Hello friends. I hope you are doing well. Summertime can be tough since our time with other Christians can be less without the weekly community groups. Sundays in church are nice but it’s hard to have any deep conversations. It’s easy to keep it polite and superficial, especially in a big church.
Please make great effort to get together socially with other like-minded believers. It’ll rejuvenate everyone. If your situation doesn’t permit you to get together, then catch up by phone or a virtual meeting. Remember this is for your survival and wellbeing; it’s not luxury. We still have about two months to go before community groups start. Here is a short article on the 12 reasons why Christians need to gather together:
https://www.johnbmacdonald.com/blog/12-reasons-for-christian-gatherings
This portion in the article was funny and right on! I wish it was only a funny meme but the adversary (aka demons) are no joke. They want to kill, steal and destroy you and your loved ones.
“An African friend posted a Facebook meme. In the background, a herd of zebras calmly grazes. In the foreground, a lone zebra frantically runs from a lion. The caption reads, “If I’m a Christian but don’t need church.”
If you are a lone ranger Christian, then you and your family members don’t have a chance in outrunning a lion (aka demons) when they are targeting you and your family. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are busiest during the summer months since so many Christians don’t have regular meetings. Please be careful and take this warning seriously.
For those of you who are in a Christian family, you might feel less need to get together with other believers. That’s fair but then it’s your duty to invite others who are alone in their faith into your life so that the sojourner will be inspired to keep on believing and praying for their own family to be saved. I’m sure God will reward you for helping the sojourners for they are His children.
Below are some resources for your review. I hope they help you in your faith journey, and reform your mind and life to biblical principles which are there to guide and protect you:
1. This short devotional describes more about the weekly Jewish Sabbath. If your life allows you to have a sabbath day, please consider their example.
https://www.ifcj.org/learn/holy-land-moments/daily-devotionals/the-tents-and-the-tabernacle
2. In my college church, my pastor and leaders rarely taught from the Old Testament books. My college church leaders never said anything bad about the Jewish people or nation. We just never talked about them. In the void of teaching, I assumed that the Church took over for the Jewish people and nation. This is called “replacement theology”.
Last 14 years, I’ve studied the entire Bible extensively without any breaks. Personally, I don’t know anyone who studies the Bible as much as I do. It’s important to get your theology straight about the Jewish people and nation. Why? Because they are super important to God.
As I was resisting the idea of the Jewish people and nation still mattering to God, I had a dream in August 2018. (I rarely remember my dreams and so when I do, I jot it down immediately. When God speaks to you in a dream, you best pay attention.)
“In my dream, elementary-aged children were playing together during school recess. A blond pretty girl about 5th or 6th grade was popular and playing with her friends. Somehow I knew that although she looked okay that she had a very serious illness, perhaps like cancer in remission. There was a Jewish girl classmate who was hoping to play with her and her friends. But the blond pretty girl told her coldly that because she is Jewish she can not play with them. She ran off to enjoy the rest of recess with her friends while the Jewish girl classmate looked down very sad, hurt and alone. In that moment, I heard in my spirit that the girl’s healing would not come despite many family prayers. Then I woke up.”
After the dream, the Holy Spirit gave me a hypothetical example to help me understand how God felt about the Jewish people. Let’s say I adopted ten kids and I have an amazing and loving relationship with them. But my relationship with my two biological children have deteriorated and they stayed away from me. Would I ever forget my two biological children? Of course not! I’ll think of them everyday and passionately long for them. And anyone who has good relationships with my biological children will be my close friend, and I’ll go out of my way to help my friend if she needs my assistance. And if anyone hurts my biological children even if my relationship with them is poor, I will take it very personally and seriously.
After experiencing the emotions of this hypothetical example, I have been very careful about how I treat the Jewish people. I do my best to bless, love and pray for them if given the opportunity. (We should be doing this for everyone regardless of their race and background.)
Please pray about my sharing and ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand. I believe it is important to understand this and adhere properly in order to release the supernatural breakthroughs and healing from God.
To be honest, I am actually glad that Abraham (the father of the Jewish people) wasn’t Korean. Think about this – the Jewish nation and the Chinese nation are about the same in historical years, about 6000 years. Today, there are only 16 million Jews WORLDWIDE. There are 1.4 billion Chinese people in China alone (and a lot more if you count the Chinese people worldwide). Between God disciplining the Jewish people, and Satan wanting to kill them all; it’s no wonder their population is so, so puny.
It’s up to you to decide what you want to do with this information. While you are trying to figure it out, I advise you to stay neutral. I am sharing this information because I don’t want anyone to miss out on the supernatural breakthroughs of God, like the little girl in my dream who didn’t get healed despite many people praying for her healing. Having the right theology and adherence to the principles in the Bible matter for supernatural breakthroughs and miracles.
The Korean people don’t have a long history with the Jewish people. We’ve only encountered them since modern immigration. Once I realized how much God still cares for the Jewish people; I repented for any ill actions, thoughts and feelings that myself and the Koreans might have done against them. I was just doing what Daniel did when he repented for his people.
Please read this excellent article that explains this very well with Bible verses for referencing: https://allisraelnews.com/blog/erase-replace-the-lie-of-replacement-theology-and-the-attempt-to-write-israel-out-of-gods-plan
3. My church had a guest speaker last Sunday. I still can’t believe that he was in North Korea and got out of there alive and free after singing two worship songs to the heads of state. Unthinkable! That’s the name of his book, Unthinkable. 🙂
I’m still in awe that he got out of North Korea alive after singing worship songs in the open. That’s just not possible without being killed. Skip to minute 40 to start hearing his story. https://www.youtube.com/live/UBIlaxflmo4?si=a3ZvRjSOwFcGeoEl
I’ve read books and heard many stories of North Koreans who were able to make it out alive. Here’s one example of the brutality of the Kim regime. I was praying so hard for him to make it out alive. This USA college student simply took a picture of Kim Jung Il from his hotel room. Here’s a brief recap of the story. I was following his saga during that time, and read in detail the evidence of the terrible torture that he suffered. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66236989.amp
4. When I encounter great injustices and evils, my heart and mind get overwhelmed and hardened. But ever since I have done a deep Bible study on the book of Revelation during COVID lockdown period, I have learned to leave the revenge to God. Studying the book of Revelation has freed me, actually.
Here’s a good message by Pastor Francis Chan about this.
“In this powerful and sobering episode, Francis Chan dives into one of the most often overlooked aspects of God’s character—His wrath. Teaching from the Book of Revelation, Francis reminds listeners that the justice and vengeance of God are not blemishes to be hidden but perfections to be praised. He calls the Church to a deeper reverence for Scripture, urging believers to embrace all of who God is, not just the parts that feel comfortable.”
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crazy-love-podcast/id1007053996?i=1000717226158
5. This podcast was excellent. He’s a Mexican-American pastor in LA and his sharing was so good and very touching. “Pastor Netz Gomez is a voice of revival and faith in the Los Angeles Latino community.” https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/heaven-meets-earth/id1806665471?i=1000718221866
6. This podcast is very good too. It’s only a matter of time before we get disappointed with a spiritual leader so it’s good to hear this interview with Pastor Max Lucado who took over as interim lead pastor for Gateway Church in Texas, after the moral failure of their former lead pastor Robert Morris. Lately the Holy Spirit has been putting in my heart to pray for him and his family members. He does have a wife, children and many grandchildren who were very involved in the church and ministry. I can’t even imagine what they are going through. It must feel like walking through hell.
7. If you have time please check out this interview too. It was very good.
“Bree Groff is a workplace expert who explains what to do when you have a bad boss, don’t love your job, and the future of work. Plus, Bree talks about how to become a better boss and what kind of jobs are going to make the cut during the coming AI revolution.” https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-carey-nieuwhof-leadership-podcast/id912753163?i=1000718443198
Journal of Faith 