Category: Religion

Separate but equal in His eyes


In the centuries since Jesus, our Savior, ascended to His Father, YHWH, and He sent the Holy Spirit to be with the early church so that they could get started. Why? Because there were many thousands of people in Jerusalem that day when Peter spoke and the only way that many would understand him was through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God Himself. Many people think that Peter was speaking in many languages that day and he may have been, but it wasn’t coming directly from his mouth that way. This is just my belief and you are welcome to disagree with me, but the Spirit was giving them utterances to be heard by all of the people and it was Spiritually done.

What I mean by that is that even if Peter was speaking in Aramaic, the Spirit was working through him so that all of those who did not speak Aramaic heard his words in their native tongue. So to be understood, to be heard by many people who needed salvation and so that they would believe in the power of God through the Holy Spirit. Do we, as Christians, still have that spirit with us today? In a sense, yes we do. Wherever it is needed and necessary, the Holy Spirit will make it evident to those around that God is alive and well and working through us to bring the knowledge of Jesus to them.

Are these spiritual gifts necessary for salvation? No, they are not. They are manifestations, proof of salvation and validation of ministry if and when it is necessary to spread the gospel to others. There is an article which shows some of the differences between churches and I am giving the link to it here, and although I believe that we are all serving the same God our ideas about Him are very different which is what has separated us all along.

There are many names given to God by mankind over the years and many of them can be found in this article which is a good reference for exactly Who He is because these names are all in God’s Word so there is no dissension. God loves each of us, not just a few and not just those whom He calls to Himself, but many people in the world today don’t look at Him that way or think of Him that way.

Some people treat God like a genie or a grandfather. He is our CREATOR! He is GOD! There are and always have been three persons in the Trinity of God. There is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit and it is the spirit which we have when we open our hearts to become Christians. No amount of speaking in tongues which can’t be understood will make your salvation more real. God still heals people today, maybe not in the most dramatic way but He does it just the same. Is there prophecy today? Yes, in the Word of God and in those who are preachers of that Word and no other!

How can we turn away from God and His nature of being a Triune Godhead? At Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove and lighted on Him, God spoke saying “This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased”. You have the Trinity in that one place at the same time. David said that he needed the Spirit of God to give him strength, the Angel of the Lord has been identified as the pre-incarnate Christ and God the Father, our Creator, was present with Israel in numerous ways throughout their history and He is with us today!

The church shouldn’t be splintered and fractured, but it has been for hundreds of years and in the last one hundred years it has fractured even worse. Why? Because of the influence of Satan, in my opinion. He has infiltrated the church in the congregation and in the pulpit. Inserting his ideas and lies so that men will consider them to be their ideas and they sound just close enough to the truth until it becomes doctrine, yet it is not from God’s Word exactly…it just sounds like it. I pray that we will wake up and open our eyes spiritually before our Lord appears and many are left wondering what happened.

Moses’ staff


In Exodus, Moses saw a burning bush and decided to move up on the mountain to see this marvelous thing, “a bush burning, but not consumed”. When he drew near to it, God spoke to him and said, “God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.””. Exodus 3:5  

What made the side of the mountain holy?

The presence of almighty God! When you read the account of their conversation, you realize that God had watched Moses for many years. He had been responsible for tempering and molding him through his life, not because of his education in Egypt, not because of his murder of an Egyptian taskmaster, and not because of Moses being a shepherd for forty years. God had a task for him and through all of that, God had made Moses into the leader and the humble man who would lead Israel out of Egypt.

Moses’ Staff

1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee. 2 And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. 3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. 4 And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: 5 That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. Exodus 4:1-5

God asked a question during their “interview” that seems silly to me. He asked Moses, “What is that in your hand?”. God knew what it was! It was his staff, it was just a dry stick that many shepherds used in their work with the sheep. He wanted Moses to see it as God saw it, an instrument of God’s power and might to be used to get Pharaoh’s attention.

It was also a representation of God and His Spirit, because God could use it to do great things. It was not to be worshiped, it was not to be put in a place of honor, it was to be used in God’s service.

A stick. What could God use a stick for? Well, during their time in the desert, a stick was used to purify water for them to drink at the spring at Marah.

The Waters of Marah: Exodus 15:22-26

22 So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. 23 And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. 24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? 25 And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, 26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.

Now, Moses didn’t cast the tree into the waters but he used a limb from it most likely, a stick. But, when used by God even a stick can be a force for good and a force to change lives. It allowed them to drink, so it saved their lives.

Why did God use sticks? Because, without Him and His Spirit those dry sticks could do nothing but in the hand of a servant of God who is obeying God’s word, a stick can do wonders. God made the stick turn into a cobra, at one point the staff of Aaron budded and bloomed, a stick was used to purify the water at Marah. The stick didn’t do any of those things! God did!

Our God is the same God that Moses served in the wilderness. He is the same One who stood in the furnace with the Israelites when the king threw them in there for not worshiping him. He is the Creator of all things, you and me included, and He can use us even if our faith is as dry as a stick…if we will let Him!

The staff which I have in my hand has been dead for a long time, but if you can see it as a vine, like the True Vine of Jesus, you can hold it and keep it in the center of your life. It is a representation of God and His power, something to hold you up, to keep you steady in your walk with Him. It is a stick, but it can be a symbol for Jesus because it is something that we can hold and touch. Shepherds used a staff to keep the sheep in line, to help them to walk during the long days, to fend off predators, to lean on when they were tired.

All of these things, we can do with Jesus as well if we will place Him in that place where we can lean on Him. He is always near to us, we just have to acknowledge that we need Him and surrender our lives to Him. Something that our church, the church, needs to do today.

Won’t you decide to place Him at the center of your life today? Let Him assist you in your life’s struggles, no matter what they may be. He will give you the strength, the words, the wisdom and the way to get through your struggles. But, you must learn to lean on Him like a stick or a staff.

Walking like He walked..


Have you ever heard that we are supposed to do this? We are supposed to be representing Him in this world, showing His Light to others. Do you do this? Do you try to do it every day?

As Christians, we are truly supposed to be examples of His Love in this world where people seem to hate more than they love. Oh, there are good people and people who do good things for others once in a while, but Jesus did things for people everywhere He went. Sometimes it was a healing, sometimes it involved making water into wine, sometimes it had to do with giving someone their sight back, even if they had never had it.

Granted, we don’t have the complete faith, the kind which doesn’t doubt, in order to do these wonderful miracles. Some people say that those were done only to fulfill prophecy and to get people’s attention on the Messiah. It is true, those miracles were done by the Savior and our Creator as well as the disciples in the beginning of the church. But…we can do things for people in need, if we have the means to do so. Do you?

The only thing that I can do most days is to pray for their health and for their healing, asking for all of the people on my prayer list and all of those who ask for prayer on my Facebook page. I don’t know many of them personally, but God knows who they are and what is happening in their lives. He knows what is wrong and what can be done for them and what HE can and will do for them.

God doesn’t answer prayers in the ways that we want ALL of the time, but He does answer them. Sometimes it is a “maybe” or “wait”, sometimes it is “no”, but the reason behind these is because God knows what He has for you and what you are asking for is not His best, nor is it what He has in store for you. Of course when we get those kind of answers we think that God doesn’t love me. God loves each of us far more than we can imagine and He is NOT like us! His love is a kind of love that we can’t understand in this life. We won’t get to that point where we can understand it until we are in His Presence!

“Walking the walk” as some put it isn’t hard to do, but it has to be practiced and done on the basis that we intentionally do it every day. It is not natural to wake in the morning and thank God for opening your eyes, but that is what we should do. Getting up and walking to the kitchen should be a thankful process as well, we should take nothing for granted because none of us are guaranteed tonight or tomorrow. Truly, God loves us, all of us because of His Son’s sacrifice for our salvation. It is something that we should be eternally grateful for, not something that is taken for granted.

Please, seek Him out so that your eternity is sealed and in His Presence. If you keep telling yourself that you will get to it later, then one day, later will get to you. Then, you will stand and give an account of every word and deed done which was done in your own strength and without Jesus. Your righteousness, like that of the Pharisees, is worthless in God’s eyes unless your heart belongs to Jesus and He lives in you! If that doesn’t describe your salvation, your righteousness, then your eternity will be in a place that was not made for humanity..but for Satan.

Are you a follower?


Of the many people who attend church on a fairly regular schedule, how many are really following Jesus in their daily lives? The answer may shock you. According to a study done recently, eighty-three percent of the people in the United States said they were Christians. But, when they were questioned further and asked about their relationship with Jesus and their belief about salvation coming through faith in Him alone and about the authority of the Bible and its inspiration by the Holy Spirit, the numbers tumbled to around eight to ten percent.

What happened?

Many people think that if you are a good person and you attend church once or twice a year, then you will go to Heaven. Not true.

Do you believe that Jesus was and is the Son of God? That He lived a sinless life and died for the atonement which is given to every person that is called by God? Do you have faith in God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit or the Trinity of Almighty God? Can you discern truth in the Bible and in your everyday life?

Or is there another pathway to get to Heaven through your works and donations? Jesus said that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no man comes to the Father except by Him. Believing in Him and giving your life to Jesus is the ONLY way to get to Heaven. There is no broad road to walk on with no holes and no rocks and other obstacles along the way. It is a path to follow by giving your heart to Jesus and asking for His forgiveness of your sins, repenting of them and turning your life around to follow Him.

This doesn’t mean that you can say those things, get baptized, and then go back to your old life. If you do this, then your heart was not changed at all and you are still living like you did before you heard about Jesus. Your heart hasn’t changed therefore you have not changed. It isn’t a magic formula, but you have to realize that you NEED Jesus in your life before something happens and you stand before God without Him.

God loves each of us and wants us to have a relationship with Him and the entire body of believers, and the only way to do that is by giving your heart to Jesus by believing in Him and asking Him to forgive you and make you whole. Why do I keep telling ya’ll this? Because, it is my job! Because the numbers shouldn’t fall from over 80 percent down to ten percent. Deception and lies are being spread abroad all of the time, even inside the church today, yet there are many who don’t see it or can’t discern it because they are not in God’s Word enough to be able to see when something is taught and taken out of context.

God sent His Son to Earth to purchase your pardon through His blood. He went through a scourging which left Him bloody and bruised, then He was nailed to the cross and withstood the shame and scorn of His people for six hours and then surrendered His Spirit into the Father’s hands. All of this was done to purchase us, our pardon for eternity and for our forgiveness. Would you turn away from something which is given to you without cost to you, but which Jesus paid for with His blood and His life?

Everything that could be done for each of us in order to purchase our souls and our place in eternity, has been done. It doesn’t require anything from you except that you believe in the One Who gave it all for you and that you repent of your sinful life and follow Him. Telling others with your life and your witness because we are supposed to tell others! Why? Would you be satisfied in Heaven without your children or your parents? Then tell them! Tell your friends and your co-workers, your students and anyone who will listen. If they won’t hear or refuse to accept Jesus, their blood is on their hands, not yours. It is God and His Spirit which will bring them to Himself, if they refuse then there is nothing else you could have done.

Be a follower of Jesus and tell others about what He has done for you. Satan will try to convince you to not follow Him, to go back to your old life, your comfortable life and your friends. When you stand in front of God after your life is over, which one of your friends will be there to help you? Will Satan stand there and say that you didn’t know what you were doing? No, he will be waiting for you to exit the room because he has a place for you…in hell.

Just checking in…


This is something I have been sent in an email before, so I hope that you all enjoy it.

A Minister passing through his church
In the middle of the day,
Decided to pause by the altar
To see who come to pray.
Just then the back door opened,
And a man came down the aisle,
The minister frowned as he saw the man
Hadn’t shaved in a while.
His shirt was torn and shabby,
And his coat was worn and frayed,
The man knelt down and bowed his head,
Then rose and walked away.

In the days that followed at precisely noon,
The preacher saw this chap,
Each time he knelt just for a moment,
A lunch pail in his lap.
Well, the minister’s suspicions grew,
With robbery a main fear,

He decided to stop and ask the man,
‘What are you doing here?’
The old man said he was a factory worker
And lunch was half an hour
Lunchtime was his prayer time,
For finding strength and power.
I stay only a moment
Because the factory’s far away;
As I kneel here talking to the Lord,
This is kinda what I say:

‘I JUST CAME BY TO TELL YOU, LORD,
HOW HAPPY I HAVE BEEN,
SINCE WE FOUND EACH OTHERS FRIENDSHIP
AND YOU TOOK AWAY MY SIN.
DON’T KNOW MUCH OF HOW TO PRAY,
BUT I THINK ABOUT YOU EVERYDAY.
SO, JESUS, THIS IS BEN,
JUST CHECKING IN TODAY.’

The minister feeling foolish,
Told Ben that it was fine.
He told the man that he was welcome
To pray there anytime.
‘It’s time to go, and thanks,’ Ben said
As he hurried to the door.
Then the minister knelt there at the altar,
Which he’d never done before.
His cold heart melted, warmed with love,
As he met with Jesus there.
As the tears flowed down his cheeks,
He repeated old Ben’s prayer:

‘I JUST CAME by TO TELL YOU, LORD,
HOW HAPPY I’VE BEEN,
SINCE WE FOUND EACH OTHERS FRIENDSHIP
AND YOU TOOK AWAY MY SIN.
I DON’T KNOW MUCH OF HOW TO PRAY,
BUT I THINK ABOUT YOU EVERYDAY.
SO, JESUS, THIS IS ME,
JUST CHECKING IN TODAY.’

Past noon one day, the minister noticed
That old Ben hadn’t come.
As more days passed and still no Ben,
He began to worry some.
At the factory, he asked about him,
Learning he was ill.
The hospital staff was worried,
But he’d given them a thrill.

The week that Ben was with them,
Brought changes in the ward.
His smiles and joy contagious.
Changed people were his reward.
The head nurse couldn’t understand
Why Ben could be so glad,
When no flowers, calls or cards came,
Not a visitor he had.

The minister stayed by his bed,
He voiced the nurse’s concern:
No friends had come to show they cared.
He had nowhere to turn.
Looking surprised, old Ben spoke up
And with a winsome smile;
‘The nurse is wrong, she couldn’t know,
He’s been here all the while.’
Everyday at noon He comes here,
A dear friend of mine, you see,
He sits right down and takes my hand,
Leans over and says to me:

‘I JUST CAME BY TO TELL YOU, BEN,
HOW HAPPY I HAVE BEEN,
SINCE WE FOUND THIS FRIENDSHIP,
AND I TOOK AWAY YOUR SIN .
I THINK ABOUT YOU ALWAYS
AND I LOVE TO HEAR YOU PRAY,
AND SO BEN, THIS IS JESUS,
JUST CHECKING IN TODAY .’

Jesus loves each of us, so check in with Him every day.

Trust and faith


What do you put your trust…your faith in? When Moses realized that God was going to use him to deliver Israel from Egypt, what did he put his trust in? It wasn’t the stick that he had used as a shepherd, it was God! Moses wasn’t a magician who could turn the stick into a snake, God did that! God doesn’t use magicians because their magic comes from Satan and his demons!

With God all things are possible, to those who have faith in Him. Our lives and the fact that we live today on this Earth are not guaranteed, we did not evolve here, we as a species were created by God! The Bible is His Word given to man to write and keep records so that we would have wisdom and knowledge to know Him and how to be civilized in our society.

It does take faith in God to understand the Bible and to be able to grasp His wisdom there. It can’t be done if you just read it as a book, without faith or prayer for His Spirit revealing it to you the Bible is just a book. Which is why many people who don’t believe in God can say that they have read it and they don’t understand it. God’s wisdom in His Word is foolish to someone who doesn’t have faith and who doesn’t believe the words which are in it.

God loves us and He has promised to come back and make the world new again and since He can’t lie, then He will do it. When? I don’t know, but if you look at the prophecies in the Bible telling about the condition of the world just before His return then we aren’t far from it. I won’t be foolish enough to give a date because only God Himself knows that day and hour, and it isn’t written in His Word.

The world around us is changing dramatically in scope and in what we are trying to do in science and medicine. The Internet has enabled us to communicate around the world in seconds. Life is easier in some places and harder or even impossible in some other areas, yet God hasn’t abandoned us. We are His creation and this small planet is our home. When He comes, it will open many eyes to His existence and also to their regret because they didn’t believe in Him.

Search Him out diligently, seek Him in the Scriptures and at church, pray for His guidance and direction in learning about Him in the Word. Because, when your life is over there are no do-overs and you will meet Him, but in a very different way.

Problems in our lives


How many problems do we all have today? That question alone could fill up many pages of text. Suffice to say, all of us have problems of one kind or another. Some of them are of our own making, some are caused by the economic conditions in the world today.

So, what can we do about our problems? Not much really. Individually, we have to notice what is going on before it becomes a problem. The same is true for states and nations, but that doesn’t always work. In our lives, as short as they are, problems are going to be a part of them and there is no reason to think otherwise.

Sounds pessimistic doesn’t it? Jesus told His disciples that we would always have trouble (tribulation) in this world but to be of good cheer because He had overcome the world. Will that help in today’s climate with wars happening all over, earthquakes and hurricanes happening in places where they haven’t in a while if ever? For some people, no it won’t because they don’t want to give their hearts to Jesus. They don’t want the peace which comes with knowing Him.

Why don’t they want this? I haven’t got the slightest idea. Jesus and the Holy Spirit give me the strength to get by and get through the problems which come up in my life and they can do this for you too. I don’t have the problems that many people have with their health, but I can’t work because of my disability (at least not at an 8 hour a day job). I preach on Sunday and I give these sermons here when the words come to me, but that is about all that I can accomplish.

It saddens me that I am like this, but I like to think it was because I was making a difference in some people’s lives and Satan tried to stop it. It didn’t work. I am not letting this get me down and you shouldn’t either! I have days where I am depressed, but I do my best to read in the Psalms and give it to God and let Him take care of it. I can’t get rid of the depression on my own, but He can.

Your problems may have to do with money or lack of a job or an illness, but God can take care of them all if you will let Him. God doesn’t move at our pace, He works in His time which is why we sometimes try to help Him get things done. That is the wrong thing to do because it just postpones His answer! He will let you give it a try, and He will give the problem back to you if you think you can do better, then He will sit back and watch. When you figure it out, then He will ask you in a small voice (if you are listening), “Are you ready for my solution yet?”.

God loves each of us more than we can imagine and since He lives outside of time, He can see down the road, so to speak, what is coming and what is best for us. He wants us to wait for His best! We just get impatient. It is important to add here something that I learned a LONG time ago: DON’T ASK GOD TO TEACH YOU PATIENCE! You won’t like His class on that at all!! Learn it at your own pace, teach yourself patience through the reading of His Word and then listen to Him and wait.

I promise, it will be worth it.

More like Christ


This is the example that we have, the very one that we are supposed to try to live up to in our walk with Jesus. It is not enough that we try in our own strength, because we will fail!

Encouraging words, huh? We will fail to be like Christ if we do it in our own strength, yet that is exactly what Jesus taught with the sermon on the mount. Teachers and preachers have, for the most part, taught His Wisdom as it was pointing to those in attendance when it really means that we are all to live this way.

How can you and I be more like Christ? By giving away our old natural self! Sacrifice it, our old way of living, just as Abraham was going to do to his son when God asked him to sacrifice Isaac. We have to give up our life, our way of doing things, and start living the way that Jesus taught His disciples to live. As a servant of God to others in love and His Truth! If you wake up on Monday morning and thank God for getting you up, that’s a start.

What else are we supposed to do after giving thanks for our health and our life to serve Him one more day? We have to ask Him to give us the words and the opportunity today to show someone a reason why God loves them. It may not be a big thing, it could be only a few words, but if it is given to and shown to them in the love of Christ…it will accomplish what it was meant to accomplish. Get up with a gladness in your heart, a thankful spirit that God gives you, so that others will see it and wonder what you have that they don’t? Then, they may ask you and you can tell them.

God gives us such grace every morning by giving us the air that we breathe and our ability to get up from the bed and walk! We can look outside and see the birds and the sun and the clouds and all of it was provided by God for our benefit. Why do I say it that way? Because even David said so in the Psalms, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.”.

God uses the Sun, the moon and the stars to show His works in the Heavens, but they also declare His goodness and His greatness! Seeing all of these things, we have to wonder about the Creator, if you believe in Him, who put it all there. Why would He care about us? Because He loved us enough to send His Son to die, to be sacrificed for all of our sins, so that we might have the opportunity to become sons and daughters of God! Yes, we float in space on a tiny speck compared to the majesty of the cosmos, but God has a plan and a purpose for each of us.

All that we need to do is sacrifice our life, our sinful life, and give it to Him so that He can take what is left and make it into a mighty, servant of the Most High God! Don’t get all hyped up about being somebody in His Kingdom, because without the Holy Spirit nothing that you write, say, or do will amount to anything! Follow Him every day, read His Word every day, pray a few  prayers thanking Him for His goodness and mercy every day because without Him, you and I are nothing.

Prayer needed…


Amen!

Sonrise!


Are you a follower of God’s Son? If you are, then you know why I titled this post the way I did. We, His church, are waiting for Him to rise in the skies to claim His bride! Will we see Him that day? Yes, we will! Will the rest of the world see Him? Not likely. Why? Good question.

The reason is because when He comes for the church, there will be a trumpet sound and the church will disappear, those who have fallen asleep prior to His summons will be first and the ones who are alive will be next! The change will be such an instantaneous event that if you happen to be talking to someone who is a Christian, it will happen in the blink of your eyes. If you are not a Christian, their clothes, shoes, watch, any jewelry that they have on will be in a pile in front of you.

That day will be a terrifying day for most of the world, at least the ones who haven’t given their hearts to Jesus. Those of us who have will be in His Presence in Heaven and will be there for eternity. There will be a drastic change in the world and it will not be pretty nor will it be enjoyable. I can’t tell you when this will happen. Some say it will happen prior to the arrival of the anti-Christ and the peace treaty in the Middle East. Then there are some who say that we won’t be taken up until about halfway through those seven years. Which one is right? I don’t know.

The only person who does know is God and it is up to Him when this happens.

Your trip to Heaven could be any day, just like mine though. We are not guaranteed tomorrow. If our soul is required tonight, then one or both of us will be in front of God tonight. This time is foretold in Matthew 24 and in Revelation so it is not as if we don’t have written warning, because we have had that for right at 2,000 years.

The time has come for us to make up our minds individually if we will follow Jesus or just keep doing our own thing. Some people are wondering why is it taking so long? God is trying to give as many people as possible the opportunity to come to know Him and give their hearts to Jesus. He is patient, but according to the prophecies it seems that time is running down. In my opinion, this is the last generation before His return. That could be next year or another ten, maybe even twenty years but I don’t think it will be that long.

Please, seek Jesus while you have the chance in this life.