Faith Comes By Hearing

You let the media think for you You do everything they want you to Can't you see you are raging WITH the machine? I am not your enemy, so stop being so mean If you love the world, you will conform You will surely love the societal norm If you are of the world, the world will love its own In such a case, non-conformity is unknown Do not conform to this world of lies If you conform, it's truth you despise If you love the truth, it will set you free It comes from Christ, not you or me! You say, "you have your truth, I have mine" What about God's truth? Is that question out of line? If it seems out of line, it's because you conform Let regeneration become your new norm By Jesse Larsen, first written on May 26, 2025. This poem is titled "To The Actual Conformists" because it is directed towards those who conform under the guise of non-conformity. Here are some Bible verses that helped inspire this poem... "And do not be confor...

Only through Jesus and not through me... it's only through Him that I truly see. Only through Jesus I can't go wrong... I'm finally singing a decent song. Only through Jesus and not through me... I have been broken, but truly set free. Only through Jesus I can't go wrong... when I am weak He is strong. Only through Jesus I'm finally free... I only wish that all could see... that this is not because of me... only through Jesus I'm truly free! Only through Jesus, this is my case: I'm only a sinner, saved by grace. By Jesse Larsen, first written on November 17, 2006. Note: Before I wrote this poem, I said a short prayer asking God to give me the right words for this poem. So to Him be the glory. Here are some verses that helped inspire this poem.... For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves ; it is the gift of God, not of works , lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). No...

The following are some of my favorite poems that I have come across over the years.... Light after darkness, gain after loss, Strength after suffering, crown after cross. Sweet after bitter, song after sigh, Home after wandering, praise after cry. Sheaves after sowing, sun after rain, Sight after mystery, peace after pain Joy after sorrow, calm after blast, Rest after weariness, sweet rest at last. Near after distant, gleam after gloom, Love after loneliness, life after tomb. After long agony, rapture of bliss! Right was the pathway leading to this! By Francis Ridley Havergal Oh, give Thy servant patience to be still, And bear Thy will; Courage to venture wholly on the arm That will not harm; The wisdom that will never let me stray Out of my way; The love that, now afflicting, Knoweth best When I should rest. By an unknown author From subtle love of softening things, From easy choices, weakenin...

“There is a sentimental notion that makes us make ourselves out worse than we think we are, because we have a lurking suspicion that if we make ourselves out amazingly bad, someone will say, “Oh no, you are not as bad as that,” but Jesus say’s we are worse. Our Lord never trusted any man, “for He knew what was in man” (John 2:24-25) ; but He was not a cynic for He had the profoundest confidence in what He could do for every man…” Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) “Much of our difficulty as seeking Christians stems from our unwillingness to take God as He is and adjust our lives accordingly. We insist upon trying to modify Him and bring Him nearer to our own image. The flesh whimpers against the rigor of God’s inexorable sentence and begs like Agag for a little mercy, a little indulgence of it’s carnal ways. It is no use. We can get a right start only by accepting God as He is and learning to love Him for what He is. As we go on to know Him better we shall find it a source of unspeakabl...

The Christian is a person who had hardness of heart. From the things of this world, he would not depart.... Until his vanity was finally exposed. A hardend heart? Yeah, I had one of those. The Christian is a person who thought he knew... but he knew nothing... he was born anew. The Christian is a person whose sorrow wasn't deep... He now knows godly sorrow as one of Christ's sheep. The Christian is a person who endures much grief.... not worldly sorrow, but over the world's unbelief. The Christian is a person forgiven of much.... by a holy God who sees him as such. The Christian has sinned, just like you. You can't be a Christian... unless you've sinned too. By Jesse Larsen, first written on May 3, 2006 Note: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Mark 2:17). This poem was written out of concern for many in the professing ch...

Come now, let us reason together... you can follow your heart, but the truth is far better. "Come now, let us reason" says the Lord... Let go of the riches that your soul can't afford. Come now, oh wretched soul... It is the heavenly riches that will make you whole. Come now, don't hesitate... It breaks my heart to see you in this state. Come now, before it's too late... His return is soon there's no time to wait! "Come now, let us reason" says the Lord... Though your sins are like scarlet, He can make them like snow... Though their red like crimson, He can make them like wool. By Jesse Larsen, first written on May 30, 2005 Note: This poem was inspired from verses such as Isaiah 1:18 , Proverbs 28:26 and Revelation 3:14-20 . This poem was not written to one particular person, but it was written to some of the churches of our day whose members believe that they are in need of nothing, but do not know that they are "...

The lack of reverence is so very sad. I don’t feel at home in this world gone mad. Irreverence for God just tears me apart. True life is offered, but they harden their heart. But You oh Lord endure for a length. Let me not forget, Your joy is my strength. Help me be longsuffering, bearing with the weak… in lowliness of mind, not proud, but meek. Through Your sufferings, I am a joint heir… training for heaven, to live with you there. This world will pass, and has nothing I need. Your grace is sufficient, and strength indeed. By Jesse Larsen, first written on January 15, 2005 Note: This is just a poem with many different thoughts that were running through my mind last night, and after I woke up this morning. Toward the beginning of the poem I was just thinking about how it seems like no one ever listens to reason, and how it seems this way especially with many who claim to be Christians. I have been grieving over that both last night and this morning...

I see the blind, leading the blind. My heart is grieved, I can’t help but mind… Grievous wolves entering in… dressed as sheep but perverted within. For all this perversion the Lord is blamed… So many wrongs are done in His name. Ear’s are tickled, with flattering speech. The word of the cross is rarely ever preached. The great I AM is knocking at the door… Listen to His voice, ignore Him no more! By Jesse Larsen, first written on September 19, 2004 Note: I can not write a poem at just any time… it must be inspired. And this poem is based on things that I have observed in the churches and internet forums over these past couple of years, but it is also inspired from many Scriptures, such as Acts 20:27-31 , 2 Peter 2:1-2 , 2 Timothy 4:3-4 and Revelation 3:20 . I hope that God will use it to speak to peoples hearts. Revival or Apostasy? By Dave Hunt Modern Day Apostasy posing as Revival Part 1 - Dave Hunt (You Tube video) Modern Day Apostasy posing as Re...

Give ear to wisdom, through the fear of the Lord it begins, Taste and see His holiness, He died for our sins. My heart has loved vanity, correction I have despised, But thanks be to God, Who alone opens our eyes. The word of God is sharp, definitely one of a kind, He alone can penetrate, the superficial mind. Give ear to wisdom, the doctrine that is sound, But remember your Creator, from Him true wisdom is found. Before wisdom is sorrow, after pride is a fall, this is my experience, I thought I knew it all. By Jesse Larsen, first written on January 20, 2004 Note: This poem is mostly inspired from the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. If this poem says anything to anyone, I hope it will lead them to see that I am nothing special on my own. If there is anything good in me at all; it is God, who is alone wise. Understanding God’s truth is not a matter of any special abilities we may have. It is all a simple matter of humility which works through fa...

Long ago the Word became flesh, He dwelt among us to give us rest. He was born that day to set us free, under the law of death were we. Through Moses came the law, through Jesus came grace and truth, and now through His Spirit we clearly have the proof. We must understand exactly why He came, He came not to condemn, but to free us from our shame. The condemnation is through our strife, but through His Spirit alone is life. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Some have ears to hear this saying, and some refuse to hear it. The strength of sin is the law, but the Son sets us free, Jesus was born into the world… to win this victory! Hades will lose it’s victory, death will lose it’s sting, all praises to Immanuel… the everlasting King! By Jesse Larsen, first written on December 19, 2003 Note: This poem came to me after I was listening to an album titled Songs 4 Worship: Christmas . But i...

You give me a purpose, A reason to live, I am not worthy But You choose to give. I once put trust in the treasures of earth, but You have given me a second birth. Everything within me will glorify your name, for You O Lord are forevermore the same. Teach me more, for I have more to learn, I trust in Your word, only there will I turn. You work in ways that I cannot see, seeing the invisible is true faith to me. By faith we understand how the worlds were framed, now it’s time to live the Gospel… unashamed. By Jesse Larsen – first written on March 1, 2003 Note: There is a huge testimony behind this poem. I can not just write a poem anytime… it has to be inspired, and this poem was written shortly after I had gone through an experience which I believe God had used to test me and help me grow in grace (See James 1:2-4 and Job 23:10.) Here is how it happened… One night I was on the computer, and it was getting very late (I think ...

By Jesse Larsen, written on August 21, 2025 I want to start out this article by saying that I am all for respecting women, but the term "toxic masculinity" implies that woman are superior to men, and that is the main problem I have with it. With that being the case, I just wanted to write a brief article to point out that neither masculinity or femininity are to blame for some of the problems that both of them have been blamed for. Masculinity is what God intended for men right from the beginning of creation, and femininity is what He intended for women. While there are indeed some men who are disrespectful towards women, there are also women who are disrespectful towards other women. I see that all the time. So the main point that I want to make here is that masculinity has nothing to do with the corrupt nature that is in all of us, which is revealed by the following verses: "there is none righteous....for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (R...

By Jesse Larsen, first written on February 28, 2025 Everyone that I have come across who thinks that they are doing their own thing is really just going by a philosophy that they didn't come up with. That is what is known as being "conformed to this world" (Romans 12:2) , which means that it is not doing your own thing. It is doing what the world wants you to do, and it is conformity under the guise of non-conformity . Rockstar Marlyn Manson is one example of someone who thinks that he is doing his own thing and not conforming to the world, yet he is going by the philosophies of people like Alester Crowly, Anton LeVay and Carl Jung. These are philosophies that he didn't come up with, and I would say that is exactly what conforming to the world looks like. It is not original thinking, and it has been around longer than any of us have been alive. While many who hold that mindset are so proud of "embracing their individuality", it's important to keep in ...

By Jesse Larsen, first written on May 2, 2022 I am going to start out this article by being blunt: I am sincerely astonished by those who claim to take the Bible seriously while also denying what the Bible says about it's origin. If the following statement in the Bible is a lie, then we don't even have a reason to believe that it was written by "good men", as some who deny the following claim have suggested. If the following claim is not true, that would have to mean that the Bible was written by liars, which would give us no reason to trust anything else it says. Here is the claim that I am referring to.... "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17). When someone denies the above claim, yet they also claim to know which parts of the Bible are true, they are ma...

By Jesse Larsen, first written on July 2, 2020 "Faith is indeed intellectual; it involves an apprehension of certain things as facts; and vain is the modern effort to divorce faith from knowledge. But although faith is intellectual, it is not only intellectual. You cannot have faith without having knowledge; but you will not have faith if you have only knowledge" - J. Gresham Machen After coming across the above quote, it brought to mind some related quotes and thoughts that I have decided to put together in this article. Before I share my thoughts on this subject, here is another good quote that I think explains faith well, from Dave Hunt's book titled Seeking And Finding God : "Rather than an irrational leap, [faith] is a rational step that follows the evidence and logic as far as reason is able, then takes another step beyond reason - but always and only in the direction that evidence and reason have pointed" (Page 25). To back up what was said in that qu...

By Jesse Larsen, first written on August 20, 2017 Whenever there is a controversy that is dividing the church, I always find that one side is defending teachers they like while the other side is just simply trying to point people to God's word. ALWAYS . Many controversies could be settled rather easily if more people would stop making idols of teachers. There are even teachers I like who I don't agree with on everything. It doesn't mean that I think they are not sincere or don't love the Lord, but it is just human to get things wrong from time to time. Yet many in the church today seem to assume that someone is questioning a teachers motive if someone questions their doctrine. Too many teachers are being defended like they are the pope of evangelicalism. When I see this happening, the pride that people take in certain teachers always brings to mind the words of the following passage... "For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you n...

By Jesse Larsen, first written on October 1, 2015 Before I came to Christ , a few of the bands that I used to listen to are satanists, and I am well aware of how deceptive satanism can be, especially to those who are hurting. Satan often preys on the hurting and uses their hurt against them, and for his own purposes. With that being said, I believe that much of what passes as "Christianity" today is even MORE deceptive than satanism. Here is why I believe that: Satanism teaches much of what is the exact opposite of what the Bible teaches, but at least the satanists admit that it is contrary to the Bible. Many false teachers in our day are also teaching the exact opposite of what the Bible teaches, but the difference is that they claim that their teachings are coming from the Bible, and that is what makes their teaching even more deceptive than satanism. One example of this is the self love teachings. Far from teaching us to love ourselves, the Bible actually warns agains...

By Jesse Larsen, written on September 5, 2015 I am going to start out this article by letting people know that I don't have a problem with being positive about things that God wants us to be positive about (like our salvation), but anyone who has read through the Bible should know that it contains both positive and negative truths. One example of a negative truth would be a verse that says, "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived" (2 Timothy 3:13). Some other examples of this would be verses that warn about false teachers and false doctrines, such as 2 Peter 2:1-3 and 2 Timothy 4:3-4. Yet a common mentality in the church today is that we should only be "positive" about everything, including even false teaching, evidently. From the verses that I posted here so far, it should be clear that the "positive only" philosophy does not come from the Bible. One thing that I find so ironic about many who promote the po...

By Jesse Larsen, first written on August 30, 2015 It doesn't seem to compute with many sincere Christians that Jesus could die for those who are unworthy, but that is the impression I get throughout the Bible. Did the apostle Paul believe that He was "worth it" when He called Himself the chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15) and "less than the least of all the saints" (Ephesians 3:8)? And if the apostle Paul did not believe He was worth it, what makes us think we are any more worth it than He was? It also doesn't seem to compute with many people that my reason for writing articles like this is to point people to God's glory. When I look back on who I was before coming to Christ, I honestly consider myself to have been a horrible, vile person in so many ways. I did not see it that way until the glory of God was revealed to me, thereby revealing my so called glory as vain. I do not believe that Christ died for me because I was worth it, but because He loved ...

By Jesse Larsen, first written on May 1, 2015 Since most people today believe the mind and brain to be the same thing, I have decided to write this brief article to make an important distinction between the two. I will start out showing what the Bible reveals about the mind, and I will end by explaining why it is important to understand this. In Philippians 2:5, Paul wrote "let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus". I think everyone would agree that Paul was not telling people to take Jesus' brain and put it inside their heads, so it's only logical to conclude that Paul understood the mind to be non-physical, and not the brain. And since the mind and brain are not the same thing, it is also logical to conclude that our thoughts do not originate from our brains, but from the non-physical mind. This does not mean that the brain serves no purpose, but I view the brain more like a computer which our non-physical mind uses to operate our bodies. Your mind...

By Jesse Larsen, first written on March 14, 2015 "Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming" (Matthew 24:42). While many prophecy students today appear to be taking heed to the above passage to some extent, I have noticed that many of them also appear to be overlooking a very significant sign given in the same chapter: spiritual deception. In Matthew 24:24, Jesus warned that "false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect". There was a time during my early Christian life when I was oblivious to how rampant apostasy is, even though I did understand that there are false teachers . So I am concerned about deception because I have been deceived myself, very badly. I often find that those who are the least concerned about spiritual deception are the ones who seem to think that it's not possible for them to be deceived, but those who know they have been deceived are oft...