Category: Religion

Why?


It is a question which we hear, especially parents, when our child or children are young. They ask it…sometimes to the point of getting on our nerves with the number and frequency of the question!

Sometimes we can answer it with a realistic answer and sometimes it is “Because I said so!”! But, this week we have no answer for the shooting in Las Vegas. There is no note or reason or anything that even approaches rationality. Because there is nothing rational about this! Was the shooter insane? I don’t know and few other people have a real clue either. Had he been “radicalized” in some way? Who knows?

Why is a question which we as a nation will be asking about this for a long time. Will we ever find the answer to that question? I honestly don’t know. In my view, my opinion is that only the shooter knows and God and likely we will never find out the actual reason. Because, the behavior to do such a thing defies logic and any human decency.

On the news tonight, Steve Hartman said that there are no real words to describe or comfort this type of event and he is right. We can’t think of anything to say because there isn’t anything that makes any sense when you are talking about an act so dehumanizing and tragic.

Life is precious. Not just one person’s life or a particular skin color or religion, but to God ALL human life is precious because He made us in His image! At one time the rule of law was that “when man kills another man, then by man his life will be taken“; which we have toned down with political correctness so that even when convicted a killer can live out his natural life without ever being killed for his crime! Some even claim that it is inhuman to punish a man in that fashion. Really? If they killed your wife or son or daughter, would you feel that way?

God is already punishing the killer from Las Vegas since he took his own life as well, so at least he is getting his punishment. His soul and his eternal body will endure that forever and there is no appeal or stay that will come to get him out of hell.

Hell was not created to punish mankind, but when we act like demons and follow the leading of their suggestions in our minds then God has no recourse but to place us in the same place of punishment that they have waiting for them. Please give your heart and life to Jesus and follow Him while there is still time to do so. We don’t know when He is coming back, but it won’t likely be much longer. Will we all live to see it? I don’t know, but I do know that when He comes there will be no doubt about Who it is and what is happening…at least to those who have heard about it or read the book of Revelation.

Decisions, decisions….


Almost from the time we are born we are making decisions, whether we know it or not. Sometimes, getting up in the morning is a decision and depending upon your health it could be a big decision! Making decisions about choices in life or most any other thing which is happening in your life takes time, prayer, and seeking guidance from someone whether it is your pastor or a family member.

Reading the Bible can sometimes help, but more often than not it seems to either cloud the issue or the passages don’t address your particular situation. Many times I have been frustrated with seeking God’s counsel in making a decision but He stays silent. Then, there are times when you seek out a friend or someone who you trust and they can’t or don’t give you good advice either.

So at this point, most people give up or make a decision on their own and sometimes it is the wrong decision but they may not find that out until months or years down the road of life. I have made some decisions in my life which didn’t work out very well and I have paid for them. In the end, I learned from them but you might say it was a hard lesson.

Decisions can be good or bad depending upon the circumstances and your state of mind at the time. Many times we need time, which is in short supply. Other times we need space between us and the object of the decision, at least for a while. In many areas of life, our decisions can make our lives better but sometimes, if we rush those decisions too much due to anxiety or circumstances, they could make things worse.

Seek out the counsel of God through prayer and reading His Word to give you some insight into the decision which will be in His will for your life. It is hard to wait on His timing and I am not going to tell you that it is easy, but it is the best idea. Rushing into a decision without God in the process is always a bad idea.

Our Savior


Jesusdiedforme

The most wonderful part of this bit of information is the part that is not in the image. He rose again on the third day! Jesus came to Bethlehem as an infant, with His deity poured out into the life of a human babe. His Father was and is God and through the Holy Spirit He was formed in the womb of Mary.

Jesus came to us, not to prove that God can do this thing of bringing a child into the world by a virgin, but to prove His love for ALL of us. Thirty-three years later, He went to the cross after being nearly whipped to death and He hung on the cross for a few hours and then He said, “It is finished”.

Heaven and hell and all of creation felt His passing. It was celebrated by the demons and Satan and it was likely questioned by the angels in Heaven, but God knew the reason and the timing of it all. It had to happen that way. He gave His life for each of us because He loved us and He did it because only He could accomplish what God had wanted to do since the Garden.

Our country and the world needs Jesus in their life because He is the Way to our salvation and eternity. You can believe it or not if you wish, but when you are standing in front of God one day without His righteousness covering your sins…you will wish that you had given your heart to Him. At which point…it will be too late.

Conclusions


In our society, we draw conclusions about everything and most of the time we do it immediately. Especially when it comes to violence in a public place. Writers for many publications are disavowing any responsibility when it comes to owning the reason for any crime which has a violent outcome. In spite of our collective ideas of terrorism, whether it is done by a person of color or of a certain religion, we still tend toward segregation of blame.

If you are Muslim, then you were radicalized. If you are African-American then you are angry; about what doesn’t seem to matter, but that is what the pundits on “news” programs label people as. But when the person is white, they are labeled as insane and a gun nut or even disturbed because of PTSD. Yet, many of them bought their weapons legally with background checks and apparently passed those checks multiple times.

bible-verses-about-the-downheartedThe shooter in the most recent event bought quite a number of guns, some modified to fire more quickly like an automatic. According to what we have heard so far, he actually bought these legally with background checks. So, why didn’t the number of purchases by one individual not raise a flag or at least suspicion? Even if he passed the background checks, the amount of ammunition bought and the number of guns purchased should have gotten someone’s attention.

Why do we or at least some in America make snap judgments about each other and about people who buy firearms and use them. It is true that we only think these things when some person uses a firearm to take lives in a way that is inconsistent with society or its norms. But honestly, any life taken is one which was taken too soon! Murder is against the law of man and God as well! It doesn’t matter if you kill someone with a knife or a gun or a bomb, murder is still against God’s law!

What can make someone snap to the point of shooting at people just because they are convenient targets? I will never understand the kind of crazy that sounds like!

Was God there? Yes, in the first responders who came to the aid of those in danger. He was there with the police who stormed the hotel and found the killer who was taking lives like targets on a range. Yes, God was there and He is still there giving comfort and strength to families and friends and to those who are recovering! We all need to pray for the victims and for our country because there could be another person who may snap and begin to do this somewhere else.

Seek Him out in all things and look for God in every place where you are because He is there, sad though He may be because of our intent and because of the apathy that is in our society today. God still cares and loves all of us, whether we return that love or not is our choice.

 

We need to be close


Our world is cracked and shattered today by violence which happened last night in Las Vegas. Nobody knows why the shooter did what he did, no rational person would do such a thing. Is there an explanation for this? Yes, there is evil in our world and we can’t ignore it. Men are evil, Satan is evil and yet people are wanting to take guns away from law-abiding citizens. The shooter bought his guns legally with FBI background checks, what snapped? What happened?

Honestly, we will not know for sure. His brother said that he doesn’t know why or what could have brought this on. Nobody knows for sure, except God. The shooter has been judged by Him and is likely being punished in hell right now. Taking a life which is made in the image of God is not something that God dismisses. A Christian could not have done this, so he is likely in hell and will be for eternity.

We should be seeking God’s strength and His Presence today, not trying to take the rights of people to own guns. It is true that an owner of many guns is the person responsible for this tragedy, but what started this or what set him on the path to do such a thing…nobody knows except for God. I know that I am repeating myself, but it is so shocking until it is hard to understand or even get your mind to begin to comprehend.

Pray for the families who have family members injured or recovering or even killed in this horrible tragedy. This is not the time to place blame or seek revenge on law-abiding citizens because of the act of one person whose sanity snapped in some way.

Seek out Jesus and look to God’s Word for comfort in times like these.bible-verses-about-the-downhearted

Follow Jesus


Romans 14   Disagreement between believers.

In Rome believers squabbled over whether or not to eat meat or whether to observe Jewish holy days and customs. If they had kept their convictions to themselves, there would’ve been no problem but they began to criticize and judge one another. The squabbling hasn’t abated even today. We argue over many more things, such as the color of carpet or which flowers to put out on a certain day or week. Some churches argue over even less important things than these, but the point is…we are supposed to be united in Christ! Regardless of our denomination or doctrine, yet the collective church is very divided in many ways.

Verses 1-12

In this section of the chapter, Paul begins and ends it with an admonition. He addressed those who were strong in their faith and did not waver toward holy days or diets but kept their freedom in Jesus Christ. He also addressed those who were worried about their diet or the Law and told them that they were immature in their faith. Many people think that Christians who follow strict rules in their faith are the more mature, when it is really the other way around. In the Roman church, the weak and immature Christians were judging the more mature Christians and the strong Christians were despising the weak Christians.

Paul told them to welcome one another and gave four reasons why they should. We are only focusing on one today.

The first reason is: God has received us into His family

It is not our individual responsibility to decide the requirements for Christian fellowship in a church, only the Lord can do this. To set up man-made restrictions or rules based on the personal prejudices or convictions is to go beyond the Word of God. Perhaps St. Augustine got it right when he said: “In essentials-unity; in non-essentials-liberty; in all things charity”. We are free in Jesus Christ to do that which brings honor and respect to the church and to the Word which we hold as the Truth.

When God sent Peter to take the gospel to the gentiles, the church criticized Peter because he ate with these new Christians. But God revealed His acceptance of them because He gave them the Holy Spirit just as He had done in Jerusalem at Pentecost. Peter did not stay in this freedom because later he refused to fellowship with the Gentiles at Antioch, where Paul had to rebuke him.

God showed both Peter and Paul that Christian fellowship was not to be based on food or religious calendars, but on their faith in Jesus and the freedom that we are given through Him.

In every church there are some who are more mature in their faith and some who are weak. The weak and the strong, young Christians in the faith and those who have been studying God’s Word for many years, are not to look down on each other because one feels freedom through Jesus and the other sees being a Christian as “following the rules”.

Peter asked the Lord, “Lord, what shall this man do?”; the Lord’s reply was, “What is that to you? Follow thou me!”

In other words, the Lord told him this: “Peter, make sure you have made Me Lord of your life. Let Me worry about John” or any other believer. When other Christians are criticizing other Christians for what they do, we are being judges. Don’t worry about what someone else is doing, follow Jesus and let Him be your Lord!

Paul emphasized this in verse 8 when he said: “Whether we live, therefore, or whether we die, we are the Lord’s”. Our responsibility is to the Lord and following Him in our life, not worrying about other Christians and their lives. If your brother in Christ is still drinking beer, don’t chastise him. If Jesus hasn’t convicted him of this, let him be. The same goes with smoking or any other so-called “vice”, follow Jesus in your life and let Jesus take care of other Christians.

Paul asked those who were young in their faith, the weaker Christians, “Why are you judging your brother?”; then he asked the same question to the stronger more mature Christians in the church. Both of them will stand at the judgment and be judged by the Lord in their walk with Him, so what is that to you or me?

All of our works, good or bad, will be judged at the judgment seat of Christ by the Lord Himself. It is not our place to do so in this life and it has nothing to do with our sins or our salvation since Christ paid the price for all of them and as believers our sins cannot be held against us anymore. In 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 Paul compares our ministries in Christ with the building of a temple. If we build with cheap materials, the fire will burn them up. If we use precious, lasting materials, then our temple (works) will last. If our works for the Lord pass the test, we receive the reward. If they are burned up, we lose our rewards but we are saved “yet so as by fire”.

Anything that we do in this life for the Lord and through His Strength will last, we should make sure of our faith in Him and our belief in Him. Your life is your witness just as every word and deed which others see you do. If it is done to please Jesus and would be approved by Him, then you are secure in your salvation. Don’t worry about what others say or do in their walk with Him, because Jesus is the final Judge and it is His approval which we should seek!

Where is God in this?


This is the feeling I get when I watch the news or any coverage of the devastation left behind by these hurricanes this year. Yet, nobody seems to be asking or answering the question. Even in religious programming! I get emails for donations to help, but who is actually helping these people? Those in Puerto Rico have no electricity, no clean water and very little food; people in Florida nursing homes are dying because of lack of electricity and the heat, so where is the help that is supposed to be there?

You and I know that God is there in all of this, yet there is no one telling the news media about His Presence. Samaritan’s Purse is in Texas and in Florida and I imagine they have some people in the Caribbean helping out as much as they can. There are products like water and food that are being delivered as quickly as possible but there are many who are angry because they want everything back the way it was before! They want it right now!!

God is there! His grace and mercy is there, but people don’t recognize it for what it is. We are so accustomed to getting what we want right now! We as a society don’t know how to have patience enough to wait for Him to bring help and food and water or whatever you need! HE is always near, especially to those who believe in Him but He is also there with those who haven’t given their hearts to Him. He is waiting for you to decide that you need Him.

That is why He has given us free choice to use it in our life and our decisions. We have a choice of whether we will believe in Him, and live our lives according to His will as taught in the Bible. He also gives us the choice to NOT believe in Him or in Jesus and just live our lives according to our own desires and our beliefs or lack of belief!

Why does He give us a choice? If we didn’t have a choice, we wouldn’t be human beings! We would be more like robots or automatons and that is not the kind of relationship that God wants with us at all!

Would you want a relationship with someone who doesn’t have a choice? They do what you want, when you want, no questions and they always hear you when you speak. Sounds a lot like slavery or a robot or something doesn’t it?

When you love someone deeply, don’t you want them to love you as well? God wants that relationship with us. That doesn’t mean that He needs our love, but He desires it. Parents know this because they love their children and they feel love from their children when they get old enough to know what love really is. That is the kind of relationship of love that God wants with us!

He is always near to us no matter what situation is happening in our life, when we are believers in Him. If you don’t know Him or believe in Him, he is near but not in the same way until you call on Him to give your life to Him. Then He is immediately there and will be near from that point on if you give your heart to Him.IamtheWay

At the end of your life….


ourlovingsaviorWhat will you do? If you have time to decide or make a decision about your life, what will you do? Many who look at this will wonder, “What else could I do at the end?”. Consider your religious decisions in your life. Have you given your heart to Jesus? Do you know Him? Does Jesus know you?

I don’t mean “know about Him”, I mean know Him and be known by Him!

I know that Christians today are hated because I see it on the news from time to time. I have also had some nasty remarks and comments here because of what I write. But, I am a preacher and my call is to tell others about my Savior! If I don’t do what I am called to do, then I am guilty of not being true to my calling and I will pay for it in some way.

My salvation is sure, but any reward that God might have given me because of my witness will be tainted. I have to write what I feel in my heart should be said.

God loves you and me and every person on Earth, whether they know Him or believe in Him or not. But what will you do on the day or maybe the week before you die, if you get that chance, and you haven’t made your decision about Him yet? Many people, some of them wealthy but most of them were not, have come to the end of their lives and found that they feel that they wasted it.

They look back at their life and if they are wealthy, they see so much good which they could’ve done but didn’t. Now they don’t have the time to do those things. The big problem is also that they feel empty and afraid, particularly if they haven’t given their heart to Jesus. Many of them feel the weight of eternity coming toward them, especially if they are dealing with cancer which is going to take their life.

When this happens, they wonder what else they should’ve done with their life. They can see that their life doesn’t have many days ahead and they feel anxious about what else they need to do, yet some of them are so rigid in their beliefs or lack of belief, that they have no idea what to do. Which frightens them even more.

Christians are not the monsters that some people make us out to be and God is not angry with you over your life’s choices whether they were good or bad or just uncaring toward His offer of salvation. God knows if and when you will make that decision but He doesn’t push you toward it and He is not going to take your choice or your ability to choose away. It is your responsibility to choose to seek Him, read His Word and ask Him to show you what you need to do.

His love toward you is unconditional because He loves you even when you don’t love Him. Just as your spouse can’t be forced to love you, each of us can’t be forced to love God or forced to follow Jesus. Just as sheep will not be forced to follow someone who doesn’t care for them, we won’t either.

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matt. 6:33

Wealth and poverty


I read something earlier today that bothered me because it was a kind of put-down of people who don’t have as much as others. In other words, they are poor. The article spoke of someone who eats “ketchup sandwiches, how pathetic”; I am not angry about their attitude but I knew someone who loved those sandwiches and I am married to a lady who liked mayonnaise sandwiches. You know, life throws all of us a curve now and then and sometimes we get hit with it a bit hard at times. When that happens, our life can go “off the rails” so to speak and it isn’t as acceptable or wonderful as other people’s lives.

PovertyWhat is my point with this? Here is a quote from an advertisement for a movie coming out soon:  Wealth and fame crumble when compared to life in Christ. 

Wealth is good when it is used in useful ways to help others and not squandered on things and vacations just because you can. Our lives can be so much more when we give our heart and our lives to Jesus the Christ. Not because He will make us wealthy, but because when we belong to Him…we already are. He is the Creator and we have been adopted into His family! He could give me a pound of platinum in the blink of an eye, but what good is that compared to eternity?

Why do you think that those who live in poverty in many areas of the world, give their lives to Jesus when they hear the message about Him? It is because it doesn’t matter what your circumstances in this life are, when you die and go to be with Him then you will have eternity to worship and praise Him and rule with Him one day. This temporary life with its fickle fame and fortune will be gone one day, whether it is by your death or by the time of Tribulation, none of this stuff matters!

Life is more than money and fame and houses or land! It is about you serving your Savior! He gave up His position in Heaven to come to Earth as a baby and be a man who did not sin and then die for your sins and everyone else’s sins, past, present and future! He did this not for fame or wealth but for LOVE. He, God our Father in Heaven, loves each of us SO MUCH that He gave a part of Himself for each of us, Jesus the Son. If you don’t think that His Son meant as much to Him as your child then you don’t know how deeply God felt. Even I don’t know how deeply God feels our betrayal and our rejection of Him or His Son, nobody can understand this because His ways are not like ours!

Take the time to learn about Him by reading and studying the Bible. Pray about what you read and be still and know that He is God! There is no other! The wealth of the entire world wouldn’t make anyone happy, it would only make them miserable because money cannot buy the things in life which truly matter! No matter how much or how little you have in money, God loves you and will always be there. Money can be taken from you, but it won’t buy love or friendship or anything which gives life its meaning.

This is why poor people always seek Jesus because knowing Him as your Savior makes you an adopted child of God, the Creator of all. What more could you ask for?

Too many distractions


.In the past, almost two decades (just shy by ~2 years), we have seen and are still seeing that distractions like texting, game play (virtual and connected through cell towers), console games and computer games are taking our millennial generation. They are not paying much attention to real life! It is true that some of them are paying attention, but it seems that the majority that get our attention on the news as spoiled brats are exactly that!

They are distracted from real life and don’t care to study real history and actual English as a language. Too much emphasis on abbreviations and shortcuts from texting is to blame as well as our education system which allows this. What has happened to discipline and character in education and in our children? In my opinion, it began to erode away when prayer and study of the Bible was taken out of the classroom. When prayer was taken out in 1963, the morals and the character of our teachers and their students began a very long slide downhill and it hasn’t stopped yet.

God has not stopped caring for us even though we have pushed Him as far away as we can. Truly, it is time that we got back to learning why the Pilgrims came to America in the first place. It is also time that we studied the Bible, not just as a historical document but as a standard by which our lives should be patterned. Before anyone shouts out that women were not allowed a voice and slavery was deemed as acceptable, I am not saying that any of that should be brought into view. I am speaking of the moral teachings from God’s Word and the lessons learned from the New Testament and Jesus’ disciples. Those are the more important and useful areas that our education system needs today!

For many years, the Bible was the main textbook used in schools until it was pushed aside in the late 1800’s. Although, it did survive as a classroom text into the mid twentieth century, it was finally taken out of the classroom and largely out of family life except for those who attend church occasionally. We need to get back to learning about and knowing God as our Savior and as our Teacher as well!

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

Our God is forgiving and loving and willing to come to our aid if we will acknowledge that we have sinned by pushing Him away and repent of that terrible sin, then seek Him out as our God and our Savior, learning to follow Him in all that we do. But, today our world on the Internet and social media and in the news despises Him and His Son, Jesus. Any mention of Jesus will almost get you arrested today and I never thought I would live to see that day come.

Our world, not just everywhere else, but here in America is becoming a dangerous place for people who believe in Jesus. Have you noticed that? You can claim to worship a tree or a fish or a little fat man or even just claim that you are your own god, and everyone seems to be fine with that! But…if you claim to pray to the God of the Bible or believe in Jesus the Christ, our Messiah, then you have crossed the line into dangerous territory. Nobody wants to hear that nonsense! How dare you bring up the name of God or Jesus in public!

It is a shame that it hasn’t been brought up many, many times before! For over fifty years we have been pushing God away and out of our schools and out of public life and display and quite frankly if it doesn’t come to an end then the world itself will. God is a patient Creator, this much is very true. He has allowed us to go farther than the world did in Adam’s day and by Noah’s time, which wasn’t very far apart, God had enough. We have been fortunate that He hasn’t had enough far sooner than now. The only real reason which has kept Him from acting on our stupidity and arrogance was His promise to the Jewish people.

He had promised to bring them back into their land and after nearly two millennia He did exactly that! Then they regained control over Jerusalem in 1967, fifty years ago this year. His promises to them are the reason His patience has lasted so long, so yes we are fortunate indeed.

I pray that anyone reading this will seek Him out, not as a learning experience, but humbly and with a contrite heart. Leave your distractions behind, whatever they may be, and follow Jesus because He is the only Savior of mankind. Anything or anyone else is a fake and a liar.