Tag: alcohol

CHAINED

By Rick Mathes

2 Timothy 2:9 ⁾⁾ for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned.

Prison ministry is a rewarding effort to lead souls from crime to Christ in which I have been a full-time minister in for over three decades. I have led thousands to the throne of grace and many more thousands have passed through our successful aftercare program. I have leaned that there is no difference in prisons for those outside the Department of Corrections and those inside that are convicts. One got caught and the other didn’t which includes me. I have never been convicted of a crime.

At the top of my list of those imprisoned in the “free world” are ministers. They are so beholding to the deacons and elders for their jobs that their knees shake in the pulpit at the thought of offending anyone. They have to have a grand-slam sermon every Sunday and grow the church or they will be selling hardware within 4 years.

I have often thought about how proud the donkey must have been that carried Jesus into Jerusalem. Out of all the donkeys in the world, Jesus chose him. Contrast that to the grumblers the minister asks to help him in the everyday chores of the church. Grunt work has a special reward in glory.

Some I have met who think they are free have concrete between their ears. It’s an understatement that they are unteacheable. Their mouth is going a hundred miles an hour and their ears are folded over and sown shut. Their minds are in bondage to relativity.

When I was growing up I lost all feelings from being abused mentally by a very dysfunctional family or lack thereof. My hero was Dr. Spock from Star Wars. He was without emotion, just stoic and logical. So I grew more hardened to my pain and the pain of others. I became introverted and obsessed with reading and acquiring knowledge: Maybe because I was treated like I was a useless dummy.

Here is the hypocrite with two mouths. The apostate that is enjoying his walk down the wide road to hell and the heretic that goes to church but lives for the devil. There is no fear of God in any of them. Satan’s battleground is your local church that for many is a prison with stained glass windows. Well let me tell you, you can park your hose in a garage but that doesn’t make it a car. The House of God has become the synagogue of Satan. Shame on us!

 

BY GRACE?

By Rick Mathes

Ephesians 2:5 (NASB77)              ⁵  even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ ( by grace you have been saved),

I went through all of grade school and high school in the Roman Catholic education system. I can remember like yesterday asking the Marist Brother, “What is grace?” many times and I couldn’t understand what he said. Also, I never understood that I deserved anything. I was on my own from age 13. My life was like endlessly swimming against the current of black ink: dark and ugly.

Then at the age of 38 a Presbyterian minister told me that it was by grace that I was saved. “What is grace?” He responded, “Unmerited favor.” All of a sudden “Tetelestai” became crystal clear, “Paid in full!” I dropped to my knees and sobbed, “Thank you Jesus” and I have never turned back since. His saving grace was all I needed and for His reasons alone He chose me to be His. Talk about a lucky draw? I had 5 aces!

I soon learned that His grace didn’t end there. Time after time temptations would have overtaken me had it not been for His sustaining grace. I can’t walk on water without His empowerment. When we surrender and step out of the boat, saving grace is the ability to stand on the surface of the deep. Sanctifying grace is walking on the water. Our need for grace continues to the grave.

We can’t walk through that dirty world without getting some dirt on us. It’s like walking through a coal mine in a white suit. It is inevitable that we will soil ourselves from time to time. That’s why “Repent” was the first sermon of John the Baptist, Jesus, Paul, me and many other evangelists. We must repent, submit and obey!

“I don’t get no satisfaction” from any counterfeit the Devil may invent. My only peace and contentment is in His satisfying grace of love and eternal security in Him. It’s by grace we are saved and I thank God He chose me so that I might respond by choosing Him! But if you choose sin of the Savior, Satan doesn’t have any grace. You will drop like a rock into the eternal abyss of flames?

 

BLOODY FOOTPRINTS

By Rick Mathes

(Author of “Allah or Jesus”)

Luke 23:26 And when they led Him away, they laid hold of one Simon of Cyrene, coming in from the country, and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus.

What was going through the thoughts of Simon as he stepped into the bloody footprints of Jesus? He couldn’t help but wonder why this innocent man was being put through this torturous execution. There must have been a look or a word from our Lord because in time, both of Simon’s sons became the first Bishops of color in this new world conquering religion.

Let’s put ourselves into Simon’s sandals and carry our Lord’s Cross. How can we do this? Pick up and continue His love for His brethren. We don’t necessarily need to like each other but we must love each other. Love is not an emotion, it is a decision. The emotion may or may not follow. The last beatitude is persecution so let’s get used to it and carry His Cross, the weight of Hell’s effort to trash His atonement.

Don’t forget that He walks before us. He is leading us to quiet waters through the reconciliation with the Father through His death; His final sacrifice. The Lord, the real Lord is our Shepherd. We don’t follow Father Lucifer anymore. Our old shepherd only let us to death, insanity or incarceration.

It’s by His grace, will and strength that we can carry His cross, keep the faith, fight the good fight and finish the course. We press on because we know where He is leading us to. He is the way, the truth and the life. He is our partner and the burden is light yoked to Him.

It is only for a short time of three-score and ten that this burden is ours so let’s give it our best shot. The consequences of our sin is truly a heavy load but we did it to ourselves and the least we can do is pick up our cross and follow Him. The reward, like childbirth, is well worth the pain. What a privilege it is to take it to the Lord in prayer.

BLIND

By Rick Mathes

(Author of “Allah or Jesus”)

Romans 3:11 (NASB) ¹¹  THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;

AUGUSTINE

Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore, seek not to understand that thou mayest believe but believe that thou mayest understand.

The ignorant man always adores

What he cannot understand.

Our condition before God is so bad we get into denial to hide our real self. If you saw my heart as God sees it you would run from me and yours would be terrifying if exposed. We have an underlying and an ulterior motive. The underlying motive is in plain sight but the ulterior motive is under the table and driven by self and sin.

When we walk in willful sin we cannot really see the beauty of Christ’s countenance. It’s blurred with the smoke from hell. You lose the presence of His grace because you have yielded to Satan’s lordship; Satan has become your lord. It’s like running your hands through the filth and decay of a cesspool and then lifting them to God for mercy. You are only making God gag.

Keep focused on the things of God by seeing through His eyes. It’s like moving from black and white to color; a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. This can be a wonderful adventure as His world, sin-free opens up to you.

I have controlled glaucoma in both eyes. My mom and grandfather both went blind from it. I am so grateful for the gift of sight and I dedicate this medical miracle to the Great Physician. Of all the terrible things that could happen to me physically, I fear going blind most.

The pressure of Jesus points out the need of a new birth. The evil of this world is smothering us body and soul with the filth of sin. This sin killed God’s Son. This is very serious. In your blindness you will have the penalty of sin fade into the wide road that leads to eternal flames. So get your spiritual eyes checked as I did and don’t allow yourself to go blind to the grace and goodness of our Savior, Jesus.

BEFORE-AFTER

By Rick Mathes

1 Timothy 1:11-12 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted. ¹² I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service;

The beatitudes of Matthew chapter 5 are a wonderful but unattainable goal for Christians to reach for. I learned real soon in my walk with the Lord that I being Christlike was impossible. But in studying Paul, I found it was possible for me to be Paul like because he and I had so much in common. Let me just touch on a few characteristics of Paul then I will summarize with an overview of the amazing Jesus we will all be like in His Day.

Paul was a blasphemer of Christ which shouldn’t shock you because Peter and Judas were too. The thing that made the differences between a Saint and an ain’t was repentance. Peter restored himself. Judas destroyed himself. Paul was dead to sin the moment Jesus struck him on the way to Damascus. He said, “Lord, what must I do?” Confessing Jesus as Lord saved Him and me.

Paul persecuted Christians by having them beaten, whipped, incarcerated or killed. He was a national figure that was greatly feared for his hatred of what was then called, “The Way.” Isn’t it an interesting play on words when Jesus said, “I am the Way.”

He was a killer of Saints. This was before people invented a Pope who would preside on who was a saint and who should be executed as an infidel. (Study the Inquisition) The Word however clearly teaches that all believers are Saints. It doesn’t take any special anointing from a vicar of Christ to announce you are.

His only excuse for such dastardly behavior was that he was ignorant of the truth. Ignorance is not a bad word that denotes mental instability. Everyone is ignorant or has a lack of knowledge of something. But when you have heard the Gospel according to Jesus Christ, from that point on you are without excuse if you ignore it.

The only unpardonable sin is unbelief. There is no sinner that is worse than someone who refuses to confess Jesus as Lord. God can’t help you if you refuse His grace. You belong to the devil and your eternal home will be in hell watching your skin and flesh blister and smolder in the endless flames of the eternal furnace.

What a contrast that Jesus took Paul, Satan’s trash and turned it into His treasure. Just like you and I and I’m not too sure about you! (Just kidding)

 

BEFORE THE DAWN

By Rick Mathes

John 3:36 (NASB77) ³⁶ “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

The world is a howling wilderness to those who go recklessly through it, stumbling in their self-made darkness: world gone mad. They have no concept of the consequences of their random and unleashed actions of sinful aggressions. It becomes a merry-go-round of evil, careening before them with a forever of no beginnings or ends of cowardly suicide of integrity and character.

Another night of lurking fear as the streets darken and the shadows flee the sundown and beams of thinning traffic headlights: loneliness no human should ever be asked to endure. Road-rage and taunt nerves cause tempers to flare and fights to spontaneously ignite. The irresistible lure of the taverns and relief of liquid levity is only one swallow away: the devil knows. “Pass that joint my way, bro.” The shakes from last night still linger. I can’t believe there is another day when I prayed last night would be my last: a dog returning to his vomit.

My sorrow is overwhelming me when I revue those shadows that follow me. Skinned knuckles, bloody mouth, vomit and shame: night after night: Can I ever be truly sorry for living the same horrors day after day, after day, after day?

The shroud of death, coffin and hearse are lined up and prepared for my demise: my enemies would rejoice. “Oh look, there’s a big Mack truck!” It’s coming my way and all I need is a sharp turn to the left and this nightmare would end and who would care: no one? They can hold my funeral in a phone booth.

Some would fake tears and regrets but the day would dawn and if the truth be said, my passing into oblivion of the abyss would be secretly celebrated. What hope is there for me for you for that matter?

If ever there was a time for the Holy Spirit to breathe His life into me once again it is now and I pray that it will be for you also! Suck it up and drink it in deeply right now as you read this.

I need the right loving spirit to give me a Son-rise (sunrise) in my soul that will quench my prideful and hardened heart. I don’t even know what “humble” is so I cry out to You Lord, “I can’t!” and I can hear the heavens echo your response, “I CAN!”

I come to your Cross and beg forgiveness and as your Word promises, you forgive me with your atoning blood. Help me to accept it and put the past behind. It keeps rearing its ugliness to destroy the flickering joy within me. I receive the forgiveness and pledge to become a forgiver, forever.

The dawn has come to light and the night drifts slowly into the horizon of defeat. It has not power over the Light of the Word, the only Son of God, and my Savior!