Who Am I?

Forward: I would like to share some personal stories with you for the purpose of relating some difficult lessons. I have personally gone through some very trying years in a heavy depression, but one, the most difficult by far in an unexplainable sense of gratitude and happiness. I attribute the change to a very profound truth that I had to learn; In my case through difficulty, perhaps by my story, you can escape that. - Seth Forrestier

WHO AM I

It is common to all men and women to desire to “go somewhere”. So much of music, film, and literature talk about that desire. No one can agree necessarily on where it is they want to go, but nonetheless they desire to go.

To a Christian, that desire should be The Kingdom of God. We can read of our brothers before us desiring a homeland in Hebrews 11.

There is however, something absolutely fundamental in “going somewhere” that is almost entirely absent in our culture.

Suppose you take out your phone or GPS and put in the EXACT Coordinates of the location you wish to be and press Get Directions. Nothing would happen, in fact it would be impossible without one more set of coordinates, where YOU ARE.

This concept had been unknown to me for most of my life and it is that idea that I intend to share. I did learn it, but it cost me.

We read in Matthew 25:5 That ALL 10 virgins became drowsy and fell asleep. What exactly does it mean to be asleep in this context? Here is what it means to me. My family went through a period in the church, as have many of you, where the Truth seemed to disappear from church services. The void was painfully obvious. In that time everyone, myself included began to complain to one another, and in prayer that we “were not being spiritually fed” and that we “were hungry”. Over the following months and years, as I look back, it is as if God was testing our level of Personal Responsibility. Over that time some close friends, and family went off in search of groups that would feed them. Others became discouraged and gave up. Others still became angry and bitter at even the concept of a church. My wife and I had watched our parents go through the same type of scenario in years past and knew a few things we did NOT want to do. We knew that leaving the church rarely resulted in returning to the truth, and that bitterness NEVER led people back to the truth. Lost as to what to do, we fed ourselves for that time on archived sermons and articles. I say that to my shame because, even though God allowed my family to be spared from starvation, there was a much better alternative that I just did not know yet. Had I learned this concept then, it would have saved me many trials over the next several years.

Our world today is a culture of Victims. Not always victimization, rather just a bunch of victims. We are taught that everything good is OUR fault and everything bad is someone ELSE’s fault. Nearly every advertisement on Tv, Radio and the internet promotes this concept. Weather it’s a class-action lawsuit, weight loss schemes, miracle drugs, credit consolidation, or car loans for people with bad credit, every negative thing is said to be out of your control, and you are a victim. In school and work we teach the concept of safety first, which is nothing at all more than blaming accidents on THINGS and not people. Unfortunately believing yourself to be a victim rarely, if ever, leads to success. In fact, the statistics suggest it actually leads you to be an oppressor.

There is another mentality. It is not taught in business, school, work or social gatherings. It is called Personal Responsibility. There is nothing new about the concept of personal responsibility, It is evident in the Bible from cover to cover, and many great writers including Viktor Frankl (Man’s Search for Meaning), Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (The Gulag Archipelago) and Jordan Peterson (12 Rules for Life) just to name a few have written extensively on the subject. I would encourage you to make an effort to read these three books, as they say in greater detail, and from the authority of science, what I am writing of today.

My summary is this; Man can only be as happy as he is responsible.

That is because being happy, or content or comfortable in an imperfect world REQUIRES a sacrifice. A sacrifice of the part of you, however big or small, that is always uncomfortable, or tried, or pained. A sacrifice is painful, any sacrifice is painful, part of YOU literally has to die…and it resents that, and your body resents that. Think about your baptism, so much of baptism is about personal responsibility.

We had to individually come to a point where we recognize that “I” am responsible for Christ’s death. “I” need a savior. “My” life has to end so that Christ can live in me. However, in our world we have soaked up that mentality of victimhood and we, even in the church are not immune.

For the years of and following our trial of spiritual hunger, God did not leave me, I still grew here and there but I was never able at any point to feel like I had attained a change. Over time that built into boredom, then idleness, then guilt, then frustration and then depression. I took to politics in the skewed belief that policy could change the world, but that only led to unbearable amounts of stress. All that extra stress put a strain on my family, which added more guilt and depression until my distress just became a self-supporting feedback loop. It was at the height of this depression that I broke down and changed my prayers.

How do you pray for growth? I would guess you pray similar to what I did, I would pray things like “in your mercy, a lot of it, help me to get over X, Y or Z”. I asked so hesitantly for help because of my fear of correction and the pain it would cause. I know that I really lacked a proper understanding of who God is and what He is doing with me. Regardless of my fear I came to a realization that I was not happy. I was not growing. Most importantly, I did not like who or where I was. At the same time, I was studying bible timelines and came to a very urgent conclusion that time WILL NOT go on much longer. I decided to pray differently and I asked that, because time was short and I had more work to do than time, that God would give me the outer limits of my ability in training and rather than ask for mercy I asked for the help to bear it. [spoiler alert: God Hears]

That happened to be right before the Feast of Tabernacles. The sermons that year seemed weightier than I had experienced before, and they were personal. Mr. Wallace Smith gave a sermon that challenged me to take a “political fast”. Over the course of the previous years I had become hung-up on the idea that politics could change the world and invested nearly all of my spare, or otherwise time into staying up to date in the political scene. I took that challenge and it was a sacrifice. I quickly came up with hundreds of ‘logical’ reasons why I should stay involved in politics, but I was convicted enough by that sermon that I made it through. Personally, that little push of personal responsibility was enough to wake me up. That year following the Feast was the most difficult year of my life to date, but I started it on a particular path, and I was determined to follow through.  

We are in a very peculiar time in the history of the church, that is at the change from one era to another. I find it interesting that the Reward of Revelation 3 concerning Philadelphia is “to be pillars in God’s house”. Pillars are straight, they bear weight, they most importantly cannot move. We actually refer to those same people as pillars today in our own congregations. What is the warning given to Laodicea? Revelation 3:14-21

They say that they aren’t in need of anything. I had come to accept, as many peers have expressed, doctrines and practices because my parents held them. It wasn’t until I intended to figure out who I was, that I realized I could not prove what it was I believed. I came to an awful conclusion that I didn’t have anything proven. I had just accepted what was said as truth!  It was at this time that I started to prove for and TO myself what I believed. Unlike many years before however, I couldn’t rely on archived sermons and literature… I had to literally open my Bible and start from scratch. What I found was that I was Poor, Miserable, Blind and Naked!

Have we considered what it is that makes God proud of Philadelphia? During this Era transition many of us have complained, my self included, that there is a disconnect between the ageing ministry and the younger generations. They preach like “old white men” as I have been guilty of saying, others might say they sound like a broken record. I cannot deny that I have chafed when I hear a sermon on overcoming this or that, and it is always said that Prayer, Bible Study and Fasting will cure all. Why am I hostile? What is the cause of the disconnect? What Does God say about Philadelphia? He says they kept his word, did not deny Him, they’ve persevered and are holding on to what they have been given. I’ve had to eat my own complaints in this matter, think about it, they are doing EXACTLY what God told them to do! So, why do we have a disconnect? Well it’s obviously not because they are wrong, so let’s keep looking. What we find is that in our time as God told Daniel in 12:4 that knowledge will abound. My generation has the ability to look up anything and find almost anything. Because there’s so much knowledge however, dirt is easy to dig up. In our age there is a social push to discredit anyone and everything that came before us. Have you ever googled old ministers’ names? Because we have the ability to upend historical figures this generation does not want to hear any argument from authority; rather we want to see the nuts and bolts and proofs OURSELVES. It’s not a coincidence that the name Laodicea is translated “the people decide”. That being said... We don’t actually do it! We have the Bible, in all its forms and searchable in every language, we have it all in our pockets on our phones, but we don’t read it. What I have personally learned is that those “broken records” contain EXACTLY what we’re looking for in our lives, but we are too confused to understand it.

What then do we do? If we the younger generations as the Laodiceans recognize that we are indeed Poor, Miserable, Blind and naked what should we do about it? I think we should first remember who God is. Is he not our Father and we His children? I have been blessed with 6 children, and I feel like they’ve taught me so much about why God said to “be fruitful and multiply”. Those of you have children will relate to me when I say how often I just want to do nice things for my children. Not because they do this or that, but just because I love them; the fair, or the zoo or ice cream or a new toy JUST because I want them to be happy. At the same time when they ASK for something, I use that as an opportunity for them to grow, I’m sure you all do it to, “if you do this, We will go do that”. When they complete those tasks, we go and do that good thing. I remember very well going to the sporting goods store the day my son learned to ride his bike without training wheels so we could get him a “big boy bike”. Does God not do an even better job than that of parenting? Luke 11:11-13 “If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?  Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

With that view of God, what does God say in Revelation 3:18-19? “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.”

How do we get value, become clothed in righteous acts and find salve for our eyes if we can’t see?

I have a challenge for you, this exercise has helped me personally to come to a better understanding of who I am and what I need to do. I challenge you to write down what you believe. Grab your notebook, or keypad and start by answering the question ‘Who am I?’. Then, in no particular order start writing down in print what it is that you believe and WHY you believe it. I guarantee you will not like everything write. You’ll find that so much of what you think you know has NO foundation. Once you have a little bit written down and have read it, take that document on your knees and ask your Father how to fix it. Think about His fatherly attributes again, if your son or daughter comes to you with a problem and asks for your help, will You, as an EVIL parent not sit and help them until it’s resolved? God will do so much more for you if you bring him a problem and ask Him how to fix it. Don’t stop though with that first little bit of writing, make a habit of it to physically write down and read your beliefs as you encounter them.

If you take the Personal Responsibility to know who and where you are God WILL give you the directions to where you are going.

My life following that Feast was indeed more troublesome than I had ever experienced, among those trials my mother died, all of my personal and company vehicles died, a bad neighbor got worse, I had a major health scare, customers attempted to steal from my company and family quarrels happened, but I was able to face each trial with a sense of responsibility for how it was going to end. I was able to see what I was lacking and bring each trial to God and He made a set of directions for me to get from point A to point B every single time.

Revelation 3:20 “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I WILL come in and dine with him…” To all my brothers and sisters of my Laodicean generation, this verse is talking to ME and to YOU personally. This door is not one door to the whole church, it is an individual door to ME and to YOU, I cannot answer the door for you, neither can you answer the door for me. The reward to the church of Laodicea is greater than that of all the other eras, in no small part because overcoming will require going 180 degrees contrary to the nature we have and avoiding 100% of this world coming towards us at full speed; but IF we answer that call We WILL sit on CHRIST’s throne, That is where I choose to go, and I hope you do too.

                                                                                            

Here is what I have come to learn and prove about myself, and just exactly what it is I believe. Before I was made to see that I was unhappy, I could not verbalize these thoughts, I could not put them in order, nor could I set them on any solid foundation. Now, however I feel I can, I have searched out depths in myself and in God’s word that I have never know, and this is who I am.

I am Seth Forrestier, and my life’s goal is to have the name of God and sit beside my Lord Jesus the Christ on His Throne, and if at all possible, bear a title of “One that builds houses for generations”.

I aim to achieve this goal by using the Justification from God by His grace to live my life as a useful tool in his hands, and growing in function by Searching, learning, Obedience and Action.

If I am to say “I want to go there” I must first admit that I am HERE, Therefore I must know where here is.

I am first and foremost in need of a Savior. I truly believe that it is visible for all men who seek to know, to see that all of the Evil in the world today is present inside each and every one of us. While I may not be a mass-murderer, that same hatred is present in my body and comes out in the form of my wants, desires, and actions. That presence of evil itself within me according to scripture is enough to condemn me to permanent death on its own. That of course is not my only fault. I therefore am in dire need of nothing at all more than deliverance from sin and the death penalty sin brings.

The Holy Bible.

I believe the bible is, as it claims to be, “God Breathed” or God’s actual words. I do not claim this belief on anyone else’s grounds (though as a 3rd generation Christian I was TAUGHT such things), but Rather, I believe that because of the personal proofs in my own life. I have tested nearly as many ideas and concepts as I have read in the bible and they do not fail. The same cannot be said about any other Self-Help or general knowledge literature. I cannot convince you of these proofs as easily as other types like fulfilled prophecy, but they suffice for my confidence in the validity of the Bible being God’s Word.

If then I believe the Bible is God’s Word, and by such Word I need a Savior, Should I not study His Terms? Grace is absolutely a free Gift, but Grace is not the end of the story. The Bible goes into a lot of detail about the ‘terms” of grace.  Works are of utmost importance, not that we obtain salvation by works, it is ONLY by God’s grace (unmerited pardon) that we can obtain Eternal life, but there ARE works required to be given that gift.

The Plan of God.

I believe as the scripture states that God is Building a Family. The end goal of the entire physical existence is to have more members in the God Family. The reason that there are terms to handing out Eternal Life is because God CHOOSES to be Righteous; in fact, it is impossible to Be Righteous apart from CHOOSING to be Righteous. Therefore, God cannot Make a Righteous man, because that would just be a robot. Our purpose on earth is to acknowledge the options and CHOOSE righteousness. As such, one cannot make righteous choices apart from learning to judge between good and evil. My purpose every day on earth is to see and acknowledge the data, situation, opportunity, feelings, ideas, and things set before me and judge them according to what God is teaching me. If I cannot achieve a basic ability to discern between good and evil, and to purposefully choose the good, I will never be able to achieve God’s Character and therefore not FIT into, nor be of any use in HIS Family.

Obedience.

I have many years of training in the field of construction. I know my tools, and I use the tool I want for each project based on what it can do… and I expect that tool to do what I intend it to do! Is God any different? There is a Work God is doing, and he uses human instruments to perform that work. What use is a disobedient person? Is that not like a tool that doesn’t work the way it is supposed to? I believe it is MY duty as one who chooses to BE a Christian to be Obedient to every word of God. Much more than that, In my own life as a business man I have learned, or rather been taught, that Principles are more important than commands. If my employees know WHY I choose X, Y, or Z, they are much better prepared to make the right choice if I am not present. The same can be said of the Bible, there are Commands… They must be kept, but God goes into GREAT detail explaining WHY He makes those commands. It is My duty to search out those reasons and to internalize them.

The WORK of God.

I am and have been very interested in learning about work my entire life. I happen to love work. I read that God LOVES His work as well. John 3:16 is a great example of that, WE are the work of His hands. There is a commission given to Christians throughout the bible and it has been given to me as well. That commission is to Preach the Gospel of The Kingdom of God to the World. In short, the Gospel is the FACT that God WILL return with HIS government and establish it on this earth. The long of it, is that there is work to be done: Work in TEACHING the world the difference between Good and Evil, The Nature of God, The Consequences of Sin, The Forgiveness God offers, The Plan of God, What Happiness is and HOW to get there. That commission along with several others is given to all Christians, not just to churches. I have a part in the work of God. I have the responsibility, as one Called by God, to do these things on the largest scale I am able. The talents I have were given to me by God. Think of a label on a tool’s box. God gave ME a set of abilities, strengths, talents, opportunities, etc…; not because he wanted me to stay occupied. but because He wanted me to do specific things! It is evident throughout the Word of God that He expects more of us than we currently have. He intends us to use what he has given us and return to him with more.

I believe that God has a church. I believe that church is the sum of the living saints. The function of the church is like a business meeting. We are all individually called to an individual salvation. We are not judged by another’s works. The commissions given to the church then, could not be for just a handful of a certain rank to complete. Otherwise, we would be judged according to their works. My belief is that everything we read that the church should be doing all the way from preaching the gospel, casting out demons, healing the sick, praying for one another, feeding the flock, warning the world of the tribulation, testifying of Christ and preaching repentance is a direct commission to every last one of us. There is no doubt a great deal of use in a structured authority, without it we all go our separate ways. Our job though is not at all to only Pray and Pay. I see no biblical distinction between the salvation and calling of a ministry vs a lay people. The function of the church should be entirely to raise everyone up to the same standard, or if you will “minister”. We are all individually called to be kings and priests, not anything less. I believe that works like a television ministry are absolutely of good use, and obviously require a very well-functioning organization to accomplish. That being said, the general membership of the church like me, come into contact with many times more people on a daily basis. We are not commanded to shine with another man’s light, but we are commanded to shine with God’s light. I believe every time that I pass up an opportunity to talk about God to a stranger I fall down on my job. That’s not to say I believe we should all stand on a street corner with our bibles, I do not. What I do believe is that from one end of the bible to the other God talks of the necessity of works being associated with our faith. Things such as, feeding the hungry. Clothing the naked and comforting the downtrodden. I fully believe that the reason we do not see the miracles that Christ promised of the power to heal and cast out demon is precisely because we do not do their physical counterparts of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, etc. Why would God give the power of miracles to a group of people that would never use them? One varying thought I have is that maybe we actually already do have that power, but we don’t know because we’ve never tried it. Have we ever taken care of people and prayed fervently for them? I have and there has been a difference, not what we would call a miracle but much closer than a lot of things. I believe it is My personal job to preach the Gospel, I do not have the platform to preach sermons, but that doesn’t mean I cannot relate the kingdom of God to all of the people I come into contact with. I happen to own a few businesses and because of that I have contact with thousands of people. I’ve determined that those people are in my gates. Those are the people God has given me to teach. Since they do not come to me for a sermon, but rather a product, I must teach through my products. I advertise the fact that my company is different from everyone else’s, and I back that up by explaining even in the tiniest ways that I do X because God says X is better than Y, and then I explain the I want the better option because there is better (The kingdom of God) coming. When they ask for a comparison between a good product and a bad product, I tell them, that bad products and service are a form of lying and deceit and lead to what this country is headed to, destruction. That is HOW I preach the Gospel to the world. I do hope that one day I will have the opportunity to teach these people in a more classroom setting, but for now this is the opportunity I have. I have noticed still, that to the extent that I use this opportunity God literally sends the same people back to me so often to ask an actual spiritual question! I believe that I am to testify of Christ, this is just that. When these people come to me and ask me a question, I give a witness of Christ.  Many scoff and are not moved (witness), others are shocked and too preoccupied to make a change (warned), a few though have expressed to me that they recognize something different in me and are very happy to have seen it (preached). Perhaps I am wrong in this, I do not discount the fact that I am more ignorant than I am learned. However, what harm have I done? If nothing else will not my Father see me trying and direct me in a better path? If nothing else no one else is judged according to MY works. I believe we will be kings and priests of God in the millennium, teaching all those who survive the great tribulation. How much better a teacher would be if you knew them already and had witnessed them, going a different direction than the one that cost you everything? What more if they had actually spoken to you back then and warned you and taught you of the difference?

I like to think about the theoretical, what if every member of the church of God carried out a personal ministry in the place/location and by the abilities God gave them, would we not be a very noticeable people? When God said I set you as a lamp on a hilltop, I take that personally. I AM the only contact my customers have with the Truth. Very Very rarely I come across a person who has had some faint connection but that’s not even in the one in a hundred level. If I am the only contact they have and I don’t shine, then what?

Using God’s replies to guide choices.

If I were to tell someone ‘God told me…” there would be no end of criticism. Does God speak directly to me in human voice? No, unfortunately not yet. However, He DOES speak to me, without a doubt in my mind, because I ask Him questions and He provides a concise reply. I had to learn of course how to ask a question. God is not a Genie, he is not there to make magic happen, He is a Father. “asking in Faith” has more to do with content than it does attitude to me, because Faith IS action. To ask in Faith is to ask WHILE in the process of studying, searching and reaching for the conclusion. I have had non-spiritual prayers answered many times. In particular prayers for specific tools or work vehicles I’ve needed with very specific properties. I asked God for very specific things, stated the reasons for the things, and then got off my knees and continued to shop! In such cases within a day or two God made available exactly what I was actively looking for. 

I have used that approach for physical prayers for a long time, but until recently I had not used that method with spiritual issues, Why not? I don’t know. What I do know, is that it works the same way! I’ve started to pray for personal growth in the same way, I lay out my case as to what I think I want/need then present all the evidence I’ve found, then I ask for conclusive evidence not necessarily a quick end to the need/want. The whole purpose of creating man with free moral agency was so that he could CHOOSE to be righteous. Simply put, I do not pray for God to fix my problems, I pray for him to show me the what, why, and how to fix it and give me the heart to do it.

Prayer for Enemies.

I have had two unrelated events happen in the space of three weeks that clearly showed me the value of praying for your enemies. 

The Neighbors;

My wife and I bought a house right after our first child was born, a little antique house that needed lots of work. It was in bad disrepair and had been for the past 7 years. One of the next-door neighbors, an elderly couple, were very sweet. Our son would go over and play on their porch often. About 3 year into our project the man had a heart attack on Christmas day. Afterwards he became cantankerous and angry all the time. I made a deal with another neighbor about a dead tree on my property and this previously good neighbor heard some ridiculous rumors about the deal and began to yell at me every single day. Every morning he would stand on his porch and cuss me while I was leaving for work. He and his wife began to call the city inspector about me daily, leveling various charges from tall weeds to not liking the color I painted my house. I was angry and I gave in to playing his game, I returned evil for evil. I fought and fought, tooth and nail against him and the city for years. Sadly, even to the point that I painted the entire side of my house that faced him in large bright pink polka-dots. The neighbors grew in anger till they told my other neighbors they were not going to stop until they had forced us out of the neighborhood. I did not pray for them then… I prayed that God would stop the problem, or take them away, or just make it stop. That lasted for 5 solid years until we decided we had to start looking for another place to live.

During my enlightenment period, I began to consider this situation more. I began to if nothing else, act honorably towards them. I went out of my way to keep that side of my property in extra good shape. I decided to wave anytime I saw them. During what turned out to be a 3-day power outage I hooked their house to my generator, for which I didn’t even get a “thank you’. I decided that if God said to pray for my enemies that I should try it. I struggled with the prospect for a few days, trying to build up the courage, or whatever I needed to actually pray for my enemies. The first time I prayed FOR them, I said “God, I don’t want to do this, but YOU said to do it, so here I am.”. I was physically writhing while making these words come out, as if it was painful because it was it HURT me to ask God to be merciful to my enemies. The next day though, it was not THAT hard, and I was able to add a little bit to my request for them. The third night I was able to pray a heartfelt honest prayer that God would show them all the mercy and understanding of His truth that he showed me… That did it.  Less than two weeks later, I was getting of my truck in my driveway when the neighbor yelled. I thought, oh goodness here we go again. I walked over to hear him clearly and he was not yelling at me, he was calling for me… and he began to give a very heartfelt apology for the way he had treated me for all those years. It seems they both were diagnosed with cancer some weeks before and had a very short time left to live, they came to realize they were about to die all alone with no friends or family and wanted to make as many things right as possible. I cried. I’ve since been able to do grocery shopping for them and get things that they can no longer reach. I’m able to check on them every day and make sure they aren’t in need… because I now care for them. More than what God did by softening them, He did to ME. He changed MY heart by teaching me to Love my enemies. They are currently under 80lbs each and in very bad health, and I am praying for them daily because I don’t want bad things to happen to them.. I will be there for them.

The Customer;

Just two weeks after this apology from the neighbor I returned to a work project that had been on hold for a year. This customer had caused me a great amount of grief, because his wife was obsessively picky. Not the kind of picky that just wants good things, but the kind of picky that would repeatedly demand $20,000 of product removed because there was there was an eighth of an inch difference in something from one side of a 15,000 sq.ft. house to the other. When I went back and finished the project the customers refused to pay and threatened to destroy my company. The situation was so tense I had to involve the police for reasonable fear of personal safety. I decided since God had just recently changed an enemy’s heart in my favor that I was going to pray for this customer. Once again it was difficult, I could not make the words come out of my mouth but I continued to pray and eventually I was able to utter a request that God would be merciful to them and let them see what he had showed me. The very next day I received a phone call from the customer. He was docile to an extent I had not seen the entire year I’d worked for him, he apologized to me for blowing up! He asked if I would go back to his house that day so we could talk things over and pay me. I ended up getting paid and keeping a satisfied customer!

These outcomes could not have possibly been achieved through civil or criminal courts. Such means may have made the abuse to cease, but only at the cost of a wedge. I am convinced that this concept is not at all unrelated to my place in the Church of God. How could it be anything other than God showing HIS light through me for the sake of planting a seed. In these two cases it was obviously not me that had the idea to plant the seed, it was God making the world bend to fit His plans; However, should I not attempt to act like He does? Praying for your enemies IS part of the Work of God. 

As for the topic of “builder of houses for generations”.

This is about the physical things that I have learned over my time on earth. I am a tradesman, trained proficiently in most all aspects of home building. Architecture is a major part of me, I see buildings not as disposable boxes, but a legacy and a function. It is appalling to me the way we use houses in this world. An overpriced temporary box that is torn down the minute something “nicer” comes along. I don’t build such houses, when I build, I plan for the next generation. I want houses that last, houses that are beautiful and quality, houses that bear the names and craftsmanship of previous generations. For 1000 years we, as the saints will be preparing the world for the resurrection of ALL mankind. Somewhere around 80 BILLION people will need houses. I hope to build those houses, and I hope they will last all the way until the recreation of the earth.

-Seth Forrestier