The Destructiveness of Pride in a Christian

It's awfully hard to watch someone you know is saved that keeps trying to live the Christian life in their own power. They set themselves up for failure repeatedly and can't grasp the reason why they continually fail. It's personally sad, for no matter what you do to help, they don't see the problem is themselves.

No matter how many sermons they hear, or Bible studies they attend, they just won't let God be God. They won't get off the throne and trust Jesus to rule over them.... They won't let God have their lives beyond their salvation.

They haven't grown beyond the warm-fuzzy of their initial salvation.

It all comes down to the original sin of pride.

Pride destroys everyone and everything.

"For you (Lucifer) have said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the most high" Isaiah 14:12-14.

No one can sit on the throne of God except GOD. If a Christian keeps attempting to crawl up there, seeking to rule themselves, their sins will create more troubles for them and for all those around them.

"You have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD. nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; for whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives" Hebrews 12:5,6.

There is something wrong when a Christian can keep sinning without some kind of remorse for theuir actions.

For to know Jesus went to the cross to take the punishment for your sins, and then as a Christian stand at the foot of the cross, looking up at Him, how can you shake your fist and say,

"You are the Almighty Savior, and I thank you for saving me."...but...
"No, you shall not rule over me."
"I know better than you how to run my life"
"I don't care about Your suffering so I can have abundant life."
"I am not going to submit beyond faith that Your forgave my sins."
"I am not going to obey."
"I will not trust You to command me."
"I will not pray."
"I will not read my Bible." 

"Thus also faith by itself, it if does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, 'You have faith and I have works.' 'Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works." James 2:17,18.

"Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves"

James 1:22.

The term 'backsliding' is the picture of a cow with her feet firmly planted, pulling back on the lead rope, refusing to be led into a stall.

Only Christians can be backsliders, since they are the only ones who are led by God into His 'stalls' to be fed and nurtured. They can 'backslide' by willfully refusing to obey the commands of God.
A non-Christian has no personal interactions with God, so they, as wild cattle, have no room in God's 'stalls'.

Prayer for fellow Christians is vitally important. Sometimes your personally steadfast walk of faith is the only thing that can help both you in your sorrow for your friend, and your friend as they watch your interaction with our Holy God.

Pray and Pray and Pray

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Salvation Through The Word Of God

The awesomeness of God's Holy Bible is that if anyone wants to know God and finds a Bible, they can read it and come to know God and His free salvation. They don't need to study any other books along side the Bible to lead them to God.

Sometimes too many study helps can get us off track from the simplicity of the Bible. And that can be very, very dangerous. We can get into the most ridiculous arguments over which version is right, but it is the Word of God, not our interpreta...tions of it that save people.

Paul warns, through Timothy, "Remind them of these things charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers" 2 Tim 2:14
and to Titus Paul wrote,"But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless" 3:9.

I've read and heard testimonies of people who have found only a page, or a scrap of the Bible, even a Bible tract, that have been saved through the power and love of God.

If you are a born-again Christian, saved by the grace of God, don't ever, ever, ever say anything about the Holy Bible other than what it says in 2 Timothy 3:16, 

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work"

"For faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God" Romans 10:17.

"For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piecing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" Hebrews 4:12.

"My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgement" James 3:1.(Jesus prayed to God the Father) "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth" John 17:17.

Don't ever say any part of whatever version of the Holy Bible you prefer is not able to save, for it is the power of God to save. Your thoughts for or against which Scripture is used by God don't have the smallest iota one way or the other. If the words are between the cover of the Holy Bible, God can use it for His glory! And God preserves His word for that very purpose.

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Love & Grace--the Ministry Engine

Ministry for God, as witnesses to Jesus is the work that gets the gospel of salvation to the lost. Without love it is impossible. Love is the manifestation that you are of God

"Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophecy" 14:1.

"Pursue love" Jesus said that everyone will know who Christians are because we love each other with the love with which He loves us (John13- 17). Love is the foundation fruit of the Holy Spirit (Mark 12:29-31, Galatians 5).

Desire spiritual gifts" The word 'gifts' is added in the English to help convey what is meant, but the original language says 'desire the Spiritual'. Desire to be filled with the love of God and the power of God to be a witness to the work of Jesus through the cross (Act 1:8) Everything that the Holy Spirit does points to Jesus and the Father, (John 13-17)

So, desire to be the instrument that reveals Jesus and the Father to the world seeking the true and living God. That takes letting the Holy Spirit indwell and fill you. And that is amazing!

'especially that you may prophecy' Paul, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, added this clause with the conjunction 'But' (However, Also, To be sure). It is this kind of speaking witness to Jesus that is the capstone to the work given to born again Christians. For a Christian to correctly speak from and teach from the Bible is how the lost receive the truth of God, (Hebrews 1:1, Romans 10:8-15, 2 Timothy 2:15, 3:16-17)

We serve an amazing God!

Grace is the foundation of all God's works. Without grace we could never be connected to God. It is His grace that supplies the love and life through Jesus Christ.

God's grace is the fuel for all works in Jesus' name.

"And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. For it is written: "He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever." Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, while you are enriched in everything f...or all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God. 2 Corinthians 9:8-11.

If God gives you a ministry and you put all your heart into it and make your sacrifice and offering to God for the ministry to save the lost, God takes all that you give, whatever that is, and multiplies it in ways you cannot imagine.

He uses whatever it is you give, whether material, time, or monetary, for His glory and the purpose of saving the lost. And because you can see His grace abounding for all through your love and service to God and people in need, your thanksgivings will multiply and your praise will be sweet.

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Brother Against Brother: Short Fiction

Reassuring himself the Enfield was loaded; Seth pointed it at the Confederate. The man remained calm, propped against the remains of the stonewall.

“How old are you, Son?”

“What?”

“You ain’t old enough for fightin’, Son. You should be in school, or fetchin’ for your mother.”

“You shut up!” He tried to be threatening but failed. He was just a scared kid in a war that was supposed to be over.

A Private in Colonel Joshua Chamberlain’s Twentieth Maine Infantry, who were occupying this hill, miles from the main battle, Seth was still amid the horrors. The moans and screams of the wounded and dying added to his mental anguish. Somehow, when they swung down the side of the mound named Little Round Top, he had separated from the main group and stumbled into this depression, and away from the major shooting.

Falling into the hole, Seth landed on a body, which grunted and moved. Terrified, he scrambled around for identity, discovering the powdered blackened face of one of General Hood’s Texans, the very army they were killing. The Texan was unarmed, his Springfield broken beside him and his arm too mangled for bayonet use. Triumphantly, Seth had ‘captured’ an enemy single-handed. This glory soon faded, as he realized he was as trapped as the other was. Where could he go? He didn’t know if they had succeeded.

"Son, you ain’t fighin’ for slavery any more than I am.”

“Ain’t you?”

“Nope,” the Texan replied. “I’m a Texas soldier. That I’m in the Confederate army is just an odd detail.”

“But this is about slavery, ain’t it?” 

The man chuckled. “This war is about Government and politics, neither of which you or I care one whit about.” The Texan waved his good hand. “You let me palaver. You’ve probably heard speeches ‘bout the horrors of slavery, most not even half-told of the evils. There's a man in Washington that made some noise about the evil and it made a large part of this country a bit worried 'bout their rights as slave owners. I don’t own slaves, never have, never will. I’m in this ‘cause Texas said we’d fight and I’m Texas. As for the Cause, the Good Lord above will abolish slavery. He hates it and He won’t allow it, no matter what some may think. I can't agree havin' a war over the trouble is the best way to fix it, but that's the way it's come about. You and me are just a part of something a whole lot bigger." he chuckled. "hate to admit it, but it's even bigger than Texas."

Shifting slightly made his coat open, revealing his bloody chest. A grimace twisted his dirty face. he asked Seth, “Ya got any water?”

Seth tossed his canteen. “You said the Good Lord. You mean Jesus?”

“Born again into Jesus Christ twenty three years ago. Bet I was older’n you are now. How old are you, Son?”

“Sixteen.”

The Texan smiled. “Yup. Was seventeen when I accepted Jesus’ salvation. Have you, Son?”

Seth swallowed hard. “Yes, Sir. Three years now.” In fear, he lifted his rifle as the Texan reached under his coat. For a pistol?

“Whoa, Son, just getting’ my Prayer Book.” He held up a small ragged book bound together with twine. “A’right if I show you somethin’?” The Texan shifted and then settled back. “No need to keep pointin’ that gun. I surrender. I ain’t gonna fight no more ag’in ya.” He settled down next to the boy. “Do you know that right here, in the second letter to Timothy; we have the power to end all wars?”

The sour-sweet smell of the dark, thick, of the Texan's congealed blood rose in his nostrils. Swallowing bile, Seth leaned over and read from the Texan’s Bible. ‘All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."

He smiled, although through the blood, grime and black powder soot the action made him seem more a ghoul than a man. There was no threat to Seth from the wounded man as he talked.

“An old man named Paul wrote that to a young soldier for Christ. And I’m sharing it with you, ‘cause there’s a place for enemies and there’s a place for killin’, but there’s a place in the hearts of all men for the truth of God. That, Son, if every man believes it, would end all wars. If only all people would turn to God, wars would cease.”

Seth never saw the rock. Lights burst in his head. Aware through a fog, the gun taken from his hands, he lay stunned and helpless.

“Forgive me, Son.”

Incredibly, he saw the sadness in the face of his enemy.

The Texan gazed at him a moment longer before turning to walk into the bullet shattered forest.

Seth thought, ‘Lord Jesus, that man’s not my enemy, he’s my brother.’

The End

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Do You Weep For Them?

Jeremiah's love for God was so extreme, so vocal, so visible, and so was his love for his people and Jerusalem, the beloved city. He is known as the weeping prophet so hard did he love.

And for all his preaching, and proclaiming God's word, the majority of people failed in returning to God and being saved.

Jeremiah held nothing back from them. The truth was before them and in their ears every time they saw the prophet or heard him preach. They refused to hear the truth.

Do you have people you weep over because you've been telling them about God and His desire to save them, yet they continue to rebel against God?

Don't give up on them. God wants them saved and He will draw people to Himself through our faith and obedience to pray and trust.

Our love for God is our motivation to keep telling the people we love that we want them saved and with us forever in eternity.

Love suffers long, and is kind;

Love does not envy;

Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;

Love does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;

Love does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" 2 Peter 3:9

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Video : The Angel That Visited The Shepherds Luke 2:9

This video is an excerpt from the sermon giving by Pastor David Ray Jr at Grace Bible Church, Sangerville Maine on Christmas Day, December 25th, 2016. This was part of his advent series on the visitations of the angels to various people during the amazing incarnation and birth of the Son of God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The sermon title: "The Angel that Visited the Shepherds" from Luke 2:8-21

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.
Then the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.'
'For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
And this will be the sign unto you; You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.'
And suddenly there with the angel a multitude of heavenly host praising God and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill
toward men!"
Luke 2:9-14

(Transcript of the video)

(Angels) They were aware that He’d laid those things aside for a little while, to come to earth to become one of us. To become a sacrifice really for us. You see, they also knew of the fall of man. They had been informed also that God was going to provide a way for the salvation for man. They knew about that. They knew the prophesy had been made that a Savior would come and that a sacrifice would be made. And they understood all of this and they were praising God because they were seeing God’s grace on display. They were thanking God for His indescribable gift. They were looking into the things… our salvation.

Peter talks about that, when he says that angels long to look into our salvation to try to understand. You see they never experienced the kind of salvation we can experience. They haven’t experienced the grace and mercy and forgiveness that we can experience.

You see, angels have never been forgiven. They’ve never been redeemed . And so they long to look into that. They’re interested in how God is working to save us and make salvation available to us.

You know, if the angels glorify God for this wonderful work, how much more should we raise up our voices and praise God for this wonderful work, and honor our Lord and Savior. It’s the greatest thing we can do with our life, is to live for the glory of God. 

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Video by Susan L. Estes

When the Majority Was Wrong (Numbers 13)

"Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said 'Let us go up at once and take possession for we are well able to overcome it.' But the men who had gone up with him said, 'We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we" Numbers 13:30 & 31.

Two men believed God when He said He would bring them into the promised land.

A million others saw giants and believed they were bigger than God.

Because the greater number failed to trust God, the entire group was denied access to the best blessings of God.

What a terrible thing when Caleb and Joshua were forced to go along with the majority when the majority was wrong.

Happens today doesn't it. Christians are forced into social corners when the majority of unbelievers create laws with the purpose of disobeying God.

Even worse, in the church,when one or two people propose an exciting evangelistic ministry and the majority of a congregation fail to believe God can do a mighty work among them to bring the lost to salvation.

The promised of salvation is there, yet many see the worldly obstacles instead of Almighty God's desire to save the lost.

"And when those who heard it said, "Who then can be saved?" But He (Jesus) said, 'The things which are impossible with man are possible with God" Luke 18:27.

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The One & Only Jesus Christ

It is so sad to find as you're talking to someone about Jesus and they begin to speak about the Jesus they worship and you soon learn he isn't the same as the Jesus, the Son of God, written of throughout the Bible.

How awful that they are being lied to by someone who is teaching them another Jesus and is taking them in the wrong direction from the Biblical truth of an afterlife in heaven & hell and eternal salvation & damnation.

And these people are so deceived because the n...ame of Jesus is spoken from the pulpit and so they believe it is the right name.

There are soooo many Scriptures that speak against these false teachers, it is astonishing how these people can be so blind and lost!

here is a list of verses warning to watch out for and how to identify false teachers. Also in this this list are verses that explain what is going to happen to false teachers when they meet the God they refuse to accept, and that they continue to slander.

Matt 7:21-23, Acts 20:28-30, Romans 1:18- 25, 2 Cor 11:3-4, Gal 1:8,9, 3:1-5, 5:7-12, Col 2:4-10, & 16-19, 1 Tim 1:5-7, & 4:1-3, & 6:20,21, 2 Tim 2:14-17, & 3:5, & 4: 1-4, Titus 3: 9-11, Heb 10:23-31, James 1:21-24, & 3:1, 2 Peter 1:16-2:3, & 2:12-22, 1 John 4: 1-3, 2 John 7-11, 3 John 9-10, Jude 4 & 12, Rev 22:18,19.

The Bible teaches a Holy Triune God, One in Three Persons, Co-Equal, Yet One. (Only a Born Again believer can understand this fact without total confusion. It is supernaturally known.

"Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" John 3:3.

"For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which men's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" 1 Corinthians 2:11-14.

The Bible teaches the truly is Eternal Salvation through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and no other.

"Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" 4:12.

The Bible is a complete book of 66 books. Born again Christians are to be taught from the entire book to be like Jesus was in the world. The Holy Spirit living in each believer empowers us to be such people for Jesus.

"But you shall receive power when they Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth" Acts 1:8.

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God Shows No Partiality

Then Peter opened his mouth and said, "In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality" Acts 10:34.

God created mankind; every nation, tribe, and people group.

The Gospel, the Good News of salvation, which tells of redemption through Jesus' death. burial and resurrection is for all peoples living all over the world. God shows no partiality.

I believe, because of Romans 1:20, that God will manifest Himself to even in the remotest areas of the world if a person will look at creation around them and think "There must be a Creator."

"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse" Romans 1:20.

Also because of Psalm 19

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge, There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world" Psalm 19:1-4.

The amazing creation around us is witness to a Creator.

And because of Romans 2:11-16, where the remotest person who has never heard of Jesus, if they will listen to the moral conscious that God gives all people and consider the consequences of their sins and righteousness, I believe God will manifest Himself to that person somehow.

(Extra)

God has a sense of humor.

Acts 10:34 begins with the phrase "Then Peter opened his mouth".

If you've studied Peter, you know his habit of opening his mouth when he should have kept it shut. And we know God the Father cut him off once, (Mark 9:5-7), and Jesus even got on him for speaking before thinking, (Mark 8:33).

"All scripture is given by the inspiration of God....." 2 Timothy 3:16.

That means God is the one who said "Then Peter opened his mouth.."

If you know Peter, that's makes it funny

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The Distraction of the Beauty of Nature

This male Yellow-Shafted Northern Flicker (Woodpecker)

was on our lawn this morning for a few hours, pecking at the ground for insects.

You know how when you set your mind to read the Bible and pray earnestly, it is then that distractions suddenly appear. Even though the objects of the distractions may be beautiful in their own right, they are evil in the fact they steal you from your time with God.

This bird appeared just at that time in my Bible reading and prayers. I did stop my prayers to take several photos, and had to force myself to ignore him after that so as to spend the time talking to the Creator instead of admiring His creation.

A few verses came to mind as I ignored the bird.

"And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them: Matthew 13:4.

(the mustard seed) which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches"

Matthew 13:32.

"Professing to be wise, they became fool, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image like corruptible man---and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things"

Romans 1:22,23.

Even as beautiful as many birds are, in these verses, God, their Creator, says they are sometimes the means of Satan to take the truth of God from those seeking hope of salvation.

A bird can be a sore distraction and so easily steal the truth and glory of God away from a believer. How the more so from the hungry soul of a non-believer, seeking the truth and glory of God the Creator.

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Complete Swap & Trade--It's A Great Deal!!!

I have a 1 billion dollar, fully furnished home, on 1000 acres of private landscaped land. I offer to completely swap it for your house. Plus it's tax free and I pay for all maintenance for the rest of your life. Also, before you leave your house, you may smash all the windows, break everything inside, destroy the grounds, tear huge holes in every wall, floor and ceiling. You have the privilege of running up a huge mortgage, and homeowner's debt.

And I swap my beautiful home... completely to you for yours, no strings attached...would you take it?

Jesus has such a deal with you.

God has given absolutely everything He had, even going to death on the cross.

He offers you eternal life with Him in Paradise and all you have to do is give Him your life now, with all it's broken pieces, dirty laundry, loaded baggage.

He'll make a complete swap with you, giving you His eternal life, His comfort, His peace, His new birth, His riches in heaven and a new body on the new earth He has prepared for the future.
You exchange all the temporary brokenness of this life for paradise without end in the next.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have become new" 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Everyone born from Adam is dead in their trespasses and sins. Only through Jesus can you be born again into the new life of righteousness and be prepared for God's kingdom.

You can choose to live in paradise with God or you can choose to die forever in hell. God only pleads with you to ask Him for forgiveness and salvation from eternal death. God won't force you to accept eternal life. It's your choice.

While I do not have a 1 billion dollar home to swap--if the offer came to you, would you turn down a 1 billion dollar home that comes without strings?

So- would you turn down God's offer of His free salvation?

"He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him" John 3:36.

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I Wish I Hadn't Done That

Adam was 130 years old when his son Seth was born, the very image of his father in every way. After Seth was born, Adam lived another 800 years, producing sons and daughters, and died at the age of 930. Genesis 5; 3, 4, 5 The Living Bible

All of us at one time must have said, “I wish I hadn’t done that.”

I heard a sermon on the radio how Genesis lists a genealogy with the striking conclusion: and he died,--and he died, -- and he died. The minister was talking about the fact of the curse, with our desperate need of someone to save us.

It occurred to me that Adam must have seen many people die before he did, maybe even thousands. That idea made me wonder if Adam grieved heavily as he watched people die. How hurt was he when Eve died? He had given her the name Eve, calling her the Mother of all Living. Was he there when she died? What were his thoughts now she was dead?

All this death was because of his choice in the Garden of Eden. As his descendants were born and died, even as repentant before God, Adam must have felt extreme guilt. I wonder if he walked closer to God after he left the garden. Did he ask for forgiveness each time someone died? To see a corpse for the first time and realize you were the leading cause! How horrible for both Adam and Eve!

Before his banishment from Eden, the smell of death and decay weren’t even a possibility. What must have it been like to experience the smell of death for the very first time? We have it with us all the time. In and around our homes, a common odor we never think about; our garbage cans, disposal units, dead leaves, overripe fruit, old food, rust, mold, bathtub rings, dirty clothes. We live with it and hardly ever think about it.

We watch movies and TV shows where death is the opening and closing scenes. There are many procedural shows where death is the attraction. The news tells us the horror of murders, crashes, suicides, accidents, and wars and we take it all as natural. We read obituaries and attend funerals because we know what they are. It must have been a shock to Adam the first time he saw death, even of an animal that first dead animal skin now covered his sinful, dying body. How awful it must have been to find his son Cain the instrument of the first hands-on life taking of his lineage!

It must have been so wonderful for Eve to give birth to Seth. She gave God glory recognizing this new child as Granted, or Given of God. She knew this child would be the line from which the promise of Salvation would come. Adam and Eve knew that at some point, God would do something about the curse of their sin and their posterity would be again live in perfect harmony with God. This must have been such a treasured promise when the true understanding of death was suddenly surrounding them.

Wow! What an ending to think about when you’re the first person on earth!

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Originally this was a page from my journal, which became the basis for

Chapter 7 of my EBook Squished! Why God Seemingly Destroys Our Fruit.

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A Personal Opinion of the Fall of Mankind in Genesis 3

A personal opinion of what happened in the Garden of Eden. This is not to be taken as fact but is just an idea of mine.

After he figured out that God loved these weak little creatures Jesus made, Satan wanted to be worshiped. However, because of his newly expressed pride, Satan was kicked out of heaven for trying to elevate his position to a god.

Therefore, angry at God for not accepting his self-appointed promotion, Satan decided to see wha...t damage he could do to God's perfect little creatures. He took a walk around the Garden of Eden watching and studying the man and his wife. Finally figuring out a way to hurt them, Satan approached Eve with his evil plans.


Satan succeeded in killing the relationship between God and man by getting Eve to question God's love for her simply by making her wonder why God would tell her not to do something.

Satan killed us all, bringing the wages of sin in the form of death to all people. Spiritual death and eternal separation in hellfire from our original relationship to God and physical death in our bodies that returns to the earth God formed us from.

Thank God for His gracious salvation Jesus provided through the cross!!

Completely rhetorical question---How long would you imagine it took Satan to figure out from which tree Adam and Eve weren’t to eat?

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Jesus Wants Us To Be Happy

Have you ever been wildly, hysterically happy, laughing, smiling and rejoicing?

What makes you happy?

"...I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly" John 10:10.

Jesus came to a sinful world to give us all things in great amounts—that is abundance. He certainly gives us salvation to the fullest. No one who asks Jesus to save them is only a little bit saved are they? No, if we accept Christ’s death for our sins, we are altogether saved. Just as He gives us the promise of eternal life, Jesus wants us to enjoy ourselves while we wait here.

Jesus said we would live life more fully. That means we get to enjoy food, games, our families, friends, sunsets and sunrises, more than the unsaved. We sing more wonderful songs. We have more love for everyone, and we enjoy the company of others who believe the same things. That’s Fellowship. If we are trusting in Jesus for our salvation, our lives should show others that we are happy that we are saved and going to heaven.

Can we be happy all the time? no.

Jesus came to give us the same happiness He gave the Israelites in His days here on earth. Why would Jesus need to tell the Israelites in His day He came to give them full lives, or abundant lives? The Israelites in Jesus’ day were all under the Roman Government rules. The Romans were hard rulers, making life hard for anyone not Roman and most certainly anyone who was Jewish.

Today, just as then, many factors such as discrimination, oppression, and a strong growing hatred the world over make life difficult for Christians. We have victory in Jesus that overcomes the standard of anger and hatred. We can spread light, laughter, joy and happiness, because Jesus wants us to be happy.

That doesn't mean to be stupidly ignorant of the bad things happening around us. Nor is a sin to be sad or depressed. But as Christians, we should exhibit a joy that we know Jesus, and especially are known by Jesus.

How does our happiness affect others around us? Ever start to giggle and have others begin to giggle because you’re giggling?

How does it affect you when other people are happy? Ever start laughing because the other person is laughing?

Jesus wants us, as Christians, to let other people know that we have our happiness in Him. That the joy and happiness others see in us will make them want Jesus as their Savior.

This week, use your love of Jesus as your reason for all that you do. When you do your schoolwork, your chores, when you’re in town, when you’re talking with anyone, or whatever it is. Note the affects it has on you. Note the effects it has on others. Our obedience in the simplest acts of love makes Jesus happy.

Jesus wants us to be happy and to share our happiness with others.

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It Makes More Sense Than Evolved Intelligence

I believe in the Eternal Omniscient, Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Creator God because it makes more sense than man's evolved intelligence having imagined the creation of a Creator God.

Here's why I believe God made me and I did not make myself.

Some people are taught that human' evolved over billions years to the state we are in now. Somehow they have been convinced we are getting smarter, and more civilized as we are evolving higher and higher on the chain of life.

Huh?

Evolution teaches that the human is his or her own god because they have reached the top of the evolution of intelligence. That their deification comes from being able to think, make decisions and grasp for more in their lives to enhance own wellbeing.

Um....then after billions of years, somewhere about 7000 years ago, our beautifully, perfectly, intelligent, evolved minds decided we needed to worship a God who created us. About 7000 years ago we somehow made up a God who created heaven and earth. He created a man and woman and walked and talked with them in a Garden of Eden. (every culture discovered so far has some sort of written history similar to this and also a change in the earth resembling the flood of Noah's day)

Also our beautifully evolved intelligence decided to think up something called sin that separates us from the Creator God. Then humans decided that One God-Man would come to earth to die for all the sin of the world so we all, (perfectly evolved humans) could go be with Him forever and ever in a Paradise. We also decided that there has to be a counterpart to Paradise called Hell and the Lake of Fire for all those who somehow reject this Creator God's salvation.

Think about this--the evolved human mind had to come up with that if evolution is the truth.

If the human race has evolved to the epitome of the chain of existence, there is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON for ANY human on the planet to imagine a deity higher than themselves.

That means all the religions of the world including Buddhism, Christian Science, Jehovah Witness, Mormons, Islam, every Native tribe of any land, Illuminati, Zodiac, Naturalism, & Humanism, Witchcraft, Satanism, Superior Aliens, etc.. Not only our Christianity as learned from the Holy Bible, but ALL of these would be foolishness in the imagined creation of the semblance of a god above an evolved human.

But the human mind in all parts of the world have some sort of out-of-this-world gods in their culture, some deity beyond their evolution. What for? How? Why?

So I believe Almighty God created me and has put in me the mind to seek Him and know Him. And, praise the Lord, to be saved by Him out of this sinful, crazy world and be with Him forever and ever in Paradise!! (Psalm 100)

Those who worship evolution have to figure out just which god they want to worship, since each time they add more years to their religion of evolution, they give more proof they cannot be evolved into perfection yet--and who wants an imperfect god?

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God Didn't Create People to Kill People

I don't usually make any comments about the news, because it so bothers me. But in the wake of the latest shooting in Dallas, I will say,


     Just because people are evil and do evil things hasn't made God or His love disappear. God is hurt too by these killings. God is hurt by any killings. He didn't create people to kill people.

"Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;
"So God made man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female he created them"
Genesis 1:26 & 27.

      But Satan turns people evil and uses people to kill people because he hates God and the people God created.

(Satan) was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth" John 8:44.

      But God created Hell and the Lake of Fire for the punishment of Satan and evil.

"And the Devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever" Revelation 20:10.

      God gives the gift of salvation and entrance to His Paradise to the people who come to Him. He loves everyone. He will not turn away anyone who call upon Him to be saved.

"For all who call on the name of the LORD shall be saved" Romans 10:13.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life" John 3:16.

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God Does Not Change: Originally posted August 7, 2013

Reposting an early blog from August 2013

God Does Not Change

"For this reason, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding" Colossians 1: 7.

     One of my favorite J. Vernon Magee quotes is, ‘Don’t let what you don’t know interfere with what you do know’. I think this very good advice for bible believing Christians. Many times, I have heard people say things about God that contradict what I know. While they may believe what they say, their ignorance or denial does not change anything about God. Paul stresses this in Galatians 2: 6 when he says, ‘But from those who seem to be something—whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God shows personal favoritism to no man—for those who seemed to be something added nothing to me.’ Paul knew that man’s ideas do not change one iota of God.

     People may preach false doctrine, or misinterpret scriptures, mistakenly or purposefully twisting them for their own agenda; it does not negate the truth about God. He has never, and will never, change. Man cannot debate God off the platform. A person may humiliate another’s intelligence. They may outtalk their opponents. They can gather others around them with similar ideals and beliefs and change human perspectives but it will never change God or make Him disappear. 

     The second Psalm states that man will try to get rid of God. Man will refuse to believe His existence. Man will attempt to claim God is an oppressor and His ways are evil, but it also states that He who sits in the heavens will laugh. God looks down on the world from His mighty throne and knows exactly what man is doing, and whatever he is doing, will not change God.

     If I listen to someone talking about God, I try to listen with the discernment of the Holy Spirit. He will always help me know the truth about what they are saying. If I get an idea that something is wrong, I listen to understand their ideas of God and their belief of salvation. Some people can talk about God with an appearance of knowing Him, but if they do not know Him as the holy, gracious, saving God I know, it will come out somewhere in their conversation. They may have the most eloquent speech, the most intelligent concepts, the most perfect arguments, and run circles around my education but one thing I know: God is my God. Jesus is my Savior.

     A Christian or a non-Christian can have knowledge beyond books learned on this earth but only a Christian will know their Savior beyond explanation by earthly means.

     1 John 5: 13, ‘These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.’

     I know that I know that I know.

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Recognize Your Adversary For Life

"When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you shall not depart from there till you have paid the very last mite” Luke 12: 58,59.

I had thought this verse was talking about the affairs of mankind toward one another. I see it now is about accepting or rejecting Jesus’ salvation. Wow! Scary!

Before salvation, our Adversary is the Lord. We’re the enemy of Jesus. "And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind, by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled" Ephesians 2:1.

The ‘going’ spoken of in Luke 58 is the life we live from birth to death. All mankind is born to stand before God someday, so we are all going toward the Magistrate, God the Father.

We are told to make every effort to get near Jesus. Obviously, Jesus makes every effort to get near to us. Though God came to earth to reconcile every sinful man to Himself, there still is the need for every man to go to Jesus for salvation. If you have doubts of your salvation, there's a verse for you.

"Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified" 2 Corinthians 13:5.

If you need to accept Jesus Christ, then ask Him to save you. Say something like this.

"Dear God, I am a sinner and the death in hell forever

is my fate without you.  I know You are Holy God.

You came to earth and died on the cross to save me

from the fate of my sins, Please, Holy God, forgive

me of my sins and save me for Yourself.

Thank You God for forgiving me, and

saving me. Amen."

(reference verses for this salvation prayer)

(Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, John 3:16, John 14:6, Romans 10:9-11, Revelation 3:20, 1 John 5:13)

"But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers" 1 Peter 4:7. A simple prayer to God asking for forgiveness will erase the separation between you and Him because Jesus death on the cross took all the wrath of the fate of sin.  "and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven; having made peace through the blood of His cross" Colossians 1:20. So settle the differences with Jesus in this life.

God the Father is the Judge. Anyone not covered with the blood of Jesus is standing in front of the Judge in Revelation 21:11. "Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away. And there was no place found for them."

Anyone covered by the blood of Jesus has this promise from God, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the Spirit"Romans 8: 1.

The unsaved and condemned have to face the officer and then into prison. "Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire" Revelation 21:14.

And they will be there until they have paid the very last mite! That is eternal death! ETERNITY!

How’s your witness to the lost around you? Do they know you’re a Christian? Do you look at them and see they need to make peace with their adversary now?

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A Few Thoughts From the Gospel of John

The Apostle John frequently referred to himself as 'the disciple whom Jesus loved'. Which is a wonderful way all of us can relate to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

John also is the apostle who penned 1 John, the book that says God is love and that we love Him because He first loved us. (1 John 4:8 & 19)

John heard Jesus say that, (Christians), will be known for our love of one another. (John 13:35)

By saying he's 'the disciple Jesus loved' is not taking a high title. It is recognition that the relationship we each have with Jesus is special because He loves us.

There is a very fascinating short statement in the gospel of John.
"Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus" John 11:5.

Knowing that John says he is 'the disciple that Jesus loved' it is a great testimony to his knowledge of Jesus that he willingly shared that distinction with another.

Let us each share the awesomeness of the love of God for each of us, and recognize that Jesus loves all Christians as equals.

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John 10:40,41."And He (Jesus) went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed. Then many came to Him and said, "John preformed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true."

Quiet, orderly, consistent witness brings people to know Jesus' saving grace.

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Jesus prayed for me 2000+ years ago! 

John 17, the Lord's Prayer: (Jesus praying) "I do not pray for these alone, (the disciples), but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me" John 17: 20,21.

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John 10:16. (Jesus said) "Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there shall be one flock and one shepherd"

Jesus included me in His word about 'other' sheep. Seeing down through time, Jesus knew I would become a sheep in His sheepfold.

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Christianity is not a man-made religion--it is a God-originated faith in Himself which He gives to the world to receive. (Ephesians 2:8-10)
I have received this faith! And I have accepted this faith that Jesus saved me from my sin, is saving me from my sin, and will save me out of this world of sin. Praise the Lord for His Grace, Love and Mercy on me.

"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me."

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Motivating Peter

God wants to show us His great grace and mercy apart from what we already know.

We often talk of Paul's missionary journeys, but Peter did some remarkable things also while out in the field.

"Now it came to pass, as Peter went through all parts of the country, that he also came down to the saints who dwelt in Lydda" Acts 9:32

&

"So it was that he stayed many days in Joppa with Simon, a tanner" Acts 9:43

Peter was someplace he'd never been before, yet God knew exactly what He was going to show Peter about His awesome power to save anyone, anywhere.

God told the early Christians that in the power of the Holy Spirit, the church is to go everywhere preaching the salvation of Jesus.

"But you shall receive power when

the Holy Spirit has come upon you;

and you shall be witnesses to Me in

Jerusalem, and in all Judea and

Samaria, and to the end of the earth"

Acts 1:8.

But the first century church stayed in Jerusalem until after Stephen was killed and the persecution began in earnest. Then they scattered but they took their faith with them everywhere.

Whether Peter was moving around a bit because of the persecution the Bible doesn't say, but we do know that while Peter was not in Jerusalem, God showed him the great expansion of the church.

God does record in Acts that Peter, in his new faith and boldness in Jesus, speaks to a sick person whom God healed, prays for a dead person and sees God bring them to life, and stays with a tanner, (Acts 9:33, 40, & 43).

We're not told if Peter had traveling companions. And the fact it says he was staying at Simon the tanner's house, we can assume no one from Jerusalem was with him. It seems Peter was stepping out of his comfort zone by traveling alone.

Peter's expressions of faith while apart from his fellow Christians is culminated in the salvation of Cornelius, the Centurion. Peter hadn't personally thought about going to the Gentiles before that time. But now, with God's prompting, Peter's submission to do things in faith as he had ever done before revealed to him God 's love for all peoples, everywhere.

Maybe Peter was reluctant at first,

but the more he saw God work,

the easier his obedience became.

Which thing is true in our witness. Even when it is out of our comfort zone, the Holy Spirit may wait until we're in a place where He can do something amazing. This new thing God uses us for will glorify God and grow us in our faith and knowledge of God, (2 Peter 3:18).

Our small steps of obedience can be the very thing God uses to bless all those with which we come in contact. We step out in faith that God is with us and our obedience to that is God's door to His grace.

"(Jesus) answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him" Matthew 13:11,12

& repeated in the parable of the talents (money)

"For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken from him" Matthew 25:29.

Peter didn't have to do anything. Yet, if he hadn't trusted God at His word, Peter would have missed out on seeing God's miracles.

Sometimes God waits to use us after we leave our familiar territory.

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