More on strength
When I was reading part 6 the day after I published it, I kept thinking, I have more to say about that. The same day, one of my Peaceful Readers said, basically—“I’d like to hear more.” Today on Choosing Peace we’ll take a deep dive into strength and warfare. Get ready to read about a KGB agent, The Prodigal Son and the drum corps.
Strength and belief
The last post was split between “The Lord is my strength” (Habakkuk 3:19a, NHEB) and joy in believing, inspired by Habakkuk 3:18. Admittedly, strength was heavily emphasized. We looked at the debauchery, abuse and neglect of the Paris Olympics; gender and LGBTQ resources for healing; Seth Gruber’s presentation on abortion; Letter to the American Church by Eric Metaxas; and our need to be engaged in speaking truth and fighting against the evil in our culture. We can make a major difference, thanks to the power of the Holy Spirit. Last time, I said it like this:
Before we explore joy in believing, let’s consider Habakkuk 3:19a: “The Lord is my strength.” Why? Because God didn’t save us to watch us shrink in fear. He saved us so we could shine the light in the darkness.
Because God saved us, we can help rescue others from lies, darkness and death.
To help rescue others, we must be strong.
The painting
I chose the remarkable painting below for the Documentaries page. The title speaks loudly into today’s post: Courage, Anxiety and Despair—Watching the Battle. Courage is holding her knife, leaning forward. She’s ready to fight. She’s fully engaged.
Peaceful Reader, if you are Anxiety or Despair, it’s my sincere hope that exploring Choosing Peace and the great resources recommended will help you become Courage. We need you to be a truth-speaker for the squadron. It’s time to come out of the shadows.
Strength
Let’s unpack these three types of strength: Spiritual strength, mental strength and emotional strength.
Spiritual strength
From part 6: “To run the Christian race, we need spiritual strength—an active, right relationship with God.”
Born-again, truly-saved Christians can have two different relational aspects with God. As his children, we’re reconciled to God. Period. Called and chosen. He is our Heavenly Father.
The prodigal son
Consider the parable of The Prodigal Son, the younger of two sons who told his dad: “Give me my inheritance. I’m outta here.” The son didn’t want a relationship with his father; he wanted his father’s money. Then it was party time far away, the money ran out, and the son found himself feeding pigs and wishing for their slop. Life went from sin-filled and seemingly great to an unmitigated disaster. Sorrowful, hungry and deeply humbled, the son returned home and offered to be one of his father’s servants. His father saw him from far away and ran to him, hugging and kissing him, celebrating and honoring him as the person he actually was—a treasured son. The son’s older brother wasn’t happy about any of this. At all. When big brother complained, their dad explained:
“‘But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this brother of yours was dead and is alive; and he was lost, and is found.’”
Luke 15:32, New Heart English Bible
Salvation
Little brother, the prodigal, got saved. Big bro’s unhappiness—about little bro’s salvation and their dad’s compassion and generosity—speaks volumes about big brother’s stone-cold heart.
What’s the evidence of the prodigal’s salvation? Humility. Repentance. Finally reaching out in love and gratitude to his father. Even though his brother didn’t rejoice at the prodigal’s salvation, who did? The father sure did. The Parable of the Lost Sheep, earlier in Luke 15, tells us more.
Seeing rightly
All of us who’ve been saved have been The Prodigal Son—running away from God and humbly returning to him. We started to see ourselves rightly, and we started to see our Heavenly Father rightly. Hallelujah! God gave us a new life, a new heart and new eyes.
The ongoing relationship
Salvation reconciles us to God. Can we hurt our ongoing relationship? Certainly. Consider this important Bible verse.
You husbands, in like manner, live with your wives [in an understanding way], giving honor to the woman, as to the weaker vessel, as being also joint heirs of the grace of life; that your prayers may not be hindered.
1 Peter 3:7, New Heart English Bible
Natural consequences
Did you drink that in? A husband’s unkindness and dishonor to his wife can hinder God’s willingness to answer his prayers. God is the perfect parent. Call it divine natural consequences. And that goes for the rest of us too. See this article from GotQuestions.org: “How does sin separate us from God?”
Closeness
When I wrote in part 6 that “we need spiritual strength—an active, right relationship with God,” I meant an unhindered, humble, repentant, willingly sanctified life, with open daily communication. (Explore part 1 of The Prayer.) In other words—closeness with God. Walking hand-in-hand. Listening and being still in his presence.
Your turn
Peaceful Reader, get out your journal or a piece of paper and reflect on your answers to these questions. Are you actively seeking God and truth? Do you begin and end your day talking to God and thanking him? Are you warm-hearted toward the leading of the Holy Spirit? Are you obeying? Do you ask him for help? Do you love him and tell him so? Are you reading and hearing his word faithfully preached? Read about choosing a good church and preacher in part 4.
Mental strength
More from part 6: “We need mental strength—right thinking and corrective strategies during extreme times.”
From lies to truth
Every sin involves one or more lies. “Everybody’s doing it.” “It’s not that big of a deal.” “I’m not hurting anybody.” To explore the many lies involved in abortion, read this post. Some of the lies in that post may feel strangely familiar. As long as we’re clinging to lies and/or living in denial, we’ll be stuck in some way. Truth brings healing, if we do our part in The Healing Journey. To learn how to unpack a trauma or loss, walk slowly through part 2 thru part 6 of The Trauma of Perfection. Truth can also bring freedom from the chains of the past, from sin, from unforgiveness.
Mental strength requires that I’m thinking rightly—about God, about myself, about others, about my past, about the circumstances right in front of my face—and things hidden in the shadows. This can be very challenging. Lies abound, don’t they? Our own lies, other people’s lies, our culture’s lies, the media’s lies, the devil’s lies. So many lies.
Lies cause confusion and/or deception. Do you pray for truth? Try this short prayer from the last post in the epic story of Queen Esther.
A prayer for discernment
God, show me the truth. What is good here? What is evil here? And give me the courage to do the right thing right now. Amen.
Hard times, wrong thoughts
During hard times, our wrong thinking can fuel despair, fear, unrighteous anger and more. We can draw the wrong conclusions. We can start wandering on What If Lane—a dangerous road. I’ve often told Logan not to make an important decision when he’s upset. When our negative emotions are running high, we can think untrue, desperate, generalizing thoughts and we can act impulsively. “They always _______.” “He never _______.” “She won’t _______.” Often, circumstances allow us time to cool down, step back, remember an array of experiences, reflect, look at the bigger picture, and respond in the right way at the right time. Pray, pray and pray some more. Seek the Lord’s guidance and follow where he leads. (If you’re dealing with spiritual warfare, evil, a person with a serious personality disorder, see the index for the topics you need to study.)
Standing in the gap
Other times, we don’t have that Step Back and Reflect luxury. Sometimes we must act in the moment—when there’s a safety issue at hand, a need to protect someone, a need to help someone, a need to speak truth, a need to stand up and say no, a need to stop something that’s going on—a need to stand in the gap, as they say. We must be courageous. We must do what God is calling us to do. Eric Metaxas covers this issue masterfully in chapter 14 of Letter to the American Church when he unpacks The Story of Rahab. The name of the chapter is Justifying Ourselves. Explore this post for more on excuses and justifications.
On Monday, my pal Charlene and I sat down at her house for the first session of our book study of Letter to the American Church. Sharing what stood out to us, what we highlighted, and reading sections to each other helped the truth and wisdom sink in. It was an important time. Thank you, Lord, for your blessings.
Corrective strategies
During hard times, our thinking can be compromised. How can we correct wrong thinking? We must replace the lies with truth.
The word
From part 5:
Do we look at our difficulties, including persecution/targeting, through the lens of scripture? I certainly need to do that more. Our pastor tells us: “Preach to yourself.” In other words, remind yourself of important truths from God’s eternal word. Read 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 out loud. Declare it.
Here are some other great scriptures to read out loud if you or someone you care about is facing difficulties or any kind of affliction.
♦ Deuteronomy 31:8 ~ The Lord’s presence and devotion
♦ John 14:27 ~ Jesus giving his peace to you
♦ Proverbs 3:5-6 ~ Trusting God, who will guide you
♦ Psalm 139:1-5 ~ The Lord’s complete knowledge of you
♦ Romans 8:15-18 ~ Children of God, heirs, future glory
♦ Psalm 56:9 ~ Knowing that God is for you
♦ Psalm 121 ~ The Lord, your helper, who keeps you
Prayer
How else can we correct wrong thinking? Go to God in prayer. Ask him, specifically, for what you need.
A prayer for truth
Lord, bring my thoughts to truth, to right thinking, to the right focus, to you. I am yours. Show me what I need to do next. Build my faith. Use my life and my circumstances for your glory. Amen.
Would you be blessed by a deep dive into the subject of prayer? Stroll through all six parts of The Prayer. You’ll encounter some great real-life stories, a funny menu and much more.
The family of God
If you have a wise Christian friend, ask your friend for advice and prayer. The wisdom of a friend or mentor who’s grounded in God’s word can bring great encouragement and perspective during hard times. God saved us into a family. Lean on each other.
Emotional strength
“We need emotional strength—right regulation of our emotions and dear friends.”
Regulating our feelings
Scroll down to Feelings in this post and read to the end. Here’s a snippet:
Feelings = temperature
We need our feelings to help us identify or take our temperature, so to speak—our own temperature, the temperature of our circumstances (safe or not safe), and more. Ideally, when I take my own temperature (i.e., feel my current feelings), my temperature is accurate and isn’t impacted by what happened 5, 10, 20 or 40 years ago. My temperature is accurate and current, not muffled or exaggerated because of unfinished business.
For more, read The Apology, part 1.
The inner circle
Dear friends are all about quality, not quantity. Talking, smiling, laughing, praying, eating together, telling it like it is. Such great memories. My close friends feel like home. They strengthen me. Even when we’re apart, they are with me in spirit and I’m with them. We are for each other in good times and bad. In most posts here on Choosing Peace, you’ll read about Charlene, Meagan and/or Sam. And here’s my favorite saying about friends: “To have a good friend, you have to be a good friend.” For more, see Friends in the index.
The Olympics 2.0
In part 6, after writing about the different types of strength—covered more above, I wrote about the Paris Olympics. Today let’s dig deeper into Problem #1—the accommodations in the Olympic Village.
Problem #1
The terrible accommodations for the athletes included bad food, cardboard beds, no air conditioning, no curtains on the windows, no closets, etc. I’ve seen multiple videos and was absolutely appalled. The Olympic Village rooms were worse than a crummy college dorm. Way worse.
What were the lies and evil? “The planet matters. Virtue signaling matters. The carbon footprint, the largely-vegan menu, the recyclable materials show how very much we care.”
In summary: “Our agenda matters; the people don’t.”
In part 5 of The Beauty of the Bible, we explored men’s and women’s roles in the family. Man was created to lead by protecting and providing. Woman was created to tend by nurturing and nesting. What do we see in Problem #1 at the recent Olympics? We see a failure in every one of those categories. When men and women who are charged with leading or caring for others fail in their respective God-given roles, abuse and neglect are the automatic results.
A failure to protect and provide
The lack of curtains on the windows speaks volumes. “You will have no privacy or dignity. People will be able to see into your room from the outside. You will not have a private place to change your clothes. You are a tool, not a person. And you belong to us.” Ten athletes shared two bathrooms. They were piled together like sardines in a can—a hot can with no air conditioning. Even their belongings had no privacy. Open metal racks were in the rooms. There were no closets. The message rang out loud and clear: “You and your belongings are on full display. You are not your own. We own you.” That reminds me of the mantra of the globalists: “You will own nothing and be happy.” (Read this post for details.)
The risk
When women are placed on display and given no privacy, they are at risk of being inappropriately photographed and filmed without their knowledge. They are at risk of assault. They are at risk. The lack of curtains, in and of itself, constituted a catastrophic failure to protect. It was intentional. It was premeditated. It was abusive and neglectful.
The sabotage
The tiny cardboard beds with a single pillow demonstrated an extreme failure to provide for basic needs—a good night’s sleep for athletes under great pressure to perform at their best. And did I mention the lack of air conditioning? Of course I did. I, personally, do not sleep well when I’m sweating.
I could go off on the food problems—a catastrophic failure to nurture—but I will spare you that tirade. Athletes having to buy toilet paper. The bad transportation. You get the picture.
The alleged agenda
None of these things happened by accident. “It was intentional. It was premeditated. It was abusive and neglectful.” And let’s cut to the chase. It was evil.
The Powers That Be justified their decisions in designing, building and outfitting the Olympic Village based on their overwhelming love for the earth. That is a lie. A false flag. A deception. The real agenda was putting the “useless eaters” in their place.
Psychological warfare
You might want to grab a piece of chocolate or your favorite treat. Things are about to get very, very heavy. It’s time to explore the four-stage Bezmenov Psyop.
Agenda revealed
Years ago, my husband Brandon told me about an interview he watched. An ex-KGB agent detailed how Russia had begun to take down the United States from within, using intense psychological warfare. No bullets required. The former Russian agent, Yuri Bezmenov, defected to the United States. In a televised interview, he detailed for us what is now known as the Bezmenov Psyop*. The four stages of the Bezmenov Psyop are Demoralization, Destabilization, Crisis and Normalization. I linked to a 13-minute, abbreviated version of Yuri Bezmenov’s original 1984 interview in this post, but you may have missed it. (See the list in The Two Armies section and click on communists.) The original, full-length interview is available here.
*Psyop = psychological operation = mind control or brainwashing
In his book Danger Close, Patrick Byrne provides clarity on the four stages of the Bezmenov Psyop in relation to current events. (Obviously, the lead-up was orchestrated for many decades.) All four stages of the Bezmenov Psyop have already occurred in the United States. Peaceful Readers, this is more serious than we can fathom.
The Bezmenov Psyop in the United States
Stage 1—Demoralization
COVID-19 and the “vaccines”
Stage 2—Destabilization (called Disorientation by Byrne)
Antifa and BLM
Stage 3—Crisis
The stolen 2020 U.S. presidential election
Stage 4—Normalization
Cancel Culture, which silences the opposition
See the end of page 143 through the middle of page 146 in the first edition of Danger Close for more. I recommend the whole book so you’ll clearly understand the context of this information and some of the behind-the-scenes events that got us where we are.
Now it’s time for a much deeper dive into The Communist Invasion. It’s not a conspiracy theory. It’s here.
The new documentary
On Monday, I watched a recent Mel K podcast with guest Dr. James Lindsay about a new documentary, the history behind it, and much more. I highly recommend this podcast. The next night, Brandon and I watched the documentary, Beneath Sheep’s Clothing. Then we talked for a long time. My brain was popping—my thoughts and images in my mind jumping to many different aspects of what we just saw. Yes, it was disturbing. It was dark. It was eye-opening—to the extreme. It was crucial. It was time to put the horrific puzzle pieces together.
Shocking
Watch Beneath Sheep’s Clothing. Even if you’re awake and aware of many things, this documentary will wake you up in a much broader sense to The Communist Invasion of the United States and its very long, dark history. The infiltration of seminaries and universities will shock you. The dark propaganda in Russian and American schools will shock you. The dark propaganda against President Trump will shock you. The violent, murderous Us vs. Them realities in other communist nations and how the communist agenda is playing out here will hopefully crush any cognitive dissonance or lingering protective denial.
Twice
I told Brandon that I must watch Beneath Sheep’s Clothing a second time. It reminded me of Out of Shadows, another documentary I had to watch twice. Out of Shadows digs into the media psyop. Beneath Sheep’s Clothing digs into the educational psyop—capturing and controlling the minds of children from a very young age and how the destructive agenda plays out.
Both Out of Shadows and Beneath Sheep’s Clothing end with action steps. In other words, “What do I do now? I know about the evil that’s been done to me, my loved ones, my community and my nation. What now?”
Speak about these things. Share these documentaries. Share this blog.
Shine the light in the darkness.
A reminder
When our churches were shut down during the 2020 COVID plandemic (not a typo), we didn’t understand what was going on. At all. We got in line and obeyed. We stayed home. (Read this quarantine poem.) We wore our masks at the grocery stores like they told us to.
Remember this revealing truth. Most governors shut down churches, but left abortion clinics, liquor stores, casinos and strip clubs open. Churches were declared “non-essential” to We The People. Abortion clinics, liquor stores, casinos and strip clubs were declared “essential.” They shut down God’s house and kept the doors wide open to the devil’s house. In Letter to the American Church, Eric Metaxas rightly describes that event—what was closed and what was left open—as the “shot heard round the world” for our day. Absolutely. But did we see it? Did we question it? Did we understand it? For myself, the answer was no.
Until it wasn’t.
Longing to understand
Thankfully, the shock of those days sent many of us on a journey—seeking to understand. We were snatched out of The Way Life Was, and we finally wanted the truth.
The sleeping remnant was awakened.
And we will never sleep again.
Read about red-pilling here. Be compassionate to those who don’t yet see. We were deceived too.
See and share the truth about The Great Reset in this post and details about the Georgia Guidestones here. If these are new subjects for you, the reality of the true agenda can be shocking and overwhelming. Read this post for an important list about the evil plaguing our nation and our world. It includes links to articles and resources.
The remnant is awake.
We are awake and ready.
The Lord is assembling his army. It’s not too late to enlist.
For from day to day men came to David to help him, until there was a great army, like the army of God.
1 Chronicles 12:22, New Heart English Bible
Two and only two
Peaceful Readers, this has been a heavy post. I’d like to end it with two performances that’ll make you smile.
Strength and discipline
While I was writing on Wednesday evening, Brandon asked me if I wanted to watch a drum line, and I said yes. I was blown away by Top Secret Drum Corps from Switzerland. They personify Strength and Discipline.
Top Secret reminds us of what God can do through his remnant.
We can fight the darkness and accomplish amazing things for God and his glory.
If you’re like me, you’ll find yourself throwing your fist up in the air, clapping or cheering with joy. Watch Top Secret Drum Corps below and picture God’s remnant fighting against evil.
Originality and the spiritual
The same evening, Brandon chose the song below on his YouTube feed. I was mesmerized by Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s unique voice and her guitar playing. In the spiritual “Didn’t It Rain, Children,” performed in 1964, the story of Noah reminds us that there are two armies, two teams, two families. Only two. Like God saved Noah and his family, God saves his children. (This recording doesn’t include all the lyrics, which are shown below the video.)
Done
Remember what God has done. Remember the joy of the Lord.
But now thus says the LORD who created you, Jacob, and he who formed you, Israel: “Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine.”
Isaiah 43:1, New Heart English Bible
Remember….
Coming next: As we dig into some personal stories about joy in believing, you’ll read about an unusual turn of events on our sailboat, the Target Twist and wind chimes. Until next time, thanks for reading and for Choosing Peace.
Truth from The Word: John 17:1-11
Song: “Didn’t It Rain, Children” by Sister Rosetta Tharpe
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