Tag: Prisoner

HOW TO REPENT

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HOW TO REPENT

By Rick Mathes

Matthew 3:2 “ Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

We need to start out with: Jesus wants you! Now you can wiggle and squiggle like worms on a hook but you need to face it; you are hooked. What Jesus wants, Jesus gets so it is futile to fight the inevitable. Jesus will have you and sooner is a whole lot better than later. He wants to bless you as a loving Father to his son if only you will let him.

So what are you to do when faced with a seemingly irresistible sin? Or in other words, how do you avoid committing this shameful act before the cross of Christ?

The very first thing is you must do is stop dead in your tracks. Just plain stop. Don’t go an inch further. Just shut down all your body parts and senses. Go on disconnect.

Then you need to turn around. Don’t get all hyper and upset and do something stupid or mare shameful. Don’t move. Let your mind catch up with your better judgment. Let the Holy Spirit get behind the wheel once more.

Now you need to turn around. Put you back to the devil and press on! It’s time to hurry back to Jesus. Do not hesitate and don’t look back. You may not have another chance so take this one dead serious and don’t let this opportunity pass you by.

There are three levels of confession and conversion.

The first is intellectual. You need to confess Jesus Lord in your head and really mean it. Don’t try to understand everything about God because you never will. He has informed us through the Word and works of Jesus to take the narrow road to glory and leave all the filth Satan has thrown at is behind.

I don’t trust feelings because feelings because Satan can counterfeit them but when the Word of God and only the Word of God touches my heart, I know it and so will you. We can’t explain it to a non-believer but the Holy Words come alive and now we begin to walk the talk and confess Jesus AS Lord. We have moved from easy-believism to Lordship Salvation when we believe and obey.

100% NEW

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100% NEW

By Rick Mathes

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NASB77) 17  Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

The center of creation is Jesus because He spoke all you see, all that is into existence. Not only did His superior imagination think of all things but He only had to say the Word and all creation sprang into existence in a fraction of the speed of light! I can’t get my mind around that but I can attest with all truth that all born again believers live through Christ.

Like boiling water through coffee grounds we pass our lives through Him and He filters out all worldly and temporal idols until only He is left for you to worship. As we live with Christ all hat belong to Satan flee from us as darkness cannot last in the presence of light. In living for Christ we pay homage to His love and sacrifice for us even unto death so that we might live.

We Christians are often accused of being judgmental. Sinners hate having their sins exposed to the Savior, so we are hated. They misquote the Word to condemn us of not loving but being mean and judgmental. Well for the record, I am just fine having you or God judge me as I judge you. I can state that because I live to please Him and if I am saying or doing anything contrary to His Word I want you to rebuke and correct me so judge away but also notice the plank in your own eye.

We all have a different purpose in life but be aware of your purpose and don’t neglect it. It was why you were created. You are to fulfill the desires Christ has in His heart, the heart that broke for you and for the atonement of your sins.

If only we could put our ear to heaven I wonder what we would hear the triune God converse about us. Would they be blessed and ecstatic over our pursuit of happiness? You die to yourself and life for the approval of Jesus.

I fear doing anything that would shame or offend my wife because of my lifelong commitmentto be one in her as her soul-mate. How much more are my conversations and actions a reflection of Him when I am born again and 100% a new man I never knew. Won’t you join me for an experience you will never forget.

PRESS ON!

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7 WOES

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7 WOES

Matthew 23:8 But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers.

You call me:

  • Master but do not obey me
  • Light but do not walk with me
  • Wise but do not listen or learn from me
  • Rich but do not ask of me for help
  • Eternal but do not live like you believe it
  • Gracious but do not trust in my generosity
  • Noble but do not serve me as my slave
  • God but do not fear offending me

If I call you condemned, do not blame me!

Woe is you as you plunge down the flaming pit because of your preoccupation with everything and anything that was self-gratifying. The sum total of all your love and ambitions now and in the future is only your well-being and materialism. All that matters to you is you. Your egotism is so prevalent that you barely comprehend the purpose of those around you but to satisy your needs and wants. You are oblivious to all else.

There is a total vacuum of spirituality within you mainly because your unconfessed sin keeps getting in the way. You can only wall off righteousness for so long until it bursts its walls and destroys itself and all within its path. Now the challenge you face is to put up a face of righteousness around you so that no one will be able to penetrate your façade of holy living.

This impenitence arouses God’s anger at your audacity and deception. He will try His best to have you take a good hard look at who you really are on the inside that place in you that no one is welcome but you.

It’s been over 2,000 years of this nonsense with no change in your perverseness. The sad thing is that there is never another second chance. You may have used them all up and you have no options left. This delusiveness of living is denial of sin, Satan and hell will open up within you.

Go back over this article and see if you can’t pick out the 7 woes and then whip them to submission for the glory of the King of Kings, your Commander in Chief or else!

PRESS ON!

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WHY NOT?

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WHY NOT?

By Rick Mathes

There are two questions that have nagged me from as far back as I can remember: Why and what is Truth? Apart from Jesus and the constant teaching of the Apostles, neither question can ever be objectively answered. To this day my mind goes haywire when I hear people philosophize in a relative and often circular manner of reasoning. To them, truth is whatever they believe to be true. They cross their eyes when I remind them of the law of non-contradiction: A cannot be both A and B at the same time or A and B cannot both be true.

Socrates drove everyone nuts with his incessant questioning of “Why?” His dialectic method of questioning made fools out of those who lived without constants, nothing objectively secure.

My parents would say, “You need to be in by 10PM!” I’d ask, “Why?” and they would say, “Because we said so!” Made no sense to me the difference between 9PM and 11PM so I would stay out until midnight which made more sense to me.

And my second nagging question was, “What is truth?” I read almost every word in the Great Books Library, had a I Q of 140 and still didn’t know what truth was. I didn’t learn until I read the Bible Jesus say, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”

I still can’t understand how Jesus can be the truth. I can understand how he has the truth, or he knows the truth, or he teaches the truth but how can a man be a concept, and why?

There I go again, I’m right back to where I started!

WHAT IS FINISHED?

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WHAT IS FINISHED?

By Rick Mathes

Jesus commissioned the Holy Spirit to carry on until He returned. It to Him we seek God’s works by grace in us. As Christians, sold out and totally committed to our returning King we have had our vanity transformed into humility. Once we understood His atonement for our sins on the cross we dropped to our knees, put our faces in the mud, the blood and the tears and cried out, “It is finished!” Our old self died.

In the deepest humility we have an earnestness of purpose that only God knows where it came from. It sure hasn’t been natural since we accepted Him in our head and heart as Savior and Lord.

Because of His finished work we are now friends of God. Can you get a handle on that? We are not at enmity with the Lord of our universe but rather personal friends of His now. We can walk into His presence and be more than welcomed at any time we want to. Imagine that for a moment.

We have been declared righteous. This is not a righteousness of our own but one imputed by Christ’s death on the cross. He took our rap-sheet (list of crimes) with Him. Our record is spotless. God will not even know we ever sinned! Isn’t that something? It is finished! I know that because we have been rescued from sin. The devil hasn’t got his claws in us because we are friends of God.

The cell door has come off of its hinges and the bars have been sawn asunder. We have been set free from the power, punishment and will soon be set free from the presence of sin.

How proud can we be when the Lord stepped from the tomb and Satan knew he was finished. Now like a junk-yard dog, he’s trying to take down every Christian he can until he is thrown into the lake of fire.

We have been chosen of god and predestines to be in that parade when the Lord comes back and reins forever. We who are born again will lift up our hands and shout, “Only you O Lamb or God are worthy!”

THE UGLIEST MAN

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THE UGLIEST MAN

By Rick Mathes 

Two years after my Christian experience at age forty, word quickly spread about my previous life of alcoholism, drug addiction, promiscuity, violence and worse. One day I received a call from the team leader of a few seminary students that had been doing a weekly chapel service at the local county jail. They asked me to connect up with them and give my personal testimony at their next scheduled worship service. I reluctantly accepted and wasn’t too thrilled to be voluntarily going to jail! In my youth, I had been cuffed and locked down five times that I could remember. Being four locked gated deep in an all too familiar jail was not my idea of having a good time, but I would do it for my Jesus. So I went anyway and gave my testimony. The altar was overflowing with repentant prisoners seeking the forgiveness that only Jesus Christ can offer. I felt like I had put my finger into a 220 watt wall socket; an electrifying experience! I continued to frequent these weekly meetings and in time the students eventually graduated and scattered to all parts of the country, pastoring their respective churches. I was left alone and without new seminary students to replenish them.

That first jail service by myself made an unforgettable impression that would change the rest of my life up to this very moment!

The inmates began filing in and the chapel was swollen to overflowing. They were sitting in the aisles, on the steps and across the stage. The thought of a jail break slipped through my mind and maybe I was going to be taken hostage! Almost seventy street-hardened criminals were between me and the only exit from the chapel. Resigned to the task at hand, I had a message to preach. I did, and at the conclusion of the message my eyes were drawn to the last pew, the inside aisle seat closest to the door out. There sat the most ghastly looking convict I have ever seen.

He was like on of those neckless weight-lifters that are so muscle bound that they can’t even bend their arms to comb their hair. He was brown skinned with white splotches scattered about his face and arms. He looked like he had been randomly splashed with bleach or lye. His left eye was missing and you could see twitching beneath the sunken eye-lid. There was a poorly stitched scar that circled his throat from ear to ear and all his front teeth were missing except the two protruding eye teeth. Satan had taken him to hell and back.

Our eyes met in a steely stare with a serenity that suspended time. My blood ran cold as he deliberately got to his feet, kept eye contact and walked down the center aisle directly toward me. I was paralyzed with fear!

When he finally reached me he began to weep, dropping to his knees at my feet, sobbing as deeply as a man is able. I was dazed and startled at this turn of events. I cleared my head and witnessed a sinner seeking a Saviour. The sinner’s prayer ….. finally focused on my purpose …. Lead him to the foot of the Cross … Holding his ugly fact in my two hands, we began speaking in prayer and repentance together. Looking into his battle-raged face, something very extraordinary happened to me!

You can call it hallucination, drug flash-back, or a vivid imagination, but for me it was an unforgettable, supernatural vision.

I looked deep into his grotesque face and I saw the cherished face of Jesus looking back at me. His Word went through my veins like fire; “Whatever you do to these brethren of mine, even the least of them, you have done it to Me.” I was blessing Jesus!

PRESS ON!

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PREACHERMAN

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PREACHERMAN

By Rick Mathes

The gates of hell have unleashed counterfeit preachers that have graduated from our finest seminaries. They have gravitated to an estimated seven out of ten pulpits, from small country churches to large mega-churches where thousands are lied to. No lies of commission, commission or permission. A mass of our earth’s population will be destroyed by the conflagration of flames St. Peter has prophesied.

How can we know the minister we learn from speaks fresh from the throne of Jesus? What test can we put them to so as to be certain we are being taught by God? We will never know until our Lord returns but I do have a few guidelines that I go by.

My minister must have holiness of character. Even a minister occasionally worldly is an indication that his integrity is soiled and what you get may be what you see. Any minister that winks at sin does not hate sin and thus does not love the Savior. Look closely for Christ-likeness!

He must have a high degree of spiritual life in his family as well as in darkness it is in light. I would be suspect if he is inclined to abuse any of the seven deadly sins or violate the Ten Commandments. I know we’re all human but this minister of yours cannot just be called he must be chosen to be the Lord’s ambassador. When you get to know your minister do you get to know Jesus? If not, tread carefully.

He must live out the faith he professes. If he doesn’t walk is he should be restrained from talking it. I would rather see the sermon than hear it. His true self should mirror Christ with his most earnest effort. We are able not to sin and he should be the highest example for you to emulate.

Now I’m not trying to make your minister some kind of super human being. I just expect that he should be fully committed to Christ in the simplicity of his heart. Look deeply into his soul and discern if he has complete surrender to God. He must example what he preached and encourage how to rise to our Lord expectation of your fleshly levels of mediocrity.

To be holy we must be wholly God’s and our minister must lead the way.

PRESS ON!

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NO ESCAPE

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NO ESCAPE

By Rick Mathes

We are in a revolt against God: as a nation, as a civilization, as a church and personally. We are warring against heaven itself. Satan is our Lord because we are obeying him. Scary isn’t it? But it is the truth. We have been in rebellion with God since we left Eden and there is no sign tht we will be letting up.

Think about it. Man has renounced Divine Lordship. Even professing ministers hare rejecting the light of God’s Word and being consumer friendly with large music productions and stage shows instead of a solid sermon from God’s Word. This is a complete rejection of the purpose of the Holy Spirit to bring to our remembrance God’s Words and guide us through the deep knowledge of who Jesus is and what He did: the words and works of our Savior.

Church after church has turned a blind eye to adultery, active homosexuality, incest, child molesting and all responsibility to account for the sheep before the throne of God. The revenue of offerings cannot be disturbed because the costs go on for salaries and overhead expenses that must be met, no matter what. We must keep our doors open to everyone! A practical of choice made is to actually avoid messages that mention death, sin, or hell. You will never hear the words “believe and obey” ring from the pulpit of a church for fear of losing tithing membership! The church has totally ignored man’s last condition before the throne of judgment. We can’t be judgmental can we?

Why has Christianity degenerated to a helpless pool of wimps?

The answer is the unsaid escape plan man has of 3 ways to avoid God’s wrath. His first thought and probably yours is you won’t get caught. Somehow your plans to escape the detection of your sin will succeed to allow you to continue to sin freely undetected. You next consideration is that you can escape the jurisdiction of the sin by making life changes of where you live and the people you associate with. If that don’t work you will have to fall on the errors of our legal system and depend on your attorney to find a loophole in the system that lets you beat the charges. But when all this fails your only recourse is to escape!

The formidable difficulty is that none of this will get by the Paraclete and there in no escape from hell but for you to repent right now, this very moment!

The time will come when it will be too late. You must settle out of court of face the consequences, there is no escaping the truth.

MORE THAN A MAN

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MORE THAN A MAN

By Rick Mathes

Maximum security penitentiary leaps off the screen of a James Cagney movie with long metal catwalks and tier after tier of cages holding the incorrigibles locked down 23 hours a day. The level 5 security risks are separated into four geographical quadrants so that even a chow or shower-time, the gangs cannot assemble together. Divide and conquer is particularly applicable to this bizarre nation of murderers and mutilators doing life without parole sentences.

Once a month, at my evangelistic service, the chapel is the place where all the campus general population is restricted to a central and presumed contained location; the chapel! As over four hundred inmates began filing in by group sections, I was painfully apprehensive that two high-powered rifles were being directed at them by sharp-shooters from the safe position overhead and behind my back. They assembled into their respective gangs; Chicago, East St. Louis, gang-bangers, black Muslims, white Aryans and of course the Christians.

The Warden came up to me and he said that he anticipated an insurrection to take place because he was compelled to allow sixty trouble makers and effeminate homosexuals from Protective Custody to join us from the balcony overlooking the auditorium. These infidels could not even live their own kind! The bottom of the barrel.

The balcony began to fill as they flexed their muscles, sneered and could he heard cursing the name of Jesus. The crowd was growing anxious and I sensed the presence of Satan. I signaled the praise team to begin singing and I dropped to my knees in foreboding desperation of the danger I had led my devoted volunteers into. I cried out to the Lord and began rebuking Satan with all the faith that was in me. A hollowed hush fell over the chapel and through tear blurred eyes, I looked out over the assembly and witnessed a modern day miracle.

About two hundred Christian prisoners had turned their backs to me and were standing upright, in the midst of this living hell. They lifted their holy hands to the balcony and began praying out loud in the Spirit of the Lord. Those few minutes seemed like an eternity as I observed the Spirit of God rush through that demon possessed gallery of incorrigibles. Behold, fourteen notorious gang leaders rose to their feet and cried out to Jesus for salvation! With tears streaming down their faces, the overwhelmed gang members on the ground floor began to stand with their leaders to do the same and I had yet to deliver a word of my sermon to any of them. I cried out, “There is a God!”

The service then began and at the completion I gave an alter call. The alter was flooded with a sea of repentant sinners. I was sobbing too hard to even recite a sinner’s prayer, so I handed the microphone to the black Pastor assisting me. He too was helpless to say a word. So a prisoner doing a double life sentence plus 50 years led them to the throne of grace; the old rugged Cross.

When the service had concluded and the men were led out cell block by cell block, I gathered uou team for praise and prayers of thanksgiving. I later learned that 23 shanks (weapons) were left on the stage! Faith coupled with fervent prayer had prevailed.

 

PRESS ON!

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CHOOSING A MINISTER

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CHOSING A MINISTER

By Rick Mathes

Lucifer was an angel of light. He was the superstar of heaven until his narcissism consumed him in pride and he challenged God for heaven. Well you know what happened, he dropped like a rock to earth and began his war on Christendom

Be honest with me. When did you meet privately with your pastor and quiz him on his doctrine? Let’s go a little deeper. Do you even know what doctrine you believe and can prove from the Word that it is true? There’s two serious considerations you need to make.

Just because you park your body in a church doesn’t make you a believing Christian. And that Preacher in your pulpit might be a devil with a mask on. You don’t know and probably don’t care. As long as he’s entertaining and you get “holy ghost bumps” from the music, the rest is ok with you.

Honestly, most people choose their church like they pick out their favorite hamburger: this one has cheese, the other has catsup but this one has a sesame bun and that one didn’t have a pickle. Oh, please spare me this mindless nonsense.

If your preacher is a counterfeit you will never or very rarely hear the words: sin, death, hell, believe, repent or obey He will say those things that will sooth your checkbook into a generous donation.

The next time you sit under him and his sermon take a steno-pad with you. On the left side do a stick count every time he says: He, Him or His. On the right side do a stick count when you hear I, me or mine. Look at the bottom totals and you will know who he was lifting us to worship.

True evangelical Christianity is Bible only, Jesus only, grace only and faith only: nothing added. The true gospel according to Jesus is commonly called Calvinism. All other faiths are “doing” but the real deal in “done.” Jesus really meant it from the cross when He said, “It is finished!” So I strongly suggest that you trust your soul to the real ambassador of Jesus. You only have one soul, one life, and once chance to get it right!