Newsletter                                                                      July 2020

Dear saints,

This summer is different from any other that we have ever experienced. As you know, earlier this year, a horrible virus occurred. It brought restrictions, and because of it, the media coined the phrase “the new norm”. God’s Word says, “...there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9) So, this is new for us, but not new for others. The Spanish flu was from 1918-1920 and killed 50 million people worldwide and 750,000 in the U.S.A. Nothing - absolutely nothing - happens in the world unless God allows it (Job, Chapters 1 and 2). In His foreknowledge, all that has occurred, has been known by God before the creation of the world. Nothing surprises Him. What we are going through, or what we will go through, should not surprise His bride. According to the Scriptures, events will heat up before the Lord takes His bride home. For man, suddenly a devastating unknown, and unseen virus (physical sickness) attacked the U.S.A. A short time later, another virus of hatred and violence (a virus of the heart) occurred in the senseless killing of George Floyd. Both viruses have been around since the birth of sin.

Any attack because of religion, race or color, is indirectly towards mankind, but directly towards God our Creator. The enemy knows his time is short. Not only is he waging war against the saints of the Most High, but his attack has always been on the human race. Why? Trouble for mankind started on the sixth day of creation, when God the Father said to God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, “...Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness….” (Genesis 1:26)

Satan hates every human being that has ever been, or will be created, because he hates the Trinity. As a result of the fall of Adam and Eve, man has despised man from the days of two brothers. We see this to be true when Cain was jealous of his brother, Abel, and slayed him. Brother killing brother, showed the heart of man, after the fall. A pure heart became a wicked, self-centered one. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) God says, “…every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5) Solomon, a man full of God’s wisdom, said “…madness is in their hearts….” (Ecclesiastes 9:3)

The last Adam (Jesus Christ) conquered the heart of sin. Jesus won the war over sin and death at the cross, but the battle rages on. Those who come to faith in Christ become new creatures in the spirit, but the mind and heart must be renewed. When God brought millions of Jews out of Egyptian slavery, their physical lives were set free, but their minds and hearts were still chained to their identity as slaves. Mentally the children of Israel complained continually of their lot in life and wanted to return to Egypt. They were identifying themselves with the definition of “Egypt” (trouble, oppression, and anguish). While they were there, they hated their trouble, oppression, and anguish. They cried out for deliverance for 400 years, and when the Lord answered them, they rebelled against the path God had chosen for them. They wanted to go back to where they were comfortable, thus, forgetting the hardship and pain that formerly plagued them. Don’t be like the children of Israel in looking back at what was (before the virus). Egypt was available to them, but the old lifestyle is not available to us. The Apostle Paul admonishes believers not to look back. “I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14)

In her book, Who Switched Off My Brain?, Dr. Caroline Leaf talks about the brain/heart connection. “As we think and imagine, we change the structure of our brains. In recent years, leading neuroscientists have shown how our thoughts have remarkable power to change the brain. Our brain is changing moment by moment. As we think and choose, we are changing the landscape of our brain. Our mind is designed to control the body of which the brain is a part. Neurologically, your (literal) heart is sensitive to what you think and feel. Your thoughts directly affect your heart. Toxic stress is particularly powerful because your heart is not just a pump, it’s actually like another brain! The reality is your heart is in constant communication with your brain and the rest of your body.” “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7) Emotions are not just experienced in the heart but also experienced in the mind, with two possible roots: LOVE or HATE.

Many times, our behavior is a result of our upbringing. Those without Christ have recently expressed their anger over George Floyd’s death through rioting, destruction of government property etc. Like us, we were once lost and are now found, once blind and now see. The shed blood of Jesus Christ is the Only Answer to a heart that has been birthed into madness. If anger is welling up in your heart because of recent circumstances, give it to God, pray and

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see
your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
(Matthew 5:16)

Serving Our King Together,
Rev. Joseph