WHAT NO EYE HAS SEEN: Devotional by Lorilyn Roberts

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.”—I Cor 2:9

Many years ago I traveled to Nepal to adopt my first child. Nepal, located between India and China, is one of the poorest countries in the world. I had waited many years to become a mother, and now as a single woman, I felt God leading me to adopt a three-year-old girl. Her mother had died and her father was unable to provide for her.

I arrived in Kathmandu trusting God to lead the way. I was sure He would go before me, and I had no reason to doubt I would go home with my new daughter. But after two weeks of bureaucratic delays and attempted bribery, the adoption was denied. My hope that God would give me a daughter seemed impossible now despite my prayers and those of my friends. After spending hours in a remote village in Nepal, I headed back to Kathmandu, lifting my sorrowful pleas before God. Was there any way to reverse what seemed like a final decision?

A pastor of a local church in Kathmandu had been helping me, and he had an idea—that we would appeal directly to the Home Minister. Only he and the Prime Minister had the authority to reverse the decision that had been made against me.

That day arrived. We took a taxi to the courthouse, and I waited outside and prayed as my friend went in to meet the Home Minister. Within a few minutes, the decision was reversed, allowing me to adopt Manisha. I praised God for touching the Home Minister’s heart. I had no doubt, without God’s intervention, I never would have become a mother.

A flurry of activity followed to get all the paperwork completed to bring her back to the United States. On one of the many trips we made through the Himalayan Mountains, I was sitting in the van with Manisha waiting for Pastor Silas to finish up inside. It was quiet and cool as the sun hung high in the sky, and I was struck by the immense beauty all around us. The mountains seemed to reach up into the heavens and touch the throne room of God.

The passage came to mind as I was admiring God’s splendor:  “…no eye has seen.. no ear has heard…no human mind has conceived  the things God has prepared for those who love Him.”

I felt caught up to heaven at that moment anticipating the greater eternal home that awaited us when we would walk with Jesus and live with Him forever when there would be no bureaucratic red tape or governmental bribery or endless forms to fill out; where God’s love would be known in the remotest regions of the world, and we would see all of God’s majesty and splendor that we can only dimly imagine now.

In reflective moments, I’ve thought about that experience many times. Recently, however, God revealed to me something I failed to grasp. That vision wasn’t for heaven—it was for the earth. God was showing me my future.

As I thought about God’s glory that day, I failed to see His glory revealed in me—the joy of adopting not one daughter but two, returning two decades later and bringing Christian books to Nepal, working as a kitchen helper at a camp for kids in Juneau, Alaska; visiting inmates in prison and giving them hundreds of books to review for Christian authors; donating devotional books to an organization helping women caught up in the sex trafficking trade—God had plans I couldn’t have fathomed at that time.

While it’s exciting to think about what awaits us on the other side, God gives us gifts and talents in furtherance of His kingdom here. People need the Lord—the rich, the poor, the downtrodden the homeless, the drug-addicted, the businessman, and the nomads in Africa. The needs are great and the workers are few.

God gives us inspiring examples of people in the Bible who were just like us. People no one would have guessed were destined for greatness in the kingdom of God. Moses was a young baby left in some reed bushes in the Nile River. Joseph was sold into slavery and spent years behind prison walls. Esther was orphaned and hid her identity to protect her adoptive family from persecution. Ruth had no Jewish lineage but became the bloodline for the King of kings.

These mighty men and women are only a sampling of those God used. They simply loved God and served Him.

We are God’s workmanship, His hands, and His feet. We are His heart in a world becoming more and more godless and more corrupt, where good is seen as evil and evil is seen as good. Jesus told His followers, “Pick up your cross and follow me.”

God has given us gifts to serve Him in His kingdom here. He has knitted us together to love, teach, admonish, and encourage, and He wants us to share His artistry that moves hearts and souls. Jesus prepared the way so that others could see His glory in us.

What gift has God given you? Use it. What calling has God put on your heart? Pray about it. What longing keeps you awake at night? Ask God to fulfill those desires. What inspires you to be more like Christ? Study His character. What grieves your soul? Ask God to show you wisdom—what can you do to make a difference? What grieves our hearts grieves the heart of God even more.

Until God’s work is done, we can’t escape the tares of sin, but we can work towards sharing His kingdom with others. Christ’s body is a formidable weapon, and He works through imperfect people like you and me. His vision is beyond measure, His dreams outlandish, and His redemption incalculable. God has destined all those who love Him with a destiny we can’t imagine. If you hear His clarion call and long to see His glory in your life, don’t delay in responding. No bribes, scandals, or sin can hold back His kingdom here for those who want to serve Him.

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THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN AND AMERICA'S FUTURE - IS TRUMP THE FINAL TRUMP: Christian Blogger Lorilyn Roberts

A good friend of mine who lives in England sent me this link to read from Elijah List. 

I hope you will click on the link and read what Johnny Enlow has to say. I haven't posted much lately because I have been working on The Howling and there is so much I want to say, I end up almost paralyzed because of the lack of sufficient time to write what needs to be said and finish my book. 

So in bits and pieces, I’m going to put things on my blog. I respond to a lot of emails, and here's one that I wrote in response to a good friend in England. If you read the blog post at the link, you will understand my comments below more fully. If you don't have time to do that, just read my blog post below. It’s important that Christians learn what's really going on in America.

Good article. It’s nice to see that he and I are in complete agreement on almost everything. The biggest difference is he has a more optimistic view of the immediate future than I do. I hope that all the pedophilia and corruption in Washington is revealed. I hope God sends those involved to prison. But justice doesn’t always happen here. Some justice will only be meted out in eternity.

God’s Kingdom is expanding and spreading to every tribe that has yet to hear the Gospel. You know the story of the wheat and the tares. God is allowing those tares to exist until the harvest is ripe. Will those tares be uprooted before Jesus returns? 

I’m not sure. I can’t remember your stance on the rapture, but either way, whether we are taken out before Jesus’s return or after He returns, the end result is the same: God wins, and all those who rejected Him will face an eternity in hell.

Now, here is something I want you to think about. I do believe God’s kingdom comes here to earth. Without a tiny shadow of any doubt. It’s here now, growing and expanding. But I don’t think it fully comes in all Its glory until Jesus is sitting on His throne in Jerusalem. It’s a timing thing. 

I think this writer (see link above, Johnny Enlow, Elijah List) thinks God’s kingdom will come shortly to earth in our time because it’s expanding now, and all evil will be stamped out or pushed back in the next few years under Trump’s leadership. I wish that might be so. Especially if Jesus tarries.  

But I don’t know if the kind of righteousness Enlow is describing can happen or if we are so far down this path of unholiness that the future is determined, set, and God is just holding back evil until every last person has heard the Gospel and everyone whose name that’s written in the Book of Life has been redeemed.

I think things are going to get darker — and I think you think things are going to get brighter. I hope you are right for my children’s sake. But the church here is asleep. Really asleep. If the church doesn’t wake up — I don’t know what will happen. 

For sure, Trump has taken on the powers of darkness like no one in recent history. And VERY FEW people have a clue. He’s hated without cause. Like someone else we know. 

This is something very concerning to me that no one has talked about. If something happens to Trump, Pence becomes the acting President (and I’m not sure if he might not have some skeletons in his closet that I won’t mention out of respect for him and because those reports could be fallacious). 

But if both Trump and Pence were removed from office, either by impeachment or death, do you know who is next in line? Nancy Pelosi. She is corrupt to the core, I mean really corrupt. Awful corrupt. She is the Democratic leader in the House now and is the number one person blocking Trump’s wall. The only female more corrupt than her is Hillary (in my opinion).

We are living in perilous times. I am praying more than ever for our country. Looks like Brexit might not go through despite the fact the people voted for it. What do you think about Macron?  He is someone we need to watch very carefully.

Blessings!!!

Lorilyn Roberts

BOOK IDEAS FOR CHRISTMAS: ”Seventh Dimension - THE Door: A Yong Adult Fantasy,” a Great Christmas Gift for Your Teen Reader

Seventh Dimension - The Door is the first book in the Seventh Dimension Series. The Kindle and Nook versions are free.

The print version is on sale through Amazon for only $12.95 through Christmas. Order it using your Amazon Prime and you can get free shipping.

To order a free Kindle version or Print version from Amazon click here.
To order a Nook copy for free click here
To order a Print copy from Barnes & Noble click here.

QUESTION FOR READERS: Which Game in “Seventh Dimension - The Howling” Would Best Demonstrate Battle Between Good and Evil?

Which game in my next book "The Howling" could best demonstrate a symbolic battle between good and evil?

— Lorilyn Roberts (@LorilynRoberts) November 3, 2018

BASED ON THIS POLL, THE GAME THAT IS DEPICTED IN “THE HOWLING” IS HOCKEY

MOSES SPOKE OF THE RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD - ALLUDING TO YESHUA: Devotional by Loirlyn Roberts

See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live forever...Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people (Deut 32:39-40; Deut. 32:43).

Have you ever wondered if there was a reference in the Old Testament to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ?  I came across this passage in Deuteronomy 32:39-40 and 32:43 while researching time reversals in the Bible for Seventh Dimension - The Howling.

www.arkcode.com (no longer available on the web) talks about in Resurrection and Possible Reversal of Time how God reversed the position of the sun by ten degrees in the Bible, which refers to the sundial (steps) of Ahaz. 

Most of the information in this article is way out of my comfort zone as I'm not a mathematician, but the reference to Deuteronomy was enlightening. Even in the Old Testament, God gave hints to a coming resurrection. In verse 43, he alludes to his return as the Messiah, to avenge the blood of his servants, render vengeance on his adversaries, and that he would be merciful unto his land and to his people.

Jesus will not return until the Jews, his chosen, recognize him as their Messiah. As we near the days of the Tribulation, I'm always looking for passages in the Old Testament that are relevant to his return, particularly in the Torah. 

Interestingly, this passage also infers that no one can take away those whom God has called, that Yeshua lifted up his hands on the cross (death) and that his human life was swallowed up in victory (eternal life).

I look forward to the day when one-third of the Jews will come to know Yeshua as their personal Savior (Zech 13:9). Today is the day of Salvation. Don't delay if you haven't accepted Jesus into your heart.

BOOK EXCERPT: SEVENTH DIMENSION – THE HOWLING: A Young Adult Fantasy, “Sneak Peek at an Underwater Scene”

Sometimes writing evokes deep emotions. I have been working on The Howling for close to a year, and I just wrote a scuba diving scene that takes place in the Red Sea. That was one of the places I dove many years ago, having made over a hundred dives all over the world. 

When I began writing these chapters, memories resurfaced, nostalgic sentimentality, and surprisingly, gratefulness. Today was my birthday. I just turned sixty-three and am one year out following my year-long battle with breast cancer.

I see every day I'm here as a gift, and when I think back to my diving years, I am reminded how quickly time goes by and what's really important when we get closer to the end of our journey. What a blessed life God has given me. 

With those thoughts as a backdrop, I decided to share a short excerpt I wrote tonight. Those who have read previous books in the series will wonder how this scene fits into the story--but I shall not spoil it. I hope The Howling will be the best book in the Seventh Dimension Series yet.

I followed Maurice along the colorful shelf where clownfish darted in and out of sea anemones. From the shimmering schools of fish to the tiny, shy creatures lurking under overhanging crevasses, God spoke to me, even if that voice was only to evoke in me a longing for more.

How can we fathom the depths of God's handiwork in the window of the deep? Can we know the inner workings of the tiny seahorse or understand the symbiosis between the known and the unknown?

My mind wondered as I videotaped the extraordinary beauty. I marveled how the masterful artist spoke this world into being before he created man.  Extravagant love blessed these waters and said it was good. Who could deny it came from a stroke of genius except for someone who didn't want to believe in God? 

However, we hadn't gone very far when our surroundings changed. The protective wall was a death trap. Heaped upon the sandy bottom were skeletons of decomposed fish. Did death have a voice?

I heard a muffled grating noise. Perhaps it had been there all along, just drowned out by our regulators and the normal rhythmic heartbeat of the sea. I shot the video in all directions to capture the disturbing changes.

The euphoria of being beneath the waters after such a long absence evaporated. The rainbow world of the deep had become a morbid cemetery. The vibrant colors of living coral were nothing more than whitewashed tombstones. Devoid of life, this part of the Red Sea was now a ghost town.

Maurice and I exchanged glances. Something had tarnished the ecosystem and brought death here.

The water became warmer as we glided along the shelf. Maurice wrote something on his slate and held it up—water temp?

I took his slate and wrote, “global warming?”

He shook his head, putting the slate back in his pocket. We followed the shelf until it leveled off and we came to a white sandy bottom. I checked the depth gauge—sixty-five feet.

Maurice wandered away from me a short distance and swam back, urgently signaling me to follow him. His eyes were as big as bowling balls. 

Release Date June 1
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BOOK MARKETING: “Do Free Books Increase Negative Reviews?” by Lorilyn Roberts

My advice is to begin reading the Seventh Dimension Series with book one, The Door, or book two, The King.  I feel so strongly about this, after a reader left a one-star review presenting misleading information about the plot (because he hadn't read the first four books and then said he didn't understand the five stars by previous reviewers), I've decided to raise the price of the last three books in the series to $5.99 and remove all the books in the Seventh Dimension Series from KDP Select and Kindle Unlimited so they no longer can be read for free. No one that I know would spend $5.99 on a book if he or she hadn’t read the previous books in the series.

I have given away close to sixteen thousand books this last year, but what I’ve discovered is people will read a free book without any knowledge presented in the previous books in the series and then write a review that is inaccurate and negative. I realized after a reviewer posted a one-star review, that those who haven’t read the previous books are not invested in the Seventh Dimension Series and therefore have no desire to buy the previous books. And they also have no problem trashing a free book and misleading readers because they don’t know the backstory presented in the previous books.

For example, the writer of the one-star review says:  

Main character nags her betrothed constantly. Has animal friends that she talks to, her own revelations of Revelation, and zips back and forth between dimensions as some sort of privileged emissary. Acts according to modern-day norms without anyone apparently noticing. In the first century, she and her betrothed would have been called out for being alone together.

All these criticisms are unfounded. By book five, The Prescience, there is no reason to bog down the plot by addressing these topics because they have been dealt with at length in the previous four books.

As a result of this one-star review, I’m no longer offering any of the books in the Seventh Dimension Series for free except for book one, The Door, which is perma-free. If you are a family and cost is an issue, email me at authorLorilynRoberts@gmail.com and I will gladly provide a free book for you/or your child. I write for an audience of one, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. My goal is to please Him in everything I write and reach as many readers as I can with HIS TRUTH. The last free offering will be for The City, book four, because it was selected by Robin Reads to be featured on Sunday, October 7, 2018.

The Seventh Dimension Series at last count has won thirty-five awards. To win that many awards is not easy and speaks to the hours of painstaking research I put into each book, the great care I spend developing the plot, the numerous rewrites I do self-editing, and the excellent work my editors do in making suggestions and corrections. However, in a sixty-five thousand word book, it’s very hard not to have errors in the first print run. 

If you find a grammatical mistake, please email me at authorLorilynRoberts@gmail.com. I will make the correction and provide you with a small gift to show my appreciation.

I am currently working on book six, The Howling, and hope that it will be available soon.

Blessings,

Lorilyn Roberts 

TRUMP, MEDIA, GLOBALIZATION, ISRAEL, ABORTION, AND HITLER - WHAT DO THEY TELL US?: Christian Blogger Lorilyn Roberts

Recently on Facebook, one of my author friends posted a link to this article:  http://bit.ly/2xoECLG. The title is, “What My Escape from Hitler's Germany Taught Me About Trump's America.”

The title is provocative and drew me in to read it. But as I read it, I realized the writer was so influenced by the liberal media that it wasn’t even accurate. I couldn't leave a comment without a paid subscription. Here are my thoughts:

Last week during the Kavanaugh hearings for U.S. Supreme Court Justice, protestors wreaked havoc during the proceedings. I captioned it on C-Span, and it was obvious it was staged. The next day, I saw a video that showed that those protestors were paid to agitate by liberal-leaning leftists like Soros. The exchange of money was caught on video.

Before World War II, the media controlled the Hitler propaganda, just like the media controls the information that goes out over the U.S. airwaves. They get their marching orders from about five corporations that control over ninety percent of the news outlets in the U.S. They slant it to appear the way they want, which is, for one thing among many, advocating for open borders (the refugee crisis). Open borders take away nationalism because of the merging of boundaries, and taking away our guns makes it easier for those who have guns to control those who don’t.

Trying to make comparisons of Trump to Hitler is ridiculous. Hitler served time in prison; he was heavily influenced and mentored by occultists. He was a racist to the core. Hitler had not accomplished anything with his life except being a criminal before he ran for office.

Just because someone is a nationalist does not make him a Hitler. Quite to the contrary, it’s important that people consider themselves American if they want to live here. That’s what binds us together as a country: Our values, our language, our culture, our history, and our freedoms. We are Americans first. Certainly, you wouldn't call Gandhi a Hitler, and he was a nationalist. 

Hitler was a fascist (communist by a different name). Trump is not. Remember, the Bible says the anti-Christ will be a world leader. He will come to power by intrigue. That's what globalization is about, among many things—the centralization of power and forming a one-world government.

For example, you can trace the origins of the U.N. back to a desire for a one-world government. Global warming is a globalist agenda, and you have to buy into their version of the truth to believe it is a problem. Perhaps it’s part of the end-time deception. One thing I do know: God controls the weather, not man.

In addition, Hitler’s solution was to gas people that didn’t fit his white Aryan race prototype. Trump is pro-life. All life, including the baby in the womb.

Trump is not anti-Semitic. He is behind Israel more than any other U.S President. That means he is behind the Jews. I thank God that Trump is accomplishing things other presidents didn’t have the guts to do. We didn’t vote a saint into office. We voted for someone that wouldn't kowtow to people like Kim Jong-Il and Putin and Iran. 

There are many issues we face as a country, but what the President does in his private life, if it’s not illegal, shouldn’t be on the front-page headlines. If Trump wants to have sex with someone that isn’t his wife, that's between him, his wife, and God. I don’t care what he does in his own bedroom, and I sure don’t want to hear about it day after day after day.

I do care about what he does for my country. Maybe those “hot” topics should be relegated to the tabloids for those who don’t have anything better to do than reading gossip. The media has become like a “used car salesman with no ethics” and insulted American intelligence. Unfortunately, I have to caption all that mudslinging. Oh, how the media has changed since I first started captioning twenty years ago. 

On the Palestinean issue, those people aren’t refugees. That’s a complete misnomer. That would be like saying people that moved here from Vietnam because of the Vietnam War are refugees. Those people have settled in and become part of the American fabric. And that was back in the 1970s that they came, not the 1940s. Israel defeated all those Islamic countries in battle. They fought and won. The land is theirs. They paid in blood for it. In addition, the last time I read my Bible, it says God gave that land to them.

Do I need to keep going? Don’t buy into the lies the media is spreading. If you want to make comparisons to Nazi Germany, the one worth making is the media. Think Huxley's “1984.” 

The writer of this piece http://bit.ly/2xoECLG is drawing incorrect parallelisms. It is good, though, to remember. It’s always good to remember what happened. We must remember what happened or else the young people will believe it never happened. 

Yes, there are far-right extremists, but they aren’t the problem. Just like “1984,” the media is skewing the truth. If we aren’t careful, soon they will have us believe two plus three equals four.

Last night I captioned former V.P. Joe Biden’s remarks on C-span addressing the Human Rights Campaign’s annual dinner at the Washington Convention Center. He brought up the Kavanaugh hearing, and it was obvious to me that it comes down to one thing: Roe v. Wade. It comes down to protecting the life of the baby in the womb. 

In the bigger picture, I truly believe we will be held accountable for where we stand on this issue when we face God. God is big and unknowable, but He judges us in a way that demands we make a choice. That way, we have no excuse.

I also think nations will be judged in two ways, among many, but these two ways in particular:  How they treated the innocent (the baby in the womb), and how they treated Israel.  While Trump has many flaws, on these two important topics, we know where he stands.

Again, we will be judged both as a nation and individually. The media will be long gone when we stand before God and give an accounting for the choices we made. What are you going to tell God? Read the Bible and pray for our country. I am haunted by the sixty million abortions that have been performed in America and the countless deaths of innocent children in the womb in other countries that followed us and legalized abortion.

If we have a nuclear exchange, will sixty million of our soldiers die? I don’t know, but I do know that God is just. We can ask God’s forgiveness and pray that Roe v. Wade is overturned. That will only be possible if we have somebody like Kavanaugh elected to be the next Supreme Court Justice. James 5:16 says: “The effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much.” 

One more quick comment: Just as God hardened Potiphar’s heart when he refused to let the Israelites leave Egypt, the choices you make today may be the last chance you have to make those choices. In other words, once you choose, God might harden your heart to where you no longer have a choice. Another way of saying it is that Satan will have his way because that’s what you chose when the choice was yours to make. There comes a time when that ability to choose can be taken.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, pray for America, pray for the unborn, and pray for God’s salvation. Invest every minute living out your faith at work, at home, and with others. Live like you have no tomorrow.

You can read more of Lorilyn Roberts’ blogposts at LorilynRoberts.com