EMOTIONALLY INJURED? YOU CAN SHED THE CHAINS THAT BIND YOU!

Dear friends and readers,

As you know by now, this afternoon I went live on Facebook with a very short version of what you are about to read below. One of the most difficult problems I have run into during my 34 years as a pastor, is trying to help people who have been emotionally injured by others.

Frequently these injuries come by way of undeserved rumors, back stabbing, someone being a busybody in other peoples matters, marital infidelity, or in many cases being thrown--over, abandoned or let down by someone you considered to be a true friend. And sadly in many cases the inability to forgive yourself for some past sin or lifestyle. But forgiveness deserves it's own time of ministry so today we will concentrate on emotional injury.


Lets take it is reverse order; First however, lets be clear as uncomfortable as it may seem. We like to view anyone who uses the name of Christ as a true Christian. And usually that is the case. But we often forget that the Bible tells us there are "WOLVES" among the sheep. Also false prophets and false teachers. We are often surprised when they show up but we should not be. And in this case what that means---because the scripture refers to followers of the Lord  as being His sheep--that there are some among us who are RAVENOUS WOLVES---mean spirited people who would much rather tear down than build up those around them. And frankly I have found that the age old adage to be true; "There are two kinds of friends--FAIR WEATHER AND FOWL WEATHER!

Fair weather friends are those who are with you when the sailing is good and the weather is pleasant but let a storm approach and they will throw you overboard. A foul weather friend is there with you NO MATTER WHAT! Through thick and thin. Unfortunately when we meet new acquaintances, we never really know what kind of relationship will develop. The "trick"of life is being able to stand strong through a bad time with a fair weather friend without becoming calloused toward everyone else that you meet in the future.

Next on the hit list of biggies is marital infidelity. Thats a tough one for everyone and is probably at the head of the list for producing emotional injury. Many the person---both husband or wife who has been cheated upon carries unwelcome baggage and chains with them the rest of their lives. I would like to make a point here so please listen up. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard from women--THOSE LOUSY MEN--NONE OF THEM CAN BE TRUSTED! At times like that I am quick to gently point out that on the other side of a cheating husband, is ANOTHER WOMAN! And frankly the incidences if cheating wives is just as painful to the man who was cheated upon as it is for a wife who has been cheated upon.

A fact of life is that so much emotional baggage is carried around after a failed relationship that very many second marriages fail miserably because whomever it was in the first marriage that was cheated upon,  almost invariably casts suspicions upon a new marital partner---without cause. Now we are looking probably at TWO consecutive divorces. Who wants that? But healing has to come before normal human relationships can begin again.

Then we have the rumor mongers and busy bodies who leave behind them a trail of emotional wrecks who are scarred for life because they are afraid that those around them will believe the un-truths that have been spread. A short point--if there are grains of truth in what a mean spirited person has said, it is our responsibility to honestly face whatever it is we have done wrong and repent for it. Try not to do that again and get on with our lives.

Having said that, very many people---perhaps you are one of them, have been sincerely and innocently hurt by someone and are having a terrible time getting past it. I understand because I have been there and so has my wife. Lots of pastors teach their hearts out only to become the brunt of rumors. It's life!

I have discovered some things that help. Bearing in mind that I too am susceptible to hurt feelings just like anyone else. But age and experience do help you learn a thing or two.

First, over the years I have learned to be "TEFLON MAN"! If something is said about me that is untrue, I try and go to that person, politely and privately and talk it out. Sometimes that works and sometimes not. One of two things are going to happen; 1). Even if that person does not repent, they WILL THINK TWICE about shooting off their mouth about me again---because they now know that if they do so again, they can fully expect me to be standing on their doorstep asking for an explanation. And generally speaking, that solves the problem. 2). I FORGIVE and gain a friend.

If I am rejected, I merely allow false statements to slide off me like I was covered in teflon. And I have found that if I have friends who are willing to believe the worst about me, then they were never really my friends to begin with.

AND THEN I  WAGE WAR--Spiritual war!  You see, I have discovered a secret formula! 1). I never strike back. 2). I let the Lord fight my battles for me. He is very good at that. 3). I completely
change my view of the evil sparker. Particularly if that person is a professing Christian. Because, I realize it is not me in this instance who is in trouble. The person in trouble is the evil speaker, the busybody, the rumor monger, the mean spirited evil doer. Particularly if that person is one of those with a long track record of evil speak. Then, I able to place that person in a position of compassion. Silly you say? Not at all. Matthew 7:21-23 is a picture of people who considered themselves to be followers of Christ, but He says to them "I NEVER KNEW YOU, DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS"!

That scares me in their behalf. What better person to wage a prayer campaign in their behalf than someone they have tried to hurt with their mouth. ME! Now my feelings go from hurt to compassion for someone who might be lost for all of eternity.

Proverbs 25:21 "If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat. And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. ROMANS 12:20 " If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you heap coals of fire on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good"!

If we do it God's way we win. And potentially so does the evil doer who hurt you. In this case, HEAPING FIRE basically means YOU doing good for an enemy, that may bring conviction to the evil speaker. NOT BEING OVER COME BY EVIL is YOU deciding to shed the injury or insult and to continue on with your life, free of the chains of hurt feelings and the sin of un-forgiveness!

How does that play out for me personally? Well, frankly someone who has spoken evilly about me, or my wife, or my friends, is not going to find their feet under my coffee table. I don't trust evil speakers and will not fellowship with them until they repent and stop their evil ways. BUT, If I saw them broken down on the road I would stop and help. I would go and pray for them if they were ill. Feed their family if hungry. In other words, in order for me to AVOID having my feelings hurt, I have learned it is far better to do things God's way.

I don't have to accept bad mouth. I don't have to accept hurt feelings. I do not have to accept insult. ALL OF THOSE are MY decisions to make. And here is the reality friends; That person who has hurt you---no matter how it was done, will continue to do so if you react to it. But when they know they CANNOT GET TO YOU, they ALWAYS move on to pick on someone else. Turn your heart and your mind around. Don't allow yourself to be a victim. Begin praying for the true victim who is the one who is allowing satan to use them to hurt other people.

Can you do that overnight? Probably not. But if you PRACTICE GOOD, it will eventually become FIRST nature to you. Practicing good is to appropriate for yourself THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT--Galatians 5: 22-23 "LOVE, JOY, PEACE, LONG-SUFFERING, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS, SELF CONTROL. Against such there is no law.

Or you can continue to nurture and guard your hurt, which means that anyone who wants to hurt you, OWNS YOU! Which would you rather be? VELCRO man or woman that allows every single hurt or insult to stick to you? Or Teflon man or woman who can let it slide off like so much primordial ooze so you can go on to be the fullness of all that God intended you to be?

YOU CAN SHED THE CHAINS THAT BIND YOU!!! The Lord will help you--call upon Him and watch and see.

If you want to.

God bless,
Pastor Rance.
P.S. You can write to me at pastorrance44@gmail.com
If you want to.

EARTHQUAKES and NO FEAR! Matthew 24??

Dear readers,

Peace and grace to all of you in Jesus great name!

I have promised I would do an article on Matthew Chapter 24 verses 1-8. The specific emphasis would be current earthquake activity worldwide. Since Matthew 24 verse 7 specifically says "EARTHQUAKES IN VARIOUS PLACES" and these verses are speaking about the end times, can we draw any parallels between Biblical prophecy and current events?

CAUTION!!!!!!! It is so easy to take a leap into a very shaky theological area while speaking about these concerns! Jesus did say that we should be able to recognize "the signs of the times"! No problem with that these days---they seem to be all around us. However, it is dangerous to take snippets from the daily news, or even single large scale world events and try and fit them into Biblical prophecy. Right now we are in the middle of the Coronavirus (Covid 19) pandemic. Lots of folks are speculating that this plague is heavenly sent. Some kind of Divine retribution. While I suppose that COULD be true, personally I am not prepared to prove myself a false prophet and simply do not have sufficient evidence to make that claim.

My approach is to carefully examine extended periods of time and trends to discover any correlation between Biblical predictions and what is happening on the ground here in this day and age. While doing so, a very colorful, dramatic mosaic begins to emerge. In my opinion, with a careful and exacting examination of this mosaic, or "snap shot in time" we can definitely draw some logical conclusions that lead us to the definite suspicion that we are in fact living in the "end times". Obviously opinions will vary widely regarding what exactly constitutes "THE END TIMES". And in fact Paul's writings of the First Century seem to indicate that he thought the end times were beginning then.

Some will point out that the Apostle John, in the first century, said (1 John 2:18) "Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour"! (By the way, please don't anyone write to me and tell me that the word antichrist should be capitalized---grammatically correct or not, I will not give honor to that future creep)! On the other hand, we in this generation do have some verified prophetic fulfillment that we can point to that makes it clear as crystal that we are living in the most exciting time since the cross of Christ. I will address these fulfilled prophecies in other articles. How's that for a teaser? Does Israel's May 14, 1948 give you a hint?

Now regarding earth quakes; Oh, how many times have I been told "Pastor, you don't understand, earthquakes have always happened with rates of both more and less depending upon the century". So let's talk about that and then YOU decide!

I have before me PILES of research done by the USGS (United States Geological Service). So here is the bottom line for you folks that say "But come on now, isn't it true that there have ALWAYS been consistent and regular earthquakes"? No actually it is not true. In the category of Magnitude 6.0 and greater, as it turns out there were no reported quakes in any of the following years:

1961,1956,1936,1924,1921,1894,1893,1889,1888,1883,1881,1880,1878,1876,1874,1870,1869,1866,1858 through 1864 1844 through 1854, 1839 through 1842, 1837, 1824 through 1834, 1822, 1820, 1813 through 1818. Prior to that there were very many years in history that there were no recorded earthquakes all the way back to the year 856 A.D. Then again maybe some historians simply did not bother to record them.

The question is simple. Is there any kind of historical trend indicating that earthquakes have either become stronger or more frequent as time has gone by? Well, you be the judge!

From the year 856 A.D. until 2001 (1145 years), there were a total of 567 reported earthquakes Magnitude 6.0 or greater.

From the year 2002 until 2010 (8 years) there were 429 earthquakes Magnitude 6.0 or greater.

Ummm! Let's see now: 1145 years=total 567 world wide quakes!

8 years= 429 world wide quakes!!!

Would you say that represents a marked increase? Is that a trend that could possibly relate to the Biblical prophetic fulfillment of Matthew 24:7? from 2012 to 2019 in the 6 point category or above there have been 12,180 which is an average of 1502 per year worldwide. And so far in the first 4 months of  2020 there have been 425.

To be fair here, the USGS website claims no appreciable increase in earthquakes per year. Their math is obviously different than mine.

According to a report  from Breaking Israel news dated April 13 2020, the earth seems to be waking up as seismic activity is being increasingly reported around the globe. Last month a 6.5 shook Idaho generating multiple avalanches. The largest to hit the region since 1983. 238 total in Idaho in the last week although obviously smaller or after quakes. However according to the USGS five of those were rated 4.0 to 6.5. 2 weeks before, near Salt Lake City Utah, a 5.7 hit. Since then again centered around the Salt Lake area 886 quakes have been reported. Including Wyoming that is total of 980 since March 18.

Yellowstone Park which is extremely unstable registered the caldera experiencing 111 since March. The Yellowstone  Norris geyser the hottest and believed to be the oldest thermal area is constantly inflating and deflating---pulsating in erratic bursts. The entire basin rose 5.9 inches in 2013. Yellowstone is listed as the most dangerous supervolcano in existence and if it ever completely erupted estimates are that it could well devastate an area the size of five States.

The Reykjanes peninsula in Iceland has experienced about 8000 earthquakes and about 10 centimeters of land uplift since January 21. Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia recently exploded. Also recently a 3.6 quake hit southern Israel. And just days before that a 4.3 hit southern Israel epicentered in the Red Sea 60 miles south of Eilat. A region closely estimated as perhaps the place Moses crossed the Red Sea. And another of lesser magnitude, 3.8 near the port of Haifa. Israel sits atop the Syrian-African rift.

This may or may not be important because the events of Ezekiel 38-39 the future Gog and Magog invasion of Israel is prophesied to be accompanied by earth changing earthquakes.

Then there are many very bothering recent volcanic activities, some having been dormant for centuries or thousands of years. Iceland eruption for the first time in 800 years. Reykjavick with rising levels of magma and 10 centimeters of ground lift. This artery is actually fed by 5 ancient volcanic systems.  The 2010 eruption of Eyjafjnallajokull volcano. Indonesia's Krakatoa sending smoke 10 miles into the sky. Before that in 2018 it triggered a tsunami and before that in 1883 it killed 36,000 people. On the Kamchatka peninsula, Klyuchevskaya Sopka peak erupted with volcanic ash climbing 4 miles high. And others in the region.

Mexico, a volcanic ash plume reached an estimated 19,000 feet. Kericini in Sumatra erupted. In South America, Sangay and Reventador in Ecuador, Chile and Guatemala. Stromboli in Italy. Erebus in Antarctica. New fissure vents reported in Ethiopia. And then if course the ever present RING OF FIRE volcanoes! a 25,000 mile long horseshoe shaped region in the Pacific ocean. Including most of California, Washington State and Alaska. It includes 452 volcanoes, 75 percent of existing worldwide volcanoes and produces about 90% of the worldwide earthquakes today. 81% of the worlds largest.

And then there was one of the three worlds largest recorded earthquakes of 9.2 in northern Sumatra and a 9.0 in Japan in 2011.

Reported on April 14, 3 massive volcanoes erupted in Indonesia. Mt. Sinabung, Mount Kerinci and Mount Semeru. That same day, the Jakarta Post reported that the Anak Krakatau volcano erupted. And others like in Hawaii. Ertale with it's own lava lake in Ethiopia. Philippines, Taal volcano on the island of Luzon has become active. Japan, Mount Shintake erupted. Mexico, Mount Popocatepetl rumbled to life with glowing rocks thrown an estimated 20,000 feet into the air.

But we are told NOTHING UNUSUAL!!! How could we doubt our "EXPERTS" when it appears that nearly all the "FACTS" we have been spoon fed about Covid 19 are already being proven faulty.

So you decide??? But one last point; Reportedly the most dangerous earthquake fault in the world is the "HAWARD" which runs roughly parallel to the San Andreas in California. And between the two, experts have been saying for years that the BIG ONE could happen at anytime. Back in 1868 only 24,000 people lived along those fault lines.  How many multiple millions live above them today?

If you think that there is an increase in earthquakes and volcanic eruptions happening today, do you think that there could be a correlation here with Matthew 24? And how about what we see happening around the world at the very same time? Nation will rise against nation. Kingdom against Kingdom, Famines, Pestilence (plagues), and earthquakes in various places??? And lawlessness will abound? And the love of many will grow cold?

Sounds to me like a perfect description of the Democrats versus the Republicans.

Food for thought,

God bless,
Pastor Rance.