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Thesis 16: "Shades of Grey Christianity" & Happy Birthday, Salim!

The photos in this post were taken and created by me. : )

This is Thesis 16 of the “End Times 95 Theses by The Two Witnesses of Revelation", a parallel of the work Martin Luther did hundreds of years ago. This thesis will explore the how to discern the truth in the end times, with an important message on marijuana and testimony from Jesse. It also includes a special birthday message to Salim, one of our great brothers and friends in Christ! I want to give a special shout-out to Jake and Rui for their recent support of our ministry. Please see previous theses here, and it is likely best to read them in order:

Thesis 1: Once Saved, Always Saved: The Toxic Root of the Dead Church

Thesis 2: The Prosperity Gospel: The Rotten Vine of the Dead Church

Thesis 3: The Anti-Christ Spirit (The Branch) & Its Rotten Fruits

Thesis 4: The Modern Unholy Church: Without Truth, There is No Holiness

Thesis 5: The Cataclysmic Sin of the Complacent Christian Church

Thesis 6: A Modern Letter to The Church of Sardis

Thesis 7: Christian Demonization & The 7 Holy and Unholy Spirits

Thesis 8: A Letter to Laodicea - Become Like Children Again!

Thesis 9: Legalism is Not Holiness. Legalism is Not Love.

Thesis 10: Conformity of Satan vs. Unity of Jesus Christ

Thesis 11: Subtle Pride Manifesting as Cancer in the Dying Church

Thesis 12: A Call to Return to the Church of Acts!

Thesis 13: Barriers to the End Times Church

Thesis 14: Combatting the "Spirit of the Offended" or σκανδαλίζω

Thesis 15: The Spirit of Rebellion in The End Times Church

(I promise I am working on grouping these!)

Wading through the waters of truth.

Introduction - The Golden Truth

“Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold.”

― Leo Tolstoy

Another way to phrase this quote by Leo Tolstoy is this: Gold is gold any way you slice it. The truth is truth any way you slice it.

So then, the other night I was given a vision in the middle of the night. I am often woken by the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ in regards to topics for writing. I wake up, and there is some type of information being put supernaturally into me, and this is why I am so certain about my work here. What I experience is not in this world - there is something that comes to me and gives me information to share with others. This information revealed emphasizes this theme: Do not negotiate with truth.

First, let us establish the definition of truth. According to Scripture, Jesus Christ is quite literally the truth and if we are to discern truth in this world, we must follow Him fully. Through this understanding that Jesus Christ is truth, we can then form some other conclusions:

  • Jesus Christ is the truth.
  • This does not limit Jesus Christ to only spiritual topics. Jesus is the truth in all realms, whether it be scientifically, politically, spiritually, or any other subject area.
  • The truth cannot be “negotiated.” There are no shades of grey. As flawed humans, we may have confusion, but Jesus Christ is objective morality.
  • Truth always represents Jesus Christ.

If you look at points 1 and 2, most people have no problems with perceiving those as truth, and they are something that could be easily be talked about in the church. When you get to point 3, that is when we run into trouble. Why won't churches talk about MKUltra even when it has been exposed to the public as truth?

Somehow, the churches have tried to separate discussing matters of conspiracy in the church. Now, MKUltra is NOT a conspiracy, but is labeled as a category of conspiracy. In other words, “they” call it conspiracy, but it is truth:

12 “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread.

So, in my vision, God wanted me to address something imperative to the end times church.

If readers cannot address truth in ALL areas, then they will never be fully in the truth. This is why we see so many false prophets. A person who is not fully in the truth will not able to have full, true prophecy.

At this point, if churches or people cannot accept the truth about the vaccines, for example, they are 100% false prophets. That is why almost no one is prophesying correctly anymore because they are not fully in the truth.

Further, the churches have tried to have the truth of Jesus Christ without revealing the truth of many conspiratorial topics. That is impossible. You cannot talk about Jesus Christ and then ignore 9/11. In fact, after 9/11 is when the true disintegration of churches began because very few were willing to address the truth to their congregations. This degradation of truth has been a long process, and it has led to where we are today.

The majority of the churches of the world not only advocated for the vaccines (the mark of the beast), but they encouraged people to take these abominations in their very congregations!

There are VERY FEW churches who will say the vaccine is the mark, and therefore, they are about to crumble. You cannot say you love Jesus Christ but deny the truth of the vaccine. At this point, at the very least, you should agree that the vaccine was a horrible devastation and continue to research its potential for being the mark.

The point I am trying to make is that there is no negotiating with the truth. Christians around the world, whether in the dead churches or the false prophets online, want Jesus and Scripture, but they have separated Him from everything else.

I am here to proclaim Jesus CANNOT be separated from anything. If you want to say Jesus Christ is the truth, you also need to be willing to go into the darker elements of truth - the uncomfortable parts that no one wants to talk about at the dinner table. Witness 1 and I will, and have been thrown out! Seriously (testimony another time).

Now, the problem is that there are many “shades” of Christianity, and thousands of denominations and perspectives, so the question is, how then do we really determine the truth and fight the “subjective morality” that has taken over Christianity?

“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.”
― Aldous Huxley, Complete Essays, Vol. II: 1926-1929

How do we know what is true?

Jesus Christ is the truth, yes, but many things claim to be true and are not. You can walk into any congregation and get varying opinions on any topic, and the Christian church is more divided than ever before in history. That is because it is the end times. These "shades of grey" in churches have led us away from discernment of "black and white" or "good and evil."

In order to determine truth, we must use Scripture. We believe Jesus Christ is the truth, and the Bible is 100% the Word of God - Jesus Christ is our Lord - so all Scripture leads us to truth. That means Scripture must always come first and align with anything that is said fully - not partly - in order to be revealed as truth.

Since the truth represents God, I will break it down into three categories - the truth of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In a previous thesis, I broke down the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit using this image:

This picture can be represented by this verse:

30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

God is represented by righteousness, holiness, and redemption (love).

Truth, therefore, is represented by holiness and creation, righteousness and obedience, and love and compassion, as they are the elements of God - the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In order to find the truth, we can ask these questions:

Now, I am going to use the topic of marijuana to show how this process works. By the end, I will form conclusions about marijuana based on this Scriptural process of truth. I chose marijuana because this topic is highly divisive in the end times, but one can do this method with any topic. I will call this Elisha's Truth Test ™.

The Truth is Holy

1) Is it holy? The first aspect of God, or truth, is holiness. The truth must be holy, and it should generally “create” not degrade or destroy. What is holiness? Holiness involves living life without sin, but it is more than that. Let us define holiness:

  • Sin cannot exist within holiness. You cannot have sin and be holy. It is impossible. Romans 6:22 says, “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.”
  • Holiness is about “purification” of oneself. According to 2 Corinthians 7:1, “Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”
  • Holiness involves “sanctification”, which involves self-control. According to 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5, “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God.”

Let’s take an example of marijuana, which many in the Babylonian ministry justify. Many claim in Scripture it is not a sin, but the question is this: is it holy? Does it sanctify? Does it lead to self-control? The example of marijuana is perfect for this post because you will find many conflicting views of it in the end times. So, does the use of marijuana represent Jesus Christ, and is it aligned to the truth?

My thesis is that whether marijuana is a sin or not is a “moot point.” It is unholy for the following reasons, and rather, the conversation should rest on whether it interferes with a Christian's walk in holiness. I believe marijuana fails the "holiness test" because of the following reasons:

  • It gives creative power to another force other than Jesus Christ. Many claim they can only do things or be creative when doing marijuana. That is giving your power to a substance - not God. Marijuana takes away from the creative forces of God, making it unholy.
  • Marijuana is not purifying, and it takes away healing power from God. While some claim marijuana heals, it is more that it has a temporary subduing effect versus actually healing anything. If it healed you, you would not have to do it the rest of your life. There are long-term cognitive effects of marijuana, so it does not purify your mind. While in the past, marijuana may have had subtle effects, it is now much too strong, and this is not purifying. Further, research suggests cannabis has more of a placebo effect than a healing effect on people. If marijuana does anything, it gives temporary solutions to more long-term problems. Marijuana may actually delay true healing. If people really are going for the healing effects of marijuana, as they claim, they can use alternatives such as CBD which do not provide the high or psychoactive effects. Ultimately, marijuana is not as purifying as some claim, and there are alternatives to marijuana that do not produce a high or psychoactive effects. Of course, people can rely on faith and prayer as Christians should ultimately do and you can read my testimony here on how I did just that.
  • Marijuana does not glorify God. Rather, it takes away from God’s powers when people say, “I need marijuana for _______.” As corny as it may sound, a person should be able to say, I need Jesus Christ for __________.” What is it you need...clarity of mind, health, or focus? Jesus Christ can provide all of this.

I write this post completely sober. Now, of course, everything in moderation, and perhaps there are some out there who can use marijuana in moderation, but I believe that is very rare.

For the sake of holiness, I believe the best course of action is not to smoke weed and to rely on alternative methods for healing, including fasting, prayer, and supplication. Ultimately, is marijuana truth? No, I believe it is a distortion of holiness.

The Truth Is Righteous

The next aspect of truth is righteousness, which may be a little less complex. Jesus Christ exemplified perfect righteousness, and He says those who love Him will obey His commandments of righteousness. Jesus has some commands that are listed in the Bible, and here is a list of His commands (though these may not be all of them).

I do note I did not double-check those, but I think we all get the gist. So, righteousness means we follow Jesus's commands, and if we disobey His commands, we are no longer righteous.

I believe smoking marijuana interferes with the command of "denying oneself", especially if used for the sake of pleasure and not in moderation. I also believe it goes against choosing the narrow way, and it is a worldly thing that most support. In fact, marijuana is accepted now everywhere. Further, I believe it is a deceptive force, which violates the command of being "shrewd as serpents."

Jesus clearly says to pick up your cross and follow Him, and that is what leads to obedience of Him. For many, people must give up things like weed in order to serve Him fully. This is part of thirsting for and becoming righteous.

No one will die if they stop smoking weed, so Christians might have to consider it as a sacrifice for serving Jesus Christ.

Finally, there are many verses about being sober-minded. If one is not sober, they are not able to fully walk with Jesus Christ. If you drink one or two drinks, you can still be sober, but then you need to stop. With weed, it is really difficult to moderate this sobriety, and most do not just stop at a few puffs.

My final conclusion is that weed interferes with righteousness and our walk in Christ, and it is difficult, if not impossible to moderate. I, for example, would consider the definition of drinking moderately a few times a month at most, with one or two drinks. Most people I know who smoke weed do not do this - most are smoking several times a week or more than that, and that is not moderate usage and violates sobriety.

The Truth is Loving (Redemptive)

Finally, the truth must have love. Love is complex because Satan has distorted it. I have written more on love here, and remember, I am not a "legalist."

God is love, and the truth must be loving. However, sometimes love does require rebuke, discipline, and even anger.

The problem with determining if something is loving is that it really just depends on the situation.

Remember, love "hates evil", so a loving action is to call out sin and unrighteousness. However, there is a way to do so with love, and one must pray and discern when to be gentle and when to rebuke. Sometimes people need gentleness. Other times people need rebuke. It just depends.

No matter what, love requires obedience, discipline, and long-suffering, too. If you love Christ, you will obey Him. If you love Christ, you will either be disciplined by Him or discipline yourself for Him. Finally, if you love Christ, you have to do challenging things for Him, like give things up.

The question for this post is this: is marijuana a loving action for one's self, others, or God?

Marijuana does cost money, and my question is would people be willing to sacrifice the money they spend on weed and donate to us? Which action is more loving? Smoking weed or donating to us? When I was drinking, I was blowing hundreds on alcohol - not on God's Kingdom.

When one smokes weed, maybe it is self-loving, but do others around you find it loving? Is it helpful to others? Does it build others up? For me personally, many I know who have smoked weed have harmed me in many, many ways, never acknowledging this pain or even saying sorry to me. I forgive them, but many times, when we are one drugs, we lose the ability to empathize or fully love others. Addicts are notorious for not understanding the pain they cause others and justifying it.

There are negative effects of marijuana, whether people want to believe that, and these are mental and physical. Is using it loving to one's body or mind?

Finally, does marijuana use show a love of God? When we take that extra cash and decide to get a joint, is that what God REALLY wants us to do with our money? How many people complain about being broke but always have money for marijuana? Does smoking marijuana model Christ or lead others to Christ? Does it help others or cause them to stumble?

Personally, marijuana has not showed loving fruits in my life, especially by those close to me. While people can claim I am biased, there are many testimonies of how marijuana has harmed loved ones, and it does have consequences.

I do not believe marijuana can be justified as a loving action, especially when it comes to its financial, mental, and physical costs. Further, many place it as an idol before God. That is not loving.

Conclusion - The Truth Test and Marijuana

After conducting the truth test on marijuana, I do not think it is holy, righteous, or loving. However, even if one claimed I was biased, I certainly feel that at the very least, most can see it fails somewhere in one of these categories, and they have to try to be as objective as possible in the test.

I am not a legalist. In the end, each person must decide what God wants them to do. I believe if people asked Jesus Christ earnestly in prayer about weed use, they would get a direct answer like Jesse did in the following testimony. In fact, I will end with his testimony. Before I do, remember this truth test can be used on anything - not just marijuana:

My final conclusion is that anyone who does the truth test fairly and objectively will find that marijuana is not holy, righteous, or loving, and therefore, should be mostly avoided by Christians except in perhaps rare circumstances.

Jesse's Testimony on Overcoming Marijuana

Weed. This is one of the controversial topics of modern times. Especially if should Christians smoke it. Or use it any other way that for the purpose of intoxication.

Well, my opinion is that you should avoid it. You might see it differently, but then that is between you and God. Someone might be able to smoke occasionally, someone could not. I'm one of the latter. I smoked for around 10 years before I finally quit. Went cold turkey, suffered the physical withdrawal symptoms (yeah those are actually real for someone even with weed) and have not touched weed since. I made the vow to God that if He will help me free from weed, I would never smoke again. Lo behold he answered to that prayer and I intend to keep my vow.

So, when I say you should avoid it, I'd like to give some viewpoints why I see it that way.

First are the personal experiences. It was an idol in my life. No I was not one of those hippie types who would preach the green word of the wonderplant and could not talk about anything else. I was functioning addict. I smoked from the moment I woke up, but still lived fairly regular although lazy lifestyle. I was unemployed most of that time, so I just mostly played video games and spent time with my now ex girlfriend. But occasionally when I got part time job, I did go to work without any problems. Then I did not start my morning with bowl, but smoked only after the work. If I had something other things to do, I would postpone the first time when I smoke, so I would not be high on government bureaus, with my relatives etc. Yet, as soon as I was "free" from responsibilities, I would instantly get high.

I did not think that weed was my idol for a long time. But after I started to talk with W2 in emails, I started slowly see the truth. The time I would spent to get weed, smoke it, think about it etc, take unsurprisingly major part of my day. Also I build my daily schedule around when I could start smoking. I was not literally worshipping the weed, but non the less it was my idol. Funny thing, I would never write email to W2 while I was high. I do not know why, but it felt wrong. [LOL, this made me laugh in a good way.]

The second thing is, that it might affect with your connection to God. I mean it. There was one time when I wrote something to W2. After that, I decided to smoke. I think it was something like 10 minutes after I had emptied the bowl and I was really high, she answered to me. That email had something written on it that made me so happy and grateful to God. I started to instantly pray and praise God. And I felt nothing. No presence of God. My connection to Him was completely severed at that point. It was really eye opening moment to me. And to be honest, one of the main reasons I decided that I would quit smoking.

Those are maybe the two biggest personal reasons and experiences why I decided to quit. But those are just my anecdotal evidence. So I'm gonna back it up with some Scripture.

  • Romans 12:2 (NIV)
  • 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Yeah, the weed is somewhat same like alcohol. Someone could use it in moderation. But we are called not to be part of this world. We are ment to be example with everything we do as we live for Christ.

  • 1 Peter 5:8 (NIV)
  • 8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

This is really broad umbrella term in my mind. No matter the substance, we should be avoiding it and be sober. Well, you can have different opinion, but this is how I see this verse.

  • 1 John 2:15 (NIV)
  • 5 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father[a] is not in them.

Once again, pretty self explanatory. Do you love the weed more than Jesus? Are you willing to sacrifice it for the God?

  • James 4:4 (NIV)
  • 4 You adulterous people,[a] don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
  • Colossians 3:2 (NIV)
  • 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Thank you so much, Jesse, for the beautiful testimony and sacrificing for Jesus Christ. Now I would like to end with a happy birthday to Salim!

Happy Birthday, Salim!

Salim, I think you pass the truth test!

You are holy, righteous, and loving. I am so proud of the many you have become. Thank you for always standing up for the truth, even when it makes you unpopular. You are doing powerful work for our Lord Jesus Christ, and He is very proud of you.

I appreciate all the times you have believed in us, uplifted us, and even donated to us. You are a model of generosity, patience, and love.

I am thankful Jesus sent you into our lives. I think the Bible verse fits you perfectly, as you are like a source of living water who will lead many to baptism.

With great love,

Both of us!