Episodios

  • Knowing Who You Really Are

    Knowing Who You Really Are
    May 13 2025
    Today, I want to talk about the importance of knowing who you really are.From the moment of birth we start trying to answer the questions: Who am I and why am I here? (e.g., Is there purpose in my life?) and I’m not sure most people ever fully answer it.The problem is what you use to identify yourself.Traditionally,1. Personal Characteristics and TraitsPersonality: “I’m introverted, creative, or compassionate.”Skills and Talents: Proficiency in areas like art, athletics, or intellectual pursuits can shape identity (e.g., "I am a writer" or "I am an athlete").Values and Beliefs: “I’m passionate about…”2. Cultural and Ethnic BackgroundEthnicity and Heritage: "I am Nigerian" or "I am Italian-American".Language: “I’m a native Spanish speaker…” The language(s) one speaks can be a strong marker of identity, connecting individuals to their community or diaspora.* Religion and Spirituality:Many people derive identity from their religious or spiritual beliefs (e.g., "I am a Christian," "I am a Buddhist").4. Family and Relationships:Lineage: Some find identity in their family history or legacy.Familial Roles: People often identify as a parent, sibling, or child, with family dynamics playing a significant role (e.g., "I am a mother").5. Occupation and Career: “I’m a sales rep for a northeastern paper company…”6. Social and Political Affiliations:Political Beliefs: People may identify with ideologies or movements, such as liberalism, conservatism, or environmentalism (e.g., "I am a feminist").Nationality: Citizenship or allegiance to a country often plays a role (e.g., "I am American").7. Hobbies and Interests:- Passions, such as gaming, music, or travel, can be central to identity (e.g., "I am a gamer" or "I am an adventurer").8. Nowadays we’re encouraged to identify ourselves by our traumas: “I’m a survivor of childhood abuse…” “I’m a breast cancer survivor,” OR by our victimhood in having a life condition we aren’t responsible for: “I’m bipolar, etc.”9. And the new idea that our entire identity is completely perceptual and fluid, such as Identifying as an animal or a mythical creature. (There’s a huge difference in saying, “I can identify with cats…” Vs “I identify as a cat.”The problem with all of this is that…It’s mostly external to us, just the random factors in our life (e.g., being born male).It may be dependent upon our performance and the acceptance of a social group to maintain this identity. (Nobody gets to be a pilot forever).As a Christian seeking a stable and meaningful identity you need to look no further than the first page of the Bible, the creation narrative.The Bible grounds human identity in a relationship with God, and our God-given role in this world.* Creatures made with special purpose by a loving God Psalm 139:13-14 “Fearfully and wonderfully made”* The Image of God on earth: - Genesis 1:26-27: “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness’… So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”This is God’s settled truth for every human being whether you love him, hate him or refuse to even accept His existence.But there’s more…Jesus takes our identity so much farther than the Genesis account alone.The Gospel declares that our identity can also become rooted in the Work of Christ—it’s our choice and depends upon our response to the finished work of Jesus for us.3. Jesus came to set us free from the bondage we have fallen into, a slavery to Sin and to Satan. If we will accept his gift and follow him as Lord, then we will feel the power of sin broken and the dominion of Satan voided.4. Purchased by blood. “I am redeemed, highly valued and deeply loved with unconditional love.”5. Re-created internally by Christ with the promise of being recreated physically after our death by resurrection into an eternal body.2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”6. Adopted into the family of God. Living forever as his child.7. Restored to dominion in life. With Satan’s rule over me ended I am again established with dominion and control over my own world.8. Authorized to use the name of Jesus to fight Satan and call down the resources I need.9. Provided with unbroken direct access to the Father. I am always connected to Him and welcomed to come before His throne.10. A member of the human family of God, surrounded by sweet people who are also walking in this light. I’m a part of the global body of Christ.11. A temple for the Holy Spirit, filled within by the mind and presence of God himself, led and empowered by the Spirit of God to do the works God has prepared for me.12. My life has a calling and a purpose as I work with my Father to invite humans to return to him and reclaim their high callingEphesians 2:10: “For we are God’s handiwork, ...
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    15 m
  • Why You Need an "If Not" clause in Your Covenant with God

    Why You Need an "If Not" clause in Your Covenant with God
    Mar 18 2025
    We demand a lot out of God.I don't know if you have any of those one-sided relationships, maybe with a relative or even a grown up kid who is always asking for money and others kinds of help. They get miffed if you don't come through for them every time.I think we treat God like that too often. We face a circumstance that seems hard so immediately we pass it to him for help because—well that's his job right? It’s like a contract with God. We agree to worship him and he does miracles. All our lives it’s on him to heal our diseases, provide finances, and occasionally stop rainy weather or keep airplanes from taking off on time so we don’t miss our flight. Concierge service. Whatever we might need from on high.Uncle Luther’s “If Not” SermonMy uncle Luther (Earnest Quinley to the rest of the world) is a huge influence in my life. He was the only preacher in our family before me. He has a great sermon on this aspect of our relationship with God. I heard it once and I have preached the idea so many times through the years. It’s so helpful that I want to share it with you too.It comes from the story of the fiery furnace and the three Hebrew boys in Babylon. I can't imagine a greater trial. Death by fire—so horrible.You probably know this story by heart. Shadrach, Mechach and Abed-nego have been ordered to bow down before the golden statue erected by King Nebuchadnezzar. Every one of their friends, and even their elders, has prostrated before the image immediately. The three of them alone remain standing. The king was humiliated because they were the three top leaders in his government after Daniel. He cannot allow this level of insubordination, especially from foreigners serving in government positions.The Bible says he was enraged. (You can read the story in Daniel chapter 3.) He orders a massive fire to be built with a large chimney over it. Just imagine watching this fire and knowing that you were about to be thrown into it. You know these three Jewish men were hard at prayer for God to help them escape the fire.When the fire is hot enough, Nebuchadnezzar stands them up in front of everyone and shouts at them that he will give them one last chance. The symphony is going to play music again and they had better bow down before his gods or they're going to be thrown into that big fire.In verse 16 they shock the king with these words: "O Nebuchadnezzar we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us from your hand O King.”On the One Hand, You Have to Have A Bold FaithFaith is really important when you are dealing with God. You have to have absolute confidence in his power and in his love and relationship with you. You have to claim the good things that you are praying for. These boys know that and they declare their faith in God's ability to deliver them even when there is no possibility of human intervention.So that's the first part of this message. God is our lifeline for everything we need. We rely on him for our planet’s survival every day when millions of asteroids come flying at us and the Sun's radiation tries to burn us up, and diseases try to kill all our bodies. He stands up for us every day and strengthens our immune system and gives the Earth a magnetic field that pushes away the radiation and an oxygen-rich environment that burns up the asteroids. It's really so wonderful. He is a present help to all. Anyone who walks with him in faith throughout life will be rescued time and time again.Most of the time God comes through for us just as we requested. It's really amazing. Maybe his reliability is one of the things that makes it feel like a contract. We do our part he does his. But God is GodIf we are really going to have a relationship with him, we have to acknowledge that he is God and that we cannot control him completely even with prayer and that sometimes we might not get the thing we are requesting. Even if we don't, he's still good. That's the second part of this lesson and these mature men of God fully understand it. Sometimes God is at work on something bigger than you and you may even have to be sacrificed for the greater good and you may never know the details in this life. If you're going to walk with God, love him and be loved by him then you just have to trust him for the things you do not understand and still serve him even if you don't get your miracle.The “If Not” ClauseAfter their first bold speech about trusting God, they add a PS. “but if not… let it be known to you or King that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”My uncle Luther said that we all need an “if not” clause in our walk with God. So many people give up on their relationship with God because they become disappointed over one event. (OK, maybe more than one.) God is God. He's not a big man. His plans are huge. We’re not...
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    13 m
  • Becoming Interruptible

    Becoming Interruptible
    Feb 25 2025
    Jesus seemed to consider interruption as a valuable opportunity. I wish I felt this way. I’m working on it. That’s what this newsletter is about.Whether they needed practical help, a word of encouragement, or physical healing, Jesus saw human interruptions as golden opportunity to add value to the lives of others. He lived an interruptible life.The Interruptible SamaritanLet’s zoom in today on the masterpiece story Jesus told in Luke 10:25-37. The Parable of the Good Samaritan.Jesus crafted this parable to drive home a point about what righteousness looks like in reality. The message of this story strikes such a deep chord in us that we’ve been retelling it for 2,000 years. The story is dramatic. A man is traveling alone by foot when he is ambushed by robbers who savagely beat him, steal his money and clothes, and leave him half-dead on the ground.Two religious leaders, a priest and a scholar, are shocked to discover this wounded man in the ditch. They know they should help, but they are busy and important and don’t really want to get involved so they walk on the other side of the road and leave their fellow man helpless and alone. Even as they hurry to their temple duties and Bible study it is assumed that they remain certain of their righteousness before God.Then a foreigner, an outcast, happens by. He’s someone from a group everyone thinks of as low, unrighteous people, so far from being like God. Yet, when the mongrel outcast sees this wounded man, he drops everything and rushes to help him. He gets blood all over himself, carries the man to safety, washes, and bandages the man's wounds, then transports him to an inn to rest. He recruits a caregiver for him. He even promises to pay any further costs to make sure this Jewish man (who might have despised him on any other day) recovers fully. He’s just doing what his heart tells him naturally to do. He is abundantly interruptible as a person. He reflects the nature of God. He is living as a man in God’s image. He is righteous.Our Samaritan OpportunitiesI bring up this story for myself as well as for you. We really need this teaching today because in our modern world we are just so busy. We’ve got a never-ending to-do list. Every moment counts, right?On our busiest days it still happens to us. Out of the corner of our eye we spot someone struggling. Maybe it's the old guy next door, his arms full of grocery bags, looking like he might drop them any second. Or someone who's clearly lost, looking around trying to find their way. Maybe it’s someone who gets emotional at work and clearly needs someone to talk to.There's this voice from our better self urging us, ”Go!, help out."But then there's the counterforceThe excuses:* I'm Too Busy to Stop: Helping would mean a delay, a disruption in my carefully planned day.* I'm Too Shy to Help: I have social anxiety. What if they don't want or need my help? What if it's awkward? Or Let's call it what it is -* I'm…just feeling selfish, because most times it’s not really about the time lost or any other factor. We just want to keep our bubble of comfort intact. We love our bubble more than we love others. May sound harsh, but it’s the fact with too many people. Jesus said that one of the signs of the last age was that the “love of many would grow cold.”Walking with Jesus isn't about doing grand acts of heroism; it's about responding to simple moments with the people he puts right in front of you.A Challenge for the WeekOur discipleship challenge for this week is to actually look forward to a miracle moment each day where God positions you to help someone in need. Just ask God to make it happen. Ask him to put you in position for a GSM (Good Samaritan Moment), when someone shows up with a need. Ask the Lord for the privilege of being interrupted so you can act as God’s own hands, his voice, his kind eyes. Pray it over and over till you mean it. That’s what I have to do to knock down resistance in my own mind.What an opportunity! A chance to work with God.The parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us to be available for others, even when it's inconvenient. It’s a call to cultivate a lifestyle that considers interruption a golden opportunity to add value to another person’s life in the name of the Lord.So this week let’s embrace interruption. When you see a need, stop what you are doing and act on it, even if it disrupts your plans.I’m going to do it and I hope you will join me. Share the stories in the comments below or in the chat. It’s going to be amazing! (How cool if this became our actual lifestyle!)Walking With You in His Footsteps,CQ Get full access to Grounded at www.quinley.com/subscribe
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    5 m
  • How God Trains us to be the Kings of this World

    How God Trains us to be the Kings of this World
    Feb 4 2025

    Hi! Sherry and I just landed stateside again. It’s like shifting planets for me. We have an entire life in Thailand and SE Asia with a unique set of friends and daily occupation that goes on for months and months. Then the plane teleports us stateside and, Boom! we’re into an entirely different reality, complete with a different set of friends and family and different daily rhythms.

    All this to say that this will be a short writeup so I can get this post done on time this week. I put most of the work in the video version.

    In this episode of the podcast, I want to focus on the big picture of God's plan for your life and mine and the profound but simple training system that He has developed to help us grow into his image. You would think, that with Him being God, His training system for us would be very complex, but actually it has only one central element to it and if we can all focus on just this one thing every day we will become aligned with His heart.

    It's the same system, no matter where we fit in society’s hierarchy. Rich or poor, educated or illiterate, blue collar, or white collar work, every one of his children is destined to become a functioning member of God’s Royal family, extending his governance across the Earth. Our training starts now.

    Hope you enjoy the video and find it helpful in helping you grow into your life’s calling.

    Today’s discussion topic: What Bible story has had the most impact at shaping your life?

    Every Blessing!

    Chuck



    Get full access to Grounded at www.quinley.com/subscribe
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    28 m
  • ONE Simple Trick That Saved My Sanity!

    ONE Simple Trick That Saved My Sanity!
    Jan 28 2025

    Want to know the ONE simple trick that saved my sanity? In this video podcast, I'm sharing my personal experience and the game-changing practice that helped me gain control over my life. From reducing stress and anxiety to increasing productivity and focus, this trick has been a total lifesaver. If you're feeling overwhelmed and struggling to keep up with the demands of modern life, you won't want to miss this!

    Join me as I reveal the one simple trick that turned my chaotic life around and saved my sanity!

    Grounded is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

    The Stress Created by Multitasking

    We’re all busy people. We could use a few more hours each day to “get it all done,” right? It’s tempting to try and divide our attention. Maybe we can just juggle.

    Some people claim to be experts at doing half a dozen things at once, even with a cellphone in their hands sending out notification every 10 seconds.

    It’s so easy to fall into the trap of multitasking, but humans weren’t created to focus on two things at once. In fact, that’s the opposite of what the word focus means. It’s like saying “I have three priorities.” If there’s more than one you have no priority. That’s what the word means. The ONE thing that matters above all.

    More isn’t better. It just makes for more stress and who needs more of that?

    The Moment I Realized This System Was Working

    We all do our best, right? In Manila, I knew that I was terribly overworked. I just wasn't sure what to do about it at the time. All I knew to do was to religiously follow the wheel concept that I share in this video. The last thing I wanted was for my family to feel neglected, or Sherry to feel unappreciated.

    One day we were in an elders meeting at our church, and Sherry spoke up and said to me, “Chuck, you need to share with them about the wheel.” Then she said to the group, “My husband has three jobs and he works hard at all of them. Because he follows this system I do not feel neglected and the kids have an engaged father. We're all working hard, but none of us is being left behind.”

    That felt so great to me. That's why I want to share this with you today.

    I know this focused way of living will have a beneficial impact on your life as well so I hope you’ll take the time to watch the video.

    Discussion: I’d love to hear from you about how this system works for you and also please share any other ideas that being sanity to your own life. Just join the chat and give us the benefit of your experience.

    Let’s have a focused productive year fulfilling our highest purpose!

    Every Blessing,

    Chuck



    Get full access to Grounded at www.quinley.com/subscribe
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    16 m
  • Revelation

    Revelation
    Jan 20 2025
    Well, I think I’ll start the new year off doing something unusual for me, a poem. (no charge :-) Here goes… Light From Beyond “All you need to know is inside of you.”But I have lived long enough to ignore fools. I know what I know and nothing more. Experience might teach me something new... Another source is what I need. Not my thoughts. Not my mind. Revelation Light from beyond Help from aboveHearing from GodIf I could have one wish for me and for you it would be to hear from God more this year. I don't claim to hear God speak every day. When he does talk to me, it seems to be in very short sentences, but I treasure everything he has ever said to me. Nothing could make a bigger difference in my life this year than to somehow open my own awareness to him and receive more revelation from him. So today this is my prayer for you. Let's talk about revelation.The Process of RevelationMost true things are apparent. One known thing connects to another. Truth connects to truth, the way Lego bricks assemble themselves into a house or airplane. The parts are all there in front of us and, once we get the idea, we can reason out for ourselves how to fit them together.Other things require outside intervention because there is a missing piece of information beyond the scope of our own understanding or even our imagination. Without outside intervention in these cases we can never even conceive of these new things. “Eye has not seen…”"For my thoughts are not your thoughts…”"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways….”Revelation is a leap. It starts with one new truth of which we are currently unaware.This new truth is our breakthrough. It’s the key that allows us to enter a new room of truth and see things as they really are (and have always been). It will become the foundation for our future development. That moment in betweenThere is a moment where we stand at the edge of this process, on the cliff of our existing knowledge. We realize that there is something else right in front of us. Even though we cannot grasp it right now, we perceive it the same way we can feel the presence of a silent person in a room behind us. “We know in part. We prophesy in part.”We know it’s there. We just don’t see it yet.Revelation is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to humans who are seeking to move from what they know to what they should know. That crossing requires faith from the human. It requires that we believe there is more truth out there and that this truth is real, and that God is the one leading us to it.Things we gain through Revelation belong to us. They are our treasures of divine knowledge.Deuteronomy 29:29 (NIV):"The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law."Revelation is a delicate, living thing. It must be nurtured.What I’m Going to DoSo here’s my plan to become more receptive to God’s revelation this year.* Consciously remind myself that revelation is going on everywhere at all times. God is “streaming” 24/7.* Attempt to intentionally tune in to the revelation going on around me. According to the Bible God has always been revealing himself through everything created: humans, animals, plants, planets, stars—all of it is a channel of revelation. God also speaks through human conversations. He reveals through dreams. He reveals things directly into the spirits of his children. Amazing insights just drop into our minds and we can see things clearly in an instant. It’s all happening all the time like sunshine. We just need to tune in to it.There are so many channels of revelation. The Bible is the one we think of first, and it will yield endless depths of revelation to those who are persistent readers and thinkers, but it’s not the only channel of revelation. We know this because the Bible says so. It’s actually a latecomer to the work of revelation. Humans interacted with God directly for thousands of years before we had a written book of revelations. We honor the Bible so much, not because it is God (it’s not), but because it’s such a rich and trustworthy revelation of God.The Bible is not the end of revelation. It’s a foundation stone and a standard of truth (so we can test “ideas” that pop in our head against something unchangeable), but God has been walking with man before there was a Bible and when we don’t need a Bible in the new world, He will still be walking with us and revealing himself throughout eternity. Receiving revelation is our birthright.I want the focus of my attention directed to God Himself, knowing that He is revealing himself to me. Some are scared of this and want to limit all revelation to the words of the Bible. The problem with this is two-fold. First, it’s based out of fear (which is not the criteria for making decisions as children of God) and secondly, the Bible itself is filled with stories of God ...
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    7 m
  • Why was God so Patient with Cain???

    Why was God so Patient with Cain???
    Sep 10 2024
    Well, I hope you got a good nights sleep. I'm in India and it means that I'm awake at three or 4 AM most days. Just can't get the transition right this time.Well, you can look at things as a curse or a blessing. I'm trying to find good use for all the extra time from waking up super early rather than just watching TV or looking at my phone. Today, I spent hours digging through the story of Cain and Abel. It's so tragic that in the first generation of natural-born humans the first baby grows up to be a murderer. Take a minute right now to read the story in Genesis 4Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock.The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”[d] While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”There’s a lot HereIt’s a very nuanced story, with lots of insights discretely woven into the way the narrative is delivered. I’m in love with Genesis 1-12. It’s a masterpiece. Every verse is important and I think this story has a lot to say to us—if we can just figure out what verse 7 is saying. More on that later.I guess the thing that's always bothered me in this story is how much Spotlight is on Cain, the selfish, entitled, stubborn, immature man-child, not Abel, the good guy who was sincere and did everything right. Abel is the first martyr, a man killed for his worship of our Creator. The scene describing the background and moment leading up to his murder is so painful. I can hardly read the story. Family is so important to me and to think that a big brother would use his little brother’s innocent trust to lure him away from the family so he could murder him just breaks my heart again and again. Which makes it even harder to understand why God spends so much time in this story engaging Cain and trying to help him process his emotions.Ruled by EmotionsEmotions, man, that’s the Gen Z theme! If the Eskimos have 1000 words for snow, young people today may end up with that many words for their feelings. In our generation, we were just told to suck it up and get on with life and not expect everything to be great. "Your attitude determines your altitude.” On the other hand, something very real is happening inside the minds of young people. New Zealand, of all places, leads the world in suicides by young men age 12 through 17.Cain was a man ruled by his emotions. In general, humans are portrayed as moral infants in the book of Genesis. God is working with us so we will grow up and assume the role for which we've been created. We are made to be the likeness of God in the world. We all have a long way to go. Perhaps Cain never got there. His name in the Old Testament is connected to the line of rebellious humans who always resist everything God wants to do.And yet, God is patient with Cain. He’s comforting him when most of us would kill him for what he had done to his innocent kid brother. (Maybe they were both teens, who knows?) How does this story affect you, emotionally? Leave a comment to share your processing of this tale.Word Salad in Verse SevenScholars tend to hover around verse seven, the most “obscure” (incomprehensible) Hebrew in the Old Testament. The English translations have simplified it by ignoring all the problems in it. The editors just come to the conclusion that the verse is about the power of sin, and they harmonize the pronouns that are out of whack. It's understandable to want to make things clear for the reader, but it's a real problem when you do it as a translator, in my opinion. I believe that everything in the Bible is there on purpose, so if a verse runs in the face of a cherished doctrine I think it's a dangerous practice to just "fix the verse”. I could show you a dozen places in any translation of the Bible where this has been done. I'm not saying that the English translation of this verse is heretical, just that the ancient writer knew his language perfectly, and if he wanted it harmonized, he would have used the proper gender in his pronouns. I explain more about all this in the video so if you're interested, I hope you will watch it. The point is whether this is a story where God warns Cain about the power of sin which is like a crouching lion ready to devour him, or ...
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    12 m
  • Are you using these days to prepare yourself for persecution?

    Are you using these days to prepare yourself for persecution?
    Aug 27 2024
    10,000 Years from TodayIf you believe the Bible, then you will know that you will be alive and conscious somewhere 10,000 years from today. Oh, your current existence will be behind you and you will have probably passed through death into the new creation, but you will be alive again with the memory of the year 2024. Your current concerns about a stock market crash will seem silly then. For that matter, all your worries will be exposed as a complete waste of time and energy. You will be in the new kingdom of the Lord Jesus, the undisputed victor of the war for the world. He will reign in the New Jerusalem forever.On that day, you and I are going to really wish we had done a better job with this season in our lives. We will be in the group that can tell the story of what it was like to live in the post-Covid era of total surveillance, the early dominance of technology, and the open worship of Satan at the Grammys, the Olympics, and a host of other formerly normal events. These were the beginning of the sorrows.Some disciples will be highly honored for letting their light shine and using these days to evangelize and share their testimony daily. Others won’t have much to show for their life as a believer. They basically lived as quiet and comfortable a life as they could and they went to church sometimes.Persecution Prepares us to Face the LordNo matter your view of the end times (I’m mid-trib) you cannot escape the reality of persecution.“…All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” 2 Ti.3.12 NKJVChristians have always been persecuted. Sometimes it's cultural pressure fueled by the devil. He always resists the message of Jesus and the true embrace of the kingdom of God. At other times persecution is bloody. We’ve have 2000 years of Christian blood shed across the world.When Sherry and I moved to Asia in 1990, that region of the world was averaging 250,000 martyrs a year. The 90’s saw the resurgence of radical Islam and many precious believers were killed from Saudi Arabia to Iran for following Jesus.Persecution in America???—Never!I never dreamed there could be federal persecution of Christians in the United States of America. When I heard this preached as a boy, it just seemed totally impossible that churchgoing America could ever become a place where believers might be persecuted. The behavior of the government from President Clinton using RICO extortion laws to jail abortion protesters, to the weaponization of the FBI justice department, and the collaboration of internet media giants from Google to Facebook reveals that the persecution of believers has, in fact, already started. The only question is how far, how fast?You can lose your job now for simply stating what the Bible says. In England, over 3,000 people were arrested last year for something “offensive” they said on Facebook, Twitter, or on a post-it note on their desk. One man’s crime was posting Bible verses on a screen in his small store.First, we are witnessing a campaign to silence us and get our voices off the internet. Then the narrative can be controlled and all the “breaking news” stories can paint Christian individuals and groups to be dangerous monsters, intolerant, and right-wing extremists with no one to say differently.What Should We Do About it?The #1 thing Jesus said about living in these days was to not be anxious from overthinking about it. Sherry and I have seen a spirit in people from the persecuted church that is bold and confident, hardened by their own response to the pressure that wants them to bend. Those who will not bend become stronger from the pressure. Think of the three Hebrew boys when threatened by the fire of the king. “16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. 18 But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” Dan. 3.16-18 NKJVFire hardens steel. Persecution prepares God’s true people to shine.Let’s not waste these days. Let this early pressure steel our resolve to sit among the valiant ones 10,000 years from today. Sherry and I are determined to live more confidently and boldly than ever. We want to be more loving and careful in all our words, especially toward those who are opposed to our Lord, but to make certain that everyone in the heavenlies and those around us know that we honor Jesus for all he has done for all of us. We want everyone we meet to receive a chance to know him too. That’s what’s keeping Jesus from coming already so let’s get stronger and bolder day by day.In His Love,Chuck and SherryThe attached video is about believers overcoming the rise of the Beast in Revelation 13. Hope it ministers ...
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    10 m
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