36 years old! #blaugust.28

I remember when it was my 21st birthday and someone said, “oh life’s gonna fly by now”. I didn’t believe them but hey, today I’m 36 years young! But, I am grateful to God for every year, through the good and the bad.

I don’t want to write much today as I’ve got a few things to do. All I want to say is a huge thank you to the Lord Jesus for blessing me with another year! When someone wakes up with regret and thinks “I have wasted my life”, know this today, if you woke up, then you have another opportunity! God is graceful, through all my faults and failures He has been the one consistency I can depend on.

The Lord is my rock and my salvation (). I have one aim during my 36th year and beyond, to do the will of God. I want my life to become a reflection of Gods glory and bless the lives of those I come into contact with.

For all those who have birthdays soon or have just had one, know that life has not passed you by! You have not wasted years because in one moment everything can turn around. All it takes is one touch from God to change a situation, one word for direction and one person to make a huge difference to our lives.

We do not know what tomorrow will bring, but we can hope in the one who holds tomorrow in his hands.

Have a great day

Love Deano

Portugal needs the real Jesus #blaugust.27

Portugal is such a beautiful country! I love the crystal clear blue ocean, the beautiful mountains and breath taking city of Lisbon. I love the tasty Mediterranean food and the vintage wine, some of the best in Europe. I love the friendly people and how peaceful the nation is. Yet one thing I do not love, is that Portugal is very religious but lacks actual relationship with Christ.

When the pope came here it was great to see 1.5 million youth gathering in the name of Jesus. Yet, what’s not great is to see many hold the pope in an even higher esteem than Christ himself. They call him papa, yet did Christ not say do not call anyone on earth father for we have only one father in heaven Matthew 23:8-10. Christ was speaking in the spiritual sense of the word, not concerning our physical father.

What’s wrong with being religious?

The problem with being religious is that it lacks authentic relationship. Religion kills – yes, religion has caused the death of multitudes throughout history, even in the name of Jesus.

However, relationship does not kill, relationship is authentic and helps us keep in tune with Christ. Our relationship with Christ and faith in him is what brings salvation. Religion cannot save us and we cannot inherit faith from loved ones, it is our own decision in Christ that makes the difference.

I have seen idols in Portugal, such as the place called Fatima where they have many statues of Mary. The story goes that in the year 1917 Mary appeared in Fatima, ever since then Fatima has been considered a holy place. People often do Pilgrimages from Lisbon to Fatima, this is a distance of around 127Km and would take about 2-3 days to do. Another thing people to do in Fatima as an act of penitence is crawl 600 feet on their knees from the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity to the Chapel of Apparitions. This may seem admirable but it’s shaming the cross of Christ!

Another thing often seen is a cross with Jesus Christ still on it. However, the cross is empty and so is the tomb! Jesus has risen so why keep him on the cross? Sure, we remind ourselves of what Christ has done for us, but not by placing an idol on a cross.

We can still do confessions without being trapped in religiousness, we can do pilgrimages without the idols. Sometimes it seems more emphasis is on Mary than on the son of God. Yes, Mary was highly esteemed but she is not to be idolised or worshipped.

Portugal needs the real Jesus! What does that mean? It means that those who worship God become in awe of who He is and find freedom through the Holy Spirit. It means that believers confess there sins to our high priest in heaven (Hebrews 4:15) not through a Bishop or to the Pope. It means living the word of God and being a faithful witness for His Kingdom. Christs ministry was predominantly outside the church, so should ours be! It means making love for Christ and others the pinnacle of our lifestyle. It means we stop being religious and be in relationship! That’s how we encounter the real Jesus.

Let’s pray

Father God, thank you for the beautiful nation of Portugal. Portugal has so much potential with beautiful beaches, countryside and cities. Yet you have seen the religiousness of this nation, that they may honor you with their lips but their hearts are far from you. May this change in the coming years! May Portugal see a revival break out and may religion be consumed by relationship. Break into any stubborn hearts and shake people out of being religious, so they may see the one and only true God – Jesus Christ the King. Amen

Love and God bless

Deano

It’s not your fault #blaugust.26

You never had a stamp of approval as a child, so you seek for it now you are older.

On a daily basis you search for affirmation and love; yet your still afraid to cry on some one’s shoulder.

Intimacy is a fearful experience, becoming close to someone means you can be rejected.

So, you push them away and reject them first, you don’t want to be hurt… but in the end you regret this.

It’s just your defence mechanism, inside your crying out, but you can’t seem to express this.

So, you live life with shallow relationships, you have learned to accept this.

It´s not your fault, I will say it again…It´s not your fault

You didn’t make your Dad leave, that was his choice

You didn’t hurl all the abuse at yourself, that wasn’t your voice

It’s not your fault she chose the drink, you didn’t force it down her neck

You just felt powerless to stop it, so you took on the regret

This burden is not yours to carry, but you carried it anyway

You felt obliged as a child to hope to somehow save the day

It’s not your fault you were not nurtured as the precious being that you are

It’s not your fault that emotionally you carry so many scars

Now you’ve grown up with more baggage that an aeroplane

But now it’s time to change your flight and stop thinking you’re the one to blame

You don’t have to stay anchored to your past, that ship has sailed

Your future doesn’t have to be ruined all though you felt your heart was impaled.

Stand up mighty warrior! Breath in the Euphoria

Count your blessings overcomer, you’re no longer a worrier

Time has tested your strength, life sometimes made no sense

Everybody else was called out, while you were put on the bench

It’s not your fault, don’t carry shameful weight

Don’t let the Frankenstein effect change your heart and turn the love you have left into hate

God formed you together with a purpose in mind

Every fibre of your being, your uniqueness defined

It’s not your fault, so let go dear friend

You can choose today, for guilt to have its end.

This is a poem I wrote a long time ago – hope you enjoyed!

Love and God bless Dean

Will the pre-tribulation theory be the cause of the great falling away? #blaugust.25

The question of this post caught your attention right? Perhaps you believe in the pre-trib rapture or maybe you do not know what that is. Before we get to the answer of the question let’s speak about the 4 approaches of the rapture, I will also include my own belief about it.

Please note this is mere speculation and not fundamental truth.

The four types of rapture –

PRE-TRIB – this is a rapture event occurring any moment before the 7 year tribulation period.

MID-TRIB – a rapture in the middle of the tribulation before what’s known as the great tribulation – a persecution against the saints, who are the saints if the church is gone?

POST-TRIB – a rapture at the end of the 7 years – this is the least common believed theory.

PRE-WRATH – a rapture before God pours out his judgements as seen in the book of revelation. This is the one I personally believe.

Why do I believe in the pre-wrath rapture? Simply put, because God has saved us from the coming wrath and called us to salvation (not all the 7 years tribulation is Gods wrath – only the latter part). We are never promised to be spared persecution, in fact this is expected for the Christian. Yet we are not under Gods wrath, just as Noah entered the ark before the flood, so we will enter eternity before the coming wrath.

Yet, multitudes believe in the pre-tribulation rapture! It is certainly the most common belief and was popularised through books and movies such as the left behind series. Some who hold this belief defend it with all their might as if it’s an issue of salvation. Yet are they right? What if this teaching is a deception of the enemy that was created to deceive the masses before the arrival of the antichrist?

Think about it, if many believe that the antichrist will not appear until the church is removed, this means that even if he did appear many would not believe it because they are still here. Then, when persecution comes because of the antichrist, many fall away because they never expected to face such a trial. Due to the amount of people who believe this theory, that would amount to a great falling away – which is very sad!

Some pre-tribulation believers defend it the same way a Muslim defends what they believe. Even if you plainly pointed out the truth, they will not heed it because their mind has been made up.

As for me, I would rather defend that salvation comes through Christ alone, because I know this is the ultimate saving truth. I will certainly not back down from my belief in Jesus being God, yet other scriptures that are not crystal clear, how can we defend them as if we know the meaning?

Can those who believe who fall away still be saved?

Jesus does not lose one the father has given (John 6:39). All who have been appointed to salvation, chosen before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4) will be saved. Sadly, many say they believe in Jesus because it’s comfortable to believe. Some have profited because of the name of Jesus, perhaps those are the ones Jesus says, “I never knew you, away from me you who practice evil”(Matthew 7:21-23). Not everyone who says they believe is a true believer. So, when there is a great falling away it will most likely be those who never truly believed.

The Holy Spirit is the one who helps us endure and keeps us strong in Christ! There is no way we can bare persecution without the strength of the Holy Spirit. Also, it is Christ who keeps us from falling and helps us stand (Jude 1:24-25). Therefore, those who are truly in Christ cannot possibly fall away, if they could then how can they be chosen in Christ? How can God be faithful if He allows his children to fall without getting back up? Sure, some may be gone from the faith for a time, but the prodigals will return!

Like I said, this post is mere speculation, what’s your views? I am open to opposing views or ones who agree, the only one truth we cannot oppose is that salvation comes through Christ alone. We can debate anything else, but not what brings salvation.

Love and God bless

Deano

A snippet form C.S Lewis screwtape letters #blaugust.24

WORMWOOD

I note with grave displeasure that your patient has become a Christian. Do not indulge the hope that you will escape the usual penalties; indeed, in your better moments, I trust you would hardly even wish to do so. In the meantime we must make the best of the situation.

There is no need to despair; hundreds of these adult converts have been reclaimed after a I brief sojourn in the Enemy’s camp and are now with us. All the habits of the patient, both mental and bodily, are still in our favour.

One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do riot mean the Church as we see her spread but through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes I our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans. All your patient sees is the half-finished, sham Gothic erection on the new building estate. When he goes inside, he sees the local grocer with rather in oily expression on his face bustling up to offer him one shiny little book containing a liturgy which neither of them understands, and one shabby little book containing corrupt texts of a number of religious lyrics, mostly bad, and in very small print. When he gets to his pew and looks round him he sees just that selection of his neighbours whom he has hitherto avoided. You want to lean pretty heavily on those neighbours. Make his mind flit to and fro between an expression like “the body of Christ” and the actual faces in the next pew. It matters very little, of course, what kind of people that next pew really contains. You may know one of them to be a great warrior on the Enemy’s side. No matter. Your patient, thanks to Our Father below, is a fool. Provided that any of those neighbours sing out of tune, or have boots that squeak, or double chins, or odd clothes, the patient will quite easily believe that their religion must therefore be somehow ridiculous. At his present stage, you see, he has an idea of “Christians” in his mind which he supposes to be spiritual but which, in fact, is largely pictorial. His mind is full of togas and sandals and armour and bare legs and the mere fact that the other people in church wear modern clothes is a real-though of course an unconscious-difficulty to him. Never let it come to the surface; never let him ask what he expected them to look like. Keep everything hazy in his mind now, and you will have all eternity wherein to amuse yourself by producing in him the peculiar kind of clarity which Hell affords.

C.S Lewis (one of my favourite authors ever!) wrote a snipped of a demonic displeasure in the fact that someone of the world became a Christian. Yet the intrinsic intelligent words in the snippet of this letter tell a tale worth paying attention too. Let’s look deeper at it and see…

First – the patient was a subject of Satan, trapped in the bondage of sin and on the pathway to eternity without God. Yet this patient was enlightened by the truth and became a Christian. Yet the demon proclaimed not to despair as they can manipulate the situation to their advantage.

According to the demonic realm, hundreds of these converts are reclaimed after a brief time in the enemy’s camp (in this instance that means the church). Reclaimed due to disappointment and false expectations, some of these driven by the church itself. Yet, the devil fears the grand spectacle the church once was, the God fearing glorifying Christ church of ages past. The religiousness of church and the warm welcoming of oiled up figures is what the demons state contribute to the falling away of the Christian. The reason is that they do not grow roots!

The devil states that the Christian will notice small imperfections in believers around them and somehow doubt that their faith is ridiculous. The high expectations of the new Christian believing other Christians are spiritual warriors causes disappointment when met with others wearing normal clothes and singing out of tune. All the devil needs to do is keep the new believer in confusion so that they can never understand what it means to be a Christian – this is how he gets them back!

This snippet is an exemple of tactics the enemy uses to draw people away from God. The following are some tactics…

⁃ Manipulation – Satan will twist the truth to fit the purpose of hell.

⁃ Disappointment – He will cause believers to have high expectations that will not be met, hence causing them to be disappointed with God.

⁃ Distractions – he will cause believes to focus more on those around them rather than on Christ.

⁃ Comfort – he will use comfort as a way to prevent spiritual growth and dependence on God.

⁃ Strife – he will stir up animosity between believers so they will not show as true disciples.

Much more could be said! The bottom line is this, we are to walk in the fear of the Lord, show the love of God and glorify the name of Jesus. Resist the devil and he will flee (James 4:7). We don’t need to fear any of the plans of the enemy, ultimately Gods plans will prevail.

No weapon formed against us shall prosper (Isaiah 54:17)

Read the full letter here https://www.thespiritlife.net/about/81-warfare/warfare-publications/1877-chapter-2-the-screwtape-letters-cs-lewis

Love and God bless

Deano

Please check this out from a dear brother called Andy B & family #blaugust.23

Dear fellow bloggers,

Todays post is a plug-in for a dear brother in Christ. Please check out the site below…

andyberry.co.uk/2023/08/21/the-website-youve-been-waiting-for-pure-24-7-org/

This is a site for a radio show that they will be hosting! It’s amazing news and great to see what God is doing, no doubt God will move with might and power!

Love and God bless

Deano

Praying for the persecuted church #31 #blaugust.22

Today we are taking a trip to Laos 🇱🇦

What does persecution look like in Laos?

The Communist authorities of Laos consider most church meetings ‘illegal gatherings’, and Christians live under intense scrutiny.

In Laos, some churches are registered and heavily monitored, but others cannot get permission to meet and have to operate secretly. Even among the government-approved churches, few have permanent buildings of their own and have to meet in homes. Christians are generally viewed as Western-influenced ‘enemies of the state’.

The leaders of unregistered churches have been arrested and held for as long as a year; their families and churches have to pay huge sums of money for their release. In most cases, local authorities are the source of persecution, frequently cooperating with the community and families.

Christians face discrimination in the workplace, and may be barred from or lose their government jobs when their faith becomes known. The lack of educational and professional opportunities has contributed to Christian boys and men getting ensnared in drug addictions. Pastors in northern Laos say that Christian girls are increasingly targeted as brides to be trafficked into China.

People from the Buddhist-animist community who become Christians face pressure and violence from their families and the local authorities. The community often gets stirred up against them, until the new believers are expelled from their home village.

Who is most vulnerable to persecution?

Any Christians outside of registered churches are at particular risk in Laos. The local authorities in some provinces are determined to silence any Christian voice.

Meet “Sop”

“There are times when I feel like it’s me against the world and that the Lord has not provided me with people. But God sends people. He used your ministry.”

SOP, A PERSECUTED CHRISTIAN WHO USED LITERACY CLASSES TO HELP CHANGE THEIR COMMUNITY’S OPINION

Father God, thank you that your people in Laos are not abandoned by you. You hear their cries and feel their distress. We pray that Christian’s in Laos will be able to meet without detection and surveillance, that they would have fellowship with one another without hindrances. We pray for an end to unjust charges against Christian’s to pay for their release, that your grace will be sufficient for those chains to be loosed. We pray that many villages will come to know Christ through the witness of believers. May you kindle a fire in the hearts of new believers that they may develop a zeal that will never perish. We pray that Laos will be known for the Christian’s who demonstrate the fathers love. We pray this in Jesus Christ name – amen

Information taken from – https://www.opendoors.org/en-US/persecution/countries/laos/

You can read the previous post here Praying for the persecuted church #30 Blaugust #15

Love and God bless

Deano

Grrr Mondays – let’s pray! #blaugust.21

Good morning and happy Monday! So many people feel down on Mondays, but why when the joy of the Lord is our strength? So, let’s pray…

Father God, you are not just the God of Sundays, you’re also the God of Mondays and every other day! We bring before you this new week and pray that each day will be filled with your purpose. May those who are going back to work remember that they ultimately work for the Lord. When we remember it’s you we serve then our hearts are filled with joy. We pray for strength for parents and that you would remind them of the fathers love that was poured out for us. We pray for those in financial difficulties, that all their needs will be provided through the riches in Christ Jesus. We pray for those in constant stressful situations that you would give them peace and strengthen them. We pray for those who need to make a difficult decision that you would give them wisdom to make the right choice. We pray for those who need, physical, emotional or mental healing – that they would be fully restored! We pray for salvation for our neighbour and that we your people will be faithful witnesses. We pray that in every situation Christ may be glorified in us and we may be satisfied in him. May every new conversation be seasoned with salt and may our hearts be set ablaze for the glory of the name of Jesus. May Monday be filled with joy and may that joy increase as we embark on this new week. We pray in Jesus Christ name – amen

Love and God bless

Deano

An amazing gift for my soon coming birthday! #blaugust.20

I’m already half way on my way to the big 40! I cannot believe it, they say that after 21 life flies, I didn’t believe it but now I do! This why as psalms wisely says, teach us to number our days so that we may gain a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12). We will do well to treat every day as a sacred gift.

Taking about gifts, my sister said she and her boyfriend (who is a musician) have an idea of what they want to get me. Before I tell you what they got me let me tell you a back story…

I mainly play two instruments which is drums and the guitar. I drum every Sunday morning at church, but my old classic guitar became unusable due to the heat in Portugal, I will post a picture at the end. I was saying for a long time about getting a new guitar and my sister knew about it. So they decided to order a guitar online from a music shop in Lisbon. They spent 249 euros on this guitar! So it’s an acoustic electric guitar and sounds amazing!

What a gift! I was so chuffed with it and my wife and I said a very heart filled thanks! Now, as any good gift should be, it needs to be put to use! So, with the help of the Holy Spirit I aim to learn and play guitar very well and use this gift to praise our Lord Jesus Christ!

What’s the greatest gift you were ever given? This was one of the best gifts I have received. Without doubt the greatest gift we have is the free gift of salvation – but other than that what’s the best gift?

I would love to hear your answers or stories!

Here are some pics…

The old broken guitar, you can see how the wood has lifted from the guitar.

The new beauty!! Love it!

I hope in due time to show you when I play it.

Praise God for such a gift!

Love and God bless

Deano

In one day #blaugust.19

Every word has potential

A day is filled with wonder

Enlightened, I woke up inspired

Let doubts not put asunder

I’m committed like the ox Admired?

Writing daily plots “Watch out for the wolves!”

The ones in sheeps clothing

The decievers of the masses

On the world stage boasting

Keep focused

Don’t be dazzled by hocus pocus

Tricksters with false pictures

Come and go like a breeze

Strangers with quick smiles

They know I’m not Hercules

Fame is deceptive

More eye witnesses

Paparazzi selected I can’t hide

Even when I’m innocent

A day has endless potential

Yet is equally dangerous

Keeping watch is essential

Like a well trained servant

Leave historic footprints

That the sea can’t wash away

Weld up those armour chinks

Much can be done in one day

Love and God bless

Deano