The Flying Dutchman

God’s Thoughts to Me

But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength … They will soar high on wings like eagles (Isaiah 40:31, NLT).

A  Voiceless World

When the crown of God’s creation was deceived in Paradise into that foul revolt, the whole world was captured by death.

Humanity was taken hostage in the clutches of the evil serpent, the one who was once the director of Heaven’s music.

The fallen morning star stole their voices, their thoughts, their minds, their will … their allegiance … their lives. Creation was locked up in a beautiful cage of deadly decay.

His emissary, the sea serpent of darkness, was sent to meet with the captain of The Flying Dutchman, a ghost ship doomed to the Cape of Good Hope.

This galleon was forever condemned to sail against the Wind of God’s breath until the Day of Judgement. This fate was kept hidden from its crew and future captives.

A devilish deal was struck when they agreed to offer humanity a phantom religious freedom as captains and sailors of their own fleet of ghost ships.

These ships sailed only in the midnight darkness of death, on the sinister winds howling with the fraudulent doctrines of demons.

They were deceived by the evangelical humanistic promises that they were able to be captains of their own souls and swallowed this satanic bait hook, line and sinker.

With foolish arrogance, they sailed the ships of their hearts into imagined riches, prosperity, heaven and independence  … flying high on the winds of deceit.

Oblivious to the insatiable whirlpools created by the murderous monsters of the seas of Finitude and Mortality, they were swallowed up alive, one by one, into eternal death.

But some of these lost souls were considered useless garbage and outcasts by the  evil one … a liability to his course of destruction.

They were the ones stricken by poverty, illness, weakness and sins too heinous to ignore … the thieves, the drunkards, murderers and prostitutes.

They were discarded with contempt as filth and excess weight into the depths of the hungry waves without even the honor of walking the plank.

But King Aslan, the Infinite Word, the Creator of all, accompanied by His angelic hosts, parted the raging storms around these drowning, despised ones and safely led them onto dry land.

The Lion of Judah tenderly unlocked the doors of their captivity, forgave their devious sins and transformed their infirmities into the wings of angels.

He became the Wind beneath their wings and steered them with the breath of His Love along the Way of Infinity.

Like eagles they soared high in the sky into the Kingdom of Light.

Much love and sweet blessings XX

Mia.

Linking-up to Lisa-Jo at Five Minute Friday and the gracious ladies at my Tea-Time and Link-Up page.

Lady Wisdom

God’s Thoughts to Me

Wisdom has built her house; she has carved its seven columns. She has prepared a great banquet, mixed the wines, and set the table (Proverbs 9:1-2, NLT).

Banquet of Grace

In the year 33 AD the King of Love paid the full blood ransom for the freedom of a dying world who was held captive in the evil clutches of the prince of darkness.

This imposter was a cruel monster who held the keys of death. Bruised, broken and baptized in His own blood, the King gave His Spirit into His Father’s hand.

With His last breath, He broke the curse of sin and death and defeated the foe who held humanity enslaved in the fetters of destruction.

His last breath exploded delightfully through the universe into grace and forgiveness, twinkling like fairy dust of love, inviting all to the marriage feast of the Lamb.

He reconciled Himself to those He loved with endless love, not counting their sins and transgressions against Him anymore, welcoming all His lost ones back into His loving Embrace.

But like a roaring lion, the dark one disguised himself as an immoral woman … a seductress … a woman called Folly.

She was flirting with the naive who lacked common sense and wisdom, sitting in the doorway of her house of ill repute.

Her lewd voice was like a hypotonic song, seducing men into her poisonous web.

She was dressed in robes of sensuality and lured them with sly words into her house for a night of passion while leading them to their graves with her caresses.

She has spread her bed with a beautiful blanket of wealth and prosperity. She has perfumed her linen with the deadly religious perfume of myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.

She intoxicated them with the poisonous wine she has mixed from hatred and deceit.

But the beautiful Lady Wisdom raises her voice at the crossroads of every soul, urging all with ears to hear to follow her on the Way of Grace.

She was appointed in ages past before creation to lead the childlike out of this trap of death and darkness into the Kingdom of Light and Love.

She was the architect at the side of the Creator, His constant delight. She has forever been singing songs of joy over the those He created for His glory.

Much love and sweet blessings xx

Mia

Linking-up with the gracious Lisa-Jo and all the wonderful ladies at my Tea Time and Link-Up page.

Riding the Tithing Train

God’s Thoughts to Me

The early church had no tithing system … But as the Church expanded and its material needs grew more numerous and complex, it became necessary to adopt a definite rule to which people could be held either by moral obligation or by precept of positive law.

The tithing of the old law provided an obvious model, and it began to be taught… The Council of Macon in 585 ordered payment of tithes and threatened excommunication to those who refused to pay (The New Catholic Encyclopedia, vol.XIV, pp. 174-175).

Blessings for Sale

As a child, I often had the privilege of riding on a steam train. How I enjoyed the sound of the locomotive picking up speed.

When it was well on its way, the whistle would tell the whole world of its pride and glory.

I remember how we and all our luggage used to be covered with a thin layer of soot. It even found a place to hide behind your ears or between your teeth and toes! Today, the steam train is just a fond memory.

Nowadays, there is another train; the one driving on the railroad tracks of the monstrous, cruel religious teaching of tithing.

This train is driving through a thick, dark and scary forest of deceit, straight to the Kingdom of darkness.

This train’s thick layers of soot has crippled many of our Pappa’s children; not just financially, but also spiritually and emotionally.

When the Catholic Church started this teaching in the year 585 AD, they, at least, refrained from violating the famous verse on tithing in Malachi 3:8.

Their trump card, which was already an abomination in itself, was excommunication.

Looking at the origins of tithing in the Old Testament, we find Israel being under a Theocracy. Their president or prime minister was none other than our Heavenly Father Himself.

He instituted the tithing as His income tax system for the upkeep of the nation. The people had to “pay” three tithes.

The first tithe was brought to the Levites in the seventh month of the year. The Levites and the priests were the cabinet responsible for the upkeep of the nation.

The Levites had to give a tenth of this tithe to the priests who attended the altar (Numbers 18:25-32).

The second tithe was brought to the temple for the feast that took place in the seventh month.

Sort of their public holiday to honor their monarch where they all feasted and had a good time together.

The third tithe was only paid every three years and this one was given to the strangers, the widows and the orphans.

All in all it amounted up to 27,9% of their income, spread over a period of three years. This is as far as my mathematical abilities go!

Today another trump card is being played by the drivers of the tithing train. They play on the insecurities and greed of the human race and promise wealth and prosperity to those who fill their coffers with their hard-earned money.

I wonder if they are the descendants of the Judaizers pestering the first Galatian believers and the priests at the time of Malachi?

Actually, our Pappa was chiding the Levites and the priests who cheated on their income tax and even the widows and orphans of their daily bread. They were also an adulterous bunch, divorcing their wives left, right and centre.

I will never forget how an old black gentleman told me once the reason why he COULD NOT go to church: a lack of money.

After giving a tithe to their church he didn’t have much left for even just a decent meal. We all know what our Lord Jesus did to those who turned His Pappa’s House into a den of thieves.

Another wagon that has been hitched onto the tithing train, comes from the Beatitudes, “Give and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom (Luke 6:38,NKJV)”.

Could it perhaps be that our Lord Jesus was speaking of forgiveness like He did in verse 37?

This wagon also sport the Seed-Faith compartment.

I remember the time when I met my own set of “Judaizers”, telling me that I can line my own pockets through giving as much as possible, waiting for my sevenfold return.

I recall an incident when I was given a choice of receiving a nett or gross return on my salary, all depending whether I tithed on my gross or nett income!

They reckon the more you give, and that to them of course, the bigger your return will be!

This deceptive teaching is based on Galatians 6:7 where Paul chided the Galatians for lending out their ears to the Judaizers who added onto the simple Gospel of Jesus, which was no Gospel at all!

I am so grateful for Pappa’s protection against this tithing madness that has been the spiritual ruin of many.

Whenever I needed discernment on this matter, He abundantly supplied all the wisdom I needed.

In my own life I have found that as I allowed our Lord Jesus to become my life,  I started to give more and more and more!!! Giving and sharing just seem so natural. It gives me so much joy for our Pappa has written the law of love on the tablets of my heart!

I cannot do otherwise and truly understand now why the first Christians were commended by all because of their love for one another.

It does not really matter what percentage I give, whether it is 10% or the widow’s mite. The truth is that one actually wants to give way above one’s means for the sole reason of love!!!

Dear Ones, let us listen and heed our Lord’s advice and not allow our left hand to know what our right hand is doing and be surprised one day when we are invited into the eternal Kingdom for clothing, feeding and visiting with our Lord Jesus.

Much love XX

Mia

Linking-up with

 

Elijah, Mount Carmel and Me

God’s Thoughts to me

So Ahab summoned all the people of Israel and the prophets to Mount Carmel. Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions ? If the Lord is God, follow Him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” But the people were completely silent. (18 Kings 1:20-21, NLT).

The Contest on Mt Carmel

The last month I have been reluctantly travelling through the well-known Fm/CFS country, Mega-Flare Land. Actually, I was forced to accompany my unwelcome friends, Mr Pain, his ugly wife, Exhaustion, and their brood of brat-like kiddos: Fibrofog, IBS, Migraine, Desperado and all their siblings. They were joyfully irritating me, taking turns in giving me the honors of piggybacking them.

Taking a short respite, we stopped at a shady Inn called Quitters Paradise. This scaly looking building was situated in the middle of the desolate Plain of Despondency. I peeked through a dirty window and was not at all surprised to see a few very familiar felons already lodging there. Mr Self-Pity and his cousin, Mr Down-in-the-Dumps, were beckoning me inside, cordially inviting me to join their wallowing in a dark, dirty cesspool of muddy despair. I willingly capitulated and in the blink of an eye I was overwhelmed by a major Elijah moment. Remember that time after Elijah outran King Ahab to Jezreel?

Well, true to human nature and just following Elijah’s example, I offered our Lord my very famous BUT-GOD complaint. Yet, our gentle, loving Pappa patiently enquired, “What are you doing here,  Elijah? (Mia?)” (1 Kings 19:9b) He encouraged me not to waste my valuable little energy on my lamentations and languishing and invited me to rather join Him on another journey far back in time, thousands of years ago. I was not too keen to accept His offer for I did not want to leave my mud wallowing gremlin friends behind!

Double-Minded!

But our Lord’s gentle charm won my heart and I followed Him back to the days when Israel was experiencing a severe drought and was ruled by King Ahab. Actually, by Jezebel, since Ahab was totally under the petticoat government. Our Father introduced me to those obstinate, double-minded Israelites who were comfortably resting on their religious laurels. Their minds were in a comfy state of equipoise and they had one foot firmly planted in the state religion of Jezebel, and the other one, in the Heavenly Kingdom of our Pappa. My Pappa gently showed me that the condition of my heart was in reality not much different from theirs.

To my sorrow, I realized that my loyalties were also divided between religion and my allegiance to my Pappa. In other words, I was also double-minded and conveniently ignoring our Father’s words, “He is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.” (James 1:8, NIV). I realized that I was also dancing around two altars and needed to repent of my foolishness, allowing the sweet Holy Spirit to drastically renew my mind and change my heart’s desires.

I appreciated Elijah’s originality in using a metaphor from the world of birds when he compared the Israelites to the notorious habit of birds, hopping from the one branch to the next, quite finicky about choosing where to settle. I could relate to that!

Ahab summoned Elijah and had the audacity to blame him for Israel’s 3-year long drought. Elijah vehemently denied the accusation and turned the blame back to its rightful owners: Ahab, Jezebel and their large entourage of Baal and Asherah cronies. Elijah courageously challenged them to that famous Carmel contest. Since Baal was considered by the people as the presiding deity who had the power over fire, the Israelites considered Elijah’s challenge to be a brilliant idea to determine once and for all who the only true God really was. I found it quite interesting that Elijah had rebuilt the altar of our Pappa that was previously demolished by Jezebel and her Asherah and Baal hirelings. It consisted of 12 stones representing the 12 sons of Jacob, and therefore the 12 tribes of the Israelite nation. It reminds me of our Lord Jesus using each and everyone of us as a living stone to build the spiritual temple of which He is the cornerstone (1 Peter 2:8-9).

To eliminate even the slightest possibility of human help (works of the flesh), Elijah ordered the Israelites to drench the altar three times, each time with 4 big jars of water. We are all familiar with the outcome of this contest, but my Pappa patiently showed me my allegiance to so many of the modern-day Baal and Asherah prophets and I knew that I also needed my own contest on Mount Carmel. I knew that serving their God only resulted in extreme spiritual poverty and subsequent “cutting of flesh” and bleeding of my soul.

A Bronze Sculpture of the Prophet Elijah, by Australian Artist, Louis Laumen

I needed to allow our Lord Jesus to slaughter all my false prophets. Like Elijah, I knew that I could spare them not even the slightest hint of mercy. I placed all these false perceptions and beliefs on the altar of my heart, drenched with all my tears. Our Heavenly Father wasted no time in sending forth His fire from heaven to consume my offering and filled all the empty spaces, vacated by all the wrong perceptions and idols of my heart, with His Love, His Life and abundant grace. He gently opened my eyes to the futility of the so-called Health, Wealth and Prosperity gospel with its own legion of prophets who had already ushered so many people into apostasy.

He opened my eyes to the dangers of the doctrines of all the so-called “…isms”, like Fundamentalism, Evangelism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Pentecostalism, Calvinism and so forth. Although these religious systems all contain a lot of intellectual truth, they reek of a multitude of laws, rules and regulations, but very limited life, no grace, no love, compassion or the relationship with our precious Savior.

They can actually be quite detrimental to the wonderful freedom our Lord Jesus has called us to for a relationship of love and respect to blossom and flourish. Our Pappa is all for simplicity, “He has showed you , O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.” (Micah 6:8, NIV).

He has shown me that Christianity is not and will never be a book religion, or morality, or a belief system. Christianity will never be a method of problem-solving, or a-what-would-Jesus-do role-playing or an ideological option. For, Christianity is and will always be Christ, a blessed life lived in our Lord Jesus, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27, NIV). Forever and ever. Amen.

Dear Ones, needless to say, I was then completely cured of my affectionate affinity to mud pool wallowing… if only until next time!! Thank you so much for once again listening to all my ramblings.

Lots of hugs and blessings

Mia

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