CHAPTER 5: THE BLACK FOREST 2024
(Notes of a madman’s writings in the past)

Needs and Wants. The voice of Reason offers you everything you need, and He never lies. The voice of Treason offers you everything you want and he is a liar. Obviously one is God, and one is not. Chapter 5, what is the Black Forest? It’s a promise to give you the hope of great things in your life. A promise not by God, but by the enemy. Fame, fortune, all the things people wish for are offered. Hollywood, power, attraction, the fountain of youth, luck, extreme unfair advantage, dangerous knowledge, revenge, wealth beyond measure. The thing is, this is not Hell, it is the doorway to hell. It is the quintessential “sell your soul”, for your dreams desire. It is the story of Faust, a play made famous throughout centuries, and to be honest, I don’t know who wrote it. Through Mephistopheles, a representative of the devil, Faust, a disgruntled man, makes a deal with the devil to sell his soul in exchange for twenty-four years of magical knowledge. At the end of the twenty-four years, Faustus realizes that he has wasted his time and tries to reverse his deal with the devil. He fails and is dragged to hell.

We all want a quick fix. The devil offers us the hope of our wants, whatever that is. We are given examples of all those people who believed in the darkness, and succeeded. I want you to take a look at Hollywood twenty, thirty years ago and see what people looked like then, and what they look like now. Rock stars, movie-stars, politicians, it is a sobering reminder.

I couldn’t say who made a deal for the dark side and who didn’t, I can tell you, I found myself there and God came and got me out. I was lost, hoping for power and glory, my life withering away, time slipping by, wasting moments, utilizing the gifts God had given me for everything except the praise and honor of God and Kingdom work.

Proverbs 28: 5
Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand it fully.

 

Proverbs 30:5
Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

The Forest is something any of us can choose, and many do exactly that, even believers, and they like it, it’s the best thing ever. AT FIRST. Considered by many, a wonderful place, this Black Forest. All here in the forest generally live successful, self indulgent lives without God. However you’ll note they never actually get anywhere. There’s a few, used, by the dark side, as examples of success, that keep the attraction alive, to lure in the weak, but all in the end, wither and are cast aside, even, I might add, the super stars as well, replaced by new Faustian deal makers who enjoy fame and fortune all the while luring the children into the basket of the pied piper so to speak.

2 Timothy 3:7
King James Version
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Here’s the catch. At the end of the Forest ride, you’re dead, I mean really dead. Deceived entirely, lost, forever and ever and ever, no Heaven, no chance for redemption, traded for the trinkets in the Black Forest, and by the way, the ride so to speak is not all roses.

As you approach the end, alcohol, drugs, health, all of it begins to mark the territory. Any success, is fleeting and suddenly, not so much.

Matthew 7:13-14
New King James Version
13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 [a]Because narrow is the gate and [b]difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

I prayed, desperately…, I can never forget…

“Show me what to do with what you have given me, and I will do it. I have wasted what you have given me, give it back to me and use it, the gifts, use me for what you say, give me my life back as you see it…”

He came. I got out. After the forest, blessings came. It’s not all roses. Challenges are a much better investment here with God, rather than the forest. There are good guys and bad guys in this story. The line between right and wrong is pretty brutal. My grandpa, Fred Wahlig, used to say:


“right is right and wrong is wrong and wrong ain’t never right.”

Tell that to our politicians, right? There is no practically right, or almost wrong. It is either God, or not, no matter what people say. Scripture is clear.

Deuteronomy 4:2
New International Version
2 Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.

Somebody gave me a bible on March 23, 1985, and that somebody wrote in that book “presented to Pat the Warrior from Sans Leister, occasion Revelation. That book is sitting on my desk right now. I tried to find Sans. Never did. If he be an angel, thank God.

**Black Forest. Does it work? Yep. It works, perfectly, temporarily. How do you get in, a real chance at super stardom? It’s easy, become a poser. The forest will teach you: “Diminish God in all areas of your life and the blessings He promises. Make up new gods and powers as if you’re some kind of wizard in your own mind. Take credit for everything amazing, as if you had something to do with it. Chastise and make fun of others for misgivings, failures and hard times. Despise those who teach Jesus Christ.” And lastly but not the least, “Criticize and judge the one true God and His people.” If you can do that, you’re in and maybe you will be chosen for power and earthly glory. “Satan accepts you for who you are” and applauds such gutsy, cutting edge thinking. Again, here, in the forest, that makes a lot of sense.

2 Corinthians 11:13-15
New International Version
13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

 

Jeremiah 23:16
New International Version
16 This is what the Lord Almighty says:
“Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you;
they fill you with false hopes.
They speak visions from their own minds,
not from the mouth of the Lord.

It was easy to be fooled, made so much sense, and I went, by my own free will, into the forest. If not for God, I would be lost, forever? Yes, forever. I understand that now, and wrote down what I’m telling you now such a long time ago so I would never forget what traps lay in waiting for each of us.

1 Corinthians 3:18-19
Holman Christian Standard Bible
18 No one should deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this age, he must become foolish so that he can become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, since it is written: He catches the wise in their craftiness;[a]

 

James 1:12
New International Version
12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

The following is my original note, Page One, my first entry, I put pen to paper at about 4:15 am. Perhaps these words will help you, and stay with you forever.

“If I decide there is a God of my choosing, then there is a devil of my choosing. Both of these notions will destroy me…”

Matthew 12:30
New American Standard Bible 1995
30 He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

Why does anybody choose incorrect? Because it looks good. It feels right. The hope of all the power you want is quite a tempting concept. Except it’s a lie and people make excuses for it.

“I’m fine, hell is for bad people, I’m a good person, just being myself.” A very dangerous sentence.

Matthew 7:21-23
New King James Version
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

There is no such thing as a new age Christian or anything like it. It is the ancient word that kept me safe and it’ll keep you safe.

Jeremiah 6:16-20
New King James Version
16 Thus says the Lord:
“Stand in the ways and see,
And ask for the old paths, where the good way is,
And walk in it;
Then you will find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

There it is, the Forest takes another. A rebellious spirit does not pay well, in the end, it pays nothing, death. Look, it’s a tough road, God, is a tough road.

It has to be, we all must know what we’re up against. And what we are up against here on Earth can be packaged in really beautiful things, that aren’t beautiful at all.

1 Corinthians 2:13-14
New Living Translation
But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.

Jeremiah 2:21 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
21 I planted you,
a choice vine
from the very best seed.
How then could you turn into
a degenerate, foreign vine?

The promise made by the Forest is old as time itself. A lie that has blown up mankind since the beginning.

Genesis 3
New International Version
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Empty, horrible promises. God’s promise is yours for the asking, in the Blood of Christ.

Psalm 119
The Message
119 You’re blessed when you stay on course,
walking steadily on the road revealed by God.
You’re blessed when you follow his directions,
doing your best to find him.

 

Matthew 26:41
“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

The Black Forest will take your time on earth, and without rescue, rob you of God, forever. Don’t gamble with your life or the lives of your children. I got lucky one time.

Psalm 30:2
New International Version
Lord my God, I called to you for help,
and you healed me.

Someone must’ve prayed for me, the must have, so as Jesus prayed for the world, I pray for my daughters and my grandson.

2 Corinthians 5:17
New International Version
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a]
The old has gone, the new is here!

Hang your hat on that one, stay the course, don’t be fooled, quit being brilliant and simply serve, Chapter 5, The Black Forest 2024. don’t take that bait.…Amen.