Category: Salvation

Divisions…


Why is our country and much of the world so divided? We, as human beings, can’t seem to agree on anything, especially religion. Even the church in America can’t agree on how we believe in our Lord. We seem to have polar opposite ideas on how, when, and Who we are worshiping. I am not speaking of one specific religion, although Jesus prayed for us to be united in our worship. Our religion is fractured in America and in some areas of the country Christians are hated almost to the point of violence. Last week there was a Christian speaker gunned down because he was speaking about the Truths of the Bible. Yet, the shooter said “I can no longer stand to hear his hatred” or something like that.

Our world is becoming more dangerous every day and even more intolerant than ever before. The message that many preachers and other speakers have been telling the truth from God’s Word is categorized as “hate speech”. Why is this happening?

Jesus foretold this in Matthew 24 and in the book of Revelation. He warned His followers that they would be hated because of the message He was giving them to take to the world. God expects us to be His ambassadors in the world but not of the world. We are to take His message of love and salvation to those who need to hear it which means everyone who hasn’t heard the Word of Truth. God loves all of humanity but their sins keep getting in the way of a relationship with Him. He still watches over all of us and He is patiently waiting for us to realize that we need a relationship with Him as well.

We are living at the end of the “Church age” or the age of grace. With all of the wars and violence in nearly every country, it is certainly getting close to the coming of the Lord to take His Bride, the believers of His Church, home to be with Him. I pray that many more people, young and old and from many countries, will come to know Jesus as their Savior soon. Seek Him while there is time because none of us is guaranteed tomorrow.

The Unseen Hand


  • Many people struggle to see God at work in their daily routines or during difficult times. This post could encourage readers to look for divine appointments, small mercies, or moments of grace that reveal God’s active involvement in their lives.

In John 8:4 the story about the woman caught in adultery is a good one to look at. Granted, all of us cannot relate to this story but it happened because of the Pharisees wanting to see what Jesus would do in this instance, since the Torah demands that she should be stoned. They forgot about the rest of the law that says the man should be stoned as well.

God is present in our daily lives even when we don’t acknowledge His Presence every day. He is there giving us peace at the times that we need it and guidance when we can’t see the way forward. Even if you don’t believe in Jesus or God, He is still there watching over you. God will not interfere in your life because He gave us the ability to choose but He is still with you. God loves us because He is the Creator and He formed each of us in the womb so He knows you better than anyone.

Our lives would be much worse if He wasn’t around every day, but because of His love for us He watches over us all of the time. So…to get back to the story about the woman, the Pharisees were testing Him to see what He would do. I really wish that the Bible recorded what He wrote in the dirt, but that is what Jesus did. He stooped over and began writing on the ground. Some commentators have postulated that Jesus wrote the sins of the Pharisees in the dirt but whatever it was I think they might have noticed it when Jesus said, “The one of you who has no sin, can cast the first stone”. Of course they all dropped their stones and left because Jesus was the only person who could’ve cast the first stone.

Then, He does something that nobody expected. Jesus asked her, “Where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you? She said, “No one, Lord.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more”.

Jesus doesn’t condemn us, He paid the price to redeem us from the penalty of our sins. All we have to do is believe in Him for our salvation.

Life ahead


Have you ever thought about where you will be after you die? Some of us do but there are many who don’t think about it or they don’t believe there is a “life after death” to look forward to or dread, whichever the case may be. God provided a way for us to have salvation from the penalty of sin, which is separation from Him. The only way for us to be in His Presence is to believe in Jesus for our salvation. No work can get you into Heaven and money has no place in Heaven. God loves each of us at such a depth that we cannot know His love until we are there.

The one other emotion that we feel here but rarely acknowledge is…JOY! I have read about people who have died and gone to Heaven for a little while then they were sent back with a bigger purpose for Him. They describe the feeling in Heaven as joyous and “like being surrounded by joy”. They even describe the trees and grass of Heaven having a part in the celebration of God. Your life in Heaven will be joyous and filled with praise and worship for God and His glory and His provision of eternity for the church, the Bride of Christ.

This doesn’t refer to a church/worship service like we know here but the type of worship of all of Creation. The birds know that God will feed them. The fish of the sea know that God feeds them and they rejoice in that knowledge. God loves you and He has prepared a place for each of us. I pray that more people will come to know Jesus as their Savior because the time is drawing near that the end of the age will come to an end soon. Be ready.

When I can


How often do you walk or run?

I usually get about four thousand steps in while cutting the grass. Sometimes twice per week.

What is your foundation?


Do you believe in Jesus Christ? It is a concrete question and one that is hard to answer for some people. Many people believe that He existed and that the stories in the Bible are true to some extent but that is as far as many will go with their “belief”. The Bible is a book of stories. It is, in fact, a love letter to the world from God. It tells how He brought about the Jewish people to be a people and a nation. It doesn’t cover up the good or the bad that happened in the distant past, but it does give us hope for the future through Jesus Christ.

For those who believe in Jesus for their salvation, the hope that we look forward to is His coming back for the Church, His Bride, to be with Him forever. Will it happen as some books have portrayed, or will it happen as the Bible says it will? We don’t know the day or the hour and that is a good thing but it could happen at any time. It might be keyed to the last person to be saved and their decision to follow Jesus. Only God the Father knows when it will happen and it could be in a few minutes or a few days or weeks or even a few years from now. Your foundation will determine whether you will be in the group that is taken up or left on Earth to live through the Tribulation that is coming afterwards.

Your foundation is the belief-system that you live by. Whether you believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior or not will determine your position and your place after the rapture of the Church. I am not writing this to shame anyone, just to let you know that the Earth will be a very different place when this does happen. The Bible calls the Holy Spirit the “restrainer” and when the Church is taken up, He will be taken from the Earth as well. You might ask, “Why does this matter to me? I don’t believe in God or Jesus.” If you don’t believe then the world may not look much different to you when the church is gone, but it will get much worse in the days and weeks afterward.

The Book of Revelation tells about many things that will happen during the next seven years after the church is taken up. With the Holy Spirit gone, since He lived in the hearts of all of the believers, demonic forces and other evils will have free reign to do as they please. If you think the world is bad today, it will be much worse during the next seven years. Read the book of Revelation and seek out a pastor to help you understand what is coming because the news won’t tell you and it is likely that Bibles will be banned during this time, so find out about it today before it is too late. God has always cared about you and every person on Earth and He doesn’t want any to be sent to hell in the future but if you choose not to believe in Jesus as your Savior, then you will be in hell with Satan and his demons.

A cabin in a valley


What does your ideal home look like?

One with a porch all around it, a central fireplace, wood floors, and friends to share it with.

The Lord goes with you


Deuteronomy 31:8 KJV [8] And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed. https://bible.com/bible/1/deu.31.8.KJV

Wherever you go in life, God is only a prayer away. Why am I writing this today? Because there are many out there who need to hear it. God is closer than you think. He knows where you are and what is happening in your life every day, even if you don’t.

God loves each of us with a love that we can’t understand or even imagine. Life would not exist without Him and He is the Creator of everything and everyone so why not seek Him out and learn from His Word, the Bible. Today’s translations are very easy to read and understand so there isn’t a reason for anyone to say that the Bible is hard to understand. God does watch over us, even if we haven’t given our hearts to Him but He especially cares for those who have given their lives to Him.

I’ve been reading about some near-death experiences that people have had and some of them were Hindu or even Muslim and God still revealed Himself to them during that time. They did see what hell looks like but they were still given a choice to learn about their true Savior, Jesus Christ. The Man in a white robe came to give them a tour so they would know what was ahead depending on their choice.

The time we live in


We are living in the days that are described in Daniel but many people don’t know it. Daniel was told to “seal the book until the time of the end“. Our world is on the edge of that time and everything around us points to it. If you have read at least some of the prophetic books of the Bible, a good bit of the news will seem very familiar because of what those prophets wrote so long ago. That is why I am not surprised by the “news” today or any other day. We are so close to the 2000 year anniversary of Jesus’ ministry and crucifixion because He was baptized in the year 27 AD and that is only a couple of years away (2027).

AI started being a “thing” just a few years ago and now we seem to be coming up on the possibility of it running far more than medical research and other benign uses for it. Our country and the electrical grid isn’t ready for it because each one of the data centers would need a nuclear reactor to run.

Getting back to prophecy, the world is having some kind of seismic shift or volcano or earthquake going on in places that we haven’t heard of before. The nations of the world seem to be very much on edge and it’s getting worse at least weekly. In two years who knows what will be going on.

The bottom line is that God is in control. Give your heart to Jesus and ask Him for forgiveness, then walk with Him every day, praying and reading the Bible because He is coming back for the church soon. Life will be so much better in Heaven than you can imagine. Think about it, pray about it and seek to know Jesus Christ as your Savior.

Being thankful for each day


What motivates you?

Every day God gives me to live, I try my best to be thankful for His grace and mercy towards me. Try thanking Him each day when you wake up, you’ll be surprised at the blessings you will find when you do.

Living your life


Eat with joy, drink with gladness,
Walk in love, work with cheer,
Fear God — this is all.

The quote above is a small rendition of the book of Ecclesiastes in just a few lines. “Eat with joy” means to be thankful to God for your food and your ability to get food, “drink with gladness” does not mean drinking to get drunk, be thankful for the barley and wheat and some of the real sugars that are in our drinks. “Walk in love”, live your life…daily showing and reflecting the love of Jesus, “work with cheer” in many ways is not an easy idea for many people because they are working at a job they have to work at and not a job that they enjoy. Cheerfully work because you have the ability to work to pay your bills and thank God for the job you have then pray that He will find you another one that you truly enjoy! “Fear God”, this doesn’t mean be deathly afraid of Him like He’s going to throw a bolt of lightening at you if you mess up. It means give Him the reverent fear that you give to your Creator because He knows you better than you know yourself. He knows every thought and word that you have spoken, good or bad, about Him or anyone else, so consider that fact for a minute.

God sent His Son, Jesus, to Earth to be the Perfect sacrifice for ALL of humanity’s sins and to show the world that God does understand the human condition and everything that is involved in living here as a human being. Not one of us is guaranteed tomorrow, so seek to know Jesus today because you might have a wreck going to work or on the way home. Don’t play around with your eternity because it is so much more time than the life we have here, make sure that your eternal home will be with Jesus on that day that you leave this life and enter in to eternity with God.