Category Archives: Christian Soapbox

Christian Soapbox, Nathan Dooley

A WORLD DROWNING IN SIN

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DISCLAIMER: I’m exploring the gospel from a unique perspective and am aware that I might be way off from the truth as I explore, and if I am, please feel free to contact me at nldooley@timeforprovidence.com.

THOUGHT BUBBLE: If you read my previous post you’ll find something that even made me feel strange when writing it because no one other than God knows what the heck I was/am thinking and why, but explore this with me, and if what I write is unreasonable… scratch it. My goal is to learn as I go with the reader.

When I think about a world drowning in sin, I think about the story of Noah and the Ark because it was a world drown, in sin. But I see Noah and the Ark much more than yesterday’s story by how it connects to what’s coming to our world next, which is a world melted by intense heat (2 Peter 3). And if the Lord permits, we’ll explore that prophetic reality in writing eventually.

I’m going to approach our subject matter, a world drowning in sin, with a question derived from the gospel according to Luke chapter 22. The question I present is: Was there another way, a different way, than for Christ our Lord to go to the cross? 

I think at first glance, the immediate answer is… no (Luke 22:42); “yet not My will, but Yours be done.”, Jesus said. But then again, if there wasn’t another way, then why would Jesus say that? I think there would be no reason for Jesus to have said that if Jesus’ will was the same as His Father’s will. And if my observation is reasonable, how was Jesus’ will different from that of His Father’s will?

Here is where I, as your author, feel strange writing what I’m thinking, but bear with me. What I’m thinking is, “If my education serves me right, the primal instincts of mankind are what compel us as humans to survive…” And then I map that thought to when Jesus was at the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus was a man no different than any other human man (other than of course being the Son of God and that’s not the point yet); Jesus experienced the will, primal instincts of man. And so I argue that the will of man is to survive by that of sacrifice or murder, meaning that while Jesus was under the curse of Mankind’s sin as the Lamb of God was also experiencing the instinct of Mankind’s sin to survive by requesting another way than the cross if there was another way.

An example might be like when Cain offered produce from the fruit of the ground and Abel offered a lamb from the firstborn of his flock (Genesis 4). Was there another way? The will of Mankind without faith in God is to survive, perhaps commit murder for sustainability apart from God; whereas Mankind’s faith in God with responsibility to survive, perhaps sacrifice self to believe God will save me to a new life with Him!

Now I’m not saying that Jesus was making request to be separated from God His Father, on the contrary; I think Jesus was expressing Himself as Adam—resembling the time when man was created in the image and likeness of God and placed in the garden with dominion—being expelled from the garden of Eden to survive, Adam listened to the voice of his wife and ate from the fruit that God commanded him not to eat from (“yet not My will…”). It sounds to me like Jesus is saying, “yet not the will of Adam, but Yours be done.”

I think Jesus experienced two natures, (1) the nature of Mankind and (2) the nature of God—God is love. The love of God overruled the sin of Mankind by the sacrifice of the Lamb. Jesus was compelled by the Spirit of God to the cross while simultaneously resisting the temptation of man to survive by offering these words, “…but Yours be done.” But Your will, Father, be done, not mine or any other will, but the Father’s will be done!

Jesus put the instinct or law of sin in Adam to death for the joy set before Him, enduring the cross for the salvation of the world. Looking at it another way, I think it’s safe to say that Jesus overcame the eternal consequence of man’s allegiance to do the devil’s will—even sweating blood—having suffered to provide our way of escape, the discipline of Holiness in Himself bought the world by His blood. I think the only other way would have been for God to destroy Mankind and start over with His Son, which sounds familiar, doesn’t it? (Moses).

I am concerned for the people of the world in denial about the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, because to suppress the truth of the gospel is to generate unrighteousness of the devil for an inevitable judgment. It doesn’t have to be that way!

There would be no way for me to discern the truth about Christ without believing that the Son of God in the flesh of Jesus followed the will of His Heavenly Father by the help of the Holy Spirit, dying on the cross. For God so loved the world… (finish it). It’s Mankind’s freedom to regress in the darkness of Satan or to progress in the Light of God. Had not Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead, my faith is in vain.

Do you remember when the Spirit of God descended upon Jesus after he was baptized, and then God spoke, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”? Jesus knew exactly why God called Him Son, and why God was pleased with Him. Mankind had no idea! But the mystery to Jesus Christ and the gospel is now revealed through faith in Him by the power of the Holy Spirit!

Christian Soapbox, Nathan Dooley

…TO SECURITY TO ENGINEERING TO ENTREPRENEUR TO…

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COUNT THE COST

There was a time… a time when I transitioned from a site supervising security officer to an engineer of a 14-story class double “AA” office tower that…

by Nathan Dooley

So there I was, without a job and free to do whatever again… I thought about seeing if my old position in the Public Services department (City of Richardson) as a Water Production (SCADA) operator was available, or to go back to engineering, but my heart has always been geared toward mission work! I just hadn’t known how it was going to come about. 

Laura and I prayed and waited a month before I would go back to Security Guard work; bear in mind that I’d been working random shifts on the GaurdTexas team through a friend/ Operations Manager (Boss Man) who kept me in the loop for Security work throughout Dallas. God’s providence is very real! 

So that’s what I did, I decided to go back to being a humble security guard with a plan to work the night shift. The days are too distracting for what I needed to sort out and not only that, I needed time to learn premiere pro. I’ve always enjoyed shooting video to create content, and to my surprise Laura wanted to join me on an adventure to video editing work through a friend you’ll know or discover if you stick around on this site, aka Dallas. The man is so good at what he does, especially when it comes to loving his family and others! Dallas blessed us with work, entrusting us to his guidance and direction as we got our feet wet in that field through him.

Now there’s a question that’s been beckoning…

“So why not go to bible college and or seminary?” MAN—that’s the question! Isn’t it! The answer is not a simple one for me and really, I think it might be controversial which is not my intention for it to be, but I have my concerns about that approach to “ordination” because of some trauma from my past, I don’t trust it.

Fast forward to January of 2022 when a breakthrough happened when fellowshiping with a friend over…

1 Thessalonians 5:23

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Christian Soapbox, Nathan Dooley

COUNT THE COST

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There was a time… a time when I transitioned from a site supervising security officer to an engineer of a 14-story class double “AA” office tower that required knowledge around high end M&E (Mechanical and Electrical) equipment to manage through SCADA systems alongside my chief engineer. These machines were the power of the Tower, everything was programmed to turn on and off at specific times: lights on, air moving, water flowing, and doors secure.

The environment was damn near perfect for any and all the fortune 500 companies. A fortress of success and cutting edge technology… What could go wrong? As long as the condition was perfect my job was humbly making keys, eliminating odors from p-traps, painting, changing ceiling tiles, etc. And it was during that time as an engineer I became inspired by an idea. I decided to start a ministry called “Salvational Engineering” where I would pick up trash around our little place in the hood. 

The idea was to prune the ministry by hitting every neighboring’ hood encompassed around mine—and you wouldn’t believe some of the things I found as trash, or actually… you just might!

So while that was in the making, a friend of mine invited me to help him on a move. I thought it was just me helping a friend; I tried to refuse payment, but he insisted on paying me for the hard work. And it was HARD work! Moving is no joke!

Then the friend called me again for a move, then again, again, and again. As this became something of a normal thing I saw the potential my friend had to do something about this moving thing and planted the idea of him starting a moving company; to which if he did, I’d be his right hand. Next thing I know we’re free falling, quitting our careers to pursue this entrepreneurial thing; it was grind time, everything changed! Salvational Engineering quickly faded into the background and eventually was set aside for an unexpected future resurrection.

At this junction the risk became surreal when my friend and I didn’t get that expected direct deposit into our accounts. We had to get side jobs to stay afloat: stained fences, landscaped – from planting flowers to cutting down trees – and then beating up rich people… ask Fred! (I’m joking). The business grew and grew, beyond our expectations, it was amazing to see how God took care of us at every turn, overcoming every obstacle. My wife was able to quit her job for us to focus on making them babies, but then… guess what happened! I’d later get terminated due to a story for another time…

Nathan preparing to recruit and my “conscience” (wife) interrupting 😂.

I know, the suspense will kill but long story short; we’d worked out our problem with another christian brother because after all we’re members of the same body in Christ. I was invited to come back as part of the Swan Moving Services team but had decided that continuing on that journey wasn’t worth the potential destruction of our friendship.

The principle that was crucial for me to understand before anything and everything else was that as believers I belonged to Christ before the business, relationship, and especially my own soul! I am going to teach you what that means and how to meet that principle as the story continues. Remember the machines that keep the power in the Tower; we function like machines, and the power in our “Tower’s” is the Spirit of God if the Spirit of Christ dwells in us (Romans 8).

James 3:1

“Do not become teachers in large numbers, my brothers, since you know that we who are teachers will incur a stricter judgment.”

I have a responsibility, especially in the trouble of today, to be humble before the Holy Spirit as He helps me navigate from the sin of past experiences to the discipline of our heavenly Father. I have believed and am believing with enduring faith in trials and temptations of this present evil age, humbled to suffer in the name of Jesus Christ as a son of God. Discipline hurts but produces the trait of humility and fruit of righteousness which is of heavenly value through Jesus Christ exalted as head over all.

So there I was, free to do whatever again…

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