Category: Satan’s hatred for humanity

Satan’s plan


The church is being deceived by Satan and his fallen angels and was so long ago and they are still at it today. Oh, for some it is a very minor deception, mostly of pride and arrogance which has been nurtured by working in the minds of clerics and priests as well as in bishops and preachers. The deception is so subtle until it is hard to spot, until the damage is done but it creeps in like rust on a steel bridge. A little weakening here and there, a bit of dodging around the scriptures in ways that seem “right” but changes their meaning just a bit. This has been his way all along, just as he did in Eden when he asked Eve about what God said. “You will not surely die! You will be like God knowing good and evil. Twisting words a bit, appealing to humanity’s pride, because pride has been the root of mankind’s sin that gives rise to all kinds of things like rebellion and vanity just as it did when the rebellion happened in Heaven.

Satan and his fallen angels will do whatever is possible against the church and its members in order to take as many with them into hell as they can. They are the instruments of disease, death, persecution and temptation in our world, especially against the church and those who claim to know Jesus. They also empower some church leaders to gain so much wealth that the message becomes twisted and weak and in the end, the body of Christ becomes weak and pitiful, alive but just barely.

In many ways, this is exactly what the world sees in the church today, regardless of the denomination or the leader who is taking his flock on a very broad road to hell with the assistance of Satan himself. As long as he can injure or take down the effectiveness of the church and the message, then he and his fallen angels will do just that, regardless of how much damage it does. He hates man with a passion which goes beyond human understanding and he hates the church even more!

The church has seen much deceit and division with people caught in lies and extortion and with the “leaders” of the congregations getting into all sorts of trouble. Some of them caught in adulterous situations and some getting very wealthy from their “partners in the ministry” helping to spread the Gospel of Christ and yet they own mansions and cars and jets. This is not the church that Jesus intended it to be!

Christians are supposed to be patterning their lives after Jesus, seeking Him and His Wisdom in everything that they do, yet there are some who do demonstrate against authority, against the law and against our government.Why is this being done? Because, if Satan can make the world look at the church, the body of Christ, as intolerant and hateful towards the freedoms that the world enjoys without the church then soon the world will turn against the church altogether.

One of the biggest problems with mankind and one that Satan uses is that we have an independent fallen nature which gives us the delusion of being in control of our lives and the outcome of our lives, whether spiritual or physical. We think that we are capable of reaching for Heaven independent of God and that is the biggest lie that Satan has told and nearly the whole world believes it! True believing Christians who depend on God and seek Him in their lives do not, but it seems that those are few these days and likely in a couple of generations will disappear from the Earth which is exactly what Satan wants!

Since God created mankind to worship Him and know Him, Satan is striking at God by destroying or hurting us in any way that he can. Through disease, poverty, war, famine, hatred of our religion and the One that we follow, Satan has struck at the heart of God by striking at the church, those of us who believe in Jesus and His message. If he can do enough damage that Christianity were outlawed and church services were banned, unless they were worshipping him or one of the “religions” that he approves of, then part of his mission here is working.

It is not finished yet, but he knows that his time is growing short.Then, he will turn on God’s people, the Jews just because they are God’s chosen people. He has deceived them into being so religious about their religion that they missed the Christ when He came and many still can’t see Him even today because they are blinded to Him. Pray that our world and those in it who have been blinded by the pride of life and their own fantasies will come to realize that they are not in control

Loving yourself


Many people seem to think that this means being selfish, but that isn’t it at all. Learn to love yourself because you are the only one who can love you that way, except for God. He knows you better than you know yourself and He loves you more than you ever could. Loving yourself is the only way to undo the damage done to you by Satan and the depression and self-hatred that he brings into our lives. Can we do it without being vain and selfish? Yes, through God’s Spirit and with His strength we can.

Do many people think this way? Not many do in our society, I’m afraid. We all seem to be caught up in the latest “reality show” or the latest news on Facebook and Twitter and we don’t seem to have time for each other, let alone ourselves. At least we don’t until something goes wrong in our lives, such as a wreck or an illness, unexpected or not, then we get down on our knees in NEED of God, right now! The only problem with this is that once the emergency is over and there is a healing or an improvement moving us toward being healed, we tend to just say, “Thanks, God, I’ll take it from here.”.

How arrogant we are? Yes, we are independent and we have a choice of whether to be a Christian or not, but the relationship needs to be a deeper one than that. We know it, we just don’t think that we want God hanging around everyday. But you know, He never really leaves your side.

Its like telling your spouse, “I don’t need you today, but don’t go far.” How hurt and unnecessary would you feel if someone told you that? I am not going to presume that God is hurt in the same way that we are, but I imagine that it does hurt Him in some way when we reject Him, even once, let alone on a daily basis. So, what can we do that will help our situation in life and be of service to God too?

Love your neighbor as yourself and for that you have to love yourself first. Because if you can’t or won’t love yourself, how can you love others? Seek God’s wisdom in this through the reading and study of the Bible. We learn how to do things everyday in one way or another, so why not learn of the Creator and how to be His through learning about Him? How can I learn about God? By reading the Bible! It was written by men who were inspired by God to write His wisdom and His laws down so that others could study them and learn to be His and why they should be His.

God loves each of us, far more than we could understand and truly more than we deserve. He has loved us since the beginning, before the Earth was created. In His Wisdom, God created everything so that we would know that Someone had to have been the Creator of this, and up until the turn of the twentieth century, scientists really didn’t deny His existence but tried to use science to prove that He is God.

I know that some people will not believe that statement, but it is true. To love yourself and your neighbor is to show and exhibit the love of God to others as well as experiencing it yourself. To experience something, like love, you need to know love and since God is love you need to know Him. Seek Him while the time to do so is on your side. Read His Word with an open mind and with prayer so that He can teach you that which you need to learn.

God is good and He changes not


Exodus 33:19,20:
“And He said, I will make all of my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” 20 And He said, Thou cannot see My face: for no man shall see my face and live.

God is Holy, Righteous and Steadfast. He doesn’t change nor does He sleep, and yet people in this world think that He doesn’t see what is going on around us. They consider that the Bible and the words in it are just that…words. God sees and knows exactly what is going on at all times. He does and He knows who is responsible for it, Satan. Because Satan hates us with an utmost hatred that cannot be fathomed by man. We are here enjoying whatever we have in life, not because of the graciousness of Satan, but by the grace and the love flowing from Almighty God!

If God’s presence were not here, with each of us, everyday, then Satan would unleash his hatred upon the Earth and the inhabitants of the Earth. He would do this for no other reason than the knowledge that God loves us. This is why during the first part of the Tribulation times which are coming to us soon, Satan will be loosed and all of the Earth, not just humanity, will groan under his hatred. No one will be saved from it except for those who are God’s children. I am not speaking of the Jewish people, I am speaking of the Christians who will still be here at this time.

God loves all of us, even those who don’t know Him, but He will not tolerate the sinful lives that people live today. Living together, lying, stealing, murderers, those who practice homosexuality, idolaters, and those who exploit and use children for sex and other crimes. It is the sin that God hates, not the sinner. Repent and ask Him to cleanse you and bring you into the family of God. Believe in Jesus and be saved because the time is coming when it will be hard and almost impossible to distinguish between the Anti-Christ and the real One, because of the spirit of deception which will be released into the world. Yes, Satan is powerful BUT he is a created being like you or I am, God is in control!

So, how can we survive if this is coming as the Bible says it will in the book of Revelation? Well, first you need to believe in Jesus and ask Him into your life. Some preachers teach that the church, the body of believers, will be taken up to Heaven before the Tribulation begins and that may be true, but what if it is not? What if the church, most of the believers are still here when the peace treaty with Israel is signed for seven years? Many people will likely fall away from the church even more than they have in the last thirty years, because they will think that they have been taught a lie about the rapture of the church!

What then? If you are a believer then you had better dig deep into God’s Word and cling to Him even more than you did before. Don’t abandon your faith, no matter how weak your faith might have been! God is still in control, regardless of what may be happening here on Earth. Watch and pray that you will not fall into temptation to follow someone who may be all over the Internet or on talk shows, sounding so much like the one person who could lead us through this crisis. Keep your faith focused on Jesus and your eyes on God and His Word. Read it and pray about what you have read. Learn from it and not from someone who is the most watched You Tube video this week.

Do you know that you are loved?


“For God so loved the world (everyone in the world past, present and future), that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will have everlasting life.” John 3:16

How much more should we love and honour God’s gift to us? God loves each of us even when we are sinners and we don’t deserve anything that He has blessed us with. This is not a fairy tale and it is not an imaginative story, it is the Truth of the Living God. He carried the children of Israel through the wilderness on their way out of Egypt. He made the way through the Red Sea so that all of them could escape from Pharaoh’s army and from their bondage in slavery. God made a way for the people to destroy the city of Jericho, not by their own power but by His. He took the blocks down that were holding up the wall around it, all they did was walk around the city for a week until God told them to blow the trumpets and the wall came crashing down. He loved them enough that their clothes and shoes didn’t wear out during the entire forty years of their journey through the desert.

Today, it seems that many churches are trying to “water down” the gospel, to make it more tasty to those who are fighting against its message. Making it more palatable, like putting four ounces of cream and sugar in a cup of coffee which only holds six or eight ounces. At this point, it isn’t much as coffee goes and the same is true of a message or the preaching from a church which has watered down the words taken from God’s Word! When you take out the words and the meaning from God’s Word, you are preaching another gospel, one which is not approved of by God but by men. Yes, many churches are doing exactly that today because they want new members to give their tithes, and offerings to the church.

That is all good, but the message being taught and preached by those who water down the gospel is a message which Jesus said to flee from because it is not the True Gospel! It is a false gospel taught by false teachers and it needs to stop! Why? Because the path that we as preachers are supposed to be leading people on is one that is narrow, not broad! A gospel that has been sweetened up and made pretty and acceptable is not the gospel of salvation but of damnation and it will lead many people to hell! The church today in many ways sounds much like the church in Revelation from Laodicea  which Jesus said that He would spew from His mouth because they were a lukewarm church. They had gone astray from Him and from the gospel and they were neither hot and on fire for Him nor were they distant and cold. The city and the church there was wealthy from material goods but spiritually they were poor and naked.

A watered down gospel is a lukewarm gospel and it will cause the church to be like that church and being that way is a terrible thing. Why? Because you are putting yourself and your congregation on the side with Satan because of what is being taught. Making Christian “church” more easy and palatable to many is not the way to go. Ignoring the words of the Bible that are against lifestyles which are offensive to God, such as homosexuality or belonging to a cult are not the way to salvation. Yes, God loves all people regardless of their sins but He still hates the sin itself. Because of this, an unrepentant person (one who will not part ways with their sins), will not be able to be saved and enter into Heaven. When your heart is broken spiritually and you feel God calling you to Himself, answer this call on your life. Don’t turn away because sometimes, the call to be saved is only given once and if you turn away from it you may not get another chance to change your life for  the better.

I don’t want to mislead anyone, Christianity is not a “prosperity cult”, you will not prosper so much that you are wealthy beyond belief if you turn to Jesus. The wealth that you gain with Christ is the kind that is stored in eternity for you, not here on Earth for people to see and steal. Eternal life is also misunderstood. We will all have eternity to enjoy our choices, although enjoy is not the right word for those who reject Jesus. Eternity in hell is reserved for those who have sided with Satan and it doesn’t matter if Satan himself has promised you that you won’t be in a “lake of fire” for eternity, because that is his destination and all of those who have rejected Jesus and the grace of God will be there too.

Seek out the wisdom found in God’s Word, pray about what you read and that it will illuminate your heart and open your eyes. Give God a chance to show you Who He is, ask Him to come into your life and help you to walk with Him daily, because it is a wonderful journey in the right company.

God is great!


God loves each of us. It is His will for you to be great at whatever you are doing, regardless of what you do or who you are. Isn’t that a great way to look at life! Why am I in such a great mood? Because, Thanksgiving was yesterday, but God is absolutely in control and is the most gracious God and He is in control of all, not just my life or yours if you are a Christian, but He is in control of every nation and all of the world!

Yes, there are some terrible things happening in the world, but those are not caused by God but by Satan, who is trying to take God’s glory and any person that he can away from God! Whether it is through war, or death or disease, Satan will do it just to poke his finger in God’s eye so to speak.

The difference with God is that God doesn’t give up on us, because He knows where you are and He knows where you are going!

He will be there in the darkness and the hurt and the painful days. He will be with you when you are on top of the world, and nothing seems to be going wrong. God is there, wherever you are no matter what the situation.

God loves you and will be with you regardless! How do I know? Because, when I was sick a couple of years ago, He was with me. In the night with fever and the dark dreams that were keeping me from seeing Him, He was there. He was beside me when a tornado went over my house while I had fever and couldn’t get up if I had to.

He was with every person that I have prayed with during my time of being a pastor, as I still am. He has been with my nephew after a really bad accident on a four-wheeler, and He is still healing him. Life is precious to God, no matter what the life is. He notices a sparrow when it dies, He knows when a baby is aborted and when one is born. Regardless of the life, He cares for them all. If you will give your life to Him, then you will care for them too. He loved each of us whether we were born yet, or whether we had accepted Jesus yet or not. He cares about all of the life, the creation that He created for us to be stewards of and to give glory to Him.

Psalm 148
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens!
Praise him from the skies!
Praise him, all his angels!
Praise him, all the armies of heaven!
Praise him, sun and moon!
Praise him, all you twinkling stars!
Praise him, skies above!
Praise him, vapors high above the clouds!
Let every created thing give praise to the Lord, for he issued his command, and they came into being. He set them in place forever and ever. His decree will never be revoked.
Praise the Lord from the earth, you creatures of the ocean depths, fire and hail, snow and clouds,a wind and weather that obey him, mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all livestock, small scurrying animals and birds, kings of the earth and all people, rulers and judges of the earth, young men and young women, old men and children. Let them all praise the name of the Lord. For his name is very great; his glory towers over the earth and heaven!
He has made his people strong, honoring his faithful ones—the people of Israel who are close to him.
Praise the Lord!

Amen! Come Lord Jesus!

Honor, Dignity, and Commitment


The character of our nation’s heroes, its Veterans, is uncompromising commitment to their job, their duty, and to their country. We honor their commitment with dignity on this Veteran’s Day, but what about our commitment? Do each of us have a commitment that we are duty bound to honor and carry through? We all should honor our elders, our parents and grandparents but especially our Veterans, whether they are veterans of a branch of the military or of the police service or fire and ambulance services, we should honor them. Why should we honor people who aren’t putting their lives on the line for our freedom? Because they actually do put their lives on the line, every day. When a police person (man or woman), puts that uniform on, it means that they are taking their lives and putting them on the line, not just for a pay-check (which isn’t much actually) but they are putting themselves in harm’s way for us, each of us, every day. Yes, Veterans do the same thing in the line of fire on a battlefield wherever they are sent to defend our freedoms and the freedom of the people that they are sent to protect. The same is true for ambulance personnel or fire service personnel, they put their lives in the line of traffic, or in the heat of a burning house or apartment building whenever they are on their jobs. So, they are all veterans of their respective service, regardless of the field that it may be in.

The same can be said about Jesus and His disciples. They put their lives on the line for their beliefs and for the cause of Christianity, to further the Kingdom of God around the world. We are to do the same, if we are committed to the cause of Christ, to take the knowledge of Jesus to all nations and people. We are also in a battle against Satan and his forces of spiritual beings, demons, principalities and powers which we cannot see, but they are in the world fighting against us and God. They are trying to keep people away from Jesus and the knowledge of Him and His grace toward us. Our fight is with those enemies which we can’t see, but they are there regardless and they will try any form of deception to win their cause, any lie, any death that they can cause to bring our voice down to silence. This is the enemy that we fight as Christians, the ones that can take our loved ones from us and ruin our witness to others if we allow it to happen, if we give in to their forces.

But, we can’t and we mustn’t give in or give up. The time is growing short and the battle lines are being drawn. We have to stand in our faith, we have to learn from Jesus what it takes to be still and know that God is with us and that He is far more powerful than the enemy that we face here on Earth. The victory is already ours through Christ, all that we have to do is claim it in faith by His power and His name. Stand in honor and dignity and commit yourself to Jesus’ cause and ask Him to give you the strength to commit to His cause and to stick with it until the end. God loves you and will give you the victory in all things if you will only believe in Jesus and the sacrifice that He made for you.

Semper Fi!  Praise the Lord! Come Lord Jesus!! Amen.

Treasure…pleasure…sin, which is it?


A few days ago, I wrote about giving your heart to Jesus. This post is about figuring out what to do with your life and with Him after you have felt the call of the Spirit in your heart and you have answered it. We have so much that gets in the way of living our lives for Jesus in our world today. From bills to school to relationships, married or not, our jobs, our phones, email, you name it then it can take up time in your day and before you know it, it is time to go back to bed and start over again tomorrow!

In our lives today, just as it has been going on for thousands of years, pleasure or happiness is something which we all strive for. We yearn for it. Many times as we are growing up we really don’t understand what it is that we are looking for, but we know that it is something. We look in many places until we find something that gives us happiness and joy. When you are very young it could be as simple as a toy or your favorite candy. As we get older our mind or something tells us that we need something more than that and we go searching again. We may find that sports or the opposite sex fills that need, that pleasure spot for us at that time…but yet it is a fleeting feeling. Soon we are looking for something else. At times we find something or someone who takes care of that need and as we grow a bit more and have a family, sometimes our family takes over that spot in our lives, for a time. If you have gotten past your twenties at this point and haven’t given your heart to Jesus or felt the Holy Spirit speaking to you, then you don’t know why but something just doesn’t feel right. Even though you may have a nice house and car, a healthy family and a good marriage…something is just not fitting perfectly. And you can’t put your finger on it and say, “That’s it!”

The things or people who you treasure, those that you love are the ones who get the most of your time. Sometimes, it happens to be your job or the kids, then sometimes it is other things. How can we get the priorities of each of these to straighten out and line up in our daily lives in the order that they should be? The first thing that we need to do is…pray. Since we belong to God, then prayer is the communication line that needs to stay open EVERY day and it should start at the beginning of the day, before anything else. God will help you to prioritize your life and your days, but you have to listen to Him and not your own desires. He knows what you need to do and when, and when you put His priorities first then your priorities will line up correctly too.

No, I am not saying that your days will be perfect and nothing will go wrong if you do this BUT they will be easier and smoother to handle because you are not handling the days problems alone.

Okay, lets pretend that we have done this and our first day is going pretty good. Then you get a call that one of your kids is sick or got hurt playing ball. What you do in the next few minutes will determine how the rest of your day goes. Does this situation throw a wrench into the workings of the day and everything just goes to pot from there? No, it shouldn’t. God has an answer for this and if you take the problem, whatever it is, to Him first before you grab the keys and rush out the door, then everything will work out the way that He knows that it will. PUT GOD INTO ALL OF YOUR PROBLEMS! Nothing is too big for Him, the One who hung the stars and the moon, all of your problems are small to God even though they aren’t small to you.

Can we do this? Some people will and some won’t but the point is that God is not a crutch and not a figment of people’s imagination. Satan is not a figment of someone’s imagination either and that will be proven soon. Our world and all of the people in it are very important to God. He has not abandoned us nor will He, He is present in every area of your life good and bad. God doesn’t cause the bad parts of it, but He will allow them so that you may realize that you need Him. Satan hates humanity and will do anything in his power to keep us from turning to God and if that doesn’t work then he will cause problems which show up all over the world. If you are a born-again Christian, Satan has to ask permission to do anything to you. If you are not, then he may help you to have a life that is more successful than you deserve just to keep you from needing God or he might cause an illness that you will blame God for just to keep you away from God.

So, it is your choice. Choose carefully and prayerfully before proceeding.

We are more than conquerors


We are MORE than conquerors through Christ, no matter what this world throws at us! In Ephesians 1:16-21 says this in the Amplified Bible:

“I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. 17. [For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him, 18 By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones), 19 And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength, 20 Which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His [own] right hand in the heavenly [places], 21 Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and in this world, but also in the age and the world which are to come.”

God has given to each of us as believers, the victory through His power and through Christ who also conquered this world and the one who is in this world! You might say, “Victory over what?”!

Victory over your circumstances, whether they are involving money, loss of a job or a loved one, depression, alcoholism, drugs, illness, whatever it may be. Paul wrote the scripture above to the Ephesians because that is what he prayed for them to experience in their lives, not just some of the time but every day! I am not saying that God will heal all of your sickness or your addictions overnight, but He will comfort you and be there with you through the process of getting over them and through the healing process.

Sometimes God will heal you or me when we claim that healing through faith in Him and His power in our lives. But, Satan is going to try to derail your faith and stop any victory that you gain over his demonic powers which enslaved you to that illness or addiction. He will tell you that it isn’t possible, that God doesn’t care about you and that God won’t do anything for you that you can’t do on your own. Those are lies from the master of lies!!

God does love you. He does care about you and your problems and He will make a way for you to get through them! If you have given your heart and your life to Jesus and asked Him to come into your life and change your life into what He sees in you, then you can make it through all of the things that are going on, no matter how bad they are! It may require that you are killed by someone who is not a Christian, but you are the conqueror because as a Christian you have a sure victory through Christ and a place..an everlasting home in Heaven with Jesus!

We see and hear every day that more bad things are happening in the world because of hatred and violence in places from America to the Middle East to Africa, but these are ‘birth pains” of a world that is coming to a close. Look up and pray, expecting Jesus to come because He will. Your salvation and redemption draws closer every day!

What about Christianity?


What is wrong with this idea?

At some point in history, a man comes along which does a lot of good things and teaches others to do so as well. Is it possible that we misunderstood his message? Have we dismissed him as being a good man or a prophet, instead of being the Son of God?

The answer to all of these questions is: YES!!

Why do we look at this Person in history as such a bad influence on society? It has been said that those who believe in Him are dumber and not as in touch with today as those who don’t. Also, that “Christians” are clinging to a crutch that weakens them and society. Most of the scientists of the past couple of centuries WERE Christians! They were looking for a way to prove God’s existence and His majesty in the world around them, not tear His influence out of the pages of history! I choose to believe in God and in His Son, if that offends you FINE. It is just MY belief, if you don’t want to believe in Him then that is your choice.

The thing about the argument that God doesn’t exist is that nobody can prove it, just as they can’t actually prove how planet’s form or evolution itself. Yes, there are fossils in the ground, yes it supposedly takes “millions or billions of years” to do these things like making a planet or evolving from a single cell into a whale or any other creature. Theory is good and I accept them even though I don’t agree with them. Trying to disprove a theory is like running into a brick wall, nothing gets done except a lot of bruised and hurt feelings.

The thing is…you can’t disprove God either. When the time comes, all men will know that He is God and will acknowledge it, whether they believe it or not. You will not be forced into believing it but you will bow to Him, just as Satan will. It seems to upset some people a lot about Christian beliefs even when they claim that they don’t believe in what Christians believe. Why should it bother you so much that my beliefs are not the same as yours? I don’t get in your face because of it!

I don’t care what beliefs that you have as long as you can leave me alone to worship as I please, then I will do the same for you. I will pray for you and those that you are trying to change to your side, but I am not going to get in your face about it. It is a fact that God loves you and everyone else just as much as He loves me and causing a fight or a war over it won’t change it. Before we get into the evil discussion I will just say that unless there was good in the world, nobody would know what evil was in the first place.

God did not create evil. It existed and came into existence because of the ability of angels ability to choose whether to serve God or not. Pride began to lift them up and  they wanted more and didn’t want to be servants of God any longer. Satan wanted to be equal with God and I doubt that if  he had attained that goal, he wouldn’t have been satisfied with it. Now that he knows that he doesn’t have long to deceive humanity, he is doing as much damage as possible to the Earth and to humanity as he can. Through wars, disease, weather, “global warming”, you name it and Satan will use it, if it will turn people away from God or make them blame Him for the problems in the world today.

The love of God and His grace is the only blessing that we have that is keeping it from getting any worse right now. Our world will be in much worse shape when the leader comes along that brings “peace and safety” to the Middle East, because it will only last for a few years and then his true nature will show itself to the world.

Independence or dependence, it’s your choice


We celebrate Independence Day tomorrow in America and for us it is usually a big day, but I wonder what is happening elsewhere? I know, watch the news to find out or get on the ‘net and look it up. But, what else is going on besides that which I can find out from those sources? Have we finally achieved peace all over the world? No. Is it possible that I can go to sleep and not lock my doors? No, not yet. When will lasting peace and living without fear be achieved on our world and in the places where we live? Can we, as our flawed human selves, achieve this by mutual cooperation?

Only in television shows and in Utopian novels about a future like that envisioned by Gene Roddenberry does this come about. Humanity can’t agree on which team to bet on or even which type of coffee that we like or if we could get along with those people who live in another country with a different culture than our own! We live in compartmentalized worlds, some of which are so separate we can’t even trust the people on the next street, let alone those living in a different country!

On top of this, we have forgotten the One Who brought all of this about in the first place. We have pushed Him and the morality that past generations relied upon completely out of our schools, our government and in many cases even our families. We have declared our independence from God!

Consider this….what if He was to take His hand off of our lives and our world entirely? Let nature and all of the processes of weather and earthquakes and other natural phenomena happen without His control and protection! I know that many people would think that He doesn’t care about us anyway so what would be the difference? When it happens, you will know.

That sounds as if I am saying that God will take His hand and His influence off of our world doesn’t it? Not exactly. During the time that is prophesied in the book of Revelation, God will allow Satan free rein to vent his wrath for a time, then the wrath of God will fall on those who still refuse to acknowledge Him. It is during this period that many people will think that God has truly abandoned them, but He has not and will not completely abandon anyone. God’s love still is expressed today toward each of us, whether we exercise our independence from Him or not. If you have decided that your life is better spent while in service to Him as a teacher or preacher or in some other way, then you are dependent upon Him for the words that you have or those that you speak as well as your life and livelihood.

If you have declared in some way that you can live your life without God’s influence and that you will do exactly what you want regardless of His influence, felt in your heart or not, then you are working in the way of the world and Satan’s rebellion as well. You may not worship Satan, you might not claim to be religious at all, but when you are at enmity with God then you are in the same camp as Satan is and in rebellion against everything that God represents.

Life itself is a miracle brought about by God. Whether you believe it or not doesn’t make it any less true. The world around us is special in that it is just as perfect as it could be to support all of the forms of life which exist here. Nowhere else, that we know of, has all of the combinations of gases to make the correct atmosphere or the water which abounds on our Earth. The minerals and salts which are present in all living things here in the correct proportion so that pH and viscosity and all other requirements for life are met and are present here because God made it that way. None of this was a cosmic accident!

Consider this small excerpt from a document at the Institute for Creation Research: “Elementary statistical theory shows that the probability of 200 successive mutations being successful is then (1⁄2) 200 , or one chance out of 10 60 . The number 10 60 , if written out, would be “one” followed by sixty “zeros.” In other words, the chance that a 200-component organism could be formed by mutation and natural selection is less than one chance out of a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion! Lest anyone think that a 200-part system is unreasonably complex, it should be noted that even a one-celled plant or animal may have millions of molecular “parts.” “

The very idea that a molecule of an amino acid might organize itself, on its own, into a single-celled organism and then proceed to grow ever more complex into all manner of plant and animal life until you have all of the life on planet Earth is patently absurd! Without God, this is impossible and every reasonable scientist knows it they are just too full of pride in their “theory” to admit it to themselves or to anyone else. Life is not and cannot be completely independent from God. Think about it.