About

Hello Brothers and Sisters! Encourage in Truth is ministry of ‘polishing,’ and we hope and pray that our handling of the depth of the knowledge of spiritual warfare will edify anyone who listens. Our hope is that it will improve your ability to understand and prepare for inevitable times of trial. We are not evangelists in the traditional sense of spreading the good news of what Jesus did on the cross for the entire world for those who accept Him. But like an evangelist, we teach the good news of Jesus Christ by directly pointing to our desperate need for a savior by addressing the ‘hard truths’ involving the unseen realm’s influence on the world.

Awaken2024.com is not a statement about being ‘woke’ in a worldly sense. Although we are keenly aware of and attentive to important societal issues, recent social justice agendas often define a ‘woke’ corporate or organizational agenda that is unwelcoming to Christ followers, who most often feel we need to awaken to a much greater global existential threat. That threat is spiritual in nature and involves our separation from God Almighty. Some of these woke efforts involve plans to divide us and separate us, from one another and from God. And they are led by dark spirits, not in a Christ-like manner of salt, light, and love.

There are many hard truths in this life for which true courage is necessary. Although our articles of faith are biblically-based, the world has a problem with numbers 11 and 12. Our ministry adds courage to others through our books, social media postings, website, and our speaking engagements that are targeted toward encouraging a broader understanding of the spiritual warfare occurring in today’s post-modern world. This world has been weakly encouraged in a more shallow, surficial manner far too long. That kind of worldly encouragement does nothing in the way of preparing us for difficult times in a world undergoing a severe moral backslide. Encouragement without knowing the Truth and without addressing the hard truths will do little to reverse that backslide. That problem is what our ministry is attempting to address.

The key to understanding the strange and troubling developments demonstrated by the chaos in our world over the past five or so years requires a deeper spiritual perspective. And having a full and complete understanding of the truth of the Bible reveals that we are engaged in a spiritual battle in which the forces of evil have been scoring many victories in their ongoing campaign of confusion and division.

Many Christians struggle with recognizing that enjoined with all the goodness of God that is expressed by the love of Jesus Christ, the Bible also teaches us about many dark and troubling truths that we also must understand. We need not fear evil, but we must understand evil’s influence on both willing participants as well as those who are ignorant of the schemes of the dominion of darkness. Complicity through ignorance or by the way we handle ourselves when we see the results of the great American backslide that is underway is guaranteed to accelerate increasing depravity.

Teachers teach and edify the church, making the members of the body hungrier for the Word of God and to fight error. What topic are we addressing and what error are we fighting? We teach in order to equip the saints who fail to understand that in the spiritual realm there exists a dominion of darkness that has great influence on this world through spiritual warfare, and that Christians are targeted for elimination. Satan wants to eliminate your witness, your testimony, and your effectiveness for the Kingdom of God.

Yet more basically, we hope to point out how every human being’s sinful nature and our frequent interaction with the dark influencers among us who are at work in this world often act in partnership with one another to create unfortunate if not evil outcomes – whether intentional or unintentional. For as we know from 1 John 3:8, Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. I emphasize Christ’s work in this hard truth, but the underlying message is we have a pre-disposition to fall under the influence of the works of the devil.

Our teaching ministry is, as Derek Prince puts it, one of the three mobile ministries described in the five-fold ministry in Ephesians 4 and particularly expounded upon in verses 11-16. Prince states the mobile ministries are three of the five-fold callings of the spirit provided by Christ Jesus – prophets, evangelists, and teachers, with the remaining pair being apostles and shepherds (pastors). A pastor is generally not mobile as Prince sees it and he calls them shepherds, because they constantly labor toward teaching a particular local flock, which is why they are remunerated for their full-time efforts (1 Timothy 5:17); are formally taught (seminary or elders trained as in Titus 1:5, 9 and 2 Timothy 2:2), and will be awarded the Crown of Glory (1 Peter 5:4). But like pastors/shepherds, our teaching ministry is always founded upon the truth of the Bible, otherwise it would not be spiritually-led. Our topics are not very broad like a pastor’s are because we focus on teaching the ways the spirit of the age and the prince of this world separate us from God. And the gap between God and the ways and beliefs of this world is increasing in distance with each passing day.

Our mission’s intent is to add courage to those who will listen about the complete and total truth of God’s Word. In the words of Pastor Robert Morris, the root of ‘en’ added in front of a word means to ‘add to.’ Therefore, to encourage means to add courage to someone. Given that understanding, to encourage someone does not necessarily entail being sure to give them enough positive feedback to motivate them to strive for better personal performance in whatever the effort may be. Unfortunately, that is too often the common meaning of encourage, which may now mean little more than acting as someone’s cheerleader.

The hard truths are often lost in situational ethics and moral relativism, and as our website brand suggests, we desire to do two things. First, we will tell you the straight truth and that will be sourced from God’s Word, which quite often contains these hard truths. These are those difficult matters that your senior pastor will not spend much time on because they involve uncomfortable topics, so they get swept under the rug, because much of the world thinks the dominion of darkness does not exist. This is an example of a hard truth, as is our own sinfulness and need for a Savior.

Our teaching ministry mission is guided in the awaken element of our ministry by scripture such as Ephesians 5:11-13: Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. And if we remain immature and cannot improve our spiritual discernment skills by following scripture such as Hebrews 5:14, ‘But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil,’ we will be schemed by the dominion of darkness.

We live for the Lord, learn from the Lord, progress with the Lord in our post-modern world, are empowered by the Holy Spirit, and are driven by providing the Spirit’s salt, light, and love in everything we do! We must keep the main thing, the main thing. And though I proclaim, I am awake, brother! And, I am awake, sister! We are awakened to the deep slumber that the world is in! We are not ‘woke’ but are alert and awakened to the devil’s schemes! And we are very much awake to the only prize worth fighting for, which is how the name Awaken 2024 came about. The year 2024 is not just the year we are in, it is also a reference to a biblical verse that our ministry is founded on. Acts 20:24 reads, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. If we awaken to the schemes of the devil, and also fight for the only prize worth fighting for, Awaken2024 will become a rallying cry for a return to God.

As we blow the trumpet to ready us for the spiritual battle against evil, we also pray that Awaken2024 becomes a movement representing the next Great Awakening in the United States of America.

But also know this, whether or not you are a believer in Christ, I consider you a brother or sister. You are a beloved brother or sister in my eyes merely by being a human being inhabiting this earth upon which we dwell together. And it is not just I who love you, but God himself, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Today, you are a beloved brother or sister. And you will be unified in God’s church as a blood brother or sister when you accept Jesus Christ and God sends the Holy Spirit to dwell within you. It is the blood of Christ that unifies our family. Then the real life’s journey begins! My journey, as difficult as it was, led me to have a purpose and mission in life.

The recent acceleration of depravity is drawing more attention to the difficult topic of evil’s influence. More time is being spent from the pulpit on the impact of evil upon our world as the media continues to struggle to discern truth from reality, not to mention the vitally important from the completely unimportant. Regardless of perspective, there is a greater contrast between society’s current normative behaviors and the scale of righteousness we should be measuring our communities against. Our current state of depravity is expressed in my book, The Great American Backslide and Our Silent Partnership with Darkness – Living in Opposition to Evil’s Influence.

We are sharpened and sanctified by the Spirit of Truth so we can recognize evil influences upon our world, we must be able to identify our Kingdom of God purpose in this world. Although I hope that everyone will be able to identify Satan’s schemes of manipulating the playing field of this world, that desire is unrealistic. Satan is too intelligent for that. But what we all can do is identify our own individual traits and personality so we can serve God’s purposes through the unity in the Body of Christ, his church.

Your uniqueness has a kingdom purpose that is captured in the ‘Unity in the Body of Christ’ metaphor as referenced in Ephesians 4:16, which in my opinion, is found within one of the best chapters in all of the Bible. That chapter speaks to the very essence of your SHAPE. SHAPE comes from Erik Rees in his book, S.H.A.P.E. – Finding and Fulfilling Your Unique Purpose for Life. It’s all about your Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, and Experiences. My favorite translation applicable to the concept of your SHAPE is found in Ephesians 4:16 of the amplified classic version (AMPC):

For because of Him the whole body (the church, in all its various parts), closely joined and firmly knit together by the joints and ligaments with which it is supplied, when each part [with power adapted to its need] is working properly [in all its functions], grows to full maturity, building itself up in love.

I have studied this verse before, and I always have found the metaphor to be somewhat mysterious and confounding, middle-finger ligament theory aside. It is obvious that knowing of and receiving the unconditional love of God is a big part of spiritual maturity and there are many other verses that confirm that, but what about the body and the part that we play in the body? When you can see and discern your SHAPE within the Kingdom of God, your purpose and your prayer will combine to create a warrior in the spiritual battleground.

Everyone has been given a mission that will be revealed based upon the indisputable truths found in the Guidebook, which is the key that unlocks your ability to identify your mission and life’s purpose. After I overcame the carnal stumbling block of being unable to forgive and unwilling to apply God’s Word to my life, I was able to identify patterns apparent in the depravity cycle and how the tool of the cancel culture paradigm is being used to weaponize systemic evil. When you identify and share with the world the functions of the part of the body of the church that God has made you for you are glorifying God. No matter what it is, it will always involve serving others.

I mentioned earlier that our SHAPE within the body of Christ represents the essence of how we fit into the Kingdom of God while on this earth. But I’ll add this, an ambassador for Christ is automatically a spiritual warrior. We are most effective within the unity of the body of Christ when we understand our SHAPE and can apply it to a kingdom purpose. Your purpose will always be biblically supported by specific scripture that speaks exactly to who you are and what your kingdom may be, be it serving or prophesying. I know that my SHAPE and my purpose, simply put, is to Encourage in Truth through this teaching ministry.

If your life’s purpose comes from the world, re-evaluate it to determine how it serves the kingdom of God in word, action, and deed, but don’t put limits on it. God can use anything for the good of those who love him. My SHAPE helps define my: 1) mission, 2) the core truth associated with accomplishing the mission, and 3) the purpose of the mission in the Body of Christ. A mission is based upon the verses that speak to your heart. There may be only a few or many Bible verses that focus your mission, but a kingdom purpose will always be fortified by hundreds or even thousands of verses put into action. That is the amazing thing about identifying your purpose. You not only see what body part you are, but you also understand where you fit into the bigger body.

Wisdom: And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (NIV – 1 Corinthians 13:13)

Instruction: Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love. (NIV – 1 Corinthians 16:13-14)

As long as I walk in faith, hope, and love in Christ’s righteousness, and in humility as I share in the sufferings of the Body of Christ, my straining toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus will allow me to finish this race in this fallen and faithless world. Faith, hope, and love are the sum of what remains as I testify to the gospel of the grace of God and store up treasures in heaven. (Philippians 3; 1 Corinthians 13:13; Acts 20:24; Matthew 6:19-20). Here is my mission prayer:

Dear Holy and Righteous God, I pray to you that you will use my spiritual gifts of teaching, encouraging, and exhorting for your good purposes. That I may bear witness to the world of your mercy and grace in Christ Jesus. I present my body, mind, soul, and spirit to you as a living sacrifice. May my spiritual gifts be used to equip the saints. I know that it is your power that tears down strongholds, Lord. Here I am. Send me. Help me to exhort others to save themselves from this crooked generation as you have stated in Acts 2:40. May I go forth in a manner that will honor and glorify you. Lord, use my spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality, and experiences, along with every ounce of my being for your kingdom. To be an ambassador in the Unity of the Body and to encourage in truth as I teach the disciple’s path to freedom. In this I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.