As I start this post, I cannot be more thankful for the kind store owner that agreed to remove the T-shirt from her inventory. The t-shirt sorrowed my daughter and me deeply. I pray the owner finds something beautiful and healthy for society to replace it that also brings in her income that is needed.💞💞💞💞
I must warn the reader there is probably 25 Pages now of rambles here. If there is any believer in the truth and Grace we have in Jesus Christ led to help me organize, I would welcome it.
But I’ve already been at this 8 hours and I’m pretty sure the dishes are not going to jump into the sink and wash themselves.😯 I’m sorry but as much as our culture loves fantasy, I have watched Mary Poppins many times but I have yet to be able to snap my fingers and get the household chores to be done in my 3D World. 🤷♀️🤷♀️
So I leave you with a ramble until I can better organize. I pray that there might be a few that can navigate through some of this little by little and find the treasures buried within.
But if you get nothing out of this other than this, please know that you are deeply deeply treasured and loved by the Creator, Redeemer and Comforter/Sustainer.
Whoever you are, wherever you’ve been, whatever you’ve done or have not done, whatever you believe: Jesus loves you.
That is not a cute saying. In this 3D World He was tortured and killed so that you would know you are treasured, adored, loved. He was separated from his Father – how does God separate from God? We know what happens when we split an atom, but when the Son was separated from the Father, the ripples are still echoing throughout the heavens.
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Again, please I am a strong personality but I know that in some matters, I just reflect one way of looking at things. My own daughter would disagree with me on some things that I say and I do not make the assumption that I am right and everybody else is wrong. And I’m sure that you don’t either…😁
There are things that we know to be true without a shadow of a doubt that we can completely agree upon, and then there are ways of walking life through and looking at things that vary. Sometimes it is merely different personalities for brains, right brain versus left brain, or cultures or experiences. I beg of you please do not be offended at me it is not my intent. I speak what I think but I don’t always think that what I think is right…. and feel free to comment but do so respectfully please or I will remove it.
We use the term “free speech” for so many things that are completely unhealthy for society and that actually cause directly the shootings in schools, suicides and things that we see in our culture today.
It is not wise to use our freedom for justifying evil. Do we verbally justify the evil of words in the name of free speech? What will the results of that be? When we teach people that they should be free to say what they want whether they are respectful or speaking the truth or speaking kind words or not? How do we draw the line and tell them then that they cannot equally be free in their actions? Are we free to spit on people or to slap them when we feel like it? Or worse, as we have recently seen, are we free to shoot people when we feel like it? Why do we believe that words may not be bound while actions should be? Do the words not affect the actions? Do we think our words – written, spoken or signed – are so powerless?
Why do advertisers put words in front of our face in so many ways if they do not think their words are going to cause us to take action?
We are free, or so we claim. We can plaster our apartment with dog poop if we wish. We can eat it if we wish and we can train our children to eat it if we wish, but that is not the road that we wish to travel.
It is interesting that Jesus tells us we are not free. We are in fact slaves to sin.
John 8:31-36 ESV
[31] So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, [32] and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” [33] They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” [34] Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. [35] The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. [36] So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
https://bible.com/bible/59/jhn.8.31-36.ESV
Note the condition at the beginning that he gives for us to be free. We can quote, “the truth will set you free,” all we want, but that does not mean we are free, or that we know the Truth….
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I have stopped my editing here. I will try to do more later this week. If you read anything beyond this it’s going to be quite messy.😁
I don’t think any school would consider promoting fantasy that actively taught children that one plus one could equal anything.
And in a fantasy 2D world you could make it work. Not so well when you played with that idea for hours on end and you accidentally assume that that’s true when you’re balancing your checkbook, or working in engineering and designing a building.
One plus one could equal four or 107 or 559 or 1,000. We could say we are free to speak what we wish. But how effective would it be in life if we taught our children proper math facts 1 hour a day and then the other roughly 12 hours a day filled their minds with whatever.
Pouring into their minds from TV and from books and other avenues things that we heartily know are untrue and disagree with but in the name of Fun and Freedom we’ll just pour it in front of them.
If we do not do this with facts and math why do we think we can do it with morals? And there’s an answer to that. Because we don’t want to be told what to do. We will take so many rules before our brains shut down and it’s just sick of being told this is wrong and that’s wrong and we just get to the point where we just want to be left alone and do what is comfortable for our brain patterns and that is what we teach our children.
There’s a balance. And there is a need, a need in this culture for redirection and understanding of healthy limits and how loved and treasured each individual is, not because of what they do or their accomplishments, but of who they are, made in the image of God, each individual an eternal being. Deeply, deeply loved in spite of all the mess.
The T-shirt was a familiar drawing that I’ve seen many times of an innocent two or three year old girl on her knees praying but the words upset me almost as much as the shooting in the Evergreen high school close to the area where we live.
The words were Dear God, please damn them to hell…🤢😭😭😭
And the 23 pages that I’ve written over the past week are my response to that t-shirt that my 12-year-old saw and also was appalled and it turned her stomach as well.
And I applaud the owner of having a heart to listen. Honestly from my experience that is rare and I truly wasn’t expecting it. She is a woman of great integrity, compassion and honor and I am grateful.
I know that people perceive things differently.
I know that some people can watch a horror movie and it doesn’t bother them.
That isn’t how I perceive life.
Because I know somewhere in the world many of these Horrors are coming to pass
and when I’m living among it
I will be fighting it,
destroying the darkness with the weapons of righteousness,
humility, kindness and love.
Not reading about the evil or watching it, our brains triggered from the excitement and horror, just as with a drug. Sometimes we have to tell our brains, no. I don’t care if this seems interesting, it is not healthy.
I don’t know why we think it’s cool to watch those things or read about those things when others are suffering through them and we find ourselves surprised we are often helpless, yet denying it, wanting to be something, helpless all too often to really make strong impact against the evil in our society. We fix one thing while another thing gets broken. And while we play with that same evil in its diminutive form, we wonder why it has grown up to kill and destroy those we love.
There is a savior. There is a hope. His love is eternal and this wicked world and the things that are wicked within it is temporary and passing and will one day be gone forever. But why wait any longer to join love in the fight against Injustice and suffering?
I often read the bumper sticker that says that prayer is the most powerful weapon against evil. And it is true that the fervent prayer of a righteous person avails much. It is also true that prayers are hindered, bouncing back where there is no love.
Agape love, the kind willing to die for sinners.
We often wonder why it seems like God is not answering our prayers.
But we have to look in the mirror and sincerely ask,
…are we answering his?
He longs to answer our prayers. God is love.
But the door that we close to listening to him and to his cry For the Love of the people around us, as well as the worship of God, taking delight in God instead of so many other things, thanking him continually daily for the blessings that we have – there is much that could be taught and learned…
…but if we don’t think it’s worth time and energy to go talk to him throughout our day,
…it is we who have closed the door to Heaven not God. The same door that we have closed to listening to his spirit desiring us to draw into his love, is the same door we have closed when he longs to pour out many things upon our children, our communities and ourselves.
We want poverty to go away but we do not wish to give up our greed.
We wish murder to go away but we do not want to give up our hate, or complacency which is a brother to murder.
We long for comfortable lives but reject the comfort from heaven that is offered to us to share with others who are in deep suffering, the promise of eternal life, because there will be some in this world and many are in this world now that will never have three meals a day, let alone a Starbucks and Heaven hears their cries. And if we close our ears to them, that same door is closed to our listening When Heaven cries for us.
When we think like this it seems Darkness, because if we’re honest we can’t change our brain patterns or habits. We can’t even give up our cigarettes or Starbucks. And so there is a savior a God who is first and foremost interested in relationship with you. He Delights in you and in me. Not in our sin which grows up to produce death and destruction, but he Delights in US and he pours out his grace and his love where we are at and when we see and receive his truth and Grace we no longer have to be afraid, even when faced with death. There’s so much power in Jesus Christ.
Most will disagree with the following but please hear me out and think for a moment on what I am saying,
I find nothing cute for children to read about the extreme child abuse in the first book of Harry Potter. I am shocked that even those within Christian circles have deemed this appropriate reading because it is interesting and good writing. But is it healthy for the children’s brains? Or ours for that matter? The make-believe stories were meant to teach them how to live healthy lives of love and forgiveness, strength of character and kindness, learning practical aspects of caring for humans and home and the world and Earth around us, understanding the true power to defeat the darkness, and waving a wand will not do it.
As if it doesn’t matter what we put in front of them.
Because in the real 3D World in which we live it matters greatly and there is no wand in the real 3D World to wave to make these Horrors go away … and many children through the teachings of Harry Potter have turned to Witchcraft in their real life to bring them peace and healing but I can attest that like a drug , and I have had friends in both Satanism and Wiccan, the lies of the stolen power are deceptive and he appeared strength is temporary at best.
Those who claim God and Christianity have a more firm judgment I believe when they do evil and speak evil.
The judgment and the sins of all were paid for at the cross, but there is yet a judgment. And so because of slavery the Haitian country turned to Satan and the occult the entire country Bowing in service to Satan if you would only set them free from their oppressors. And so when they were set free they worshiped him and served the spirits of darkness and many due to this day. Can you see when you look at what the results of this worship is that it does not benefit those who worship? Like lies there are those who under the auspice of Christianity equally serve the darkness. Do not misunderstand me I have been very blessed for the most part of my life to be with Christians who have walked in Grace and Truth not perfect but kind and loving nonetheless and there are many many within the Christian faith over the millennium have served and walked with Christ Faithfully, but there are wolves in sheep clothing things that pretend to be Christian but are not. And there are also immature Christians who simply are not yet mature and are making poor choices. God judges the heart and we will all stand before him in a give account for our lives. But when you look at groups, or people or countries who have taken on a form of godliness claiming Christ in God but have denied the power of God, becoming complacent and greedy self-centered, being more concerned with foods and find houses and very many things instead of being mostly concerned with relationship with God and people, there are many within the Christian church that have so many idols and yes, I am also guilty and ask God for mercy to forgive me and help me be free and to grow. But when Christians do the things that they are told not to do and do not listen to God, it is not who you say that you are worshiping that you are worshiping come up but rather it is who you obey who you are giving your time and energy and money and resources to that you are worshiping. So if we worship the idol of self, or worship other things, we should not be surprised to find that the word of God is still true and the wages of sin is still death and we may have all the world but found we have lost our soul, empty inside not happy, not content always going for the next fun interesting thing instead of enjoying every moment in relationship with God. And that is immaturity and a growth too I have suffered depression for most of my life and many of my years I did not feel happy. But the joy of the Lord is deeper than superficial emotion. And the power of God is great. Weeping for the child of God endures for a night but joy comes in the morning and all are invited to surrender to him and his love giving up our lives and our pride, and simply believing that right now where we are at in our mess, everyone who professes satanism, every person who claims the Hebrew with him every agnostic every atheist every Hindu every Muslim every human across the face of this planet no matter how low in the eyes of men or how high, are loved by God. Deeply valued treasured. Our sins do not stop his love. But the only way for us to receive the gifts that he gives is to open up our hearts to his truth and Grace and be willing to surrender to that love. And yes change takes place. Because when we sit in sin Sin grows into eventual death and destruction and God does not desire the destruction to come into our lives and so little by little as he puts his arms around us protecting us through the nail pierced hands from the worst of the destruction that should have come against us already, little by little he helps us where we are at to grow to understand how deeply loved we are and eventually as we mature, to love like he loves. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life or God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but rather than through him we might have life. John 3:16 to 17 God’s love is powerful. Yes he is just. Yes he hates sin. But at the cross his righteousness and his Mercy kissed. All of sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and are Justified freely through his grace. The power is there. The outlet accessible, the only plug-in needed is faith.
but in the 3D world we are called to enter into the suffering, of both victims, the abused and the abuser, stopping the horror in the Darkness in it’s tracks, but in the real 3D World these things take time and energy and suffering. And that’s the lure of the fantasy that we can snap our fingers and everything be all better, crawl under the covers and all the bad things will go away. Children need to be put into a truly safe place not be taught to run to Fantasy to hide from the darkness. But to be taught how to combat and fight it. Jesus teaches us that. And certainly little children need protection they’re not ready for the battles yet and those who love God will keep them safe covering their ears from the whores they’re not ready yet to comprehend because if you pour too much wickedness or evil upon people that are too young instead of protecting them before their brains are mature enough physically to comprehend it, sure they may be a lot that handle it it’s just those that are weak that we break. And we have a shooting in a school and we are just sure that the complete fault lies at the feet feet of the shoulders. Certainly not our fault not society’s fault not the monster that we have created by our callousness and lack of love. coming out through make-believe stories, but by things that are true and Powerful, because darkness is only stopped by love and ended by love that comes from God. I have had friends and many different venues including satanism and various forms of witchcraft. But the problem is that the supernatural power there might be used to redirect but eventually the truth of the word of God comes into being in the wages of sin is death and the Darkness knows that. But the gift of God is eternal life. And so the temporary momentary working of Supernatural power that has stolen from God, will work for the individual or against them but the ultimate destruction of every individual that plays for it is assured, even as we cannot continually light a fire in our middle of our living room and assume that we will never be burned. The fire needs limits and so do we.
I find it horrifying that we throw these Horrors of rudeness, disrespectfulness, because those produce death as well as we have seen in the shooting, disrespect for authority no matter how small whether it is speeding, or shooting, will at some point produce death and destruction. I don’t mean not going against Authority that is wrong that is different. But the small choices we make will always reflect on the larger consequences within our world. Every day we have the power to change our world. We can do nothing and we will have changed it for the worst. We can go along with the destruction and we will have changed it for the worst for. Or we can stand up to the darkness in every minute thing as God gives us Grace until the darkness no. Not here. Not in my space. Not now. But learning how to effectively do that, takes a lifetime of coming into the love of God in Jesus. in front of our young children, expecting them to eat this and then go on living as if nothing happened. And yes I am guilty.
Christa Mason
PO Box 95
Idledale, CO 80453
09.21.25
Ms. Kerry Swanson
Rewind Consignments
922 Washington Ave.
Golden, CO 80401
Dear Ms. Swanson,
Wishing you the best.
Just an introductory note that this is not a spam or a form letter. By the time you receive this, I will have spent over two hours striving to put words in proper format just for you, plus more time that has been spent thinking upon these topics before even beginning writing.🙏💞
I have put a gift in the mail to you, two T-shirts in a medium and a small size that you may do with what you wish. There is no obligation; this is my gift to you.
However, and the story below will explain the request, if you are willing, after reading my story, I’m asking you to please put one of the t-shirts on your outside display over the tutu skirt for one week, if, after reading my story you are willing to do this.
Again there is no obligation, I will not pester you. I promise! But again I do sincerely hope that you might be willing to do this.
I love how Rewind “grew out of (your) love for the discarded items of this world.” That is beautiful. My father shares that love; however he deals with the discarded treasures clothed in human flesh.
I feel I need to apologize that this is a bit prose, and a bit story form. I’ve never been good at being concise and my daughter in college would have written the whole thing in three paragraphs and it would have been succinct, and gotten the point across, but it would not have had my heart. Which is what I share with you, if you have the opportunity to read.
I know you are busy and your time is an honor and a treasure I do not take for granted. I have enclosed a small gift card for your time, in hopes that you might be able to sit somewhere quiet with a good drink (milk, latte or other…🙃) and skim or read what I’ve written.
Again, wishing you the best for you, your friends and family. – Christa
The Evergreen High School Shooting, a heartbreaking tragedy no one ever wishes to go through, has deeply affected many of us in the surrounding areas as well.
My daughter attended Bear Creek HS, but spent 3 years during that time cleaning for Jeffco through the high school years and summer, then into her college summers for a while. As a janitor she worked in quite a few of the Jeffco schools and was often in Evergreen. One of our close friends is a high school teacher in Jeffco and the community is close knit.
My daughter was in college in Indiana when the Jeffco email came through of what was happening before it hit the media and she was frantically texting coworkers and friends there for over an hour, to determine the extent; were her friends and coworkers all right…?😪
And while no one she knew personally was injured, the answer is no. They, and we, are not all right. This was and is horrific.
Limits that should have been in place in the shooter’s mind to tell their brain, these actions are NOT ok! These actions are NOT morally right! Shooting in a school is evil! There will be pain and suffering, not just to the visible victims, but to the shooter themself. This is insane, crazy!
And there must be – and will be – justice. Judgement is most certainly necessary for such heinous acts – here on earth…and from heaven. Innocent lives were ended. Many were impacted by the trauma, not just those physically injured.
And we cry, and we mourn, we honor those slain. Perhaps we find diversions, temporary “fun” or interesting or busy distractions, because the mess of our world and the constant suffering around us is more than we can bear.
Yet, there are still joys to be enjoyed. The sun rises in the morning and the birds still sing (it is not yet winter for them, though, perhaps it is now winter for us.)
And often in this pain our hearts cry out for justice, for judgement, for some power to control something in this uncontrollable pain.
We cry in anger, and rightly so, that those guilty be caught and that the righteous judgement be leashed upon them, on earth – and in heaven….
I want to be clear that I am not upset or angry at you and I understand that people have different ways of thinking. And that is okay, but I am just sharing my heart.
I am writing you because of the pain and hurt and agony that was multiplied, though it is now more a muted pain after 2 weeks, when I passed your shop with my 12 year old daughter, a shop we have visited and purchased clothes from more than once, and there was a t-shirt for all to see of a familiar picture of a small child praying, and that t-shirt hurt me almost as much as the incident itself, for words give birth to actions.
The human mind, especially those who are either young, immature or broken, are easily impressionable.
Jesus Christ said the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to little children.
A little child, unless they’ve suffered intense abuse, does not want to see somebody Damned, sent to fiery torment, separated from God and all good things for eternity. God will never force anyone into heaven. But the Bible teaches he does not want anyone to go to hell.
It is only hatred and the things of darkness that desires that: the same hate that fueled the Evergreen shooter…😪😪 Our words are powerful, whether visual, written or spoken. We know that.
Why else do we have so much advertising forced on our brains in our current society?
Because those who pay for the advertising know that the more that we see something the more we are prone to take action and purchase and buy into what we have seen. You would think we would have wisdom as a society to be more careful with the words in the pictures we put in front of eternal beings. But we still have growing to do in love.
God desires that all be saved. It is neither God nor his love that desires and any be damned.
2 Peter 3:9 ESV
[9] The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
https://bible.com/bible/59/2pe.3.9.ESV
Ezekiel 33:11 ESV
[11] Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?
https://bible.com/bible/59/ezk.33.11.ESV
My 12-year-old daughter immediately responded to the T-shirt, also hurt by what she read and saw. And I was deeply hurt.
We may be the only two. I do not know.
But the reason that it hurts so deeply, aside from the twisting of Innocence, is because so we desperately need Justice, and Justice will be served, on earth and in heaven, we – you, me, my daughter and every human – desperately need Mercy.
Please, I’m requesting that one of the t-shirts that I have sent you as a gift might be placed over the skirt and put there for one week so that words of truth and Grace and love and mercy might be spoken from your shop to penetrate the darkness.
As I send you these gifts my bank account is currently at $1 and I do not wish repayment or anything. I’m just stating that I’m not saying these words and giving these gifts as somebody who has not understood suffering. I have had somebody try to kill me in the middle of the night. I have faced death more times than I can count.
I have gone through many things, and yes I have forgiven, through Jesus’ power in me, not my own, forgiven the one that tried to kill me, praying constantly for them even though right now they are dead, I still pray in hopes that they do not go to hell.
Because God loves them and though there are many things I do not understand, because yes there is an Eternal heaven and eternal hell and all of the Bible is true and the original writing is perfect, but our understanding is not perfect only God is perfect, but His love continually calls for mankind to turn to Him for truth and grace.
I am a Storyteller and some of the stories I do think are interesting. The rest honestly were my thoughts that came over the past weeks from everything from that t-shirt.🤷♀️ If I have time, I’ll try to put it into a series of blogs at letterstoafriend.blog. 🙃 I was going to share it with you but it ended up 23 Pages and I quite certain you will not have time to read that!
But my experiences have been diverse and I’m grateful for the faith in Jesus Christ in the Bible and godly Church that has helped me navigate those experiences in a healthy way. Our experiences do not so much form our beliefs as our beliefs form how we perceive and live out our experiences.
I agree with the Bible teaching that I am a mess, a beggar and in desperate need of God’s help and salvation every moment of every hour and this truth and grace that he offers and love is what has sustained me through incredibly difficult times. The time and energy spent with God in living,loving faith is never wasted and to whom much is given, much will be required. Joy, hope, peace, eternal life, truth, are all from Him.
Not all Treasures can be touched or held. Some are unseen, the Treasures of the heart. And it is a good thing that we can enjoy the various treasures of this life, whether rainbow or artistic clothing. And it is awesome when we can give a heartfelt thank you to the one from whom All Good Things Come. Without undue fear, but with wonder and joy.
So again, saying a prayer for your protection, spiritual as well as physical, in the midst of this stormy world, and wishing you the very best. 💞🙏✝️ – Christa
For me, to put everything in proper format would take me another 10 hours so the rest is not properly formatted and I apologize. But I think you might find value in reading.
I suppose I must say that all of my writings are copyright,
I know people have different belief systems.
My own Christian belief was in the minority most of my upbringing as I was raised in Brooklyn New York and my father had dealings at the United Nations. I have found Jesus Christ to be faithful in all things. I have also found the Bible to be an accurate representation of the great messes and depravity of humanity, whether of those who believe in the God of the Bible, or those who do not.
Please know that you are deeply loved by God and I again apologize that my wording is not what it should be from a professional standpoint.
I have done the best I can.
I pray that each individual might come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ and his powerful love.
I do not speak as one who does not know. I was a slave for 10 years. I have faced death more times than I can count.
So again I’m sorry for the ramble, but I pray somehow to be a blessing to you.
So here I must pause, and ask, (you do not have to answer me😊) what do you believe about prayer, about God, if He exists, about all that is unseen?
There are many theories and thinkings in this great huge world we live in and belief in the supernatural is greatly varied.
I know many people have just given up because of the influx of beliefs into America over the past hundred years. Trying to sort out the thousands of threads of beliefs and religious thinking, including atheism, agnosticism and everything in between, is impossible, unless you have a manual, some form of Direction higher than just our own thoughts.
In my 55 years of living I have had friends of many various beliefs from my own personal belief, which has usually been in the minority, though not as much now in the circle that I am in. But even within my own circle, my beliefs are hugely in the minority and there is much diversity within the group that I am affiliated with.
And while certainly diversity can be a beautiful thing in thinking, and is most definitely a beautiful thing in the uniqueness of each individual and in varying groups of peoples and cultures,
when each individual decides
that we, the individual,
regardless of any authority higher than ourselves,
get to choose what limits are to be set in life,
then that is what we teach those around us.
That the limits we believe are good and right do not matter,
and as we dismiss the authority above us, So likewise our authority will be dismissed by those we have taught to pay no attention to the limits that should be placed on life.
There is certainly balance here. There is Spiritual authority.
However again, many belief systems function throughout this world.
For myself, I believe in the Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer, from whom every beautiful and good thing comes who speaks in every blade of grass, every rainbow, Sunset and DNA calling out, “I love you. Seek me fully, fervently. Come to me. Be under My protection in My safe place.”
There are Earthly authorities and we must do the best we can to submit to them, not being foolish, scorning them or putting them down, yet using wisdom, knowing when the right time iss to stand up to an authority that has itself stepped away from the authority that God intended.
If somebody tells me they are my authority and I am to kill someone for no reason, I will not obey.
If there is no authority higher than myself,
no voice that I will listen to other than my own head and my own thoughts to determine what is right and wrong,
no person, no writings that I will submit to and thereby accept limits on my own life,
then it would seem that we teach others around us in society
that *each individual* gets to choose what moral limits are set on life.
If I blatantly do not expect the authority around me in front of my children, how can I expect them to respect my authority? If I lie, I cannot teach my children not to lie. I cannot be an alcoholic and expect my children to listen to me when I tell them not to drink. Certainly there is a chance they might, but it is very difficult to watch one thing and be told another.
And here I must tell you we need a Savior, a rescue from the internal and external insanity,
and that is in Christ Jesus alone,
because all of us sin and fall short of all the things that we should be doing,
so the safety is not in us doing right, though hopefully we strive to,
but in Him, Jesus, the one who did right for us.
That is what the Bible calls the gospel or the good news, the fact that the sinless, kind, gentle Son of God died for the ungodly, for those who hate our brother or sister – for such hate can not enter heaven. He died for each of us.
We all need limits. We all need protection when we fall so far short of the limits given.
Could you imagine our roads and highways with no limits whatsoever? No lanes to tell us which direction to go, no street signs, certainly no speed limit! Why would we need those things? We are perfectly capable of driving ourselves to where we need to go?
Limits are not put on a community to test how smart an individual is at dodging other cars, or how fast they can go on a highway.
Limits are put to protect lives, not just ours but especially those who are weaker and perhaps not as good at dodging things as we are.
Because inevitably, when limits are broken,
it is the weak things,
those “discarded Treasures”,
that are the first to be injured or die.
So God gives us limits,
not to limit our fun or creativity,
not to tell us that we aren’t strong enough, or smart enough,
but very simply to protect us, keep us safe and grant us life,
life enjoyed and worth living, full of contentment, not fear.
One other example of healthy limits and how we should receive them for our mouths and what we put in front of our eyes and in front of others.
The fire in my house that we’ve used for 25 years is a wonderful thing.
We have both the pellet stove and the wood stove.
But could you imagine if I didn’t think the limit of the stove was needed?
Just put the fire wherever we choose, the middle of the living room will suffice….
We would figure out very quickly through the destruction of our home and possibly life, that that was not a good choice.
But unfortunately when it comes to morality and some of the limits that God places on us – speak kind words, to forgive, to leave judgment to God – do not have immediate horrific consequences, and so like cancer that goes unseen, or cigarette smoking that seems fine until 20 years of someone’s life is destroyed.
Because the limits that God put when he said Thou shalt not murder, we see the consequence. But there were many other laws, not just the Ten Commandments, that God put in place, laws of justice and Mercy, Care for the poor and the oppressed, laws that through urgent commanding to care for the poor, forbade greed.
Not forbidding wealth per se, but the worship of wealth, the trust of money rather than God. Because God wants us to have faith in him so when the wealth runs out, which eventually it will, if not in our time or our children’s time, somewhere down our line wealth no matter how carefully planned will fall. And so if we have not learned to put our trust in God rather than riches and taught that to our children, what will they have when the hard time comes? If not faith in God? There is provision in God. And there is joy and contentment from his throne for those who have loved him, even when we go through this hard times. It doesn’t mean we always feel happy. And certainly there are times where it seems like everything is dead. But he always brings things to life, for those whose love is upon him, which only can be held as we draw into his love for us. Because we cannot give something we have not received.
When everything makes no sense, God will still provide for those who have trusted him all along and were obedient to his commands in the good season.
But those who have not stored up in heaven for themselves, through care for the poor, concern for those in prison, seeking freedom for the oppressed, those who have not stored up in heaven have nothing to draw from when the drought comes.
There are many laws in the Bible where the limits we have overstepped have affected the poor because we have not made our decisions in the culture of this world over the past hundred or so years thinking about the long-term consequences to those around us.
And let us say, theoretically, that perhaps in my thinking, extravagance in spending money which I have earned is not that wrong, surely I am not guilty of being a slave trader, even if I do not worry too much about p*** or the sex trade or who is making my jeans and t-shirts in China,
Surely the distance we have put between ourselves and those who serve us on the other side of the world makes us innocent of how they are being treated… or does it…?
…and if anything makes me feel uncomfortable, hinting that perhaps I might be morally wrong and causing death and destruction from my choices in life, choices that don’t reflect Mercy or kindness, forgiveness or truth,
from my experience,
what I have seen in myself as well as others,
the natural human brain shuts those thoughts down.
The thought of me being guilty of murder because of my greed is ludicrous in my mind and so I put as many protections over myself as I can pointing fingers at others whose sins are more obvious, so that my sin, damnable though it may be, will not be seen.
I put myself in the place of God and say my sin is not as bad as others. I am the one who gets to set the limits and gets to free myself from prison from Fear of not being good enough, not being moral enough, not being like those Wicked people. But the problem is I didn’t create the world or even myself. God did. I am not the one infusing every breath into my body, God does, In Love intentionally delighting in mankind, even though he does not Delight in our wrongs or the harm we do, yet he deeply loves us and delights in us nonetheless, and in his love has made an eternal plan where one day all of these disconnects and Horrors will be gone forever, for those who simply believe in Jesus and receive his love.
Many questions come from that statement and they may be asked and answers may be searched out and given. These things I am speaking to you have come from 45 years of living in the knowledge of God, hungering for him, Desiring him, sometimes stepping away because I want what is interesting, what is fun more than what is good and right. He has never stopped loving me. And I have had many years of illness and over time in his love that has become a place of safety. A place where I worship in peace and contentment and joy, in spite of physical pain.
One word that I have spoken to people and again there’s many different beliefs out there and I know that, but the law of gravity is not dependent on whether we believe it or not. It simply is. And one plus one will equal 2, no matter how many inaccurate, infinite other equalities we can claim to that simple fact.
I am not always right. And in many things I prove myself to be very very wrong. But in my 55 years of life I can testify I’ve never known him to fail. I don’t have unanswered prayers, although some of the answers are no. I have seen Miracles that were Supernatural and impossible to explain by any natural means. But beyond that because you can have knowledge and miracles in many different environments and beliefs, I have Jesus. The Apostle Paul in the Bible says that Greeks look for wisdom and Jews look for miracles but we preach Christ crucified. And in another place it says that the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s Wisdom and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. There is so much wisdom in the Bible and so much protection there is no logical reason I should be alive to write you this letter. Hundreds of times I faced death. Yet by his grace I live. It is mind-boggling.
And it’s not because I somehow a better or more moral person, no matter how this goes against people’s thinking, than that person that shot those sweet children in Evergreen. 😭No, but for the grace of God there go I.
In God’s standard and his Justice Creed is equally a damnable sin and the lack of love and words of kindness that hurt people until they go crazy and do these crazy things, are also guilty of hell. We are not innocent. Thank God for the cross.
I was protected from such interior evil becoming exterior pain because of Jesus and my clinging to him. And there are times and seasons. I share my experiences in my heart. It’s very difficult when people see others around us die, but the Eternal is different than this temporary world. Every human is an eternal creature. Formed in the image of God. Every person one who is deeply loved.
Martin Luther King Jr who is one of my heroes as I was raised in Brooklyn New York, and learn much of him in an early age, my mother speaking and my father speaking of him with great regard, he was a pastor.
He was a believer in Jesus Christ and he structured what he believed and taught after the words of Jesus, he made a statement, that we have seen quoted in recent days. Hatred cannot drive out hate, only love can do that. However there are demons and forces of Darkness. And we are told to hate what is evil and cling to what is good.
And so for us to have the power of love that casts out hate we have to tell Jesus that we don’t have it and come to him for the source. We might have it to a degree because every human is made in the image of God, but at the fall, we lost that goodness and now we need to be reconnected.
And all of the traumas of this world first and foremost or cause because of the broken relationship between man and God. That relationship is only healed and fixed through the Cross of Christ. It is finished. Every sin and debt paid for. Father forgive them for they know not what they do.
Even as recent days Charlie Kirk’s wife, through much emotional pain and you could see her struggle, spoke the words that she forgave the Killer of her husband that has left her without a husband and her children without a father. I’m pretty sure you can easily search it it would be on YouTube video.
Father forgive them is what her savior said, and she recognizes that she can’t do it for the man that killed her husband.
She is not that strong.
But she can forgive because of Jesus and she goes into that relationship that she has inside of her with Christ, leaning on him and for his sake because he forgave her of her sins and because he chose to forgive his murderers which was all of humanity, because it was our sin that held him to the cross, he could have chosen in any moment in time to stop the suffering, but if he had we would have never ever been able to spend eternity in heaven with God.
Because God is just and there is damnation. There is eternal separation which is the just punishment of every sin. But God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but rather that through him we might have life.
So that was my story and my request remains if you could put that shirt out for one week.
From a business standpoint unless they would cut you a good deal for multiple purchases I do not think that the shirt would be worth your purchasing should for some reason it take off you could research that I know you are an excellent business person.
But it was overpriced to say the least and please know that as much as this is my love for you and others to share all of this I’m now going on 5 hours with this and for the record I’ve deleted about half LOL.
But it is also my worship to God to present these gifts to you and hope that you will put one of the shirts out to influence this generation of hate with the power to destroy it, which is the love of Jesus Christ.
He offers to every person of every tribe belief system the same and I personally if you are not a Christian or a Believer ask forgiveness for the sins of many that are either calling themselves Christians or that are very immature Christians.
It is true an Appleseed does not look like an apple tree and is not yet bearing fruit, but many within my own Circle have gotten a lot of emails from me, many of which have gone unread by those that could make a difference, because we still have much growing to do.
The difference between Christians and non-christians is not morality, and any Christian that presents it that way will most certainly be having a serious conversation with the Living God. Do not get me wrong, yes we are called to the higher standard to be obedient.
The laws of loving God and loving neighbor as ourself is firm, immovable.
In the Kingdom of Heaven it is not just those who actively kill that are guilty, it is those who refuse to get into the suffering of the world and bring them life when we have the power to do so that are equally guilty.
And when we deny God’s word, it’s not smart, because we will still stand before him. Every Christian as well as every non-Christian will answer to God for every careless word we have spoken.
But Salvation is through Christ Alone. And that brings so much peace and joy, removing the constant striving of impressing God of trying to earn our Salvation through works. It’s a gift. God’s love is unfathomable.
We are not more inherently moral than others. I think we’re pretty good living proof of that 🙄🙄😯 but yet there is so much protection in being in Jesus Christ and living according to his power and his limits fighting the darkness of the world through his power and his love. There is so much strength, but if we do not spend time with Jesus or reading the Bible or living as he says, then no it won’t work. It’s like being laid out a beautiful 7 course dinner, smiling at it and saying that looks lovely and not taking a bite. Or having the doctor prescribe a medicine to cure the deadly disease, thanking the doctor buying it taking it home and letting it sit on the Shelf without actually taking the medicine. When we listen to the Bible but we do not do what it says it’s the same thing. It will not benefit us. Or the world around us which is seriously sad. And when we spend all of our time and money and energy on things for self and the kingdom of the world then we should not be surprised when what the Bible says comes to pass and there is death and destruction because we have not immersed ourselves into the Kingdom of Heaven spending our time and our energy delighting in God rather than so many other things. To worship God is to Delight in him. To Delight in taking care of the poor and the things that he Delights in. And worshiping him and spending our time and energy in church and impraise of a living God rather than in so many other things. When he is our Delight he gives us the desires of our heart. But we tend to be Wayward and constantly go after whatever we see whatever pleases our minds or bodies, but the Bible tells us not to do that. And there is a balance because sometimes you can’t help it your body and brain or geared towards something and you can’t suddenly give up 20 years of coffee addiction or addiction to music of the world it maybe is not spiritually healthy. And so these things come little by little as God walks in relationship with us, but if we do not come under his protection through obedience to his love, then very simply we will not be protected. And that doesn’t mean that bad things don’t happen to faithful christians, they most certainly do. But there is great protection in Jesus Christ. But ultimately this earth and the hundred years or so that we live down here is about a drop in the ocean of The Eternity we will live somewhere. And that is what salvation is about. Many people in third world countries will never have three meals a day let alone Starbucks. They will suffer sickness and want an extreme heat and if somebody is called to follow Jesus Christ we are called to be concerned about these things because he cares for them and loves them deeply and has opened the doors through internet and ships and airplanes to care for them but when we shut the door to his love refusing to listen to his cry, it is that same door that we have shut, refusing his protection.
We can read things all day long.
We can talk, we can even go to church and pray. It is not prayer that is the most effective Force against evil. It is God’s love that is living and active, seen through the cross dying for sinners and calling us into that same suffering to love others as he has loved us. I personally believe the western church has fallen very short of this as has the person in the mirror and so I pray we repent. Which that simply means change direction and live differently than we did before. There are so many practical ways to do that. But it takes time to get our brains over a course of years to redirect and we must take it seriously and think it is serious or we won’t make any change.
The loving limits given in the Bible and the power given to Christians does help in the natural when they’re willing to take the suffering, that’s standing against the evil in this world. When we are willing to put limits on our brains and bodies to the best of our ability and speak the truth in love.
Right now there’s a lot of Disconnect in my opinion in the western churches. Some wish to put aside the laws of God which is foolish because like the law of gravity they will work whether we think they’re worth retaining or not. Other churches I have seen pick on certain sins and certain things that God calls wrong in the Bible while completely denying the equally damnable sins of the person in the mirror that they themselves are committing . And I really pray that the Lord bring this to light and that this stop.
And then many churches are sliding from the grace of God. The love of God loves sinners. The moment we are not saturated in that that his love consumes us that every breath in our body is intentionally given regardless of what choices we make with the breath that comes out of our mouths.
Yet God and his love gives us every breath and every good thing in this world and it is intentional. That is the love of God. If we do not comprehend this love then everything else will not succeed and will fail. Jesus Christ came to bring truth and Grace. He died for the Roman soldiers as well as the evil Pharisees that condemned the Son of God to death, as well as the prostitute and the Sinners that stood around the cross.
The Pharisees had a habit of calling other people “sinners.” Not seeing their own sin. All the while wishing Jesus’ death. He angered them so much because he called out their evil and sin, bringing them on the level with the others whom they looked down upon. Pride does not like to die. But we would do well to let it die in Christ live inside of us.
Think of his humility! The king of the universe willing to die for sinners. That is humility and that is love.
It is crazy this world we live in, Fallen Humanity, our depravity. The truth is there is no delusion that we are good.
The only way we can do that is to close our eyes to the things that we do that are damnable.
The cross is the perfect equal opportunity employer. All are welcome when we are willing to admit the truth that Jesus gives, surrender to his authority and allow him to do the work in US and receive his salvation. We are called to turn from evil. To be fervent about it like he is, but right now it seems to me in the Western Christian churches there is much work that needs to be done reestablishing truth and Grace.
God is merciful; he knows we can’t do everything. He looks at the heart of a person. Do they believe he can save them? That the cross and his suffering was enough? And are they willing to let go of control of their lives little by little allowing him to save?
The Bible says Every Mountain will be made low and every Valley raised up. The rough places plain, the Crooked places straight, and all mankind will see the glory of God. At the cross our pride which God calls an abomination, will be destroyed.
Every lie with which we’ve covered ourselves.
I’m not saying that we can’t take pride in when we do a good job, but when we think it’s our good job that is what makes God love us, it is The Obedience that comes through faith that God is looking for. God isn’t looking for a perfect ability to obey the law, though the law is good, but he’s looking for the heart that’s crying out help me! Be merciful to me Lord a sinner! And that is the one whom he justifies and makes righteous
But the pride that God calls an Abomination is when we think we’re better than other people or that we don’t need God.
This in God’s eyes is abomination because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and are Justified freely through his grace.
There is no room for “I’m better than you” at the cross. Kings and paupers alike, “saints” and “sinners” will die and face Jesus Christ.
Atheism and communism has Stalin, Hitler, and Mao Te Sung. Every culture and every religious belief has had horrible things they have done and are doing, but Christianity from my perspective looking at history and the current culture around the world, Christianity has less hatred. Certainly not perfect. Greed is a horrible sin in the Bible and certainly the Western world has much growth to do with the waste and the grid that we have committed and is in serious need of seeing Christ’s view on those things and turning and changing direction, being sorry for how we have structured Society closing the door to meaningful work for so many. Creating an environment that causes a few to be rich in content, while the majority suffer. This is evil.
But there is a protection in Jesus Christ for Wicked Sinners such as we.
That’s the message of the Cross and it’s not like people can just keep doing evil without caring, God disciplines and punishes Christians as well.
But sin itself produces death.
That is it’s natural growth and fruit.
When people continue to be greedy, poverty increases. When people continue to be lazy, poverty increases. When people choose to worship and take Delight in many things other than God, destruction comes.
Because those things do not have power to protect, Only God does.
And the door that we close to his love is the same door that is closed when we have need of him.
I cannot close the door of my heart to see somebody in need and say I would not listen to Jesus and help them, without finding that same door is closed when Jesus wishes to bless me and give what I have needed.
And that is why that t-shirt saddened me so greatly. Because I do understand the sin of the person in the mirror.
No, I have never shot anybody with a gun. But I do have a brain that is highly broken, neuro diversity or as one woman put it neuro spiciness is what they now call it. In my efforts to be good I have done horrible things that have greatly impacted and hurt people’s lives. In my fear and cowardice of confronting evil I have allowed abuse to continue that I could have confronted and stopped. That in my younger years and I’ve been sickened over it. When I see the long-term effects on other people’s lives of the choices of made. But my sin is Forgiven and I walk in that knowing while praying for those who are suffering. Striving to make things right though right now I don’t have the power to fix those things from the past. And there are many things I don’t understand. But when we don’t love people to the death. When we think other things are more important than the relationships around us such as an expensive home or certain standard of living, those are great horrible sins that destroy people’s lives and we do have accountability before God for those sins. The Kingdom of Heaven sees things quite differently than the kingdom of the world. But the world did not create itself. I did not give birth to myself nor do I put the breath every day in my body. God does and so it is his Rule and his reign to which I will be accountable when I die. Every single day if I had to list the areas that I fell short of the glory of God I would be busy each day writing all of my sin and so I step into his Perfection through the Forgiveness given me and walk into his grace.
And there I find peace and rest as he holds me and little by little his Spirit helps me to grow, because I am his child forgiven and I try to love him and to love others and in his grace he gives me power while still allowing me my faults and messes because the glory goes to God and there is no room for pride. He’s wonderful
I have to come to God for help with limits all the time. My brain doesn’t think right a lot of the time. And yes I definitely need help with limits when it comes to talking too much or writing too long, so I beg your mercy and forgiveness there. But there is a saying that I’ve heard in the church, but for the grace of God there go I.
I do not have the natural ability to separate 2D movies for my 3D reality emotions. A rated R movie I process emotionally as if it’s happening to me and it makes me deeply sick. If it is too horrific I can be sick for weeks and basically go crazy. Because of my trust in Jesus Christ I have learned at an early young age to stay away from things that are not healthy for my brain, things that others laugh at, the poison of this world🤢, because it does not affect them the way it does me.
So the world does not care that the movies they are creating are causing a small percentage of people to go crazy and shoot and they would heartily deny any responsibility, but yet we are responsible for what we poison this generation with, whether books or video games or movies, we certainly will face accountability with God.
When we create so many fantasies because we don’t want to admit how horrible the world is that we have created and so we spend time and energy running away from the problems we see, the problems we ourselves have poured into and created in some respect, instead of running to God and finding the reality in him of love and Power much needed in this 3D World.
And because of love of God and loving family and church, I am in a safe place. That place is a place of faith and obedience, but not if a bunch of works because I fail at that pretty badly.
If my brain starts going crazy or I think I’m suicidal or heaven forbid have thoughts of harming others I am on the phone as quick as anything and there is a support group around me to see me through in whatever way is necessary until I am mentally stable again.
It’s scary to live in a brain like that.
In recent years, honestly after menopause my brain tone down quite a lot and I’m grateful. It’s been much easier.
My heart cries for the victims of the Evergreen shooting as well as for those affected by the shooting of Charlie Kirk.
But when we come to understand the love of God, he also has a broken heart for the other victims – the shooters.
His heart longs for all to be restored.
And there will be a day and so we ask for forgiveness and mercy even for those who have done such horrible things, not because they deserve it or we deserve it, but because that is love and that is Grace.
Those who refuse this love eventually, if they do not receive it, there will be a time where they will be separated forever.
We pray for mercy and grace even there because we know of God’s power and love but God will not force anyone into heaven.
Neither will he allow evil in.
So either we will give up our wickedness and allow his love to consume us, and accept the death on the cross for Wicked Sinners such as we, sharing that love or ever we go, or the door we close to his love and salvation he will honor because he will never Force his way on us. That is an eternal sorrow. The Bible calls that the second death. Such thoughts are too painful for our brains we cannot deal with that. I pray to God for every soul that I meet that nobody goes to hell, but I know that God and his love will never Force anyone into heaven. The choices we make here are very serious. And we can see that, the suffering of this world is like the nervous system of our bodies warning of impending pain and doom. There is death. And we pray for peace for all and healing and eternal Deliverance, but God is just. The penalty for our sin was eternal death. But from my understanding of scripture those who reject the Cross of Christ, reject the life he offers.
I don’t know whether people might still have a choice when they die and they stand before Christ that is contrary to traditional Christianity, but CS Lewis seemed to think there were still choices to be made after death in his book the last battle and I do believe that people will be given a choice.
If they have not had the opportunity to make it here perhaps I don’t understand these things and it certainly goes against traditional thinking when I speak this way God is to be feared and I would not want to speak anything contrary to his truth.
Such evil as we have seen in the shootings is not the American way and pray to God it never will be.
I was thankful that both the Democratic group that I follow and the Republican Group which I follow equally condemned the violence. And we are in agreement there.
We humans have a tendency – Anything that accuses us of gross negligence is considered a negative voice, not positive, because it’s not in line with what makes us feel good about ourselves. But we must learn to receive the truth about ourselves with the line of God’s justice and be serious about what he tells us we need to change, not just pointing fingers at others.
It’s complicated.
When we deny any Authority higher than ourselves in the spiritual Realm, allowing for each individual to make their own judgment on whether it is good to ignore the laws or to keep them, there’s confusion.
Much like a parent caught in an addiction that demands the child not drink or do drugs, when we refuse the limits put in place in this world even in small ways, we teach the world that those limits do not matter.
A Viper’s egg might not seem too destructive. But we wouldn’t think of putting a nest of them in our child’s bedroom, but how often do we do that with things that are morally disastrous and dangerous, playing games with things that should not be played with?
And we think we have escaped, because the Viper has not bit us. Perhaps we are the Snake Charmer we think😪 but, no it’s just others that are bitten by what we decided to play with. Such as the evil of this world and every minute choice we make effects not just ourselves but our families and children and those around us.
That’s why God tells us to meditate on his word day and night to protect us and keep us from harm and danger because what we think upon we will eventually do.
Please know these are my thoughts regarding my own wickedness and foolishness. But it is hard. It’s hard to face that person in the mirror, unless there’s something greater that comes along to help with the vision and bring Beauty where there was pain. Joy where there was ashes.
The spiritual laws, like the physical laws of nature, can be believed in or not believed in, it will not change their existence. Neither will it change their effect.
Believe in the law of gravity or not, have understanding of it or not, it will yet work and has been in effect long before Newton discovered it.
Step off a 10 story building without seeking how to come in line with gravity and other natural laws of creation, and our lack of limits will produce death.
A fire is a wonderful useful thing and we have used it for over 20 years through pellet stoves and wood burning stoves to heat our home, but remove the limits of stove and hearth, and that same fire that was meant to be beautiful and enjoyed is now an evil dangerous destructive force that can burn down a house and Destroy lives. Humans have need of limits. And we each one of us need to learn to admit and confess those limits and strive to abide by that, all the while knowing that we cannot perfectly abide by those needed limits and so once again there has to be something bigger and stronger, yet passionately interested in us, with deep concern for us, to protect us from those horrible dangers around us, and within us.
What do we do? Justice, judgment..
What about Mercy? There is a word that is not used in society much to my knowledge except within the Christian circles and it is the word grace.
It goes beyond Mercy. Mercy is caring for the poor. Mercy is helping where there is need. Mercy comes alongside Justice when someone has fallen short, not intentionally, but screwing up like we all do, and mercy perhaps speaks let there be a lesser judgment, the person made a mistake, they won’t do it again, at least they will strive not to.
Mercy is when a tired mom with two babies in the backseat after 12 hours at the ER is driving through the town of Morrison completely oblivious to the 25 mile an hour Zone coming off the highway at 65 and continuing through town at 55, and the cop looking at the Dead Tired mom at 2:00 a.m. in the morning and hearing the story and seeing the babies, says I never give a warning, but be careful. Stop speeding get home safely and have a good night. No ticket given to the tired mom. And that is Mercy but there’s sort of a concept of we sort of still kind of deserve it because they were extenuating circumstances.
But just a little under 2,000 years ago something new hit the scene. And God Called It Grace.
It is completely opposed to logical thinking. Grace is to give somebody something they absolutely do not deserve. Grace is what happens when God comes so close to us and he sees our suffering, entering into our pain out of his love and desires to make it better for us even though we don’t deserve it.
In the Greek there are three verbs for the word love. One is Eros from which we get erotic love which is sexual. One is phileo from which we get brotherly love like Philadelphia. But then there is a word agape, and this kind of love only comes fromhad by the Living God.
It is the kind of love that gives Grace to people who have killed and done meaningless wrongs.
And it is found at the cross of Jesus Christ.
And you’ll forgive me because I do not know if you’ve ever heard the story, because I have met many people in my lifetime who have not, but if you go online and download an app called the Bible app you can read the book of John or The Book of Mark but I prefer John and you can read this Powerful Love Story. It is beyond comprehension. It is completely unfair.
Because those moral laws that we were talking about before God put into the Earth at the very beginning and like the law of gravity whether we believe them or not they exist.
Some of the laws of God that were moral laws are commands to care for the poor and the oppressed and to be busy, once we have received what we need for life, food clothes Etc, we are to be busy taking care of them because this is a broken world and things here do not work the way God originally intended because the Earth he has given to the Children of Men and we have not done a good job managing what we were given, mostly because we believed many lies, and we lost connection with the Creator Redeemer and sustainer from whom and to whom all things come.
But at the moment each individual dies, they will stand before the Living God and the Bible teaches we will give an account for every careless word we have spoken.
And if one does not understand the great agape love of God and the grace that he offers, the concept of the Judgment by his laws is beyond what we can comprehend or handle.
To be separated from God eternally is to be separated from Love and all good things forever and this is what God calls hell in the Bible.
And there is an eternal punishment, as well as an eternal salvation. In here many within my Christian Circle will disagree on this or that or the other thing, but those who hold true to the teaching that has now covered the entire Earth over the past 2000 years, and where we fall short we too will answer to the Living God, but those who hold true do not deny his Mercy his grace and his love.
Because God’s son was murdered. Hellish things done by people that should have known better and God judges the heart and there was punishment.
But where we find, forgive the colloquialism, our brains completely blown, is that at the cross Justice and mercy kissed.
Because Jesus Took the punishment of the entire world. The Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and are Justified freely through his grace and the moment that that Amazing Grace causes us concern that somebody might get away with murder, we have to realize that according to God’s laws, we are the ones who are guilty.
This does not please people because we wish to be our own gods.
And that’s why in The Book of Matthew Chapter 5 Jesus on The Sermon on the Mount which my father based his teachings of Peace Justice and the care of Earth off of, Jesus says to forgive.
In case we had any question of what he meant, he set the example, after going through hours of torture beating 39 times with a cat of nine tails which is barbed wire on a whip so that there was nothing left to his back, and then being forced to carry his own cross until he fell down and could no longer physically carry it, after all of that still barely alive They Crucified him.
The Roman soldiers knew their torture techniques well they ruled through hatred and fear.
And he is the Prince of Peace. And 2,000 years later, Jesus still lives. Not some ethereal Spirit but in bodily form he is most certainly alive. Because 3 days later he was risen from the dead and over 500 testified to his Rising from the dead. And many have testified even in the modern day of seeing him.
There was no question of whether or not he was truly dead; you don’t sort of die on a Roman cross.
And you certainly don’t get up and start walking around.
He had risen from the dead because God came down among sinful people and gave Grace and so here’s where my hurt came deeply because little children tiny little children they are more in tune with the Kingdom of Heaven than we are as adults and it hurt me deeply to see that t-shirt and my 12-year-old see that of a tiny child praying God damn them to hell, because children unless they have been tortured and abused don’t even have a concept of hell.
It is a twisted t-shirt that negates the innocence of the child just as much as the shooter negated their innocence in his shooting and I know that you or whoever put that shirt there weren’t thinking like that.
But those limits that you lifted to put that t-shirt on display in front of children and adults alike was the same damnable material, no limit or comprehension of the power of Grace and love, that instigated that shooter.
It is the same.
And I pray that you have power to look like I have to look at the person in the mirror, and say I am guilty.
I don’t care what slavery the people that are making my clothes in China are going through. I don’t bother to be connected with them and I don’t even think it matters.
We are guilty.
The sex slave trade is far more prevalent than the African slave trade of the past but I don’t complain about the pornography that is in the stores, because truly that’s not my business or what’s on the internet, or perhaps I even engage a little bit in these things because really truly it doesn’t really matter and not all of them are sex slaves. This is how we all too often think. We ignore the limits that God would place on ourselves and then wonder why others do the same.
The truth is greed according to the Bible is as damnable offense as murder but as long as we are our own Gods and we get to make the rules we can feel good about ourselves by putting others on that way lower Spectrum than ourselves.
But God is honest and truthful about how greed kills, withholding from the poor what God would long to give them and every human has the power to turn and help.
One simple thing every business could do in America is offer 10% of their inventory in coupons to the homeless and poor for them to go shop for things they would never have money for otherwise.
Or as you, I’m sure, do, donate to various Charities what is left over.
But the Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and are Justified freely through his grace.
See Jesus was tortured and killed by murderers yet in the midst of his suffering and pain at the cross he said father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.
And that is the grace he offers to you and to me. Grace goes beyond Mercy. Because Grace is for people that are wicked that have no good inside of them, and that Jesus Christ said is every human. He said why do you call me good there is no one good but God Alone? Because how much cyanide in the ice cream soda makes the soda bad? How much sin does it take to separate us from God? All of us are guilty. Jesus also made it very clear that hating people in God’s eyes was the same and held the same punishment as murder.
So to have a small child on a t-shirt to pray God please damn them, that is the same evil that instigated the shooter and I would beg you not to put such wickedness out again. I respect you. I know you will make your own judgments and I pray you have wisdom.
The gift I have sent are two T-shirts that are a gift you can do what you wish with them, but the requests that I make is that you put one of them out for one week in that same place over the skirt that we’ve watched for so many weeks and months.
Martin Luther King Jr said, because he got his concept from the words of Jesus Christ, hatred cannot drive out hate. Only love can drive out hate.
So I humbly ask if you would please consider once you received those two T-shirts of putting one out for a week.
From a business standpoint you are welcome to sell those two or whatever you wish to do with them however they were not priced well and if for some crazy reason they take off you would have to find a better Source than where I purchase them at if you thought to sell them in multiples but you are gifted business person and you might be able to have better luck in that. I couldn’t find what I wanted cheaply but I pray that this website is legitimate and that these t-shirts get to you if not I will try again.
And if you find me only ridiculous, I pray for mercy and Grace for you just please know that none of us know whether the next day will be the next day that is our last. And every human being will stand before Jesus Christ the moment we pass through the Veil.
I urge you and every other person that I meet not to wait until that day to start the conversation.
With much love.
God’s peace
Letters to a Friend 