Go Up on the Mountain

  
Matthew 17: 1-9…The Transfiguration – “After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters – one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!’ When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But, Jesus came and touched them. ‘Get up,’ he said. ‘Don’t be afraid.’ When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus. As they were coming back down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, ‘Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.’ “

High places hold great spiritual significance. Moses spotted the burning bush high upon God’s mountain, and there he met him. Up high is where God gave Moses his law. Up high is where God showed Moses the land that was promised, but didn’t allow him to go. Jesus in the gospel, often retreats “to the mountains” for reflection and prayer. And as noted in the gospel story above, up high on the mountain is where Jesus took his selected friends to show them who he really was. To show them Moses…Elijah…alive. This always astounds me about Peter. How, after having seen Jesus transform in front of your very eyes, and to see Moses and Elijah standing there chatting up the Lord, could he have possibly had any doubt remaining within him? Yet…he still did. He denied him 3 times at the critical moment. Peter, having seen all that he did, and having been hand appointed by Jesus as the rock of his church, still struggled with faith. Consider that compared with your own situation. You’ve had no such experiences…only the stories in God’s enduring word, and the ever present miracles of life and creation to convince you. Stop beating yourself up for having doubts. But believe, you must. 

Today, I’m going high up on the mountain in real time. The image above was taken by me earlier this morning at about 7,500 ft at my lodging location in Utah. On a snowmobile, I’ll be riding into the wilderness up to about 10,000 ft. I’ve done this before in Colorado and Wyoming. It’s a transforming experience in itself. A friend earlier this morning asked if you feel closer to God up here? Of course. How could you not? When you’re in the wilderness of deep silent snow, magnificent creation unspoiled by human hands, and perhaps a moose or some other wildlife briefly joining you…it’s a spiritual moment of deep connection with the maker. I think because the deep layers of Satan’s delusions are filtered up here. It’s not out of his reach, but not where his destruction is concentrated, because there are no masses of humanity up here…Just creation – life. So our souls get a “strong signal” when we are up high, as our technological human made signals weaken or disappear. No cell service where I’m going today. 

Times like these are some of my favorites in my life. I’ve written extensively on this blog of my time on the mountain with God. I read something the other day that said (paraphrasing)…”God’s path is uphill so it leads us to him, and not downhill to the pit of destruction.” That made sense to me. When I was trudging up Mt. Pisgah I could hardly breathe. It was very difficult for my lungs so badly abused in my young life. That’s life. The right way is so hard to take. Coming back down that day was a joyful breeze. I was giddy. The path in the wrong direction is always made easy for us. This will be hard for me today too…my lungs are not at home at 10,000 feet. They aren’t at home at the 7,500 feet I type this from. My chest is tight. Breathing labored. I normally live pretty much at sea level. In the mass of humanity. My body showing the wear and tear of sin. Nowhere near the glowing face of Christ shown to Peter and the boys. Just a man I am seeking my Savior to serve and know him. God brought me up here for some reason. My wife is being honored, but I’m here too for a purpose. To learn it…I shall go up on the mountain. 

Gary Abernathy

The Peace of God With Us

Philippians 4: 4-9 Final Exhortations…”Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anythin…

Source: The Peace of God With Us

The Donkey, the Cross and the White Horse

Sweat beads on the forehead of the Son of Man. The small donkey feels a rush of anxiety as the throngs come into view, but Jesus calms him with a gentle stroke of his side. With just a slight movement of his body forward he instructs the animal to take him to his destiny. Palm Sunday. Outside the gate to the holiest of all cities, Jerusalem, the crowds have gathered to finally get a glimpse of the man they’ve heard so much chatter of. The rock star of his era. The one who raises the dead, heals the blind and sick, and turns the wicked to the pure. Jesus the man feels what all humans would feel at the center of that type of hysteria…butterflies…deep in the pit of his gut. Still he rides forward on this donkey chosen for its symbolism – humility and peace. He comes to them as a servant…though he is a king. The King of Kings.

The early celebration has long since faded away. The people have turned. The politics are thick with conspiracy. Blood…as it always is…stands front and center at attention. The Roman is worked up in a demonic like state as his body shakes with hatred and his hand grasps the rusted spike. His lip quivers and his eyes are glossed over in the unholy stare that all killers get in the midst of their act. He’s euphoric. His mighty arm lifts high in the air and then drives down in a furious rage as the spike crushes into the bones of Christ. His hand shatters. The blood of the perfect lamb splatters the face of the Roman. His tongue licks at it rabidly…and he snorts. 3 days later the tomb is empty. The crowds have left. The Roman screams out from his sleep as his soul senses what he has done. Jesus Christ has risen. The way, the truth and the life. No man shall enter the kingdom except through him.

The people stare up in paralyzing shock. The atmosphere has parted and the portal to Heaven has opened in the sky. A great white horse appears…snorting the fierce judgment of the Lord…and the rider is called, “Faithful and True.” His eyes look to be on fire. The King of Kings has returned to Jerusalem…and a great sword comes from His mouth to strike the nations. The day of the Kingdom has come. Lord of Lords. Peace and justice eternal.

The question is do you believe? My personal urging to you is…find a church this Holy Week. Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday…Easter Sunday. Pray for God to lead you to where and just go. Take a leap of faith.

God Bless You,

Gary Abernathy

The Malignant Tumor of ISIS

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I paced around my living room, then my kitchen, then my dining room, and then I sat. I ate dinner with my family still with it swarming through my mind. I paced my upstairs, and I paced my office. I lay flat on my futon still trying to find the words. They never came. There is no adjective that has been invented that adequately describes what ISIS/ISIL is doing to human beings in Syria and Iraq.  There is no prayer that I feel sufficient enough to send them other than begging for God’s intervention.

I’m certain this is the most difficult piece I’ve ever tried to put down in a coherent and effective way. My inner wrath wants to unload in this forum with such biting force, that I leave nothing but scorched land as far as the eye can roam. My soul wants to grab all of the woman and children and huddle them under my protection as I watch those men burn one by one. My intelligence wants to break the reason why the world is mostly sitting back and letting it happen. My curiosity wants to figure out the end game, as the world comes unraveled in all corners as if guided by a knowing hand with a specific plan in mind. I know there is master plan. I’ve written of it continuously these last many years, but I do not know what the end of it looks like for certain. I do not know if they are in control of this, or if ISIS is the result of it spiraling massively out of control. ISIS is a symptom. The world is gravely ill, and ISIS represents the visible malignant tumor of the cancer that ravages below the surface. ISIS is representative of the red horse unleashed. My soul cries. My faith yearns for instruction. But the right words…I chase them around in a blur unable to grasp or see them. There are none.

So I’ll provide a glimpse of the words written by the few witnesses to it all that managed to live long enough to speak them. The United Nations issued an extremely detailed report in November of last year, 2014, titled, “Rule of Terror: Living Under ISIS in Syria.” Their title is nowhere near sufficient either. There are no words, and there is no writer on earth that will find them. They must be sent down to us. Throughout the report, dozens and dozens of times, it is spelled out in horror that ISIS is guilty of the most heinous of war crimes and violations of human rights. Not since NAZI Germany has the world seen anything remotely like what they are doing, and they are making the SS look tolerant. If ever there were a justification to engage in war, ISIS has provided it in spades, yet the world is responding only in a bomb here and bomb there, as these men run amok in Iraq and Syria like horned cockroaches sent straight from Hades. To show indifference to this event as a fellow human being, is…well…this is where I have to lockdown my desire to scorch the earth. I have to seek Christ. I have to hang my head and pray. I have to wipe my tears away and do what He needs from me. I have to seek love. God demands this…not requests…and we won’t and don’t understand the reasons why. So I’ll report to you what the UN reported, because I know that 99.9% of people aren’t going to see or read it. I’ll keep as much of my wrath away as I can stand to keep within.

Here are my notes…

–  “The failure to find a political solution or any other alternative to stop the violence in Syria and to relieve the population’s suffering, left a dangerous vacuum that was filled by radicals and their foreign backers.” Question not answered: Who are these foreign backers?

– “Charity organizations and wealthy individuals funded radical entities willing to promote their ideologies and serve their agendas.” Question not answered: Which charities and what individuals? What ideology and what agenda?

– Arms and support provided to armed groups deemed as moderate have repeatedly fallen into the hands of more radical actors, including ISIS.” Note: President Obama and Sen. McCain have both strongly encouraged and authorized training and arming the so-called moderates. It’s not working. 

 – The leader of ISIS is, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, and he holds absolute power within the group. Note: Why has our media not singled him out as they have done so effectively in every other case of conflict in our history? He has total power. He’s the head of the snake. Why is he being sheltered?

– “ISIS has engaged in the systematic destruction of Christian churches, as well as Kurdish and Shi’a mosques.”

– “ISIS has beheaded, shot and stoned men, women and children in public spaces in towns and villages across northeastern Syria.” Note: Read again and again until it sinks in.

– “Many reports of ISIS hanging children on crosses.” Note: Read again and again until it sinks in.

– “Witnesses saw scenes of still-bleeding bodies hanging from crosses and of heads placed on spikes along park railings.” Note: Read again and again until it sinks in.

– “The brutal attacks, torturing, kidnappings and murders of many journalists have largely been ignored by mass media.” Note: Why? Why is the media burying what is happening to so many of their kind? Who is making that call?

– “ISIS is guilty of brutal subjugation of women.”

– “Stoning women to death – The women were made to stand, while veiled with their hands bound to their sides, in a shallow grave, while men hurled large rocks at their heads until they collapsed and eventually died.” NOTE: Read again and again until it sinks in.

– “Females are being abducted and taken to Syria and sold as war booty in markets They are held in ISIS rest houses and are raped by ISIS fighters returning from battle.” NOTE: Read again and again until it sinks in.

– “Raping and intentional forced child bearing of infidels in adherence to signs of the Apocalypse and their ideology, to affect ethnic and religious compositions.” Note: Same

– “Young women of puberty age being sold or married off to avoid ISIS wrath.” Note: Same

– “Forcing children as young as 13 and 14 to serve as fighters.” Note: Same

– “Using children to execute other children to perpetuate long-term loyalty, adherence to their ideology, and to learn to see violence as a way of life.” Note: Same

– “Forcing the worldview of ISIS into the minds of 14-16 year old Kurdish boys by screening propaganda of mass executions and desensitizing them to extreme violence.” Note: Same

– “Many heads hanging on walls, and mass executions and mass graves in many towns and villages.” Note: Same

– “Systematic killing of children belonging to religious and ethnic minorities by the so-called ISIL, including several cases of mass executions of boys, as well of reports of beheading, crucifixion of children, and burying children alive. Note: This is genocide. Children…innocent children…buried alive. Buried alive. Buried alive.

http://www.unric.org/en/latest-un-buzz/29524-isis-rule-of-terror-in-syria

Those are the notes I took before I had to stop. I couldn’t take anymore of it. There is far more in the report. My request as this article travels all over the world via the internet, is that you will join me in prayer. That we will tame our human wrath and thirst for revenge, and plead instead for God’s justice and instruction on how to stop this. That God will spare these women and children from further atrocity. That we, as the creation of God, will interject our souls on the behalf of these Iraqi and Syrian people suffering so greatly, and stand down Satan’s own army by the providence of God. I make this request with tears flowing down my cheeks. Please. God.

Gary Abernathy

Calamity in Japan

 Reuters photo from Sunday March 13th, 2011

I have sat down to comment on the overwhelming situation in Japan several times since Friday. Each time I do, a new twist occurs that changes what I might have written. This is a story that goes beyond comprehension…beyond description…and continues to develop every hour that passes. My heart is truly aching for the people and families in Japan. When the time comes that an overview of the calamity in its entirety can be written, I will do so. For now however, I’d like to share a letter from my former Pastor and friend, Chuck Wilson. Pastor Wilson is about the most decent human being you will ever meet. He’s a man I admire greatly, as well as humbly appreciate for the effect he had on my life. When I am in need of answers…or searching for meaning…when I’m in trouble…or just really need a wise friend…I look towards Pastor Chuck. He’s enjoying life in the mountains of NC now as the senior Pastor of Long’s Chapel UMC in Waynesville, NC, but I receive all of his letters and emails. Today he has written about not only Japan, but all of the tragedies around the globe that keep plaguing humanity, and I thought it worthwhile to share with you.

Thoughts on Faith and Life From Chuck Wilson:

We are reeling from the images we have seen from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. We are overwhelmed by the devastation and the helplessness we all feel to respond. So how do we pray for those who are suffering and for those who have died? It is not easy and anything that we can say seems inadequate. What follows is an ancient way of praying for the people of Japan and those in Christchurch and Libya, Yemen, Ivory Coast and the many other places of unrest in our world. Pray this prayer with me.

Lord our world has been shaken by earthquakes and wars

Lord our lives have been deluged by floods and tsunamis

Our hearts are aching and we are overwhelmed

Lord have mercy

God whose love never lets go, be with all who have died

God whose compassion never ceases comfort all who have suffered loss

God who stands firm as a rock provide security for all whose world has fallen apart

Christ have mercy

Lord hear our cry for mercy when we call to you for help

Lord may we be strong and not give up

May we reach out in love and compassion, finding hope in your abiding presence

Lord have mercy

The following song is from Matt Redman and is a beautiful and meaningful testament in these times of peril for we the children of God. I hope you prayed with Pastor Chuck, and I hope this music brings comfort to you and inspiration to stand up and shine the light of Christ on this world in such desperate need to see it.