Tag: Christianity

What should we say…


Christians tend to get tongue-tied when they are telling others about Jesus and it does happen to pastors as well. When Paul and Silas when to the Berean Jews, they accepted the gospel with gladness:

10That very night the believers sent Paul and Silas to Berea. When they arrived there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. 12As a result, many Jews believed, as did many of the prominent Greek women and men. (Acts 17: 10-12)

The way that they accepted and searched the Scriptures is exactly the way that we should be every day with the Word of God. The more frequently you read and study the Bible, more of it will get into your mind and you won’t have to memorize it. It will just be there waiting to be used. It will also give you a greater understanding of God and His ways to “search the scriptures” because in doing so, you will be learning about God more and more.

Should we be more forceful or pushy with our faith, trying to convert anyone that we can? Absolutely not! Yes, we need to be able to tell others and defend the reason for our faith in what we believe and Who we believe in, but being zealous for our faith to the extreme is not necessary. Jesus wasn’t that way and we don’t need to be either. All that we need to do is tell others about why we believe in Jesus and why, the Holy Spirit will take that seed and make it grow.

God’s Word doesn’t come back to Him void of the purpose for which it was sent out. It always accomplishes that which He wills for it to do. Can we be better witnesses? Yes, with the help of Jesus and the Spirit of Truth. Why can’t we do it on our own strength? Because doing it on your own is not the way that it is done! If that were the case, Jesus wouldn’t have needed to come and die on the cross. In our own strength, we could keep the Law and work our way toward salvation, but we can’t!

We are too weak to be able to resist the temptations of daily living without the Holy Spirit in our lives and Jesus’ righteousness is the Only righteousness that is able to cover our sins. God loves us enough to know all of these things about us, yet He still sent His Son to die for us so that we will be able to come into His presence.

I am not saying that people can’t be morally good and do some worthy and good things even without knowing Jesus because they can. It is because of the Law that God wrote into our being that we know right from wrong and also we learned it from our parents and grandparents. So, yes, even people who believe in other gods or no god at all can do good things…morally right things even. The problem comes when you think that your “good works” are good enough to cover your sins and get you into Heaven, because they are not.

God is perfectly Holy and since He is, do you think that you can just walk up to His house and let yourself in? Do you think that you could do this at any residence of someone that you don’t even know? Of course you couldn’t and you wouldn’t let anyone into your house either if you did not know them. That is only a tiny part of why God can’t and won’t allow you to “work” your way into Heaven. He has given it to you as a gift and it is available to everyone in the same way, all that you need to do is accept it and believe it. That is it.

He is light of the world!


In John chapter one in verses one through five it says:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

John was speaking of Jesus Himself Who came into our world as the Son of God to bring light to the world, and yet the world still doesn’t want to perceive that light. It seems that more and more people are turning away and rejecting Him and the message that was brought through Him, yet this too was foretold. People during this time will decide to follow others or their own beliefs, whatever they might be. It is reported in the news every day about some who are claiming to be Jesus. Some have been in the news this year, some last year, but there will be many more false Christs. They lead others astray with them believing in the lies being told, and yet some of them have great followings, why?

The time is coming soon that people will see a leader who claims to be someone who he is not, yet millions will believe in him. Only, the one that people will see will not be the returning Jesus, but an anti-Christ. Someone who will unite the world and its religions under his rule and for a time everyone will be at peace.

Jesus is the only One who can bring true and lasting peace to each of us and to the world and He will return, but when He returns there will be no denying it that it really is Him! Believe in Him and in His Word and ask Him to come into your heart and change your life! Asking Jesus into your heart is the beginning of your life, your eternal life in Him.

Why do so many people clamor and fight against Christianity? Because He is the Truth and the Life from God the Father and people don’t want to hear the truth nor believe it. Why? Because people want to have a “god” of their own making, whether they go to church or whether they are believers or not. They don’t want to truly believe in the God of the Bible? Because the Truth that is in it is too hard for many. They try to mold their “god” in the image of man, and not believe in the One Who created them and the entire universe because their minds…our minds can’t conceive of a God Who truly loves each of us and has from the beginning of time itself!

The Truth is in the Bible, in the Word and in Jesus. Read, pray and learn of the One Who has always loved you and wants to know you and for you to know Him. Give your heart to Jesus and the deception that is coming into the world will be easy for you to resist..if you give your heart to Him. Learn

God’s creation is beautiful!


Have you ever noticed a butterfly or a hummingbird? How wonderfully made they are and the beauty in their creation and God made them that way. Just as He made each of us beautiful in our own right and also as He intended for us to be. Adding to our bodies or taking away from them, doesn’t really change us because the person that each of us really is happens to be the one that God sees. The one that our soul or spirit is inside our hearts, not the one that is on the surface for the world to see.

Also, when we decide to become a Christian by asking Jesus to come into our hearts, the change is miraculous and on-going…until we reach our perfect home and place in Him which is in Heaven.

You know, there are times that we all see and feel things differently from day-to-day, but creation is still the same. It is all around us and we are part of it but most people tend to ignore it and take it for granted. Why? Because the sun comes up and goes down and the moon rises at night and sets in the morning. Everything that is going on around us has been going on for hundreds, if not thousands of years in one form or another. Granted, the newest technology might not have been there, but even in the days of pharaoh they had messengers to take messages across the kingdom, even if it wasn’t instant like it is today.

Your life today, regardless of whether you believe in Jesus or not, is in God’s hands. If you have felt His calling on your life or your heart and have not answered Him, why not? Just because some teacher or philosopher tells you that “God doesn’t exist, He is just a way for primitive man to make sense of his world”, don’t believe that! If you wish to, I can’t stop you. But, the point is this: Jesus came  and died for your sins, whether you wanted it or not! The only way to get to Heaven is to ask Jesus to come into your life and your heart and cleanse you and make you whole.

Some people might ask me, “What do you mean, “make me whole”? Well, you know that little feeling that you have had like something was missing and you couldn’t quite figure out what it was? It is Jesus. That empty feeling inside that you have had…some of you for a long time, is the place where He is supposed to be. Ask Him to complete your transformation into His image and bring His grace and goodness into your life. Because if you don’t, that empty feeling won’t go away and it might feel even bigger at times. If you reject His call on your life long enough, He will just let you go on with your life. Jesus doesn’t push or force you to do anything, He wants and needs for you to come willingly to Him and ask Him to come in with you.

God has loved you from the beginning of time because He has known each of us from the beginning. He knows what we had for lunch two years ago last Friday and He knows when you will die. There is nothing hidden from Him, no matter how dark the place where you “hide” might be. He loves you and is waiting for you to decide to come with Him on the rest of your journey. The trail that He travels on is not very wide, but He is able to take care of you all along the way, all that He asks is that you follow Him. Don’t step off the path, just follow Him. Please consider your life not just as you are now but in the eternal life that you can have with Him in Heaven.

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.

When you are down


1623771_736809902997332_1536594980_nThe times that I have been down in my life and not realized what I was going through, I don’t think that I could count them. I was very likely depressed more than I thought but I just thought that I was having a bad day. In truth, I was having a bad day but it also involved being at school or being with my family which really didn’t help much and sometimes made it worse.

They tried to help cheer me up or make me laugh. It worked sometimes, but more often than not it didn’t and it just compounded the problem. Family members, Mom, grandmother and grandfather and friends from school all would try to “help” in their own ways but the depression was still there, sometimes it was less cumbersome than before but often I would just lie and tell them that I was OK, and we would get on with the day.

True, that was not the right way to handle it but I didn’t know that at the time and neither did you. The point that I am making here is not one to bring up old habits or memories from this past week or in your life. My point on this site is to point you to the One person Who can help heal the dark areas of your mind and bring you back into the light of day. He won’t force you to worship Him and I won’t bring up the sinful life that we have all lived, because you know what you have done or what you may be doing today.

God loves you so much that He allowed His Son to give His life on a cross in order to take the penalty for your sins, regardless of how bad you think that you are. He came so that you can have an abundant life, one that is full of purpose and hope, not depression and thoughts of death and despair. I have had them myself, but I have conquered them through Jesus and His strength not on my own.

Give your life and REAL purpose, follow Jesus and do what the other disciples did…make disciples of others, become His disciple not because you are required to but because you are grateful that you have the chance. God has a place for you in eternity, and all that you or I have to do to get there is to believe in the saving power of Jesus and what He did for all of us on that cross.

Religious mentality


There are so many different religions in the world today and just as many if not more denominations of Christian belief too. Why are we so split up into different doctrines and belief systems? Mainly, because of Satan himself. I know, there are many, many people who don’t believe in him and those who say that he doesn’t exist at all. He enjoys taunting them and playing with their minds, especially when they don’t think that it is a real entity which is doing these things.

So, what do we do or can we do about all of this confusion? Being religious can be done with anything, it doesn’t have to be a belief or a denomination or even an accepted religion. You can be religious about your life, your job or even your hobby. This is exactly what Satan wants. He wants most of the world to be religious about their particular religion, whatever it may be, and to be so zealous that you persecute anyone who doesn’t believe as you do. Which causes more trouble in the world, more wars, more killing, more hatred between people and cultures. This is the kind of ruler that Earth has at this time, one who is bent on destroying as much of God’s creation as possible while he still has time.

Jesus spoke against the religious mentality of His day too. The High priest and the Pharisees held the people to the laws of Moses, all six hundred or so of them, but they devised loopholes for themselves so that they didn’t have to keep the letter of them. By teaching the people to essentially “do as we say, not as we do”, they were leading the people away from God and not to Him.

Jesus taught the people to know Him and learn to know their God, personally. Being religious doesn’t get you anywhere without Him in your life. Look to Jesus alone for your salvation because He is the only way to get salvation, period. There is no other name or person that can get you saved from an eternity in hell except Jesus and until the world sees this, although it may be too late, there will be no real peace on Earth.

What do we leave behind?


10561767_743035049071205_2362292510227829463_nThe genius that left us behind today was a great man of talent. He is going to be missed by many, not only in Hollywood but all over the world. His comedic genius and wit has been entertaining audiences for over three decades and it was a shock when I heard that he was gone. Could we have done more to help him? Could the world or his friends come along side him and helped to get him through his deep depression? I don’t know!

I have been through a few months of depression myself, though my depression wasn’t as deep as his was. I will truly miss his life being in our world because I was looking forward to another Mrs. Doubtfire. But, I will be happy to watch the original over again as well as his other television shows and movies. It is a shame that many people don’t leave a lasting impression on humanity like celebrities and sports figures. Yet, even their influence will be felt less and less as time goes on. We still see and hear Elvis and John Lennon and Michael Jackson, but the impact that they made begins to fade after a time.

Do we really leave a legacy to society when we are gone or do the memories fade as the audience that we had dwindles with age? I will never know, because I don’t have a following such as any celebrity does. Some of you might miss my writing one day, but it won’t last long in Internet time. I will be replaced with the newest and best that is out there.

The thing that I hope that I have left you with is that Jesus is the answer to all of your problems. Not Muhammad or Buddha or any other god or religious figure. Jesus came and died for you and me and He is the Savior of us all. The only requirement of you is your belief in Him and your request for Him to come into your life and make you into a new creation in Him. That is all that you need to do. There is no money required, no sacrifice that you have to give, only that you believe in Him and in what He did for you. He made more of an impact on our world with His death but it was because of His resurrection that we still have hope!

No matter what the problem or your circumstances may be, He is the only real answer for it and the only One that matters! Please give Him your heart and your life, then you will see what true eternal life will be like!

Lies, lies, lies


In one sense all lies are lies to God. However, as the passage below shows, there is a particular type of lie that qualifies specifically as lying to God. I think of this as “lying on steroids.” Often, this lie is not about hiding things that are wicked, but about misrepresenting things that appear to be good, even righteous. This is where the greatest danger lies for children raised in Christian homes. That is why your parenting must go beyond addressing just their behavior.

“Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet. Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God.” Acts 5:1-4

Each day you challenge your children to obey God. In each home this challenge comes with the promise of some kind of negative consequence for not obeying and some type of reward for obedience. Even when you neglect to follow through with the consequences of disobedience, the specter of accountability hangs in the air. Given their sinful nature, the tendency of children is to find ways to avoid these consequences. At the same time, there is also the promise of reward attached to requests for obedience. So again, even when the reward is not consistent (or even not biblical), human nature desires the reward, whether it is deserved or not.

For example, one sibling sees that his sister is rewarded for cleaning. So, he is careful to mention that he too, helped, even if he did not actually do anything. This child realizes that he can achieve what he wants if his parents perceive that he is doing good things. Thus, he might participate by appearing to be busy, but only when mom is looking. Internally, he may be resentful of having to do something he doesn’t want to, but he is motivated by the reward or praise he thinks he will receive. He may even agree that God helped him to obey because he knows that is what his parents want to hear. This deceptive, self-serving attitude may eventually lead to the kind of deception that Ananias and Sapphira practiced. They were seeking praise and status without the sacrificial spirit of truly loving Christ. It was in this way that they lied to God.

As parents, you must not become complacent when your children give only outward compliance to your directions. If you put up with a grumbling, complaining spirit as the price for your children following your directions, you open the door to lying to God. God desires obedience from the heart, not the outward form of ritual sacrifice. (Amos 5:21-23; Isaiah 29:13) So, the mindset that says, “At least he took the garbage out, even though he moaned and groaned about it,” totally misses the point of loving God. This child is not being shepherded. Rather he is being encouraged to believe that God will be satisfied with mere outward compliance to his commands, even when his heart is not involved in his obedience.

Ananias and Sapphira believed that they could trade the appearance of obedience for spiritual status—for recognition from others that they were devoted to the church. But God is not mocked. He cannot be deceived. Lying expresses the hypocrisy of the human heart. This is why the Lord detests lying lips. As lies progress beyond mere self-protection to the point of lying to achieve personal desires, the danger of lying directly to God increases. Ananias and Sapphira tried to manipulate the appearance of doing good. The fatal mistake they made was thinking they could deceive God as well as people.

Lying is not something to ignore, deal with lying whenever you discover it. Don’t allow the busy routine of life to cover patterns of outward compliance. But we must address this sin carefully and wisely. This requires a substantial investment of time and biblical wisdom.

Do you still carry your own load?


A man was carrying a heavy bag of grain down a country road. Another man in a wagon being pulled by a horse saw the man walking and said to him, “Mister, you need a ride?” And so the man got in the wagon. But he kept the load of grain on his shoulder. The wagon driver said, “Man, put that down and relax!” The rider said, “Oh no. It’s enough for you to carry me without having you carry this too.”

Have you ever done that to the Lord? Do you say, “Lord, I’ll let You save me, but I’ll carry my own burdens.”

How foolish to do this with the God who hung the stars and planets.

The idea that we are somehow saving God the burden of helping us or carrying our load for us is truly foolish. As stated above, He who created and placed the stars and planets can surely take care of our problems, no matter their size. We are individuals yet we are dependent upon our community, if we are being true to ourselves. We are also dependent upon God, whether we choose to believe in Him or not. The sun shines because He put it where it is, so does the moon. Every part of our physical world, from the smallest atom to the largest star or galaxy was created by God.

Those of you who don’t believe this, its okay that you have a different opinion than mine. It doesn’t bother me that you choose not to believe. But, because you don’t, doesn’t mean that I have to explain myself to you in any way. I also don’t need to apologize because of my belief. If you don’t like it, don’t read this. Go somewhere else which suits you better.

God loves you and has made a way for you to be sanctified and saved whether you believe in Him or not. The only thing that is stopping you is your choice to believe in Him and His grace or not.

Revival of the Church


Is this something that is needed or is it already too late?

Yes, it is needed and it is absolutely NOT too late! Although many churches, or at least those who make up the body of the churches need revival in a BIG way. Revival of spirit, revival of conviction and of their purpose as Christians. It is not too late, but to most of the world, especially in America, we are silent about things that we should not be silent about. Yes, Jesus said to turn the other cheek but even He overturned the money changers tables and those tables which were selling animals for sacrifice in the courtyard of the Tabernacle!

We are not supposed to just roll over and say, “Oh well, so it goes.” Would Jesus be quiet right now in the face of all that is going on in this world? I don’t think so. When He comes back there will be many who will be wishing that He had not!

I know there are some who don’t believe in our God or in anything that the Bible says, but it is the Truth of God and when He comes they will see that it is and always has been true. As Ezekiel looked on the valley of dry bones, he did not know that they would live again but God knew. God could revive them and in the vision that he had, God did just that. He can do that to the church today! He can bring us up from the grave, no matter where we are in life or death because He is God the Creator.

The church today is not dead, but asleep and not doing the work that Jesus gave it to do. We must keep working for Jesus until He comes again. It is our duty and His command that we take His message to all of the world and we can’t do that sitting behind the walls of our churches. Jesus is and always has been the Son of God, the Living Word and He is the Creator because of the Word that was used by God to create everything.

We have to get out of our comfort zones even if it takes getting our shoes dirty and going places that we might not want to go, but where He commands that we take Him! He prompted me to begin this ministry online and it is His prompting that gives me the words to write. I am not and never have been a prolific speaker or writer, but in the past few years I have been writing what I was given by Him…here and elsewhere (my other two sites), in order to get His message out to those that might read it.

I don’t do this for my sake or for any kind of recognition, but for your sake and for your salvation in coming to know my Savior as yours. The church is not a building it is the people who meet there and come to worship Jesus there. Whether the church happens to be in a large building or in a home, the people gathering there are the church. We need to be inviting others to join us in our worship so that they can come to know Jesus too.