Gentle people
Everywhere,
Now engage
In earnest prayer.
Stage is set
For promised peace,
Therein will come
Our sweet release.
While we see,
Some are blind;
Those precious souls
Still left behind.
We pray Thy peace
Will flood their minds,
Transforming them
Into our kind.
True peace from Thee
We now receive,
Trusting Thy Son
We now believe.
Let us proceed
On bended knee,
Proclaim ourselves
To be with Thee.
Copyright 2024. L.L. Shelton.
I have been fascinated by the LIFE in Corrie Ten Boom since reading an account of her experience under the Nazi regime. I was eleven years old when I found her book, The Hiding Place, in the Berclair Baptist church library. (I read, The Diary of Anne Frank, during the same period.). I was young, but I had been awakened to the reality of God in Christ; yet I had a long way left to go with Him; I still do. The Christian’s life is a journey. Here is the thing: I was drawn to GENUINE power.
Ouija boards, tarot cards, horoscopes, seances and other occult activities seek the power of the dark side. The supernatural power of the dark side is not the real thing. It is lesser. It’s an illusion. It’s temporary. It is handed to the receptor for a moment and it is removed when THE MAKER sees fit.
Authentic LOVE is the supernatural self-less fuel of the righteous- meaning those rightly positioned to God in Christ. LOVE for GOD, and LOVE for others, in Jesus Christ, is the energy of truth and forms the power of prayer. This is why loving is the greatest commandment, and the second is like it.
The desire for and the search for power seems to be at an all time high. I recognized pure power in Corrie Ten Boom’s chapter of His story. Maybe you will read her story. If you wish to be part of her astonishing family, God’s special family, turn to Jesus; seek the face of GOD in Christ, read and study His Word while you can, embrace His way. His will for you is expressed in His Word. Find a Bible-believing, Jesus-receiving fellowship and participate. Plug-in to genuine power and live!
Copyright 2024. L. L. Shelton.
TIME FOR A REALITY CHECK CHURCH:
WHERE ARE WE?
We are on a planet largely controlled by powerful men who consider themselves God. We in the United States, are located within western society as it continues to abandon the principles of The Christian Faith. We in America, are in a nation often governed by crooked and perverse men, and we are surrounded by a confused generation.
WHEN ARE WE?
We are in a time that bitter is called sweet, and evil is called good. We are in a period of great deception, and are initially concerned with covering our sin rather than repenting of our sin. The mad is deemed reasonable. The criminal is protected and the victim is punished. We are occupying during the upside-down, and we may truly be nearing the end of the church age.
HOW ARE WE?
Following the traumatic events of two world wars, our corporate society began the primary pursuit of personal peace and affluence. Separating ourselves from the principles found in God’s Word, we spiraled into a sexual revolution and we witnessed the demoralization and eventual break down of the family. The generation of free-love and casual sex was followed by a homosexual revolution. We are in the midst of a transgender revolution. Our traumatized society may result in a collective reprobate mind. Our earthly leaders appear to be considering a third world war.
WHO ARE WE?
We are the redeemed. We are the saved. We are bought at great price. We are Saints. We are Believers. We are the precious children of THE MOST HIGH GOD; possessions of GOD marked with His permanent seal. We are friends of Jesus Christ. We are the family of GOD. We have the mind of GOD. We are those who can not be separated from the LOVE of GOD. We are the ones who will stand.
WHY ARE WE HERE?
To be the light of the world. To be luminaries and blessings. To enjoy GOD. To be witnesses to TRUTH. To live before a watching world with eternity in our hearts. We are here to share THE GOOD NEWS to the glory of GOD! We are in Christ the HOPE of the world!
WHAT ARE WE TO DO?
This is our high calling and reasonable service. This is our mission. Our orders have not changed. We are to occupy expectantly as we await our LORD’s return.
And since GOD is with us and for us, who can be against us?
Copyright 2023. L.L. Shelton.
What is revival in a religious or spiritual sense? First, a revival by this definition is a renewal of something and/or a return to it with new fervor. What is revival in a Biblical sense? Simply put, it is a renewed and conscious focus on my First Love, coupled with a sincere longing for His Holiness in my life; a desire for my sanctification. This is a different work than justification; that is my initial coming to Jesus, The Christ, beseeching Him to save me from my sin and become my Lord and Master. Justification is the saving event that begins my journey as a Christian, literally a little Christ. Sanctification is the continual process of being saved by my cooperation with The Holy Spirit of God who now indwells me, guiding and directing me in my new life with my Lord, and who has sealed me for the day of the final phase- my glorification. Yet, in some sense all three phases are continual. Salvation, like the trinity, is three-in-one.
When the people of God (Christ’s body the church) are functioning appropriately, according to instruction from The Word of God, cooperating with their sanctification- others from outside the body and imposters residing inside the body will be justified. People will be delivered from their sin and spiritually healed. Prayers of praise and thanksgiving will be plentiful. There will be a hunger for Scripture and an active interest in and emphasis on its application in our lives.
Revival may occur corporately in the sense that many people are experiencing personal revival together, in other words, a group of people in congregation are having separate personal revival as individuals. This may be what is now occurring on the campuses of Asbury College, Lee University, and other American institutions of higher education. As my Granny was fond of saying, “the proof is in the pudding.” We shall see if this has been the case by the fruit (See Matthew 13: 18-30).
If you are unable to be a part of a corporate revival event, but are experiencing an intense desire for God to do a new work in your life, pray for personal revival. I have done it and have experienced it.
The elements of personal revival are simply outlined for us in The Word of God. Apply them now:
May GOD bless us as we continue the journey of our salvation- saved and being saved and ultimately saved by His great love, mercy, and grace!
Copyright 2023. L. L. Shelton
From tremendous tower to palatial particle accelerator, we are determined to find God through contrived methods and limited modalities. We are sure that we can discover and sing the science without being in relationship with its composer, unwilling to admit that we are only familiar with a derivative of authentic music. Science is perfectly beautiful but should be studied in relationship with God as the magnificent and extravagant language of God. Science should never be approached separately from a genuine relationship with God. Science is knowledge, literally “to know.” Knowledge apart from wisdom, divided from God, is missing an element essential to its core; something completely necessary to a proper application of knowledge.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, growing in paradise, was a tree of science, a tree of knowing. This tree was a tree of many branches, of numerous disciplines, all capable of overwhelming our human sensitivities and bringing us to desolate places of ruin apart from the loving leadership of our Creator. When we disobeyed GOD, made him sad, in other words-sinned- when we took and ate from this tree, we internalized the fruit, the knowing. This knowing encompassed the good and the evil and implanted in us an awareness of the difference between the two, as we were endowed with a conscience; therefore we are accountable to God for our knowing. It is our responsibility to acquire wisdom.
We must never give ourselves to the creation, for the creation- life- is absolutely vulnerable to all forms of death and dying apart from her Creator, with physical death at some point guaranteed; rather there is a way to give ourselves back to the Creator. The way home is to be reunited with GOD, to become one with our Creator; we must accept the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, as the substitutionary atonement for the sin that produced our original separation from GOD, and maintains our perpetual separation from Him. We must believe in Christ’s atonement, through His sinless life, death, burial, and resurrection, accept it and bow our knee in acknowledgment of the Lordship of Christ; GOD’s plan for our salvation from this world and our translation into the next, where we will continue to enjoy our Creator and glorify Him forever. Let the true music begin!
Copyright 2021. L.L. Shelton.
I always taught my children to remember their three things:
I taught them who Jesus was and who Jesus is. I taught them the definition of authority and that some authority is good and of GOD and that some is evil; as every good thing fell in the beginning and can now be perverted. I told them to follow authority ONLY when authority did not ask them to sin or to go against THE GOD of THE BIBLE. I taught them that though manners and customs can be very specific as pertaining to different societies, ultimately manners are a way of behaving that does not offend another, and that good manners are defined in the Golden rule. The Golden rule reminds us to do to others only that we would in our reasonable mind do or want done to ourselves.
In this present world, It is becoming increasingly difficult to know when the authority is in opposition to GOD and to HIS good. Yet, as always, we must be able to recognize sin, and sin is anything that is displeasing to GOD, and to resist sin or flee from it. I ask now that my children and all people pray for discernment- BEG for wisdom- and resist any authority in opposition to the good that is GOD.
https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/68/80/73/6a17a66e9ec8c5/US11107588.pdf
Copyright 2021. L.L. Shelton.
October 11, 2021
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
I believe our situation in America (and elsewhere) is grim. It is apparent to me that we are likely faced with a choice between evils; communism and fascism, though in the face of staggering evidence neither major party seems willing to own it. We seem to have become a nation of self-serving extremists. Though I realize there have been plots and conspiracies on every side, I know we have all played our part in bringing about this present day.
I do not believe we are a representative republic any longer, nor do I believe we are becoming a socialist-capitalist democracy. I believe we are facing an absolutely authoritative government in the not-so-distant future. Our sins have grieved the heart of God and have created a sense of corporate fear. We beg for our safety with little consideration for the freedom to do good that we are relinquishing. If I lend my support to a particular candidate or party, it is likely because that one is less apt to bring harm, rather than the one from whom I expect benefit.
There is no greater evidence of our evils as a nation than the passage by the United States congress of the bill numbered 3755 and titled, The Women’s Health Protection Act. The HR bill passed by a count of 217 to 207, and 216 of those who voted to pass the bill are members of the Democratic Party. This bill codifies Roe vs. Wade into permanent federal law and strikes down any restrictions on abortion at the state level. It dismisses the need for parental consent in the case of a minor, dismisses the need for informed consent, allows for the abortion procedure in the case of any or no reason up to the moment of the baby’s birth, and repeals The Hyde Amendment. Furthermore, HR 3755 eliminates conscience protection for medical professionals electing not to perform abortions or to refer patients to other professionals for abortions. If the Democratic majority senate passes this bill, surely we will deserve to lose autonomy over our own bodies, but I hope and pray for the unmerited mercy of God toward us. Please call your state senators at 202-224-2131 and ask them to vote against this horrific bill!
My heart breaks for America, land that I do love, and at this juncture in her history, I wish to confirm publicly my own political position for the sake of posterity and as a reference during the days of greater division and probable unification around a totalitarian regime:
I am grateful to you, the reader, for allowing me this brief liberation of conscience.
Sincerely,
L.L. Shelton
Copyright 2021. L.L. Shelton.
Is it probable that we have so abused our liberty that we have propelled our nation into a choice between thinly veiled fascism and slightly obscured communism? Is it too late for any rational choice- too late for our healing? Has the time passed for our recognition of the other’s point of view and a sincere attempt to find a common moral ground? Professing Christians stand resolutely on both sides of the divide, each one sure of his perspective and of his thoughts regarding it. Each idealogical camp accuses the other of a lack of regard for the living. Each group is sure that the other is a culture committed to death of one kind or another; therefore each assembly is pushing for its members to vote according to conscience.
What if each individual and morally grounded voter is honestly compelled to consider an issue that he believes is a promotion of our culture of death, and is certain that the other party is oblivious to said issue; therefore he casts his ballot in the opposite direction? In this case, are we not obliged to consider that each congregation’s view of death is different. As our president so aptly stated during a press briefing related to the possibility of reopening the country during the COVID Crisis, and for these words I applaud him, “There are many ways to die.”
While good Christians are united in their belief in their need of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and in their belief in His divinely appointed position as the only begotten Son Of God, good Christians are diverse in their genetic compositions as well as in their life experiences, lifestyles, and in their personal and cultural histories. These differences allow for the development of a curious array of perspectives. What if each of us on both sides of the aisle- that is each one who is truly sane- understands that death is the ultimate evil ushered into the world by sin and longs for life to prevail? What if our greatest need is to sit with the other at a round table and discover the other’s understanding of the nature, structure, and definition of death? What if, presently, our greatest common good would be to cultivate a true comprehension of the other Christian American’s view? (This is not to say that the table should accommodate those who do not profess Christ as Savior and Lord. The table I imagine would seat my friends and family members who are fruit producing, baptized Believers, as well as their loved ones who are in the same position, and as the true church we would come together to discuss our opinions of God’s communication of what constitutes oppression and death, and to further our understanding of the other tribe’s dialect concerning such things.)
I find that I agree with Ayn Rand (who by her own admission, thought under the influence of Aristotle) in specifically this: For one man to demand that another man give up his own life and personal happiness for the sake of another is the ultimate selfishness and is evil. That said, I wholeheartedly believe that the Creator God who exists does ask this of each man for the other, and encourage the Christian education that exposes others to this Biblical Truth, and the subsequent explanation of all Scripture. I hope for the church to continually propagate her beliefs founded in The Word of God to man, and that many will give up their own self-centeredness to the better man in Christ Jesus, to the power of His Holy Spirit, and to the will of God.
In conclusion, it is apparent that some good Christians are assured of the science evident in the natural physical world and other good Christians avow the “magic” of Aslan, and that some of us embrace both; of course both in the purest sense are True, as both in the purest sense can be known. Come, let the church of America reason together. Let us remember our history, and in all gravity, think on the mistakes of the past and learn from them. Let us consider the abundant evidence of resulting corruption and reject fascism, communism, and all other terrible notions. Let us avoid the evil of a totalitarian regime, as it is an absolute government of man in the place of God; and may He Himself have mercy on our souls!
Copyright 2020. L.L. Shelton.
How is it that you read
Lady Chatterly’s Lover,
And come away simply aroused by a passionate affair?
That you are acquainted with
The Diary of Anne Frank,
And note only the introspections of a young girl becoming familiar with her body?
That you have knowledge of
Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret,
And are moved merely by the description of menses?
That you read
Huckleberry Finn,
And place your focus on one foul word?
That you study Orwell and are stunned only by illustrations of suffering?
Perhaps you, as Alice, drank a vile potion?
Copyright 2020. L.L. Shelton.
In the midst of this novel coronavirus outbreak, if being in the high risk group, I must isolate, must choose between my right to go anywhere and to do anything, and my healthy neighbor’s right to work and earn an honest wage- I choose for my neighbor. I will stay home voluntarily or take my chances. If I leave our property, I will wear a mask to be kind to the other fellow. I will contribute to our shared economy in whatever way I am able from my weaker position. If I am sick, I will stay home.
Why ?
Because I choose you.
Where do we- the American government- get our money? We take it from ourselves- the workers: The common laborers, the tradesmen, the producers, the service providers, the professionals, and small business owners, large privately owned companies, corporations owned by a board of shareholders. The workers. The money that we provide to fund the government is paid in the form of taxes; therefore, if these individuals and groups- the workers- do not earn money- neither will the government. The government will have no money. No one will have anything. Now, I will be first to state that our tax system is in constant need of reform- and that need should be consistently addressed, but that fact does not change the former truth.
If our stronger brothers and sisters are not allowed to work, they cannot carry those who are weaker. The abled must be given opportunity to provide for the disabled. Younger adults must have a way to provide for children, and the elderly. We the people, must have a way to provide for the expense of our common government. It’s only logical.
I choose you.
Copyright 2020. L.L. Shelton.