Tag: Christianity

Are you ready?


There will be some trying times to come in our future, are you ready? What about the things which are going to happen during that time, can you handle them too?

Yes, it is true that I speak of the times which are prophesied in the book of Revelation because since it came from God, then it will happen. “When?”, is the big question concerning the timing of all of these events, but they will come. So much that happens each and every day in the news in our country and around the world really is part of the prophecies which are contained in this book.

Yet, some of the more interesting or distressing news seems to be passed up by the news media, in favor of “fluff”. “Who is dating who?” “She did what?” It sounds like we are getting our so called serious news from a teen magazine or the National Enquirer instead of a real news organization with reporters working for them. And yet, the world around us is seemingly boiling and bubbling and about to blow! So where are the reporters and the headlines that should be pointing out these things? For the most part, they are ignoring the real news while reporting junk.

Like the so-called “reality” shows which command our attention each night and the cooking shows and competitions which demand our attention and our time, the news of the day is fluffed up to entertain and that is all. Many churches, mega-sized or not, even give sermons which are entertaining and informative but they are not bringing the good news and the conviction of people’s souls to a point where they realize that they truly need Jesus and the salvation that He provided through His sacrifice on the cross!

Some don’t even emphasize the sinful nature that we are born with. They don’t bring to mind the commandments set down by God such as : Don’t have any gods before me; Don’t covet anything of your neighbor’s; Don’t tell a lie; Don’t steal; Don’t commit adultery; Don’t commit murder!

These are the laws of God which most of our laws are based upon, but they are so watered down in our society and in our churches until nobody takes them seriously anymore. The problem with that is that God does take them seriously! They still matter and the distinctions that Jesus made about some of them, such as the distinction between lusting after a woman and adultery or hating someone being the same as murder are just as valid today! Even the smallest transgression of these, if you haven’t given your heart to Jesus, is enough to keep you out of Heaven.

The problem is that many people are not being told this, in church or elsewhere. For the most part, people are being told that these laws don’t matter anymore. That there are no consequences to pay for any of these transgressions, just ask God to forgive you and move on.

You are welcome to try that if you think it will work, but if you meet God tomorrow and you haven’t given your heart to Jesus and asked Him to forgive you for waiting so long, then I fear that you will find that is a pitiful excuse to give to the final Judge that you will see. It is true, I am trying to scare you into a belief in Jesus.

I am trying to impress upon you that there is a fine line between being a believer and an atheist, there is no gray area. You either believe in Jesus and ask Him into your life or you don’t, at which point you are in the same place as any demon condemned to hell. It is your choice, just make sure that you make a choice before your life ends because there is no “do-over” or re-spawn like in a video game.

The choices end when you take your last breath, regardless of your age when that happens.

There is no punishment


It doesn’t matter what you do or how you live there is no punishment…at least that is what some spiritual leaders are telling their followers.

Whether you believe in a moral code or in God or Satan, the part about there being “no punishment” is a complete lie! If you want to believe that, go ahead and be my guest, but just as you can’t get away with breaking the law regardless of which country you live in there will be a day when you have to pay up in one way or another.

There are scientific methods which are used in the laboratory, research or medical, that can show all of the ways which a cell can be attacked by a virus or a bacterial organism and even these have laws and consequences. For instance, if the pH is off by a few hundredths of a percent, then some medicines won’t work. On the other hand, if the pH of a cell is off (toward the alkaline state) even a little, then cancer cells cannot grow, bacteria cannot reproduce, etc.

It is not something that the medical community wants you to know, because you can eat certain foods which will keep cancer cells from growing. This is not a “crack science” column, it is just a chemical fact that acid or alkaline environments won’t allow bacteria, viruses and cancer cells to continue to grow. Any variation from normal pH of 7.0 above or below will stop the run-away growth of bacteria or viruses or even cancer cells. This is a chemical law, and if you don’t believe it when you are sick ask them to check your body’s pH and you will see why.

The laws that we live by have, at their core, God’s law as a guide and model. Whether you like it or not doesn’t really matter, the moral law, the one that most people base their ideas of right and wrong on came from God. Many people call them “natural laws”, but since He established them it stands to reason that He brought these laws into being in the first place.

Then, there are people in our world today that don’t want anything to do with religion or God or any moral absolute and the rules and laws that go along with those beliefs. If you feel this way, then I am happy for you. I am glad to know that there is a perfect person that needs absolutely no help in any area of their life. If you can tell the rest of us how to do this, feel free to open up a blog or a store or something because I am sure that the whole world would buy what you have to sell.

The fact is that there are no perfect people! Nobody has the ability to do things perfectly all of the time or live their lives without any problems at all, no matter what your “claim” is! It doesn’t matter what religion you follow or even if you follow one at all, there is no person on Earth today that is or can claim to be perfect!

The only One that lived a sinless life, I did not say a perfect life, was Jesus. In appearance and the station of life that He lived in, Jesus would not have been considered perfect. He was and is the Son of God and as such He could do things which no other person could, but He came to the people of Israel first as a carpenter’s apprentice and then as a teacher. He was of the lineage of David and is the prophesied Messiah, yet at the time of His coming they did not receive Him. They will when He comes again. All who are drawn by God to become children through regeneration of their spirit in Christ will receive Him and see Him when He come in glory.

What is on your mind?


In the times that we live in today, many of us have so much on our minds until we can’t isolate exactly what is on our mind at any one time. Isn’t that strange? I have days like that even though I don’t work at a regular job anymore. How about you? Do you have days that have many things running into each other trying to get them done? You probably feel like you will run into yourself one day trying to finish everything, don’t you?

It is a day like that that this is dedicated to. For one thing, we all need to s–l–o–w d-o-w-n. Not only in our working lives, but at home as well. We tend to have so much for our family to do until we seem to forget that we are really, first and foremost, a family! If your workday ends on Friday, but you hardly have any time to spend with each other over the weekend, then it doesn’t really qualify as a “week-end” does it?

Even Jesus spent time with His friends and His disciples when all of the healings were finished and the bread was broken. He didn’t just walk away and not tell people that He didn’t have time for them. He created time so He could have as much as He needed. The problem was that He took the time to take the time with them, regardless of the amount of time that He had. Now, we can’t create time and He didn’t either while He was on Earth, but the point is that we need to control our time.

I know that time management is a course that is taught in college and it is usually found to be useless once you finish it, but your most important relationship here is your family and they should come first, behind God, but our jobs and obligations usually get in the way. But they don’t get in the way unless we allow it to happen, do they? I know, there are some obligations which come with our jobs, whatever they may be, that can’t be put on hold or put off until after the game or other family get together, but we should at least try to put family and Jesus first in our everyday lives.

Ask God to help because believe me, He can and will do it! Many of the reasons for people not seeing God at work in their lives is because they didn’t ask for His help in the first place! Then, after we do ask for His help we don’t or can’t wait for God to act! I have said it before and I am going to say it again because I have heard this advice from other Christians and other pastors as well: don’t ever ask God for patience! You will learn it, not get it, but you won’t enjoy the wait at all!

That being said, don’t hesitate to ask God for help in any area of your life. He is always there and always ready to help in His way and His time. Jesus is always there, waiting for people to call on Him to come into their lives and change them for the better, because when you become a Christian you are not the same as you were, you are forgiven and whole in Christ. You are not better than the person beside you, but you are forgiven which makes a difference! You are not sinless, yet you are forgiven through His blood and His sacrifice for you and everyone that you know! God sent Jesus to do this so that we could all come to Him through the atonement found only in Jesus. Come to Him and let Him show you how to order your life on a daily basis toward Him and His Word, to learn from Him one book at a time so that you can take it with you wherever you go.

Think about it during the next few weeks and give your life to Jesus. It is the most important and life changing decision that you will ever make!

Live, love and persue happiness


The life that we have been given and the love that has been shown to us through Jesus’ sacrifice for all of us, is a gift of immense proportions. Unfortunately, many people miss this gift and don’t realize just what they have been given until some trial comes along and shows them what they have and what they could’ve had. Also, we tend to miss it because we don’t want to believe any of this because of Who He is! Many people don’t want to know Jesus because Christianity and Jesus Himself said that He was and is the Son of God.

God is love and this is part of the message that Jesus brought to the world and to His disciples. But, we should be trying to live like Jesus did and love the way that He did and if we did that then happiness would follow. We also should be letting Jesus live through us so that others will see Him and not us, so that they will see the love of Jesus in our words and our deeds. That is the gift that we need to be giving to others during our time here.

It is true that during this time of year, we are looking for gifts from our family and friends, our boss, our wife or husband, our parents, but you have already been given the most valuable gift that could be given…that of the Christ, your Messiah, Jesus. He made the sacrifice that could not be done by anyone or anything other than the perfect Son of God. Why do people reject Him and His gift? Because they don’t believe in Him or in Who He is, plain and simple.

Most just think that He is a prophet or he was and he was crucified and died,  and that is it! Many don’t think that the story of His resurrection is true or that He is the Son of God, but He is! Jesus is the only Man of God that is almost always spoken of in the present tense, not in the past tense. “Why is that?” you might say; because He sits at the right hand of God right now! He is not dead, but alive and waiting for you to ask Him into your life. He will not force you to accept Him, neither will He ask you to kill someone who doesn’t accept Him. That is not His way.

He was born to a virgin, by the will and actions of God through the Holy Spirit to become the Son of Man Who is the Son of God. No contradiction exists in this and He is the only One that could fulfill all of the prophecies concerning Himself from the Old Testament, which He did at His birth, through His life and with His death on the cross and His resurrection! He fulfilled them all, no mere man, prophet or not, could accomplish that!

Give Jesus a chance in your life and in your heart. You won’t regret it and others will see Him through your actions as well and may turn their life over to Him because of the changes they see in you. Wouldn’t that be wonderful! To know that even one person came to Christ because of something that you said or did, although you may not even find it out until you get to Heaven, won’t that be a great blessing?

Think about it!

 

The Gift


Many people have tried and failed today,

Many have just turned and walked away.

Some could not care in the least, they

Are at home enjoying a feast!

Some only want what is yours and not their own,

It may be because their heart is a stone, but

When the day dawns and the Prince appears, then they will know

Why they see Him through tears.

They’ll know and they’ll cry because they know the reason,

Their tears are caused because they forgot Him during

This season.

They forgot or maybe didn’t want to remember,

The Babe who was likely born in September. Who

Came to be the deliverer of all, even though He came

When He was quite small.

His life didn’t last long but it was for many a reason,

Each one of us owes Him for our own reasons.

You see Christ came For you and for me, to give His life on an old

Rugged tree.

The reason is simple though understand it we cannot, because

He loves us all more than we ever could,

which is why He died on that old piece of wood.

But, He rose again and settled the debt on that day…a debt that none of us can ever repay.

Christmas, what is it to you?


This time of year is many things to many people. It is a time of hope, a time of joy and giving to others, a time of renewing friendships and relationships with people who are close to us. To some it is a time of worry and anxiety and being unsure of what to do or what to get someone special, it is a time of loss for some and a time of grief as well. Many people experience a very depressing time during this holiday season. In consideration of that, I have to ask “Why?”

I went through many years of depression and anger during this part of the year because of a divorce between my parents which seemed to coincide with this time of year. Then, about 18 years ago, my mother died on Christmas Eve. It wasn’t exactly unexpected because she had been sick for a long time, but it took me many years to get past the feelings which came during the holidays because of it. I am telling all of this to those of you who read here in order to ratify my ability to sympathize with the feelings which come during this time of year.

Yes, there are problems which we all have during this time of year. Bills, frustration, grief, heartache, anxiety, but there is also joy, happiness, kindness, love and acceptance between us and those that are around us. We can choose to be better human beings and be a blessing to those around us or we can act in such a way as to be labeled a “scrooge”, but it is our choice!

Can we choose to be better in our daily lives so that the holidays are more enjoyable? Yes, we can! It has to be a conscious choice though, not just a temporary or superficial show which is not real. Choose to be a better person and decide to work toward that goal, though many of us can’t accomplish this on our own. We have to be prepared to be changed from the inside out and that change is something which we cannot do on our own!

You can struggle all you want, trying to get free of sin, but all you’re going to do is sink deeper. Stop the struggle. Surrender to Christ, because you do not have what it takes to get out of sin unless someone gives you a way out. And that way out is Jesus. His name is wonderful. He is the mighty God, the everlasting Father, our Prince of peace. He is your salvation and the path to salvation, the only path that is available to each of us, yet it is our decision to accept this offer. Whether we accept it or not, Jesus is the only way to salvation and being free of the burden and bondage of sin.

Have you ever been down?


By that, I mean depressed, angry, upset with almost everyone about something that you can’t put your finger on? This is the kind of “down” that I have lived with most of my life. I never really talked about it with many people, not even my immediate family, but it has always been there. Like the monster in the closet or under the bed, never seen by anyone except the person that is scared of it, it haunts us in our minds and in our dreams when we are asleep.

That feeling of being down and not worthy of anything that the world might give you except despair is constant and it doesn’t go away. Christians get this way too. I feel it at least once a week, sometimes more, usually after a good sermon in which I delivered the words and tried to bring some feeling with those words. Yet, it was not received with any feeling by the congregation. I have no feedback as to the effectiveness of the sermon and it makes me feel hollow and empty, similar to someone talking to a wall.

The only solace that I have is to bring my voice here, that I might be heard by someone that will listen and give me some feedback. Then there is my prayer life and my study of God‘s Word which gives me hope because His prophets were hated, killed and despised by the very people that they were sent to, so I am thankful that I haven’t had any fruits thrown at me or anything that might cause bodily injury.

Many people think that, as Christians, we are immune to these sorts of problems when the very opposite is true. We see the world as no other group of people see it…through the eyes of prophecy and the Word of God. The news that we hear each day, is written in God’s Word. Maybe not word for word, but there are places in the history of God’s people that sound as if they were taken from today’s headlines. But, few people think that what we base our belief on is the truth. Today, many people call this book a work of fiction and fantasy. One day, when the sky’s roll up like a scroll and Jesus comes in the clouds, they will know that it is the Truth. I pray that it will not be too much longer.

It is true that being happy is a choice, but in today’s world it is hard to make the decision to be happy with so much happening in the world and so many people hurting in our world today. I hope that you can find some hope and encouragement in my posts here and in Jesus, because He is the answer to the questions that people are asking, many of them just don’t know it yet.

Many people try to mold their version of Jesus. To change Him into the savior that they want, and not accept the Savior that He is. This is something which our recent, within the past fifty years or so, Christian preaching has caused. We are responsible for making people think that He is only a personal Jesus. He is in truth, but He is so much more than that.  I think that is what causes us to feel down many times. We don’t give Him the credit and the position that He deserves in our life and in our ministry, whatever it may be.

Only through Him can we accomplish the calling that has been placed on us. He and the Holy Spirit are the Ones which accomplish the conviction and the transformation of souls into Christians, we only bring messages that point people in their direction. It is usually our own pride which causes us to make Jesus in our image instead of being transformed by Him. When we can get out of His way and let Him do His work through us and through the words which He gives us, then we will see the changes and the results that come from being “little Christs” like Christians are supposed to be.

Are you a slave?


I read the book, “12 years a slave”, over the weekend and I never learned this in high school or college history. Any of it! Oh, I had heard that things were really bad in some areas of the South but I didn’t know how bad that it really was. Yes, I am a white man but as far as I know none of my ancestors owned a slave, at least as far back as the Civil War era. For all of those who had family and friends, and I know that there are many of you, who either owned slaves or were slaves in the past that history has been acknowledged and it was dealt with in our past. It is true that the hatred and feelings still bubble up to the surface from time to time, but it shouldn’t make that much difference in our personal relationships today.

That being said, there are many who are still in slavery today. It is well hidden because the media doesn’t report it, but it is there. Children and young people, boys and girls, are captured or coerced into going with someone that doesn’t have their best interests at heart at all. They are sold as sex slaves or as servants in some capacity all over the world, but many are right here in America. Slavery has not gone away, it is hidden behind locked fences and gates, inside mansions or in brothels overseas. Their living conditions are usually very close to starving or they are addicted to drugs to keep them where they are.

Are you still a slave today? Do you know anyone who is? I know that there aren’t any plantations that have slaves today, but do you feel like you are a slave to your job, or to the government? Are you in debt so much that you are a slave to it and have to work, making the money to pay it off? What about cigarettes or alcohol or gambling, anything that can make you addicted to it can be a “master” to you? So, in many ways today, there are lots of people who are enslaved to something!

What can be done about it? Well, as far as the kids that are enslaved, it is not easy. There are groups which are trying to rescue them as well as stop those who are the perpetrators of these crimes. But since these are hidden from plain sight, without money and some help from eye witnesses, the proof is hard to come by. As for the others types of slavery, they are personal masters that can be overcome only with your will-power and by prayer. God Himself can give you the will and the power to overcome them, if you will acknowledge Him for His help and ask Him to help you. Many people know that they need Him, but they are too proud to admit it. The problem with this is that God and Jesus have made it very easy for you to ask and receive their presence in your life, so why don’t more people do this?

The slaves who knew about Jesus did quite a bit of praying and asking for His presence, so why don’t we do this today? He loves you and cares about your life, especially your eternal life in Him, which you will have if you have given your life to Him. If you have not asked Jesus into your heart, what are you waiting for? We have today, each one of us, but what about tomorrow? You and I are not guaranteed tomorrow, your life may be required of you tonight or in the morning, so what will the answer be? Jesus is the answer to your life’s needs. He doesn’t provide you with money or drugs or anything that this world recognizes as “necessary”, but He does provide you with the only path to salvation which will provide you with eternal life. And that is worth more than anything that this world can offer!

What kind of message have you heard?


Many churches teach a gospel that doesn’t conform to the one preached in the early years of the church. In fact, their message is so different that you would think that it is an entirely different gospel altogether. One that doesn’t even teach that you must be convicted before you can be set free. How can you be set free from something that you don’t even realize that you are guilty of? When the clergy began teaching and preaching “positive thinking” and prosperity gospels, the church began to slide down a slope that it wasn’t meant to be on at all.

Jesus did not teach or preach about prosperity or positive thinking, He taught that we are all sinners saved by the grace of God, period. There is no way of thinking your way into Heaven, your own opinion of yourself or of others should be the same as God’s but your opinion and the work that you do here don’t get you into Heaven! Belief in and an intimate walk with Christ daily are the paths that will take you to Heaven’s gate. The first is a strict requirement, belief in Christ and His death which paid the debt for your sins. The second, an intimate walk with Jesus daily, is essential to your growth and maturity in your faith. Your walk and intimacy with Jesus is not necessary for you to get into Heaven, but it may have an effect on those around you that may need what you have, a relationship with Jesus.

The message being taught and preached in many churches has changed over the centuries, some changes were good some, not so much. The best that we can do today is to bring the gospel to those who are hurting, even if they don’t think that they need it. We may have to get in their faces with the fact that God loves them, but He doesn’t like what they are doing. Whether it is their lifestyle or the drugs or alcohol or whatever it may be that they are using, if their heart doesn’t belong to Him then they are on the wrong path and may not even know it!

It is our job, whether you may be a pastor or a member of a church or a believer who hasn’t found a church, to tell others of the grace and goodness of Jesus. He is the only One who can heal the hurt, the pain, the agony of their lives. He is the cure for their heartaches when life throws them a curve ball, He can strengthen you in ways that you can’t and He will! All that you have to do is accept Him as your Savior and believe in His grace for you, all of the other things will come in time.

In our instant society mindset, we have a problem with the idea of waiting for God to get around to taking care of things, but in order to be an effective follower of Jesus we have to learn to be more patient because He can see things which we can’t. We have “microwave mentalities” because of the stuff that most of us grew up with or grew into as we got older. If something isn’t done now, or at the latest by tomorrow, we don’t want to wait. So, we take the problem back from God and tell Him that we can do it better and faster. The problem is that He lets us do it and He knows what will happen because we didn’t let Him take care of it. We will grow through it, but we may not like it! This is something which I am struggling with now, because I want my problems, financial and otherwise, fixed today not next week or next month or even next year. I struggle with patience or the lack of it, waiting for Him and learning His ways is not easy but it is necessary to your Christian life and mine.

The mind is a terrible thing to…..


I know that you have heard or possibly seen the commercial that went along with that opening or ending, but what about all of the other times that your mind becomes more or sometimes less than it should be. Many times it is because of different issues that we have to go through every day such as the stress of commuting, the bills, school, tuition, etc. This is just the stuff that people go through that have a job to go to every day. What about those of us who are disabled? We live on far less than most do, but the bills and the phone calls don’t go away. We just have to pay the ones that we can, and skip the ones that we can’t pay. Like it or not, the bill collectors will just have to get in line and if or when the money is there, they might be paid if something else doesn’t come up.

We all live in stressful times, regardless of your income level. Stress, like death and taxes, is not a respecter of persons. It comes to us all in one form or another. So, how do you deal with your stressful situations in your life? Jesus dealt with them too and did so without sin by relying on God‘s strength and His provision for Him. Here is a quote from the Word which might make it a bit plainer than this:

“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8)

Jesus came humbly and willingly so that we would have access to God’s strength any day and every day that we need Him and truly, we need Him daily. Those of us who deal with depression and loneliness, fear and uncertainty, whether it is clinical or temporary, it is real. Sometimes it is only for a day or two, but sometimes it hangs around for weeks in the background, waiting to bring you to your knees and put you in the bed. Such is the way of this state of mind.

So, how can we defeat it? Well, giving your life and your heart to Jesus is the best way that I know of. I don’t mean that depression will never bother you again if you are a Christian, because it will, but through prayer and studying the Word of God you will have enough strength from God to make it through those times. You are loved by the Creator of the universe and He will not allow you to go through anything without His strength and His presence in your life, if you have allowed Him into your heart.

For those who may not have asked Him into their lives, you don’t have much to fall back on except your own strength and many times, that is NOT enough! I have lived through times without Christ and I would not want to do it in today’s environment. So many people are in need of assurance regarding the future, their future.

Do you know that you have a future? Truly, God did not create mankind for only the life that we have here. He gave us a soul that is eternal and whether you believe in eternity or not doesn’t have any effect on whether it is real or not. Jesus talked about it, and it is mentioned all over the Word, but especially in the New Testament. Give Jesus a chance in your life because the strength and the compassion that you get from a relationship with Him is more than you can get from anyone or anything else.