…So when times are bad we try to figure out what is better and when times are good we tend to follow the source of good and it will ultimately lead to the revelation of God’s plan of redemption…(Romans 8:28-30). In that context, good times and bad times will fluctuate like a pendulum going back and forth. So, whenever you are feeling like you are in bad times, be encouraged, because good times will come again...

But, here’s the transition into the new life lessons, “Divided By Our “Own” History—United By Our “Own” Truth & Faith.” The most important thing we can do in bad times is huddle together which is why many people return to church during bad times because regardless of their faith perspectives, they are seeking answers from God…The idea of huddling is to come up with a collective-mutual plan to win against your opposition. There is strength in numbers…These vlogs, beginning with this introduction, point out how the baggage (dead weight) from our “individual” past, that we carry through life, can be triggered in the present and divide and separate us…So the plan here, when we come out of the huddle is a formula called, “Sure-Fire Forgiveness.” Taken from an article I wrote in 2000 called “The Shift,” the best place to meet in these technological times is online. I’ll explain why later. But for now, it means that we can meet in the comfort and convenience of our homes and explore our mutual plans to be empowered in the significant aspects of our lives and families…In the upcoming weeks, I will launch the platform “MIDDLE MISSION” for that purpose. Check it out at www.jjplanter.com.

"Divided By Our ”Own” History—United By “Our” Truth & Faith

Formula 1 For Burying Dead Weight Called Baggage

The third branch of MIDDLE MISSION #TestifyOutLoud…Let me reiterate how we find our “own” truth in these life lessons…They are life lessons because, pragmatically, they are higher truths taken from the sacred text of Scripture (Not translations—I use the Geneva Bible and research of the original languages.) that come down to common ground in everyday language and life experiences so the hearer can find their "own" truth in the God-talk…

These new mini-vlog life lessons can help you prepare for not simply a resolution in 2025, but a spiritual transformation to overcome your past trauma and drama and leave it behind…Let me update you: Current conflicts can trigger past issues and problems that were never resolved and reconciled. So the real problem of division and separation is dead weight known as baggage we carry from the past...Let me make a rhetorical statement here. Everything dead needs to be buried. Now in the next five parts, in Formula 2-6, you will see that the formula for burying dead weight (baggage) from the past is “Sure-Fire Forgiveness.”

These life lessons entitled "Divided By Our “Own” History—United By Our “Own” Truth" begin with individual truth, then apply primarily to relationships in marriage, family, and every other form of relationship in society. The “Sure-Fire Formula” that I’ll share throughout can also be used as a national, state, city, and local resolution to bridge cross-cultural/multiethnic relationships…Here's the central thought: "Our History Defines Who We Are Today.” Here’s the subtext, “To Get To Know Each Other Better We Should Share Our History In The Context Of Environmental-Cultural Conditions Where We Came From, What Difficulties and Struggles We Went Through To Shape Us; And Who, What, and How We Were Helped To Get To Where We Are Today." If you are still in the conditions you came from it’s never too late to discover change…

"Divided By Our ”Own” History—United By “Our” Truth & Faith

Formula 2 For Burying Dead Weight Called Baggage

…The idea is to point out and identify the spiritual battles and natural battles that were obstacles that stood in your way and how they can be removed…But first, you must believe there’s a battle going on in the Heavenlies between good forces of angels and evil forces of fallen angels that can influence life down here. The very nature of the spiritual battle behind our problems and issues is condemnation and accusations that come straight from the devil, “the accusor of the brethren”—Revelation 12:10...We see a prime example with Job in the Book of Job chapters one and two where Satan insinuates that Job doesn’t serve God because he loves God, but because of the things he got from God…

SO HEAR THIS LOUD AND CLEAR: Satan is not omniscient like God and doesn’t know your thoughts, but he knows your history and weaknesses and will bring them up before you and those who know you to annoy, insult, attack you, and make you angry and retort back to people…

”Sure-Fire Forgiveness” is the formula for burying that dead weight of “pain of the past” called baggage…But, you must know beyond a shadow of a doubt that when God forgives us of sin that forms dead weight known as baggage or properly known as “the error of our ways,” it's not like secular judicial acquittal that leaves a record…Rather, God cancels and banishes our sin into the proverbial “sea of forgetfulness.” Micah 7:19b, “…You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” Jeremiah 31:4b, “…For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” That is, when the infinite mind of God forgives, He forgets because “He is of holier eyes to behold sin” (Habakkuk 1:13). Nor does He bring our past sins up anymore. If, as a believer, your past comes up, it’s not coming from God. It’s coming from the "accuser of the brethren...So, know this: Condemnation is the work of the devil in the atmosphere that influences people that come from outside sources to point out and punish you for your sin…Conviction is the inner work of God’s Spirit in our God-consciences to make us aware of the “error of our ways” and how and why went went wrong to forgive us of our sins…

"Divided By Our ”Own” History—United By “Our” Truth & Faith

Formula 3 For Burying Dead Weight Called Baggage

…So the higher truth that wins the battles in your individual lives, in marriage, and family is “Sure-Fire Forgiveness”… That, in and of itself can have a domino effect that knocks down those obstacles in your way. That is, God will open new doors of opportunity that you must walk through by free will choice…

However, forgiveness is preceded by repentance. There can be no forgiveness without repentance…Repentance isn’t remorse or an apology. Those concepts are secular, carnal, and superficial, like putting a bandage on a festering wound which only makes the wound and sore worse. The bandages must be removed and that hurts. Exposing our responsibility for what went wrong in our lives hurts…Instead of pointing fingers, blaming someone in our past, or accusing others, repentance takes full responsibility for whatever is wrong in our lives by separating what others did from what I may have allowed to be done. But keep in mind that some things are out of our control and fall in our hands as fate that God uses to bring us into our destiny…In that light, repentance is “godly sorrow.”” 2 Corinthians 7:10, “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.“ First and foremost, repentance is directed toward God and doesn’t include anyone else. Take a look at a prime biblical example and pattern for our faith, David in Psalms 51:4, “Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight—That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge…” Repentance means that we “literally” have a change of heart and turn from the wrong way to the right way…In that light, after repenting, we ask God for forgiveness…

"Divided By Our ”Own” History—United By “Our” Truth & Faith

Formula 4 For Burying Dead Weight Called Baggage

…Here’s the caveat to repentance and forgiveness…. We must ask for forgiveness in His name...This is where traditionalists and fundamentalists get a little twisted…But hear this to get untwisted: What I am sharing about the name of God and the corresponding name of the Lord is a preference and not a standard because God honors the heart, not the lips…but if it becomes a true heart-felt confession it will come from the heart…

In Exodus 3:14, the sacred text of Scripture states that Yehweh (pronounced Yehveh) is the perennial and universal name of God which means it doesn't change because God is immutable. (Note translators through translation hermeneutics changed it. The original text was transliterated or transcribed word for word, but translations are word changes because some words may not be in the language being translated, so the meaning can slightly or more than slightly change.) But here’s the truth you can stand on, God doesn’t change…

The Hebrew for the English translation of “I Am That I Am” Exodus 3:14 reads, “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” and means “I will be that I will be,”” interpreted as, I will be as your Great Provider, Great Protector, and Great Guide… When Christ appeared, He made His name synonymous with the name of Yahweh which was translated into English when He said in, John 8:58, “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily I say unto you, before Abraham was, am.” Or, I was before Abraham, all the and all the major characters and prophets of Scripture for I am the “Great I Am.” In other words, He was the Great I Am manifest in human form as the Messiah, Savior, and Deliverer to redeem us from our sins...So, when we ask God to forgive our sins (the dead weight or baggage that we carry in the error of our ways), we should ask in His name revealed from heaven in the language that was spoken as Yeshua HaMashiach, translated into English Jesus Christ...Now remember, this is a preference, not a standard because God honors the heart, so it’s your choice…either way, God will honor the heart…

"Divided By Our ”Own” History—United By “Our” Truth & Faith

Formula 5 For Burying Dead Weight Called Baggage

…Now here’s the “good news...” When you feel like you are being punished for your sin, remember that the Lord was punished for our sin on Calvary. 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Converse to condemnation; conviction of the heart is the work of the Spirit of God to forgive us for our sins and justify (Declare us Righteous) as if we never sinned in our lives…2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Now, does that mean we no longer have sin in our lives? No, it means in the Eyes of God through the work of the Lord on Calvary where He took our place as our vicarious suffer, God sees you in Christ as if you have no sin…I pointed that out in Formula 2…But, given the tenants of human nature that will go through a spiritual process of growth and transformation throughout life, there will always be a propensity in us to disobey God, so the “error of our ways” must be confessed regularly before the Lord, repented of, and forgiven…Take note of Hebrews 12:1-3 in that light of the progression of life…

Next, we'll look at the baggage or dead weight that we have either unwittingly or knowingly drug along with us that is the real cause of division and separation in relationships...

"Divided By Our ”Own” History—United By “Our” Truth & Faith

Formula 6 For Burying Dead Weight Called Baggage

...The next step, after asking God to forgive your sin is to ask Him to forgive others who may have hurt and offended you...Here’s the hardest part: The longer we hold on to the pain from being hurt in the past, the harder it is to get rid of the baggage because it can become a root of bitterness. But it can still be uprooted and should because it can infect others. Take note of Hebrews 12:15, “looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.”

Two pertinent Scriptures speak of forgiving others when you ask God to forgive you: Matthew 6:14–15, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” In other words, your forgiveness isn’t complete until you forgive others that you are convicted about…John 20:23, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

…Remember, you don’t have to be in their presence to forgive them, and they don't have to be in your presence for God to forgive you...God will move providentially on your behalf...You can glean that from Jacob and Esau...and the Job Experience in Job 42:10, “And the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.” You won’t need closure because God will close the door…