Category: Be a follower of Jesus

The Lord is my Healer and Savior!


Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.
Jeremiah 17:14 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/jer.17.14.KJV

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
2 Timothy 4:2‭-‬4 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/2ti.4.2-4.KJV

Both of these have come to pass, even today the prophecy from 2 Timothy is coming to pass but many don’t see it that way. Some people seem to think that if a preacher is preaching from the Bible then his sermon is from God’s Word. That is usually true but not all of the time. Many sermons are put together by a program on a computer or even come from the preacher’s own “wisdom” with a verse or two of Scripture thrown in to make it sound like it should. These are the sermons which don’t tell us of our sins and weaknesses but they do tell us how good we are.

God doesn’t see us that way unless we are saved by the blood of Jesus the Christ! Our “goodness” isn’t part of the equation unless it is imparted to us through Jesus by our salvation through His blood. If you are not saved by your belief in Jesus and your acceptance of His sacrifice for your sins then your so-called “righteousness” is as filthy rags in the sight of God!

We cannot claim salvation on our own merit or the works which we may do!

You and I cannot just decide to get saved one day, it is God’s Spirit which touches us and brings us to the point of knowing that we need Him that causes us to seek Him out and confess our sins, asking that Jesus cleanse us and make us in His likeness. Although many people seem to think that they have that much control over their experience of salvation, it just isn’t true! It is God Who calls to your Spirit, your soul and brings you under conviction to know that you need Him. At that point each of us is given an amount of faith to truly believe that Jesus can save us, so we do and He does!

Some people tend to feel this touch in their lives, whether at a church or from a sermon on TV, and they do feel a need for Jesus in their life…but Satan whispers in their ear before they walk down and speak to the preacher. Then they will either grip the pew in front of them and refuse to accept Jesus or they may even walk out of the service altogether. They don’t want to give up on their comfortable, sinful life.

Even though prior to Christ changing our hearts and our minds we didn’t want to quit our sinful life either. Why? Because until Jesus and the Holy Spirit reveals your sins and what those sins will cost you in eternity, we don’t think that we need Him at all. Let’s face it, all of us who are Christians now were sinners at some point in time. I hear so much talk about “hypocrite churches” because there are people in there who used to do this or that!

We have ALL done this or that at one time or another!

Own your past life and leave it in the past so you can walk in the newness of Life with Christ into eternity!

Make sure of Whom you believe


In 1 John 4 it says these words:

1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they are from God because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us, but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

When you are committed to being and living as a Christian there is a part of God’s Spirit which comes to live inside you. He or She is the Holy Spirit. All of us who are His and belong to Him have a part of Him, as Jesus called Him-the Comforter and He is living in your heart (soul). God’s grace and mercy have been poured out in your life so that you can believe in the One Who has saved your soul, but it is God’s Spirit Who teaches you and helps you to understand His Word.

Without faith, we can do nothing in God’s Kingdom and without His Spirit, we would understand very little of God’s Word. We could read it every day but without His teaching and giving us the meaning of it for our lives the Bible would be just a book of stories and nothing more. For many years before I truly committed my life to Him I read chapters in the Bible and read along with the pastor at church but until I accepted the Holy Spirit into my life it really didn’t make sense.

Jesus’ sermon on the mount was just a bunch of blessings given to those who were looking for the Messiah until I looked at it from His point of view. God loves each of us and He wants the best for you and me. That doesn’t mean that He wants all of us to be rich and wealthy with no struggles, however. God’s best may be our eternal home with Him, not some fancy house with a mortgage here for us to struggle to pay. The same goes for all of the other “stuff” which the world around us sees as symbols of our success.

Seek God and His Son, Jesus, for your salvation because the time which each of us has is very short compared to eternity. Each of us has an eternal soul and you will spend eternity somewhere so make sure of your destination while you can.

The Way to Life


Have you found the path which carries you to Life itself? Some of us tend to get lost while trying to find it when it is right in front of us. Life with a capital “L” is the life which you will have in Jesus and the pathway carries us through this life until we get to the next one. So…what is the pathway? Following Jesus and not listening to Satan’s lies about your life and your ministry being useless and worthless!

Jesus gives our life, here and now, a meaning and a purpose. We are to live each day, each moment striving to be more like Jesus than trying to be like the world around us. Is this hard to do? Sometimes it is. Usually when we feel down and depressed life seems hopeless and you feel useless, like I did yesterday. But Jesus said that “we can live a life more abundantly“! By following His example of living for the Kingdom of God, even though you can’t see it yet.

God loves you and has provided a way for each of us to have a life of meaning and purpose through Jesus our Savior. He is the pathway to life everlasting and He is preparing a place for us to dwell with Him forever. Some people might want to know, “Why would I want to live in heaven forever?” Do you really and truly believe that you will have nowhere to go when you die?

God’s Word says that we all face His judgment when we die so what have you done in this life to give you an eternity in Heaven? None of us, not even one person on this Earth, can be perfectly sinless because we are sinners and we are that way from birth. Jesus came so that we can have a life with Him into eternity but apart from being saved through faith in Him not one of us will get there.

Your life here is like a puff of smoke compared to eternity so why waste it chasing after stuff which rusts and fades away or is given to someone else when you die? Money doesn’t last and neither does gold or any other type of wealth but it seems that in the world today these things are what defines us. Why not define your life by the example of Jesus and His teachings? Live your life as His disciple and tell others about Him and what living for Him means!

Why? Because God values your soul more than all of the wealth in the world! Each individual person that He calls to become an adopted child of God is worth more to Him than all of the wealth that exists in this world! Why is that? Because each of us has a specific purpose ordained by God and that purpose is to reach one other person that only we can reach.

If we tell thousands of people and they turn their lives over to Jesus that is wonderful, but there is one person that each of us can reach that nobody else can. That is the person which God has placed you here to touch and show the love of Jesus to them so that they can come to know Him. There are many people who need to know Jesus as their Savior but until their spiritual eyes are opened and they know that they need Him, they will never seek Him. Live your life in view of eternity because this one is going away but your life in Christ is eternal.

In My Father’s House are Many Rooms

1Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe in Me as well. 2In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going.”b

The Way, the Truth, and the Life

5“Lord,” said Thomas, “we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way?”

6Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. 7If you had known Me, you would know My Father as well. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”

8Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”

9Jesus replied, “Philip, I have been with you all this time, and still you do not know Me? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words I say to you, I do not speak on My own. Instead, it is the Father dwelling in Me, performing His works. 11Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me—or at least believe on account of the works themselves.

Would you follow Jesus?


Would you follow Him as a disciple or a follower or just interested in Him and the “good feelings” which you get when you are attending a meeting? It is not unusual actually. Many of His followers during His ministry did follow Him for the food or for healing or just to hear Him preach because He taught with authority which no other person could claim.

In today’s religious climate whether it is in America or elsewhere in the world, people tend to look down upon Christian beliefs and our faith in Jesus as the Son of God. So do you think that people would follow Him today? Some people would but in large part, I think that many more would either try to get Jesus arrested or killed, just as they did almost two thousand years ago.

Why has nothing really changed in all that time?

Well, Satan is still at work. In the church and in society as well as in every part of every government all over the world. So, the Adversary is very good at what he accomplishes and he is still doing that very thing inside the church, regardless of the denomination!

My question still stands…would you follow Jesus as a disciple or just someone interested in hearing Him speak but not really interested in the sermon itself or the Person bringing the sermon? God does care about each of us in this world but His timing is coming to a close and when the Trumpet sounds for the church to leave, where will you be? Will you be in the company of those taken up into heaven or will you be here watching the news and trying to figure out what went wrong?

There are many who really don’t believe that this will take place. Many people on newscasts and on social media have expressed their views about the Bible and the God of the Bible is a myth or a fabrication and that most of the books of the Bible are just the writings of a bunch of old men and nothing more. If you have studied the Bible as a book of tales and fables I can understand where this kind of thinking comes from. But if you have ever been in a church and heard the sermons and prayed with those in attendance then you know that the Bible is God’s Word.

Since many of its prophecies have come about in history, right up to the reclaiming of Jerusalem in 1967 then God’s Word can’t be “just a book”. It is the Word of God and He cannot lie. I pray that you will seek Him out while there is still time to accept Him into your heart because after the church is “taken up”, it will be harder and much more dangerous for anyone to give their heart to Jesus and live as a Christian during those times.

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Doctrine will send you to hell


Considering how many religions are in the world you would think that most of the world would be going to heaven. But most of them are not depending upon Jesus for their salvation, even the ones which claim to be “Christian” in their message. Many churches and their preachers or bishops or elders are teaching about Jesus and His message but they are not teaching that each person in their church needs to KNOW Jesus to be saved!

You can know about Jesus and all of His miracles and His parables and that He walked on water and every part of His story even up to His burial and His resurrection…but if you don’t know Him in your heart as your personal Savior then you don’t have Him! No amount of doctrine or discipline or holding fast to the church or the belief which your Mom and Dad drilled into your brain will get you into heaven.

The only way to get into heaven is through belief in Jesus and accepting Him as your Savior, then working out your salvation by reading the Bible and living your life according to it. Striving to be more like Jesus through repenting of your sinful behavior and never going back to it. Even when you fail, and you will, ask forgiveness and read more of His Word with prayer and submission to His will and not your own. That is what is needed and necessary for Christians of any denomination or doctrine or discipline to be able to stand in front of God and show the righteousness of Jesus instead of our wretched and sinful souls.

God loves you and He will forgive you but going to church with an attitude of “my parents are pillars of this church, therefore I am too” or anything so prideful as that will send you straight to hell! No amount of money or time spent soaking in sermons or summer camps listening to teachers who don’t even practice what they are teaching will get you into heaven.

The only way to salvation is by realizing that you are a sinful creature and only by grace are you even alive at all! If you have ever felt the touch of the Holy Spirit in your life and your heart and you didn’t fall down and answer that call then I suggest you do so…NOW! Because when the trumpet sounds and you are left here with the option to starve or take the mark of the antichrist which will you choose? Will you be brave enough to truly give your heart to Jesus then and be executed by beheading? I suggest you do it now while the time is yet available but even now each of us only has the minute in which we are living.

Don’t wait until the real church is gone and the world is left reeling and wondering what happened. Make sure of your salvation while there is time to do so.

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What is your view?


The world and the media cloud our ideas and our view of the world around us with their own version, their own spin on what is happening and what has happened in the past. So how are we to discern the truth of what is and what will be if we don’t read the Bible? It is God’s inspired Word to mankind and since He cannot lie, it is the whole truth. Regardless of the watered down messages that some teach or try to “interpret” in a way which has nothing to do with its message at all.

God’s predictions for our world’s future, such as the saying of Jesus that “the kingdom of God will come before this generation is done”, did not mean that those living at the time would see His second coming. It did refer to the Jewish people who would still be the state of Israel at the time of His second coming. I am sure that many in that day hoped that Jesus would destroy Rome and its hold of persecution and oppression over the Jewish people but that wasn’t His job at that time.

Jesus came to end the oppression of Satan over the whole world so that people could gain their freedom from the world and its sins and the consequences in their lives. That was His message and His mission the first time. When He comes the second time, it will be as Conquerer and King and He will do it because not one comma or period will pass away before all are fulfilled.

Our world, not just America, is beginning a new year and all of us need to be seeking Jesus as our True Savior. He is the only Way to Heaven and our debts for our sins have been paid, all we have to do is believe in Him and follow Him daily, seeking to be more like Him until that day when He calls us all home. I pray that more people will learn of Him and seek Him as their Savior this year because He is coming soon.

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What Child is this?


For many years we have sung this song at this time of year but I have often wondered if anyone actually searches for Him or His real identity?

The angel Gabriel came to Mary and told her that she would bear a Son Who would be called Immanuel and to name Him Jesus (Yeshua). For a teenage girl, this was fairly upsetting particularly since she was betrothed to Joseph at the time. Without going over the entire story of Jesus’ birth my only revelation is this: He was NOT born on December 25. He was born, according to the Jewish calendar, during the Feast of Tabernacles which is around late September early October.

JesusfitsinyourheartWhy is this important? Because the word used or translated “with” when the meaning of Immanuel was translated also means “to tabernacle with”. God came to live with mankind, at least for a time and physically be with His creation. Ever since the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has lived with each believer from the time that they asked Him to come into their hearts. He dwells with us!

Isn’t that a wonderful and powerful message and the best part of it is that one day soon we will be with Him too! Your life and mine will not have to end with the death of this “tabernacle” which is walking around with pains and problems! We will be with Him forever. God loves His creation enough that we will be in His Presence for eternity. No more pain or sickness or death. That is the message and the hope that we have all been given by His grace and mercy.

So why would you want to keep this glorious and life-changing news to yourself? When we are baptized into our new life with Him and we come out of the water we are like the Hebrews who were escaping from Egypt after going through the Red Sea. We are not supposed to just sit down on the shore and not move until Jesus comes and they didn’t either. They complained and whined about being in the desert but God provided for them and He does the same for us too.

We have been given a new life to live in Him and through Him because of His love and grace toward us and we should make sure to walk in that grace until He comes again. The fact that God came to live with and redeem mankind is the most wonderful act of compassion and love that can be imagined. Don’t turn away from Him just because of your idea of how your life should be. Seek Him out and find the life which you can live through Him!

The story of His birth and how we celebrate it has been handed down and changed over the years to coincide with other traditions and celebrations but the story and the message only come from the gospels. That is the story which we should be hearing and clinging to for our salvation because He, the baby in the manger, is our Savior.

We need more Christian men!


The entirety of the Bible, God’s Word, begins in Genesis and all of creation begins with verse 1. Yet the world outside of the doors of the church…any church doesn’t want to hear about creation or how an All-powerful God created the universe. The reason that I am writing this about Christian men is that homes are without them today, sometimes our churches are without Christian men as well.

creationIn the first chapter of Genesis the whole of creation began:

The Creation of the World

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. 6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven.c And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth,d and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons,f and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

Men of the church today need to step up to their responsibility at home and in the church because that is our God-given job as fathers and husbands and leaders in the church. If we aren’t doing this then we are letting our children down and our wives down and we aren’t doing the job which God gave to men to do!

Ministering to…


Do you have a specific ministry? Do you pastor a church or are you a lay speaker or maybe a deacon at your church? What is your calling?

Over the past few years, I have wondered these things concerning my place in God’s Kingdom. I have also wondered how other people have answered these questions. Not being nosy but just curious.

You may wonder exactly why I am asking these questions and the reason is simple: I need to know if my calling is actually doing anyone any good at all?

God called me into this ministry in late 2008 so blogging and writing these thoughts and small sermons are my real calling rather than just being a pastor. God calls us in ways which we can’t really understand especially at the time of our calling. So…what are we to do with the specific talents and other gifts which He has given each of us?

For one thing, don’t ignore God’s calling on your life! Get up and use your gifts for His Kingdom. The reward of your writing and telling others about Jesus is being kept for you in Heaven so you can’t lose it ever! In today’s world, most of us are too timid to get out in public or in front of an audience with His message but we should. He called His disciples to do so and if you have given your heart to Jesus then it is your calling as well.

Don’t listen to those voices in your head which tell you to turn this into a business and make as much money as possible with it. Money and possessions are temporary because when you die that money and those possessions are given to someone else. You will stand before God’s judgment seat in the same condition that you were when you were born.

If you have truly and sincerely given your heart to Jesus then you will be clothed in His righteousness and your sins will not be held against you as evidence. God loves each of us, saint or saved or sinner alike, but those who haven’t taken Jesus as their Savior will be sent to a very different place other than heaven and that is hell.

Even if your self-righteousness equals that of the Pharisees who put Jesus to death, it won’t be enough unless you have given your heart to Jesus and have lived by His teachings and not by the sins which abound in this world today. You have been given a gift which is God’s grace through Jesus our Lord. It is a gift which will take you into eternity with Him but if you don’t give your life and your heart totally to Him then your eternity will be much different in hell.

Why do I say that you will be in hell? Because a sinful life is a life of rebellion and it is in that rebellion which you are in the same “camp” which is occupied by Satan and his demons. They rebelled and you refused to live your life by following Jesus every day, so you are the same in the eyes of God.

Make your goal one which looks for Jesus and for salvation through Him because by following Him is the only way to gain entry into heaven and a life with your Lord and Savior.

Who is Jesus?


According to God’s Word, He is the Son of God! He came to Bethlehem as a baby born to a virgin named Mary and He lived His life as a human being until He was crucified and then resurrected after three days. He was also God in the flesh of a man. There are many ways to describe Him and Who He was and is today, but most importantly He is our Savior and Lord.

If you don’t know Him as your Savior and Lord then He is just a historical figure and a Jewish prophet from long ago.

Satan questioned Him as the Son of God and the demons that He cast out of people during His ministry knew Him as the Holy One of God but there are many today and in the past, who still reject Him as such but one day everyone will find out the truth. In the Bible, there are many references to the Son of God or a Son of God in the Old and the New Testament.

When the three Hebrews were thrown into the furnace, the king said that there was a fourth man who looked like a son of the gods in there with them. Here is the excerpt from Daniel chapter 3 beginning at verse 8:

8 At this time some astrologers b came forward and denounced the Jews. 9 They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “May the king live forever! 10 Your Majesty has issued a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music must fall down and worship the image of gold, 11 and that whoever does not fall down and worship will be thrown into a blazing furnace. 12 But there are some Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—who pay no attention to you, Your Majesty. They neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold you have set up.”

13 Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king, 14 and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up? 15 Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?”

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us c from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual 20 and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace. 21 So these men, wearing their robes, trousers, turbans and other clothes, were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace. 22 The king’s command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, 23 and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace.

24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?”

They replied, “Certainly, Your Majesty.”

25 He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

26 Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!”

So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire, 27 and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.

28 Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. 29 Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.”

30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.

This is just one example of the pre-incarnate Jesus showing up and protecting His people. There are many others in the Old Testament and of course, He came in the New Testament to bring His message to the world.

It is hard to understand why the whole world seems to be against His message of truth and salvation but the time in which we live is the exact time that God’s Word says there will be a great apostasy from the Truth. Many people around the world are being persecuted for their faith in Jesus and many have died because of it. They have gone to their reward. Killing them did not take anything from them except the life which they had here. They have eternity to live in and for now and their reward is the grace and love of Almighty God.

As Paul said, “to live is Christ but to die is gain“!