We are real!

You hear so many times in the news and the media that abortion is a woman’s right to choose whether she is going to have a baby or not. Great, then DON’T have UN-protected sex! If you must have sex outside of being married, then make sure that you don’t get pregnant! That way you won’t have to exercise your right to kill that child which came from your own mistake.

That child is not a collection of cells and body parts, it is a life, a baby and a human being and it deserves to live just as much as any other child does. I know a woman has the right to do as she wishes with her body, but if you are going to enjoy sex and don’t want to have a child then get “fixed” just like a dog or a cat so that won’t ever happen! You won’t have to worry about it, ever!

God created mankind male and female so that we could be “fruitful and multiply”, not so that we could pick and choose which child is the one that I want to keep and just throw the rest away! When He sends a child into the world, regardless of who may be the lucky parents, He has a reason and a purpose for that child to fulfill. If you take the life of that child because you don’t want to have it for one reason or another, you have taken a human life. One that had meaning and purpose which God had plans for and you took it away. If you never come to a saving knowledge of Christ, the question will be why did you kill my child?

So, look at this picture and tell me who is the most dangerous person or regime on the planet? War has taken only about two and three-quarters of a million lives combined in the past 239 years since America became a country. Abortion has taken over fifty-five million lives in the past forty-two years! Lives that never had a chance to learn to walk and talk or go to school or go to a prom and college. Which sin is the reason for all of this death? Selfishness for the most part, convenience would be another part of the equation.

It is a very sad comment on our culture when we are so selfish that we can’t allow another person to live, even if we gave them up to adoption. That would be preferable since there are many people who can’t even have children and would gladly take a child in and love it and take care of it if you don’t have the time or money to do so.

Another sad thing about this is that you will be held responsible for the lives that have been taken, especially if you have done this more than once.

Yes, God loves each of us and there will be many people in Heaven who never had a chance at a life here on earth. They never took their first breath here, never even had a chance to poop in a diaper or drink some milk from their mother.

I know that this sounds like a rant about abortion and it is to an extent, but God loves all of us even if you may have done this. Please consider that if you do give your life to Christ in this life then you will very likely meet your child in the next one.

Just a thought from a preacher.

What is it which gives you strength?

Is it your food or drink? Is it your will to do what needs to be done for today, no matter what it is? Our strength comes from our bodies to work and to do what is needed every day and our body gets that strength from our food. The quality of that food and the amount that you need to do your work is what gives you the calories to keep going to finish your work for each day. All of this is known by each of us as we live through our lives every day in the world, but how can you get the strength to do things for God? True, sometimes your food is all that is needed, but most of the time that is not all that you need.

We are spiritual beings because the spirit that we have that is in us, our soul that is immortal, needs to have contact with God the Creator. That contact comes through reading God’s Word and by prayer. Prayer is a direct line to God and His Spirit! Not only are you in contact with Him with your words and your spirit but He is in contact with you, giving you the strength to pray for the things which you need to be able to do. It may be that you are in need of His strength for a problem in your life, whether it is grief or a loss or some physical ailment in your life or a family member’s life but prayer is the line…a lifeline that is a direct transmission line from God to you! He knows exactly what you need and how much, all that He is waiting for is for you to ask Him to do this.

God doesn’t intrude on your life without you asking Him into your heart and your life. Nothing about the walk..the life of a Christian is forced on us by God. We participate in it with Him as our Strength and our Comforter and many times we find that when those days sort of pile up on us, He is exactly what and Who we need to make it through them. Being a non-Christian is somewhat easy because you don’t look to a “higher power” for inspiration or strength, you are your own strength and inspiration.

So, what do you do when the strength and inspiration that you have available to you isn’t enough? You have come to the end of your rope, a deadline is only a few hours or days away and you have nothing to bring, the chemotherapy isn’t working and you are in hospice waiting to die…your own strength is mostly gone at this point, so now what or who can you look to or call on for help? Do you just give up and die? What could possibly help in this instance? It’s not a what but a Who. God can help you in every situation and it doesn’t matter whether it is big or small because the Creator of the universe can handle it all! He may not fly in and heal you from a serious illness, but He will give you the faith and the strength to make it through with dignity and when you are taken to Heaven…the pain is gone, your worries are no more, you have an eternal home which is yours FOREVER!

I know that to our small minds dying is not a fix to a situation, but if you have given your life to God and asked for Him to forgive you, then your witness to others during your pain and suffering will be your witness and your sermon. It may not impact their life now and it may be years from now before it takes root in their lives but that seed…that spark that they saw in your life, even if you were suffering, can make a big impact.

God can use the most unusual people to get His point across. Homeless people and those in countries where Christianity isn’t tolerated at all have a very big impact on people because of their faith and their life that they live for Him while they have the time. Christians, since the time of Christ, have given their lives because of their faith in Jesus. This is not a blind faith or a cult, belief in Jesus is belief in the Truth and the Life that is available to you from God! People don’t die a martyr’s death for something which they don’t believe is real, but there have been thousands of people who have been burned at the stake, frozen in winter by exposure, torn to shreds by lions, or mercifully shot in the head because of their faith in Jesus and His atonement for them, even if it was against the “state church” like it was in the middle ages.

God loves you because He has a purpose for your life, no matter when you truly come to know Him. Even if it is at the end of your life, your decision to come to know Jesus will have an impact on someone else’s life and they will make a difference in another person’s life. Like a neatly stacked line of dominoes which expands into the shape of a tree, one person may affect two, they may impact four, they may impact sixteen, those sixteen may impact sixty-four until God has used up your impact but it is never really used up. Because the effect of one person can make a difference in millions of lives, especially today and with God and His Spirit powering the effect that your prayer or your reading of the Bible may have on others, you may be astonished at how many people you find in Heaven who will say that something that you said or wrote or shared online made a difference in their life.

Think about that. I do and I pray that all of you who read this might pass it on to someone else who needs it too.

True for today but sad…

I saw this on Facebook and I couldn’t do any better so here it is:

A preacher transformed himself into a homeless person and went to the church that he was to be introduced as the head pastor at that morning. He walked around his soon to be church for 30 minutes while it was filling with people for service….only 3 people said hello to him. He asked people for change to buy food….NO ONE in the church gave him change. He went into the sanctuary to sit down in the front of the church and was told the ushers he would sit n the back. He greeted people to be greeted back with stares and dirty looks, with people looking down on him and judging him.

As he sat in the back of the church, he listened to the church announcements and such. When all that was done, the elders went up and were excited to introduce the new pastor of the church to the congregation……..”We would like to introduce to you our new Pastor”….The congregation looked around clapping with joy and anticipation…..The homeless man sitting in the back stood up…..and started walking down the aisle…..the clapping stopped with ALL eyes on him….he walked up the altar and took the microphone from the elders (who were in on this) and paused for a moment….then he recited:

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

After he recited this, he looked towards the congregation and told them all what he had experienced that morning…many began to cry and many heads were bowed in shame…. he then said….Today I see a gathering of people……not a church of Jesus Christ. The world has enough people, but not enough disciples…when will YOU decide to become disciples? He then dismissed service until next week…….Being a Christian is more than something you claim. It’s something you live by and share with others.
2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

Is Jesus’ message relevant today?

If you aren’t sure if that is a valid question then you probably don’t think so. In my viewpoint and many other Christians who are trying to follow His commandment to take the gospel to the whole world…Yes! His message is very relevant to our world today because it is needed by those who have lost hope or their will to go on. His message is relevant to all who are looking for something to fill that void in their lives. Jesus came and died for all of us, believers and non-believers!

I know that many of you don’t believe that this message is for you, but it is. Particularly now. Why do I say this? Because, regardless of the way the media treats all of the things which are happening in the world today, we are on the edge of the times spoken of in the book of Revelation. True, the one called the Anti-Christ has not appeared..yet, but the other rumblings of pestilence, wars, persecution of Christians, are all happening now.

So, why do I look at this as a warning to everyone in the world? Because that is what it is…a warning! Turn to Jesus before the end of the age comes! I am not trying to be one of the nuts that you see with the signs that have been around for decades saying that “the end is near”, but in truth it actually is! Whether you believe me or the Bible or not, it is near. Much nearer than it has been in the past.

Jesus came into the world to save those who would answer the call to be saved. If you will seek Him and believe in His sacrifice and His message, you will be saved. Regardless of the sins you have committed in the past, with true repentance and a faithful heart to turn to Jesus…you will be saved!

Is there more to the message? Of course! We should strive to be more like Jesus every day! Like straining to get to the end of a race and cross the finish line, our goal is to be as much like Jesus as we can so that others can see Jesus through us and our words! We are not perfect and won’t be until we have our glorified body in Heaven, but working toward that goal daily makes us less of our sinful self and more like Him every day!

Salvation in Jesus is preferable to being in sin and yet many people reject it. To me that is like someone walking up to you and asking if you would like to have a briefcase full of money and then you just walk away from it because you don’t want to take that which is freely given. I know, the money is something that you can feel and touch so most people wouldn’t turn it down, but consider this: eternity is worth far more than one million dollars! It is worth more even than one hundred billion dollars or one trillion because none of that can be compared to eternity! We can’t comprehend one million years and that is just a drop compared to eternity.

Feeding your faith and starving your fear!

This is needed in our world today because there is much fear in the world and it seems that our faith in God is dying. Why is that? Maybe because of the wars and all sorts of other troubles going on around us. These things can make us lose heart and lose sight of our Savior. Why not try reading the Bible? Not just as a book of Jewish history or so-called “fairy tales” as some people refer to it but as a Book of Wisdom and one which God inspired his prophets to write! Fear keeps us from living our lives to the fullest and it keeps us from knowing our purpose in life as well.

How does fear have such a powerful hold in our lives? Because we haven’t embraced our life, regardless of how hectic you life is or how miserable it may be. Life is what it is and there is no getting around that, but we do have Someone to give us hope and that is our Savior, Jesus the Messiah! He is always there and available to us to give us strength and hope every day. You can deny it if you wish or even try to argue about this but God is available to you all of the time. Learn this Truth through His Word and find His peace in your life. It isn’t hard to understand, but you have to read and study the Bible to get the wisdom out of it. Just as you do in school when studying for a test, cramming doesn’t work and glancing at it occasionally doesn’t do you any good either.

The Bible is a book full of wisdom which changes because of your needs. That is why it is referred to as the Living Word of God. You can read one scripture verse this month and next month it will have a different meaning for you through faith and believing in the Creator. Without faith in God and His Word, the Bible is just a book with words in it and nothing more. That is why many people have told me that they have read it many times and they get nothing from it. The reason is a lack of faith in what you are reading. If you don’t believe it or won’t believe it, then no book in the world will make sense to you whether it is the Bible or biology 101!

God loves each of us and we should believe in Him, yet we want to believe that every living cell, whether in a bacteria or a whale, came from a pond of amino acids and a few proteins which got struck by a bolt of lightning billions of years ago. Really?!! The amount of faith that it would take to believe that would enable a person to walk on water or point to a mountain and it would fly into the ocean!

Fear of the unknown, and the future is certainly that, is what keeps us up at night and that is the very type of fear that God says we shouldn’t have. Why? Because, the future is something that only He knows about. There is nothing that you or I can do to affect it because the future is out of our reach. Tomorrow is not here yet, today is, so let’s make sure that we take care of the time that we have in front of us. The only “tomorrow” that we can have an impact on is that which comes after our death and that only by accepting Jesus as our Savior. If you choose not to accept Him, then your future is also affected, but you won’t enjoy the eternity that you get if that is your choice.

Life as we know it

On Earth life is everywhere! Scientists have found life in the most inhospitable places such as volcanic vents at the bottom of the ocean where sunlight doesn’t reach. Temperatures there in the pressurized waters can reach above the boiling point, yet there are bacteria, and crustaceans and other life which get their nourishment from the chemicals coming from these vents. They have also found bacteria and other organisms living in the ice of Antarctica at depths of thousands of feet.

Scientists are finding new species in the oceans and in jungles, on islands that are isolated and in some areas where we live in cities. These species have adapted to life in those areas where they are found, not evolved as some tend to push into our consciousness.

Evolution is a theory in biology postulating that the various types of plants, animals, and other living things on Earth have their origin in other pre-existing types and that the distinguishable differences are due to modifications in successive generations.

Just in the past ten years there have been over 1000 new species found in the Amazon region so the proof of God’s genius and His creative power is in the scientific record not in a theory. Adaptation drives these changes because of where they live and what they have to live on, not evolution. Yes, I know that I am going to be targeted by those who believe that evolution is a proven fact and I am not going to debate the issue because there are too many professors who push it as such.

If Christians believed as strongly in their beliefs about God and Jesus as some of the proponents of evolution, there would’ve been a revival in this country a long time ago and it would have been of such proportions that we wouldn’t be having the problems that we have had in the past three or four decades! Unfortunately, that kind of faith doesn’t seem to exist in the church now nor did it during the fifties and sixties!

God has allowed our faith to shrink because of the time that we live in and the place that we occupy in His time and prophecy. He is in control even if it seems that everything is out of control, but His hand is guiding the world toward a time when people will seek Him or be judged by Him depending upon their decision and not His. Your decision toward God and His Son is the one decision that will have an effect on your eternity and where you will spend it. That is the only decision which really counts because this life is short like a puff of smoke, while your eternity is…well eternal!

Where do we go from here?

In the past few years there have been many books and movies about life after death and where we go afterward. It is a touchy subject because some people think that we don’t go anywhere and some think that we do and sometimes it can cause a heated exchange online and in person. Do you ever wonder about this? I used to but since becoming a Christian, I don’t worry about it any more but I do think about what the rest of the world may be looking forward to. Are you looking forward to eternity or do you even think there is an eternity waiting for you?

Some people even think that they will be having a party in hell with Satan, but according to God’s Word there will be no party. In fact, Satan HATES you and me! Specifically because we are made in the image of God but also because God placed us above him and above angels. We will judge angels one day, if we have accepted Jesus as our Savior and believe in our hearts that He died for us and our sins! Satan is not a god, although he wanted to be above God. He is not omnipotent nor omniscient, but he was a powerful angel at one time and he continues to use the power that he was created with.

Where do we go in our beliefs from where we are? Many claim not to have a religious belief in any being, whether God or Satan, supreme being of any kind. Why? If there is one which some people claim to believe in and follow then there must be the other. Evil and hatred can’t exist without love, they are two sides of an eternal coin, just as light and dark or heat and cold.

God loves us, all of us and has since the beginning of Creation. Satan has been in opposition to God and His plans, whatever they were, ever since the rebellion which got him thrown out of Heaven. Satan is opposing God right now through wars, murders, diseases, and all sorts of acts which mankind is inflicting upon each other through his influence over them. He targets those of us who are serving God by tempting us and causing problems in our lives, some of which God allows to test us and our faith to make us stronger. I know that and am comfortable with it because God will see me through it all.

What about your future? Your eternal future? Not just tomorrow or next month, but after your life on Earth is finished, have you even considered it? If you haven’t, you should because it is by God’s grace that we have our being, our lives, even our next breath. If you were to stand in front of God before the dawn tomorrow, would you be able to give Him an answer to “What did you do with my Son?” Could you truthfully say that you accepted Him as your Savior? Would your Christianity hold up in a court of law today? Is there enough evidence in your life to prove to a judge on Earth that you are a Christian? Because, if there isn’t enough evidence beyond “he was a good man or a good father”, then how will God receive you?

It is something that all of us need to examine in our lives because eternity is a very LONG time and you enter it as soon as you draw your last breath in this life. Whether that is today or ten years from now or even fifty years from now, your eternity will begin that quick. Make sure that you know and are at peace with your choice because you will be stuck with that choice, and it will be because of your choice not because God sent you there.

What are you waiting for?

Many people seem to want to wait until their last breath to make a decision about their eternity. Some, even at this point, don’t believe in eternity or God yet when they are faced with an incurable disease or a child that is sick they begin to pray. For what, mercy? To whom? If you don’t believe that He exists why should He answer your prayers? God really does love each of us more than we can imagine, and thankfully He doesn’t react the way we would if we were ignored or shoved away like our country and almost every person living here is doing today! If He was as cold and cruel as some think that He is, this world would’ve been remade thousands of times since the time of Noah! But, He made a promise then and in the other prophetic books of His Word He says that the world will be tested by fire the next time. Many people have speculated that He means a nuclear war, but God doesn’t need nuclear weapons to destroy with fire. He could cause a comet of a size that would cause a fire storm to ravage the planet to hit in a desert area or in a rain forest. He could cause ALL of the volcanoes in the world to erupt at once, even the ancient ones like the one in Yellowstone which would take out most of the United States.

It is true that, if you truly believe that He doesn’t exist, scientists would say all of this was happening due to “global warming/cooling” depending upon which direction you want to go. Consider, just for once, that God is the Creator and that He does exist. Also consider that with Him being the Creator that nothing is outside of His power to create since He created all of the known universe. Our planet is a very insignificant speck of dirt in comparison, BUT He decided to make us special. He created man in His image, regardless of color of skin or hair or ethnic origin. Then, after Satan corrupted our ancestors to go against God’s commands, we were influenced by him to worship things, both animal and inanimate as well as the sun and the moon and the stars. Mankind did all of this by Satan’s influence on our minds, because of our fallen nature we came under his influence to such a point that God regretted making man at all. If God didn’t exist and doesn’t care about us or this world, why would He care what we do here or how we behave? If Satan exists then God exists because Satan was known as Lucifer the Covering Cherub, one of the most powerful angels in Heaven and God created him that way.

But, Satan became proud of his strength and of the power that God had given him and he coveted the place of God. He wanted to be God, and he got one-third of the angels in Heaven to follow him in a rebellion to usurp the throne of God. He should’ve known that his rebellion wouldn’t work, but he was blinded by pride and his own ego, thinking himself above the Creator that created him. At times we think this way too, but we can learn from our mistakes if we will listen to our hearts and to the Spirit of God within us.

We are loved by God because of His image in us but also because He took special care to create us the way we are, not to be servants or slaves but to be His children. Any parent can understand the closeness and the feelings that their relationship with their child gives them, how much more would God feel for those living here? That is why bad things happen to people today….Satan hates us because of who we are in God’s plan and what we represent…a relationship that he could never have with the Creator, even if he had not rebelled!

It is for this reason that the world suffers so much. It isn’t because God can’t control Satan, He doesn’t allow him to have completely free reign of his anger and hatred or we wouldn’t exist! God holds him in check enough that there will be more people who will turn to God for His help and for salvation. Just as God used other nations to judge Israel in times past, He is doing that today not only with Israel but with the world at large. He is trying to bring as many people into the Kingdom as He knows who will respond to Him.

Losing our sanity!

Political correctness has gone so far in our country that it is getting ridiculous! We are getting rid of symbols and statues of the Ten Commandments, which many of our nation’s laws are based upon, and keeping a symbol of Satan in Oklahoma. They are considering taking down monuments all over the South and getting rid of all references to the Civil War, just because some nut sat behind a Confederate flag before he killed some people. I suppose we will have to clear off Mt. Rushmore soon since those aren’t PC enough either. Maybe we should bulldoze the monuments in Washington, DC since many of them were built with slave labor and while we are at it, get rid of the White House since it was built with slave labor.

Yes, I am venting a bit today. The past few weeks since the shooting in South Carolina have been crazy in some ways and encouraging in others. The love of God was shown to the boy who committed the crime because of the forgiveness that the families offered to him. There was no violence or looting because of it, but the fallout has been against anything which has to do with the Civil War. There were African-American soldiers fighting in that war too, I haven’t heard anything about that. Some of the slave holders were African-American, you never hear about that on the news either. I invite you to check the real history of slavery in the South, not the redacted version being taught in schools.

You know, God did not condone slavery in any form. Most of the Biblical writings which have anything to do with it say that any slave should be freed in the seventh year and not kept beyond that point unless they want it that way. God loves us, white, black, yellow, or red skinned because it is just a pigmentation in our skin that makes us different. Our cultures make us very different from each other, but inside we are the image of God, our DNA is nearly identical, our blood is no different other than the blood type that each of us has. There is no blood for whites and blood for “others”, God made us special in that regard. If you have blood that is A+ then we can share or give each other blood if needed. Your body won’t know the difference and mine won’t either.

The time that we are living in is so close to the end of the age until things are really getting crazy and it isn’t going to get much better in the coming years. It doesn’t matter who gets elected to office next year, the problems will still be there. God is in control regardless of who is sitting in the Oval office or whether they are believers or not. He will work things out to conform to His plans in His time. We need to be learning about Him, trusting in Him and expecting Him on any given day because it could happen soon.

¹⁶For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16-17)

The Sinner’s Prayer

I can’t add much to this, except that I pray that those of you who have had questions about following Christ will earnestly pray this prayer and mean it in your hearts. Our world is not going to get better until He comes again!