BTZ Blog

Religion finds self-satisfaction in that they have CHRISTIANIZED much of the world, but the question is, have the people of the world been GOSPELIZED? CHRISTIANIZED and GOSPELIZED are not SYNONYMOUSLY the same!

To become the person God sees us as and has designed for us will be realized a lot sooner if we will allow God to expose who we really are to us now instead of trying to coverup who we really are. Refusing to admit who we are now prevents God from moving us into who He wants want us to be. Allowing Him to expose who we are now allows us to travel the road to becoming what Ho wants us to be.

In Christendom many people believe that the renewing of the mind means a renewing of the brain. The brain can be renewed without the mind being renewed. This is demonstrated in secular circles as well as religious circles. Your thinking ability is not your brain! Your brain is the avenue through which your thinking ability works in the physical realm. Your brain also funnels what the mind thinks, that is why we are admonished to “renew our mind” in order to conform to the image of Christ.  When we pass from this earth our brain remains with the body and decays with the body, yet out thinking ability, the mind is still intact and can remember, see Luke 16:25-28. God and His ways are beyond the understanding of man’s grey matter.  As long as religion is BRAIN controlled instead of MIND controlled it will remain OUT OF CONTROL because it is in MAN’'S CONTROL instead of GOD’S CONTROL!

A person bent of revenge unknowingly removes themselves further and further away from being able to forgive and becomes imprisoned by the walls of un-forgiveness. The prison bars of forgiveness are strong and will keep you from living a life of freedom as much as any steel bars of any prison. The key to freedom is offering mercy and forgiveness.

Hey, how would you like to uplift someone's spirit and make them smile, or even laugh? Let me tell you how. By You RUNNING OUT of FACE with YOUR SMILE! If you don’t have enough face for your smile I guarantee it will cause others to smile and maybe even break out in a laugh!  SMILE they are CONTAGIOUS and it is quite alright to pass SMILES along to others!

“Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works.” Is it possible to do good works without letting your light shine? If your good works are done because of religious duty, expectation or performance, it will prevent your light from shining and your works will profit nothing but self-gratification and self-satisfaction. That may help promote your organization and make you feel good, but it does nothing for the gospel. Jesus shines through COMPASSION, KINDNESS and LOVE. How much of Jesus “the light” is shining through you?

You may preach what you think is a powerful sermon, you may pray what you think is an heaven rendering prayer, you may teach with what you think is the anointing but, know this, KNOW THIS, if you are not GROUNDED and ROOTED in LOVE you ain’t got no power behind your preaching, you ain’t got no rendering of heaven prayer ability, and you ain’t got no anointing for teaching! In fact, you ain’t got a shred of evidence that you are a child or a disciple of God! You see...LOVE is the key that produces proof that you are a child of God. "By this shall ALL men KNOW that you ARE MY DISCIPLE, by your the LOVE you have for one another"

Religion is an event-driven, performance driven Christianity where spiritually is measured by the rules, regulations and in meeting the expectations of a particular religion. Salvation is a relational related love relationship with God through Jesus that manifests in loving to love people without expectation meeting required of them! Religion equals bondage! Salvation equals freedom! Every community has hurting, despairing, lonely and lost people. Churches are known to offer help to such people by event-driven outreach. The problem is; in most cases, once the event is over the person is forgotten. A true relational relationship with God is moving beyond event-driven-outreach to building a more authentic lasting relationship with people as a outflow of God’s love. This love is not a forced love, or an out-of-pity love, His love is literally a part of us and we cannot help but love others lovingly and it will outlast any event-driven-outreach. Event-Driven-Outreach stems from

People who serve God and mammon soon make it known to others that mammon is their God, yet they themselves seem to be unaware of the deception!

God’s compassion is not dependent on man’s compassion. God’s understanding is not dependent on man’s understanding. God’s ability is not dependent on man’s ability. God’s view of Himself is never dependent of man’s view of Him. God’s way of salvation is not dependent on man’s way of salvation. God’s love is not dependent on man’s love. The attributes of God are independent of man’s response. GOD IS LOVE!

People are confused by the confusion brought on by the confusion of a confused preacher because of his confused confusion about his denomination’s confused beliefs causing confusion of the topic he is speaking on.

In order to be transformed into the image of Christ we must renew our mind. Listening to gossip or criticism is allowing your mind to come into agreement with the accuser of the brethren rendering it unable to be renewed. If we are to have the mind of Christ we are to filter out what we allow to pass through our ear-gate What you allow in through your ear-gate travels the tributaries of the mind and sets up strongholds that will prevent the renewing of your mind! That filtering should also include religious interpretations about the person of Christ! If we have a wrong concept of Who He is, then we cannot conform to His true image!

People, to enjoy solitude don’t be glued to the feud of the dude that got you stewed, instead put on the attitude of gratitude, it will keep you from being glued to blued and your mind from being chewed in your time of solitude.

Re-LI-gion is more of a do-it-yourself belief, rather than Jesus did it all belief. Jesus plus anything is not GRACE! That is why religious people are worked to death and stressed to the max. Jesus’ offers a way out by coming unto Him, His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

View things through the eyes of hope so you will see the things that are unseen. The sun is shinning even though it is obscured by dark clouds. Love is real even when it is not shown to or felt by you. God is closer than the breath you breathe even when you don’t feel Him. SEE BEYOND WHAT IS SEEN through the eyes of HOPE!!

The roots of a stable and fulfilled life is resting in the fact that you are a LOVED child of God and in knowing that He will never leave or forsake you, no matter what you go through in life He will go through it with you!

Some people act as angels in public, saints in “church” but act like devils at home? Does that not constitute being a wolf in sheep’s clothing? And wolves...well...“saints they ain’t”!

PERCEPTION is not always what it seems to be, in other words, what you see is not always what it is! Your PERCEPTION of something is based on what you believe. Therefore, if what you believe is false then your PERCEPTION of what you believe to be true is false no matter the source or who is presenting the falsehood as truth, even if it is the man behind the pulpit who believes he is presenting truth!

Are you a target of criticism? How you view the fact that you are criticized determines whether or not you will arise above criticism. Concerned criticism comes from people who care, value it. Constructive criticism is given to help you improve, learn from it. Casual criticism is uncaring and often unfounded, ignore it. Cruel criticism is harsh and mean and is meant to hurt and demean you, congratulations you did it, you have become the target of small thinking criticizing criticizers who criticize the achievements of others.

Please answer this question honestly: There are two doors for you to choose from, behind door # 1 is the SUPERNATURAL POWER of God that you can avail of to perform for God. Behind door # 2 is LOVE which will enable you to become the power of God. If you choose door # 1 you will be able to command miracles at will, command prosperity at will and remove all the ills and trials of the people. If you choose door # 2 you will love people as God loves them, you will have His compassionate compassion towards people, and genuinely love and always be there for people. Which door would you choose?

Because you may have a BA in Religion, a Masters in Theology or a Doctorate in Divinity does not mean you have conquered IGNORANCE in the understanding of God, His ways or His purpose! Surly, for one to be IGNORANT of one’s own IGNORANCE makes one truly an IGNORAMUS indeed!

Those who spend their time probing and debating the doctrines and philosophies of religion become lost in a myriad of religious complexities that robs them of an intimate relationship with God. God is not moved by doctrinal denominational debated issues that you may excel in. God is interested in a LOVE RELATIONSHIP with people, even the people you disagree with, and separate from doctrinally!

In religion FAITH is a active component in order to access the power of God. In relationship LOVE is the active component to become the power of God! Without LOVE, FAITH is useless! People spend a lot of time performing the effects of LOVE but very little time is spent LOVING! LOVE is just not something to practice. When the LIFE of LOVE is LIVED it results in FAITH to do. LOVE is the FUEL for LIFE!

The best and strongest relationship with Christ is not spun with airtight doctrines, theological correctness, or foolproof philosophies. A strong relationship with Christ stems from love, compassion, and understanding in the development of friendships.

Living in the heart of someone you love requires dying to self. To understand people you have to unselfishly live for the other person. The foundation of a love relationship is death, Christ died so we could have a love relationship with God, we have to die to self to have healthy love relationships with people. Love that has died to self will always persevere!

Love people without underlying motives or expectations, anything less is not true LOVE. Trust people without doubtfully wondering if they are trustworthy, your trust in them will give them the capacity to be trusted. Be there for people without excuse or restrictions, accept people as they are without forcing them to change. Live a Godly life, that will influence change in their life if it is warranted.

A lot of people involved with religion and religiosity spend six days of the week sowing wild oats, then go to a one hour Sunday-go-meeting, involve them self in so-called-worship and congratulate the Sunday-go-meeting pulpit-teer on a great sermon, while hoping and praying for a crop failure so as not to reap what they have sown.

A lot of people desire that there be a change in humanity for the better. The only real way to change humanity is to change oneself! By changing oneself for the better, a change in humanity for the better is assured!

Man’s priority is rooted in the present as to who he is, where he is and what he wants! God’s priority is rooted in the future as to who man will be, where man will be and what man needs now in order to be who he will be, be where he will be and have what he needs to have! God being the God of the NOW, does not mean that he caters to man’s priorities of the now by being religion’s on demand “Santa Clause”!

It is wise to give up the bad for the good! It is wiser to give up the good for the better! It is wisest to give up the better for the best!

Being God’s people is not so much about God being on our side as it is about us being on God’s side! It is time for Sunday-meeting-pulpit-teers to scrap their performance driven agenda for God’s desired love relationship living. It is time to move from the deception that God is on our side because of our denominational stance and move to God’s side. In God’s kingdom there are no denominational segregated sections, in fact there are no religious distinctions at all!

Forgiveness is an act of the will spawned by a heart of love. If you choose not to forgive you chain yourself to your hurt and imprison yourself. Release your hurts before they become hates by forgiving! The act of forgiveness will release you from the prison of un-forgiveness and set you free to love.

You will never realize true relationship while living in doubt, fear, hate, un-forgiveness, and being distracted by distractions. They are nothing-less than tools that Satan uses to hinder us from living freely in a true relationship with God and with people. Tear down the barriers of doubt, fear, hate, un-forgiveness and distractions and freely live in relationship with God and with people.

The quest for excellence in a love relationship with God and with people is a sign of maturity and strength! The quest for the power of God to use people for self-gratification and to gain popularity is a sign of childishness and weakness! To have the power of God without portraying the love of God is an illusion and leaves people in confusion . The POWER of GOD does not come without the LOVE of God .  The LOVE of God is the POWER of the GOSPEL!

If you are a LOVE PRETENDER you are a LOVE HINDER-ER! Because you are teaching yourself and others that love is just a game to be played. In playing the love game you will not have the capacity to TRULY LOVE or to be receptive to TRUE LOVE! LOVE is not a game to be played, LOVE is life to be lived!

When we look back at the life of Jesus we see that He was the Pharisees worst nightmare! The Pharisees were the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, they set the standards and rules that the people were to religiously follow; they fought tooth and nail for their agenda. They did what was needed to preserve the system that they believed God had instituted; they were literally the go-between, between man and God. They were 100% sure they were right and that God was on their side. The Pharisees assumed that if God was going to show up on earth, they would be the first to know. Surely if God were going to do something it would be within their structure, the pattern that God Himself had put into motion.     The Pharisees were the experts in what people needed to do within their system and they set out expectations that must be followed. This was one reason why Jesus was so critical of them, saying; "Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings

Being a strong person is not so much about being broad shouldered and rippled with muscles as it is being forgiving instead of un-forgiving; tolerant instead of tolerant-less; compassionate instead of compassion-less; being tenderness of heart instead of being tender-less; being understanding instead of understanding-less; being humble instead of being humble-less; and being loving instead of being loveless. This will give you more strength than rippling muscles ever will! If you refuse to see beyond that of the natural eye, you choose to be blind. If you refuse to hear beyond that of natural hearing, you choose to be deaf. If you refuse to speak beyond that of natural speech, you choose to be dumb. See beyond the exterior of a person into their heart and soul! Listen beyond hearing the spoken word to what is being said behind the words! Speak with your life, it has far more impact than natural speech! The value of a person is not based upon their defects, flaws or blemishes! The worth