Welcome to my Christian Home

I have some interesting news to report, concerning my dad’s move to an ALF.

I think what I will write here will upset people who don’t know or understand God. They may think I’m blaming my dad for my problems or that I haven’t forgiven him. They may think I’m abandoning him. I can’t be responsible for the ways in which people with limited understanding misinterpret my words and actions, so I won’t worry about it. I’ll just write the truth.

For a long time, I have been praying for God to turn this property into a place of faith, obedience, peace, love, and prayer. I asked him over and over to make it a place where people were healed and raised from the dead. I asked him to make it a place where people were changed. It appears to be happening. I haven’t raised anyone from the dead today, but I am seeing big changes.

Before my dad left, he dominated the first floor of this house. One of the reasons I chose this place was that it had two roomy stories. He had a big bedroom suite downstairs, and he spent most of the day in the living room. I didn’t get to use the first floor much. It was sort of a makeshift ALF. I lived upstairs in a huge room with a big TV, computer, and workbench.

I used to pray for God to fix this place so he, not my dad and the spirits that rule him, dominated the first floor. I wanted to pray in the living room, not my upstairs hideaway. I wanted the whole property to belong to God.

TV is a big part of my Christian walk. I watch a lot of Christian Youtube videos. I use the TV and stereo to play Julie True music while I pray. I wanted to be able to do these things in the living room. After my dad moved, I cleaned his recliner with bleach, and I tried to use the circa-2005 42″ living room TV to watch Youtube.

The plan worked, but boy, did that TV look small. My upstairs TV is 55″. Another problem: there is no desktop computer downstairs, and the TV is not “smart.” To use Youtube, I had to hook up a laptop, turn it on, move the picture to the 42″ TV, and so on. Not a good solution for the long term.

I went out and got myself a 65″ smart TV, and I signed up for Roku. This is a streaming service. It seems a little stupid to require a service to connect to Youtube and Hulu, since TV’s can be made to do this without help, but this was the strategy the manufacturer chose.

The new TV was gigantic, but I wrestled it into the house, assembled it, and put it on the desk we have been using as a stand for the smaller TV.

This morning I got up and turned on the upstairs TV. I got Julie True going and went downstairs. I used the new TV to play worship music.

I can’t tell you how wonderful it was. I can sing in my living room now. I can do it all day if I want. I can keep Christian music going during the day. I don’t have to worry about my dad wanting to watch awful programs at top volume.

I went through a bunch of songs; Chris Tomlin, Nicole Mullen, Kari Jobe, and so on. It was magnificent. I sang in English. I sang in the Spirit. I was deeply moved. I watched a The Last Reformation video, too.

This house is starting to belong to God. My house is going to be a house of peace.

When I searched Youtube for good things, revolting suggestions came up. Nicki Minaj. Shallow secular TV programs. I felt truly sorry for unbelievers. I mean that. I felt bad for them. I feel bad for anyone who thinks that poison is healthy and alluring.

I’m taking my dad’s mattress to the dump today, along with some clothes he’ll never wear again. I keep cleaning and ordering the house to get rid of the nasty residue he left. I feel as though I’m erasing him from the world, and that’s not a pleasant sensation, but I love the way the atmosphere in this house is improving.

My dad is not a Christian. Like all unbelievers and like Christians who are not sanctified, he is ruled and tormented by black, filthy spirits. Wherever he goes, a cloud goes with him. He radiates anger and oppression. He creates clutter and disorder. He makes everything around him dirty. This is the simple truth.

Unbelievers are not like sanctified Christians. They live in a different world, and when we yoke ourselves up with them, that world starts to saturate us as well.

As badly as I feel for my dad, I love being out from under his dark, stifling presence. I have a remarkable combination of grief and relief. I feel both at once.

I believe Christians are like the people in Noah’s ark. We will be preserved, but like Noah and his relatives, who had to cope with the pain of hearing their drowning friends clawing on the hull of the ark, we will have to watch others sink, and often, they will sink very slowly.

You can give tell people to jump on the ark, but you can’t grab them and pull them in.

It’s very painful, watching my dad deteriorate when God and help are so close to him, but he chose it from the beginning, and he keeps choosing it. I hope I can get him to church Sunday. I know he will eventually be saved. I wish he had let go years ago instead of waiting until so much was lost.

To get back to the bright side, I have often said that my relationship with my dad will be my last unequal yoking. I knew life would blossom once he was placed at a distance, and it is coming true.

Thank God I’m not married to a rebel. It would be much worse. You have to be an utter fool to get involved with a non-Christian or a weak Christian (as I did in the past). It’s a sin. God has not sent you to rescue the wicked by dating, marrying, or otherwise partnering with them. You may tell yourself God put you up to it, but that’s a lie you tell in order to get what you have already chosen out of carnality.

Many, many people become strong Christians after marrying rebels. It’s a terrible thing to see. God won’t tell you to abandon a spouse, so you’re stuck with the chain you forged. It’s worse than having a wicked child, because you’re only trapped with a child for 18 years. A vile woman (or man) can devour your whole life.

Marriage to an unbeliever is a little bit like hell, because there is no escape. Unless your partner runs off or dies, you are imprisoned for life.

This is a Christian house! Permanently! I can finally say that. There will be no occult paraphernalia here. There will be no drugs. There will be no drunkenness. There will be no dirty TV channels. There will be no yoga, meditation, or “mindfulness.” No one will ever see poisonous women’s magazines or pornography here. This won’t be a place where people sit around watching sleazy reality shows or network television.

When I look back on the last 20 years, it seems to me that my relationship with my dad got much worse after I turned back to God. Before my change of heart, we used to fish together. I made meals for him. We went out to breakfast together once a week. After I started going to church, things deteriorated. Then dementia made things worse. It all makes sense. Jesus said he would divide families.

Here is what Paul said:

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.”

Therefore

“Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you.”

“I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters,
Says the Lord Almighty.”

When you get close to God, the spirits that run your friends and relatives will know it, and they will pit them against you. It’s inevitable. If you’re a Christian in a peaceful, warm, close relationship with an unbeliever, chances are, you’re a weak Christian who isn’t seen as a threat. That should concern you.

The odd thing with my situation is that now that the yoking is being broken, I have a better relationship with my dad. I’m not cleaning and chauffeuring and being yelled at all the time, so I have time to talk with him and have relatively normal conversations. Unbelievers are easier to get along with at a safe distance.

I hope the things I’ve been writing will be good resources for other people in similar situations. I have received very little guidance since my dad’s decline became evident, and it would be nice to know that I helped other people find answers.