Recovery ministry has been near and dear to my heart for some time now, being a recovering addict of sorts, addicted to my own opinion or selfish pleasures in the past. Jesus has captivated my gaze and I know that I know in Whom I have believed. Some days being fresh temptation to be all about my own opinions all over again, or all about my own comforts or pleasures all over again, but God shakes me free from these lusts and sinful passions and prideful ambitions and brings me into a place of delighting in Him once more. How? He leads me to the pleasure of praising Jesus Christ as our Redeemer, dancing in the presence of the King of kings, rejoicing in the light of the Word of God, letting the light of Christ shine on me and those God gives me to soak in God’s goodness with in any given day!

Why this title, recovering leftists for Christ? The more I’ve soaked in Matthew 25, the more my day-to-day behavior makes me walk in the same path as the most extreme leftists I know speak about all day long and write about constantly. I know some leftists who truly behave as they speak and it’s admirable, in the areas where the liberal speak aligns with Jesus’ call on humanity to love “the least of these,” genuinely finding the deepest of joys in serving people in hard places.

It’s been my joy to serve alongside many very liberal speaking friends in real life love for people in hard places. That said, I witness a lot of hypocrisy too. I see so often people who speak with what appears to be bleeding hearts and yet live such insulated lives away from the hurt and pain of the “down and out.”

It’s been a joy to see so many very genuine Jesus followers who don’t just tell people about Jesus but show Jesus’ way by walking in humility and self-sacrifice and serving people in hard places consistently. I’ve also witnessed Conservatives who give to those in hard places two to three to four times more generously than the most notorious leftists in our society. And I’m speaking of no name believers with far less cash flow giving four to five times more generously than the most notorious anti-Christ leftists I am aware of year in and year out. I’m not fully convinced these are the best terms to use, since I know many who would be boxable so-to-speak as leftists who are not anti-Christ in their truest and most consistent fruit.

It’s not my role to judge and yet like all of us I am supposed to discern the times. End times theology is not a center point in Scripture, and yet it is important to wrestle through. It seems our main responsibility with it is not to have it all figured out. Seems the main focus is to have the consistent RESPONSE of preparing for Jesus’ return. Those who prepare for Jesus’ return don’t store up treasures on this earth.

We store up treasures in Heaven where neither moth nor rust decay our treasures. We run harder and harder into the presence of the King and into the pleasure of the King as we see the day approaching. What does this look like but more and more sweet fellowship and praise with the body of Christ and more and more care for those in hard places as this is often how God ushers more believers into the household of faith!

If you have found yourself more inclined to pick apart your neighbor than laboring in the love of God for God and neighbor, you’ve joined the anti-Christ tendency of picking apart the local church, picking apart God’s people, His children. Step away from this tendency to pick at God’s people, recover from this pattern of sin and step into the obedience of Christ. Admit your tendency and embrace the local church, embrace those we are called to co-labor with in the Gospel, embrace the opportunity to love those we feel most evaluated by – in many respects these are anti-Christ thought leaders seeking to our shout Conservatives and genuinely open Christian communicators who don’t shrink back from speaking up about the HOPE OF CHRIST being the ultimate hope we need in these last days as we have called them since Jesus ascended to Heaven to be seated at the right hand of the Father.

Don’t mind my stream of consciousness writings… I am literally thinking this through as I write. Had Scripture on audio all through the writing of this post. If you’re an openly leftist thinker or practitioner, please don’t be offended. I love those who speak against my Lord Jesus, but I am openly and passionately opposed to your message when it opposes my Lord’s message of ultimate hope being in repentance and faith in the path of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is in fact only ONE PATH TO HEAVEN’S TREASURE. The ultimate treasure of Heaven is Jesus Himself! We long for and look forward to what we ultimately already have, Jesus Christ.

There is such an already but not yet nature to our holy faith gifted to us by God. We already have the treasure of Heaven as we walk this path of Jesus. We have hope for this walk of faith and can experience consistency not because we are anything special on our own. We are made valuable and beautiful and fruitful purely because God has set His love on us and chose to die for all who simply repent of sin and surrender to the love of God in Jesus Christ! It’s such a holy and yet offensive message isn’t it? We can’t embrace the solution without hearing out the problem and turning away from it… Apart from Christ’s death for us, we only have this life as our “Heaven,” so no wonder am anti-Christ thought leader writes things like Rules for Radicals” and leads out the book with the story of Lucifer. If all someone believes to be reality is found on this plain, they will be radical and justify their methods with the results they want to see. The problem with this is patience is abandoned as well as virtue and therefore godly love in the name of Marxist materialism, which I’m realizing is repackaged satanism.

Dear God, teach us how to be wise as serpents without actually becoming serpents. Teach us how to be discerning without becoming crafty. Teach us to live in the light and speak truth and pursue it, to expose the secrets and love those in hard places as well as those around our tables who we co-labor with every day in our local bodies of Jesus’ followers.

We love You, LORD God, in Jesus’ name and for His glory! Holy Spirit, thank You for Your help!

Torrey