Removing Our Spiritual Squatters

Where I live, there is a river nearby.  Back in the day, the riverfront was an area of great activity. Warehouses were built to accommodate the massive amounts of merchandise that was being shipped up and down the river.  The owners of the warehouses built strong fences and walls to keep the merchandise from being stolen.  There was only one entrance to the property and that entrance was protected by security personnel 24 hours a day.  No one was allowed onto the property unless they had a reason to be there.  Now, the guard shacks sit empty.  The walls and fences are in disrepair or missing and anyone can find a way into the buildings without any difficulty.  As the weather turns colder, more and more people make their way into these abandoned warehouses and set up living quarters.  They are called "squatters".  They take up residency in property that is not theirs.  Eventually, the word gets out to others that there is room in these abandoned warehouses and they become filled with squatters trying to survive the harsh winter environment. 

Our body is our earthly shelter for our soul.  Like a warehouse, the valuable material is inside the shelter and a layer of defense is around it to protect it.  Our soul is the valuable material and our body protects our soul from the negative influences of this world.  The warehouse has a guard shack at each of the entrances and, when there is valuable material inside, they are fully manned to keep out those that might do harm.  Our body has entrances where messages from the outside world can be funneled into our soul.  The soul receives messages through our ears, our eyes, and our skin.  Our body has the ability to set up guard shacks at these entrances and provide a strong defense against messages that might do harm to our soul.

The question is:  how strong is our defense against the messages that might do harm?  

Before we can answer that question, we must first believe that our soul is worth defending.  If we don't see our soul as being "valuable," then why would we protect it?  If our shelter is empty and void of any value, then who cares what takes up residency in our shelter.

You must first believe that you are valuable to someone.  

How do you assign a value to someone?  

Is there anyone in your life that is happy to see you?  

There is a certain internal joy that boils up inside a person when they see someone that obviously cares for them.   But what if the world has removed all of the caring people from your life?  There may not be any caring PEOPLE in your life but there certainly is one that loves you deeply.  God loves you!  He loves you more than you can possibly imagine.  He has assigned a value to you that is greater than any measuring device can measure.  He has given you a gift that is the greatest gift ever.  All you have to do is accept it, and believe in Him.  He has given you the ability to live all of eternity with Him in Heaven.  It cost Him the life of His Son, Jesus Christ.  Jesus' blood has covered the cost of ALL of our sins... Yes, even that one.  

OK - let's stop right there... because we have to deal with that voice in your head.  Yes, the one that just told you that God would never forgive you for....  (fill in with that awful thing that you did).

We are God's creation!  He created us out of love!  He loves us unconditionally... no matter what.  He want's us to love Him back.  That message needs to be received into our soul.  Repeatedly.  Unfortunately, our guard shacks are unmanned and this message is getting lost in all of the worlds negativity.  We need to man our guard shacks so that only God's message of love can get through.  You see, there are two entities that want your valuable soul.  One has determined to force you into his way of thinking and the other has offered you the free will to choose which one you want.  Which approach is based in love?

Perhaps you've heard the saying "If you love someone, set them free.  If they return, they are yours forever.  If they don't, they never were."  God created us.  God loves us and He gives us the free will to choose.  Satan doesn't want us to know God.  He has provided a great deal of emptiness wrapped in glitz and glamour to force us to choose him.  When we follow his ways, they always lead to eternal emptiness and great loss.

You have great intrinsic value to God and He is the only entity that matters!  He sent His Son to earth to die for your sins so that you could be with Him in heaven for all of eternity.  Your soul is worth defending!  Let's place some guards in those guard shacks!  Let's make sure that the only messages that reach our soul are messages that are going to do good to our soul.  We don't want any "Spiritual Squatters" in our shelter!  You see, once we understand that there is a spiritual war being fought around us (and through us) and what is being sought is our souls, the world becomes a completely different picture.  

So back to that voice in your head.  That is a "Spiritual Squatter" - a negative thought that needs to be evicted.  Negativity flees in the light of love!  It's time to surround ourselves with the light of love.  You are loved and you are valuable.  Our guards need to keep out negativity - but what does that mean?

Let's start with what you hear.  If you listen to music, are you listening to music that is filled with references to love?  Not references to sex, but to love.  There is a HUGE difference.  Sex is NOT love.  There are way too many songs that are enticing society into thinking sex is the answer to everything.  These songs are popularized by the lost.  They always have a good beat and cause us to start gyrating in ways that then entice men to think sexual thoughts.  Don't get me wrong, I love a driving beat and a good dance mix but we need to be aware of the end destination.  These all work together to drive us down a path - a path that can lead to destruction if we let it.

We need to make sure that we are monitoring what we listen to.  We need to be aware of the message.  Too many of us believe that we can listen to the music and not the lyrics and it will be okay.  It is a lie!!  Throughout all of history, music has been used to memorize historical events so they are passed down from generation to generation.  It is far easier to remember something that has a tune around it.  If we take a message and wrap it into a tune it is captured in our brains and is repeated.  "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so."  Here's another example, "I like big butts and I cannot lie...  no other brother can deny..."  (maybe you don't know that one but you get the point)  

Let's set a guard around what we hear.  Let's ask God to strengthen our ability to be aware of what is going into our soul.  Then, let's ask God to give us the strength to remove the messages that aren't nourishing our soul and ask Him to provide messages that will nourish our soul.  Removing this constant barrage of negativity from our ears will have an amazing impact on how we respond to other things in our lives.  Believe it or not, our response to other things in our lives will be different if we control the amount of negativity that enters our soul.

Next, let's discuss what we watch or what our eyes see.  Over my life, I cannot believe the speed at which television has degraded from dramatic entertainment to constant violence, rage and sexual references.  There was a comedian when I was kid that made references to the seven words you can't say on television... that list is now down to just two.  By constantly barraging our souls with messages of graphic violence, anger, rage and hate messages, we change the way we respond to real life situations.  Rather than being concerned about the well-being of the other person involved in an auto accident, we quickly lash out at them for being stupid for not seeing our car or not yielding.  But it's not just television. The internet offers our eyes anything we wish to see without regulation.  Pornography rules the internet and in doing so it enslaves our souls.  Pornography makes us think that every person is just interested in having sex or that sex is the only reason for our existence.   Anything that causes us to change the way we respond to situations in our lives is a "Spiritual Squatter." 

Let's set a guard around what we watch or see.  Let's ask God to strengthen our ability to be aware of what we are watching.  Let's ask God to give us the strength to remove this type of message from our lives and watch something that actually builds up our soul.  

Next, the skin.  Touch is one of the most powerful sensations in this world.  A loving touch can bring so much pleasure and a hateful touch can bring so much pain.  Sex and violence are two polar opposites of the sensational world of touch.  Sex, when used incorrectly, is a "Spiritual Squatter" that destroys our self image.  Oh sure it feels great!!  And it should, because God created us to enjoy each others touch and sex is the ultimate touch... but it's meant for those that have already committed themselves to each other.  When sex occurs between two individuals that are not committed to each, it clouds their thinking.  It causes drama.  It makes the two feel like they have so much in common.  It's one of Satan's most powerful tools to lead souls to emptiness.  Violence is inflicting pain on someone.  At the root of violence is hate and hate is the opposite of love.  It's no surprise that violence is also one of Satan's powerful tools.  It makes the person feel more powerful as they beat another human into submission or oblivion.  

We need to set a guard around our sensation of touch.  Obviously, certain skin to skin contact is desired but once the desire starts to grow, we need to be mindful of where it's going and the damage it may do.  Let's ask God to give us the strength to draw an appropriate line that we will not cross until we are in a committed relationship.  Let's ask God to help us control our anger and rage so that we don't inflict pain on others.  Both of these are "Spiritual Squatters" that will lead to a downward spiral into emptiness and loneliness. 

All of these "Spiritual Squatters" are tools of Satan that will be used to show that we are not worthy of God's love.  You see, Satan roams the world like a lion seeking those in which to devour.  Instead of the phrase, "spiritual squatters" we could use the word "demons."  We allow demons to enter our body when we don't have strong defenses.  God's holy word is the strong defense that opens our eyes to God's love and shines His light into our darkness.  When His light shines, the demons flee.  When the demons flee, they make room for goodness to return to our souls.  When we regularly read the Holy Bible and send nourishment to our souls through scriptures, we are strengthening our security guards in our guard shacks.  The more strength we give them the faster they identify the evil messages that are constantly trying to overcome our defenses.  After awhile, the demons move on to others that don't have strong defenses. That's why we need to be constantly reaching out to others to help build up their defenses.

I am here to help you build up your defenses.  If you have questions, please ask.  If you have prayer requests, please send them.  If you would like to know more, please leave comments.

We must all work together to help each other in this spiritual battle to remove our spiritual squatters.


The Shepherd

Closed-Minded Christians

Society tells us that we should be open-minded to other people's opinions and ideas.  It tells us to embrace cultural differences and grow from them.  By being open-minded, we will learn new ways to think, new approaches to living and possibly find answers to problems that we have been struggling with for some time.  So why is it that Christians try to put everyone in a box by categorizing everything as sin and telling society that if you continue down this path you will spend all of eternity in HELL?  How can a culture be so closed-minded and so non-inclusive and be the right way?  It's like we don't even speak the same language or live in the same world.

Hmmm... how do you respond to comments like that?  

When I was a kid, many, many years ago, there were these popular books that were describing how to live on your own in the wilderness without the need for grocery stores or really a need for society.  It was called self-sustainable living.  Everything you need you either provide yourself or you won't have it.  

To me the interesting area of the book was in the chapter regarding medicine and self-healing.  I've always wondered what kind of a person would actually do these home remedies and think they would work.  For example, I seem to recall that if a person were to get a fever they were supposed to wipe their forehead with a handkerchief until it was soaked.  Then, without wringing it out, wrap it around a potato and bury it under the front porch.  In the morning, the fever would be gone.  It occurred to me that most people get sick in the winter and typically the ground is frozen so how can you bury it in the ground.  Why wouldn't a person go get some medicine and take it?  We have medicine for just about any of the common ailments and diseases. Just go get the cure and be done with it.  

I really think the idea of relying only on what one can do for oneself is the draw here.  If they can't do it by their self, without anyone's help, then they don't want to do it.  You hear them say things like "I am very capable of taking care of myself -- Thank you very much!!"  

Have you ever heard of a more selfish attitude?  It appears to be all about them.  I know none of you are like that, but I have seen people at work that act this way.  Whenever I try to lend a hand, they are offended.  "I don't NEED your help!" they say.  To which I respond, "I know you don't NEED it, but would you LIKE it?"  The load is always lighter with more hands.

What if you had a sickness or a disease that required a doctor's visit and the doctor gave you a list of things that you could choose from but only one of the items on the list was the actual cure and he didn't point out which one it was.  You probably wouldn't go to that doctor anymore.  But here is a doctor that has embraced multiple approaches to curing disease and he certainly isn't forcing you to choose the one cure that works and yet he would be reprimanded for not telling you the only way to cure the disease.  That seems to align with what society says we should embrace, yet, in this example, no one would embrace that.  We would have many names for that approach but "Intelligent" isn't one of them.

When Jesus tells us that sin is a disease and the consequences for sin is death but we can be cured if we just believe in Him, why is it we try to find another approach?  Why do we take our sin soaked handkerchief and wrap it around a potato and bury under the front porch hoping for entrance into heaven?  Are we so self-centered that we don't even want Jesus' help to get to Heaven?  Do we really think there are multiple ways to get into Heaven?  Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."  That seems pretty straight forward to me.  

God gives you free will to go try other "gods".  Feel free to search out other religions but remember you're just capturing sweat in your handkerchief.  Christianity is not a religion.  It's a relationship with Jesus Christ.  And just like other relationships, there is an interaction that takes place.  Once you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you will begin that relationship.  And you will wonder why you waited so long.  It's funny to me when I hear people try to tell me that God doesn't exist.  I picture it like this.  Suppose you get a text from your friend and a person sees that you received that text.  Then they proceed to tell you that the person that you are in a relationship with, the person who just contacted you, and that you spoke to, doesn't exist.  REALLY?

Your relationship grows stronger the more you interact with Jesus - through prayer and through reading the Bible.  As your relationship grows, Jesus directs you to do certain things... sometimes as if you just received a text from Him.  He has a great sense of humor, too, so just be aware.  You see Christians aren't closed-minded, they know the cure and they're trying to help you.  Won't you trust me and open your heart to Jesus today?  Please?


The Shepherd

In the beginning, God...

I have several cousins who are not believers in God.  I don't use the word "atheists" because they are not opposed to God, they just don't believe in God.  They haven't seen enough proof on either side to make a decision.  We have very good discussions, but when I reach the point where I feel like I've provided enough proof, there is always a push back.

The other day he posted a Facebook status that basically stated that he didn't understand how people could not believe in evolution when chimpanzees have 95% of the same chromosomes as humans.  It's obvious that humans evolved from chimpanzees.  I let the conversation go on a bit and, as it usually does, we eventually began to talk about the most recent episode of "The Big Bang Theory."  My cousin is also a big fan of this show and somewhat of a car nut.  I took the opportunity to talk about one of Sheldon's shirts, you know the one that shows the chimpanzee turning into Neanderthal Man turning into upright Human then into a robot.

I mentioned how fascinating it is that Sheldon believes that eventually machines are going to take over the Earth.  If they do ever take over the earth, imagine what they might think if they started finding old remnants of automobiles buried in the dirt.  They might start to wonder if this is one of their "prehistoric relatives."  Perhaps even start to build a timeline of how they evolved from them.  Let say the first car the find is a 2015 Lamborghini.  Later they find a 1962 Volkswagen Beetle.  They would compare the two and most likely come to the conclusion that these two vehicles are obviously related because they have 95% of the same components in them.

All cars have basically the same components because man created them.  But from a futuristic machine's perspective, a machine that rules the world, there wouldn't have been a creator because the machines are all knowing and all powerful and have always been in charge.  The machines would build a timeline that would link all machines together in a "machinistic" evolutionary timeline disregarding the fact that the machines couldn't have been first because there was no one to build the first machine.  They would come to a point where there timeline would have a question that couldn't be answered...  which came first the screwdriver or the screw?  Or as the evolutionist humans say, which came first the chicken or the egg?

A Christian would never get bogged down on this question because the answer is obvious.  In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  He went on to create all of the plants and animals.  Now, He could have started with the eggs of all types of animals but who would raise all of the babies and teach them how survive.  He obviously started with fully grown animals just like He did with Adam and Eve.

An evolutionist looks right past this because they have their "God doesn't exist" goggles on.  When people are looking for supporting evidence for a theory, they tend to look right past the obvious because it doesn't support their theory.  It's called a "scotoma."  It acts as a screen or a filter that only let's us see or hear what we want to see or hear.

When we become Christians, we have a different scotoma.  We know God exists because we interact with Him through prayer on a daily basis.  If He doesn't exist then how did all of this come into being.  Genesis 1:1 says "In the beginning, God..."  and scientists have proven that everything in existence today originated from a very violent explosion but they trip over what exploded.  From nothing came something.  Genesis 1:3 says "Then God spoke into the darkness and said "Let there be light, and there was light."   BOOM - The big bang occurred.  It's not a theory.  It's in the first paragraph of the Bible.  Then He created the oceans and the land and the animals, fish and birds - all living creatures...  and then MAN.

We were all created from the same creator, so naturally we have many of the same chromosomes.  I believe this is much easier to believe than a pool of DNA peptides mysteriously and magically aligning to create a living being.   And oh, by the way, it would have to create two living beings at the same time in order to have the continuation of life.  If the likelihood of one living being coming into existence randomly is staggering, think how much more staggering it would be to have two of the same living beings randomly coming into existence at the same time so they could breed and continue with "life."  

To me, this is a MUCH LARGER LEAP OF FAITH than believing in the existence of God.


The Shepherd