Dark Christmas Eve

Christmas has always been promoted as a very MERRY day of the year. And, truly, baby Jesus was the first physical sign that God became flesh to shed PURE blood over our horrible sins at the cross three decades later.


Yet, the spiritual and political dynamic of the night before the birth of Jesus was incredibly tense! I suggest you read Revelation 12 for some extra insights.


We know that Mary and Joseph were reassured by angelic visitations that they both were in God’s perfect will. Especially Mary was firm and immovable in her commitment to fulfill the whole plan.


However, please do not forget that Mary’s “Baby Jesus” mission was NOT fully mapped out in minute detail.

Even with strong faith, we all must be very careful not to let extreme worries and huge negative shifts destroy God’s mission in our lives. We all have a calling/mission that burns in our hearts (me too!). Yet, it is sometimes easy to be overwhelmed by unexpected events that seem to be designed to derail our calling!


In Mary and Joseph’s case, I see at least two or three potential ultra-tests of their faith:


> The lack of decent shelter for the young couple must have been nerve-racking! After all, we see so many other times in the Bible where God provided the missing parts to fulfill the mission (e.g.: the ram to replace Isaac at Abraham’s altar). Yet, they could not even find a Motel 6 room available! Even right now, I feel that I am in God’s perfect will, yet… there are major parts that are missing! It takes super faith to be barely alive in a stormy sea without a life vest… I mean, I can try to survive the storm without drowning … but a life jacket certainly would help (where are you, God?)


> The Wise men’s visit to Herod’s palace triggered off a massive androcide (new word for me: the mass murder of boys/men) attack against all baby boys in the Bethlehem region. That type of horrible news spreads like wildfire (even without digital social media!). Mary’s boy was in DANGER of a mass murderer. Her Baby Jesus was the MAIN target! Yes, I know: Jesus will always come through (ALWAYS! God never fails!). However, the screams of other mothers watching the murder of their sons on the same street would have to be excruciating … almost to the level of a panic attack!


> Money… if Mary did not have money for a baby shower, how could she expect to have money for an Uber to escape a murderous tyrant? Sometimes faith for a miracle can easily fade into the background when we start whining to God for a little money just to “get away for a short season”. Anywhere is better than hiding in the barn behind the house house!

As you can tell, the pressure from an unexpected turn of destiny is often faith-wreckers! I am NOT saying that the above scenarios were what happened to Mary and Joseph… However, if I had been there “the night before”, I probably would have had some of the above worries!


But, in the end, the whole Bethlehem story came together uniquely and wonderfully:


> The barn in the backyard may have been the place that God provided for them to hide Himself (as baby Jesus)… after all, who would have thought that the barn would be a place where a baby would be born!?1


> The very same wise men who unwittingly triggered a massive attack against babies, were the same ones who provided the money (a huge amount) for the couple to flee to a foreign country with Baby Jesus under protective cover.


So, the moral of the story (Brad Lambeth version), is that if you/me/we don’t flinch under extreme duress, God will provide for us (and Himself) a way of escape from the enemy’s attack! Even if that miracle comes from unexpected and unusual sources of deliverance.


Please don’t censor me for my “out of the box” take on Christmas Eve… ALL great miracles often require a trip into the dark unknown sectors of life… that place where faith can be crushed in unbelief or flourish in a flash of divine providence via unconnected dots of life.


Disclaimer: I am not a Christmas guy, although I have nothing against those who celebrate Christmas. However, I see the Birth of Jesus as a super-example of extreme spiritual activity!


Invitation to lay ministers and pastors: If you are interested, I write 1-2 insider articles per week via www.dyingempty.net I would be delighted to have you join me. Dying Empty News is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. See you in my next article.


Brad Lambeth

Share The "Dying Empty" Project With Your Network

Pictures That Excite Me

April 7, 2025
Pictures That Excite Me! I receive dozens of pictures every month from pastors and congregations near and far away. I have learned over the years that every photo has a story. But not every story has a picture. And sometimes, I get photos without a story. It is those “silent” images that I enjoy most. I love searching for the details that reveal the “rest of the story.”  Today, with your permission, I will share two photos that arrived this last weekend without a storyline. Let’s look together and see if we can pick up a few spiritual details “hid… among the stuff” (I Samuel 10:22).

Hydra-Headed

March 30, 2025
Hydra-Headed.  I learned a new word today: hydra-headed, which means “containing many problems, difficulties or obstacles; having many branches, divisions, facets, etc.” Hydra-headed is a perfect description of the beast that rose out of the sea, having “seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.” (Revelation 13:1). This multi-headed beast coming up out of the water (again, hydra-headed is a perfect adjective) is not satan himself, but rather one of his off-spring! In a nutshell, Satan and his imps are multifaceted and well beyond our ability to measure the size of the lair of demons operating out of the pits of hell (although, thankfully, no demon is fully omnipresent or omnipotent!). What we all must understand is that the battle against the devil and all his wicked structures of demons, dragons, and beasts will be ongoing and never-ending until Jesus Raptures us out of here. Revelation 13 leads us to understand that even after wounding one of the heads of the sea beast, the evil head is “healed” and “revived.” That sounds very depressing, especially when our imagination kicks in the heat of the battle. It almost feels like a losing battle! Be of GOOD CHEER, however! Our Lord Jesus Christ has ALL POWER, especially when we are reminded in the Holy Ghost that no fallen angel (Lucifer>Satan) can compare with the omnipotence of the power of the Blood of Jesus! So, although the battle against the dragon will continue until we are raptured into heaven, it is NOT lost and NEVER will be! Please understand: after this current trial you are facing, there will be another attack down the road. However, the victory is ALWAYS assured! Allow me to map it out for you: Battle > Victory > Trial > Peace for a season > All-out war against your soul > Divine intervention! Repeat. Brad Lambeth ​ ​ dyingempty.net ​ JBLambeth@gmail.com

It Is NEVER A Waste Of Time To Correct A Wrong

March 23, 2025
It is NEVER a Waste of Time to Correct a Wrong! (Hillman Frazier - Mississippi State Senator) There are at least two types of wrong that need to be corrected: > The wrong you (including me) that has been done to someone else; > The wrong that others have done to some hurting soul(s), and we (you, I) have the means of helping correct the evil that was done. Many souls will take to the grave the hurt of the wrong done to them and never corrected. Believe it or not, we all have done wrong to another person at some stage in our short lives. I assure you that we have! Some of those wrongs may have had a minor impact and were quickly forgotten by both the victim and the perpetrators themselves. Understandable. Yet, there are other issues of wrong and hurt that were swept under the rug of life, that same rug of pretense (“it was of little importance,” “everyone has already forgotten about the matter”). Time DOES NOT erase everything. When living on the victim end of the equation, Sometimes time intensifies the feelings of anguish and injustice! The instigator of the situation is quick to forget (or at least PRETENDS to forget). That is NOT so with the aggrieved person. Please reread the above paragraph to understand that time DOES NOT erase everything! So, in that case, it is NEVER too late to correct a wrong! It may be too late to offer restitution (and it may even be too late to ask forgiveness of the injured party… they have already died!). In that case, do as Zacchaeus (Luke 19:8), giving a very special offering to your church outreach project. HOWEVER, if the pain is still alive in some living soul, it becomes an issue of eternity to reach and at least ask for forgiveness with a sincere heart. Lay your offering on the altar and go make amends with sincere words of repentance (Matthew 5:23-24) quickly, before it is too late. Finally, even if you are innocent of all evil, be willing to be a peacemaker by helping heal hurting hearts. It is NEVER too late to correct a wrong. If a situation is totally beyond your reach, pray to God, asking HIM to help heal the hurting hearts! Eternity will say thank you! For “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9). Brad Lambeth ​ ​ dyingempty.net ​ JBLambeth@gmail.com  P.S.: Suggested reading: look up the role that Senator Hillman Frazier played regarding Mississippi’s reluctance to approve the 13th amendment of the USA Constitution.​

SOUL-FILLS

March 23, 2025
Soul-fills This week, I was privileged to attend a Central American Apostolic Missions Retreat in Belize. It was a thrill to connect with fellow apostolic missionaries and feel their contagious excitement as they look forward to 2025 with purpose and mission. While walking early one morning along the contour of a beautiful Belizean river, I noticed a nearby parcel of land that was almost useless because of the sandy composition of the terrain. To make matters worse, there was a noticeable dip in the lot's middle.  Uneven, unleveled tracts of land often require heavy fill-in dirt and even compacted rock gravel to firm the soil up for construction!

THIS MAN WAS BORN THERE

March 23, 2025
This Man Was Born There! “…behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there.” (Psalms 87:4) Across my long years of missionary ministry, I have heard many incredible stories of soul conversions and body miracles wrought through God’s mercies and grace. Wow, what a Mighty God we serve! It also amazes me that those same “were it not for Jesus” testimonials are often relegated to an occasional or perhaps once (then never) Thanksgiving Day retelling to a couple of the grandkids. Then, shortly thereafter, the astonishing wonder is relegated to the dusty shelves of bygone miracles of doubtful authenticity! Miracles and fantastic conversions are designed for repetition and obligatory retelling! There are NO “secret” miracles in God’s playlist of wonder works! Even the seemingly insignificant act of pouring perfume on Jesus’ feet was designed to be REPEATED as a memorial/testimony to the whole world, across ALL generations! Jesus “died” with PERFUMED BLEEDING feet! (See Matthew 26:13) The following is merely a personal possible interpretation of the above Psalms that speaks of men born in Philisita, Tyre or even Ethiopia(v.4): I would venture to say that those same men were converted and transformed by “rebirth” into Zion (v. 5)! But all the other men from Ethiopia, for example, will NEVER know that the “saint from Zion” is really a walking miracle of God’s Grace UNLESS they are told the whole story of “look at what the Lord has done for me!” I believe that EVERY miracle NEEDS to be celebrated, memorialized, and eternalized as a testimony to future generations should Jesus delay His return. That means that if your life is a walking chapter of glory unto God’s Power, you owe it to all the rest of us, and especially to all the Ethiopians of the world, to write and publish your testimony to share with all those that are suffering from doubt and disbelief! If you remain silent about what God has done for you, how can the lost souls of Decapolis have a chance at Salvation? Reread Mark 5, especially verse 20: “And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and ALL MEN DID MARVEL.”  Start writing! Start proclaiming! ​ Brad Lambeth ​ ​ dyingempty.net ​ JBLambeth@gmail.com

TOO MANY BLESSINGS IS TOO MUCH

March 23, 2025
Too Many Blessings Is Too Much Merely one hour from my missionary home, there is a mountainous region renowned all over South America for its quality vineyards and wineries. Which makes for a fantastic micro-region to tour and learn all about the “fruit of the vine.” Because of various favorable climatic conditions, this year's harvest has been considered the best of the last 20-30 years. There was a massive yield of beautiful clusters of grapes! However, for the first time in many years, a few of the vineyards suffered an unusual, unexpected disaster: the long runs of horizontal trellising wires (that help keep the canopy of grape branches above the ground), everything; WHOLE top-quality vineyards… COMPLETELY COLLAPSED UNDER THE EXCESSIVE WEIGHT OF THE PROFUSE NUMBER OF CLUSTERS OF RIPE, FAT GRAPES!

BROKEN SILVER VESSELS

March 23, 2025
Broken Silver Vessels  While some pots are “common”, of ordinary usage, other vessels were designed and intended for glorified purposes. There is grandeur folded into all sectors and levels of God’s Church, including the Apostolic lay ministry! I am amazed by the extremely high degree of spiritual engagement manifested by the persons (men and women) who perform duties in the House of the Lord at the Levite level. Yet, all of the above accolades can come to naught by two “invisible” defects: Burning lips and/or a wicked heart: “Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross.” (Proverbs 26:23) Gossipers are a deadly poison in an Apostolic Church, especially if the evil lips belong to an active saint or a “saintly” mother or, God forbid, a lay leader! Surely your lips are not evil, are they? As the WW2 saying goes, “loose lips sink ships.” Worse than that, however, is a wicked heart: Evil secret agents whose purpose is to destroy the pastor's and congregation's vision and divine objectives. Such evilness is extremely hard to discern and uncover because, often, such perpetrators perform their sly deeds behind a smiling face and seemingly sincere actions. The almost inevitable result of burning lips and wicked hearts are “beautiful” BROKEN VESSELS. Once beautiful, their hidden defects cause the Master to dash them to the ground in holy rejection. They become warped shreds, clay fragments of once glorious Holy Ghost receptacles (“spirit-pots”) scattered all over the floor of God’s Temple. If you look closely enough, you will see that those rejected fragments are covered with beautiful silver, which, long ago, testified of their beautiful talents of calling and anointing in God’s House. We don’t want the floor of our congregations covered with shining slivers of silver left over from begone vessels. Brad Lambeth ​ ​ dyingempty.net ​ JBLambeth@gmail.com

S.O.S (Sensitivity Of Spirit)

March 23, 2025
S.O.S (Sensitivity Of Spirit) Satan is a very slimy snake that pushes spiritual (and physical) insensitivity to destroy the spiritual yearning issuing from the heart of a desperate sinner. It is a horrible sight to witness the devil pressing down on his victims with a heavy fog of sinful dependence. So sad! Recently, I received a photo of a visitor praying at the altar of one of our outreach congregations (planted deep in the heart of the “crack-land sector” inside a witch/coven village.) Out of kindness, I blurred the face of this sad young man.

SING MY SONG FOR ME!

March 23, 2025
TITLE: Sing My Song For Me! I'm getting older now. My bones are getting brittle, and my breath is getting shorter. But I have lived a long life, almost 50 years of active ministry. Throughout this long journey, there has been plenty of emotional pain, shame, and even a significant number of defeats. Yet, simultaneously, I have experienced an exhilarating joy in serving God every day! The thrill of feeling close to God, savoring His love, and feeling His hands holding me as He cuddled me in His lap is indescribable. Now, as I near the end of my life, much like David, it's time to let my life become a song to be sung. It's time to put all these feelings into verse. Maybe singing my psalm will give reason to the rhythm of my life. I may write the verses of my life song, but according to Psalms 102:18, who shall sing my song is not me! It is those that come after me—the next generation. They are the ones who will sing my song. Today’s apostolic youth are the ones who will find the reason for the seasons of the rhythms of my ministry. They will understand and embrace for themselves what they have learned from my life and my living. So, like we all still sing David’s songs, please sing my song too! Sing it with gusto!! Harmonize it as well as you can. Don't delete the low groaning bass notes of the hurts of my trials, but also let the incredible joy (Wow!!!) of serving the Lord across my years on this earth ring out with crescendo music and a climax shout! Sing my song of unwavering faith! Please, please, sing my song so that the next generation will know that my life was not lived in vain! Brad Lambeth ​ ​ dyingempty.net ​ JBLambeth@gmail.com ​

Arrogance Beyond Insubmission

January 26, 2025
Arrogance Beyond Insubmission
More Posts