In the last 120 years the world has changed unimaginably (as was foretold in scripture, that in the end times "people will go to and fro" and "knowledge shall be increased" Daniel 12:4).
We have had new labor forces at work for us (machines running on electricity, gasoline, diesel, and now digital devices operating in the digital realm). These have removed significantly our burden as people along the lines of necessity life and living. And within that new life the enemy has also moved, as always, to entice us to sin, to use the blessings God gives us for sinful ends, rather than productive, mutually helpful ends.
On a side note, I was telling my family a few weeks ago that we have servants in our house. They looked at me (because we don't have servants -- not people anyway). I said, "We have a dishwasher. We have a washing machine. We have a pantry where our food is stored, a refrigerator where we keep things nearly ready to eat, microwaves to heat them up for us, instant-on gas range, thermostats to turn the air conditioning or heater on to keep the temperature in our comfort range, etc. We are kings! People from 100 years ago would love to have had these appliances we do today. And Kings from 400 years ago did not live like this in many ways.The enemy has moved to keep us distracted from God, and we have fallen away from God because of our new found life of ease. We don't struggle very much so we don't appreciate our blessings very much. Easy come. Easy go. And because of this ease, many people do not correlate any aspects of life and living with the absolute necessity of knowing God (and I include myself in this assessment until He opened my eyes in 2004).
I have spoken to many people about my ideas of putting God first in not only our lives, but also in our business. At every point (every point) I have met with unending guidance that "It won't work. We have to be practical. We live in a world where...." I have received this guidance to maintain the status quo. To continue on as things are done.
Well....
God gave us His plans for how we should live. He did this for a reason. His actions were not without purpose, nor will they fail to bear fruit. The Bible is very clear about who we are, who He is, what our relationship is, what it can be, along with how we're supposed to live as people (as He intended), and in nearly everything we have in this world right now we're taught to do the exact opposite from that which God planned, established and has asked us to do. And we can have this world we do because we have listened to the voice of God's enemy through sin, rather than listening to God through faith.
I don't yet know what to do in every detail. I do not have a plan ready to adhere to. I am continually in prayer for guidance, direction, focus, purpose, and to see if my ideas are off the path of truth. I'm also often reminded by well-meaning people that even the "Christian Communes have failed," and that even those people who left society to go and work together could not do it for long, etc. And simultaneous to this I know the exact and only cause for it: sin, and the spiritual forces at work against us through sin. The enemy is crafty, slimy, sneaky. He slithers around on his belly looking for an opportunity to strike. He has not been able to lead the entire world astray because he is a slouch. He is formidable and not one of us can stand against him ... only Christ can stand against him, and we can only stand against him if Christ be in us, and we focus our lives on Christ ... because then it is Christ living through us.
I tried to go out on my own in late 2007/early 2008, and was completely consumed by his falseness. I was overshadowed to the point of significant sin in my life, damage to the lives of those around me. Much harm was done and the scars remain. In the end of May, 2009, God brought me back out of it, set me up to reclaim myself, to restore me to the point where I was in late 2007 when I had this earnest, honest, eager desire to walk for God entirely in my life (I left to go out and live with other Christians who (I thought) were doing this as well). So I personally know the dangers of what the enemy can do to the most well-meaning of people.
Since then, my life and desires to move toward God in this life have not changed. But I have come to realize the cause of why things are the way they are in this world. It relates entirely to sin, and to these evil spirits which exist everywhere around us (angels, bound in chains in Hell, unable to operate here in their physical bodies, but able to come here spiritually and wreak havoc). And there is not one of us anywhere who can stand up against their influence because they operate upon our flesh (feelings, thoughts, emotions) and our flesh is in sin because of Adam. We fall continually because these forces around us are real. And this invisible spiritual force operating against us is our enemy ... not each other.
The Bible says it this way:
Ephesians 6 KJV:
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.These enemies we are fighting are our real enemies. They are spiritual. We cannot see them, but they are all around us. And there is not one of us alive on this Earth who can withstand them. They are angels (fallen angels, now called demons), and they are stronger than any of us.
What I have been shown is that we do not have to operate on this path alone. In fact, we cannot operate on this path alone. It is impossible to do so. What we must do instead is, through faith, through prayer, through a trust in God which comes from our core, from our inside out, we must put Him before us in all things. In our days. In our families. In our decisions. And in our business. When we do this we already have the victory because God is who God is, and Christ is who Christ is, and the enemy knows this and will flee from us when we begin walking as God prescribed ... because he sees God in us, living inside us, and he was undone (cast down) by Christ at the cross, and His Kingdom has been restored by that sacrifice.
The enemy makes it very difficult to walk in this world in that faith. He does not want us to be self-sufficient in the natural world, nor operating in faith in the spiritual world. Everything in this world is moving away from allodial ownership, and toward leasing or renting. As such, the enemy is enslaving us into the system. And regarding faith the enemy is constantly putting out falseness, enticing well-meaning men to sin (in the name of Jesus even) because he is powerful, and because men do not put Jesus first in their lives, but try to go it alone.
Jesus must be first in our lives. There is no other way to stand.
The system the enemy has setup ... it is not supposed to be like this. And it won't be like this forever. Jesus is returning soon. For each of us the event will happen no later than at the end of our lives (because when we die we go to sleep and the next thing we'll remember is waking up on that day), or it will happen before then. But in either case, it is not far off.
In this world the enemy makes it difficult to walk because unless we are owners (big corporations, lots of money, which means we are part of that world system to obtain that money), and we are dependent upon that system for our security, prosperity, etc. But we have learned there is no security there. Not one iota. And I do not want to be dependent upon this system we have because it is corrupt from top to bottom (being run by men in sin who listen to the demons which guide them to make it this way). But there is a correct way to move. There is one upon whom we can place our faith. There is one upon whom we can walk toward without fear, without concern, without anything other than solid purpose ... forever. It is God. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
It's time we start listening to God and walking as He tells us to move.
I do have comfort. We are taught in scripture that He will never leave us, nor forsake us, and that if we have food and clothing (not even shelter, but only food and clothing) we (Christians) are to be content:
Hebrews 13 KJV:
5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.I Timothy 6 KJV:
8 And having food and raiment [clothing] let us be therewith content.This is the way it must be. And this is the way it will be for me and my house.
I am not yet sure how to make it work. And after the disaster I endured in 2008 after puruing this course on my own ... I am reticent to begin again. I am patient, waiting for The Lord to move me rather than me again moving out on my own. I desire to be guided by angel's on every side, being nearly pulled out to the place God has set up for me, rather than me ever running out to the front again unprepared.
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The entire movement of Liberty (Freedom) Software Foundation and the official Visual FreePro Project (in its current form) is less than a year old. I have moved forward in faith in many ways during that time. At every point I hit nothing but resistance and advice to pull back to the way of things as they are today ... and this by literally everyone. I have had no encouragement in this walk apart from a literal handful (3 or 4) people who have occasionally given me some praise for my walk, my effort, have said I am encouraging to them in their walk, etc. But nearly all of those have also come with a periodic comment that I am stepping out too far by trusting in God in business, for example, by suggesting that we should be working for labor and not continual profits from a prior work (as with selling copies of a digital work).
In essence, I have stood alone and remain alone in countless ways. It has been very difficult.
I had expected to get some assistance with Visual FreePro by now, but I have not received any. I am still its only author. And I have had things come up in my life which were unexpected (the mirroring of the period of time a year prior when I took care of my mother, during this time in 2012/2013 I was unable to concentrate beyond the simplest forms -- don't know why, and other similar events).
I had expected to find people willing to sit on the board of directors (as Christians) of the Liberty Software Foundation, but I have not. Even "good Christians" I have asked have turned me down because of these ideals I speak about ... about trusting in God, and walking in that faith with Him out front.
It is very difficult to get up each day knowing that for the past (hundreds of days), it has been the same response from all people at every point. But with each new day there is fresh hope and I cling to that ... and I walk ... in faith ... because God is who God is.
Eternity knocks.
With each tick of the clock that's one less second we have before our end comes.
And time waits for no man.
All of us have an appointment to keep with God (at the end of our life).
My faith in all these regards is growing. I look around to the world and I see the damage the enemy has done, and is doing. He's enslaving people. Corrupting minds. Putting people on paths which eternally lead to something not a single one of them wants (were they in a position to understand the true ramifications of the choices they are making here in this world, every last one of them would turn toward God -- yet on that last day, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth ... so sad. So unnecessary. Brings me to tears to think about it.)
There's a video about this by a pastor (Steve Lawson) I have greatly enjoyed listening to.
The sermon is called
The Invisible War and it describes what we face in this world from this invisible, yet powerful enemy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDVWvOQvlK8Bottom line:
I love God. I love people. I have a desire to teach people rightly, as God has taught us. And it is a strong desire coming from within, not from without. And I am learning how to do this more and more as I focus my life on God each day.
It is a welling up.
A preparation for action.
And I am continually in prayer toward that end.
I pray for the strength to walk in faith.
Even if I walk alone.
I pray to stand before this world.
In faith.
Holding God before me.
Entirely, and as completely as I'm able.
The Lord holds all the keys to all the doors.
And He has invited each of us to come in and be with Him.
Forever.
