Tag: God loves you

The plans of Satan


I’m reading “The Third Heaven: The Birth of God” by Donovan Neal, Natalie Davis and wanted to share this quote with you.

This quote below is from a speech which Lucifer/Satan was giving to his followers, his fallen angels, regarding how they were to interact with humanity. His plan seems to have worked very well considering how our world is today, don’t you think?

“Follow the pattern that I have set, and make the male dominate the female, set young against old and use their hues and shade of skin to divide them. Raise up among them great ones, and those of low estate plant greed and envy in their ranks. Sow fear and distrust amongst them, that they never see unity of worship to El”

In our world today, there is no “unity of worship” toward God or almost any other religion. We are fractured and broken to a point of disagreement which staggers the imagination. Many divisions in the church such that there are approximately 38,000 denominations worldwide. How is this unity of worship, even though almost all of these are Christian churches? We split on disagreements between friends, deacons and the pastor and many other things it seems, sometimes we split over trivial things.

The church which started on the day of Pentecost, is not the church that we have today. Most congregations are more interested, it seems, in the number of people listed as members and the attendance on Sundays, as well as the amount given in the offering plates, than they are in serving the Lord and becoming more like Jesus!

To give you a bit of accuracy and credentials to back this up, here is a definition which will clear things up a bit:

“Denominations. A denomination is defined in this Encyclopedia as an organized aggregate of worship centers or congregations of similar ecclesiastical tradition within a specific country; i.e. as an organized Christian church or tradition or religious group or community of believers, within a specific country, whose component congregations and members are called by the same denominational name in different areas, regarding themselves as one autonomous Christian church distinct from other denominations, churches and traditions. As defined here, world Christianity consists of 6 major ecclesiastico-cultural blocs, divided into 300 major ecclesiastical traditions, composed of over 33,000 distinct denominations in 238 countries, these denominations themselves being composed of over 3,400,000 worship centers, churches or congregations.” (Barrett et al, volume 1, page 16, Table 1-5, emphasis added)   (http://www.philvaz.com/apologetics/a106.htm)

The church which began soon after the resurrection of Jesus, has splintered into so many pieces which have many differing views and rules and orders of worship, until it seems that it is no longer a unified body of believers at all. While it is true that most of them worship God and Jesus as His Son, some have a different viewpoint regarding exactly Who they are.

Some don’t believe in the virgin birth of Jesus, some teach that parts of the Bible, God’s Holy Inspired Word, are wrong or that it doesn’t apply to the “modern church”.

God doesn’t change and His Word is true today just as it was at the time that He inspired the writers to write it down. There are no parts of it which are wrong, unless you just don’t want to believe it because it offends you or someone you love. God’s Word is true because God doesn’t change and He gave the words to those who wrote it down, so why is it that people don’t want to believe it? Because, we don’t want to learn the rules or learn about God.

Many don’t want to become a Christian because they believe that the rules will keep them from enjoying their life. Why do you believe this? The rules in the Old Testament about food and the sacrifices needed don’t apply to us today! The Ten Commandments will condemn you because all of us have broken one or two or more of them and they do still carry the same punishment that they did when they were given.

If you won’t give your life to Jesus and ask Him to come into your life and change your heart into His, why not? Have you felt a hollow feeling in your life and have never been able to fill it with the things of this world? The reason is because that empty place is made for Jesus to fill and nothing else. All of us have felt that place inside us which we know is empty and we feel like something should be there, but we don’t know what. Some of us go for many years without finding out what fits in that place…well now you know. The Holy Spirit of God fits in there and He only comes when you ask Jesus to come in and cleanse you, making you whole and a part of God’s family.

Do you question?


There are many, many people today who have questions about a great many things. So, do you ever question God?

I would imagine that many of us have, although hopefully not in a disrespectful way. Some people have angrily questioned Him in times of trouble wondering why He didn’t save them from what they are in. Questioning God is something which has been done for many hundreds of years if not thousands, but the best way to do it is by asking a simple question. One like, “God, will you save me and cleanse my heart? Make me a new creation so that I can be in your family. Amen.”

If we believe that God is Who He says in the Bible, then that question is settled already if you have sought Him out and asked Him to be your Savior. Questions are good things for the most part because they help us to learn things. Questioning authority by rebelling against it or protesting against it is wrong.

I don’t mean that we should be like sheep and follow our leaders without knowing them and where they are going, but learn about them and know who you are following. Don’t follow anyone who is untrustworthy or someone who is like a wind-tossed wave which goes one way and then another. If you aren’t sure of them and you feel in your heart that something isn’t quite right, then find another preacher, teacher or leader.

Questions are good for learning things and for teaching, but when you use questions as a way to incite violence or stir up trouble then you are following in some dangerous paths. These paths have been trod by demons and Satan himself who questioned God’s motives and His love for us and for the angels. God loves us all. He even loves Lucifer/Satan but his rebellion toward and hatred for God and His rule, especially when Satan said that he would exalt himself above the stars of God, that is what God will not tolerate. It is the sin of pride which brought Satan to his estate that he has now and it is pride which infects all of mankind.

We are as guilty of having more than our share of pride in our lives as he was. Some people even think of themselves as gods, although I don’t think they could create something from nothing as our God did. He loves you and me and all we need to do is seek Him, learn His ways from the Word and believe that His Grace has saved us because of Jesus’ sacrifice for us. There is nothing that we can do to help God to make us better, just believe in Jesus and ask His forgiveness for your own pride and your life before you knew Him.

All of Heaven will rejoice when you come into the family, especially God Himself.

Amen.

Barriers, division and fences


In life today, everywhere, we have these. Sometimes they are based on politics, sometimes it is because of religion and sometimes it is because of the boundaries between people and countries. Is there anything that we can do to fix this? One thing which we can do is to stop blaming other people for our problems, regardless of what those problems are.

If the problems are personal, then the problems are yours to handle. That is harsh isn’t it? Not really because the problems may be your problems alone, but you know Jesus is available to help you in all things. Regardless of the size of the problem, like lost keys or shoes or not enough money to pay bills, God is able to help. All you need to do is give your life to Him and ask Him for help in whatever area it might be.

Racial divisions, religious divisions, political divisions are another matter. Yes, God is available to help in all of these areas and He can, but only when you ask. He doesn’t force His way into your life to fix things, He doesn’t force you to live a certain way or be from a certain area or people or “race”.

God loves you and me and everyone else in the world, but He doesn’t love the lifestyles or the sin that we have all done in our lives at one point or another. It may be drugs or sex or murder (Jesus said if you hate your brother, it is the same as murder 1 John 3:15)

We are all sinners even if you have given your heart to Jesus, we are just forgiven because of His atoning sacrifice for us. He did not do this just for a few people, selected or elected or otherwise, He came and went to the cross for all of us! The only requirement is that we believe that He did it and that we ask Him to cleanse us and make our life…be like His. That doesn’t mean that everyone who belongs to Him must be a minister or a deacon or a missionary.

We just need to strive (work toward) being more like Him from the point of giving our life to Him until we stand before Him at our judgement. Ooops, did I say that? Yes, each of us, forgiven or not, will stand before Him in judgement one day. Those who are His will be judged by our work for His Kingdom, those who have not given their life to Him will be judged for their life and for not accepting God’s gift of salvation through Jesus.

There is just a thin line which each separates those who have accepted His gift and His love and those who have not. Because you either accept Jesus as your Savior or you don’t, there is no middle ground, no gray area where you are a Christian sometimes. There is no part of being a Christian where you turn your back on Christ and never come back. Yes, you may still belong to Him IF it was real to begin with, but if it was and you go back to your old life and back into a sinful life, then your reward in Heaven will be affected.

Inner strength and beauty


Have you noticed that people who stay together the longest have these two in spades! Inner strength comes from your character and that is truly based upon your beliefs, whatever they might be. Strength on the inside is the kind which comes from outside yourself, it is not physical but spiritual and it is in contrast to your beliefs and your faith in that which gives you strength.

Is your faith in a “man-made” religion or god? If it is then your faith is in something which cannot last. We have many religions which are manufactured by man, although some of them seem to be based on the Word of God. Many people have taken a few phrases or verses from one chapter of the Bible and created an entire doctrine around it. It may not be what Jesus taught or even based on anything which He said, but it sounds good and it can be said to “be based on God’s Word” even if it is only based on one or two verses.

Man-made religions are not the same, even though to the outside world they appear to be the same. If you get enough people to follow your teaching and they like the message enough, then they will back you when it comes time to build a larger church. Sometimes, a sermon or a theology which is based on or around the words and teachings found in the New Testament is not very popular. Because…it is based upon the Truth of God’s Word! There will likely be fewer people who like your message, but those who do are committed to learning about Him.

Inner beauty is found in people whose character is shaped by their belief in God and Jesus Christ. Yes, there are some who are beautiful regardless of the religion which they follow or even if they follow any religion at all, but they are few in number. I am not speaking here of outer beauty, but the kind that is inside a person. Outer beauty comes from your parents but it doesn’t really last because as we grow older, out face will change and our body changes. We don’t look as “beautiful” or as “handsome” as we may have when we were younger. Beauty is fleeting and it is only skin deep as far as your outer beauty is concerned.

Inner strength comes from our faith in something or Someone greater than ourselves, like Jesus. The martyrs from the past, who were killed in horrendous ways like burning or being gored by bulls or ripped apart by lions, faced their deaths with dignity and strength that they drew from knowing that they belonged to Jesus! Nothing could separate them from Him because if they died, regardless of the manner of their death, they would be with Him!

Today, we all need strength from God more than we do anything else. Because of the persecution and the negative things which are said of Christians these days. In the next decade, it will likely get much worse than it is now and it is not something which your children are prepared for. We aren’t prepared for it! But…its coming. Lean on Jesus and learn about Him from the Bible, even if it is outlawed to possess a Bible, keep one hidden somewhere that you can read. Make sure that you have a place to go that is safe, if possible, because we are coming to a time when unrest is going to be everywhere.

Problems….


We all have them, so what can we do about it? We can’t do anything about our physical problems or our emotional problems or even for most of our everyday problems. But, God can take care of them all!

john317

He came to us because of the love of God for us. We can’t explain it, we don’t understand it, but we are His children and He loves each of us far more than we can know.

I just wanted to let you all know that, so you will seek Him out in God’s Word or in a Bible teaching church. Please, look for His love because He is looking for you.

Praisethelord

Times are changing


What can we do? Not much really, except pray and turn our hearts back to God. Our world, this nation, and every nation on Earth needs to turn toward the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Why should we do this? Because we have pushed Him out of our lives! We have taken prayer and Bible reading out of our schools and we are reaping the consequences of that decision.

Some people may not notice that this is happening, but if you ask anyone who grew up in the sixties and seventies they can tell you that our world is definitely NOT the same anymore. So many problems, so much anger and violence, so many wars and things which are happening all over the world. These we see and hear about on the news programs or on the Internet on a daily basis and they change our perception of people in our world.

We look at people in a different light. We think about them in ways which are wrong, because we are allowing outside influences, like the news, change our perception. God knows each of them and you. He doesn’t change His ways and we should try to be more like Him. No, we will never be perfect in this life but we should strive toward that goal through Him and by knowing Him.

Why am I saying this? Because…the world is the way it is today simply because we are coming to the end of the church age or the age of God’s grace. He hasn’t given up on us, but His plans are in motion to bring about His purposes in the world. Many people can’t seem to believe that this is where we are today, but if you have read the Bible and the prophecies concerning the end of the age, then most of it makes at least some sense.

No, we can’t understand His ways or why things are happening the way that they are, because they seem so wrong to our way of thinking. But, God sees the picture outside of our time and space and He knows what is going on and how it will work out. This is the message to all who read this post: God has it all in His hands and His ways are better and more perfect than ours because He can see the outcome before the beginning.

Seek Him and trust in Him in all of your life’s journeys, no matter how small or big they might seem to you…because God is bigger than your problems! It might not seem so right now, but He is!

Is there a way out?


I have heard people on Facebook and in church or in other public places ask this question and it makes me wonder, why do you need a way out of life? Life is given for us to live and work in it and through it. Not only for God’s purpose but for our own enjoyment.

I know that many people don’t really enjoy their life or the work that comes with it. Sometimes it is hard on your body and your spirit to have to make it through just one more day. Friend, it is not easy to live with pain and illness whether you are working or  not! My arthritis is painful, whether I am in the bed, in a chair (like I am typing this out), or anywhere else. I have constant dizziness from inner ear trouble, so I have to be careful how I walk, but that doesn’t keep me from going or doing things when I can.

I am not being a complainer here, I am just telling those of you who will read this a little something about me. I would love to get up without pain or to put my clothes on without almost falling to the floor, but it is what I have to live with every hour of every day. God gives me the strength to get through it all and not complain, even when it hurts. Most people don’t even see what could be wrong with me, but I know it’s there and I know that He is with me too.

We don’t need a way out of life, we need to embrace the Author of Life! Our Creator and our Savior is that and so much more! He can be a healer and a comforter to you as well as your Savior, just as He was to so many when He came. God loves us and He is not the cause of your pain, Satan does that. But, because of some teachers and preachers who say that we are in trials because God is working some of our kinks out, we tend to blame God for our ills.

He allows us to go through trials and things which will make us stronger and more effective as Christians, to be more like Jesus, but He is not the cause of those trials. He allows Satan to be that cause, and Satan thinks that he is hurting us, like he did with Job. But, God allowed that trial to prove that Job was a better man and one with more faith than Satan thought. It is the same with us. As long as we keep our faith trained on Jesus like the scope on a gun, then we will come out victorious and stronger because of that trial.

So much pain…


There are many people who live with pain in our world today. Some of it is because of disease of one kind or another. Some of it is due to the loss of a loved one, but we all have pain in our lives at some point. Pain is your body’s way of telling you that something is just not right. Then it is your job to find out where the pain originates and if there is a way to lessen the pain or cure the cause of it.

Spiritually, pain comes into our lives through the loss of someone or by God’s Holy Spirit making us aware that we need Him. Grief is painful, sometimes it is terribly painful to the point of making us feel sick and without hope. When that happens, we need to turn to God’s Word and seek Him and the comfort that He gives to us. HE is the only cure for pain that deep. Other so-called “fixes” do nothing but put a mask over the pain or dull it for a while, and when it returns it may be worse than it was before.

Pain, physical and mental or spiritual, is something that we all experience but God gives us the strength to get through it and come out stronger. Seek out Jesus and His strength so that you can be strong enough to stand in the presence of God and not be ashamed of your life. He is righteous and Holy and we cannot stand in His presence without the Blood of Jesus covering our sins.

God loves each of us because we are His creation, and He doesn’t wish for any of us to be in torment in hell. Which is why He provided the grace and the payment for our sins through Jesus’ sacrifice. All that we have to do is believe in Him and His atonement for us and we will be saved. Not belief like from reading it from a book or just hearing it from someone, but a firm belief like a child knowing that his father will catch him when he jumps. Book knowledge and hearsay don’t work by themselves, it has to be backed up with real faith.

Pain is something which gets our attention, but faith knows that it is only temporary. Put your faith in Jesus and all of your problems will fade with His grace and mercy. Because, He will give you the strength and the ability to make it through all of those problems.

How do you live?


Are you a Christian? Do you believe in Jesus’ atonement for your life? Have you walked with Jesus or did you just get baptized and go on with your life?

Do you deny that Jesus is real? Do you believe that He was “just a prophet”?

If you believe and you accept Him as your Savior, then the first sentence should apply to your life, but are you living your life according to His will for you? It is a question that needs to be answered by all of us. Have you “given your life to Him”, but then walked away from the church and never went back? You are denying Him.

If, on the other hand, you fall into the group of people who don’t believe in God or Jesus at all, then who do you believe in? Yourself? Satan or Allah? Mohammed? Can you change the color of your skin or your hair by thinking about it? Of course not, you and I are not going to be gods and we can’t do anything like God can.

Has Satan appeared to you in a robe of white with wings so bright you couldn’t see? He can you know. Mohammed is dead and he isn’t coming back until God raises him up one day to pay for what he did in his life.

Satan can appear as an angel of light and he can tell you that he is Gabriel if he chooses to, but that doesn’t make it the truth. Mankind is easily deceived and especially when it comes to the master of lies who has had many thousands of years to perfect his deception. One day there will be a man who will appear to be our savior and he will be able to do things that will look miraculous, like Jesus did, but he will be a false savior. Many people will be taken in by him and his words and power that he shows, but he is not the Son of God.

All of those words that I wrote in the past couple of sentences are foretold in Daniel and in the book of Revelation. It is God’s Word and it is True. It will come to pass. I don’t know when, but with all that is happening around the world I would bet that it won’t be much more than a decade or so away. I could be wrong, of course. The point that I am trying to make is that when this person shows up and everyone seems to think he is so wonderful, that should cause a bell to go off in your mind. Remember what you may have heard or read in the Bible or in Sunday school.

Don’t just follow someone blindly because they seem to be more than they are! Many false “Christs” have appeared in the past, but they all died. Many things are going to happen in the near future which will cause many people in the church to leave their faith behind. When all of this begins, take notice and get a Bible and read it. If you have lived a life which wouldn’t have been acceptable to Jesus, then you should repent and ask for His forgiveness.

Why? Because if you see all of these things happening then the end is getting very near. When the peace treaty between Israel and all of her enemies is signed and the Temple begins to be built, take note of who is brokering that deal. All of these must happen before Jesus comes to get the elect, His church, His Bride. Make sure that you are part of that number. In the picture there are many promises for His elect, if you have repented of your sins and given your heart to Him and asked for His forgiveness.

Satan is happy today!


Satan is happy with the church right now.

“….Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:.”  Matthew 28:19

Do you understand why all of the problems are in the world today? It is because of ___________.

Really? The church has had two thousand years to make disciples of ALL nations and what have we done? Not much. Yes, there have been millions of people who have accepted Jesus as their Savior because of Billy Graham and other evangelists over the years. But…look at the population of the world. How many of them are Christians or part of a religion which claims Jesus as their Savior? 2.5 billion give or take a few hundred thousand. The population of the world is around seven billion right now and all we have reached in two thousand years is less than half??

On the day of Pentecost, when the disciples received the Holy Spirit, when Peter preached there were 5000 added to their number! That was just one sermon! The blank above referring to the reason for all of the world’s problems has nothing to do with Christianity, although some are blaming us for them. Satan and his followers, those demons that Jesus cast out and his human followers today, are partly to blame for the problems of the world.

Why is Satan happy with the way the world is today and the church in particular? It is because we aren’t doing what Jesus told us to do. Yes, I know we are sending missionaries all over the world and we have programs and Internet sites which tell people about Jesus and how to know Him. But, we just began that in the last twenty or twenty-five years or so! What happened to the last 1975 years that the church has had to work on this?

I don’t mean that the church could’ve added as many as Peter did in that one day, every day since then but if we had gone, if we had put our feet into the streets and the paths around the world every day since then….? Don’t you think that we would have more people who attend church and follow Jesus if we had done this? I mean, if we had witnessed to one or two people every day since we became a Christian and then invited them to church, doesn’t it begin to add up when you do that?

1+1=2 …then 2+2=4, then 4+1=5, then 5+2=7, then 7+2=9…that is linear progression that is staggered a bit by our own design; but what if those numbers doubled EVERY time? 1, then 2, then 4, then 8, then 16, then 32, then 64, then 128, then 256, then 512, then 1024, then 2048, then 4096……! That is geometric growth or getting into algebra (x squared).

What happened to our numbers? Why isn’t the church growing like this?

Because our enemy and the enemy of God, Satan, is at work in the world today. People give many excuses for not coming to church, for not telling others what they believe and for not being a true disciple of Jesus and all of these are encouraged by Satan and his demons. You can decide to believe this if you wish or don’t believe it, but if Jesus was having to deal with their influence 2000 years ago, then they are certainly at work today.

You can hear about the evil and their influence in the world on the news every day and all of that which is happening is likely caused by or influenced by Satan and his followers. It will get worse because he knows that his time is growing very short. He has had more than twenty centuries to become very good at deception so much so that he can influence the churches and their leaders to not follow the example set by Jesus and His disciples. Many of them think that they are doing God’s work and they are following the ideas placed in their heads by Satan himself, but he uses scripture to make it seem like the idea is from God.

He was there when all of the Bible was written so he knows scripture better than any of us and he can use it against you any time he wishes. So, is he happy with the church today? Yes, he is. There aren’t very many true, Bible-believing and teaching churches today. Sure, there are pastors who preach every week and they read scripture and teach about it. But, are they teaching God’s vision for His church or are they teaching their own version of the words that they read? Do they teach it from its context or do they choose one verse and preach on that without the verses before or after it?

Taken out of context, any verse can say or be taught to mean anything to anyone!

The scripture which I started with could mean anything if taught wrongly. Let us read the entirety of that chapter and see what was written there:

Matthew 28 King James Version (KJV)

28 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.

3 His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:

4 And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.

5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.

6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.

8 And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.

9 And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.

10 Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.

11 Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done.

12 And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers,

13 Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.

14 And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him, and secure you.

15 So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.

16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.

17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

We are told to do this because we belong to Him, if we have given our hearts to Jesus. If you haven’t, then you don’t belong to Him nor He to you! God loves you and has provided a way to salvation through Jesus and belief in Him so that you can have eternity after this life! With such a good and wonderful gift to you, why wouldn’t you tell others that they could have the same? He didn’t die for one person but for the whole world and He expected us to go and tell others about His gift. Examine your life and your heart and question whether you really belong to Him. If you believe that you do, then you are saved as far as I can see because only God knows the condition of our hearts. If you are not sure, then you may want to seek Him earnestly and fervently so that you can know…for sure.

Amen.