"The Road to Truth!"

The following is an excerpt from my book "The Road to Damascus: Unveiling the Heart of a Man"..

As far as I am concerned there is only one road to truth and that road is called the Damascus Road. In the Holy Bible, there is a story in the book of (Acts 9:1-22) about a man named Saul who had persecuted the Jews for believing that Jesus was the Messiah. On his way to Damascus to identify and kill even more Jews, he encountered the Lord through a light flashing from heaven on the road and subsequently was blinded by the Presence of God. Saul had a divine encounter with Jesus. Jesus represents the Truth. The truth exposes everything that is diametrically opposed to God. The truth exposed Saul’s wickedness and righteousness all at once! God removed his sight temporarily and immediately created a dependence on something or someone he could not see or touch.

This man who had terrorized the region for years had just been subjected to the same terror he had imposed on others. In the end, Saul was assisted by men who were as wicked as he was yet submitted to the power and authority of the Lord to lead him into Damascus. This action represents a type and shadow of the "blind leading the blind." Saul was later healed and delivered from his wickedness through the power of prayer and the gift of the Holy Spirit. God sent a man named Ananias to execute His divine plan to anoint Saul as chosen vessel to bear the name of the Lord throughout the land. God also indicated that He would tell Saul in no uncertain terms that he would endure unthinkable hardships and afflictions and suffer greatly for His namesake.

You are really going to need a lot of help to miss what I am saying here. This is the story of any man who has made a decision to accept Christ as Lord in his life. This is the story of any man who has been raised in any environment under any circumstances in any socio-economic class. This story will fit very nicely into the keyhole of any closet any man has locked and stored away all his dirt and shame and unspeakable violations against humanity. This story will lead us to the place where the true nature of man resides in spiritual squalor, self destruction, unbridled perversion, lust and violence. This is a place where God has strategically positioned Himself as the vanguard to filter all the nonsense in our lives. This place has been specifically designed to force any man to the end of himself. This destination is known as the Damascus Road.

Come join me on a journey through the eyes of several men who sought truth, found it and didn’t like what they had to do to keep it. This is the unadulterated, unfiltered version of how and where God finds us before He can purge us of ourselves. It is the tale of the violent resistance our flesh has to the truth and all the games we play to manipulate the truth to fit our desperately wicked hearts. Truth is a stranger; an unwelcome stranger. Truth can handle us but we can’t handle the truth. Truth is confrontational, and offensive and unpopular. Truth can be brutal and belligerent. But truth is love in its purest sense. Truth is the seal of God.  

 The Road to Damascus speaks to the heart of a man who, after having been exposed by the truth, is now accountable to God and man for accepting the mantle of suffering and tribulation promised to us as believers. No matter what you do, God will encounter you on that road and ask you the same question He asked Saul, “Why do you persecute me?” 

 This book and my other titles can be purchased at: http://nicholascarlmoore.us.

"The Sandy Hook Tragedy vs. the Diminishing Value of Black Life"

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I am sad to report there is no legislative defense to prevent the fallout from the maniacal actions of 20-30 psychopaths each year in the USA.  Seriously, how do you prepare for Sandy Hook, Columbine, Oklahoma City or Colorado?  What "safeguards" do you put in place to prepare for the unadulterated wickedness of the human heart?

"Jeremiah 17:9.."The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly perverse and corrupt and severely, mortally sick! Who can know it (perceive, understand and be acquainted with his own heart and mind?) (Matt.13:15-17; Mark 7:21-23; Ephes 4:20-24). Amplified Bible

You really need help missing what the Prophet Jeremiah just laid out under the direction of the Spirit of God. The Word of God says that the heart is desperately wicked (it is incapable of regulating itself without total reliance on the Holy Spirit). In the Hebrew language, "desperately wicked" means...incurable, sick, frail, weak and woeful! It also refers to a "malignant disposition of the mind!" Wow! So the wicked have their hearts and minds working in tandem to create chaos and unfathomable pain on its perceived enemies.

I know this is going to sting, but I have to say it.  The Sandy Hook tragedy was a horrible moment in human history.  The deaths of those innocent children and teachers was unnecessary...or so it seems.  God has always allowed the advent of death into our lives. Death is the ultimate behavior modification tool.  Death has stemmed the tide of every major movement and paradigm of evil since the beginning of human history! Be it war, assassination, disease or flat out murder, our nation and other nations of the world sit idly by and do little or nothing until some human carnage transpires.  We go about our day with little or no regard for one another...and a total disregard for God Almighty until what?...Somebody DIES!

It is a sad commentary on the lack of value placed on human life where the President appeared on national TV and shed a tear for the folks murdered in Connecticut, yet the entire nation has been rendered silent in reaction to the more than 500 murders of black people (most young black men) in Chicago, IL.  More then 268 young black men murdered in the streets like dogs since June and not one tear from the White House...and strangely enough, President Obama has a home in the Windy City!  His former Chief of Staff is the Freakin' Mayor for God's sake!  Yet we hear no bells chiming, no flags at half mast and no national outcry for gun control until 26 white kids and teachers and 1 little black girl get slaughtered by a lunatic!

The declaration of the NRA Chief David Keene to the Sandy Hook incident says it all, "Don't overreact to the Newton shooting.."  The NRA and its cronies are digging in their heels to protect their profession.  The thousands of needless deaths each year can be reduced...but at what cost?  There is too much money, power and influence to be lost by countless politicians, lobbyists and local governments.  At the end of the day, we have lost our value for human life...especially those of our black brothers and sisters!

"SURVIVAL: Why Men's Ministry is INEFFECTIVE!"

Our nation's restaurants and coffee houses are overrun with Christian men on any given Saturday morning with fellowships, bible studies and "hugging sessions." We sit around and beat our chests and pontificate over the scriptures to each other week after week, month after month and totally ignore the dozens of men that sit in the booths right next to us who are crying out in silence for their voices to be heard! IHOP, Starbucks and Panera Bread are making a small fortune off of Christian men who are content to sit on their butts and do nothing but talk to each other! And they wonder why the church has no power!

The Institutional Church (IC) has taken a serious public relations "hit" primarily because Christian Men are AWOL when it comes to "serving" God's people in the marketplace! In short, the IC is "impotent" because its men have been spiritually castrated; they have lost their ability to reproduce glory for God in the earth by duplicating Him to "the least likely of these."

I know this is hard to hear, but this is not solely my opinion.  The Barna Group, Pew Forum and the Washington Area Men's Ministry Coalition all cite that:

1. Fewer than 10% of U.S. churches are able to establish or maintain a vibrant Men's Ministry;
2. Fewer then 1% of churchgoing men participate in any sort of ongoing Men's Ministry Program;
3. 90 million men are not involved in any kind of discipleship;
4. On any given Sunday, there are 13 million more women than men in America's churches;
5. Over 70% of boys being raised in the church will abandon the church by their 20th birthday;
6. Midweek church activities draw 70-80% female participants (bible study, rehearsals, etc);
7. This Sunday, almost 25% of married Christian women will worship without their husbands;
8. When a father receives Christ, his entire family joins him at church 93% of the time.

Wow! These statistics are staggering! So you might argue that there are hundreds of men who attend your church every week and totally disagree with these numbers. The overwhelming majority of these men are there in "body" only...if they go at all! Why are so many men AWOL?  I'm glad you asked.

1. Men are ineffective in the IC because the messages that are preached are not relevant to their lives;
2. Men report the "feminization" of the church and the catering to female members as a turnoff;
3. Men cite "spiritual maturity" as their number one goal as believers. This point is lacking significantly in many IC settings because the Pastor is not spiritually mature.  You can't teach what you don't know!
4. Men fail to "Accept their Humanity"; we put too much pressure on ourselves to be a "MAN" without fully understanding what it really means to be a "FATHER";
5. Men do not understand the 'Spirit of Condemnation" and how to manage it without guilt;
6. Men are not challenged in the IC; men need to have a purpose and a goal; in my opinion, a man can only find his gift and destiny in the Kingdom of God through "service" in the marketplace.  He has to put his hands to the plough. A man has to produce something!

No amount of preaching, men's conferences, flag football games or fish fry's can change the dynamic of men fleeing the church.  You cannot replace "ministry" with "activities"!  Men might come to the activity, but they will almost never come back for the ministry.  Men must engage one another.  Engagement leads to empowerment and empowerment leads to spiritual maturity.  Spiritual maturity leads to service and extending the love of Christ to ALL of God's people...not just Christians!

The simple answer to this dilemma within the IC is to identify opportunities in the marketplace to serve God's people...and JUST GO! Selah...

"The Dichotomy of Repentance and Remorse!"

I can honestly say that I have rarely witnessed true "repentance" among believers! Oh sure, we have all been very sorry about what we did and even had the audacity to ask God to forgive us without first giving up ourselves as a sacrifice.  I call this the "Ishmael -Isaac" syndrome. What this syndrome  says is that we must first give up the natural man (Ishmael) before we can experience the spiritual man (Isaac).

What we, as Believers, most often experience when we get caught in sin is "remorse." We believe (and trust me, I am definitely including myself in this unilateral indictment) if we hang our heads, cry out a little and retreat from our sinful behavior for a few days or weeks, we think that we have somehow done God a favor!

When we finally "get it", the spirit of conviction moves us quickly into the presence of the Holy Spirit. Then the Holy Spirit, after rattling our proverbial cages for a while and smashing against all of our pretentious holiness, drags our battered and broken bodies into the presence of God!  The Spirit of God says to us, "...it is only the forgiven man that is the holy man."

You can ONLY be truly forgiven if you are OPPOSITE of what you were; in other words, REPENTANT.  What the voice of repentance says to a man is simply this, "You have sinned. What are you going to do next?" The believer must execute himself immediately. He must have a funeral and burial. He cannot attempt to raise that body from the grave! Anything less than this is "REMORSE" for having been exposed. This is the result of having an undisciplined spiritual life. Deep and painful regret is not repentance...it is remorse.

Don't get it twisted, it is NOT the devil who produces these agonies and turmoil in your life; it is the handiwork of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is ruthless in His pursuit of righteousness in the heart, mind and soul of the believer. Strictly speaking, a man cannot repent when he chooses; repentance is a gift from God! 

Examine yourself and learn how to "forget to be sorry!"

"The Paradox of Captivity!"

In the Word of God, the Book of Ephesians Chapter 4, Paul is addressing the believers in Ephesus regarding his status in the Kingdom.  He emphatically states that I am a "..prisoner of the Lord" in verse 1 and goes on urge that other believers should do the same. He declares that they should embrace unity, humility, longsuffering and peace.

Specifically, Paul uses the word "beseech" which, in the Greek, means to "come along side me" and do as I am doing!  Paul is preaching the paradox of "captivity in the Lord"; which essentially means that you are "free!"

How can a man who is in captivity be taken captive? Let's say you are incarcerated for committing a crime.  You are now in captivity.  Further, let's say you committed another crime while in prison against another inmate.  The guards would now take you to "solitary confinement" or place you in "the hole." You have now experienced what it is like to be taken "captive in captivity."

In the KOG, "captivity" is not a place, it is a mindset or a paradigm.  The Lord Jesus has come to set the captives free (Luke 4:18).  In other words, those individuals with low thinking, who are in constant fear and have no faith. In Christ, captivity represents a safety, peace, love, faith and dunamis power. In Christ, His directive from God to set the captives free (through "demonstration" or "by walking it out") is the preamble to His kerygmatic declaration of who He is and what He was sent to do in the earth.

In the end, Paul was urging those of us in bondage to do what he did...die to ourselves and walk along side of Jesus and allow Him to take us captive within Himself!