Category Archives: Christian

The Enemy Is In The House

Posted on by Nathaniel Stalling Jr.

Why are so many folk, especially young people, leaving the church? The numbers are staggering. People are flocking to social media as if they can find God there. They are abandoning their parents’ faith. They are looking on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Should we be concerned? Did we fail our children?
The bible speaks exactly to what we are seeing take place. We can’t stop it. We can’t pray our way out of it. It is inevitable that such a time as this should take place. The times are unfolding precisely the way they should. Unless you don’t believe what the Word of God says:
“Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division [between believers and unbelievers]; for from now on five in one household will be divided [over Me], three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law”. Luke 12:51-53 AMP
There are a number of reasons why the community churches are not the stalwarts that they once were. I won’t attempt to speak on all the reasons, but there is one recurring theme that I hear quite often as I talk to young folk. The complaint I hear the most from them is that they hear one thing and see something different. They seem to be insinuating that the ‘enemy is in the house’. Wow! Think about that. People are saying they are not willing to be a part of a group that comes together every week in the name of God and acts as though the bible is just a suggestion. What they witness at church, in people, is different than what they see at home or in the neighborhood. That is ‘hypocrisy’. For them, ‘the enemy is in the house’.
To be fair, this is not exclusive to the church. Every institution has its own shortcomings. The problem is that the church is supposed to be set apart from ‘all’ other institutions. We are supposed to be a shining example to the world. It seems as though the world is influencing the church when it is supposed to be the other way around.
The Apostle Paul instructed Timothy to always be ready to share the gospel with whoever was willing to hear it. These instructions were memorialized in the last letter he wrote to Timothy:
“Keep and follow the pattern of sound teaching (doctrine) which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard [with greatest care] and keep unchanged, the treasure [that precious truth] which has been entrusted to you [that is, the good news about salvation through personal faith in Christ Jesus], through [the help of] the Holy Spirit who dwells in us”. 2 Timothy 1:13, 14 AMP
How we live should reflect what we say. That should be a simple enough rule. Unfortunately, this simple rule has lost its luster. The times that we live in now have little or no memory of what Paul handed down to Timothy.
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables”. 2 Timothy 4:3,4 NKJV

There is a parallel story in the book of Joshua that speaks to this present-day issue.  Immediately after Joshua led the Israelites over the Jordan into the land the Lord promised them, they suffered a humiliating defeat. Joshua then cried out to the Lord, “Then Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.  And Joshua said, ‘Alas, Lord God, why have You brought this people over the Jordan at all – to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Oh, that we had been content and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan! O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its back before its enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it, and surround us, and cut off our name from the earth.  Then what will You do for Your great name?  So the LORD said to Joshua: “Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face?  Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them.  For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff.”   Joshua 7:6-10 

The Lord told Joshua that the enemy is in the house.

How sad it will be on that day when we are called to give an account for the things we did or did not do in this life. Can we honestly say we did all we could to bring our children up in the ways of the Lord? Did our lives reflect that of a moral, just, loving, and God-fearing child of God?
The church isn’t the only place we learn about the Lord. Our home is also our sanctuary. The Lord should be a member of our household. If He isn’t a member of our home, then “the enemy is in the house”.
“For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them”. Matthew 18:20 NKJV
Paul was obviously very concerned with what he was witnessing as the infant church began to grow. During the time he was personally disciplining Timothy, false teachers were already beginning to rise. Timothy was young, and Paul wanted him to be prepared for what was coming. Not only that, but the Lord wanted every succeeding generation to be on guard as well.
In the 21st century, we are still called upon to preach, teach, and guard the gospel. No one said it would be easy. Our challenges are quite daunting, but we don’t need to make it more difficult by allowing the “enemy in the house”. There is no time to be complacent. It is time for a good old-fashioned spring cleaning.
In the first letter Paul wrote to Timothy, he spoke to him about the Great Falling Away (Apostasy):
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron…” 1 Tim.4:1,2.

Deception has crept in among us.  It has turned believers into spectators.  Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”  Instead of feeding the sheep, we have become consumers of the world.  The pulpit has become a stage and worship entertainment.

From CNN: Top administration officials said last year threat of pandemic kept them up at night

Posted on by Nathaniel Stalling Jr.

Top administration officials said last year threat of pandemic kept them up at night https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/03/politics/kfile-officials-worried-over-pandemic-last-year/index.html

PROVIDENCE

Posted on by Nathaniel Stalling Jr.

PROVIDENCE

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We live in a world governed by a system of laws, natural or spiritual. But in the back of all law, natural or spiritual, there is One who upholds and controls them all, and uses them for His glory:
“…who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power,” … Hebrews 1:3 NKJV
With so much going on around the world, especially in the United States of America, it is no wonder anxiety is high. Many people are forced to stay home from work because safe distancing has become the new order of the day. Then there are others who must work to keep the rest of us safe. The first responders, emergency medical technicians, police officers, doctors, nurses; they all stand on the front line to thwart the invisible dangers head on. They too, are beginning to fall victim to this ravaging virus that have broken out among us.
I would like to offer another perspective on what appear to be a hopeless situation. I would like to steer your attention to a book that I hold above every other book on the planet. The Bible. In this book there’s a story titled after a woman named Esther. If you ever want to see and understand the Providence of God, how He work behind the scenes and, bring everything to a good and perfect end, this is the book for you. The intelligence and wisdom of Providence is revealed in this book.
A man once said, “Fate is blind. Providence has eyes. Fatalism says, whatever is, must be. Providence says, whatever God ordains must be.”
What’s really peculiar about this book is that the name of God is not found in it. Yet, His fingerprints are everywhere. From the time Esther’s’ name was placed in contention to replace Queen Vashti in the Persian empire God stood at a distance, not showing Himself openly.
This is the distinctive feature of Providence in a broad sense. Providence is secret, mysterious, and even unintelligible until its ends are revealed.
We can be sure that God is working for our good, even if we can’t see it, or understand it we can rest with confidence that:
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose”. Romans 8:28 NKJV

Nathaniel Stalling Jr
Elder

The Worlds’ Only Superpower

Posted on by Nathaniel Stalling Jr.
        

THE SOLE SUPERPOWER ON EARTH

August 1, 2019

Only a few nations have risen to superpower status over the centuries, but without exception, they have all fallen victim, primarily, to the same enemy. I will talk more about that shortly.

As an American I can tell you with reasonable confidence that a majority of Americans take great pride in being the ‘Sole Superpower’ on the planet. I can only imagine how the people of a previous ‘Superpower’ felt when it was said of them in the 19th century, “The empire on which the sun never sets”. This of course was the British Empire, of which its territory spanned the globe. There was nowhere on the planet where the sun didn’t always shine on ‘some part’ of British ruled territory.

The decline of the British Empire was on public display in 1997 when Prince Charles wrote in his, then private journal, while flying back from attending the handover of the colony of Hong Kong to China, “Such is the end of Empire, I sighed to myself,”

While researching another ‘Superpower’ that enjoyed this status some 2,500 years ago I came upon something exceptionally astonishing and unique to great empires. I happened upon J.R Fears and something he wrote entitled, “REFLECTIONS ON THE RISE AND FALL OF EMPIRES”.

After clicking on the above link and reading the article by J.R Fears I’m sure you came away with the same thing I did. We are living in a perilous time for our country. Everyone of us should be concerned. We are witnessing for the first time in American history ALL the signs that toppled every empire from Darius, the King of the Persians, to the present time.

“The greatest mistake made by those in power, like Darius, was the sin of hybris.  That Greek word means “outrageous arrogance.”  Hybris (and that is the way it should be transliterated) is the outrageous arrogance that marks the abuse of power.  Only those invested with enormous power can commit the sin of hybris.  Hybris is the imposition of your will, at all costs.  The Greeks believed that hybris was preceded by ate or moral blindness that makes you believe that you can do anything you want to and there will be no consequences from either Gods or men.  It was this hybris that led Darius to undertake a preemptive war against Athens.  It was his moral blindness that believed he would never know defeat.  He ignored all the warnings that the Gods sent him because he felt so secure in his power”.


By: J.R Fears

Does this look and sound like America today? If we fail to learn the lessons of the past, we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes.

Nathaniel Stalling Jr.

nstalling@gmail.com

The Other Side

Posted on by Nathaniel Stalling Jr.

Walking along on a city street I happened upon a childhood friend, Tom. We grew up next door to each other; attended the same schools, elementary through high school. Our parents went to a lot of social functions together. We even vacationed together. There was little we didn’t know about each other, personal or otherwise, …… or so we thought.
We were of the same mind that most of the city was. We know that what we accepted and did not accept was the general consensus of most of the city. Our values and moral convictions were written in our Constitution. We learned and understood them from a very early age. With the exception of one: “Do Not Venture Beyond The City Limits”. This one amendment always puzzled me. No one ever talked about it, at least not openly. So I found it very disturbing discussing it even with my most trusted friend. We decided to go somewhere that we could not be overheard. We found ourselves in an empty baseball park. We walked to the middle of the field, looking around to make sure we were alone, we sat and began talking freely. “Have you ever gone past the city limits”? I asked Tom. I could tell he was still very uneasy about this subject. He was looking around nervously. Finally, he spoke, “the law clearly forbids it; but I’ve heard talk of some that have, and never returned”, said Tom. I heard this talk too, but was afraid to ask about it. In fact, my curiosity drove me to the very edge of the city. I was there, I could have crossed over; but I didn’t. Fear of the unknown is very real, and very powerful. I got the impression that my friend had been to the city limit as well. He as much as said so. I felt that this was the perfect time to ask him what was really on my heart. After getting all my courage together I turned and looked at my friend, ” let’s go on the other side”, I said abruptly. He turned away, pretending he didn’t hear me. Going on and on about the consequences of going beyond the city limits, he stopped and turned to me and made a very startling confession; ” I’ve already been beyond the city limits”, said Tom. I couldn’t believe my ears. This was unheard of, no one had ever gone beyond the city limits and come back to talk about it. He saw that I was at a loss for words, so he continued. ” I went over about a year ago. It took me awhile to adjust to the way of living over there, but once I did I liked it. I met a lady named Wisdom. We became friends, and she took me down to the City Building where they keep all the birth records of everyone born there. I found my name, your name and many others “, said Tom. I guess my expression prompted him to pause. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. How could this be? Weren’t we all born here? There must be some mistake. I stood up; looking down at him I said in a very anxious voice, ” take me there, now.” I had to see this for myself. ” I will, but first we have to talk to our parents about this,” said Tom. The thought of telling my parents about this made me tremble. They are set in their ways, and more important than that, they are comfortable. Plus, I’m not convinced myself, yet. As though reading my mind, Tom pulled out a map. Part of the map was sectioned off in blue and another in yellow. “This is where we are”, said Tom, pointing to the blue section. The name was in bold black letters, ‘CHIMERA’. The yellow section was beyond the city limit where Tom had gone, it was called, ‘VERISIMILITUDE’. I had never known the name of the other city, until now. Looking at me rather sedately, Tom asked, ” do you know what these names mean “? I thought for a moment before admitting my ignorance. Looking around again to be sure one last time that we were alone, Tom leaned to my ear and said, ” CHIMERA ” means Illusion or Deception, and “VERISIMILITUDE” means Reality or Credibility”. I couldn’t make the connection, so he helped me understand. ” We weren’t born here. We were brought here at an early age and was indoctrinated into this lifestyle and value system. None of it is real. That’s why they don’t want us to go beyond the city limits, because if we do we’ll know the truth, and no one would want to come back here”, said Tom. This was all an incredible story, but for some reason it rang true in my ears. “Not many people are accepting the truth, because those who came before us bearing this message was not only branded as fanatics, but was persecuted and murdered. Those who oppose it will do anything to stop it”, said Tom.
“I heard of these people, and this message: There was Jesus the Christ, The Apostle Paul, Peter and John, there was Augustine, Spurgeon and, Martin Luther”, I said. Tom nodded approvingly. “Then, these that they call myths are actually real”? I asked. “Yes, they are real”, said Tom. I was stunned and relieved at the same time. Tom was a bearer of the message, and he was asking for my help. “It’s going to be hard, and many times you will feel alone; but there are many lives at stake, and I believe, as I hope you will too, that it’s worth it,” said Tom. We walked to the city limit, looked around, and walked over to ‘The Other Side’ together.