THE LIFEBLOOD

   In a golfer's bag of clubs, it is the putter that is swung more times than any other club, and it is the club that accounts for more strokes than any other club. 
   For example, if a golfer uses 2 putts per hole for 18 holes, that is a total of 36 strokes.  If he needs 3 or 4 putts on some of those holes, then he is using more than 40 strokes by the putter alone.  Add 18 drives and he will be up to nearly 60 strokes with only 2 clubs.  If he scores 100 for one game, then half of his strokes are on the greens. 
  To many golfers, however, it is the putter that is treated with the least amount of importance to the whole, or the club that receives the least attention---as if putting is something trivial to do before moving to the next tee.
   How often do golfers say, "I need to practice my putting"?
   Yet, most golfers will never practice putting at all.  They will continually complain about their putting while never attempting to do anything about it.
   Instead, they will spend hours learning how to drive off the tees, they will work on making better fairway shots, and they will practice to be better at pitching and chipping.  But these same people will treat the putter as an unwanted step-child.
  Golf championships are either won or lost on the greens because of putting, and not from the tees or on the fairways.
   If a golfer devotes little attention to improve his putting, he will likewise devote little attention to improving his game with all the other clubs.
   Obviously, most golfers accumulate more strokes on the greens than any other place, and therefore golfers can reduce more strokes on the greens than any other place.
   The putter is the smallest member of a golfer's family of clubs, but it is the putter that is the lifeblood of a golfer's success, or it is the darkness of a golfer's failure to achieve par.
   As Christians, we are the smallest group of people among nations, yet it is Christians that have contributed more to world history, over the past two thousand years, than any group of people in human history.
   Over the past two thousand years, Christians have been responsible for spreading the love of God to all nations because of Christ our Lord.
   Over the past two thousand years, Christians have been responsible for spreading words of good cheer, for being kind and considerate to others, and for helping our neighbors in the time of trouble.
   Yet, over the past two thousand years, Christians have been despised, and hated, and rejected by more people worldwide than any group of people in human history.
   Christians have been enabled to achieve all of these wonderful accomplishments, even though we are the smallest in number, all because Christ is the lifeblood of believers:  for had it not been for the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, human history over the past two thousand years would have been dark and dreary, and people would have never had any hope of ever having a good day.
   Because of Christ, Christians have been enabled to be a light unto the world, and we have done so without using guns and swords.
   God's amazing grace is still amazing, and His grace will remain amazing till the end of days.
      He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:  and we hid our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows:  yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities:  the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53: 3-5)

LEFTOVERS

        An empty refrigerator is the same as an empty mind.  Do we fill our minds with the leftovers of this world, or do we fill our minds with the words of the Lord?


   If we glue our minds to television, glue our minds to sports, to movies, and electronic gadgets, and if we glue our minds to government and religion, then we will become one with the world.
   But if we glue our minds to the words of the Lord, then we will become one with God.
   If we are glued to this world, we will think and live in the ways of this world because the world is our source for truth.
   If we glue our minds to television, we will believe in television as a source for truth because we are one with television.
   If we glue our minds to religion, we will think and live in the ways of religion because religion is our source for truth, and we are one with religion instead of one with God.
   If a person glues his mind to the knowledge of golf, he will become a golfer; but if that person rejects the knowledge of golf, he will become no more than a hitter of golf balls, never improving, because his mind is not one with golf.
   If I do not use my tongue to speak for God and Christ, then I will use my tongue to speak for the world, or even speak for the Devil, because my mind is not glued to the words of God.
   If the words of God are in me, then the words of God will come out of me; but if the words of God are not in me, then the words of the world, or the words of the Devil, will come out of me, and I will become a voice for Satan.
   My actions speak for me, but it is my words that tell the truth that is in my heart; therefore, my actions and my words must be in agreement, or else I am no more than a hypocrite.
      Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. (1st Corinthians 13: 1)
   If I do not speak with the love of God in my heart, then I will speak from the leftovers of this world, and all I will do is toot my own horn---wanting others to believe in the leftovers of my carnal mind.
   The mind of a child is precious unto the Lord.
   Remember Judas Iscariot?  He feasted on the leftovers of this world and look what he became!
  
  
  

JUDAS ISCARIOT IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

   Judas Iscariot went to church with Jesus of Nazareth.  He sat on the pews and heard the messages that Jesus taught.  But Judas had difficulty paying attention.  He had no interest in the Bible stories Jesus told, nor in the Law of Moses, nor in the miracles that Jesus performed in front of Judas's eyes.  Loving thy neighbor and praying for thy enemy did not appeal to him. 
   At the Sermon on the Mount, Judas sat on a rock and looked at the blue sky, dreaming about the day when he would own a beachfront condo on the Mediterranean, travel to Paris and eat French cuisine, or take a cruise ship on the big ocean to all the exotic places he had read about in travel brochures, and even of the time when he would become rich and famous.
   In church, however, Judas looked like the other disciples.  He dressed like them, walked with them, and even sat in the Amen Corner.  Gospel music did nothing to ring his bell, for he preferred that more contemporary sound, or even ho-hum chamber music when he could dose off and take a nap.  What he enjoyed most of all was the free coffee and doughnuts before the doors closed for people to pray and to welcome visitors.
   For in everything else, Judas was bored.  He was not comfortable with Christians.  Talking about Christ was not his favorite topic even though he went to church with Jesus for more than three years.  Knowing about things past, things present, or things future were not on his radar, for Judas was self-serving.
   In his beginning of days, Judas had had a troubled childhood.  His parents never loved him.  They ignored him, more or less, leaving Judas alone to tend to himself, and he became anti-social and a loner. 
   Playing sandlot baseball with other kids had no appeal to Judas, either.  He did not desire to mix with others at school, nor participate in student activities such as attending the sock hop in the gym after Friday night football games.  Joining the Boy Scouts was nonsense, too:  going camping with other boys and their fathers was stupid since he never had a meaningful relationship with his own dad.  Dating girls or getting married was also out of the question because he had never experienced an understanding of communication with females as his mother treated him as if he was an accident, or unwanted, and nothing but a pain in the neck.  Or maybe he never knew his biological mother, and perhaps his dad was never a father. 
   Judas never had a day of happiness.  His face bore the scars of anguish and pain of never knowing love.  He never smiled, he never laughed, and even a funny joke was not funny to Judas.  He lived a lonely, secluded life, shielding himself from people.  He never spoke up for anything, never spoke against anything.  He never stood up for anything, never stood against anything.  He never offered his opinion about government, or about religion.  He never talked about the things he liked, or the things he disliked, and he never spoke about his childhood days of miserable memories.  Compelling him to answer simple questions was like asking him to undergo a root canal and to enjoy it.
   Judas Iscariot was the perfect pawn in the hand of Satan, for the only aroma that opened the nostrils of Judas was the smell of money, for his only interest was in advancing himself, and money became his golden calf.  He saw how the Romans spent money.  He saw how the corrupted priests of the Jewish temple lived lavish lifestyles in fancy houses and with servants. And Judas liked what he saw. 
   With money, he could buy a house, keep it clean, mow the grass, and trim the hedge.
   With money, he could buy a car and keep it shiny and always looking new.
   With money, he could buy new clothes, though nothing flashy or fancy, because he had to maintain his low profile.
   With money, he could join a country club and rub shoulders with the bankers and lawyers and anyone else who thought they were big cheese, for Judas wanted to believe that he was big cheese.
   With money, he could afford a membership in the local church where he would go and kneel and lip sync the words of songs---even though he cared not for Christ, nor for the Bible he owned but never read---while deceiving others in church to believe that he was a Christian because he dressed like them, sat on pews, and bowed his head.
   Though Judas Iscariot was in the neighborhood, people never really knew him.  They never knew his heart.  They never knew of his secret life, his secret past, nor his secret desire.  Even the other disciples of Christ were deceived by Judas, the one who carried the disciples' money bag.
   In the lifetime of Judas Iscariot, the only person who ever loved him was Jesus of Nazareth.  The only person who ever cared for him was Jesus of Nazareth.  The only person who knew that Judas could be far more than Judas believed that Judas could be was Jesus of Nazareth.
   Earlier, Judas heard Jesus speak these words:
      For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?  Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark 8: 36-37)
   But these words meant nothing in the life of Judas, for at the end of his days he turned his back against Jesus of Nazareth as he also turned his face against the love of God:  choosing instead to sell his soul to the Devil for thirty pieces of silver, to get rich quick and to get out of town.
   The heart of Judas Iscariot was filled with rejection, unwanted and unloved.  His heart was filled with bitterness, frustration, and anger.  His heart was filled with envy, jealousy, and greed.  Above all else, his heart was filled with loneliness and he sealed himself away in himself from other people.  He turned his heart against the only person who ever called him "friend", and he died a lonely life with no one or no family to mourn for him, nor to bury his body in a private grave, after he endured the loneliness of suicide.
   The story of Judas Iscariot is a sad story.  It is a story that has been left behind by millions of people who have loved this world more than they could have loved God.  It is also a story that is being lived by people even now in communities across America and around the world.
   As Christians, all we can do is pray for people, and pray for the Holy Spirit to open their minds to the knowledge of Christ before their end of days.
   In closing, let me tell you that had it not been for the love and grace and mercy of God, there was a time in my life when I could have become a Judas Iscariot in the neighborhood---and you would have never known that my heart was deceitfully wicked.
   Jesus said,
      You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.... (John 15: 16)
   So I am thankful to God for choosing me!
  
  

PRAYER ON A TEE

   If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given unto him.  (James 1: 5)


   In 2009, I began my journey in golf with prayer, asking God to help me to become the best golfer I can be in the time I have remaining to play golf. 
   For the past six seasons, I have continued to pray about my game of golf on a daily basis and even as I am playing each day: 
      asking God to help me to understand how to swing golf clubs better,
      how to make better contact with the ball,
      to help me get my direction on target with the green,
      so that I will make better swings,
      improve my contact with the ball,
      and reach the greens.
   For six seasons, I have prayed in this manner, and, for six seasons, the Lord has heard my prayer.  In 2009, I was scoring over 100 strokes per 18 holes of golf; and today, in 2015, my scoring average is near 80.  The Lord has heard my prayer. 
   This prayer will help other golfers if they will only believe and trust in God; and if they will only believe and pray this prayer, their golf game will experience a revolution. 
   On the other hand, if people do not want God's help in their golf games, God will leave them alone:  for God will not impose Himself on people, and neither will God go where God is not welcome.
   In like manner, God will help people in their daily lives and in all of their endeavors, if they will only believe and trust in Him.  But if people do not want God in their daily lives, God will leave them alone:  for God will not go where God is not welcome.
   God is available.  God is ready to help.  God can help people out of their miserable golf games, and God can help people of their misery and heartache. 
   Above all else, God is all knowledge, which also means, by the way, that God has the knowledge of golf!
    Jesus said,
      Ask, and it shall be give you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:  for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. (Matthew 7: 7-8)
   Before your next golf game, trying putting a prayer on a tee before the ball.
  
  

THE DEVIL DRIVES A GOLF CART

   Would the Devil drive a golf cart?
   Would the Devil fly a 747 jumbo jet?
   The Devil drives a Cadillac through neighborhoods, cities, and ghettos selling drugs to children.
   The Devil was the pilot of Malaysia Flight MH 370 that disappeared with hundreds of people.
   The Devil was the captain of the Titanic that sank in the North Atlantic in 1912.
   The Devil, operating through people, assassinated U.S. Presidents Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy.
   The Devil, operating through people, killed Princess Diana of Wales and John F. Kennedy, Jr., of the United States.
   The Devil, operating through people, hijacked four U.S. airplanes and destroyed the World Trade Center and killed more than three thousand people in New York City in 2001.
   When people reject Christ, they also reject the love of God, the grace of God, and the mercy of God.
   When people reject Christ, they will experience spiritual insanity:   the Devil's thoughts become their thoughts, and the Devil's ways become their ways.
   When people reject Christ, they will experience spiritual assassination:  they condemn their own souls to eternal damnation instead of receiving eternal life through Christ our Lord.
   When people reject Christ, they accept the same for their own children:  and they will teach their kids to be like them.
   So, then, would the Devil drive a golf cart?
   The answer, of course is yes! 
   For golf reveals the character of people faster than participation in any other sport:  for on a golf course, there is no place to run and no place to hide.  As people are in life, so will they be on a golf course.  And by their rejection of Christ, they are undisciplined, undetermined, and too proud to understand the difficulty of golf, and they ride around golf courses in golf carts playing toddler golf because their Mommies never taught them to tie their shoes, nor to stand like men and women and take responsibility for learning to live in an adult world, nor in learning adult golf.  For on a golf course, their desire is to please themselves; and when they do not get their own way, they---just like the Devil---get angry and stomp their feet, for they are only pretending to be golfers.
      When I was child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child:  but when I became a man, I put away childish things. (1st Corinthians 13: 11)
   Therefore, when people refuse to accept responsibility as adults on golf courses, they speak as a child, they understand as a child, they think as child, and they continue to play golf in childish ways:  never learning, never improving, and teaching their children to be like them---while driving golf carts on golf courses like they are celebrities in a parade.  More than this, they deceive themselves by believing that they are golfers when they are no more than hitters of golf balls like toddlers, having fun like toddlers, and never growing out of their childish ways.  By remaining childish, they never learn to act like adults on golf courses, and they never learn to play golf like adults.
   In like manner, religion is the place for toddlers; for religion is designed to shield people from knowing God while holding them hostage to obedience to the commandments of their spiritual leaders, or as if they are always relying on Mommy to tie their shoes for them while living their lives with toddler minds---never knowing anymore about God when they are seventy than they knew when they were seven.  Because they have never trusted in Christ to save them from their sin, the Devil's thoughts become their thoughts, and the Devil's ways become their ways.  They become deceivers in life just as there are deceivers on golf courses.
   Pride will keep people from knowing golf, and pride will keep people from knowing God.
  
  

AMERICA, WHERE ART THOU?

   America was a greater America forty years ago than it is today.
   Our Presidents and politicians have been educated at the most expensive colleges and universities in the world, but look what they have done for us---and to us---over the past forty years.
   It is shameful that the United States leads the world in the production and proliferation of pornography.
   It is shameful that America is a haven for human trafficking of women and children as sex slaves to wicked men---and even to export American women and children to foreign countries.
   It is shameful that America is a haven for drug trafficking, drug lords and cartels, from city to city and coast to coast.
   It is shameful that America's young children suffer from physical and sexual abuse, neglect, and even starvation.
   It is shameful that America is fertile soil for pedophilia in colleges, universities, and even in churches and religious institutions.
   It is shameful that America's military personnel are continually deployed overseas to fight and die in wars that will never end.
   Meanwhile, our Presidents and politicians say little or nothing about these shameful characteristics of a nation that once stood as a beaming light of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  But every four years and over the past forty years, Presidents and politicians give us the same song and dance during the election seasons:
      "I can fix America."
      "I can fix Washington."
      "I can fix big government."
      "I can fix Federal spending."
      "I can fix foreign and domestic policies."
      "I can fix Iran, I can fix Iraq, and I can fix the Middle East."
      "I can fix companies and corporations and expand jobs opportunities for all Americans."
      "I can provide a square meal and a square deal for every man, woman, and child."
      "I can do it all."
      "I'm the one you have been waiting for."
      "I'm the guy."
      "I'm the man."
      "I'm the woman."
      "After all, I am me and there is none other."
   But after elections and with all the parties and glitter and clapping of hands, the American people go back to work while Presidents and politicians go to Washington to turn the page of perpetual Ground Hog Day, doing no more for our nation than the people they replaced.  And this is shameful.
   King David was the greatest king in the history of Israel, but King David is never quoted by American Presidents and politicians, when he wrote,
               Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD (Psalm 33: 12)
   Have American Presidents and politicians forgotten that God is the LORD?
   Or is this knowledge not known by them?
   Maybe there is no room in the inn for the Lord in Washington.  And if God is not welcome in Washington, maybe God is no longer welcome across America.
   And this shameful.
  


  
  
  

ZIONISM

        "None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."
                                                                           Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
    Other than Martin Van Buren, the bloodline of all U.S. Presidents is from King John of England (1167-1216 A.D.)
    The only way this is possible is because U.S. Presidents have been chosen in advance and the votes of the people of the United States have never mattered. 
     Since before July 4, 1776, the United States has been governed by an invisible empire by the people who control the world, operating behind the scenes, and installing puppet presidents and other politicians in order to bring the United States into the control of a global empire---while deceiving the American people to believe that we have had a democracy, a government by the people; instead, however, we have a people by the government.
   Knowing this, then we should be able to see and believe that the decision for the next President of the United States has already been made.  The same is true for all the Republicans and Democrats in Washington, D.C., for the ballot boxes do not matter.
   Jesus said,
      "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"  (Mark 8: 36-37)
   Judas Iscariot was bought for thirty pieces of silver, and all of the politicians in America's leadership have been bought with a price.  They have exchanged their own souls for a pocketful of money, for a seat at the table of the ruling elite, for beachfront condos and private jets, and for a few prideful moments in which to stand in front of television cameras desiring that people believe how great they are.
   Not only is this true in the United States, but it is also true in nations worldwide:  for men and women in governments have been bought with a price:  they have exchanged their souls for a pocketful of money.
  
   ZIONISM is a political movement, founded by Theodor Herzi in 1896, and the goal of Zionists is to dominate or control the whole world.  So no matter if the global government is called Zionism, Communism, Socialism, Marxism, the New World Order, or Globalization, the names are different but the goal is the same:  to enslave all people of all nations.
  Zionism sounds like a religion, but it is not, and it should not be confused with Judaism, the religion of the Torah Jews.  Even though some Zionists practice Judaism, all of them do not.  Zionism is a mixture of Jews and Gentiles.  All of them, however, share a common ground of belief:  they are against God, against Christ, and against the Bible.
   Since 1896, Zionism has been operating silently and secretly, as if Zionists are invisible, and, for the most part of the past one hundred years, Zionists have been operating virtually by stealth---not wanting their identities known, not wanting their secret agenda known, while deceiving the world to believe that the leaders of Israel are Torah Jews.
   Since 1896, Zionists have believed that if they can control the world's money, they can control the world and thereby convert every nation on earth as a colony of Israel.  Their plan has been a masterful work of deception, for Zionists do, indeed, control the world's money because they control the banks and financial institutions of the United States, and Europe, and, of course, Israel.
  "The Zionist movement created the Israeli state.  Its essential goal was and is to change the nature of the Jewish people from that of a religious entity to a political movement.  Zionists want the world to believe that they are the representatives of the entire Jewish people.  This is false!  The Jewish people never chose them as their leaders.  Torah true Jewry waits patiently for the Messianic redemption.  They have nothing to do with any kind of pseudo "Jewish State" and its aggressions against other peoples."--- a quote from Neturei Karta (Jews United Against Zionism).
   Zionists are not looking for the Messiah of the Torah; instead, Zionists are building a world kingdom for their own messiah, the False Christ, for Zionists want people to believe that they believe that they are Torah Jews, but they are not.
   Zionists are therefore deceivers.  They are liars and thieves.  And they are evil.  For there is nothing they will not do in order to achieve their goal of world dominion.
   Moreover, part of the Zionist Manifesto is about racism and racial discrimination, for the majority of the faces in Zionism are white faces---no matter if the white faces are Jews, and no matter if the white faces are Gentiles.  So then, Zionism is about white supremacy, for there are few dark faces within Zionism. 
   Look at the differences of nations with white and dark faces today:
   Nations with dark faces suffer economically because white faces control the money, and the white faces are not allowing nations with dark faces to prosper. 
   Nations with dark faces suffer because of sickness, disease, hunger, thirst, malnutrition, hopelessness and homelessness because the white faces want those people to suffer and to die.
   Nations with white faces have the best and most expensive colleges, universities, and medical schools in the world.
   Nations with white faces have the best hospitals and medical institutions in the world.
   Nations with white faces have the best health and opportunities for prosperity in the world.
   Nations with white faces have the best companies and corporations for career opportunities, jobs, and money, which enables people to buy houses, cars, clothes, and take family vacations.  This is not true in nations with dark faces.
   The government of the United States is primarily composed with white faces.
   The European Union is primarily composed with white faces.
   The British government is and has always been a monarchy of white faces.
   The United Nations is for the advancement of people and nations with white faces---while the people in the U.N. with dark faces are being deceived to believe that they are important.
   In the United States, people with dark faces are being deceived to believe that our government cares for them and is concerned for their welfare, for their prosperity, and for their pursuit of happiness.  But they are not.  They are simply being led as sheep for the slaughter.
   The Federal Reserve of the United States and the financial institutions of New York City are under the control and ownership of Zionists; and, the Board of Governors of Federal Reserve is also under the leadership of Zionists.
   PROMINENT PROPONENTS OF ZIONISM are people we see in front of our eyes and in broad daylight, and they are in agreement with the Zionist Manifesto, which is to control the whole world:
   Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, and the leaders of the government of Israel;
   President Barack Obama and a multitude of politicians within the U.S. government;
   Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and all the politicians within the British government;
   Pope Francis, all the men in the Vatican, and Jesuit Priests;
   The Castro brothers of Cuba;
   Member states of the European Union;
   Member states of the United Nations;
   Islam, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and other religions;
   The Church of Satan, Church of Witchcraft, and Church of Wicca;
   Members of secret societies worldwide, including families of the Mafia.
   Knowing this, we should be able to see and understand that the United States is a colony of Zionism; that Western Europe is a colony of Zionism; that the Vatican is a colony of Zionism; that nations with white faces are colonies of Zionism.
   In September, 2015, Zionists will gather in the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C., to hear the Chief Zionist give a speech.
   In September, 2015, Zionists will gather at the United Nations in New York City to hear the Chief Zionist give a speech.
   Beyond that time in the future, Jerusalem will become the world's capital city for Zionists as they rebuild the temple for their Messiah, "whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon."  (Revelation 9: 11)  At which time, too, the papal throne of the Vatican will be moved to Jerusalem.
   The people of Zionism are not nice people even though they are highly intelligent, highly educated, and extremely wealthy individuals; and, just because they adorn their bodies in fancy suits and priestly garments, they are against God, against Christ, and against the Bible.
   For Zionists, their god behind the curtain is Lucifer.
   Jesus said,
      "I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan." (Revelation 2: 9)
  
  

A TIME OF SORROW

   For in much wisdom is much grief:  and he that increases knowledge increases sorrow.
                                                                                                 (Ecclesiastes 1: 18)
   If a golfer plays a game on Sunday, and plays the same game on Monday, then there is no change in his game.
   If a person goes to church on Sunday, and there is no change in his life on Monday, then his "game" is still the same. 
   Until the golfer sets his heart to increasing his knowledge of golf, his game will never improve; and every game will be like Ground Hog Day over and over again---for weeks, months, and perhaps for decades.
   Until a church member sets his heart to a greater understanding of God, his "game" will be like Ground Hog Day over and over again---for weeks, months, and perhaps for decades.
   After I retired in 2009, two major events happened in my life, both of which were unexpected: 
       (1) I began to play golf;
       (2) I began to write about God. 
   And I knew very little about either of these desires.
   However, as I set my heart to an understanding of golf, I set my heart in prayer to God:  asking Him to help me to become the best that I can be.  I never asked the Lord to help me play better golf than other people. 
   And the Lord heard my prayer. 
   God will unlock our minds to truth and knowledge if we will give the key to God.  But if we keep the key, we will keep God locked out of minds and out of our lives:  for Christ is the heavenly Gentleman:  He will not impose His righteousness, nor His will, in our lives:  for we must invite Him.
   Over the past six seasons, my skill in golf has increased because my knowledge has increased, and I have worked to convert knowledge to skill; but without this increase in knowledge, my game would never been much better than it was in 2009 because I would have continued to play golf my own way instead of playing golf the way golf is designed to be played.  That's it.  That's all.  That's everything about my journey in golf.  And if I am going to continually increase in skill, then I must first increase my knowledge.
   In November, 2011, I had a desire to write about God.  But I didn't know what to do, nor how to begin.  However, as I set my heart to an understanding of God, I set my heart in prayer to God; for I knew that, to write about God, I needed to ask God:  for nobody knows more about God than God!
   And the Lord heard my prayer.
   Both of these two events in my life began as exercises in faith.  I believed I could play golf with God's help, and I believed I could write about God with God's help.
   King Solomon wrote: 
      For in much wisdom is much grief, and he that increases in knowledge increases sorrow.
   So then, since I have increased my skill as a golfer, and since I have increased my understanding of God in writing about God, why am I experiencing grief and sorrow?
   Over the past six seasons in golf, I have watched many people never improve their games.  Many of them are still playing the same game they were playing in 2009.  For some, the only change they have added to their golf experience has been the purchase of new golf clubs or new golf carts:  neither of which has added a penny's worth of skill.  The answer, of course, is simple:  their swing is the same and their scores are the same because their knowledge is still the same.  Most of these players, by now, should be further down the road than me:  but they are not.  And it grieves my heart to watch others play the same game---day after day, month after month, and season after season.  For in my heart, I want to see others have greater success.  But I know that only they can unlock their minds to learning.  For when learning stops, so does knowledge, and so does skill.
   As for writing about God, I am also experiencing grief and sorrow.  For I know there are many, many people who need Christ in their lives; for when they receive Christ, they will open their minds to the knowledge of God.
   Until Christ is alive in the hearts of people, their Mondays will be no different than Sundays:  no matter if they play golf, and no matter if they go to church.
   Until then, it is not up to me to change the relationship of people with golf, and neither is up to me to change the lives of people in their relationship with God.  While it hurts my heart to watch people struggle and struggle with golf and without improving, it also hurts my heart when I consider the lack of knowledge people have about God.  For I know if a change is going to occur externally, then a change must occur internally.
   Could it be, however, that many people in churches have simply learned how to play the game of church?  For if their game is still the same on Monday, was this the game they played on Sunday?  Are people in church for God, or are they in church for themselves?
   If Christ is a stranger on Monday, then Christ is a stranger in church on Sunday.
      For I know that my redeemer lives, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:  and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:  whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another:  though my reins be consumed within me. (Job 19: 25-27)

PROPHECY: FOR BELIEVERS ONLY

           prophesying serves not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.
                                                                                (1st Corinthians 14: 22)
    But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:  in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (2nd Corinthians 4: 3-4)


   Jesus is a Prophet, a Priest, and a King.
   People will either follow the words of their own minds, or they will follow the words of others. 
   If people do not believe in Christ, neither will they believe in the words of Christ.  And if people do not believe in the words of Christ, neither will they believe in the words of prophecy.
   If people do not believe in Christ, it is because the gospel is hidden from them; but when the Holy Spirit of God reveals the truth of Christ unto them, then they will believe in prophecy if they first believe in Christ.
   People, however, can have an image of Christ painted in their minds from the world we live in, and they can also have an image of Christ painted in their minds from the world of religion.  And if Christ is believed only as an image, then Christ is of no more value to them than Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny:  for if Christ is no more than a ceramic Jesus under a Christmas tree, or no more than a chocolate bunny rabbit at Easter, ceramic Jesus goes back in a box while the chocolate bunny rabbit melts in their mouths---until the same time next year.
   Where, then, is Christ in the lives of people at Christmas?  And where is Christ in the lives of people at Easter?  He is no more than a fleeting image, which reappears from season to season.
   So then, how can people believe in prophecy, which is about Christ, if Christ is no more than an image?
   If people do not believe in Christ of the past, neither will they believe in Christ of the future:  at which time prophecy, to them, is the same as myths and fairytales---just as the history of Christ, to them, is no more than a myth or a fairytale.
   People say, however, that they are Christians because they belong to a Christian church.  Yet, to many church-going Christians, their knowledge of Christ is no more than the knowledge they had of Him when they were children, and their knowledge of the Bible is no more than the verses they read on printed church programs.  They get happy at Christmas and at Easter, but when the knowledge of Christ's return is mixed in conversation, they get silent.
   Because people have no more interest in Christ in this present time, why should they have an interest in Christ for the future?  For if Christ is not important in the lives of people while living, why should Christ be important to them after death?
   In truth, people can also have an image of heaven painted in their minds, but Christ is not included in that image since Christ, to non-believers, is for Christmas and Easter only, and not for eternity.
   But we also follow the words we believe to be true.  If, however, we do not believe that Christ is true, then how can we believe that His words are true?
   So then prophecy serves no purpose in the lives of non-believers.
   Because the truth of the gospel of Christ is hidden from people by Satan, then the truth of prophecy is also hidden from people by Satan.
   For if Christ is no more than an image in the minds of people, then Christ can be no more than a idol of the mind---or a myth and a fairytale.
   So then, the words of the Bible are true:
      prophesying serves not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.