March winds of change...

Isaiah 26:16-21

O LORD, they sought You in their distress; when You disciplined them, they poured out a quiet prayer.

As a woman with child about to give birth writhes and cries out in pain, so were we in Your presence, O LORD.

We were with child; we writhed in pain; but we gave birth to wind. We have given no salvation to the earth,  nor brought any life into the world.

Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For your dew is like the dew of the morning, and the earth will bring forth her dead.

Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourselves a little while until the wrath has passed.

For behold, the LORD is coming out of His dwelling to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will reveal her bloodshed and will no longer conceal her slain.

As of late, there is a horrible trend I am seeing often in social media and Utoob where people feel they can decide the salvation condition of another from outside appearances. And often based upon the idea of visible "works" or the lack of them. The arrogance and hypocrisy is astounding, and though we knew it would come, it is still somewhat of a shock to se it in play.

This often runs parallel with various forms of legalism and religious expectations that have nothing to do with the Gospel or Christ's work in our lives.

How many times does it take to get it through the mind and into the heart that Salvation is a gift, and is only of Grace and Mercy? How many times does it take to make someone understand that another's salvation is not their business, but their own personal relationship with Christ... IS!

Often they run to (Matthew 7:15-20) about judging the fruit of others, disregarding the direct context of recognizing false prophets, and it not being about another's salvation. That is solely a matter between them and Christ, just as you and I have a private relationship with Christ. The test is about character and not salvation, that is solely the choice of our Lord and Savior.

They betray their own character as false with these very acts.

R.C. Sproul said it quite elegantly and simply, that salvation is permanent once attained.

Salvation: If you have it, you can never lose it,
and if you seemingly lose it, then you never really had it.

This should be reminded of everyone every time one doubts, it should be the first tenet repeated in any discussion in faith.

It has been said another way...

If you could lose salvation, you would.

Let us remind ourselves RIGHT HERE, and RIGHT NOW about Salvation.

You can't earn it, you can't work to maintain it, because it was never about you... It's always been about Him, His final sacrifice, His victory, and our Faith in Him.

No matter how new you are to the faith, how wretched you have been, how many times you still fail after He has come into your life, you cannot lose the gift He has freely given you by Grace and Mercy.

It is a marriage covenant, and more than this, it is a covenant based solely on His fulfilling the requirements.

All of the rest of our lives are lived under a permanent Justification that He established regardless of the opinion or metric of men.

Christ works in our lives from our salvation to Death and Resurrection or Rapture, on our Sanctification, until our final and full redemption.

His works. Not our works. This is why works do not bring faith, Faith brings works, His works.

In the end, there will people you did not expect to see in Glory, and many more who you did expect to see that are absent.

Understand this, and know this:

Your opinions about another's salvation have no bearing on the reality of His Judgments or His Grace.

And I will be the first to tell you that I don't care about what you think of me, I only care about what He thinks about me.

The last couple of months have been rough. It will likely get rougher from here on out. March has a history of changes.

The trials, the adversary, the constant battle to keep the flesh crucified with Christ. This is not an appeal for sympathy, but a recognition that I am in it, it is real, and I must put on Christ every day to overcome it through faith.

I desire encouragement, I desire edification, and in turn I desire to give them to others also.

The winds are changing, stay humble, stay armored, remain peaceful and trusting, stop chasing the world, get your feet out of it, and get your eyes on the Word.

He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him. Therefore encourage and build one another up, just as you are already doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

Rejoice at all times. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

... and having done all to stand, Stand Firm Then. (Ephesians 6:13d-14a)

If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31b)

Grace and peace to you in our Lord Jesus Christ, God in the Flesh!

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Don't be a grape. 🚫 🍇

🦊 Jack [ The Foxman on the Wall ]

The New Direction

John 4:23-24

“But a time is coming and has now come when the TRUE worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him.

God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”

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I've spent some time away from the noise of the world trying to distill the following paragraphs in a succinct way.

The beginning of this year 2026 started off wrong, and I need to apologize to a few people about my rant in mid January. I have since removed it, but the damage was done.

Yes, I am human, and yes I am in physical and medical trials, but it is not an excuse for the nature and delivery of that outburst. This blog was never meant for that, and it will not become that.

Among the Fruits of the Spirit in (Galatians 5:22-23) are Patience, Kindness, Gentleness, and Self-control. And none of these applied to that entry, and so, I will ask all for forgiveness for it ever being made.

This is perhaps a great example of the onslaught of stress, confusion, and deception in our midst, and sometimes our stumble and even falling to the weight of it.

My problem was inundation and being overwhelmed in my email. I reacted harshly, and for that I am very sorry.

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With this said, I want to go further on the topic of the Holy Spirit and the nature of our Faith and the Faith that Christ was looking for and teaching about.

I chose (John 4) here at the beginning of this as the base to explore from. You all most likely recognize it as the Woman at the Well exchange. It is very profound, and many people miss it.

I often smile at the times God reserves the most profound things for those who were not Jews. Why? Because they were able to receive it when the Jew couldn't. And it shows also that Christ is for ALL men, and not just a selective group.

This revelation is a basis against Works theology, and the foundation of REAL Faith. This is the New Direction.

You cannot be freed from the bondage of sin, if you keep returning to the Law as a Justification. You essentially reject Christ and His grace in favor of your own works that will never be enough.

We know this, as the many times it has been taught both from Christ as well as the Apostles.

Further, The Law, was given to Israel to remember and to teach, it truly is His nature, and is one we cannot achieve on our own. This is why the "Christ" was prophesied so long ago before at the beginning. When Israel kept the law, they were keeping Christ who was to come, and they had lost that understanding by the time He arrived in front of them. It was meant for them to appreciate what the Messiah (Christ) would do for them, and ALL men.

It taught them that they could never achieve Justification on their own works or by the Law, because ALL men fail it. ALL men are corrupted.

So we see today even as in the times of Jesus or of Paul and the other Apostles where men try and fall back on a self-centered desire to do something to rate them worthy, when no one can be by that avenue.

I'm not much for any recognition of anyone on Youtube, and I am always given good reason. Recently I watched a video where the person essentially was judging other peoples salvation and making a judgement on their "Faith" by whether they "produced" works or not.

Here we go again, and again, and again...

Always and often, they run to James or Hebrews or parts of John to point a stringy and shaking finger at others, always taking the verses about works out of context. Basically assigning works as a test or requirement for their approval.

Let's get this straight, right here, and right now. It's none of your business. Their salvation and their Faith is solely between them and Christ, just as yours is also.

Mind your business, mind your commission. You know... The Gospel (Good News)... Your arrogance, and opinion, and judgement are not Good News to anyone but your own ego.

And those "works" you are talking about. They're not your works anyway, but Christ's work through us by our Faith and submission. Those are the ones that will be Gold, Silver, and Precious Jewels that do not burn up at the Fire of Testing, like all your works will, which are Wood, Hay, and Stubble.

And "His commandments"? It's not the Law of Moses or the Old Testament, rather it is the Law of Love that Christ has taught. To love God and love your neighbor as yourself. To do unto others as you would have done to yourself. To love others as Christ has loved us.

These are the first two of The Law, and encompass all the law and the prophets, because by these first two, all the rest are kept through Christ. With these two, no one is affected by the temptation to break the others.

Do you love Him? Good. Now finish it by loving everyone else also.

As a side note here. The Sabbath was given to Israel to set them apart from the rest of the Nations. No gentile observes it legally unless they are within Israel's borders.

For the Christian, Jew or Gentile, Christ is our Sabbath, but it is still observed by all within Israel's borders as a nation.

(1 John 5:1-5) perhaps is the best description of true faith when understood properly, and how we overcome, because Christ has overcome already on our behalf. And our Faith in Him makes us a partner in that achievement. He is the fulfillment of what we could not achieve. He then literally carries us on His back (on His wings).

The commandments we keep in these verses are the ones we just spoke of. His commandments of love.

1 John 5:1-5

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves those born of Him.

By this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep His commandments. 

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome, because everyone born of God overcomes the world.

And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our FAITH.

Who then overcomes the world?

Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

That last line is important. Jesus spoke about the "work and will" of the Father being that of believing in the One whom He sent. That is the thing that brings salvation. That is the essence of True Faith.

John 6:29

 Jesus replied, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.”

John 6:39-40

“And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I shall lose none of those He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day.

For it is My Father’s will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” 

And to come full circle, this Faith is to worship Him in Spirit, since, He has given us of His Spirit, to be able to do so. Not by works, but by our Faith, from which come His works.

Works do not lead to Faith, but His works come from our Faith when we submit to His will, and not our own.

This is that New Direction. It's been that way since He came to us, will still be that way when He comes again soon.

Faith in Spirit.

The scripture is clear, our salvation is based on believing He is who he claims to be.

Romans 10:8-10

But what does it say?

“The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of FAITH we are proclaiming:

that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved.

It's right there... Can't be ANY clearer!

Grace and Peace to you all in our Lord Jesus Christ, God in the Flesh!

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Don't be a grape. 🚫 🍇

🦊 Jack [ The Foxman on the Wall ]