EVEN CHRISTIANS LOSE FAITH?

This will be a post about Controversy in general and specifically about “perceived” Controversy or misunderstandings/ misinterpretations in/of the Word of God … I am sure that all of you know that just because someone has an opinion, that doesn’t make it true and written/ recorded in stone …

EXAMPLE: HOW can a Christian lose faith? How about the school of thought that teaches “once saved always saved?”. How about the argument that if a person loses faith they were never saved in the first place?; or, what if the person in question experienced only ‘mental assent’, not genuine salvation? This post is not about how to know if one is genuinely saved or not, that topic is for another day.

Let’s proceed with the title, ‘losing faith’ and/or never finding it. Why are so many people seemingly brilliant and yet they cannot connect science and the tenets of The Bible? If human beings were honest, it seems they would admit that they are trying to ascend to the level of the “Revealing Science of God.” The problem is that scientists love and are bound by *”empirical evidence”… *Observation by the senses followed up with documentation.

The following (in my opinion) is why some people resist faith or pursuing it. Why some people have an initial experience and then fall away. Why even some Christians find it hard to stay in the faith and eventually fall away. ( This is only one example.)

People tend to base their faith on what they can understand with the rational mind … Seems we have to ask if “intelligent faith” is an oxymoron? God, calls us to look beyond what can be seen, into the “unseen realm’. I submit the unseen realm is a truer reality than what we can sense in the flesh. There are powers in place that will not allow us to delve too deeply at this point, in my humble opinion. So we see through a glass darkly.

“Ok, let’s put this puzzle together and I can finally make my point. Let’s look at the controversial subject … ” Sons of God” … Read Genesis 6: 1-4. There are mainly two views about this subject, but each view will take readers in a different direction; and my point about people losing faith revolves around there being different interpretations of scripture, which seems to do a lot of harm ( through confusion) to unbelievers and even some mature Christians. Some scholars have their own agendas, and want to advance their beliefs … quite possibly to appease some and sell books. Which only leads to more confusion. “We need to be careful that we are not deceived.” All kind of tricksters and impersonators everywhere. Continuing below.

Sons of God: Angels or human? … #1- The SETHITE VIEW: This view was developed in the 2nd century AD. This view simply says that the “sons of God” were offspring of Adam through his child Seth … The older view interprets that the “sons of God” were fallen angels who mingled with human women and had sexual relations that produced giant offspring called Nephilim. (By the way, the existence of giants in the past is supported by The Bible, and does answer a lot of questions about megaliths and about a ‘first Earth Age’ between Genesis 1 verse one and verse 2), what are we to believe? As far as this topic goes there are good people on both sides, but I think the ‘older view’ is the most popular and seems to make the most sense based on the Genesis account and other scriptures. … But these are the type of things that unless a person is determined to find out the truth, would derail their pursuit of the truth. God calls us to “seek and we will find”. Not only to seek for one hour or one day or one week or one year, but to continually seek, and we will find … It’s hard to have this kind of commitment for a lot of people, especially in this “soundbite, ten-second video world we live in”. Our “talking snake government-financed media” and culture has produced the ten-second attention span … And teaches us to quickly move on to the next crisis … Good luck making decisions and finding truth in that kind of setting. Anyway, the government doesn’t want you making decisions or even thinking for yourself, they want to do it all for you, God forbid! Imagine “Joe B. making decisions that affect the whole world, Yet he can’t even control his own life, I’m sorry to say to America, in a way, we are getting what we deserve and voted for. America is in a judgment phase.

Shenandoah River near Front Royal Virginia.

WAKEY WAKEY !

WAKEY … WAKEY, beware of the snakeee … God’s heart, love, and design for the abundant, meaningful, fulfilling life, is IN AND THROUGH THE ‘FAMILY’. Have you noticed slithering everywhere, anything that promotes God … “is offensive to and trying to be eliminated or destroyed from our culture and society, by dark forces in our various forms of leadership and government”? I would think the obvious answer as to “why”, is that the government is assuming the position of being God. In my humble opinion, the dark powers that be would like to eliminate gender from our race. ( population control? Hmmm?) …These dark powers view “the everyday common human being as lower than cattle anyway”; to be used and abused and if necessary exposed of the by the most convenient methods. ( That is if we don’t fall into line with the desires of our communist-infested government. IF WE AREN’T CAREFUL WE WILL ALL BE CHANTING HYPNOTICALLY “HEAD FOR THE TRAINS, WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER”, as we go to the gas chambers to be poisoned in the ‘showers’ … or lined up, shot in the back of the head; bulldozed into a mass grave and covered with lime. If anyone, anyone at all thanks this is farfetched, you better wake up and smell Joey B’s breath, because it is foul and corrupt and deadly. Ready or not IMHO, the masses are being prepared for an internal Civil War that will make America’s first Civil War, look like the Mickey Mouse club. PROPHECY IS BEING FULFILLED BEFORE OUR VERY EYES …WAKEY, WAKEY!. If you think I’m nuts, you better get off the kool-aid, before it’s too late. Can you believe it, How might we dismiss what I am saying when there are many people out there that don’t believe the first holocaust happened in World War II. You can show them evidence and proof and they still say “Nah that didn’t happen”. If not careful these will be the same people boarding the trains, with our fraudulently elected president as the conductor, with Nanshky P., Kabala H. checking tickets,

INTRODUCING FRANKIE THE EARTHMAN

IN MY PRE TEEN YEARS, I always carried this feeling or belief that I, Frankie, would “do something great with my life”. Through my teenage years, I assumed ( quite inaccurately by the way) that my greatness would come from being a professional athlete. I was fairly talented as a youngster and sports came easy to me, too easy. I took my success for granted, and always incorrectly assumed that I would be great no matter what level I played at, including professionally. To fast forward a little bit beyond my athletic years and endeavors, I realized that I didn’t have the mindset or the dedication to pursue a college or even professional athletic career in any sport (My mind was elsewhere). The highlight of my sports success came when I was 13 years old. I pitched the first game of a doubleheader that won us ’13-year-olds’ a state championship in Virginia. Success in sports for me, was rare but fun after this event.

As I graduated into the “workaday world”, I found good jobs as an electro/ mechanical inspector in the Defence Electronics field. This was my main area of employment from 1979 through the year 2000. During the early part of the nineties, I attended Liberty University “School of Lifelong Learning”. One of my favorite subjects was Hebrew Archaeology And History. (Along with other biblical related studies) I earned 69 credits during a two and one half years span of time. I received a notice that I was a bonafide graduate of Liberty University and had earned an AA in general studies, (I was a business major), But they never sent my degree to me and I didn’t pursue it, I was moving on. The following is of importance since this is a recap / introduction to my life, that is to say that I started writing about the age of 23 in approximately 1977. I was heavily influenced by the music of those days and somewhat by the partying activities that were typical of my circle of friends. I will leave it at that but will say that I enjoyed peach and apricot brandy, while venturing into some other things. Enough said on this.

In those days, I enjoyed writing lyrics and poetry, looking back I thought of myself as a mediocre writer at best. I quickly learned that a great writer had to be born a genius or had to live a life and be exceptional at retelling what he/she had lived. In those days I was neither. I became obsessed with reading and continued my writing through the years. Jumping ahead again, with the advent of social media I became involved with Facebook, Twitter, and the like. I also found my niche writing political satire. I easily found subjects and topics to write about. Donald Trump and the media made sure I had no writer’s block, ever. I had found my voice writing about politics, also about Biblical topics, studies, and poetry. ( I was engrossed in “why people believed what they believed”, and ‘how’ they had developed their belief systems.)

Of importance to mention: I grew up the oldest of four children. My mother was Audrey, my father, Coy. My family and I moved from Oak Ridge Tennessee, my birthplace, to Northern Virginia ( I was one year old. I had two brothers and a sister, Perry, Rhonda, and Brian chronologically from me. We had loving parents and great childhoods in a mid to lower-class suburb called “Pimmit Hills. We were inside the DC area “beltway” on the Virginia side, approximately 10 miles from Washington DC. I mainly grew up in Falls Church and Fairfax. Fairfax County and Loudon County turning out to be two of the richest counties in the nation. Up until the late ’90s, jobs were plentiful and people were a little saner.

Of further importance: My early writings consisted mainly of poetry before I developed the above-mentioned genres. What you will find there and in later writings is my sense of wonder, my sense of adventure, my viewing life as a journey to be experienced and experimented upon. ( After all, I and friends were a product of the seventies and eighties, and most of what living in those days entailed.

I want to acknowledge some friends of my recent and distant past. I won’t mention the roles or influence ‘yous’ had on me. However, I feel it necessary to say thank you to Rhonda N. and especially *Linda C. ( hats off to you both ) Also, Mark W. and Diana W. … A special friend also being Harrison C. (as youths, we started asking the big WHY questions) among other wonderful experiences. Also friends in St. Petersburg, Fl, Where I lived off and on for about 8 years … I would like to say Hey to two lovelies, Jennifer C. and Andrea S. G. … others including Gerald B., Dave C. & Rob ... Carolyn R. … Bobbie Sue A. … Joy. C. … Johnnie and Jeannie S. … Mike Bedell, Leslie Hale ministries, out of Tarpon Springs, Fl. …There are many others, sorry if I have forgotten you. Back in Virginia, I must say a heartfelt special Thank You to one of Va’s finest women and friend of my family, Judy Almquist. Also Judy’s sweet mother Marguerite ( can mean Pearl, of Latin and Persian origin) and Judy’s daughters, Linda, Amy, and their families. Let me not forget Judy’s son David. Dare I say that without Judy Almquist’s love and support for Mizuho ( my wife) and later Ari’el our son and me, she, Mizuho, may not have come into my life.

Airing laundry: To my daughter Lauren: So sorry for my failing you early on. There are no excuses but I would like to say … Your mother and I were “children having children.” I, nor your mom, were spiritually, physically, mentally, or financially prepared to be parents … (Thank God for Grandparents) Please don’t remind me of my failing you. Again, I would like to say, “there were certain family members on my side and yours” that were and ( some still are) “poisoning the water” concerning me and you. Seems to me, if some of these people had your best interests at heart, they would have let us pursue a relationship, (Bitterness is like cancer.) instead of making me out to be a vicious devil … Anyway, our relationship or lack thereof… is what it is … regretfully.

A pivotal point of my life: Long story short; In the spring of 1981 (28 years old), I had an encounter with God. I experienced a manifestation from Him. Looking back there was no way I could have denied what happened to me. If I had, I would have been a liar. Here is what happened: I was sitting at a table of five or six people at my first prayer meeting. I had little or no experience but all of a sudden, it felt as if oil had hit me on top of my head or as if a handkerchief had been draped over me. I later learned that this was the presence of God and also that I had been given gifts, specifically the gift of evangelism and witnessing; which proved to be true up until this very day. I want to make a general sweeping statement about my feelings on Christianity. Be careful and try not to misunderstand what I am going to say. By no means am I one of these Christians that is bound up with legalism. I am free to live under the convictions of my conscience and my God. Certainly, I am not one of these Christians that believes if you have a drink or two, you’re going to hell, or if you slip up and say a cuss word, you’re going to hell or any nonsense like that. I have learned that all things are permissible but not all things are profitable. Again, I live by the convictions of my heart and conscience.

About me and my writing: Those that decide to read my work will find a certain reality in the words. By that I mean you will find a dark side and you will find a side filled with light, hope, and promise. Let me see if I can say ‘that’ a little bit better. Readers of my work will find the obvious struggle between good and evil, between God and the devil. Further, readers will find many interesting deep studies, I have put forth along the way. As Bill Gillham (author of LIFETIME GUARANTEE) so accurately teaches “After a salvation experience, people find that they are a “new creation in an old earth suit.”Essentially meaning there is an ongoing struggle that is very real and can be very consuming. My writing is evidence of this. Readers will find examples/ accounts of spiritual attacks to me, on one side from the devil and spiritual euphoric peace with God on the other. “The old man battling with the new.” Additionally, I would like to mention, that a lot of my ideas apart from biblical studies, “come from a pre or post-conscious dreamlike state.” Oftentimes, I wake up with what I call words and ideas structuring themselves in my mind, almost clamoring for my attention. Oftentimes again, these words and suggestions/ ideas will not leave me alone (let me rest) until I get up and write them down.

Finally, I have written 1200 plus pieces of work. I plan on releasing Volume 1 soon, probably via e-book and paperback. I am planning on 5 to 6 volumes, a total of about 200 pages each. We will see how it works out. Give my Volume 1 a close read, (when it becomes available) you might find it very interesting and you might find parts of yourself in there, Frank Payton. Contact me at falconeyed2@yahoo.com … for more info or to share your thoughts.

Heavy influences in my life: 19th century scholar, E.W. Bullinger, author of THE COMPANION BIBLE, which in my opinion, as a study guide, has no equal ... The most excellent, Jonathan Cahn … his books including the Harbinger 1 and 2 … Paradigm …The Oracle, and many others, in my opinion, his work is complete revelation and is life-changing. Also, Bill Gillham … I have to mention the great Edgar Allan Poe, Miguel de Cervantes, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) Shakespeare, ( Hamlet, my favorite ) … Mr. Odawa, ” Giants and the Nephilim” … many, many others through the years … Musically I was/ am heavily influenced by the melancholy flamboyance of Jim Morrison and the doors … The mysticism of Led Zeppelin … The genius of Jimi Hendrix … The horrors of war through Pink Floyd … other influences, Yes, Van Morrison, The lyrics of Jethro tall … Many others …

In closing, I want to say to my wife of nearly 14 years, Mizuho Shigyo Payton, originally from Yokohama Japan … I cannot express in words the love I have for you and our now 13-year-old son, Ari’el Shou Payton. Also thank you to Etsuko ( Mizuho’s mother) and Hiroaki and his family, also in Yokohama, Japan.

Note: My writing style is a little bit unconventional and I am not so concerned with perfect grammar and formality. I use the ellipsis (…) quite regularly and my intention is for there to be a pause in my sentences or word structure … I’M of a mind that the message and contemplation are far more important than having all of my commas in the right place … enjoy my work … Frank Payton.

The SURPRISE AWAITING CHRISTIANS

So, YOU’RE BORN AGAIN, “BORN FROM ABOVE”, YOUR FLESH WAS BORN OF WATER, NOW YOUR SPIRIT IS BORN FROM ABOVE ... or quite simply put, you’re no longer “spiritually dead. “Forgive my seemingly flippant sarcasm, but “ain’t that just flowers of sweet fragrances and ain’t life comfy cozy and grand?” …Well, I am here to tell you, that it isn’t. Now that you are not spiritually dead, you are a “candle-lit” and a candidate to be involved in the supreme struggle between good and evil, God and the Devil … (You think Harry Potter had it rough? Boy Howdy, you just wait) … Back when you were going around doing your thing and living your vain, pride-filled life, the devil had you exactly where he wanted you, he wasn’t so concerned about you, but now that you are a “candle-lit” for God, he is very concerned about you, he wants you dead before you can do damage to his kingdom. You might ask, how or why could I say these things? … I KNOW AND SAY THESE THINGS BECAUSE I HAVE LIVED THEM OUT IN MY FLESH, BLOOD, AND BONES.

Here’s the surprise awaiting mature Christians that are wondering why things aren’t easier, after all, God has defeated Satan, by His Son’s sacrificial death on the cross. Stop the presses, and hold up! … This is true ‘but’, those born again still have to live the remainder of their life in the flesh. And what goes unknown to a lot of Christians is that they have three enemies, and they are the world, the flesh, and the devil. Since being born again and maturing in this new identity, Christians come to realize that they are a new creation in an old body … “That” old bodies soul, which is “the mind, the will and the emotions” is now at battle with the new spirit inside the believer … And the struggle is on … This is where Christians find out what they are made of … And it can get nasty, especially if you try to walk and defeat Satan in ‘your’ flesh and ability, ie: THE SPIRIT IS WILLING BUT THE FLESH IS WEAK: Matthew 26: 40 – 43 …

Fighting in the spirit is essential to survival for the Christian … Thus the saying, We struggle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, darkness, against evil powers in high places. ( paraphrased). Once Christians face this situation, they can overcome through the power of Christ and Christ alone, efforts otherwise are futile … Is this being taught today in “The Church”? … contact me if it is … falconeyed2@yahoo.com or littleraventhepoet.blog… All for now, Frank Payton … Your friendly neighborhood piano player … DON’T SHOOT!

Hills are filled with fire, J. Morrison …

MY PERSPECTIVE PART 2

Let’s hopefully, go deeper. Hold on to your hats ...

I want to take us deeper by going into things that I consider necessary and crucial to all of us being better human beings. Seems to me “Life is all about higher levels of awareness/consciousness.” I want to maybe inform and enlighten by addressing areas concerning “church activity”, other areas concerning human nature and technology, comparatively speaking. First, today’s churches find themselves in a position of opportunity, if they can rise to it … If the church can lovingly but scripturally address the diversity of issues including, racial issues, gender issues, social justice issues, media issues, issues of free speech, and issues rooted in socialism and marxism. As Erwin Lutzer so wonderfully asked in his must-have book, “WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED” asking,” How did we get to where we are without noticing where we were heading?… So many things happened worldwide, personally, politically, culturally, spiritually, “The river runs deep.”

Continuing through history, up to and including now, we compare history to human nature. We stand perplexed scratching our heads, trying to figure ‘things’ out (Human nature remaining relatively the same, ie: … We murdered in the book of Genesis and were still murdering today; while technology is progressing exponentially) trying to figure ‘ourselves’ out. Where did we come from? Where are we going?, What is true … evolution or creationism? Perhaps many are of the school of thought that humanity is a descendant of aliens that placed us here … Well, I say it’s possible but unlikely, IMHO. (I believe that there have been “earth ages”, that is periods, that have come and gone. I believe knowledge ‘had’ increased way beyond what we presently know … I also believe that much of it has been lost or hidden (through these different ages) I sincerely believe if we had a deeper understanding of “Revelation 12 and Ezekiel 1” we might be able to catch a glimpse of the ‘earth ages’ I have mentioned … Also a deep study into the school of teaching that there is a “gap theory” between Genesis vs one and vs two, with an entire age existing between the two verses. I would also like to say as wonderful as translations of the Bible are … A deep study in Hebrew is required for some of these topics. One is an example in verse two ( of Genesis) where the word WAS is used, “The earth WAS VOID. It quite possibly should have been translated the earth BECAME void, etc. The thinking being related to Revelation 12 and the battle that took place, where Satan led 1/3 of the angels against God and lost, then was cast down-to-earth, destruction being the result to the earth from this battle, which begs the question, did or could God have ‘created’ this ruined earth? … so ( does God create anything that begins as ruined?) …

or did it ‘become’ that way through the battle of Revelation 12? ( also reference Jude 1:6) (To further this school of thought, we need to look at how the fallen angels mated with human beings and created a race of giants ( Nephilim) which has mainly been denied by the pushers and purveyors of Darwinian evolution …Why? you might ask was/is this denied?, … because most non-believers in Christianity know that a race of giants existing in the past is supported by the Bible and they don’t want anything to do with that, it takes away their authority … start a study, and you will find the ” the more you study the more there is to study ” and to be revealed. Io

The last area I want to address in this post … I will tell you what I have learned from experience … If I could tell nonbelievers one thing about MOST Christians, it’s this … OUR SPIRITUAL EYES HAVE BEEN OPENED BY AN ENCOUNTER, A RESULTING RELATIONSHIP WITH God, some say that what Christians have is nothing but more religion, well it’s not. It’s life over death, because the Lord that I know, overcame death itself, Jesus was the first fruits of the resurrection … Firstfruits being indicative of a later harvest … EUREKA! ALL BELIEVERS! … Do not make the mistake of estimating who God is, through the failings of Christians and others …

Here is the culmination of what I want non-believers to know … Being a true God-serving Christian is as tough a road that anyone could ever walk down. Since being a Christian myself, I can honestly say, that I have been beaten up and spiritually left for dead, I have been attacked and nearly choked to death in my sleep, I have experienced a spiritual entity stretched out full length over top my body, paralyzing me ( ain’t Christianity a blast?) ( smirk ) … I have been lied to, lied about, had curses put upon me … been betrayed, buffaloed, baffled, misunderstood, misquoted, harassed and harangued to extremes … But I have learned to count it all as joy … to gain what is promised in Christ … King Solomon was right, everything else under the sun is vanity … Also a notice to all nonbelievers, a mature Christian will not be a hater, only a discerner and informer that what nonbelievers may be ‘doing’ or ‘acting out’ may kill them … According to God’s standards … A genuine Christian is an honest messenger … And should not be judgmentsl, as that is God’s job … I try to practice loving discernment … And that can be very tough to accomplish in this world of hatred we find ourselves living in … but we have to persevere … littleraven thepoet.blog … Frank Payton …

MY PERSPECTIVE PART 1

Well, I have enjoyed my time on planet earth, ( 66 years so far) for the most part. I view my life and all life as a gift from our creator, God. Having said that, I will try as joyfully as I can to live out the remaining days on the calendar set for my life. I have found my life to be wonderful at times. I have also found my life to be very troubling at times; relationships both magical and also very problematic at times, decisions very hard to make almost all the time. ( controversy crouches and pursues me, my personality, I think) I view my life as a failure in a lot of ways. I have allowed the ‘potentials’ that God put in me to go underdeveloped. I hold myself responsible ( failing) for the immaturity of my youth, and because of this youthful immaturity, my failure to get a good baseline on what it takes to have every chance to be a fully prepared super-productive human. As I look back to my late teenage years into my twenties; I found myself caught off guard, uneducated, ( I learned quickly that the school system teaches very little to prepare kids for REAL LIFE) and unprepared to deal with the spiritual nature and battle between good and evil, God and the devil, that I would find myself dealing with. This struggle would come whether I was ready, liked it or not. Unfortunately, I had little or no exposure to “Godly learning or matters” until my mid to later twenties ( 28 to be exact) in and around 1981. Everything changed in the spring of 1981. At a revival meeting one day, I “walked the dirt road” to the front of the church. I heard the word of God that day and gave my public profession of faith. Soon thereafter I attended my first Wednesday evening prayer meeting. A long story shortened, during the prayer meeting “A sensation of having oil poured on my head came upon me”, or ( to describe another way ) it felt as if a handkerchief had been draped over me. It was pleasant but unfamiliar to me. I later learned that ( through others) the presence of God had manifested that day. Days later I also became aware of a gift or gifts that had been imparted to me ( I believe during the oil, handkerchief manifestation.) My main gift, “evangelism” with a special anointing and ability to cut through and leave behind all the religious hype in some Christian circles; revealing a simple but deep understanding of the heart of the gospel. How, you might ask did I believe this to be true? … Well, I was often told by people as they would say ” I have never heard Christianity explained quite like what you have just told me”… These were exciting times. Maybe I will continue my story later, that’s all for now, there is much more. For insights into my writing life, visit littleraventhepoet.blog … Frank Payton–Note: This effort and account of my life is an attempt to help “everyone” that ever knew me “warts n’ all” & “writer n’ all” especially, Rhonda N. … Linda C. Mizuho P. … My beautiful daughter Lauren, my amazing son, Ari’el. Also some other great friends of my youth … Diana W. Mark W. … and Harrison C. “Hats off to all of you”, Thanks … others unmentioned, you know who you are Ann & Jack R … Many friends in St. Petersburg Fl. and Virginia … And inlaws and family in Japan, Etsuko, Hiroiki, and their families …

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