confused with His wrath, is to discipline the rebellious and bring us to repentance.

Only illegitimate children escape discipline. Heb 12:6 Heb 12:8-11

Perhps one of the hardest things for believers to accept since the fall of man is that throughout human history “Adversity makes men. Prosperity makes monsters”. -Victor Hugo- 1 Tim 6:10

We were isolated in the mountains of Honduras after COVID hit and were amazed at the number of people back in the USA who contacted us with the question, “Is this the end of days?” Suddenly everyone was curious about God and His word. What a blessing it was to have an audience comprised of previously deaf ears. Alas, COVID passed, normalcy came back into view and people lost interest in the Bible. It seems they only cared about God when faced with the prospect of their imminent demise.

Sociological data only confirms this.

According to the American Worldview Inventory 2023 “The first national study of Americans’ worldview since the COVID-19 lockdowns show that the incidence of biblical worldview has fallen to a mere 4%—a drop of one-third from the 6% recorded just three years earlier.“ Dr. Tracy F. Munsil | February 28, 2023, | CRC | 

What determines a biblical worldview? you ask. Very basic tenants of the faith. Click both hyperlinks for details.

“But that’s not me. I have a biblical worldview,” you say. And maybe you do. The question is; how could so many professing Christians be so devoid of truth? John 17:17 It would seem that what many are calling revival is more in line with a great falling away. 2 Thess 2:3

I could be wrong.

Don’t freak out. Search it out Acts 17:11

The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself. -Augustine of Hippo –

Look maybe this Watchman stuff isn’t your cup of tea. Maybe you are already one who praises the Lord whether life gives you a proverbial massage or a kick in the butt. “It’ll all pan out.” I get it. But if you value seeing and discerning the time Mat 16:1-4, then join the discussion by subscribing by email in the sidebar as I may not link every post to social media. Hardly any of our readers link to us via social media anyway. I’ll categorize future Watchman posts under Red Pill Diaries.

Categories are listed above the title of each post.

Jesus said, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” Mat 7:24-27

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Uncategorized

Character

We are locked down in Honduras as I write. COVID cases have begun to double on a daily basis. The borders and airports are closed. No one can come in or go out. There’s a 6 month to 2-year jail sentence awaiting anyone who violates a curfew.  Hondurans in our little community are obedient and calm. They are familiar with crises.  Two older American friends in another part of the country are locked down too.  He is a retired architect and has had a series of strokes. His wife is left to cope with his rapidly deteriorating condition by herself. They don’t have COVID but COVID is placing his life in jeopardy.

Meanwhile there are about two hundred North Americans, most of whom are short term missionaries stranded here.  Several of them are demanding their rights and that the US State Dept does something to evacuate them.  We strongly encouraged people to postpone their trips weeks before COVID first reared its head.  Unfortunately confirmation bias reigned supreme. I guess their plans, ministry and mission were too important.  I can empathize. I remember thinking and feeling the same way as a short-term missionary myself. 

As Seth Barnes founder of Adventures and Missions, (AIM) an organization with whom we serve as World Race GAP Year Coaches, said in his blog Courage and Prudence

“We are now in a wartime footing in most of the country. Most of us have no idea how to live life there. The things that worked before no longer work. COVID-19 is changing everything.”

Several months ago, I gave a teaching based on the book

The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy-What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America’s Next Rendezvous with Destiny. By William Straus and Neil Howe. I had no idea at the time how prophetic it was.

Howe and Strauss are Historians and social scientists who observed an Ecclesiastes 3 cycle in American history that shows a new era, a season or “Turning” every 20 -25 years. Four turns or seasons amount to a Saeculum or the length of a long lifetime. In simplest terms, the most recent “First Turning” 1945 -65 was the “High” and could be likened to a honeymoon period.  It was marked by the end of WWII and the birth to the American dream. Families were strengthened as were social institutions like schools, local governments and church. Individual roles both inside and outside the family were clearly defined.

The “Second Turning”, 1965-85, the “Awakening”, was a period of questioning all those things. It was a time of spiritual upheaval, when the old order came under attack. It was marked by things like the birth of ERA, the Vietnam war and the subsequent student lead peace movements, the Water Gate Trial and Impeachment of Richard Nixon. Basically, every social institution was challenged. 

The “Third Turning”, 1985-2005, the “Unraveling” was a time when the individual reigned supreme. Punk rock and rap glorified criminality and anti-social behavior, swinging, divorce and open homosexuality became normalized. And culminated with the HIV AIDS epidemic and the destruction of the twin towers in New York.  Post Modernism grew to become the dominant world view and continued corruption and government scandals fueled an already growing distrust of nearly all established authority and institutions.  

The “Fourth Turning” 2005 -25 is the “Crisis”. We are in the thick of it now.

As Straus and Howe wrote in 1996.

“The next Fourth Turning is due to begin shortly after the new millennium, midway through the Oh-Oh decade. Around the year 2005, a sudden spark will catalyze a Crisis mood. Remnants of the old social order will disintegrate. Political and economic trust will implode. Real hardship will beset the land, with severe distress that could involve questions of class, race, nation, and empire. . .The very survival of the nation will feel at stake. Sometime before the year 2025, America will pass through a great gate in history, commensurate with the American Revolution, Civil War, and twin emergencies of the Great Depression and World War II.”

“The risk of catastrophe will be very high. The nation could erupt into insurrection or civil violence, crack up geographically, or succumb to authoritarian rule. If there is a war, it is likely to be one of maximum risk and effort — in other words, a total war. Every Fourth Turning has registered an upward ratchet in the technology of destruction, and in mankind’s willingness to use it.”

Howe and Strauss predicted we Americans will be forced to make decisions that mirror the hardest ones made by our predecessors as

“great peril provokes a societal consensus, an ethic of personal sacrifice, and strong institutional order”.  “And it will require us to admit that our faith in linear progress has often amounted to a Faustian bargain with our children. Faust always ups the ante, and every bet is double or nothing. Through much of the Third Turning, we have managed to postpone the reckoning. But history warns that we can’t defer it beyond the next bend in time.”

There is always talk of the end of days whenever a major crisis hit. I don’t claim to be a prophet and I certainly don’t know for sure.  My own bias is to doubt it.  Even so, my wife Cathy made a keen observation the other day. The beginning of sorrows that Jesus spoke about in Mat 24:8-13 translates to “Birth Pangs”.  Birth pangs progressively increase in frequency and intensity until the water breaks and the baby is born.  If this is the beginning of sorrows it will usher in the millennial reign of Christ. Fourth Turns gradually come to an end and are followed by another High.  

In either case if we are to survive in a war time footing, we need to accurately discern the time. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for their lack of discernment in Mathew 16:1-4.

“Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.” A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.”

Everything they needed to identify Jesus was already in the scriptures.  The problem was that Jesus did not match their interpretation and resulting expectations and Jesus remained hidden in plain view.

A lot of us have the same problem today.

Signs, wonders and spiritual gifts are all the rage these days.  Myriad charismatic leaders inspire people to follow in their footsteps.  Evangelists, prophets, those with gifts of healing and an angle on prosperity abound. Those with the most dramatic, feel good performances and the biggest followings on social media become heroes of the faith even if their teachings are scripturally unsound.  Jesus said,

“Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets.” Luke 6:26 and “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” Mat 24:37 Noah preached repentance and righteousness 2 Pet 2:5 then built an ark in the middle of the desert. He was mocked and rejected as a result.  How much more are those who preach the same message in 2 Timothy 3 world rejected?  

Cathy just read some headlines as I write. 

“Vegas strip club offers drive through peep shows” in response to COVID and “Man beaten to death by mob for having Corona Virus.” 

You might be on fire for Jesus.  But a quick skim of the daily headlines should be all one needs to discern the times and the message that the world needs.

Discernment drives action

I’ve heard people quote and seen people post Psalm 91 so many times in the past few weeks that everyone including unbelievers should have it memorized by now. Problem is – many receive it as a magic incantation that allows them to fearlessly continue with their lives as if nothing was happening.

A cursory word study quickly reveals that dwelling in secret place of Psalm 91:1 upon which one’s protection is contingent, refers to both the secret place Jesus talked about in Mat 6:6 . It also means a literal “shelter, a hiding place.” 

By the way, has anyone stopped to consider that COVID could peak during Passover?

I’m sure that’s just a coincidence.

If nothing else this situation is facing us with a very real question.  God or mammon?  

Many young people are assuming, they are invincible and choosing to party rather than comply with recommendations, warnings and ordinances.  We have young friends and relatives who seem utterly oblivious to the crisis at hand.

Spring Break 2020

The keys to surviving a crisis and thriving in the subsequent high lay in how we respond. There were people who jumped to their deaths from high-rises when the market crashed in 1929.  Those more prudent made fortunes. The most grievous error we can make is to fail to discern the time. We may assume a Fourth Turn crisis is the end and enter what AIM calls the “Q” (quit) zone. Or we could mistake the crisis for a First Turn high as so many spring breakers are doing now.

Good things come out of crisis. Rom 8:28

“Great peril provokes a societal consensus, an ethic of personal sacrifice, and strong institutional order.”   That means a return to First Turn values. People have been praying for and prophesying revival for decades.  Yet how soon we forget that revivals begin with radical repentance.  More often than not this repentance is preceded by an event that causes people to recognize their spiritual bankruptcy. An event like like the great San Francisco earthquake that preceded the Azuza Street revival in 1915.   Yes, Jesus healed and does heal people but His primary reason for coming was to be a propitiation for our sin. He came to rescue us from hell.  Miracles and healing look more spectacular to our disbelieving and entertainment hungry eyes. But they are secondary to dealing with our sin. John 1:22   As Ray Comfort says, “God comes to us with a subpoena in one hand and a pardon in the other.”  We love to tell people about the loving pardon while avoiding the subpoena all together. 

As the current COVID crisis grows, I have yet to hear anyone under the age of 85 preach a message of repentance.  There seems to be a correlation between this and the fact that those 80 and older were alive during the previous Fourth Turn.  Hope for a nation that has murdered over 61,000,000 babies’ since Roe v Wade, maligned the name of Jesus as a matter of public policy and rejected His substitutionary work on the cross isn’t going to be found in Psalm 91 without embracing 2 Chron 7:14 first.

“if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chron 7:14

My oldest surviving uncle Lester will be 90 in June.  He built his own sugar house and makes his own maple syrup in Ashfield Massachusetts because he needs something to do when it’s too cold to work. 

His wife Nancy is a retired biologist with a passion for conservation.

The last time I visited, Aunt Nancy had just chased a mother bear and her cubs away from her beehives on foot. At dinner Lester and I spoke about the last Fourth Turn. Uncle Lester is a retired Navy Vet. His brother fought at Normandy.  He doesn’t speak a lot but when he does it behooves people to find the parable. Uncle Lester grew up poor during the Great Depression but says he didn’t know it. He never complains and talked a lot about the value and power of gratitude and community during hard times.  Elders in places like Ashfield Mass still work hard and have a lot of character. They are our national treasures.

I recently saw a meme directed at chronic COVID complainers.

If our culture persists in a collective belief that our individual rights reign supreme, that we are somehow owed something and that it’s the government’s job to provide it for free at the expense of other people simply because they have more; then I can assure you that the authoritarian outcome or worse mentioned by Straus and Howe is almost certain.

Instead I found an example of the requisite attitude for success, especially for Christians during a Fourth Turn in Acts 14. During the Apostle Paul’s 1st missionary journey he and Baranabas were kicked out of Antioch. So they traveled 85 miles to preach the Gospel in Iconium. Unbelieving Jews stirred up dissension and tried to beat and stone him.  So, Paul and Barnabas moved on to Lystra and Derbe where taught and people were healed. Everyone thought they were Zeus and Hermes and started to worship them.  No sooner had they put an end to that craziness then the previous Jews who had followed them from Iconium showed up.  This time they were successful in stoning Paul.  They dragged what they thought was his dead body outside the city gate and left him there. The disciples gathered around him probably in mourning. But before they could do anything Paul jumped up brushed himself off and went back into the city where;  

“Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” Acts 14:22

This May we will have lived in Honduras for three years. We’ve been through our share of crises and we stocked up on beans and rice a few weeks ago in anticipation of what is happening now. The other day we gave some away to a neighbor in need. I’ve been racking my brain as to how we are going to feed people when the food runs out. What will we do if someone gets sick?  How will we care for people?  Last night some girls from the tiny Catholic church down the road delivered dinner to our door.  Being a full-time missionary is teaching me just how unimportant I am.  

I don’t know what is happening or is going to happen. If you read my previous blogs, my conclusions regarding COVID remain the same. 

Believe what we want “We still don’t know jack.”  

What I do know from both God’s Word and my own experience is that

Jesus did not come to give us our best life now. He came to redeem and transform us.

Everything will be shaken. Only what can’t be shaken will remain. Heb 12:26-28

Who we are and what we do “will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.” Only that which is of God will survive. 1Cor 3:12-15

While our eternal hope is definitely in Jesus. Our ability to remain in that hope will be determined by our individual and collective character.  Character is produced by perseverance. Tribulation is its catalyst. Rom 5:3-7

Please keep us in prayer. Apart from divine intervention we are in big trouble if COVID gets a hold of us.

If you are receiving this it’s because we love you.

En El Nombre De Jesus!