Umber

The color of umber is brown. Not a dark brown but not exactly “paper sack tan” either. Truthfully it is like a lightly roasted coffee in color. Why am I bringing this up on this blog? Because there are discussions and arguments arising about the way that Jesus is portrayed in paintings and in our culture.

Some say that He should be portrayed as white, others say that He is black, actually He is neither one. Jesus was born Hebrew as a Jewish Israelite. If you have ever met someone from Israel you notice that they have skin tones which have an olive complexion. What does that mean? It means that their skin will tan easily in the sun.

Our Savior did a lot of walking throughout Judea in His lifetime, therefore He most likely was very dark-skinned where the sun struck Him. His face, arms, feet, and lower legs were likely very dark. The depiction of Him being white by artists who painted Him or otherwise portrayed Him is a nod to the culture of their day, racist though that may have been.

Our ancestors, the ones who began all of this in Eden, were very olive-skinned so that when their offspring came about a myriad of skin colors and complexions would be genetically possible. God knew then and He knows now exactly what He is doing genetically in this world. He is also giving us the ability to choose our spiritual pathway in our lives and He has been doing this from the start.

God doesn’t care if your skin color is dark or light, olive or even very darkly pigmented, He cares about your soul…your inner man. That is the part of you that lives on into eternity and your culture, your “skin tone” will likely be in eternity as well so we will all be able to see who we really are or were in our previous life on Earth. No one will lose their identity after death. Jesus spoke of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob being alive in eternity and our names and all that we have done in the service of God will follow us into eternity too.

Living here in this life is far different from what we will see or know in Heaven and for those who won’t give their hearts to Jesus, their eternity will be a true living hell. The descriptions of hell are varied but the regrets and the separation from God’s love and all that we have known in this life will be with us through eternity. The color of your skin, your culture, your lifestyle or how much money you had on Earth will mean NOTHING!

I was given a very tiny glimpse into heaven once and the gold streets are pure enough to shine like the Sun and the gold is like glass. Some of the buildings are made of a substance like opals only more pure and clear with walls a cubit or more thick. They reflect God’s glory with all of the colors imaginable but a description would not do them justice at all.

The descriptions found in the Bible are man’s attempt at describing things which our minds can’t comprehend fully, so I can’t either. Race doesn’t mean anything in the end. We are all God’s children and all of us are descended from Adam and Eve, since God cannot lie I don’t understand why we deny that we are all related.

Times and miracles

Many days we see things or hear about something which happens that could be described as a miracle. Some people may not recognize them as a miracle but in many ways, they are. Why do I say this? Because of the living God Who is Creator, He is the One Who accomplishes these things.

For instance, scientists are still discovering “new” species unknown to science a few years ago. Healing of tumors and cancers which are inoperable happens in many cases where the patient is being prayed for by their family and these are not given the proper respect because the doctor doesn’t know how it happened. But, the family of the person that is healed knows where the healing came from, it came from the Lord!

Sometimes, the healing needs to come to the church itself. The members of some churches are so stone-faced and inexpressive during church until it looks like we are attending a funeral rather than a church service. We are supposed to be living in the Joy of the Lord, not grumbling through a service and sitting like a bunch of old turtles on a log!

Also in the Bible, it says that there will be a falling away by the church and it seems that it is beginning right now. Yes, there are still mega-churches with thousands of members but are those members Christians? Or are they just sitting in a pew when services start and not living a joy-filled life with Jesus? Many small churches and large ones too have the same problem…people who have been raised in the church who believe they are Christians because they have attended church most of their lives.

The Bible says that in the latter days, which we are living in now, young men will see visions and dream dreams. This has been foretold because God is an awesome God! The dreams and visions that young people are seeing are leading them to become Christians even in places where there are no missionaries! People are seeking God in any way that they can and coming to Him by the thousands.

I have read of accounts of young men who were against Christianity and they have learned of it and have come to know their Savior, Jesus! The times in which we are living are hard in ways but also joyous in others. Life can and does find a way to break free from bondage and chains when there is an alternative presented. Christianity does not force anyone to believe because you can’t force belief on anyone. Just as love cannot be forced on anyone.

Our world is coming to an end. It may be in the next year or in a few months or it may be in the next decade but it is winding down like an old-fashioned clock, except God didn’t forget to wind it. He knows exactly the day and the hour that the end will come.

He is our Savior!

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God has done all that is needed through Jesus, our Savior, to save each and every one of us. All that is required of us is to believe like a child that He did it and ask Him to come into your life, into your heart and soul and you will be a new creation in His Image!

It doesn’t take your works or your money or strength to be saved and righteous enough to be allowed into Heaven because nothing that you or I can do in our strength is good enough to bring you into His Presence! He provided all that you need to be saved, all that you have to do is believe it and ask for it.

Unfortunately, many people look at this as being too simple, too easy. They want to help in some way. The problem with us helping is that we get in the way.

So, what will it take for you to believe in Him? People have been teaching that God punishes us so that we will learn certain things when the fact is that Satan is doing that. Of course, he won’t do that unless you are a Christian or you are thinking about becoming one because in the spiritual realm if you don’t belong to God then you are part of Satan’s group. I don’t mean that you worship him, but if you aren’t or you haven’t given your life to Jesus then as far as Satan is concerned you are not dangerous to his cause.

God loves you because He created you for a reason. What that reason is and when you might get busy with it is only known to Him until you are drawn to Him and make your decision to follow Him. The reason that I don’t make a distinction between God and Jesus is that they are part of the Trinity, which includes the Holy Spirit. All of them are part of One Creator. Like it or not they all show up in Scripture.

God has made a way for you to be saved from sin and the consequences of it, all you have to do is claim it. Will you?

Read the scriptures in Romans and John, not just one or two passages but all of them. Pray that God will show you why you need Him and how to come to Him. He loves you and He wants a relationship with you. It is up to you to seek Him, because He doesn’t force faith on you nor does He chase you down.

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You are with me

In the 23rd Psalm it goes like this:

Psalm 23 King James Version

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

This Psalm of David is an ever-present help, just as the Lord is, it is also a poem of comfort and of thanksgiving. In our world today, we need this because of all the things which are happening around the world. Why? Because of all the strife and the anger and frustration that flows from the news every single day. It seems that we can’t get away from it, even if we turn the TV off and don’t watch it. If we log on to our Facebook account, the news is there; if we log onto Google and look at the news, all of it is there in front of our eyes. We can’t escape it even if we are in the car and turn the radio on…the news, no matter how bad it is, is there too. We need God’s comforting presence in our lives today!

Why do I say this? Because we are not “supermen” and we never will be. It doesn’t matter if you made it through boot camp or SEAL training or any other type of military training, you are not bullet-proof regardless of what they tried to tell you over and over again!

We are normal people with problems, hang-ups and hang-overs. We have all of the problems that they try to recommend medication for on TV, yet most of us don’t want the side-effects of that medication. Most of us don’t want to be told that we are sinners or back-sliders or adulterers or in some cases, perverts. Nobody wants to hear about our personal dirty laundry, but we love to hear about and read about celebrities and sports figures who have problems!

Every church is filled with people who are exactly like those in the paragraph above, no church is immune because we are all sinners! The only difference between those who claim to belong to Jesus is that we….they are forgiven! We claim our forgiveness from Christ when we admit that we need it, just as a person addicted to alcohol or drugs had to admit it before being able to fight it! The big difference is that Jesus already conquered our sin nature, all we have to do is believe in Him and ask for it to be applied to us!

There isn’t anything really special about Christians except for the faith in Jesus that most of us have. The reason I said “most” is that some think because they have been raised in church from their childhood, that makes them a Christian. Many have this belief that because they go to church occasionally like on Easter and Christmas, that this makes them a Christian. Not any more than sitting in a garage will make you into a car!

God created each of us to be in a relationship with Him and the only way we can do that is through His Son, Jesus. There is no other door, and no other “prophet” who can get you into Heaven. No amount of work you can do will help you. No amount of money given to the poor will buy you a brick to build a heavenly mansion. Nothing that WE can do will have any bearing on our eternity EXCEPT belief in and submission to Jesus in faith believing that He did everything necessary for your salvation!

Trust in Him, learn about Him, and come to Him with a heart that knows that He is your Savior and at that point ALL of Heaven will celebrate a new saint that will be coming home!

Why is society having so many problems?

In our society, particularly in America, stuff means more than God or a relationship with Him. How much can we live without Him? Not much really. We have enjoyed prosperous times in the USA since the late 18th century. Yes, there have been bumps and problems occasionally. Wars, civil and otherwise, have caused many of our problems and sometimes they have given our country a boost in confidence and pride. But, just in the last thirty years or so “stuff” has come to mean more to us than our Spiritual health. Think about it and learn from it. Seek God while we still have the time to do so and the freedom to as well.

Romans 8:23,28; John 3:16,17

I seem to have stung some people in the wrong way with this post and it wasn’t intentional. I really was pointing out our society’s love of stuff more than religious services or even getting to know about God Himself. He loves you more than you could realize and yet many people are so worried about specific words or hymns or whether there is going to be coffee served as you come into the sanctuary. Read the Bible, all of it, and get to know Him for His ways and His love that is expressed toward all of us!

No, He doesn’t condone sin and He doesn’t like any sins. A perfect and Holy God can’t, but you and everyone else need to get to know Him better and the only way to do that is by reading His Word. Even if you don’t go to a “perfectly home-style church”, you need to get to know Him before you put down the worship services that are at least trying to point you toward Him.

Do Christians or church-people fail, yes they do, miserably at times depending upon their generation and their culture. I happen to be one of the latter years of the Baby-boomer generation so I don’t understand some of the new generation that has come along. I do have a sixteen year old son who really doesn’t fit into the “norm” for his generation because he was raised around a mom and dad who grew up more in the seventies and early eighties. We all make mistakes and I have made my share, but my point is that if you will get to know God as He is in the Bible, regardless of the congregation around you, then you will find that He is a loving a compassionate Creator, One Who can be trusted and followed regardless of those around you.

Time is short

We have a tendency to think that we have a long time to make decisions and to live our lives, but when you think about it…we really don’t have that much time at all. Sure, when you are a child it seems that school will never be over or this class that you hate will never come to an end but both of those circumstances do end. The older that we get we realize that time slips by much faster than we realize and after you have added a few years to your life then you realize that it does go by faster than you thought it did.

We live one sunrise at a time, one meal at a time, one child’s laugh at a time, and all of those go by too fast for us to place those memories in permanent storage sometimes. We wonder where the time went, but we lived through it and it is gone. Those moments won’t be back, the words that you said or that your mother said can’t be unsaid, the anger and frustration that prompted those words will fade but the hurt and the pain caused by words spoken in anger won’t go away and the scars will be there for a long time.

Even when you tell your Dad or your friend that you forgive them, the scar from the words is still there and may come back later in life. Words hurt far more than guns or knives because the pain is emotional and it is hidden inside. No one knows the pain that is felt nor the damage that it has done, but it is there. Why do I speak on time and reference pain and suffering? Because we all go through those things at the same time.

Life is lived one day, one hour at a time and our words and the building up that we can do or the tearing down that can be done happens right along with us. If we could control our tongue we would be better and in better shape than we realize. If the things which we write were filtered through God’s peace and His Word, then much of the hurts and pain caused in the world would cease. But, even the Bible says that no man can control the tongue. Which is true, we can’t control it unless we allow Him to have our minds and our hearts every day, not just on Sunday morning.

Even when we allow Jesus into our hearts and our minds, our tongue is not easy to control but it can be tamed to an extent. God loves us so much that our life is in His hands at all times and He can see the things ahead which will happen in your life. All that you need to do is to trust in Him and let Him be the pilot and the navigator of your life. Give Him the control over your mind and tongue so that what comes from your mouth or your hands will be words that He sees are necessary and good for the situation at hand.

Writing these words so that you might come to know Jesus, I pray that you will. In His Service!

Learn about God

We, as Christians and believers, need to learn more about God and Jesus. Why do I say this? If you truly are a believer and a Christian, don’t you already know about God and Jesus? Well, yes you do, but knowing about God and Jesus doesn’t even make you a Christian. How about that? If you really consider what I just said you will know it is the truth. Knowing about something or someone doesn’t mean that you really know them!

Intellectual knowledge of God or even of the gospel story of Jesus doesn’t save you and it can’t save you. Attending church every time the doors are open doesn’t save you, it may expose you to the Truth of Jesus and His redeeming work on Earth but it won’t save you. Unless you have felt the Spirit convicting you of your life, your sins, and the fact that you can’t help God in your salvation then you won’t turn to Jesus and ask Him into your life and your heart.

If your pastor isn’t teaching your church from the Word of God, then you won’t get the gospel story, you won’t be hearing the story of Jesus and His part in saving you from your sins. Many churches today teach a message which sounds more like a “pep-talk”, a feel-good message, one which doesn’t tell you that you are living a sinful like without Jesus! So, what are you living out in this life? Are you a true Christian, one that has the power of the Holy Spirit in your heart and giving you the ability to be a Christian? Or are you just mimicking your parents and friends who go to church with you every week, going through the motions of a “christian” life!

Jesus said that He and the Father are One, He also said that He is the only way to the Father and to Heaven. The Scriptures call Him the Door, the Branch of David, Wonderful, Counselor and the Prince of Peace. He is the Creator and our Savior and He is the One Who gave the ultimate sacrifice of Himself and then was raised on the third day so that we could have the promise of eternal life.

Changing times

In many ways we are living in times that are changing drastically from what most of us grew up in. Some of the younger people, under twenty years of age, don’t really know what we are talking about when we say this. Their world has been this messed up ever since they were old enough to notice.

Thirty years ago or even further back than that, life was much easier. I don’t mean there were more jobs or more money because that was not the case. I am talking about tolerance for religious beliefs and other things. Yes, Islam was around but not so much in our country, especially not close to home. We heard about shootings in big cities and terrorist bombings in Israel and Palestine, not here in America.

People weren’t as confused about their gender either. You were and are either male or female. If you want to dress like the opposite sex, fine but don’t tell me that I have to accept it. No you can’t use the lady’s room if you are really a man! Although, I imagine some “cross-dressers” have used the ladies room and few were even aware of it, if any.

Yes, we live in times which are changing in ways that we can’t understand unless you have read the Bible. It says that in these days people will be lovers of self and will say good is evil and evil is good and that is exactly what is happening today. Is there a way to stop all of this? Yes, when Jesus comes to rule the world. God says that there will be times like the days of Noah at the end of days and we are beginning to see those times right now.

Another tidbit of information that I am putting in here today is that I live in Mississippi. Yes, the one that is in the middle of the South, right in between Alabama and Louisiana. God loves all of you, no matter where you live or your situation in life but He doesn’t agree with some of the lifestyles and sins that some of you live in. It is the sin that God doesn’t like, I don’t know your heart or your spiritual condition BUT He does. There are many today who go to church and go through all of the motions of being a Christian, but their hearts are far from Him.

So many people think that they are Christians because of their family’s membership in a church, some think that just going to church makes them a Christian. Some think that because they haven’t broken any of the “major” commandments that they are OK or that they have an “understanding” with God, except that none of those things which you think you have done has anything to do with your salvation! A seat at church is just a place to sit, family position doesn’t mean anything to God. Nothing that we do, no matter how good or noble it may be, has any bearing on our salvation.

Your acceptance of and belief in Jesus as your Savior is the ONLY way to get into Heaven and have all of your sins wiped off the books. God doesn’t remember your sins at all once you have given your heart and life to Jesus and you are forgiven. When God looks at you from that point on, He sees the blood of Jesus covering all of your sins and you are just as sinless as Jesus was when He rose from the tomb! It isn’t a hard thing to do to give your life and your heart to Jesus although sometimes our culture or our belief in “me” or some other “god” will get in the way.

Search the Scriptures, seek Him out, pray about your salvation and understanding of God’s Word then give your life to Him and let Him give you a New Life in Him! Why do I ask you to do this? Because Jesus told me to tell others about the gospel, the Good News of salvation where we don’t have to do anything for it because it has already been done by Him. It is a free gift, all you have to do to have it is to ask Him for it and believe.

Confusion in our time

Much has been written about creation and confusion in the time that we live in. Some of it is the truth, most of it is opinion and disinformation made to confuse those who have not read and studied God’s Word. Jesus said that there would be many who will come in my name in the latter days who will deceive many, even the elect but He admonished us to stand firm in our faith and not waver in our beliefs.

Yes, many of those who are placing their own opinion out on the web and teaching it in churches and Sunday schools are doing so with the full cooperation and endorsement of their church. The messages that they teach seems to be true and right, but when you are placing one created being in the place of another Who is more important and Who is not created, that is blasphemy! Like the one who will come and declare that he is “the Christ” one day, it is blasphemy and yet it will deceive multitudes all over the world!

Even many who are in the church today have not believed in the true Christ but of those only God knows who they are. We, as Christians, are not to judge a person’s heart because we don’t know their heart…but God does. All that we can do is preach our messages in our churches and here and then hope that those who come will seek God out and turn to Him, to Jesus and ask forgiveness for waiting so long.

There are many different denominations in the world and just as many versions of the Bible, but there is only one truth and it can be found by seeking Him out in all of Scripture and asking for God to show you what really is the TRUTH and what is a lie! Your Spirit will agree with those things in the Bible which are true and that is the Truth that you should be paying attention to. There is so much confusion in our world today over what is a right or a privilege, or which group of people wronged someone in the past and who is going to pay for it today.

If the courts spent their time doing that, no justice would ever be done for modern crimes. The past is just that..past, and there is no responsible party to file against when a case is over one hundred years old. Yes, I am sorry that our forefathers used slave labor, yes I am sorry that we displaced the American Indians in America and that many of them died for it. But, I can’t pay reparations for something done before my father’s time! Is our world today confused? Yes, it is! Terribly confused!

When the news and our leaders continue to call evil as if it was good and condemn those who are trying to live their lives according to the teachings of Jesus in the Bible, then we are in a bad situation. Times are changing in ways that were predicted in the Bible and that these days would come upon us before the time of the Antichrist. We are living in those times right now and it is only going to get worse in the near future. Seek God in His Word and learn about salvation from the gospels. Jesus is the only way to be saved from the punishment which will follow. I pray that all of you who read this will seek the Truth from God’s Word and find it for yourself.