THE SECRET PLACE
“He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” (Psalm 91:1)

PART 17

GOD IS NOT AFRAID OF THE FIRE

This week definitely had its share of sorrow! Our hearts and prayers go out to the innocent victims of the latest terrorist attacks in Boston and the loss of lives and injuries that came from the fertilizer plant explosion. As always, there are many questions and very few answers. It is an hour when we as Christians must increase our spiritual discernment through prayer and fasting. Do you believe God can warn us when something is going to happen that will protect us from harm? Yes I do. Do you believe He will? Every time? That is a difficult question and one that I was faced to deal with Friday night.

I am a member of the K.C.C.R.T. (Kentucky Community Crisis Response Team), an organization that receives its support and curriculum from the Department of Home Land Security and F.E.M.A. The home office is in Frankfort and the State is divided into regions. Each region trains team members and utilizes the talents and experience of physical, mental and spiritual health care individuals, including doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, psychologist, nutritionists, along with E.M.S. Police and Fire personnel. I am a part of region 13 and I serve as a pastoral counselor that contributes spiritual care for those who are affected from any type of severe emergency crisis.

Friday night our team was invited to go to Corbin and meet with family members that had been traumatized in March, when a house fire claimed eight individuals, six from the same family, (five of them small children). The response team from Bell County needed more support and had called on our region to set up a special meeting at their High School where the family could talk with us privately without the media or spectators. I was not sure what to expect, but I can say that it was truly an anointed night of seeing His Spirit move. Again, in general the questions are always the same, (why) and the answers are always the same, (no one knows), however there is a supernatural healing, restoration and understanding when we feel and know God is present. Twenty-six family members were there and we know that much comfort and hope was planted and that in time God will continue to help them cope with their loss. I also officiated my first funeral this week and it was truly a blessing to be used by the Lord. Cheryl’s step dad was seventy- eight years old, a saved man that loved and served the Lord. It has been said that no one can preach our funeral – we do that while we are living. Nonetheless, I spoke the promises of God’s Word and Praise His holy name, The Holy Spirit ministered hope and encouragement to all of our hearts.

As a young child, our days were simple and our heart was innocent. It was like being in a dream state where the sun has not burned away the fog and we were clinging to the security that was slowly fading away. In the last moments of simplicity, our tiny amount of knowledge was naïve with a pure sincerity. However, as we grew older our conscience learned about deception, lying, pride and greed, along with how to endure the onslaught of harshness, cruelty, disappointment and hurt. Through experience, we discovered how to think on our own, how to defend and how to question what people say and do. We realized that life is not always the way it seemed so we built walls around our hopes and views to protect them. Sadly, this caused us to develop boundaries and become weary of most everyone because of our past negative experiences.

What we sense in our conscience reveals who we are, what we know and how we believe. When we hear a song or watch a drama that makes us cry – that is a tender heart or what we also call a sensitive conscience. When we read a letter that floods our emotions, we have opened the door to our inner chambers and allowed our soul to be touched. What do you feel when you look up into the sky or out into the ocean? Are you moved when a baby smiles at you, when you see two elderly people holding hands or when you walk through a cemetery? The “secret place” is a beautiful realm to live because it allows us to peek through the keyhole of a higher plane of existence. It confirms there is another dimension, a more wonderful, glorious eternity beyond this mortal experience. To believe and trust God personally, gives us the confidence of knowing there is more than what we see with our natural understanding and a much deeper experience of reality that we will one day comprehend.

I know two men, (that do not know each other) that are intelligent in the knowledge of psychology, philosophy and the science of physics respectively. Along with their impressive education, they both grew up in the church environment and are well versed in the disciplines of theology. In spending time with them separately, I have listened to their opinions and their exciting discoveries of many different ideas and worldviews of life. They claim the eyes of their understanding have been enlightened to such higher forms of intelligence that it is difficult to even have a conversation with the uneducated airheads that walk around in a simple-minded stupor. They both have confessed to me, (seriously) that most Christians are ignorant of science and have no idea how ridiculous it is to have faith in the confusion and condemnation of an error filled Bible. One man in particular, (his Father is a pastor) said that, he had read so many books and that he had developed such a high IQ, that it has caused him to abandon his faith and doubt the existence of God (?). He concluded that he had learned so much that he could not go back to the “innocence” of believing as he did as a younger man. He confessed that this troubles him deeply and he feels he is losing his mind – possibly his soul.

I responded by saying that being haunted by these fearful thoughts are a good sign The Holy Spirit is trying to rescue him from deception and disaster. If God were not convicting him, he would continue down the path of secular humanism and atheism without any conviction or regret. The troubling aspect of this kind of mental assault is – I fear there are many young people that are experiencing the same dilemma and sadly, many tender hearts are becoming calloused with doubt. We have always heard that it is a wonderful thing to go to college, graduate with a degree so that we can be successful, fulfill our calling, and reach our destiny. Traditional thoughts persuade us to believe that higher education brings integrity and respect to the individual and a sense of confidence and achievement. Though some of this may be true, I ask – at what cost?

I am not going to bore us with listing famous philosophers that were atheist or describe their books of theories. If you would like to take the time and do personal research on this subject, I think you will find a tremendous amount of insanity. However, the point I am making is centered on the importance of knowing God “personally”. There are multitudes that grew up in Sunday school and have known the reverential fear of God, but have allowed the world to extinguish their flame of holy sensitivity. I am not being mean to those who have backslidden away from God; rather I am sympathetic to their deception. The skeptic cannot understand divine reality because clouds of ‘pride” block their view. They have fallen into a dark trap and must be rescued by God Himself, because He is the “ONLY ONE” that has the power to deliver and set a soul free. For those who openly claim to be a skeptic or atheist, the humanistic view comes “natural” and we can understand why they are spiritually blind. Nevertheless, what puzzles me is how someone that claims to be a Christian can still boldly embrace a humanistic worldview and feel God’s peace. As I have said many times – there is only one God – and He does not share His glory with any other false idol and will never recognize any other generic interpretation of His truth. Since THE God of all things does not compromise and has never made an error, I can say with complete confidence that whoever is not following and accepting this divine reality – is wrong. It is impossible to speak words of error and claim to be inspired by The Holy Spirit. Thus, the idea that Christians can believe in the lies of humanism and walk with God at the same time needs to be considered as dangerous and possibly blasphemous. It is only through the patience and mercy of a longsuffering God that any of us in our times of blindness, have survived. It is true, we all have made mistakes and sinned against Him in our lives and in this journey of seeking absolute truth, it is normal to have questions along with much soul searching to learn God’s will. However, to betray our faith after we have claimed to know God by pledging allegiance to carnal knowledge, is “intentionally” enlisting in the camp of the enemy. It is one thing to be ignorant of the devil’s lies, but it is another to willingly uphold and support the enemy.

We as God’s remnant cannot over-emphasize the importance of preparing for the great “shaking” that is coming to the world. He is allowing Satan to launch a spiritual attack from the pits of hell to see who will remain faithful and fulfill God’s plans for the end of the age. We see an example of this shaking, as it is described in Luke the 22nd chapter. Jesus told Simon Peter that Satan desired to “sift” him as wheat. Within the process of thrashing the kernel from the chaff is “SEPARATING” the “heart” from the trash. Satan was planning to attack Peter so that he could derail him from his destiny. Jesus continued with an awesome encouragement that He would PRAY for Peter so that HIS FAITH WOULD NOT FAIL! I believe that Satan is aiming his weapons of philosophical and secular humanism confusion toward the younger generation. He is pouring out his poison in the name of a new age culture of social, intellectual and political aggression and violence that is fighting to replace God’s Word and The Holy Spirit. Those who KNOW God intimately and personally, will take this trumpet warning very seriously. Selah.