Category: Accepting Christ is your choice

Life is different today…


What do we do during this crisis? We live through it each day, one day at a time. Some days we even live hours or minutes at a time depending on our health and that of our loved ones. Life is very different today than it was six months or a year ago. We are trying to fight a virus that doesn’t kill everyone who is infected but those who have other “health challenges” such as diabetes or heart disease or COPD may not live through the infection. Sometimes it seems that it is age-related and sometimes it isn’t because there have been many young people who have died because of it.

Why? I think this time in history and the things which we are going through are God’s way of telling us to wake up and seek Him. Get out of your rut and the feeling that you are the only one that is experiencing what is happening in your life! God loves you and He is trying to get everyone’s attention but if you feel that He is calling you…please don’t walk away from it. Yes, life is different today, much different than we have had to endure in the past but God is still in control.

I know the questions: “Why are we being testing with this disease?” “Why does the world have to endure this?”

Because sometimes it takes a little hardship and the fear that comes with the virus to cause each of us to look at our lives and realize that there is more to this life than the self-centered way we’ve been living it. God is waiting to show you what He has in store for you. Not bad things but an abundant life into eternity with Him. God doesn’t place burdens on us that we can’t handle but sometimes we need His strength and His Spirit to get through the problem better than we could ever do it on our own.

We will not be beaten down by this problem regardless of the country you may live in because God is bigger than any problem or disease that we could ever face. Stay close to Him, follow Him and ask Him to be your Savior because He can heal every disease and give you strength to get through every problem in your life here and into eternity!

What will you do?


One day the church, all believers, will be taken out of this world. If you don’t believe in Jesus for your salvation or even in the Bible or God either…you will be left here to go through what the Bible calls the Tribulation. This time will last for seven years and the beginning of it will be a seven year treaty which will be signed by all of the nations which want to destroy Israel. After the church, all believers in Jesus for their salvation, is taken up there will be all sorts of “explanations” for this, none of them will come from the Bible. Many people in the world will actually celebrate the fact that “the church” is gone, or they will think it is.

God will still call some people during this time to give their hearts to Jesus and be His witnesses around the world but they will be persecuted severely. My advice to those who are left here is to find a church and go inside it and locate a Bible, especially if you don’t have one. There may be other literature that will also help you to understand what you read and what it means for your salvation. Take advantage of these resources because the Antichrist and those following him will be destroying any book or building which had a congregation of believers. They do not want you to find hope in Jesus!

The last book in the Bible is the book of Revelation. In it Jesus told John to write many prophecies down which would only come true after the church, the believers, have been taken away because they are the bride of Christ. It tells of the churches which will be around at the time or just before the rapture of the church, some of which we have today. One will be a church which thinks they are working for God and His Kingdom but they aren’t doing a very good job of it. One church has lost sight of their first love which is Jesus. One church was on fire for the Lord but they have lost that fire and become “lukewarm” in their teachings and their works for Him. In a sense they have watered down the message so that it no longer means what it should mean. We see evidence of that today.

I pray that anyone who reads this will seek out your Savior now! Before the church is taken up because the threats of death during the Tribulation and the strong delusion which will come upon those who are still here, even if you have knowledge of the Bible, will cause you to take the mark of the beast. If you do that, your soul is lost and you will be thrown into hell one day…if you survive long enough. The time of the “church age” or the age of Grace is coming to an end, very likely in our lifetime. I pray that anyone who reads this blog will seek out Jesus as your Savior, give your heart to Him and even if it is after the church is taken away keep your faith in Him.

Don’t wander into the belief that the current “savior” is the one. Read and study the Bible if you can find one. Find a place that you can grow your own vegetables and try your best to stay off of the grid if possible. Why do I suggest this? Because without the mark, you won’t be able to buy or sell gas for your vehicle or food or electricity but your soul has a place in heaven! I pray that anyone who may be searching for a Savior will seek Jesus Christ in the Bible and give your heart to Him. God has never left us and He loves you more than you can imagine. Read His Word and seek Him out before the day comes when you will truly have to choose between life with Jesus or death by beheading because you don’t have the mark.

Are you confessed or conceited?


There’s more hope for a confessed sinner than there is for a conceited believer. Whoa!

Why? Because of pride. Now, wait a minute. Why should I think about pride?

Pride is the root of every sin and every decision which causes us to try to be more than we can be. Pride causes us to try to do it ourselves and not seek God’s help until we really have to.

A confessed sinner has come to the point where he or she knows that they have sinned and they’re ready to ask for God’s forgiveness. A believer who is conceited has allowed his pride in his “salvation” or even in the fancy church that he belongs to, to cloud his view of his sins.

Why would a person who is saved be so prideful? It could be because they only think they are saved. Pride is the original root of all sins. That’s why Christians should endeavor to stay humble. Don’t ever think or believe that you are more important to God than anyone else! God loves each of us and He cares for each of us far more deeply than we can understand. We are not just “animals” that He placed here! God formed Adam with His hands and then blew the Breath of Life into him so he would become a man with a soul.

The truth found in God’s Word is the truth that our world, and everyone in it, needs to hear. Whether they will understand it and take it to heart enough to seek their Savior is another thought entirely. God knows who will and who won’t accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and one day soon He will send the angels to blow His Trumpet and call His Bride, the church, home. The bad thing about that day will be those who thought they were saved but weren’t. Especially if it happens on a morning that church services are going on.

What is salvation?


Well…it depends upon what a person is being saved from? Salvation can be many things to many people. You can be saved from physical death by a seat belt in a car or an air bag or both. You could be saved from a life of being filthy rich by your circumstances or by God’s grace, whichever you prefer. Salvation, for a Christian, is being saved from the punishment of hell that we deserve but by God’s grace our faith in Jesus atones for all of our sins and allows us to come before Him with no blemish of sin on our person. You could receive salvation from drowning by someone throwing a lifeline with a float attached to it.

So you see, salvation can come to each of us in different forms and at different times but the one that most of us are seeking is our salvation from the punishment that we deserve for our sins. God is our Creator and our Savior which is why He came to live as a human for about thirty three years. He came so that He would know the temptations that we experience not to judge us for those but to call us into a life with Him. Sometimes the call that we hear from Him comes when we are young and sometimes we don’t hear it until we are a bit older.

There is one illustration that I would like to give here which points out the reality that our Savior gives to us and to no others in Creation.

“The life of Christianity consists of possessive pronouns” says Martin Luther. It is one thing to say, “Christ is a Saviour”; it is quite another thing to say, “He is my Saviour and my Lord.” The devil can say the first; the true Christian alone can say the second. Resource, July/August, 1990.

To claim our salvation we must come to a realization that we need Jesus in our heart to save us. God does that when His Spirit reaches down and touches your heart, breaks it and re-molds it into a heart that is ready for His gift. Sometimes this is painful but sometimes it is something that we have sought for a long time and in that instance it feels so good to get the burden of years of carrying the guilt and the shame with us all of the time.

Only a Christian can say “Christ is my Savior and my Lord”. If you can’t confidently say that is feel in your heart that it is true then you may want to seek the Lord for confirmation of your salvation. Do you believe it or are you just saying words? God came down as a helpless baby to live as we live so that He could identify with every emotion and temptation that we have. He saw and healed many diseases while He was teaching His disciples about the Kingdom of God and that He has healing for every disease if we will believe in Him for our healing.

Some people only say the words. Some people read the Bible but they don’t believe a word of it. Its just a book of stories and the history of the Jewish people. It is so old that it doesn’t apply to us today.

All of the statements in the short paragraph above are false with parts of truth in them as well. “Now, hold on preacher! The Bible is the Word of God, it can’t be a lie!” The Bible is the history of the Jewish people but some people read it like a book. Some just think it is too old to apply to us now, and there are many people who truly don’t believe a word in it came from God.

Why is that important? Because, God inspired the prophets and kings to write the words which make up the Torah, which is our Old Testament. The apostles wrote their accounts of Jesus’ ministry and Paul wrote most of the prison epistles from a Roman prison but even they were under the influence of the Holy Spirit. If the Word, the Bible, is inspired by God and His Spirit, then it is true and there is no other way to interpret it.

Finally, salvation comes to us by faith in the Holy Spirit which convicts us of our need of salvation. Then He points us in the direction of Jesus Christ Who is our Savior and Lord to believe in Him for our salvation to become real and genuine. After that we should read God’s Word to know what we should do with all of this joy and grace that we’ve been given!

One thief lived even though he died


Jesus didn’t have to save the thief on the cross beside Him but He did it out of love because that was the reason He came for…to seek and to save the lost. Just the same as He does for us today. When you come to church on Sunday if you are not a Christian yet you are likely thinking “What am I doing here?”. Most of us wonder about the reason that we are in church but when God’s Spirit has touched you and let you know that you need Jesus in your life, there is very little which could’ve stopped you from being in church that day.

I don’t mean to say that it is an irresistible call but it truly is. You might skate by this Sunday but one day soon God will get you into a church to hear the gospel preached. Because you will be drawn to Jesus at that time. God didn’t have to send His Son to bring salvation to mankind but He did it because of His love for us. Will everyone be saved? No, because there are many in the world who won’t hear that small voice calling them or they will ignore it until it goes away.

Don’t be the person who has heard God speaking to your heart, asking you to come to Jesus but you didn’t feel like it or you had something else you wanted to do. Sometimes God will keep calling until you answer the call but sometimes it is just too late. An accident or a stroke or heart attack will take you from this world when you least expect it. Not one person knows when their “time is up” until it happens so if you haven’t made your decision yet then it is too late at that point.

Jubilee


How many of these have been celebrated since Jesus went back to heaven? The Jubilee year is the year after the 49th and it is complicated because of the Jewish calendar but for all practical purposes it is the 50th year. If you divide the past two thousand years by fifty you get 40 and if you bring it forward to the year we are in now, 2020, it is 40.4. What does all of this mean? It’s God’s math and I can’t tell you exactly what it means. In 1967 Jerusalem was brought back under Jewish rule. It had been one Jubilee since the Jews had been allowed back into Palestine as it was called and that happened in 1917 at the end of World War 1.

Fast forward to the 21st century and 2017 is a Jubilee year since Jerusalem had been brought back under Jewish control. Forty is a significant number in God’s Word, seven is also a significant number, 49 is a significant number, so where am I going with this? I’m not sure but since scientists usually take an answer out to the second digit past the decimal this year would actually be 40.40. Does that mean anything? I’m not sure but if I were you, I would be making very sure that you know Jesus as your Savior and especially make sure that He knows you!

God loves you!

No matter what you may have heard about God not caring about you, the verse in the picture above shows very clearly that He does love you and me and everyone else. It is our choice to believe in the One Who paid the price of our salvation and atonement or not. I pray that you will seek Him out as your Savior. Thank you for reading this little bit that His Spirit prompted me to write.

Remember…


Today is a day that America can’t forget. Some people do seem to forget about what happened on that morning 19 years ago but when they are reminded…it all comes rolling back into your memory like the clouds of dust and paper and concrete that filled the streets of New York. Many people died that morning. Most of them were at work or going to work. Some were on the planes which were hi-jacked to be used as bombs. No, we can’t forget that day and the horror of it and the fear of what is coming next.

Just like the attack on Pearl Harbor that Sunday morning in 1941, those who lived through it could never forget where they were. But the difference between the two attacks, separated by sixty years, is a very dark one. The one which happened at Pearl Harbor was done by a government and its soldiers and pilots. The attack which happened in New York was done by religious fanatics. They didn’t belong to one single government or country. They were united by an ideology of hatred. That is why the war on terror has been going on for so long. There is no specific place or people to look for or to blame other than their religion and the ideology which is taught by it.

I don’t blame the religion of Islam for this because just as they have told us for years, most of them are peaceful. But also God doesn’t want blame to be placed on this religion or that religion. God does love everyone in the world but He doesn’t love the sinful ways that many of them live in day in and day out. God provides a way for you to find peace and joy in life if you will repent from what you have been doing or worshiping and seek your salvation in Jesus Christ. Believe in Him like the thief on the cross, believe in Jesus like a little child because your salvation and your eternity depends on it.

Whether you believe in Jesus or God or not right at this time doesn’t matter. What does matter is that we are not guaranteed tomorrow so the time to seek your salvation in Jesus is now! Today is the day for your salvation. Read the book of Romans and 1 Corinthians because Paul told every person that he met that your salvation and your eternity depend on Who you place your faith and your belief in and that Person should be Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Who do you think you are?


Many people think far more highly of themselves than they should. Some don’t consider the gifts that they have been given in this life and some are too prideful to even answer the question. As if answering it is demeaning.

Life in all of its wondrous glory and in such bounty on the Earth. From the smallest plankton in the ocean to the Blue whale and all of the land animals and birds and fish that God created with the Word from His mouth. Our scientists still haven’t found all of them yet. There are still some in deep caverns in the Earth or under the sea that mankind has never seen nor have they been cataloged. Many of them would begin a new branch on the “tree of Life” because they don’t fit any other life-form definition.

People tend to look at themselves as they are described by their job. A plumber or a doctor or a lawyer. God doesn’t see us as a vocation, defined by our job or vocation. He sees our heart, our soul and knows what we are able to do on our own. He also knows what our potential is as well. God created and wove our DNA together in the womb so He knows our abilities and our limitations as a human being. But, if you will indulge me for a moment, what about that point when we become more than what we were born with? “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Our hearts are different spiritually and our soul is brighter when God looks at us. When heaven sees us after we have accepted Jesus as our Savior we look a lot like Jesus. A little rough around the edges maybe and still a bit of dirt here and there but with time and prayer and washing in God’s Word, we will begin to look far more like Him than we did at first. The thing is that we don’t see ourselves as being clean, forgiven, set apart from the world, adopted into God’s family because we can still see our faults and our flaws.

Occasionally we will feel different. We may even have a dream that we are standing in God’s Presence but we will be on our face because we don’t feel that we are worthy of being there. At least, that’s how I feel when I come before Him with a prayer or a request. But, God doesn’t see your imperfections or your flaws. He sees your soul and your heart as being a part of Him and His Son. Yes there are a few things which need to be polished and buffed a bit, but after salvation your outward man is only an Earthly cover over the New Creation which came to life when the Holy Spirit came to dwell within you.

Once you have given your heart to Him and asked Him to come into your heart, you are a new Creation. Neither man nor angel but also not God. You are an adopted Son born because your Spirit changed you so that you have become His. Live as your destiny in Christ allows you to. Not serving your old master in sin but living every day as a Son of God!

Liars, killers, and adulterers too


Every person that God used in the Old and the New Testament were flawed people just as we are. They weren’t perfect. Moses killed and Egyptian before going into the desert to get away from being put to death for his crime. David, who was described by God as “a man after my own heart“, lied to one of his best friends after having an adulterous affair with his wife and then had him placed at the front where he would be killed in the fighting. Yet, David wrote many of the Psalms that we use today to carry us through tough times that we are having today.

Not one person on the Earth is perfect. All of us have done things which would keep us from God’s Presence but through the blood of Jesus and His atonement for our sins we are made clean. If we just believe like the thief did on the cross that Jesus is our Savior then we will be saved from an eternity of punishment away from the presence of God. Your life here may be or has been in the past one of the most unworthy of sinners, just as Saul said he was, but Jesus came to him on the road to Damascus and blinded him with His Presence. Then he sought the Lord until one of the Christians in Damascus came and prayed for him to have his sight restored and it was.

Jesus is the only One born of a woman Who had the Spirit of God as His guide for His whole life. He is the only One Who could’ve stoned the woman caught in adultery but He didn’t condemn her. He just told her to go and sin no more. Jesus knew that she wouldn’t be able to keep that promise completely, but what He told her to do was to repent of her adultery and never do that again. Be the wife and mother that she should be (this last is just my interpretation of His Words). God keeps up with even the sparrows and He knows when one of them falls from the branch dead. If He cares about them, doesn’t it make sense that He would care for us even more?

God has never said that He doesn’t care about us, even if we aren’t Jewish. The reason that Jesus came to give His life for our forgiveness was because of His Love for us. We are His creation and just as we love our children, God (Jesus) loves each of us. God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit are all God and they make up the Godhead. It is through their work, their influence in our universe and their power which keeps the stars and planets in their places. Nothing in our world is unnoticed because they see it all from their view outside of our time. They can see when you were born, what you did when you were twelve and what you will do tomorrow.

Don’t think or consider that because you have hidden some of your sins, if any of them, from God. He knows what you think, what you are doing, what you are thinking about doing and what you will do. God is so far above our ideas until that is the reason that people who were granted a glimpse into heaven as a prophet or as someone who had a “after death experience” and returned to tell about it, yet they can barely describe what they saw. The colors were so much more brilliant and more than we see here, more vibrant, more green or blue than what is in our world. That is why the view of Heaven or the Jerusalem when comes down from Heaven is so descriptive of clear gold streets, huge pearls for the gates and a foundation which looks like its made of every precious jewel imaginable.

The mind of God is above ours and everything works exactly the way He wants it to work, good, bad or otherwise. Nothing escapes His notice and nothing happens without His knowledge of it. I pray that those of you who read this will read God’s Word and give your life to Jesus because whether you are ready or not, He is coming back for the church, His Bride.

Anger, hatred and violence


What we see on the news today did not begin with injustice on the streets, at least not the injustice that they are claiming started it. It began much earlier than just a month or two ago. Socialist ideas and ideals have been infecting our society for nearly sixty years and maybe more. The downfall of our society began, in my opinion, when the slave trade was in full swing over 200 years ago. Enslaving people to work for others who think themselves above “menial labor” is and always will be wrong!

While it is true that some of those who held slaves were African-American free men, it still doesn’t make the practice any less barbaric. Should anger over this injustice and the injustices of today make people angry? Yes, but burning cars and looting stores and tearing down monuments which were erected to honor those who fought against slavery does nothing to stem the violence and continued hatred and bitterness! Kinda like a wound that you keep pulling the scab from, it takes a lot longer to heal unless that is what you want to happen.

When prayer and the reading of God’s Word was taken out of public schools in ’63 and ’64 our country began a radical change. I’m sure that the Civil Rights movement would’ve come and made its mark with or without that omission but the riots and the activism which flared up in the latter years of the 1960’s might not have been as violent as they were if students were still learning from God’s Word. So many of the problems that we faced all through the decade of the ’70’s might’ve been avoided if the education system had stayed true to their roots and kept God’s Word as an elective at least.

Why do I pin the problems of the latter half of the 20th Century on this one decision? Go back and look at the SAT and ACT scores prior to banning the Word of God. Check the statistics of teenage pregnancy before and after the removal of God’s Word and prayer from schools. The entrance scores started to go down on the standard tests and the number of teen pregnancies began to go upward from the point where God’s Word was removed from education. You can find articles which verify this online.

God’s Word and the wisdom that it contains has always been a part of education, at least until the theory of evolution came around and educators began questioning its validity. So, why am I bringing this up in this post? Because most of the educators who are in our colleges and universities now are the same ones who were protesting back in the late ’60’s and early ’70’s. Refusing to allow people to learn from both sides is wrong but that is what most educator’s and the system that they work in are doing.

God loves us. Regardless of how you may feel toward religion or God or even Jesus Christ, you are loved by the Creator of the universe. That is why we should’ve kept His word, the Bible, in schools and in our education system. Not because we are trying to indoctrinate anyone but because of the wisdom contained within its pages. Giving your heart to Jesus and becoming a Christian is a personal choice and when you feel the Holy Spirit prompting you to accept Him as your Savior…don’t turn away from the opportunity. Because it may never come again. We are not given or promised the next hour of our lives let alone tomorrow or next week. When the invitation touches your heart I urge you to accept it.