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***SECRET ENEMIES: Jesus, Paul, and David had them and so shall “all who will live godly in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:12).

Always remember and beware of the fact that Satan’s children WILL lie about God’s people.

Prophetically of Christ and Judas the betrayer, the psalmist wrote:

“Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.” Psalms 41:9

In the amazing book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah faced a fierce, evil swine of an enemy named Sanballat. The Hebrew word for Sanballat is defined as “secret enemy.”

“Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.” Jeremiah 9:8 

Ever have someone like this in your life? You know, they never edify or compliment, yet soon as you do something wrong, they pounce on you like a lion on its prey?

—— NOT ONE of us is exempt from secret enemies – those who pose as your “own familiar friend (like Judas) and yet are your enemy. We’re talking a stealth enemy here. “The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords” (Psalms 55:21).

Notice in the verse above that our secret enemies speak nicely to us and yet lurking in their hearts is the “spirit of antichrist” and this could only be due to their own personal refusal to truly repent, live a laid down life, and remain in a saving, an abiding fellowship with Jesus Christ (John 15:1-16). So, by default they are influenced by the “spirit of antichrist” (1 John 2:18; 4:1-6). They are antichrist.

“A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet.” Proverbs 29:5

There are times when the enemy of our souls uses human emissaries with corrupted minds to flatter us in order to get close enough to backstab us, to be in close range to stab us. Pour over Jesus’ warning to us in Matthew 7:6. Also think Deliliah.

“Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” Matthew 7:6

In light of the biblical guarantee of persecution to those who are Christ’s, if we have had no one such as this in our lives, we’d better examine ourselves to see whether or not we are truly in Christ (Luke 6:26; 2 Corinthians 13:5; 2 Timothy 3:12-13, etc.).

Dare we never scorn or mock (in our attitudes) those true believers who due to truly knowing and walking with Christ are suffering persecution! No! Instead, we’d better find out WHY we aren’t on Hell’s most wanted list and suffering fiery trials!

“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.” 1 Peter 4:12-14

You see, it’s usually the little pew sitting, American “Christian” (counterfeit) who sits back in “the seat of the scornful” and hypocritically mocks at Christ’s very “few” true followers today and disdains them in his evil, darkened, apostate attitude of heart. Sound like Hell bound Laodicea? Go read Revelation 3:14-21. Find a place of repentance if He would grant you such a gift of His blessed mercy.

“God is so faithful. This message has everything in it that God has been speaking to my heart. Since I have been taking a stand for my life and even my calling to serve, which is only to be a servant of God and no longer called a ‘pastor’ or title name of any kind. I have been so freed from that deception but now my biggest battles are with my family. This was a powerful message! There was so much said I am going to have to listen to this again.  I am getting freer every day! Thank you.” C.

Support | STORE | PodcastsMore on Satan here.“I Beheld Satan as Lightening Fall from Heaven”Overcoming that Old Serpent, Called the Devil, and Satan [podcast]Conquering the Enemy [podcast] | Witchcraft Uncovered

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Abiding

The Death before the Death [podcast]


Gethsemane Preceded Calvary

“And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, 42  Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. 43  And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. 44  And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Luke 22:42-44

“He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30

“Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 11  For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 12  So then death worketh in us, but life in you.” 2 Corinthians 4:10-12

“And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. 25  For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?” Luke 9:23-25

Shall We Freshly Declare the Cross to be Front and Center in our Personal Lives?

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 

Support | STORE | Podcasts | Jail/Prison MinistryMexico Mission here | All Ministry Updates | Prayer | Manhood | The Conquering Cross of Christ [podcast]The Cross VictorySin – Man’s Core Problem

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Abiding

“Rend Your Heart, and Not Your Garments” [podcast]


Who Does God Look to? Who Does God Dwell in?

Beware of any man pretending to represent Christ who isn’t praying and preaching for you to be possessed by a humble and contrite heart.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3

“‘Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’ (Matthew 5:3). A low condition.  ‘Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted’ (Matthew 5:4). To mourn over our sin and our utter wickedness before a holy and righteous God. Those are the ones who will receive the comfort and ‘joy in the Holy Ghost’ (Romans 14:17).” Karen Cochran

Abandoning Our Own Sin, Our Own Way, for God and His Better Way!

To “rend your heart” is a biblical phrase meaning to tear open your heart in radical sincerity, true humility, and genuine repentance.

The phrase comes from Joel 2:13 in the Bible: “Rend your heart and not your garments and return to the Lord your God.”

One source notes the following:

“Context and Deeper Meaning:

  • Cultural Background: In ancient times, the Jewish people would tear (rend) their clothes as a public, highly visible display of grief or repentance.
  • The Spiritual Message: God is warning that outward rituals (like ripping clothing) are meaningless if the heart remains unchanged. Rending your heart implies breaking through your pride, letting go of excuses, and being completely vulnerable and authentic before God.
  • The Reward: The verse goes on to say that God is “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love.” Tearing open your heart allows you to experience His forgiveness and restore your relationship with Him.”

To see an example of rending one’s physical garment in representation of rending their heart, see Acts 14:11-18.

Where is the LORD Looking?

“But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: 13 and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. 14Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God” Joel 2:12-14

“What a gracious invitation is contained in these words. How tenderly the Lord reasons with his people. And what an encouraging assurance it folds up with. Reader! do not fail to observe that this call of the Lord, the accompanying grace to incline the heart to the observance of it is implied. It is most blessed ever to remember that when the Lord thus comes forth in his endearing invitations, he is secretly inclining the heart to accept them. Grace must first enter the heart, or there will be no inclination to obey.” Robert Hawker

“Jeremiah’s message was never meant to leave the heart in despair. Every warning from God carried an invitation to return. The Lord does not expose empty religion to shame His people, but to heal them. Repentance is not the loss of hope, it is the beginning of hope. Christ still receives every soul that comes with humility, and He gives living faith where there was only habit, peace where there was only fear, and joy where there was only emptiness. The call remains the same today, to draw near to Him with a sincere heart, trusting that His mercy is always greater than our weakness.” Dan Blincoe

A Fresh Start with God Always Begins with Humility and True Repentance

“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” Acts 3:19

Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: 13 and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. 14Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God?” Joel 2:12-14

Concerning rending our hearts before the LORD, one source notes:

The classic Bible passage on this concept is Joel 2:13, where God commands: “Rend your heart and not your garments”.  In ancient biblical culture, tearing (or “rending”) one’s physical clothing was a customary, visible display of extreme grief, despair, or repentance. Through the prophet Joel, God is essentially telling His people: Stop doing the empty, outward religious ritual of tearing your clothes to show everyone how sorry you are. Instead, let me see true, inward brokenness over your sins.

Examples of Rending Physical Garments

In the Bible, the physical act of tearing clothes was used as a dramatic expression of deep emotion in several well-known narratives:

  • Joseph’s Brothers (Genesis 37:29, 34): When Reuben realized Joseph was not in the pit, and later when the brothers brought Joseph’s blood-stained coat to Jacob, they tore their clothes in grief and despair. 
  • Job (Job 1:20): After hearing that he had lost all his wealth and his children, Job stood up and tore his robe as an outward sign of his overwhelming sorrow.
  • King David (2 Samuel 1:11-12): When David received news of the deaths of King Saul and Jonathan, he and his men tore their clothes to mourn.
  • The High Priest (Matthew 26:65): In a dramatic display of hypocritical outrage, the high priest tore his own garments when Jesus declared He was the Son of God, falsely accusing Him of blasphemy.

The Spiritual Meaning of “Rending the Heart”

The concept of “rending the heart” contrasts an outward show with inward reality.

  • Genuine Repentance: Tearing your heart means being vulnerable, acknowledging your brokenness, and deeply repenting of sin before God. 
  • Prioritizing Relationships over Rituals: God desires a sincere heart—true sorrow and a desire to change—more than he desires traditional religious pageantry or dramatic, public displays of grief.
  • The Promise of Forgiveness: In Joel 2:13, the command to rend the heart is immediately followed by the promise of grace: “Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love”.  

God sees beyond our external habits and religious actions, requiring instead a humble, contrite heart to fully experience His mercy.”

God’s Mercy

“Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: 13  And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. 14  Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?” Joel 2:12-14

In God’s Word, where we see men who tear open their garments…. This holds the illustration of rending our hearts before the LORD.

Don’t render outward tearing, no, rather, tear open your inner man, your heart—be honest, sincere, exposed, and vulnerable to the LORD whom you trust.

Let’s attempt to get at, to ascertain what God is commanding of His beloved people to do in this “rend your heart” passage.

“Joel 2:13: Rend your heart—Let it not be merely a rending of your garments, but let your hearts be truly contrite. Merely external worship and hypocritical pretensions will only increase the evil, and cause God to meet you with heavier judgments.

For he is gracious—Good and benevolent in his own nature.

Merciful—Pitying and forgiving, as the effect of goodness and benevolence.

Slow to anger —He is not easily provoked to punish, because he is gracious and merciful.

Of great kindness—Exuberant goodness to all them that return to him.

And repenteth him of the evil—Is ever ready to change his purpose to destroy, when he finds the culprit willing to be saved. See the notes on Exo_34:6, Exo_34:7.” Adam Clarke

“Joel 2:12-14: III. DIVINE APPEAL TO JUDAH TO REPENT (2:12-14)
Even now, the LORD calls the people to repentance. It is not too late to return to Him. But it must be more than outward ritual. Their turning was to be with all their heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” Believer’s Bible Commentary

To rend our hearts is the consistent message, mandate of God to His people of all ages and eras.

The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” Psalms 34:18

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” Psalms 51:17

In Joel 2 the LORD reminds those who are backslidden that He “is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. 14 Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God? …”

They must meet His stated conditions to receive His blessings ….

He promises that He will forgive them as they…..

“Joel 2:12-27: THE AVERTING OF JUDGMENT
To rend the garment is easy, but a broken and contrite heart can be imparted only by the grace of the Holy Spirit. The love of God should bring us to repentance. He takes no pleasure in our miseries and if men repent and turn from their sin they find an immediate and loving welcome to the Father’s heart and home. Joel had called for the trumpet to announce war; he now directs the trumpet blast to summon the people, from the highest to the lowest, to plead for help. Prayer and true repentance and faith bring an immediate answer. As the husband yearns over his erring but repentant wife, and is indignant with those who have maltreated her, so will Jehovah remove from us, when we turn to Him, those who have cruelly oppressed us.
The great things Jehovah did against Egypt and Babylon are an earnest of what He will do again. The earth (and all  the creation  of God) … have good reason to rejoice in what awaits them. God promises not only to forgive sin, but to make us happy and well provided as if the locust and cankerworm had never settled upon our lives.” FB Meyer

Religious hypocrites, counterfeits, emphasize the outward to cover their inner darkness, rebellion.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. 25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.   Matthew 23:23-25

“He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” Mark 7:6

 

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Articles

God and His Word are Unchanging [podcast]


Because God is Unchanging, So is His Word

“For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”    Malachi 3:6

“Which keepeth truth for ever” – Is the Bible “Archaic”? No. Divine truth is everlasting. Has no expiration date. You cannot escape accountability to it, to Him. It’s an open book test. The Savior says “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away” (Mark 13:31). Divine truth is eternal, unchanging, and binding upon all men (Psalms 146:6; Malachi 3:6, etc.).

Every time you open God’s Word and begin reading, you are hearing the voice of God.

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Genesis 2:17

“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” Genesis 3:1 (the devil questions God’s Word, questions what God says in His Word.)

“And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall NOT surely die.” Genesis 3:4

Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. 6 Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.” Proverbs 30:5-6

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: 19 and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” Revelation 22:18-19

“Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.” Deuteronomy 4:2

“For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.” 2 Corinthians 2:17

“Ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God.” Jeremiah 23:36

“all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word:” Jeremiah 26:2 

 

Support | STORE | Podcasts | Jail/Prison MinistryMexico Mission here | All Ministry Updates | ParentsFamily | Godly Manhood | WomenChristology | Because You Care Page | The Greatest of these is CharityBe Ready in the Morning [podcast]The Sure Mercies of David [podcast]That Repentance and Remission of Sins should be Preached [podcast]At His Feet | Prepared to be Used of God The Damning Myth of Unconditional Eternal Security [podcast]The Essential of Fearing God | The KING is Coming [podcast]Lukewarm is Hell Bound!

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