PARKS BROWN

Keeping up. The mere thought of taking time and effort to keep up with things and people can make your blood pressure rise. Keeping up is an art, a skill and a discipline. NOT a reflection of how well you multi-task. Keeping up (family, friends, sports teams, markets, current events) is more of a reflection of your ability to slow down. It is mystical, spiritual and supernatural.

Everyone and everything in the world is changing so rapidly and drastically it requires us to keep up or be left behind. This is why keeping up is not just a good idea, it is essential and a deep rooted spiritual principle taught in the Bible. If you are being led to people, places and things, keeping up is an expression of your faith, Christ’s love for others…and your obedience.

Your favorite sports team may wear the same uniform the last 20 years but the personnel and the game has changed. The friend you haven’t talked to in 20 years, or 20 days, may exhibit some of the characteristics and personality you remember but I can promise you, he or she is NOT the same. From a distance, the pace of change may appear slow but don’t be fooled. Up close, the radical change is impossible to miss…IF you’re keeping up.

The world doesn’t want you to keep up, but God does.

Jesus told us the way to keep with others is to keep up with the Holy Spirit. “‘But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own, he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.'” Listening to the source of ‘all truth’ and learning ‘what is yet to come’ directs us to who and where to keep up.

Christians profess to believe the Bible and it’s teaching that we are spiritual beings living a temporary physical life on earth. While describing the differences between life in the flesh and the spirit, the book of Galatians reminds us. ‘Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.’ Galatians 5:25. In other words, keep up with the Spirit.

Do you consider the Holy Spirit someone to keep up with?

The decline in church attendance reveals a lack of teaching on many aspects of the faith. The most glaring deficiency of teaching in the modern church involves the spiritual and supernatural aspects of our faith. The result is a weak understanding of and relationship with the Holy Spirit. Many Christians don’t KNOW the Holy Spirit therefore they don’t keep up with Him. Being saved for eternity is one thing. Living daily by the Spirit to be an active part of the Kingdom on earth requires the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

For a quick refresher, read John 15 and 16 to be reminded of who and what the Holy Spirit actually is and does. Our God is physical and spiritual. He was here at creation, came again in the form of the man Jesus and remains here as the Holy Spirit. The same person not restricted by space and time has had boots on the ground since the get go. He is dynamic and the one actively changing this world.

The Bible teaches a beginning and an end to what God is doing in creation. There’s a lot changing that we need to keep up with. The book of Isaiah puts it bluntly. “‘Forget the former things: do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.'” If we don’t keep up with what God is doing in people’s lives, odds highly favor we will not perceive the new things He is doing.

What does keeping up with the Holy Spirit look like in everyday life?

One Christ follower said he didn’t have it all figured out yet, “But ONE thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead…’ Practically speaking, don’t live in the past but keep up with what the Creator is doing and has in store for you.

HOW do we do this? Prayer.

Prayer reduces the amount of time and effort it takes to keep up in life. Ask God to reveal who and what He wants you to keep up with. Keeping up with all the changes in people’s lives and the world doesn’t require more from you but it does require a helper telling you where to make the effort. If we keep up with the Holy Spirit by talking to and listening to Him the same as we breathe and eat, HE will guide and direct us.

If we want the advice of where to keep up, James reminds us to just ask. ‘But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything form the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.’ James 1:6-7.

In practicality, when you ask God to tell you who and what to keep up with the risk does go up. If you doubt when He tells you…to call the person you haven’t spoken to in 6 months, the sibling you always argue with or that person you’d rather not engage with ever again; be careful. Don’t ignore what you hear. Don’t ask yourself, ‘WHY is the Holy Spirit telling me to do this??’ Instead, ask yourself, ‘If I’m not obedient this time how I am damaging my faith and relationship with God?’

Don’t be afraid of reaching out and keeping up with people and their lives. If you are directed by the Spirit I promise it won’t be a burden. Keeping up as God leads will free you and them. The Bible promises this freedom. ‘Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.’ 2 Corinthians 3:17. No guilt, regret or condemnation. You will find freedom!! And then…God knows He can trust you with greater things.

Don’t be content with the past. Be an active participant in life and the lives of others. KEEP UP!

Love is not something you can quantify but it is something you can see and hear. Words express love and actions define it. If we have eyes to see and ears to hear, the love of money is everywhere we look and listen.

I’m a big fan of amateur athletics and college football in particular. The sport has been compromised for the love of money. NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) contracts have made the pursuit of money master over recruiting, developing and retaining young men and women. The pursuit of money has taken the place of the pursuit of excellence. Once the lust for money trickles down to players and coaches, there is no turning back. Case in point, the Coach of Ole Miss has left his team at the alter of a National Championship for…more money. Amateur and professional athletics are fully compromised.

Professional sports are the easiest venue to see where money has become the first love. This year, NBA scandals involve players and coaches rigging games so bets can be made to leverage sky high salaries for more money. Gambling is the equivalent of margin in the stock market, it exacerbates and effects the outcome. Try listening to a sports podcast on football, golf, hockey or any sport without hearing an advertisement for a gambling website or the podcaster talking about the odds in a competition. Owners of gambling sites call for the removal of coaches and players when they don’t cover the spread.

The love of money is everywhere. I’ll be brief. Social media (Facebook and Twitter) enable churches and pastors to monetize their congregations with the number of posts and likes garnered. Governments get in the blood lust as they send tax dollars around the country and the globe to ‘fund’ programs that kick back dollars to their personal interests. We may even learn that UAP’s (UFO’s for those boomers who haven’t adapted the new monikers) have been kept secret just to serve financial gains for technology and defense corporations. Providing for your family, increasing quarterly earnings and securing national interests are worthy pursuits when you don’t love and serve those needs at the expense of your soul.

Money is NOT a bad thing. It is also NOT a simple tool. Jesus said money can be a master when it dictates our actions and directs our lives. He emphatically said you can’t serve God AND money. I can’t define when anyone else serves money over God because I don’t know what another person defines as God. Most often, this depends on the people and institutions (church) where they were raised or currently worship. Many in modern western Christianity are preaching tolerance and forgiveness at the expense of hypocrisy, wrath and judgement. “How can you say to your brother ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye’, when all the time there is a plank in your own eye.”

The Christian theologian A.W. Tozer once stated “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us…The history of humankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above it’s religion..” Does God provide for all your needs or just the ones you can’t provide for yourself. Has the world converted to a religion where money is the new god? Do religious people of all denominations believe they can serve a heavenly Kingdom with more money as opposed to more faith?

In 1st Timothy the Bible again speaks to money. ‘For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.’ THE easiest place to witness how our culture and society LOVE money is Wall Street. The place where common men and women (shareholders) have the opportunity to ‘share’ in the gain of a company’s success…or failure. Yes, another gamble but one where there is supposed honesty and transparency to prevent fraud. This couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Banks, brokerage firms, individuals, the SEC and other institutions have chosen to serve money over God by ignoring the second greatest commandment, “‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'”…and turning their head from blatant fraud. When you purchase a share of stock odds favor you are buying a counterfeit share that doesn’t even exist. There should be settlement of each transaction but that hasn’t existed for decades…and everyone on the Street knows it! Each day many stocks trade multiples of the number of shares outstanding in a company. Put simply, if a company has 5 million shares outstanding, how can it honestly trade 200 million shares in a day??

Whether you recognize the love of money in your own life, don’t overlook it in other people and places. Watch as the European Union, England, Germany and France default on their currencies (and citizens) to adopt digital money. These changes will come with incentives and encouragements…and possibly wars to distract from their god. A new currency will be presented as a way to provide safety and transparency but will serve to dictate and master your actions. This will not be a choice to make as you are forced to go along if you want to buy and sell in the new economy.

The dangers and changes we will face in 2026 have been known and talked about for decades, but the time is NOW. It is similar to where the Bible talks about those who scoff at the idea of Jesus’ return saying everything goes on as it has with no changes. Eventually the boy who cried wolf was correct. Soon the Bible will once again prove prophetic and true.

We need money. We like what it allows us to do. It’s a slippery slope to falling in love with money because the transition is made without a public declaration or ceremony. If your needs are met by your dollars and not your God, the days ahead will be a time of great strain.

Stay in the Word. Be in relationships with like minded believers. We need each other more now, than ever.

These are the best of times…and the worst. We live in an age of resolute narcissism and the result is death for the culture and society of mankind. The collateral damage has been the death of established knowledge and expertise. Now, the damage is spreading to the elite.

The word ‘elite’ is Latin in origin meaning to choose or select. The concept was rooted in Greek culture for superior abilities and qualities of excellence. In modern culture elite has referred to the best, most powerful, influential and privileged group of people. Fast forward to 2025 and the word is used casually to describe almost everyone. The meaning behind the word has quickly diminished beyond recognition as every imaginable diverse characteristic now classifies the individual as an elite. Is this an evolution or an orchestrated campaign against excellence…and against the Kingdom of Heaven?

The elite have always been with us. In ancient Greece the concept of man’s excellence was central to being classified as an elite. The identification as an elite has been diluted as the term goes from being used as a singular into plurality; elites. Elite writers and communicators, law enforcement officers, politicians, hair stylists and make-up artists. Elite weapon systems have taken the place of elite warriors. Players in the NBA were historically elite in their athletic abilities. Today, NBA players sacrifice their status as gambling scandals reveal morally bankrupt individuals and the love of money defines their elite status.

Are we witnessing the death of elitism, the dilution or is there a deeper plot behind this? As we become more sophisticated, educated and evolved it is obvious we have become ethical morons. Yes, there was a time you could simply inherit the status of being an elite but the title demanded a degree of morality with our fellow citizens. Like Kansas in the Wizard of Oz, this has gone ‘bye-bye’.

Elite has become a label and not an identifiable trait of excellence. Everyone now considers themselves elite at something. To understand how far removed today’s elite have come from the concept and origin of true elitism, we use contrast. In all history, the One who most easily defines being an elite never identified as such. Jesus was fully God and fully man but he didn’t consider this elite status something to be grasped. Therefore, he made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant. He humbled himself and became obedient to forces that had no sway or effect on him. This OG elite even accepted death by hanging on a cross. Something not seen by an elite since.

Elite is a comparative term. To be an elite golfer you compare yourself to Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Scottie Scheffler. Does anyone aspire to be an elite follower of Christ or an elite defender of the faith? In the New Testament Paul best fits this description. His advice was to ‘Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others as better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.’ Do you know any elite with this mindset?

The current crop of those accepting the title of ‘elites’ identify as such and put their confidence in achievements. They attend gatherings that identify them as elites by achievements like accumulation of wealth, titles and positions that recognize their election and achievement. The Bible teaches that Christ followers should not put any confidence in who they are or what they’ve accomplished. The very credentials used to identify as elites should be thrown out and considered ‘rubbish/dog dung’ in favor of seeking to be Christ-like.

Paul wrote about 25% of the New Testament, an elite status. His creed is best summarized in one verse, Philippians 3:10. ‘I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.’ Paul used Christ as the role model for the elite status.

More than 2000 years ago Jesus defined elitism. Christ followers were elite as defined by the Latin meaning of being chosen and elected. Christ said “‘You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit..'” The growing surge of elitism has resulted in elevating men and separating them from God.

Odds favor each of us can define a person or group of people as elite in some aspect. Does your sample include anyone with an elite faith in Christ? Are YOU defined as elite by your faith or humility? God makes anyone who comes to him through Christ an elite. Peter said, ‘…you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession…’

The Greek got their concept of elitism from God’s natural order and recognizing excellence. The Latin origin of being chosen and elected is accurate. The world has perverted the concept and use of the word to point away from God and towards the individual. Let God define the elite. Not the world.

Be a catalyst for maintaining God’s definition of elite. Don’t add to the death of elitism by accepting the world’s cheap diluted version.

Temperatures are dropping and the weather is growing colder. People all over the world are growing colder as well. We are growing colder towards each other and it is spreading quickly. Our actions and words have become more curt, less tolerant, less accepting and far less loving. The Bible prophesies that ‘Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold..’ This is now.

Wickedness is simply a departure from the divine and moral law. Behind the mantra of ‘my truth’ and ‘your truth’ as opposed to THE truth, wickedness is rampant around the world and is the reason behind our love growing colder. Jesus of Nazareth said, “‘I am the truth and the life..'” Therefore, as people and nations live according to what they believe is true and not how God reveals truth, we become and act more wicked.

Actions speak louder than words. Well done is better than well said. I don’t need to hear it, I need to experience it, I need to see it. You may say ‘I love you’, but are your actions consistently showing it as well? Words matter, but actions rule the day.

I don’t need advice from a climatologist, social scientist or politician to feel the frigidity growing in my own heart. I also hear and see the cold in almost everyone I know and encounter. Are you growing closer to family and friends…more loving and accepting of others? Do you think people demand more of you and give less in return? Do you feel and experience more love today than yesterday? Are you giving more love?

It helps to know what real love looks and acts like. A guy recently told me he would no longer engage with some of his oldest and dearest friends because of their differences. He said he valued their relationship too much. God demonstrated his relationship with us through real love by sending His Son to die for us while our differences were demonstrable. Real love originated from the divine. Real love doesn’t function on the principle of reciprocity.

The fruit of true love is joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Read those qualities again. Are they increasing in the world? Are they increasing in YOU? I confess, I’m struggling and without Christ, I will fail.

People who profess to know the God of the Old and New Testament believe we have been taught to love by God. We love others because He first loved us. Christ actually commanded His followers to “‘Love one another…By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.'” IF our love is increasing or decreasing, what does that say about our faith? What does this say about who and what we are living for?

Before you hear me as condemning, let’s remember the Bible teaches us this WILL happen. The Bible reminds us to expect and recognize when and why this happens. “‘Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close in on you suddenly like a trap. For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.'”

Don’t read this truth quickly and don’t neglect what it says. EVERYONE on earth will experience this. ALL people will get caught up appeasing themselves and trying to escape reality by shopping, watching TV, focusing on sports, distancing from others who don’t think or look like you…anything except what is really going on in the day and age. God tells us to be expectant, look and listen because this will happen. Don’t ignore and don’t be afraid because the Bible tells us this happens right before Christ returns.

So, how do I avoid my love growing cold and separating myself from the wickedness in the world? How do you avoid this? First, recognize the state of our hearts and the hearts of others. Recognize the day and age we are living in. Then, realize the only hope is Christ. Accept your own death and live for Him and the Word will become your flesh and daily life. ‘I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.’

That’s the good news. Or, live for yourself and grow colder each day. The choice is stark and simple.

Personally, I don’t want the current trend in the world to continue. I want to be part of the change we all need. I want to grow more loving and not grow colder….and there’s only ONE way. John 3:30…He must become greater and I must become less.

The pace of transitioning in the world is rapidly increasing. Last week the Dearborn Heights, Michigan Police Department transitioned their uniforms to include Arabic writing. President Xi of China and President Putin of Russia were recorded confirming their beliefs about life and longevity have transitioned. They now believe biotechnology and organ harvesting gives them a chance to live to 150 years old. Don’t ignore the avalanche of transitions and transformations we are witnessing each day.

Many facets of our everyday lives are effected by the transitions taking place. Sports radio and podcasts have transitioned into casinos promoting betting odds for everything from car racing to golf. Behind the influx of cash with NIL money and the transfer portal, college football is no longer amateur athletics. LIV started the transition for golf and the PGA. This last week a prominent Senator transitioned away from supporting the Declaration of Independence and the fact our rights as Americans come from God. The French Ministry of Health sent out a memorandum to each hospital in the country telling them to prepare for up to 50,000 beds in use and ‘a major military engagement’ by March of 2026.

Headlines proclaim who and what is transitioning and the staggering results from their transitions. School shootings by those who are on psychotropic drugs to transition make the front page. England, France and Germany talk of defaulting currencies and bailouts resulting from their transitioning demographics and populations. Each time there is a transition the resulting change can be smooth or chaotic, positive or negative.

Just when you think the news can’t be any more chaotic hold onto your pocketbook. The governments in Europe have declared the beginning of transitioning their currencies into digital form and not paper money. The transition into CBDC’s is on the calendar for the 4th quarter of this year.

Our world has been in a state of transition and transformation since the Garden of Eden. God transformed this planet from a swampy darkness and hasn’t stopped. God continues to offer transformation to mankind through his Son, Jesus. God’s plan is to continue allowing everyone the free will to follow the ways of the world or His Kingdom; to transition or transform. In the book of Revelation, the Creator tells us the planet will literally transform through a fire to burn it all away and start again. The last transformation.

Beneath the surface of the headline transitions we read about is the underlying spiritual metamorphosis you don’t want to miss. Hearts and minds are transitioning and transforming across all facets of culture and society. Peter Thiel now promotes trans-humanism and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The influential billionaire is actually giving a lecture series on the correlations between AI and the anti-Christ. Behind each of the world’s transitions and transformations is a spiritual impetus. Learn to discern the differences while you can.

Christians are called to be at the front of the line in the ultimate transformation that doesn’t involve drugs, wars or surgery. This transformation takes place in the mind. ‘Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.’ Another Christ follower was more granular when he spoke of the changes for his own life… ‘He must become greater: I must become less.’

The Bible is a record of God transforming people and places. Simon transformed from a fisherman into Peter, a fisher of men. Saul transformed from murdering Christians into Paul, a prolific writer and leader of the Way. These were not mere transitions and name changes, these were life altering transformations.

The news headlines mostly reflect misguided transitions from selfish desires and their negative consequences. Men and women can choose their desires or God’s desire for them. Do you want the outcome of your changes to contribute to a better world for everyone, yourself or a select few? Do you want to transition into being a different sex or a more humble and submissive Christ follower? We are ALL transitioning each day. THE question to ask is, ‘How does GOD want to transform me?’

In the headlines today are transitions in currencies and alliances both domestic and abroad. The Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) we’ve talked about the last 5 years will become visible this year and next. Friendships and alliances like NATO are transitioning before the coming skirmishes. AI is transitioning what you read AND see. Technology has transitioned our brains and the way we interact with each other. God is our only hope for lasting transformation.

Humankind yearns to change and IS transitioning. Let God lead YOU beyond a transition into true transformation for who and what is coming. Skip trying to evolve and transition. Choose to transform your nature and function to less of yourself and more of HIM.