Where Freedom Dances

God’s Thought To Me

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then and do not let yourself be burdened with a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1, NIV).

 The Freedom of Belonging

When I belonged to all my yesterdays, my life was clouded with impenetrable, pitch black darkness. I walked in tandem with the phantom of sorrow … hand-in-hand with the lonely pain of abuse.

Condemnation relentlessly mocked me without repose and Rejection beguiled me with venomous prattle … pretending to be my mother … my only friend.

I was clad in filthy shadows of dirt and despair while its tentacles entangled me with its terrifying colors of deceit.

Lies were the only songs my ears could hear and hatred the only eulogy my mind could comprehend.

Slowly but with such well-trained precision, the forces of evil cunningly smothered me into a lifeless existence.

My surroundings shrieked with the wails of mocking misery… there where the gibbous moon slyly sang of destruction and terrifying bolts of lightning composed the fortissimo.

I was forced to sing the allegro of loneliness with a grimace, only to accentuate my alleged hideousness and evinced my repulsive existence.

My heart was kidnapped and my mind abducted by the cruel composer whose death rock only belched hatred and reeked of putrid decay.

Yet, the evil conductor of the orchestra of horror forced me to endure the torture of the screeching music with a smile, pretending my delight.

The cruel lyrics of his compositions told my story … a story of being the only mistake God ever created … a faulty slip of His mind … an unwanted afterthought.

The andante was slowly killing me so softly, annihilating my last tincture of hope as the last falsetto cried and wailed with terrified loneliness.

The King of evil convinced me that the fetters of his dungeons of death were the only habitat for the likes of me … the place where religious vultures feasted on human carrion.

Yet, the Eternal Light, the Living Word, the Way, the Truth and the Life who already overcame the evil of the one who once owned the keys of death, destroyed this chains of deceptive incongruity.

His angel choir never for a moment ceased their songs of adoration, glorifying His Majesty, joyfully inviting me to join their jubilations to the One who alone is worthy.

His overtures of passion told the story of another World, of the goodness of the One who is the great I AM with love defying the reasonings of my humanness.

He showed me another Way … another long, long road a-winding into Freedom …

… leading me gently from the tabloids of hypocrisy … showing me the exit from the bondage where I was once to be found … bound with the evil iron cords of religion.

He rescued me from all my old remembrances that were thronging and suffocating, trying to snare me once again in the fowler’s snare.

He held my hand and walked with me through valleys where only crystal clear winds of beauty sang love songs …  there where I could fly free … rescued from the Lie I once used to be.

He gently invited me with great tenderness to sit at His right Hand in heavenly places … He gathered me into His Loving Embrace … there where His Freedom dances … there … the only place where I belong.

Much love and sweet blessings xx

Mia

Linking-up with Lisa-Jo and the ladies at my Tea Time and Link-Up page. Today our guest is the word, BELONG.

 

The Last Dance

God’s Thoughts to Me

Today, when you hear His voice, don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled (Hebrews 3:15 , NLT).

Introduction

Today I have the honor of introducing a dear friend, Rachel Haas. My heart sings to the same tune as hers.

Rachel is the most talented writer I have met in a long time and I wish my introduction could have been accompanied by a drum roll.

Rachel’s blog is the only one my husband follows faithfully. Thank you, Rachel for trusting me with your words and all your patience. You are a special lady.

To visit her, just click on her photo. Over to you, Rachel …

My Bleeding Heart

I grew up in the right places. I grew up a good Christian girl, the right kind of person with the right kind of friends.

I had a WWJD bracelet and I knew every step to the dance of Christianity.

I was one of “those people,” the kind that got saved before she started kindergarten, who never drank or smoke or partied.

I was a good girl.

That is, until I started asking questions.

I had no idea what lay on the other side of that door. None. I had never dared even peek outside. They said there was fire and brimstone on the other side.

There were questions there, the kind that belied faith and stripped away the supposed surety I had in the parroted Christianity that I had been embracing since my four-year old lips had formed the Sinner’s Prayer.

They didn’t realize that I was already asking questions.

They expected me to walk on water.

They placed emulating their picture of Jesus on a pedestal, gesturing grandly in the direction of their Jesus-shaped golden calf.

I had two choices: bow down and embrace the floor, where I belonged or turn around and walk out the door.

And so I stood up, dropped the facade, took my husband’s hand, and together we walked out the door.

That was step one. It would be another two years before I even considered taking another step. That first motion of foot in front of foot had been frightening enough.

I had thoughts, a whirlwind of questions that churned inside me, but I had no idea what to do with them. So I wrote them down.

Privately, of course, never even dreaming of voicing them where anyone else might happen to catch a glimpse of my tumult. I mentioned it to this friend, or that, and the responses were always the same: be careful. You know better.

And maybe I did know better. But that wasn’t exactly going to stop me.

****

I stopped seeing the sanitized Jesus after that. I’m not sure when it happened, but something had started to break inside me.

There was a damn with water churning and frothing behind it, waiting for the moment when I would pull out my finger and let the levy break.

I had to drown.

And I had to be the one who said yes.

I went under the water, hair tangled and mud on my feet. I came up drenched and messy. I found myself blinking in a new Light. I discovered a new kind of faith, almost the opposite of what I had been taught growing up.

There was nothing tidy about this Jesus. He was dirty and bloody and human, Word made flesh. I started seeing myself in a new way.

Yes, I have walked away from the name “Christian.” I can’t stomach the taste in my mouth right now. But that’s all it is: a name. Jesus is not defined by the name His children are called by others.

I am the boy Shasta whispering in the darkness to the Thing unseen, “who are You?”

And the gentle roaring comes back, a whisper on the breeze, a sacred breathing on my face.

“Myself.”

Rachel

P.S. Thank you so much, dear Rachel, for allowing us to accompany you for a while on your walk with Jesus.

Thank you to everyone who supported and encouraged me this year and I wish you all a great New Year filled chok-a-blog with Jesus. Thanks for blessing me with  the honor of having you as guests at my blog. You are all so precious and loved.

Sweet blessings xx

Mia

Linking-up with the ladies at my Tea Time and Link-Up page.

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.

The Kiss Of Truth

God’s Thoughts to Me

Mercy and truth have met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed (Psalm 85:10, NLT).

Victorious Truth

In the universe of Eternity where the dwarves are mining diamonds, and fairies transform them into fairy dust of love and truth, the Knights of Grace and the Archers of Mercy, bow down before the King of Righteousness.

The whole Kingdom is enveloped by a hushed silence of unspeakable sorrow and grief.

The Queen of Peace and her valiant shield maidens enter the Throne Room with reverence, beholding the glory of the King. He extends His right hand to His queen, kissing her with such tenderness.

The King sighed deeply, “King Leviathan of the Kingdom of Lies has commanded the Mollusk Knights of his giant army of squids to ambush the minds of inhabitants of earth.

They received the devilish command to inject their poison of lies, hatred and religious deception into the thoughts of man.

Most of the leaders of the human armies have already kissed the feet of the King of Greed and Power who has sold his kingdom to King Leviathan 2000 years ago for thirty pieces of silver”.

Anguished sighs of pain filled the Throne Room, the air pregnant with valor as fairies transform the tear drops of humanity into fiery arrows for the archers.

The King continues, “My time has not yet come to return to my precious ones, those whom I have created so long ago to be the crown of my creation.

There are still a few of my saints who refuse to capitulate and are at all times dressed in the armor my Son has provided with His blood.

They are always girded with the belt of truth, they never take off the body armor of My righteousness, their feet are strong with sandals of peace.

Even though they wear their helmets of salvation, they also carry their shields of faith to stop the fiery, poisonous arrows of lies.

But they need our help to save the thousands who are drowning in the sea of lies transported by King Leviathan to their earth.

The squid soldiers are taking thousands of my loved ones at once and inject their minds with their religious black ink of deadly deception.

Baptize your armory in the the fire of my Love and Truth. You will be accompanied by my army of fireflies who are shining with the light of my Glory.

They will show you the way into the darkest soul. They will scatter crumbs of starlight to lead the lost ones home.”

Much love and sweet blessings

Mia

Exhaustion, pain, Fibrofog and five minutes don’t walk hand in hand. It took me a lot more than five minutes today. Sorry!

 

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.

Courtroom Of Darkness

God’s Thoughts to Me

Then they said, ” Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.” (Genesis 11:4, NLT).

Devilish Togetherness

Once upon a time, when the world was lost in the evil one, the prince of darkness summoned his black knights around his throne of lies.

Their malignant wrathful presence filled the extravagant courtroom with their venomous sulphuric vapors of pride, evil grandeur, hatred and lies. They reeked of fatal destruction, decay and deceit.

Their prince informed them of his wicked plan to tickle the ears of the gullible earthlings by whispering damnable lies into the itching ears of their greedy hearts,

“Let us once again subtly mix truth and lies and deceive these vermin again. They know they are skilled master builders.

Let us inflate their arrogant egos and tell them that they are able to build for themselves a city with a tower to reach their God! Let us imprison them together in chains of our hatred.

With persistent lying we can convince them that standing together in humanistic, devilish unity, will make them like the King of Heaven.

Let us convince them not to use the stones that their God has created, but to build their own bricks to glorify the works of their hands.

Persuade them of the uselessness of tar and the benefits of using the mortar they have mixed with lime and cement.” The hosts of hell screeched with hateful excitement.

They bowed to their evil prince and departed for the dwelling place of man, not wasting a moment to spin their poisonous web of falsehood.

Their lies and deceptions seemed to be a succeeding, but they failed to consider the Omniscience of the Divine One. The King of Heaven summoned His host of angels,

“My naive ones are once again lending our their ears to be tickled with lies and their hearts to be filled with pride.

My children have once again rebelled and succumbed to the monstrous lie of spiritual independence.

They are standing together in devilish unity and trying to reach my Kingdom with a wicked man-made tower.

They are ignorant of the fact that this stairway to heaven will actually lead them away from Me and is nothing more that a cursed monument to glorify themselves!

Let us destroy this evil unity that makes them believe they are like gods by creating a Babylonian confusion.

I will confuse their speech and scatter them across the whole world. Only when they once again see their fragility, they will realize that they are but dust.

Then I will reach out to them with my endless mercy and draw them with the overtures of my love. I will woo them and cherish them in the cradle of my heart.”

Much love and sweet blessings xx

Mia

Linking-up with Lisa-Jo and the ladies at my link-up page

The Socialite

God’s Thoughts to Me

You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it (Matthew 7:13-14, NLT).

The Broad and The Narrow

Bright ideas and fibrofog are not bedfellows; so, down memory lane I went to find some common ground between my thoughts for today’s post and an exciting introduction.

When I asked Pappa to help me, He gently reminded me of an instance when I, as a young teenager, went on a school scouting camp. I vividly remember this one guy having everyone in stitches with the lamest of jokes.

I was merrily joining in the laughter whilst being dumbfounded that anyone could actually think such stupid jokes to be funny. And just there I found the reason for so much of humanity’s woes; our god given need to belong; to be accepted.

It is this sensitive need satan uses to deceive and lead so many people happily along the broad road. I am not talking about the broad road where you find the company of thieves, drunkards, murderers, addicts, prostitutes and the like.

Our Lord didn’t seem to have much trouble with these folk. In fact, He was called a drunkard and glutton Himself (Matthew 11:19) and He called Himself a jail-bird (Matthew 25:36). I am talking about the broad road called religion with its wide gate welcoming countless souls into destruction.

I once was a cheerleader along this road until our Lord kindly blessed me with a disability that robbed me of my pom-poms and all my cheerleading skills.

Truth be told, I was a religious socialite, always dressing myself in all the latest to-do fashion doing the religious rounds. But, no matter how much I flirted, I was always empty; devoid of life, true Life!

But where the great “I AM” is, you will never find a void, or an emptiness or need to belong that He does not fill with His wonderful love … actually with His Heavenly Wonderous Self. He dresses His bride in His white washed Robes of Righteousness.

He patiently started to “home school” me, teaching me at a pace that suited my fibrofog, how I totally sidestepped the wonder and truth of His Gospel.

He taught me the difference between the broad road of darkness and the narrow road bathed in the Light of Jesus … the road called Jesus … the road called Life.

He taught me the complete dichotomy between these two roads. The way of Jesus’ Kingdom is uniquely radical and singular and is not easily passable.

In fact, it is impossible without faith, true faith; the kind of faith that we can only receive as a gift from Pappa’s Hand. Only this gift enables us to walk this tippy-toe road!

This gift of faith makes our hearts receptive to God’s grace, moment by moment and enables us to walk the narrow road that is not popular or pleasing to the masses.

We often need to walk this road alone seeking only our Pappa’s approval. But life lived in our dearest Lord Jesus is the summation of God’s Kingdom.

Not many religious people are willing to submit themselves to God and Him ALONE in receptivity to enter through the narrow door and walk on the narrow path.

This is the life lived at the end of our tether, denying all our own efforts to be saved, allowing our Lord Jesus to live His life in and through us.

It is much easier to get lost in the letter of the law, a doctrine, a creed, a rule, a sacrament or whatever gives us a sense of security even though it is false. It is much easier to enter through the beautiful, broad religious gate.

It is a popular road; convenient and socially acceptable and allows a wide scope for freedom of ecumenical tolerance.

It is widened even further by the many ruts and ditches of methodology (especially the “how-to-do-this-that-and-the-other-for-God” kind) and experimentalism. The better it feels, the better it is! The more important it sounds, the more important it is!

Solomon wisely knew from experience, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 14:12). We all have to choose which road we will travel; the one leading to spiritual death or life.

Let us cry out to our beloved Lord with King David in Psalm 139 “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Much love and sweet blessings xx

Mia

During the week I link-up with the friendly ladies at my Tea Time and Link-Up page. Thanks for your hospitality.

Daily News

God’s Thoughts to Me

The kings of the earth prepare for battle; the rulers plot together against the Lord and against His Anointed One. “Let us break their chains,” they cry, “and free ourselves from slavery to God. But the One who rules in heaven laughs. The Lord scoff at them. (Psalm 2:2-4, NLT).

Small Minds

The world is a publishing house blessed with new mercies and empty sheets at the break of each dawn.

It yearns for small stories of love and beauty written with rays of sunlight and colored with rainbows flickering through frisky dew drops dancing on blades of grass.

But the Tabloids of Life are written with the blood of murders and wars … the pain and sorrow of corruption … the putridness of crime … the infidelity of humanity.

The world’s Gazette is manipulated by a social hierarchy playing a game of chess with the minds of man. A Trinity of Terror splashes the front pages with lies and deception:

Politicians, puffed up with vanity, are leading their puppets, firmly gripping their strings of straw, into a pseudo peace beyond the grasp of any human mind. They are messing in the business of God.

Economists are promising an emaciated, starving world with beguiling lies, food and drink to feed and fill every empty belly groaning with hunger and thirst, seeking silently for breadcrumbs from the tables of the rich. They are playing God.

Religionists are building beautiful staircases to heaven, leading straight to hell, with tithes stolen from the overburdened naive, without lifting a finger to ease the sorrow of a suffering world. They think they are gods.

Yet, in the “Small’s” section of every newspaper, our little lives are interviewed daily. We are small advertisements, twinkling with the glory of grace … shining with the beauty of forgiveness … telling the wondrous story of love.

Much love and sweet blessings XX

Mia

Linking-up with Lisa Jo. Please visit my other linky places at my Tea Time and Link-Ups page.

Unlocking Mysteries

God’s Thoughts to Me

And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 16:19, NLT).

It is time we find the Resurrection Stone, and discover the “key” to these religious mysteries, to interpret the gospel as it was intended (Resurrection:  The key to understanding the gospel – James Fowler).

Priestly Prattle

The word “hieroglyphics” is a Greek word that means “sacred” or “priestly carving”. For more than a millennium, from the year 500 BC to 1822 Egyptian hieroglyphics were considered to be a secret code of priests and the key to unlock these mysterious writings was feared to be forever lost.

Until 1799 when some of Napoleon’s soldiers found the Rosetta Stone near the mouth of the River Nile. The same inscription appeared on this stone in three different languages: Egyptian hieroglyphics, Egyptian demotic and Greek.

The Rosetta Stone

But it took the Frenchman, Francois Champollion, 23 years to discover the key to unlock these mysterious writings. In 1822 he translated the symbols and the mystery of hieroglyphics was something of the past.

From as early as I can remember, I was a member of some or other Christian Church, but I was still lost in darkness and didn’t really understand what the gospel was truly about. I was well into my thirties when I first heard about our need to be born again through the sweet Holy Spirit.

Not unlike most of my contemporaries, I knew an awful lot about the gospel. I paid lip service, celebrated and paid homage to the gospel instead of the God of the gospel without ever really knowing or understanding what it was all about.

To say that the Scriptures were a lot like prophetic-apostolic hieroglyphics to me, is nailing the truth right on the head. I used to read everything I could lay my hands on, trying to find the key to unlock the sweet mystery of the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

I was as blind as a bat and lent out my itching ears to a lot of priestly prattling of quite a few deceived teachers and blind guides.

But my ignorance proved to be no problem to our Pappa and in His usual gentle, patient way, He had to use nearly a full bucket of mud to open my spiritual eyes to the simple truth of Jesus. The simple truth we have made a monstrous complexity of!

Suffice to say that for a long time I was happily falling time and time again over the stumbling block, our dearest Lord Jesus, the Cornerstone of our salvation.

I valiantly got up again after every fall, nursing my wounded ego for a while, dusting off my behind and then tried again from scratch.

Until the Rock of All Ages reminded me. “Anyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone it falls on (Matthew 21:44)”.

When enough was enough, this Stone kindly fell on me, broke me into many pieces and took my legs from right under me through my illness. Gone were the days of my “self” being able to get up again and again.

This became extremely difficult and I had to hoist the white flag in surrender. I knew I needed to start building cautiously on the only Cornerstone through all the ages.

The Master Builder gathered all my broken pieces and glued them all together with His tender love and gentle discipline until I was just a fragile jar of clay with many cracks to allow His Light to shine through.

When one is blessed with a disabling disease, your time of dancing when the religious folk played wedding songs and crying when they played funeral songs, has passed.

I realized that I was not able to carry this burden of Fm/CFS on my own and I was soon knocking earnestly on Heaven’s Door.

True to His wonderful promise, He soon opened the Door to His Kingdom and gave me a wonderful key. This key unlocks the secret of our Resurrected Lord living His Resurrection Life in and through us.

Once we truly realize our need to decrease like John did and we fill up and straighten the roads of our hearts for our King of Glory to enter, we come to know the joy of denying ourselves daily to experience the life in our Pappa.

Through the above-mentioned article of James Fowler, I discovered the Resurrection key; the key to unlock the glorious gospel of Jesus.

Scales fell from my eyes and my heart soared like an eagle that has been released from years of captivity in the prison of religious jargon.

Many Bible verses that used to scare the living daylights out of me, became beautiful flowers in the garden of my heart. The Gardener, none other than the Holy Spirit cultivating flowers with the sweetest nectar to feed my thirsty heart.

The will of our God is one example of the secrets He revealed to my stubborn heart. I used to go on many a wild goose chase trying to determine the specific will of our Pappa for everything pertaining to my life; totally ignoring the sacred gift of common sense that doesn’t seem to be common anymore!

This glorious key unlocked many mysteries of our Pappa’s Kingdom and opened the doors of many prison cells where I was a captive for many, many years; a prisoner of the cruel jailer called Fear!

In my next post, I would love to invite you along a few of the roads to freedom our Pappa has led me and few mysteries He lovingly revealed to me.

Much love and sweet blessings.

Mia

Maze Dwellers

God’s Thoughts to Me

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to Me and you’ll recover your life … Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you (Matthew 11:28, The Message).

For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. They are headed for destruction (Philippians 3:18-19, NLT).

Around and Around

Upington, South Africa, is the birthplace of the famous actress, Alice Krige. The Kalahari Orange Museum pays tribute to another famous character of this town in the province of the Northern Cape: the donkey.

This gentle, lowly beast has played an enormous role in the development of Upington during the pioneering days of the 19th century. Its humble contribution has been memorialized forever by the Donkey Statue.

I visited this gentle, humble statue only once and was saddened by the fact that this poor creature had to walk around and around in circles, milling at the same mill all day.

I realized that the worthy donkey was doing an honorable job just like when he carried our Lord Jesus so many centuries ago.

But there is another mill that has captured millions of people through the ages, milling around and around in circles with nothing to gain at the end of their lives.

They are mostly deceived and oblivious to the misuse and abuse happening at the hands of the ravenous wolves, not sparing the flock as they dance around to the latest religious tune.

In fact, these poor souls are the slaves of the money-hungry, power-greedy merchants. These merchants of the economy of religion trade in the souls of men and laugh all the way to the bank.

Knowingly or unknowingly, they are pawns on Satan’s chess board and use satanic authority, churchianity and empty promises of health, wealth and prosperity.

They relentlessly flog the poor, unsuspecting folk with whips of religion, creeds, doctrines, thou shalls and thou shall nots until only husks and piles of dead, dry bones remain.

I was one of these donkeys who labored like a slave under the banner of religion. I was completely lost and running around in the most scary maze of all time: religion.

But my Pappa saw my misery, took my hand and safely ushered me out of this labyrinth that was swallowing me alive, by allowing Fibromyalgia to enter my life.

I was cast aside without a second thought or glance by most of my fellow maze dwellers who prefered labouring at this monstrous mill, instead of taking those first baby steps towards the freedom our Lord so dearly paid for.

I couldn’t be on the go-go-go anymore; therefore, I couldn’t contribute to building the slave masters’ spiral stairways reaching to heaven, but I could start building the walls of the new Jerusalem in my heart.

I could join my Beloved in cultivating a beautiful garden, for at long last I was still enough to truly hear His gentle, loving, tender voice inviting me to come to Him.

There still was a desert ahead, but at least I was free and on my way to Canaan, onto the eternal Life and peace of Jesus.

I was so tired of struggling, year in and year out, in a never-ending maze of deceptive lies, going nowhere … very slowly, that my illness was like a refreshing oasis, a well of living water where I truly met our Lord.

But, as I now look at this whole scenario from the outside, I see many disillusioned travellers on this highway to hell through the broad gate of religion, honestly believing they are on the narrow road to heaven.

I see so many travellers lost in a deadly maze of deceptive teachings! The Christian bookshops are filled with book upon book upon book spewing their deadly lies.

I see a religious world joyfully adopting the ways of the world by using the successful methods of advertising for church building, church growth, worship services, etc. etc. etc.

I am crying with Paul as he was pleading with his fellow Jews who blindly trusted their Judaic religion to be right with their Heavenly Father.

I realize why Paul pleaded with the Philippians, again with tears, time and time again as I am doing through my blog.

Earlier this week I have been reading a blog post about how we, as our Pappa’s children, have access to the storehouse in heaven. I think we have all heard of this so-called storehouse filled with all the different kinds of limbs and treasures for our taking! And my heart cried.

A few months ago I read another article on how we should join the school of prophets to learn how to become prophets and prophesy over the lives of others. These schools cost a lot of money. And my heart cried.

Oh, that our Pappa would open all the blind spiritual eyes to see and ears to hear when Jesus stands at the door of our hearts, knocking gently, but never forcing Himself into our lives.

Let us become still enough to hear His gentle voice calling and open our hearts to receive our Pappa’s blessing from Heaven, our Lord Jesus. For He and He alone is the gospel of grace, the priceless Gift from God.

Hugs and blessings XX

Mia

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