"THOSE THAT FAIL TO PLAN...PLAN TO FAIL!!!
"Where there is no vision, the people perish..." {Proverbs 29:18}
...Again, let's be clear on what it is...and why it is... there is such urgency contained in in the words to follow;
I am a Christian Man, that believes in God almighty...One God!
I am what some would call a Mono-Theist...The One God I believe in is Yahweh, Jehovah of the Judeo Christian faith and tradition!
The particular branch or expression of God's New Testament Church That I have aligned myself with, is The Southern Baptist Denomination.
In saying that,... let me assure you that I am not necessarily a big fan of sectarianism, or denominationalism, nor do I believe that our Lord Jesus is either.
God by circumstances directed me to A Southern Baptist Church and although they are far from perfect, God has never called me out from the SBC, but rather has nurtured me, and enriched my life through this Church.
I once heard it said, and it seems like it will probably be true in my life...
"I WAS SOUTHERN BAPTIST BORN, AND SOUTHERN BAPTIST BRED, AND WHEN I DIE, I'LL BE SOUTHERN BAPTIST DEAD!
It's a humorous little ditty, but I am proud to associate myself with the likes of several great men of Faith Like Billy Graham, and Charles Stanley to name a few...I also am in agreement with their articles of faith, and believe whole heartedly in our mission statement, as well as philosophy and methodology of doing ministry.
There is always room for improvement though and there is no perfect church on this earth that I'm aware of???
Their is also an ethical consideration or loyalty factor involved...
...What do I mean?
Southern Baptists have invested a huge amount of resources into my life, ministry, education, etc.
...From the moment I was saved in that Little Southern Baptist Church In DeRidder, Louisiana, {Texas Avenue Baptist Church}, This congregation and my first Pastor, Rev. Hollis Roberts, recognized and acknowledged God's Call on my Life to preach the Gospel and to the ministry, and thereby extended to me a license...Recognizing, and authorizing me to excercise my gifts in preaching and ministry...
...I was Nurtured in my young faith at First Baptist In Welsh Louisiana under the Ministry Of Rev.John Couch ,
And then continued my journey at Trinity Baptist In Kalamazoo under the Ministry Of Rev. Leonard Connors and further Tutored By an old friend who was the Chairman of Deacons at that Church, Ephraim Maya!
From There, Trinity Church Church was the sponsoring Mother Church of a Mission Chapel in the suburbs named Lexington Green Baptist Chapel...
The Chapel was led by the Rev. Tom Day whom I believe was under an appointment and supported by the Home Mission Board of the SBC...
My own Journey continued From Trinity Church to temporarily supplying the Pulpit At Lexington Green Chapel...Subsequently accepting their call to be The Pastor of the young Mission work at my young age of 24 years old...Just 3 short years after my own dramatic conversion experience in Louisiana...
...Lexington Green was Constituted as The Praise Baptist Church approximately 1 and one half years later, moving from the suburbs {Portage} into the inner city of Kalamazoo...
Praise church was then The Proud sponsor of a Christian Social Ministry divinely inspired to be called Alpha and Omega Ministries...
This work was designed to foster community, create and grow disciples, and minister to the people that God caused us to encounter at their point of need... Food, clothing, shelter and fellowship. "A PORT IN THE STORM"
..."Being all things, to all men...that we by all means save some..."
Their is also an ethical consideration or loyalty factor involved...
...What do I mean?
Southern Baptists have invested a huge amount of resources into my life, ministry, education, etc.
...From the moment I was saved in that Little Southern Baptist Church In DeRidder, Louisiana, {Texas Avenue Baptist Church}, This congregation and my first Pastor, Rev. Hollis Roberts, recognized and acknowledged God's Call on my Life to preach the Gospel and to the ministry, and thereby extended to me a license...Recognizing, and authorizing me to excercise my gifts in preaching and ministry...
...I was Nurtured in my young faith at First Baptist In Welsh Louisiana under the Ministry Of Rev.John Couch ,
And then continued my journey at Trinity Baptist In Kalamazoo under the Ministry Of Rev. Leonard Connors and further Tutored By an old friend who was the Chairman of Deacons at that Church, Ephraim Maya!
From There, Trinity Church Church was the sponsoring Mother Church of a Mission Chapel in the suburbs named Lexington Green Baptist Chapel...
The Chapel was led by the Rev. Tom Day whom I believe was under an appointment and supported by the Home Mission Board of the SBC...
My own Journey continued From Trinity Church to temporarily supplying the Pulpit At Lexington Green Chapel...Subsequently accepting their call to be The Pastor of the young Mission work at my young age of 24 years old...Just 3 short years after my own dramatic conversion experience in Louisiana...
...Lexington Green was Constituted as The Praise Baptist Church approximately 1 and one half years later, moving from the suburbs {Portage} into the inner city of Kalamazoo...
Praise church was then The Proud sponsor of a Christian Social Ministry divinely inspired to be called Alpha and Omega Ministries...
This work was designed to foster community, create and grow disciples, and minister to the people that God caused us to encounter at their point of need... Food, clothing, shelter and fellowship. "A PORT IN THE STORM"
..."Being all things, to all men...that we by all means save some..."
The Southern Baptists at that point went against their own protocols and endorsed my ministry putting me under appointment by the Home Mission Board as a Home Missionary...Wow! A 9th grade drop out...
There is a lot more detailsto that story...
I guess thats another story for another time...
But my point is ... Southern Baptists have been used by God, from the time I was saved in 1981, providing for my family with a salary supplement, medical insurance, underwriting my Formal Theological Education through conferences, seminars, retreats, and Seminary training at Boyce Bible School and SBTS in Louisville, Ky...
This particular branch of God's expression of His New Testament Church on Earth has invested a huge amount of resources into my Life and ministry...So ethically and morally I feel a need to honor that investment by remaining loyal and committed to the vision and philosophy of ministry modeled to me and mine in very real and tangible ways by Southern Baptists...
First and foremost, my loyalty is to God the Father, through Jesus the Son, empowered and enabled by God the Holy Spirit for the work of the ministry and the advancement of God's Kingdom...Not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to the knowledge of the saving grace of Christ Jesus our Lord!...
...Why is it important for these things to be said and understood???
We are living in the time that Scripture warns us that their will be many false teachers and false prophets that will arise and try to lead us astray...In fact, many will succeed in doing just that...
David Koresh and the Branch Davidians are one group that quickly comes to mind...and there are many different groups that have come together in preparation of the soon to come apocalypse...
They more often than not, wind up being cult groups that are self serving rather than God serving...who ultimately bring death and destruction to their adherents and followers, rather than freedom, deliverance, fulfillment, protection and enlightenment!
The trick is...to not throw out the Baby with the bath water!
...I am not interested in starting another whacked out splinter group of so called Chrisitian Believers who retreat to some isolated location in Guyana, Africa, Ruby Ridge, or Waco Texas, stockpiling Arms and Poison Koolaid in the event of The Apocolypse!
What I am interested in...
Is Honest to goodness, Authentic, New Testament Christianity...Of the type that Jesus and the Apostles tell us about in the Christian Bible...
I am interested in being always ready, for we know not what hour the master of the house returneth?
I'm naive enough to believe that it is possible to be like those wise "Virgin Brides" whose lamps were full of oil and they were well prepared and waiting to receive their soon returning "BrideGroom!"
My perfect world vision for me begins with my family first!
Ideally, I would like to have at least 100 acre farm with a portion of it being on high ground in a fairly remote, rural location...Kentucky would be nice... but I am Open to where ever God would provide!
THE FIRST THING WOULD TO BE TO GATHER ALL OF MY CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN TO LIVE ON THIS FARM TO TEACH THEM HOW TO LIVE OFF THE LAND AND TO BUILD STRUCTURES LIKE THE EARTH SHIP COMMUNITIES IN NEW MEXICO THAT RUN ON ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF ENERGY FOR THEIR ELECTRICAL, HEATING, COOLING SANITATION, AND THEY EVEN HAVE FIGURED OUT HOW TO PROVIDE ADEQUATE FRESH WATER THROUGH SOLAR CONDENSATION... IN THE DESERT MIND YOU... WHERE THE WATER SUPPLIES ARE VERY LIMITED AND NOT READILY AVAILABLE.
The practicality of gathering your family together in one specific geographic location is easily understood for the sake of being able to physically protect and provide for the ones you love the most. It also makes incredible sense to pool your resources and talents corporately to maximize the probabilities for success. Immigrants have proven this strategy as a formula for success over and over again as they have come into our country and become extremely successful in business and in community banding themselves together in groups for common purposes.
It would be very adventageous to have Fertile ground for growing our own food and pasture land for grazing and growing livestock, cattle, horses, chickens etc. with fresh water flowing through the property, a clean creek or small river, fishing pond...
The Idea is to have a place with the natural resources readily available to support and self sustain life for my family, our crops and its livestock in such a way that when our society and its infrastructure collapses we will be far removed from the ensuing chaos of our urban centers, and we will be able to be self sustaining within our own protected environment...well supplied with the necessities of life, food water and shelter.
What is now considered to be one of our greatest modern assetts, {TECHNOLOGY} will probably be the cause of our greatest failures in the very real struggle for safety and survival in our post apocalyptic world that I believe we will soon find ourselves in.
...What I am saying is, that we need to know how to live like they lived in the early pioneer settlement days of our past... Without the modern conveniences of readily available on demand sources of energy, ie: electricity, natural gas, sanitation, fresh water, communications, transportation based on the availability of Petroleum Products.
In the Old Days the early settlers protected themselves by banding together as families, and communities of believers. They even built forts and stockades to help protect theirselves from invaders and enemies.
I know that these things may be hard for us to get our heads around today in our modern western culture, but their are still undeveloped communities in what we consider to be primitive third world remote locations on this planet... Some of These people have lived their entire lives without the benefit of our modern conveniences and technologies and they will be the ultimate survivors when all hell breaks loose...
If you are truly a believer in God and his Word...Then you must know that our world and society as we have known it will soon come to an end...and their is nothing wrong in preparing ourselves and our loved ones, right now...before the proverbial SHITE hits the fan!
WE NEED TO ORGANIZE OURSELVES INTO THAT TRIBULATION FORCE IMMEDIATELY, SO THAT WE CAN BE PREPARED TO BE USED BY GOD IN WHAT IS GOING TO BE ONE OF THE MOST CRUCIAL AND EPIC STRUGGLES IN ALL OF HISTORY!
THE QUESTION IS GOING TO CENTER AROUND WHETHER WE ARE CRIPPLED BY FEAR OR WHETHER WE HAVE EQUIPPED OURSELVES AND MADE READY TO LEAD OUT IN WHAT IS SURELY TO BE SOME OF THE MOST EXCITING TIMES AND CHALLENGES FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF GOD'S KINGDOM!
REMEMBER!
THEIR ARE SOULS IN THE BALANCE, AND THE BATTLE IS NOT OURS, BUT BELONGS TO THE LORD!...B T W ...I HAVE READ THE BACK OF THE BOOK, AND WE WIN!
Not Only is this a great strategy for how to be prepared for up and coming disasters and calamity, but it is an even greater idea of immense practical value for the hear and now when times are fairly good...A recipe for success in times of prosperity and insurance for being prepared when the storms of life come.
IT IS A WISE MAN WHO BUILDS HIS HOUSE ON THE ROCK FOR WHEN THE WINDS BLOW AND THE STORMS RAGE ROUND ABOUT YOU, THE HOUSE WILL REMAIN!
PEACE BE UNTO YOU AND YOURS
BROTHER MICHAEL
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