All posts by AOCM

My name is Pastor Tony Catron I graduate from K.S.U. with a degree in electronic/electrical engineering. While doing that I became a Junior Deacon and also a musician in my dad's ministry in Cleveland, Ohio. Years later, my career took me to Michigan where I worked as a Electrical/Electronic Engineer. While in Michigan I became a Minister, then later went to Seminary training at Birmingham Bible Institute and became an Elder at a large Pentecostal church in Michigan called LLCC. I was called to the ministry by God. So I headed up an outreach ministry based on the End Times, dealing with restoration in people lives. Then my dad called me back to Ohio to help him Pastor his church. During that time, God changed my outreach ministry, turning it into a full-time restoration ministry. He gave me the name Ark of Covenant Ministries and the rest is history.
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The Patterns of Our Lives

Do you remember when you were growing up, how every week you would have a certain schedule for every day of the week? You’d get up, yawn, look out of one barely open eye, scratch, make some kind of weird sound with your mouth. Then you’d make  your way to the rest room to make sure your digestive system is working. Then shuffle around, then find your way to the refrigerator and then head back to your room to turn on the TV.

Everything moves and does so in a systematic way of movement. From things natural to things spiritual, and from things visible to things invisible. This movement is called a pattern and these patterns will determine the makeup of a thing or even determine the outcome of a thing whether positive or negative; weather good or bad. The consistency or inconsistency of the pattern will always bring you the same results. The only way one can change the results or outcome of that, one needs to make a change to understand, in mathematics equations, what the constant is. If there’s a change in the constant of a pattern, the results of that pattern will change.

For example, the jet stream moves from west to east. Now if something were to interrupt that flow, then that would cause a very abnormal weather pattern. Lets take the example of the heart. When the normal rhythm of your heart beat is interrupted, you experience what is known as “Arrhythmia,” a medical condition which doctors call a malfunction of the heart that can lead to the body not working properly or even resulting in death. A pattern change. Now the type of change or inconsistency to a pattern that had gone bad in the first place, can only be repaired by removing the change that cause that good pattern to be bad one in the first place.

Romans 12:1-7 reads:
1)I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2) And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
3) For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. 4) For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: 5) So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. 6) Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, 7) let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching;

 

You may ask your self how does this relate to you. Well, have you ever heard of the phrase “Oh that’s a habit I’m trying to get over or give up,” or “that’s just how I was raised.” You see everyday the number of people whose pattern of life has been changed from good, to confused, to bad. Sometimes people you know may seem to mean you well on the outside but on the inside they are jealous of you. The good pattern you have chosen in your life to walk, is the same pattern they just can’t seem to walk so they will try to hider yours by controlling your walk by what
ever means available!

Matthew 7:14-23 reads
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are
ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name
done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

You may think twice before you take advice or instructions from people who don’t have there walk correct.

Read Proverbs 14:12-16
There is a way which seemeth right unto a man,
but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful;
and the end of that mirth is heaviness.
The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways:
and a good man shall be satisfied from himself.
The simple believeth every word:
but the prudent man looketh well to his going.
A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil:
but the fool rageth, and is confident.
Or they are not living right. The Bible read in Proverbs 3:5-10
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;
and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy paths.
Be not wise in thine own eyes:
fear the Lord, and depart from evil.
It shall be health to thy navel,
and marrow to thy bones.
Honour the Lord with thy substance,
and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:
So shall thy barns be filled with plenty,
and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

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Did You Ever Grow Up?

1 Corinthians 13:11-12

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

I was thinking about when I was child, I did some crazy things. Did you ever tempt fate? Tempt life and death? When you look back when you were in your teens and preteens; the peer group pressure? Do you remember things like selfishness; lies? It was easy to tell a lie when you were young, but you really didn’t know what a lie was. You remember being a thief? “Don’t mess with those cookies…don’t mess with this…” Your siblings told you “don’t bother that…don’t take it.” Though that seems small, its still thievery. I was with a company that I was a contractor at, and I was told I could go into the office supply cabinet. I looked in there and it was as though I made it to mecca! I had a pen fetish and they had all types of lead, ballpoint, felt tip point, roller ball point; All sorts of erasers, those like putty, the big white ones, the big brown ones. Post it notes, tape…they had all the goodies. Colored paper clips…you never know how bad you need a paper clip until you need it. I was told I could get whatever I needed. I got every pen and eraser that I could get…and it wasn’t going anywhere but back to my desk. I was doing work with them, but some of them never stayed at my desk, but went home, and rested there. Now because it didn’t come from management and came from one of the engineers on the floor, it wasn’t for me to take, but I took and took and took again. I don’t know if there is such a word as nice stealing, but I stole, often. I was justifying everything…taking 4 bottles of whiteout, just in case I may need it. But I was a thief.

How about cheating? Do you remember anger? How about faithlessness? As a teenager, we told other teenagers “are you going to be faithful,” yet we weren’t even faithful. We tell them “don’t cheat on that test,” yet we cheat on that test.

Lets look at our childhood. Have you ever been selfish in your childhood? You know there use to be a truck that came around and the driver was Mr. Liberty. He had popsicles, iced cold bazooka bubble gum, fudge sickles, freeze pops, eskimo pies, the ice cream bars with chocolate on the outside, and the neapolitan ice cream…He always carried the right stuff for the kids in the neighborhood. He came at the right time, and when he rang that bell, every kid on that street came running, hopping and skipping beside the truck. He tried to satisfy every child and teach us about our money too. We had a wonderful time waiting for him to come, and we use to promise each other that we’d help the kid who didn’t have money and get them something. But when that time came up, we didn’t want to share, even when you ate some of another kids iced cream before. Then you would order knowing you had no money, then you felt angry, disenchanted; let down because you couldn’t get the thing you wanted.

Do you remember something you took from your sibling or friend and never gave it back? Did you know that you can’t steal someone from another person? You saw one teen with a girl you wanted. So you went about trying to steal the girl from him? This happened to me. Pains and trials and let downs that I didn’t even know were there. Kids being talked about, being made fun of. Teenagers. Wanting to be accepted. “You don’t dress right. We don’t like you. You belong with the misfits.” The things was is the misfits were all straight A’s. These memories are still with me today. Sometimes memories are still there, but attached to those memories are a growth that you never grew beyond. What about when things didn’t go your way? Were you angry with the person, the situation or with yourself? What about when you didn’t get chosen to do a particular task? Some of us want to be chosen, others of us don’t because we don’t want to be called a teachers pet. You remember when your sibling or friend told a lie to your mom or dad? Think about those moments? Do we ever see some of the remnants of our past childhood come up in our life now…how we walk in Christ, how we choose our friends, how we do business? Yes we do. The Word of God says when I was a child, I thought as a child, spoke as a child…Some of the things we do today are still from our past as a child. Did our bodies grow up and our minds stay the same? What does it mean to become a man? Not looking at things from a child’s point of view, but looking sensibly and reasonably. I don’t need to smack you back because you smacked me. We need to realize one thing. We need to grow up.

You wonder why God can’t use us? Because we haven’t grown up. He can’t give a responsibility to someone who is still doing the same old childish things. Think about it. If a person still hasn’t grown up past the mindset of having a playful type mentality all the time, would you entrust them to manage your money? Would you entrust them to handle your business? Think about it. Just relate that with God. Will the Lord entrust you to deliver His word to a person who’s soul is aching, who’s heart is hurting if your still in a child’s mentality? We have a lot of immature Christians out there. Some of them have come into the understanding of what the being clear picture is about. But they begin to play around, and take it lightly. They don’t look at others pain, anguish or hurt, but they say rather it is kind of funny the way they look. When you were a child, some of the things you did carried over into your adulthood. If you grew up liking toy race cars, maybe you became a race car driver. You ever wonder what your life would have been like had you not chosen your profession? What would you have done, accomplished, succeeded in? Would I have known who Jesus is? Would I be in this state or this country? What would I have done?

A lot of times our faith or the lack of faith is due to something that is lingering over into our childhood, linger into our adulthood. We had faith in someone; they failed, so we saw that faith didn’t work, or we have less faith. It causes you to have a misunderstanding of faith. Lack of faith is usually equated to having an emotion disillusion. You have a relationship with someone and you know it would last, but they pull out for some reason. But they told you they had faith in the relationship, then that lessens your idea of faith. The delusion of it all is because of the attachment you had on others wasn’t strong enough to maintain the bond, your faith lessens. You ask, “what came out of me that caused their walking faith not to be strong? Did I cause them not to be faithful? Did they see a lack of faith in me so they became unfaithful to us?” Then you begin to test that faith on them and say “I will try this one more time.” Then when they do it again, you don’t trust them at all.

What does mature mean? Its being able to let things go that don’t make sense. Mature comes in when you’re able to look at something circumspectly, weigh it, not just accept it, but know the consequence behind it. Whereas a person who is younger will jump right in and do it and find out later that it was bad. Maturity will say I’m 72 years old, I don’t need to have a car note. Maturity makes sense. I’m not working anymore, why would I go and make a big bill? You can’t live off someone else. You say you did when you were younger, and think you can do it today. Making the same old mistakes you did when you were younger. “He’s cute, got nice hair and muscles. So he must have a brain.” That is the same thing you did when you were younger. You weren’t looking for intelligence, you were looking for looks. You still live the life of a teen and here you’re 62. You still turn out to be a teen and your 50, making the same old stupid mistakes you made when you were younger. When it says I let go of childish things…the way you talked and acted. You can’t do the same things you use to do when you were younger. You should have some wisdom. Have you grown up yet? Its not the shape or the color of the product. Its whats in there that matters. You don’t want a man who will be candy on your arms. You want someone who will enhance you and teach you something. Whatever God gives you, trust Him.

Don’t let the ways of your past control your future. Don’t make the same stupid mistakes; being giddy making your choices in life. Start looking at thing a bit more seriously.

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Your Good Just Might Not be Good Enough

As people of God we want so much of God but we do and give so little for Him. Do you really know Him? Or maybe I should say do you really want to know Him?

Proverbs 21:2, 14:12, 16:25
Galatians 6:7-9, 1 Kings 18:21, Matthew 7:20-24

There’s a saying… “a little knowledge makes a person dangerous.” When most people gain a little knowledge about the Bible they believe that they are a Christian authority and their understanding is somewhat absolute even though they may not want to admit it. They fill that their understanding of the Bible gives them the right to speak for all
Christians, and from that they begin in corporate their own personal belief system into what ever the biblical topic being discuss is, according to the way they feel concerning what the Word of God is saying. They will begin to impose their understanding on everybody and thing. And a lot of times, this leads to a new belief system that contradicts the Bible all the time. Then that belief doctrine will begin to become infectious and nine time’s out of ten because there may be some kind of relationship or emotional attachment involved that people will begin to equate
this as being true words of Jesus.

People usually will follow after someone they care about when it comes to listening to the Word of Jesus instead of only listening to the the Word of Jesus Christ as to not hurt others feelings.

Proverbs 21:2
Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts.

 

The word Ponder means ‘to think.”

Isaiah 5:18-23
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope: That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink: Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

For those who think they know Jesus will begin to justify what they do in His name with a surety! It’s the people who tend to believe they know what a Christian is supposed to be like, but never had a relationship with Jesus. They don’t love Him, they really only heard of Him have a lot of mouth service all because they read the Bible like a book as in a fairy tale and only to be taken as such. Not as the true inspirational words from Jesus and the only way to know this is to travel down the road of salvation, to find out first who Jesus is and what He means to world and personally to you.

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It’s Only a Test to See Where You’re At

In other arenas some call it a wake up call. Has there ever been a time in your life were it
seems like nothing was going right for you? It appears that ever time you take two steps
forward, sometimes it fills like you got kicked a yard backward. Even when you just got freed from a
thing, here comes a person, place or thing popping back up in your life again, trying to remind you
of what you did in the past. Then all of a sudden your mind starts to reminisce of what had
transpired in your past, weather good or bad, and the more you reflect on the past, you begin to
live in that past again, drawing from all the emotions, either good or bad. Then once
again you’re bound, forever looking behind you, never in front of you. As you know no one can ever
grow in their life looking behind themselves. Even as the Bible say that a person can’t plow
their field looking back (Luke 9:62).

Luke 9:59-62
And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

“It’s just a test too see where you’re at!”

When you look at the word “It’s”: This denotes an advent in your life that has caused you to slow
down or even halts your process in your Psyche (soul or mind) but heighten your sense.

Now when we look at the word TEST: which is the procedure intended to establish the quality
performance, or reliability of something before wide spread use.

Now in the case of a Christian it is becoming self-awareness in your Spiritual walk and growth before the Lord can use you. You must remember Jesus is making you into someone He can use for the kingdom but
breaking and disconnecting from your attachment to this world. So if your going through any situation and it seems like there is no end and no answer, just remember that the Lord Jesus will not put no more on you then you can bear without giving you a way of escape.

1 Corinthians 10:13
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

We must remember that Jesus is making a new creature in you for Him; a vessel that holy and acceptable for His use and His will. What greater faith and love the Lord Jesus has in us to make us just like Him?!

Example:
The old samurai sword maker spent months and sometime even years to make the ultimate
sword that any emperor or king would use and pass down through out generations.The blade
would be almost perfect. But the process to achieve that end takes a lot of heating, folding,
beating, cooling over and over again; thousands of time over months and years. Don’t refuse the heat and don’t refuse the beating. In other words don’t complain because of your tests or your trials of temptation, health, finance, and any affairs of the heart.

James 1:1-4
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

He will not put nothing on you that will cause you to sin or to turn from Him. We just have to see it through to the end no matter what. He already saw the best in you when you on saw the worst in you. You saw failure and He saw victory in you. Remember your are that samurai sword that’s being made into perfection, ready to be used by the king of glory!

Reference scriptures:
1. Ephesians 6:1-14 putting on the whole Armor of God
2. Phil 11:29 believe and suffer for him.
3. Gal. 5:1 be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage
4. Rev. 3:20 he’s knocking at the door.