Back To Main Page  

She’s Buying the Stairway to Heaven
That leads her strait way to hell

Beloved of God in Jesus Christ
Grace be yours

I thank God for this open door for my writings and poems to be used to the glory of Jesus Christ in Ministering the truth of His Love and Word to others. My greatest fear would be to stand before God on the Day of Judgment and to be found as that wicked and slothful servant who buried and hid his Master’s talent in the earth instead of putting it to use. Jesus Christ pronounced the judgment of such when He said: “For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 25:29-30

I for one have a certain aversion to the thought of being cast into outer darkness where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And I do not believe that it is a mere coincidence that this grave warning against denying to show mercy to the least of persons follows immediately after the parable of the unprofitable servant who buried his Master’s talents. God is not interested in blessing and equipping us with talents and abilities to make something great of us personally for the purpose of our own self enhancement and vain glory. It is sad that most every Church pulpit has become a stage where unconverted sinner folks who believe they are saved come to sing and perform as if they were in a talent show on star search. And while God has nothing to do with all the ungodly worldly styles of entertainment being brought into the Churches, He does intend for us to use both our natural and supernatural gifts, talents and abilities to Minister life to the lost. For all you spiritually dead Baptist and Church of Christ folks out there: by “supernatural” I do not mean the occult or paranormal, I’m talking about those abilities to Minister the Gospel and grace of Jesus Christ that we in ourselves never could have apart from the gifting of the Holy Ghost. Yet rather than getting caught up in the snare of worrying about offending the sensibilities of a million and one religious folks out there who just don’t get and never will until they get truly born again. I’m just going to get back to the main point here and tell you bluntly that if you as a Christian and recipient of such abundant grace and mercy are not doing something to reach the least of souls for Jesus Christ, then you are in for a rude awaking come judgment day. For as it is written:

“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” Matthew 25:31-46

 

The Least of These

Just the thought of a little child
abandoned all alone
Forsaken of its Mother's love
with no protective Dad or home

Cast out into a heartless world
of no mercy for the weak
Just the thought of such a child
should make us all to weep

God the Father's heart is sorely broken
by all the pain He sees
He hears the cries of every little heart
why don't we intercede?

Child Abusers and Pedophile's
who molest and hurt their souls
Satan worshipers who ritually torture
must have not been told

Beware thou Wicked and all who dare
to put forth an abusive hand
You shall burn in a Lake of unquenchable fire
forever to be damned

For all who exploit a precious child
shall not escape God's Sword
He shall take most Holy Vengeance
according to His Word

Woe unto the Molesters
for their day is soon to come
Woe unto cruel satanic souls
who harm such little ones

Yet what of the Religious Hypocrite
who beholds a child hungry and all alone
And in greed begrudges in selfishness
to receive that child into their home

How can they withhold their morsel
even a piece of bread to share
They don't even have a heart
or else they would but care

Such are those who slam their doors
even a cup of water to deny
How it must wound the heart of Jesus
Christ our God on high

So the next time you behold a child
forsaken or in need
You dare not leave them helpless
left to beg and plead

For one day you shall stand before
that same child's God above
And He will then profess:
''I NEVER KNEW YOU''
For you failed to show them love.

Because when you denied the least of these
you did it unto me
Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire
Now it's your turn to beg and plead.
© 1996 Raymond Bolton Pena

“Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor,
he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.”
Proverbs 21:13

We can not personally go to every prison or every nursing home or visit every homeless area in the world. But we can do our part where we are with the resources which God has entrusted us with. That is why it has always been my greatest desire to get these poems out and to cast my bread upon the waters so to speak. As it is written: “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.” (Ecclesiastes 11:1-2) Jesus Christ Himself admonished us saying: “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” (John 9:4) The day of Pentecost began at the third hour of the day (see Acts 2:14-15). Yet now as the 11th hour ticks away we are fast approaching Midnight; and knowing that “the night cometh when no man can work” it ought to be our prayer that we might escape any snare of carnality that would cause us to walk ineffectively in the Ministries to which God has called us. One of the greatest on going scandals in Worship, Evangelism and service in the things of God is the wholesale turning of the Spiritual things of Christ into a Carnal Vice. Thus it is imperative that we walk in the Spirit (which means walking in complete obedience to God’s Word in relation to putting a difference between the holy and profane in the Ministry) in a manner that is pleasing to God so that we might be used to gather and not be found scattering the latter rain harvest.

“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labors. Behold ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast as I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush? and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?”
Isaiah 58:1-7

It is usually at this point after setting the stage by preaching about the consequences of neglecting the harvest, that many preachers will tell you that you would be doing your part in obeying God to reach the lost by simply sending in an offering. Yet I do not feel like it is Biblical to tell you as a Christian that you would be doing your part by simply sending me a 10% cut of your hard earned cash so that I might fulfill a personal calling while you are let off the hook. Oh, how easy it would be to put you under a guilt trip of fear and then give you a convenient way of escape by taking an offering from you. (Cha Ching $ Cha Ching $) Yet as bad as I need and desire some financial relief and help here, I fear God and I fear that a lot of people are being manipulated into giving money thinking that it relieves them of their own responsibility to do their part in being a light and testimony to others in their own communities. I just can’t practice such dishonest preacher politics because I know that we shall all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ in the end and God forbid that I be found as the cause of you going to hell because you neglected to walk in obedience toward the lost in your own community because you thought that you could pay me to do it for you somewhere else! Oh, the dishonest scandal that the whole system of American Churchianity has become? They are actually undermining and exploiting the very cross of Jesus Christ from both sides of the pulpit.

Jesus never promised that you could pay another to carry your cross for you; Rather, it is written: “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” Mark 8:34-38

There are differing schools of thought about what it actually means to carry your cross. Some erroneously contend that it means accepting a life in bondage to an unwanted sin, yet such a doctrinal disposition is a total contradiction to the very preaching of the cross. Others believe that carrying your cross means that you must stand faithful through sufferings and affliction. And while that is a very Scriptural premise I believe that Jesus perfectly defined exactly what He meant by us carrying our cross in the above passage. Taking up your cross simply means to unashamedly deny yourself to the extreme point of losing your own carnal life to all the vain, idolatrous, lustful and sinful interest of this wicked and ungodly world in your devoted love for Jesus Christ and His Word! In other words we must die to whatever hinders the cause of Jesus Christ in our lives. As it is written: “And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” Galatians 5:24

Take up thy Cross

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:
and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20

Through the blood of Jesus to see face to face
Of sin and self to leave no trace

Grasp thus tight to that scarlet thread
To be washed and cleansed and to sin be dead

From a helpless wretch to be born again
We are only worthy through the blood of the Lamb

Thus translated from the darkness of Death unto the Light of Life
We are given a Two Edged Sword with which to fight

We have a cross to carry, oh what brutal death
By the power of His resurrection in His life giving breath.
© 1990 Raymond Bolton Pena

“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Galatians 6:14

I have no doubt that I just turned a lot of people off, because do you really think that all those greedy men out there who are misusing the Ministry to abuse the charity of God’s people are getting so wealthy because people are just mindlessly sending in their money without the expectation of a pay off? I fear that many in the Baptist and the more traditional fundamentalist Pentecostal Churches are no better than the money mad Charismatics when it comes to making false promises as a reward for giving tithes and offerings. We can’t point the finger at the Charismatic money grubbers until we first deal with our own hypocrisy. It’s a two way street friends. It’s all about “give and take.” The Ministers “give” a false peace and comfort to their supporters who they not only “take” an offering from in return; But, their supporters also gladly “give” their money in order to blindly “take” a crossless “Stairway to Heaven” that never requires them to personally confess Christ by reaching out to the suffering, dying and needy because they were told that in giving an offering they were fulfilling the great commission. Yet all that glitters is not really gold and contrary to Led Zeppelin’s satanic doctrine, the harlot bride is not really buying the stairway to heaven, she is actually purchasing a spiraling staircase to hell.

If you are interested in helping to support this Ministry I thank God for any and all the help I can get. But I can’t lie to you or abuse my power to make it easier for you to go to hell. As Jesus said: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” What profit is it to build a Ministry upon the blood of others who are in danger of going to hell believing a lie you taught which undermined the cross of Jesus Christ in their lives? I do not want anyone’s blood on my hands because they thought that they could give me money in order to by pass carrying their own cross. Oh, it never comes across that way nor do we interpret it like that. Yet that is really how it really is! And since the majority of the Ministry is practicing such dishonest and damnable preacher politics, we have come to accept the notion that giving offerings equals living obediently and nothing could be farther from the truth!

As I have stood before this open door I have been laboring to write some kind of statement about giving an offering to this Ministry and yet there has been a restless dissatisfaction with everything I tried to write. Though every thing that I wrote sounded good on the surface and no one would have found fault with it, it was the same dishonesty that I am now exposing. And because I was following the standard offering appeal procedure which so many Ministries use, no matter what I wrote or how I rephrased It, it all sounded like a dishonest sales pitch to me. Then God began to show me just how much sinful guile was coming out of my own heart as the more I wrote trying to find an honest way to communicate this Ministries needs, the more I realized that I was coming up against the flesh by leaning upon my own communication skills to do so. Even right now as I type and am confessing my own vulnerability here, I am very aware that the guile of the flesh wants to rear its ugly head to divert my honest spiritual intentions in confessing my infirmity and dependence upon God, toward a soulish motive of being tempted to think that even this will help me in my cause. It’s like the enemy is trying to divert my focus off of God and onto my own ability to communicate so that my entire inner hidden thought would be upon securing offerings rather than upon standing in the fear of God accountable for my true heart motives; Thus, I thank God that he has kept me from giving an occasion to the sins of covetousness and guile!

I realize that I am really setting myself up for a lot of hatred and attack in exposing this ongoing fraud that this doctrine of devils represents. On the one hand what I’m bringing to light is a threat to a lot of preacher’s because it might very well affect their money flow. On the other hand there are a lot of counterfeit Church goers out there who like their Christianity on the easy side. They pay a lot of money to be made to feel all self righteous and good about themselves while the world goes to hell all around them. They’re not about to believe that they themselves are really despisers of the cross who are living their “Christian” lives in denial of Jesus Christ. That’s why people from both sides of the Pulpit will read into what I have written as being a confession of dishonesty and greed on my own part which I am just trying to justify by implicating the whole Ministry. For the most part they are not about to even consider the truth because it is far too costly against their lives in this world which they are desperately trying to save by following after such carnal deceptions. And though it is very true that I feel like crying: “Oh, wretched man that I am.” That is only because I am abhorred at the very thought of “Unknowingly” leaning upon and walking in the flesh in relation to this matter of love offerings.

Come to think about it, it is the enemy and his devils who puts us under pressure to lean upon the flesh instead of walking in dependence upon the Lord in the fear of God. This is the very first time I ever wrote an offering appeal by the way. If the attack of Satan is this strong against an unknown nobody like me, how much more does he tempt and attack those who minister to hundreds and thousands throughout the land? No wonder so many Ministries are so corrupt. No wonder there is no true revival in the land! What greater advantage can the enemy gain in nullifying the anointing and effectiveness of the Gospel than to contaminate a Ministry with the lie of speaking guile in denial of God and our dependence upon Him? Did not Jesus warn us: “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Luke 16:10-13

Do we not deny the Father and the Son when we deny God the Father’s Sovereignty and the power of the truth of Jesus Christ? Did not the beloved John write: “I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.” 1st John 2:21-29

I realize that in making this case against the act of denying God here in this context, I might very well be splitting hairs a little too closely and then resplitting the splits. Yet I do not believe that I am without warrant in doing so because a little leaven still leavens the whole lump and a lie is still a lie even if we are not aware that we are in compromise with the lie. And yet does not that make the guile even more dangerous because as it grows we grow blinder and blinder until you have Preachers out there who are purposely exploiting poor and needy widows and orphans without blinking an eye? So while I certainly do have as many pressing personal needs as I do Ministry needs, God knows right where I am at financially as well as mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. He knows all of my own personal limitations, the inflicted hindrances of the enemy and all of those adverse circumstances we all face. Yet He is more than able to make a way if it is His will to do so. As God called Ministers we can’t lean upon the arm of the flesh like others who beg money or put people under some kind of guilt trip like as if God and His kingdom are going to go into a panicked crisis and will not be able to function or carry on the great commission if we do not raise all the support we need in order to do every thing that we feel called to do. I’m going to do what I can with what I have regardless of being blessed by God through others or not.

May the Grace, Peace and Mercy of Jesus Christ be yours.
Your friend and fellow Remnant Contender
Evangelist Raymond Bolton Pena

Though the Poetic Contemplations contained in this article are copyrighted,
you are welcome to make printed copies for free distribution only;
and as long as you copy them in their entirety
and include the copyright notice at the end of each poem
along with this notice of permission with my contact info:
 

Contact Info