What have we lost sight of?

In our world, whether it is a religious belief or one which is based in science and reason, it seems that many have lost sight of our past which came from persecution of how we worship or rather how our ancestors did. Have we lost sight of those historical documents and ideas from only a few hundred years past? Why is it that we are embracing philosophy and teachings which don’t have a basis or foundation solid enough to stand up to the Truth?

I know, many people don’t like God’s Truth because they can’t refute it and they can’t truly come up with a “pseudo-truth” to replace it with. False truth like false religions is just that…false. They are very much like a puff of smoke, lingering for a moment and then gone with only a faint trace left behind. Yet, God’s Word and His Truth has withstood the test of time and of those who have tried very hard to get rid of it!

Business and life both need truth in some form. Honesty in business is necessary because without it you are a swindler and a cheat. The Truth of God’s Word is necessary in life and all of its situations, good and bad, because it gives us a foundation to stand on and hope that we will have victory in some way in our life. Consider Solomon and his wisdom.

He became king after his father, David, passed on into eternity. The first prayer which he prayed after becoming king was not for wealth or long life, but for wisdom enough to rule God’s people. Knowledge and wisdom are different sides of the same coin in some respects. You have to have one to get the other and although trial and error will produce wisdom, knowledge will get you there a bit sooner if you will heed the warnings which it produces.

If you don’t listen to the voice of wisdom which speaks about the lessons learned into your soul, then you are foolish. While it is true that experience is a good teacher, sometimes she can be very harsh as well, even downright dangerous at times. Business leaders and workers need to learn from experience at times, but the wisdom gained from God’s Word can save you much heartache and anguish if applied carefully and with prayer.

Proverbs is a good example of knowledge and wisdom contained in one book and should be required reading in schools, although in today’s political climate it would be incorrect to do so. The link that is provided is the beginning of the book of Proverbs and it only has thirty-one chapters, so you could read one per day and get through it in a month. The wisdom contained in it though, is invaluable in life and business as well. I encourage anyone who has an interest in either to read it and pray about it and then read it again. You will be blessed by it.

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What is the difference?

There is so much in the media today about LGBT rights and privileges and their struggle with their identity. Gay or straight what is the actual difference other than sexual? Acting out a role in an identity, no matter which side of the “fence” you may be on, is just that…a role. Whether you feel like a man or a woman today or tomorrow doesn’t mean anything! The gender which was given to you by genetics and by God Himself/Herself, is the one that you were born with and it should be the gender that you live by.

You can’t “think” your way into being a man or male or female. It is your right to pursue happiness in your own way but truly it shouldn’t impair or impact my happiness if I choose not to “think” your way. Life is a challenge regardless of your gender or your preference in the bedroom, but your choices shouldn’t be forced into laws or into schoolrooms for children to learn. Especially since most children don’t find out about their own preferences in sex or identity until they are well into their teens or even into their twenties.

God created us as male and female in order for the human race to populate the Earth. The same way that animals in the jungle pair up as male and female to keep the species viable and alive. God loves all of humanity and His Creation but He isn’t very happy about our stupidity when it comes to the way we blatantly sin against His rules and the natural order of things.

The verses in God’s Word which address this can’t just be tossed out because it offends some people due to their ideas of gender and sexual partners. That is like taking a part out of a recipe to make a cake or brownies, leaving the sugar or the chocolate out just makes it a very dull and bland tasting mess. It may look like a chocolate cake or a pan of brownies but without that critical ingredient, very few people would want to eat it.

Seek God and His righteous ways through prayer and study of His Word, even if some part of it offends you. Why? Because, He gave those Scriptures to us as a guide for life, almost like an instruction manual. He didn’t give us step by step instructions for every situation but if you will turn to Him and depend upon Him in this life, then the other steps will work out in your favor. As Jesus said, “Seek out the Kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.”

Too much negativity

Every day we hear negative things being said about people in our society and by the political machine which has been going on for about 1 1/2 years or so. What good does all of this sniping and complaining do? None of it does anything positive for the country nor does it make each candidate look any better in the eyes of the voters.

Can we do anything about it? No, probably not, particularly because we live in such a “politically correct” society, not just in America but the entire world seems bent on not hurting people’s feelings. Yet, they are perfectly fine with killing babies in and out of the womb, and it doesn’t matter if someone kills himself or herself by being blown up by a bomb so that they can kill many people in the process.

Many of those who are being killed are Christians and they are being killed because of their faith in Jesus! This is only going to get worse. Politicians are talking about how they will do away with ISIS because of their terrorism toward us and Israel, but they have no clue how to go about it. I am sure that many of you who will read this will wonder why I am adding to the pile of negative junk in the media. My reason is that there is Hope!

Being PC in this world just shows that our ignorance is showing and that everyone can see it. Why? Because everything that is on the news these days is backwards and out of touch with the majority who believe one way while the ones who are crying or whining about some injustice make up only one to three percent of the population. Just as in a schoolroom full of children, one who is crying will get far more attention than 40 who are not, that is our society today.

One day very soon, Jesus is going to come back and take His church home. It will not matter whether you believe in Him or not, those of us who have given our hearts and our lives to Him will be taken up and away from here. Some say this is going to happen before the “anti-Christ” shows up, but I believe that we will be present during part of the Tribulation.

God will try us all by the fire of Satan’s wrath to be sure of those who believe in Jesus. Many will fall away from the faith, many will abandon their religious background and the church that they grew up in. The things which are happening right now are what Jesus spoke of as being the birth pains before the event which will rock the whole world to its core. Please seek Jesus in your life, in your Bible and your church while there is still time. We have the way to eternal life and it is belief in Jesus but if you refuse, then you only have yourself to blame.

I bring this up because it is my job to do so. I was called by God to be a pastor so I am doing the best that I can while I can to tell as many as possible about Jesus and His offer of salvation. Do I get any points for doing this? No, unless you accept Jesus as your Savior. Then, I will get to meet you in eternity and I will gain a brother or sister in Christ! Don’t turn away from Jesus while there is still time to ask Him to heal your broken heart or your relationships! He made the entire cosmos with His Word, so I believe He can do anything that you ask of Him, especially forgiving you and bringing salvation into your heart.

Still in denial…

Many times, those of us who feel overwhelmed and depressed are in denial about the reason for the way we feel. It could be something which happened yesterday or last month, but we won’t admit it. It could be something which happened to us last year or even years ago which just comes to the surface when we hear a song or watch a TV show. There are many triggers which bring to mind things that we want to forget, things which we thought that we had dealt with but…we really haven’t.

We just pushed the memory into a corner or a closet and shut the door, hoping that it wouldn’t come out again in the near future. But…something or maybe nothing triggers that memory and all of it rushes out like a flood and we have to deal with it all over again.

I know that many times I usually have some advice about how to avoid these kinds of problems, but in this instance there is no fix or cure. Yes, giving your heart to Jesus does help because you can pray to Him and ask for His strength to get through it but the memory and the depression and pain from it won’t really go away. You will be able to bear it more gracefully and with strength that you didn’t have before but it will still come back.

That being said, Jesus is not the One responsible for bringing old hurts and memories to your recall, especially ones which cause pain and depression. Satan and his cohorts do that and they are very good at it. They have had many years of practice. The good news about this is that you don’t have to live with it alone! Jesus is there with you, if you have asked Him to come into your heart. He will never leave you!

Denial is something that all of us suffer with because we don’t think we need help with certain thing or we don’t consider an old hurt or pain from our past to be significant. But, there are days that cause the memories and feelings to rush back into your life and unless you have a lot of family who understands, you will need Jesus to get you through this.

God loves you and He never intended for us to have the issues which we have to deal with today. The rebellion, which is what happened in the Garden, is what started all of this. One act of doing something that the Father told you not to do, caused the pain and suffering and all of the cruelty in the world. Our human nature wasn’t made that way in the beginning, but by doing it in spite of the command not to, we told God that we will do it our way.

Humanity’s way has not worked out so well in the past few hundred or thousand years. We have made mistakes, big mistakes. We have caused a lot of suffering in places where we shouldn’t have been. In the name of one religion or another, we have killed and murdered people for beliefs which didn’t follow the “church” at the time. We, as in humanity, have done some horrific things in the name of religion, even the Christian religion in the Dark ages following the dictates of men who were in charge has killed and murdered people. All of this has broken the heart of God, because many times the Inquisition, the Crusades, the witch hunts and even the burning of believers who believed differently from accepted doctrine, all of this was done under the guise of serving God.

The church doesn’t want these to come to light because then our religion is no different from the one which is doing the same thing in the Middle East today! There is evidence of course, written and archived, but the thing is many of those saints who were killed for their belief will sit in judgement of those who burned them one day. Unless their killers repented and turned from those things, becoming heretics themselves, they will be judged and sentenced to the lake of fire at the White Throne judgement.

Being in denial doesn’t get rid of the problem. Just as sweeping dust under the rug doesn’t get rid of it either. Giving your life and your heart to Jesus will change your life forever and those problems which creep up on you will be easier to bear with Jesus at your side.

Why?

Are we so blind to suffering and heartache that we don’t see it? Are we that indifferent and uncaring toward those around us? What happened?

It started many years ago and we didn’t notice, or maybe we just were too busy at the time. The Vietnam war was going on, our President had been murdered, unrest was rampant all over and I was about four or five years old. My parents weren’t getting along, things were happening that I didn’t understand, and our country made a law that has had massive repercussions in the years since then.

That law had to do with using the Bible in school and also prayer in schools too. It pushed God out of our education system at a time when He was sorely needed. He is even more needed today than He was then, but the laws have become even more restrictive. Chaplains can’t use the name of Jesus in their prayers for our servicemen and women anymore, the traditional family has been broken apart and now consists of accepted relationships which are against God’s laws.

We have changed our society to the point of being so different from the nation that our forefathers envisioned until they wouldn’t recognize it today. Many of them would be arrested for the words that they used in writing our Constitution. Why?

Political correctness, we don’t want to offend anyone or at least anyone who isn’t a Christian. Most of the laws enacted today are against the values and truths which we hold dear in our churches and it will likely get worse in the future. Why? Because we have pushed God and His Truth out of education and out of most areas of public life. We can’t show nativity scenes during Christmas on the public square. Parades during this time are called holiday parades or winter parades. But, if you want to show your support for any other religion…that is fine! No problem at all.

We are becoming a country which began as a nation founded with ideals drawn from God’s Word but today we have pushed Him out and we are in rebellion against Him. Why?

Read God’s Word, in particular the books of Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Revelation. These are the prophecy books that most people try to avoid, but the time that all of them refer to is now or at least it is beginning to be. We hear about or witness things which defy a real explanation other than “you don’t believe the way I do” or something similar.

What is happening in your world?

We all live in different areas of the world and we are influenced by our own culture, regardless of what kind of culture it may be. Some of us have grown up in areas where there is an intolerant attitude toward other cultures or beliefs. If you have grown up in an area like this, it may not seem to be a bad thing. Because to you and your family and friends, it is normal to be that way. But, what about the rest of the world? How do they perceive your culture? Do you even care how it is perceived?

Today, it seems that many people don’t really care about perceptions from outside their culture. Many people don’t even care about what their family and friends think, particularly if they are from a different cultural or religious background.

Why are we so polarized into left and right, right and wrong, do or don’t do, or even “if you don’t believe the way that I do, I will kill you!”

All of this is happening because of Satan and his influence over our world and our cultures. Many in our world today don’t want to admit that he even exists, let alone that he is the influence behind the back-biting and religious intolerance and all sorts of hate that is going on around us. If we could just learn to live by the principles taught in the Bible, there wouldn’t be so much strife in the world, but sadly Jesus predicted that this time would come.

“And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.” Matthew 10:22

We are to endure with patience and follow His example in these times. We are not to slander and hate others because that is what they are doing and we are called to be like Jesus, not like the world. So, why is it that we have so much trouble between cultures and beliefs? Again, the answer is Satan and his influence on our world. He hates us and it doesn’t matter what religion that you cling to because he wanted to rule the world and make it his. God gave us dominion over the Earth, but Adam handed it over when he disobeyed God so long ago. We have been living under the assumption that we still have dominion over it but we don’t really. It is just an illusion that we have been led to have by him.

God is in control of the outcome, no matter who thinks they are. We are the ones who need God and not the other way around. Trust in Him, learn of Him, ask Jesus into your life and your heart because one day, in this life or the next, you will bow to Him. It needs to be in this life because after this life, you will bow to His judgement if you didn’t ask Him into your life while you yet live.

So much…

Why is there so much hate in the world? Why do people get killed for no apparent reason, at home or overseas? What is so wrong with the world and the people in it that causes so much of the population to try to kill each other?

The simple answer is…that there is no simple answer at all! There is nothing simple about it because the evil in the world has had a very long time to perfect its trade and the way that it controls people without them knowing it. Yes, the simple answer is Satan and his demonic forces. Oh, they don’t go around possessing people much today, BUT they do make suggestions about the evil that is done. Manipulating people is their forte’, and they are very good at it!

Why a title like “So much…”? Because there is so much hate and mistrust and anger about things which don’t and won’t matter in the long run, especially today. Why can’t we get along like people should? Because, we never have and we just simply don’t know how!

Our “better nature” isn’t any better than it was two thousand years ago or even further back in time. We haven’t gotten better. I don’t have to prove it, you can see it on the Internet and the news every day!

I know that many of you who come here may be wondering, why I am bringing this subject up at this time of year? Why now? Because, if we don’t look to the Author of Life, our Creator, for help and for salvation before it gets any worse..it will get much worse!

This small post is meant to jar you into thinking about this, in your life and in those lives around you. Search out the Creator and our God, the Only One Who can FIX this in each of our lives! Because if we don’t allow Him to fix each of our lives then how are we supposed to fix the problems around the world? If we can’t get our own lives straight. and we can’t do it alone, then how can we possibly fix our community or the city that we live in or the country where we live?

The only fix for this world is to come to a realization that we all NEED God in our lives and we need to follow Him daily. Learn from His Word, not the Koran but the Bible! They are NOT the same!!

Hello, its been awhile

Life has a way of placing things in your way to keep you from keeping up with things sometimes. Like this blog. I haven’t been here recently, as you may have noticed.

I have been busy with diagnostic tests and all of the stuff that goes along with them. I won’t have to do it again for five years, thank God!

I won’t go into the details but I think you can guess what went on so I will just leave out the gory details. Anyway, life really can throw you for a loop sometimes no matter who you are or whether you are a Christian or not. I will not get “preachy” any more than usual today. Truly, we should thank God for all of our blessings every day. Many of them we don’t realize are true blessings, such as being able to get up and go to the restroom or to be able to walk at all. For many people in the world, they can wake up but they can’t get up to go to the bathroom or to the table to eat breakfast.

So, just waking up this morning is a blessing, drinking your coffee is a blessing, looking at the newspaper or television news (as depressing as that sounds) is a blessing sometimes. Just being able to breathe and get around at all is a blessing. All of these, or at least many of them, we take for granted. We think that tomorrow will always be there, but we’re not guaranteed tomorrow. If you are awake, then today is the day of salvation. Preferably, right now.

See, God gives you your breath and even though it is something that we don’t have to tell ourselves to do, it is still a gift from Him. Every action that we take, from getting up and putting our clothes on to fixing the coffee, is a gift from God. Your children are gifts from Him to you and it doesn’t matter how much they are troublesome or hyperactive, they are still His gift to you so that you can learn from the experience. Some of us don’t like the “learning curve” that raising a child is, but if you put God first in your life and allow Him to direct your actions daily, life itself isn’t really that bad.

Yes, there will be days when you just want to kill yourself and others too, but seek Him out during those trying times and His Wisdom will help you to calm down. I know, most of us have been taught that we should be self-sufficient and able to handle any situation. But, when reality sets in and you realize that self-sufficiency isn’t all that it is “cracked up” to be, the only One Who can truly help is available to you, if you will give your life to Him and ask for His strength and His wisdom in your time of need. It doesn’t matter if you need Him to help you find your wallet or your keys or to make a decision on a new home or car, God cares about you and wants to be in your life.

He is a triune God, even though many religions don’t recognize Him as such. When Jesus was baptized, all three of God’s manifestations were present. The Son, the Holy Spirit that looked like a dove and God the Father who said, “This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased.” It is true that the Bible doesn’t relate to the three as the same, but in Genesis God said, “Let us make man in our image”. Proper English translation is that He was referring to the three of them. Jesus told His disciples, unless I go back to my Father, the Helper (Holy Spirit) can’t come. God is the only Creator, but He is in three Persons and able to be in more than one place at a time.

God loves all of mankind, He just doesn’t love the sinful ways that we live our lives. Think on this and please attend a Bible teaching church while we are still here to make the choice of allowing Him into our lives so others can see Him in us.

Love, life, and living

Something which we all do every day in some form or another but how do you really live everyday? Do you depend upon your own strength and your own version of “values”? Some of us were brought up knowing right from wrong, but it seems that today many don’t care which one they choose. Many seem to be just “following the crowd”, regardless of what the crowd may be doing. It might be looting a town, burning businesses and cars, throwing bottles at police, and participating in a group which is generally unhappy about something.

It seems that there is no individual happiness and cooperation in our cities and towns any more. Life is whatever you decide is necessary to get by with and if breaking the law is part of the equation, whether it is God’s law or man’s laws, then that is what is usually done. Mostly without regard to the life and property of others as long as you get your part of the loot, it doesn’t seem to matter what happens to those around you.

Life is more than this anger infested challenge to all law enforcers as we have been seeing all over the world and more here in America lately. There is one universal Truth in all of this that holds true for all religions and ethnic cultures…you can’t kill someone, you won’t kill someone if you feel genuine love for that person. I am not speaking of romantic love, I am speaking about the love that comes from God. Not Allah, not Krishna, not Buddha or any of the other religions out there.

The problem that has arisen in the past century is that many people are tired of being told and shown the correct path to follow, so they either choose one that feels good to them or they create a religion which they can mould and fit to their own life and values. The very aspect of a religion fitting your values and choices proves that it is a false religion. Sure, you may feel better about yourself and you may cause others to feel good while worshipping in this fashion. You can even find scriptures which can be used out of context which will make many people think that your religion is part of the Christian group of religions, but if you really tested it against the teachings that Jesus and His disciples taught and wrote in the New Testament you will find that it is just hot air and nothing more.

Becoming angry about someone showing you this won’t change the fact that leading others in this direction will take you down a wide path which leads to hell itself. God never intended for us to get onto a path such as that, but when pride rules your heart and makes you believe that your way is right and everyone else’s way is wrong, that is the direction that you will take. Satan enjoys creating new religions and he has become an expert at it. He will appear to someone in a dream as an angel from God to give them a “revelation” and that they have been chosen to be a “prophet” for God while leading people in this “new” religion or way of thinking.

Many people are convinced that their way, whichever way that might be, is right. The apostle Paul was one of these and he was convinced that these “Way people”, as he called them, were a problem and that they needed to be destroyed or at least arrested and tried. Saul, as he was known at that time, was a very zealous for Judaism and the laws of Moses and this “sect”, as he thought of it, was trying to corrupt the Jewish people. God sent His Son to the Jewish people first in order to bring them back to Him and they refused to see that He was the Messiah. Then, God changed Saul’s heart with an encounter with Jesus so that he could take the gospel to the gentiles and he did a great job of it. So good in fact that he died as a martyr for Christ in Rome, just as Peter did.

Our lives matter to God far more than they seem to matter to us these days. Even the children who are sent but are aborted before they take their first breath, they are precious in His sight too. Seeking out God and His wisdom is not a hard thing to do, but if you want to know the True God, the Creator, the Redeemer, the Rock, then you have to look for Him and today the only place to do that is in the Bible. I preach from the Bible every week and I pray that you read it at least if you don’t attend a church which teaches it. He is good always and in all ways God is good!

Living successfully by faith

Successful living can be done by many, in many ways. Learning and pursuing a lucrative position or skill can help you to live successfully by the world’s standards. You can have money, fame, fortune, mansions, and cars…all of the trappings of a successful life. Have you ever wondered why so many “successful” people have to go to drug rehabilitation programs? Why do many have to go through programs to help them to beat their addiction to alcohol too?

If you were to ask them their reasons for these addictions, there would be only one reason given and that is because they felt that something was missing in their life. There was an empty feeling, even with everything that they have. Why do you think that might be?

The reason is simple, if you look for it in the right place. It can’t be found in a bar or in a bottle of pills or alcohol which is why those things never satisfy. Seeking satisfaction in money will only bring stress and heart trouble and possibly ulcers. Seeking to satisfy your craving to fill that empty space with lovers or drugs will only end in your death. Two things which are never satisfied, or maybe three: death, hell and the grave. Not one of these is ever full enough to cry out, “Enough!”.

A successful life can be lived happily and humbly by seeking God in the Bible. Learning about Him through study and prayer and seeking out His Son, Jesus by faith. This is the only path that will give you true satisfaction and peace in your life. No other way exists which will lead you in that direction, certainly nothing made by man can do it. No amount of money can buy a key which will open the gates of Heaven, only the acceptance of the grace offered to us through Jesus by God will do that.

Yes, this post is about your salvation because God loves you. Whether you are successful in this life and by the world’s standard or not, He loves you. You can do for His Kingdom something which nobody else can do and He will show you that path to eternal success. The success which I speak of doesn’t end with this life because our life is only a puff of smoke compared to eternity!

Consider the dot (.) that you see there. Then stretch a line from it all the way to the other side of our solar system. That dot or period as it is called represents your life in its entirety, that line which stretches for nearly nine billion miles represents only a fraction of eternity! Why would you want to concern yourself with such a tiny part of your existence when there is so much more ahead of you?

If you live your life chasing rainbows and never find the time or a reason to give Jesus a place in your heart, then your eternity will be very different. It will be spent totally isolated from God and His love, in a darkness so complete that it will be painful and agonising. Yet you will have eternity to think about the times that you heard His message and maybe even felt moved to accept it…but you didn’t.  Why? It would’ve been so easy to make that decision, so simple even a child can do it and yet many people just don’t.

Some today are being called by Jesus just as Saul was on the Damascus road and they are answering that call. It will put their lives in danger, but they are doing it anyway. Why? Because, Jesus is the answer that everyone is looking for! They just don’t know it yet.

Thank you for reading and I hope to see you in Heaven.