BAPTISM BY FIRE

It's not always easy being a young administrator

After He was resurrected, Christ returned to Heaven to sit at the right hand of God.It is also said that through His death, Christ will destroy Satan. If the devil were openly evil, it would not be necessary for Christ to do anything to destroy Satan; Satan would already be condemned by his own actions. If Satan's hatred of God is hidden within his evil heart, it would be necessary for that evil to be exposed. Christ must have exposed or witnessed the evil in the heart of Satan. This exposure must somehow be connected to the death of Christ.Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,So there the two of us sat, desks facing each other, in about week six of sorting through city business, when the finance/human resources director, a 20-year employee, walked out the door. As we scrambled to make a work plan, we uncovered a paper box of unpaid and mostly overdue invoices. As the days went by, we called businesses and slowly managed to clean up the disorder.Psalms 110:1 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool."They have no cloke for their sin" is reference to the fact that the evil of Satan and his angels is no longer hidden but has been witnessed by Christ.Notice that at the time Satan is cast out of Heaven, there is but a short time. To this very day, The devil is still in Heaven. This sounds hard to believe since Satan is the essence of evil.Christ has not yet fully returned to God which means Satan is not yet condemned under the Law. The knowledge that the devil will be condemned will cause the conflict to begin in Heaven. Since he is not yet condemned, Satan will not yet be cast into hell or the "bottomless pit"; but because of the conflict, he will be cast out of Heaven into the Earth. Knowing that he is already doomed, Satan will openly violate the Law of God after he is cast out into the Earth. The devil will do many other things for which he will be condemned by the Law. When Satan is cast out into the Earth it will cause an escalation of evil that culminates in horrors of Armageddon.At age 26, I am currently the youngest city administrator in the state of South Carolina. Although still new to the profession, my first two years in the job have been quite eventful. Without question, the most significant decision I have made thus far concerned how to fund my community's water project. Perhaps you heard something about that decision. You see, Pickens is the little city that turned down $16 million in stimulus funds last year.The devil demonstrated that he did not know that Jesus was the Son of God. Satan did not fully realize the power that Jesus possessed, nor did he realize that Jesus would rise from the dead.The Gentile congregation who have committed fornication with The City which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt will lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning. All the merchants and congregations, of the earth on account of their lost, shall mourn over her. The Gentile congregation and the merchants of the earth, only interested is in gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, fine linen, food, drink, shelter, and pornographic entertainment. The Gentile Congregation and the merchants of the earth are consumed with conspicuous consumption. The conspicuous consumption of agricultural, material, and entertainment commodities. Gentile Congregations lust for the commodities of conspicuous consumption.In a panic, I picked up the phone and called my professor again - this time to let her know I would not be in class that evening. In the same sentence, I asked if she would work as a consultant to get the HR department back in order. After a little negotiation, she agreed; and during the next few months my new (albeit temporary) team and I got the city back on track.Two days before my 24th birthday and two months before I received my MPA from Clemson University, I was abruptly promoted from intern to assistant administrator of Pickens when the former administrator moved to another job. I was extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to work for six months with a retired administrator who was serving as the interim manager.Revelation 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.This was done because of the strings attached to the funds and the amount of borrowing required before ever receiving any of the "free money. " Instead, we scaled back this shovel-ready rehabilitation project and are currently preparing bid documents for a $4 million version of it. We also refinanced six outstanding revenue bonds dating back from the 1950s and actually found hundreds of thousands of dollars sitting in reserve accounts. We used this money to pay down the debt, pay off all the funding agencies, and roll it into one new bond that saved the city $1 million over the life of the debt.Pickens, South CarolinaNeeding to fill the finance/HR director position immediately, I called and asked for advice from one of my professors, who teaches a human resources class. She advised me to contact a local staffing firm, and within a few days we had found a replacement.Since Satan is evil, he should have been cast out of Heaven long before now, but the Bible strongly suggests that the devil is not expelled until the end times. Satan is not expelled until now because Satan has managed to evade condemnation under the Law by keeping his evil hidden within himself.The City which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt is Mystery Babylon, the streetwalker, that has planted religious mob law among Gentile Congregations. Mount Zion has trained the Gentile Congregations to hold in opposition and as contraries, the Ten Commandments and the confession of Jesus. This holding in tension the word of GOD and the eternal attributes of Jesus, only benefits the wicked one, and is an attempt to undermine saving faith in The Firstborn over all creation. It is a trick from the depths of the Angel of Darkness. If the mind is not rooted in The Beginning and End, who is the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven; then it is rooted in the worship of the vile person. Congregations that have an appetite for agricultural and material commodities, rebuff the Ten Commandments, as The City which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt rebuffed The Holy One.

kbrackett@pickenscity.com

Author: Brackett, Katherine