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The Threat More Lethal Than A Virus

By Jesse Jost

How do you get people to plug their ears to the cries of a suffering people? How do you get young men to march children and grandparents to their deaths? You encourage a spirit of hate that dehumanizes the other.

The only way a human can cope with killing and torturing another human, is to refuse to look at the other’s humanity and see them instead as an animal, a social menace, or a threat to personal safety.

The apostle John wrote that he who hates his brother is a murderer. Jesus warned of the danger of anger and hate by comparing them to committing murder in the heart.

Hate reduces our view of other people to a label or a one-dimensional threat to the causes that are important to us.

When viewed through the lens of hate, other humans are no longer thinking, feeling individuals, with dreams and hurts and insecurities. They are instead problems that need to be fixed or dangers that need to be quarantined or eliminated.

None of us would ever let hate so infect our hearts that we would commit genocide… right?

Hate doesn’t start with murder. It starts with a subtle irritation toward those with differences in opinion.

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Remember The Good…

By Jesse Jost

There is such a fascinating aspect of our human condition that puzzles me:

 Why do we have such a tendency to focus on and remember the negative aspects of life?

Why do we first want to talk about the hard things we experienced in our life?

Why is it easier, when talking about other people, to discuss their flaws and irritating quirks than their character strengths?

Why, after a conversation, do we ruminate more on the hurtful things that were said or the points of disagreement, than the words of praise or agreement?

Why, when reading a post or email, do we zero in on the annoying and negative and forget the positive?

When talking about our country, community, or government, why is it so much easier to bring up the things that frustrate us, than the things our leaders are doing well?

When discussing our church, how much of the conversations are about the exciting things God is doing and how much is about how people are failing?

There are probably beneficial reasons for this human preoccupation with the negative. After all, what is going well doesn’t need our attention. It’s the problem areas that need fixing.

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Activism Burnout, Freedom from Fear, and His Healing Love

By Jesse Jost

This past year has been so difficult because we have been cut off, to varying degrees, from in person fellowship and human touch and real life community.

We are desperate for human contact. Without it, we turn to the substitute of social media.

It has been wonderful to see babies being born, and cute stories and embarrassing moments. These good things from social media have been a gift.

But among the positives, have been the way social media has stirred up so much fear and frustration.

People feel frustrated that they can’t make more of a difference in the real world right now, so they turn to social media activism. At least we can bring awareness to the problem, they feel.

Awareness is such a vital first step to solving problems and injustice. It used to be that you were blissfully living your life, and someone would show you a graphic image of a slave ship. You were shocked. You woke up to the problem. You wanted to make a difference. You could take real action.

The problem today is the non-stop bombardment of social media activism. As I scroll through my facebook and twitter feed, I see activism about global warming and the need to reduce emissions, I see activism warning me that global warming is a hoax and part of an agenda to reduce human population.

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Wormwood’s 2021 Demon AGM report

(Stealthily obtained by Jesse Jost)

Greetings fellow Demons,

2020 was one of the best years we’ve had in a long time. Our labs worked on a virus that would cause a worldwide pandemic – right in the sweet spot for our purposes.

As you know, our ultimate goal is to divide people and keep them focused on the issues that cause contention rather than focus on what our Enemy wants: love for Him and each other.

To achieve this, a pandemic has to be in just the right range of severity. If a pandemic is too deadly, it can bring out the best in people. They often sacrifice personal freedoms and safety to minister to the grieving and afflicted. When people are surrounded by death, they also become desperate for our Enemy and His horrid gospel.

Death awareness creates dangerous conditions for our cause. In the truly lethal pandemic, we lose way too many souls to the Enemy’s camp. Our demon scientists wanted to make sure it wasn’t too deadly.

At the same time, we needed it to be dangerous and deadly enough to accomplish our purposes. If the virus is too weak, it gets ignored and forgotten. I’m looking at you, “Swine Flu.”

This needed to be a virus that people would notice and become obsessed with. It needed to be bad enough so that even freedom-loving conservative politicians would be pressured into demanding drastic lockdown measures.

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  • Rachel Jamieson

    Things are happening in the US that are concerning. The equality act going through Congress for example with no religious exemptions may force us to go against nst Scripture. Sinful agendas are in full steam ahead. This will affect us sooner or later.
    I agree love is to predominate as we stand on the Bible.
    Rachel

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The Monday to Saturday Church

By Jesse Jost

I want to be clear up front that the church needs to gather. We are commanded to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. We desperately need fellowship and communion with other believers. We need their encouragement and exhortations. We need their example and listening ear.

However, I am concerned by the idea that we are only the faithful church when we are packing out a building on Sunday morning. Assembling can take many forms, and where even two or three are gathered in His name, Jesus blesses it.

There are places in the world where the church is unable to meet in large groups in public buildings. Have they stopped being the church? If there comes a time in North America when churches are not allowed to meet at all in public buildings, will the church cease to exist?

For years it has bothered me that for many in North America, “church” has been reduced to a building or a ritual we do once a week.

In the New Testament Church is the community of the Bride of Christ. The emphasis is on relationships in the body, and how the individual members serve each other during the week, and live out their Kingdom mandates.

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Counterfeit Freedom That Divides and Enslaves

By Jesse Jost

The tricky thing about freedom is that the exercise of one man’s freedom almost always entails limiting another’s freedom. My freedom to play my music loud in the room limits everyone’s else’s freedom to have quiet or to enjoy their music.

This creates dilemmas for society: which freedoms should be protected by law and which freedoms should be limited? Should women be free to abort their babies? Should we be free to smoke pot?

The New Testament, while instilling love for liberty, does not call us to unlimited freedom. In fact, believers are often called slaves of God. We are to pursue liberty, but our freedom is to be limited by love. Gal 5:15-17

We are commanded to have the mind of Christ, who though He had the ultimate freedom as God, unhindered by any other power, voluntarily limited his freedom and took on the form of a slave, one who had no rights and freedoms. Jesus limited his freedoms instead of fighting for his rights, so that he could make us free. Phil 2:5-9

To the question of which freedoms should be honoured and which freedoms should be limited, the biblical answer is: We should be free to love and obey God in all He commands us, and we should be free to love our fellowman and be able to meet their needs.

However, the Bible does not give us full freedom of conscience. The Bible takes a dim view of our conscience in that it can become seared and be deceitful, and acknowledges that we have a tendency to justify and rationalize just about anything.

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Three of God’s Most Potent Mental Health Boosters

By Jesse Jost

If God stepped into your room and offered you a pill that was guaranteed to boost your happiness level, would you take it?

God made our brains for joy and peace and pleasure. In His presence there is fullness of joy. (Psalm 16:11)

Jesus said that He came that we might have life more abundantly. (John 10:10) “That your joy may be full,” were some of His final words to his disciples (John 15:11). Paul urges us to “rejoice in the Lord always.” (Phil 4:4)

But on this broken planet, we rarely enjoy God’s presence. Our minds are weighted with anxiety, resentment, discontentment, and guilt.

How did we get stuck in misery and how do we get unstuck?

Happiness Booster #1: Replace Regrets of the Past with Gratitude

The past can be tormenting… mistakes, missed opportunities, and the criticisms and abuse heaped on us. Toxic reflections like these create a yearning to rewrite events gone by.

But the past can’t be changed. It can, however, be reframed or reinterpreted.

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3 Reasons I Now Love the Wrath of God and His Coming Judgement

By Jesse Jost

I almost became an atheist because of the doctrine of Hell. I used to choke on scriptures about God’s wrath or the coming fiery judgement; they felt unfair and cruel. I gravitated to passages about His love, grace, and mercy.

But even though you may rarely hear about God’s judgement and wrath in modern sermons, you can’t escape these ideas in the New Testament.

Jesus spoke more about hell than heaven. Sin was so serious, Jesus warned, that it would be better to pluck out an eye or cut off a hand then let those offending body parts lead us to hell. He said not to fear those who can kill the body, but rather Him who can destroy the soul in hell.

Knowing the terror of the Lord motivated Paul’s evangelistic pleas. He warned about the coming day when the “Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.” (2 Thess 1:8-9)

Almost every epistle mentions the coming wrath and judgement that will consume this planet. Peter warns that judgement will begin with the church. The writer of Hebrews says, “’Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. And again, ‘The Lord will judge His people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:30-31)

We squirm over this doctrine. Seeker-sensitive messages avoid or soften it, fearing that it makes Jesus unattractive.

But whether we like it or not, it’s a reality we have to grapple with. God’s judgement will come whether we agree with it or not.  The only real issue is: are you ready for it?

After meditating on these passages further, I now find them a source of comfort and delight. They free me from miserable chains of self-centeredness, and stir my desire for God. Here’s how:

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Guard Your Story With All Diligence, For Out Of It Spring the Issues of Life

By Jesse Jost

We have a deep psychological and emotional need to understand what is really going on. We are driven to figure out how events and actions are connected,

so we can predict what is coming. This need to know the story is connected to our desire to know the future.

The story we believe we are in informs our view of what the problem is, and what solution is needed. It tells us who the enemy is and what we must do to counter him/it.

We feel adrift and aimless if we don’t have a clear understanding of what story we are in. But a compelling story can light a fire of motivation, making us willing to sacrifice everything for that story.

The story we believe gives us a compelling vision of what needs to be done, and what can be accomplished if the stories ends are achieved. It determines what we are willing to sacrifice to achieve the stories’ goals. It is the root of humanity’s greatest accomplishments and most horrendous atrocities.

Socialism, the most deadly idea of the 20th century, was a captivating story about the world’s primary problem and what could be done to fix it.

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  • Rachel

    Story=worldview, as well?

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Why The Slippery Slope Can’t Predict The Future

By Jesse Jost

A look around at the present trends we are seeing in North America does not give a Christian much reason for optimism. In the past year we have seen numerous freedoms disappear. Churches are facing draconian restrictions and fines for trying to obey our biblical mandates. Censorship of conservative ideas is becoming widespread.

Society as a whole seems to be embracing ideas that run contrary to sacred core biblical values. It feels like faithfully preaching biblical Christianity is becoming cultural suicide.

I have seen alarming parallels between what is happening now to what happened in other nations as they slid into dictatorships and police states. Is history bound to repeat itself? Have the restrictions and freedoms lost in the name of this pandemic shoved us down the slippery slope toward a totalitarian dystopia?

The idea of a slippery slope, or the idea that if we grant one thing it will inevitably lead to another thing, is a powerful rhetorical device. “If we let government dictate masks for the church, then we will also allow the government to stop our preaching the whole Bible.” “If we relinquish one freedom, where will it end?”

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