OUT OF THE BOX

  GOD CONTROLS THE "ALL" AND THE "EACH."   For those spiritual veterans who have been through trials, disillusionment, and disappointments, this post is written to encourage you to persevere and stand in faith trusting God’s ability to perform His will in your life as you surrender to Him in faith and obedience.      --- Billy Long   Facing discouragement and seeing the failures of God's people we are often tempted to lose heart and faith. We have seen what we thought were the wrong people succeeding and the wrong people failing. Like John the Baptist we have seen the glory and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God!" Then we sat in our "prison cells" and said, "Are you the one or do we look for another? Did I miss it?"   We stood on the mountain top and cried out, "This is it!" And we crawled on the valley floor crying, "Where did it go?" We said, "Lord, I'll never leave you nor forsake you" and later deni...

I have posted this article three times in the last few years. I am re-posting it here again because it speaks to a real issue in our culture today. The title addresses women, but the message is also for men. Immodesty and sexual license present a great temptation and snare to this generation. It is also a great deception that destroys lives and families. I hope you will read this article and share it with those who need to hear it. Billy Long ADVICE TO THE WOMAN LOOKING FOR A GOOD MAN RECONSIDER MODESTY People who are into porn and public nudity often proclaim that the human body is good, and we should not be ashamed to show it. They also charge that Christians, because they believe in modesty, think the sexual aspect of the human body is evil. But to the contrary, Christians frown on public nudity and pornography because sex is sacred, not evil. After all, God created male and female, and said “it is good.” There are two things the scripture forbids us to flaunt in public—that which i...

"The wicked prowl on every side when vileness is exalted among the sons of men.” Psalm 12:8. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness. Isaiah 5:20. Back in 1977 it was very common in our culture to call evil good. Immoralities of various sorts were glorified on TV and in the movies. They still are. But evil left unchecked in a society will grow toward its fullness. I remember speaking in one of our home fellowship meetings at that time (1977) and saying, “We are seeing people call evil good. Immorality is glorified as normal. However, in the coming years we will see a progression of evil. The next step in the degeneration of our society will be to call good evil.” That trend is now applicable in our cultural mindset today. Evil is being treated as good, and good is being treated as evil. Christianity used to be respected even by those who did not practice it. Now it is treated as a liability in many aspects of our culture. ...

  The USA is a republic. We are governed by elected officials who rule based on a constitution and according to law. The following principles apply to both a democracy and a republic. Plato and other Greek philosophers believed that democracy is a bad form of government because it eventually degenerates to the lowest common denominator, resulting in a society governed by the rule of the uneducated, uninformed, morally weak, and self-indulgent masses. We see these trends today. People move from freedom to license and chaos that ultimately bring society under the tyranny of excessive government control and dictatorial rule.  Plato and the philosophers were right in that democracy is a bad form of government— UNLESS it is held together by the following necessary ingredients that work to make it the best form of government, creating the most freedom and prosperity… A Democracy can only be sustained where the following elements exist. 1) a healthy self-restraint produced by moral c...

Walk in a deep, abiding faith in the Sovereign Almighty God. This will produce the ability to maintain composure, rest, and peace in the face of pressure, problems, adversity, and conflict. It will prevent unwise and premature reaction, carnal grasping and impulsiveness.  Faith produces the grace to wait, endure, and persevere. It will help produce a security that will counteract insecurity which has caused problems for so many ministers and has hurt so many people. Faith in the Sovereign God is at the heart of our ability to face life redemptively. It is at the heart of Romans 8:28. “For all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.”  Psalm 31: 14-15, Daniel 2:20-21, Psalm 75, Heb 11. Walk with purity of heart and motive, sincerely seeking God’s will and God’s interests. This will produce a clarity in your ability to hear God, and will produce peace. When you desire God’s will, you can rest knowing He stands behind it. This a...

  DRIVING GRANDMA TO THE DEVER FIELD I was ten years old, talking with my grandmother (Ma Ma) in her back yard, when my grandfather (Pa Pa) came walking out the back door. She said to him, “Tharon, I have to do some work down at the Dever field, and I need you to drive me. The field was a half mile away at the end of a dirt road. Pa Pa did not want to drive her to the field and have to wait on her. Neither did he want to leave her there and have to guess at when to go back and get her. He thought for a few seconds, reached into his pocket and took out the car keys, looked at them, looked at the car…and then looked at me. “Son,” he said, “Can you drive a car?” I was 10 years old and had never driven a car, but many times I had sat in Daddy’s pick-up truck going through all the motions of changing gears while pretending to drive it. Without hesitation, I responded, “Yes, Sir. I can drive it.” I was not about to miss this opportunity. Without another word, he handed me the keys and we...

    TEMPTATION AND LUST: PART 3   During temptation our lusts overpower rationality and common sense. We see only the object of our desire. In our temporary blindness we forget the potential consequences that await us. In those times of temptation, we are not mindful of rewards and plans God has for us, and we fail to consider the horrible consequences our sin will bring upon us. In those moments of overwhelming temptation, we have no props or support other than our relationship with Jesus Christ. Temptation exposes where we really are. When Satan dangles the “apple” in front of you, and at that moment you feel no “glory clouds” or spiritual strength, you must decide whether or not you believe God and whether or not you will obey Him. When temptation is at its greatest, it is the fear of God that keeps a person upright. “Oh…that they would consider their latter end!”  Deuteronomy 32:29 .   Lusts are never satisfied . They grow and strengthen when yielded to. The...

              ThisVenus Fly Trap is a beautiful flower.  The fly is drawn to it by its fruity smell and attractive red color. When the fly touches the stiff hairs on the inside of the plant's hinged leaf... it sets off an impulse that causes the trap to snap  shut imprisoning the fly. Further movement sets off the digestive process.  This is a good example of how temptation works. We are lured by what appears to be something pleasing to our flesh, not realizing the cost that awaits to ensnare us.  The Apostle Paul warns us that our lusts are deceitful. The writer  of  Proverbs says, "His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, and he is caught in the cords of his sin." It is important for us to realize the lusts of the flesh deceive us. The tempters that attract us are hiding snares that lie in wait to entrap. Lust has a deceptive allurement appearing sweet like honey but whose end is bitter as wormwood and produces death. "...

  “Desire” is a morally neutral and innocent term. However, a desire that is strong, ungodly, and evil is called “lust.” Most people associate lust with sex, but it can refer to strong desire for anything. This post is written to encourage Christians to be alert and aware of the enemy’s schemes, especially in the area of temptation. Ephesians 4: 22.  Lusts are deceitful. They lie to you. Whenever you face temptation, you must remember that you are being lied to. The alluring and attractive bait hides a trap or noose that will seize and destroy you. The photo is not of some science fiction Hollywood creation but is an actual angler fish. The anglerfish is a deep-sea fish. It lures its prey with a glowing appendage that looks and wiggles like a worm. A passing fish will be enticed by the lure, thinking he is about to have dinner, but soon finds he is the dinner. The victim wants what he sees, but steps into something he did not see…and did not want. The writer of Proverbs warns ...

  “To Esau I gave the mountains of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.” Joshua 24 : 4 If you were Esau you might think God loved you more since you were moving “up” the mountain (to your inheritance). If you were Jacob you might question why God was sending you “down” to Egypt (suffering, waiting, and hardship) rather than directly to your inheritance. The truth is the Lord was not pleased with Esau, and the Lord had a special plan for Jacob (Israel) and his descendants. That special plan required special attention and preparation. We often misinterpret God’s special attention and preparation in our lives. I was observing a roofing crew at work on a phone company facility that houses equipment that runs the phone system for the surrounding region. Because of the crucial nature of the equipment in this facility and the absolute need to insure no interruption of the phone service to customers, the contractor was required to have a man (the “spotter”) stand...

Dear Friends There are two principles that help the believer walk in faith and show mercy during relational difficulties. The first principle is that God has appointed delegated authorities (both in church and in civil government) to deal with offences . It's easier for a person to forgive an offender when the ecclesiastical or civil authorities are functioning in order and meting out judgment properly. The second principle is that God is the Righteous Judge. Ultimately no one gets by with anything, and everyone must give an account to God both in this life and when they die. This article should encourage those of you who are impatient with God’s timing in how He deals with people and who feel the delegated authorities (whether civil or ecclesiastical) have failed to do their job. ---Billy Long   God is the Righteous Judge. Christians often have difficulty with the fact that God seems to delay in punishing those who hurt and offend us. We are glad for Him to be patient and merciful...

I could write a book listing the miracles I have witnessed and the ones I have been a part of. Reading it you would be pressed to believe in God and His desire to work intimately in the lives of people. But then I could also write another book about the times I was in “the deep” about to be swallowed up and close to losing everything. Reading this list of my failures and struggles, you might then say, “Where is your  God?”   I could tell you of friends being healed through prayer and also of others dying in spite of it. I have friends who have experienced miraculous healings and friends who have been raised from the dead. Some have received immediate response to prayer, and others have suffered what seems an interminable wait as they call on the Lord daily for healing, help, or an “open door.”   I have experienced the church in its glory as the people of God abounded in their love for one another with the presence of God among them so real it was like heaven itself. Then ...

Dear Friends, Our culture of information overload, special effects, fast food, and everything geared to entertain has created a generation of people with short attention spans. People don’t read like they used to…especially if a post or article is long. For that reason, I usually try to make my posts to be relatively short and easy reading. This one, however, is a bit longer and is more of a Bible study or a teaching tool.  As you read keep in mind that in addition to wood and stone idols, there are also idols of the heart (Ezekiel 14:3). Covetousness is also a form of idolatry (Colossians 3:5).   One purpose of this post is to show the foolishness of mankind in his attempts to avoid the God of the Bible. These paragraphs contain some very good lessons and speak to our current generation which is being flooded with New Age philosophy that is infiltrating the church and causing many to go astray. I encourage you to read the whole thing. Billy Long “You Might Be an Ido...