The Father.6

"The Father loves the Son, and has revealed to him his universal plan; and you will witness even greater miracles than those which you have already seen. 

Even as the Father raises the dead, and gives new life, so the son will give new life to whomever he will." 

--Jesus

Stealing Hope

"What a brute I am, Wilfrid! he said. 'Why shouldn't I be as good as Jesus Christ? It seems always as if a man might. But just look at me! Because I was miserable myself, I went and made my poor little sister twice as miserable as I was before. She'll never get over what I said this morning.'

'It was foolish of you, Charley.'

'It was brutal. I am the most selfish creature in the world -- always taken up with myself. I do believe there is a devil after all. I am a devil. And the universal self is the devil. If there were such a thing as a self always giving itself away -- that self would be God.'

'Something very like the God of Christianity, I think.'

'If it were so, there would be a chance for us. We might then one day give the finishing blow to the devil in us.' 
(excerpt from 'Wilfrid Cumbermede' by George MacDonald)

'Convince a man that there is no God -- or, for I doubt if that be altogether possible -- make it, I will say, impossible for him to hope in God -- and it cannot be that annihilation 
should seem an evil.' (Ibid.)

Is there a greater miracle possible than that a man should turn to God and hope in Him?

The growing clamor for "Socialism" in the USA today illustrates powerfully the attempt by man to make it impossible to hope in God.  For it fills people who

bear the burden of a hard world with a false hope that lifts them from despair. But that hope is only temporary when they realize that their life hasn't made an appreciable improvement and those whose lives had served as an incentive to rise above the mundane have been pulled down so that everyone is "equal" while those who sold the fake future live in luxury and continually increase their demands for compliance.  The last stage of despair is worse than the first!

A recent story from China reports that the government has been demanding

Cross pulled down from
Chinese Church

that citizens remove any religious symbols like crosses, scriptures or paintings and replace them with images of Mao or the current Chinese president. (www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-25/crosses-burned-in-china-religion-crackdown/10301956). If the internet has done nothing else it demonstrates daily man's attempt to "make it impossible to hope in God!"

The promises of "universal health care" or "free college" or "equal pay" or a "living wage" are a terrible price to pay to have Hope in God stolen from the soul of mankind!

Yet the devil in us will continue to steal and kill and destroy while a flicker of hope remains. Consider that the State of New York passed, and Virginia seriously considered, legal infanticide illustrating that those who have no hope in God see annihilation as a desirable outcome for dealing with despair.

Great is the One in us! The One who miraculously continues to give life and hope to all who trust in His sacrificial, Godself-giving love for mankind ...universally! 

Stand your ground for Hope, followers of Jesus!

O Lord by Lauren Daigle

Faith That Moves Mountains.7

"whatever you allocate on earth will be that which is in accordance to heaven's plan."--Jesus

The current USA president, Barack Hussein Obama, won election by promising a plan for the "fundamental transformation of America."  Although half the population was skeptical of what that could mean, he won.  He has "allocated" the resources of several generations of Americans in accordance with his plan.  In fairness to Mr. Obama, it is nothis plan per se, but the culmination of decades of a "progressive" worldview that has brought the USA to the precipice of ignominy [def:  disgrace;  dishonor;  public contempt;  shameful or dishonorable quality or conduct].  If we need proof of that, consider that the USA's credit rating has been downgraded for the first time in our history!  Tens of millions of Americans, dubious at best of "the plan" are now incensed as the relentless effort of unprincipled men begins to bear the fruit of destruction as the greatest governing good grinds to a halt.

There is a tremendous lesson in faith here, and we must not miss it.

Daily we put our faith in something for good and positive outcomes.  You can put your faith in theories, principles, circumstances, doctrines, organizations, parties, people, policies, power, intellect, deception, darkness, light, truth, love, technology, traditions, science, industry, unions or, as MacDonald puts it, "the things only between your teeth."  Faith is only as good as the weight of action you are willing to put behind it.  So even bad ideas, theories, or systems, can have a measure of "success" if enough people believe in it, put the weight of their convictions behind it and allocate the resources necessary to reach their goals.

The Founders of our Constitional (i.e., rule of law) form of Government, for example, understood this by "pledging to each other their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor" to the task of building a country dedicated to liberty!  That is one reason why socialism is in reality a bothersome gnat in the history of good & true men.  Once people understand how cowardly it is to pledge & allocate other people's lives, fortunes and sacred honor the shine wears off the luster of political populism--a populism based on extravagant promises from the hand of shrewd politicians to undisciplined people.

Which political notion best reflects "heaven's plan"?  

• Leaders who will use others to promote their agenda (and self-interests) regardless of the misery and heartache it produces in body and spirit; 
• or those who will lay down their own lives to promote the blessings of their neighbors?

Which political notion can we count on for heaven's power and resources to succeed?

The answer to that question, of course, is which one best reflects the life of Jesus himself!