Jesus Archives - Run Your Own Country

Salvation Reality

Don’t believe every cute cartoon you see on the Internet.

It’s not “what you do and how you treat people. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” – Corinthians 2:8-9

There is no such thing as salvation by works — by what you do, much less how you treat others.

Now, for the next verse: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” – Corinthians 2:10

What we do, how we treat people is the end result, is the outpouring of God’s sanctification in our lives. Even the kindest, most compassionate and helpful do-gooder in the world has zero access to the Father (and his realm of heaven) if he rejects the Son. There’s absolutely NOTHING we can do to earn our way into heaven: “What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” – Romans 3:9-12

It’s ALL God’s grace in the face of our undeservedness.

“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.” – John 5:24

We Have Met the Enemy — It Is US

Who or what is REALLY destroying the United States of America?

While Satan, whether literal or figurative, may be behind it all, the responsibility rests with each and every one of us.

Satan may very well be the the author of deceit and the father of all lies, but he has no authority to act on his own. He can’t act unless we let him.

Americans have been deceived to the point where they’re no longer capable of distinguishing the difference between good and evil. We ignorantly vote for ever-greater handouts without realizing that’s like taking chunks out of the pillars of a church. It will eventually collapse. Rome became strong, at one point the mightiest nation on Earth, because it was founded as a Republic, a nation governed under the rule of law. Rome crumbled from within when its citizens allowed it to morph into a democracy, where the majority ruled, and then into socialism, whereupon everyone literally sucked the life blood out of it.

When people elect politicians who are deceived, if not outright evil, it’s only because the people themselves are deceived.

This is precisely why more than one Founding Father commented that our nation will not stand on its own, that it must be ruled in
strict adherence to our Constitution, and alongside people ruling
their own lives in accordance with the Bible. When morals are relative, they decay. When morals are based on an external and absolute standard, they persevere. Integrity can never be based on “that which you can get away with.” It must be based on the premise that no one can ever get away with anything.

Some people claim, “our government is allowing them to do it,” without realizing WE are the government. As Lincoln said, we have a government “of the people, by the people, for the people.” Whatever failures happening in America today are a reflection of We the People.

Regardless of the role of satanic deception, We the People need to take responsibility for the condition of our nation. God has given us every tool we need to keep ourselves pure and unpolluted in this world. We strayed from the truth. We allowed ourselves to be deceived. We elected a mix of righteous people, idiots, and monsters to lead us. We are the ones who are piercing ourselves with many griefs.

When We the People get back to Godly fundamentals, God will be just, clearing the cobwebs from our eyes so that we can again see clearly what’s good, right, true, and just, as well as what’s not. At that point, we will stop electing idiots and monsters to lead us. We will no longer recognize corporations as “persons.” We will elect bright, well-educated, yet humble servants of God to lead us, people who know the meaning of the words “stewardship,” “duty,” and “honor,” and who put rescuing hostages above a fundraiser, and the running of our country above golf games and vacations.

We have met the enemy. It is us.

What is Love?

What is love? The popular song follows with “Baby don’t hurt me,” indicating the love is the opposite of being hurt. It defines love as a feeling. If something feels good, it might be love. If it feels bad, it can’t be love.

There’s already a term for that, and it’s called “feelings.” But feelings aren’t love, and love isn’t feelings. By pairing the two, the world denigrates love to nothing more than the parts of our brains which influence how we feel.

That’s not love. But what is love?

Agape (Godly love) often feels wonderful, but it sometimes doesn’t feel good at all. The thing of it is, Agape has nothing to do with feelings and everything to do with one’s long-term physical and spiritual well-being. Whatever good feelings come from Agape love are the by-product of a righteous life. Jesus summed up all the commands of the Old Testament into: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” and “Love your neighbor as yourself,” summarizing, “There is no commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31).

Sadly, the world has corrupted the meaning of the word “love,” pairing it with feelings. The world teaches, “if it feels good, it must be love. If it doesn’t feel good, it can’t be love.” We know, however, that many things which feel good are actually very bad for you, beginning with drugs and alcohol, but encompassing everything which gives you an adrenalin or endorphin rush. Many are ok in moderation, but nothing is good for you to the extreme. Even exercise, taken to the extreme, takes a heavy and permanent toll on your body. Walks or even light runs, fine. Running 10 miles a day, however, is very bad for you, long-term. Even relationships, types of work, and other endeavors can be bad for you if taken to the extreme, and many things which feel good are bad for you in any amount.

Thus, the world is wrong. And because the world is wrong, those of who who know the true meaning of love must counter it with truth, in love. Doing so may hurt, but it’s still love. It won’t accept falsehood, but it’s still love. It won’t tolerate sinful behavior, but it’s still love. It won’t tolerate false doctrine, but it’s still love. It will rebuke those who have erred, and will expose those who are leading others astray.

So, what is love? Is that all there is to love, rebuking and countering wrong? Of course not. It’s also all about reaffirming that which is righteous and good in the eyes of God. It’s about affirming people, building them up in love. Both understanding and accomplishing this, however, requires wisdom.

God and his one and only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, were right all along, and they have graciously imparted their wisdom in a book we refer to as the Holy Word of God, or more commonly, the Bible. Therein you’ll find the keys to all manner of success, happiness, and joy.

When we choose Christ, we choose God, his righteousness, and love.