Tag: Holy Spirit

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 do you want someone to remember?


It is an easy question and it is a hard one to answer. So, what do you want someone to remember about you or about something that you did?

Many people today seem to want to be as anonymous as possible so that nobody remembers them or what they have done. Then, of course, there are some who truly want people to know who they are and what they have done in their lives. Then…there are the rest of us. Those who want to be remembered for their life or maybe something that they said or did during their life. Hopefully, you will have met them during a good time in their life, when things are going really well and their lives are just clicking along like they should.

Unfortunately, most of us don’t have days or weeks like this. At least, not enough for someone to notice and they usually don’t until your life changes and something happens to you or someone in your family. Even then many people today don’t really care for their fellow-man, woman or children. We have become so de-sensitized to violence and accustomed to the distance between us, whether it is a few feet or miles, until we text and tweet to each other even in the same household or at the table.

Is that what you want people to remember about you? That you always had your head buried in the screen of your phone and you rarely looked up to notice life around you? I have seen many people in videos doing exactly that on streets and in the city but it also seems to happen in family gatherings and at church. Being distracted to the point of not seeing or hearing what is going on around you is dangerous. Not only to you but for your future as well.

What will people remember about me? Not much, I’m afraid. Growing up I was angry most of the time and a loner because of my parent’s divorce, but that was over forty years ago and I am over it now. My parents are dead and the memories that I have are just the good ones now. Today is the only time that we have that is available to us, so we should make it a good one. Tell those that you love how you feel and make sure they know it. Help someone if you are able to, get involved in a volunteer effort for someone.

Your life here will be remembered for only a little while by those who don’t know you well. Sometimes, even then you won’t be remembered for long unless you did something that got people to notice. In our society today you get noticed by the bad things that you do, but people rarely see or hear about the good that gets done behind the scenes.

God loves you and He wants the best for you. You may not get the best in this life, but if you follow Him and do the best that you can at being a follower of Jesus then your reward will be far above anything you could have here! Confess your sin to Jesus and ask Him to come into your life and cleanse you of the mess that you made. Ask Him to guide you into a new life that will be worthy of His Love so that you can reflect Him into other people’s lives so they will want to know Him.

Here is the basis for a sinner to receive Jesus into their heart:

Romans 10:9-10: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Simply it could be summed up in a prayer like this:

Dear Lord, I have been messed up in my life. Please forgive me and help me to bring You and your story to others. Come into my heart, Lord, and make me a student and a teacher for your Kingdom. Thank you for your sacrifice for me and my sins. Amen.

Think about it.

Lucifer…bored?


Lucifer…Bored!?

How in the world could anyone conceive of such a thing? He is in charge of Hades or Hell, whichever you want to call it, and the torment of all of the souls who are there. He has at least two-thirds of the world worshiping him in one form or another and is tormenting others, through disease and war, rape and murder. Why in the world would anyone think that he is bored? Contrary to the belief that many have today, he is not in hell yet. He is roaming around on Earth with us!

Granted, there are millions of demons and spirits to do the tormenting for him in most cases, but someone has to oversee them. He has been busy at this since that moment in the Garden almost six thousand years ago and he was starting a war in Heaven long before that. Bored? He is probably laughing at the idea, but I am sure he is encouraging those in Hollywood and Washington, DC in all of their endeavors.

Lucifer or Satan, as he is known now, has plenty to do. He keeps many preachers and churches going in the world. He likely attends services more regularly than many people who claim to be Christians. Our world is messed up and it is due to his influence and our gullibility in following his lead. Life, every day life, is his playground because he has so many people in the world fooled or so sick until they can’t see straight. How could he possibly be bored! He has all of humanity in his grasp and he tries to deceive the churches and Christians in those churches into believing that either he doesn’t exist or that he can’t harm me because I belong to Christ. What foolish nonsense!

Christians are his targets of choice because if he can make you stumble or fall into a sin, no matter what it may be, then he can destroy your witness. If he can do it so that your child or a friend sees it, and decides that your “belief” is not real then he can stop them from becoming a Christian. Which is exactly what he wants. Satan will lead as many CINO (Christians In Name Only) into hell as he can and he will lead their families too. You can claim the name of Christ, get all emotional and even be baptized but if it isn’t real all the way down to your heart and soul, then you are NOT a Christian!

That is Satan’s job right now but deception has always been his job and he has had thousands of years to perfect his craft. His demons have also had many years to perfect their form of deception and thievery. Why do I call it thievery? Because they steal your health, your children, your job, your home and everything that means anything to you…especially your marriage. These things happen all the time and it is not just because of man’s gullibility it is because of these spiritual forces, demons, powers, they are called by many names in the Bible. Suffice it to say that we are subject to their ways and to their temptations.

How can we defeat them? Through the power of Jesus Christ in your life! That’s how. Not an emotional feeling at a revival but a true broken heart knowing that you are a sinner and the only way to salvation is through confession of that sin and by giving your life and your heart to Jesus. You don’t have to confess every lie, every stolen pen or pencil because we have all done that. The sin that needs confession is that you have lived your life without Jesus in it and now you know that you need Him. You have come to realize that there is no way that you are good enough to be allowed into Heaven without Him! This is the only way…the only path which leads you to an eternity with Him.

If you cannot believe this or will not believe it, then you tell God why you refused His Son’s sacrifice on the cross, why you believe that you are worthy without His Blood covering your life. I have given you what can save you and Who, Jesus Christ. All that you have to do is ask Him to save you and cleanse your heart and your life because you believe in His sacrifice for your sins. That is all that the thief on the cross could do and Jesus said that he would be with Him in Paradise. No baptism, no works, no church service…just belief in Jesus and Who He is.

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.

The Sinner’s Prayer


sinnersprayerI 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!

Freedom of choice


It is what God gave to all of us who have it, angels and mankind, and we must use it for the right reasons. Not to choose to be evil or sinful or a killer, but to make a choice to be a follower of Christ! It is by God’s grace that we have our being in this world and to reject His gift of life and the atonement of His Son’s death on the cross is the truly unforgivable sin.

Why many people choose to do this and think that they can live their lives without Him in a world full of sin and death and corruption is something that I will never understand. Yes, I was a sinner once and I still consider myself a sinner saved by His grace. I remember going out and partying and getting drunk as a teenager, I also remember that the results of that behavior usually weren’t very enjoyable the next day either.

Even after I thought that I had become a Christian, I still fell in with the wrong crowd and went down the wrong path for a long time. It wasn’t until I became a father that I realized that if I wanted my son to grow up to know Jesus, then I was going to have to be a true follower of Jesus so that he could see me doing it. I began to seek Him out in the Bible and learn of Him more and when I did that I finally “got it” and realized that the voice which had been there all along, was His.

I had ignored it for a long time, but I remembered it being there telling me things weren’t right. I had just thought that it was my own conscience or my own thoughts, I didn’t recognize it as the Spirit speaking to me until I got to know Him better. We have the freedom to choose, even after we become Christians, but we should choose to follow Christ every day. That is the part about “pick up your cross and follow me” that Jesus was talking about.

If this were true in his time….


“In many churches Christianity has been watered down until the solution is so weak that if it were poison it would not hurt anyone, and if it were medicine it would not cure anyone.”  A.W. Tozer (April 21, 1897 – May 12, 1963)

During his lifetime, Rev.Tozer saw a many things, two world wars, famine, the Great Depression and at the end of his life a human satellite was placed in orbit around the Earth. That is a lot to take in during a lifetime, but I wonder what he would think of us now. There has been so much that has happened since his death until the culture that was present then has nothing in common with the one that is present here, today.

Since 1963 there have been so many events which have happened in America until it would take hours if not days to catalog all of them. So much has happened in our culture since that time until I believe that he would think there are no churches left in America anymore. We have watered down the message of Jesus Christ so much that what is preached today, even though it comes from the Bible, very few people pay any attention to it at all.

It seems that our sermons have about as much meaning as a politician’s promises, which is to say that they mean nothing at all. How could we have come to this place? Because of legislation and something called “political correctness”. We aren’t allowed to say certain things anymore and if we do say them, we are preaching “hate” toward anyone or any other religion that is not Christianity.

How can our country have come this far away from God and the beliefs of our forefathers? Even history itself is coming under fire today by the very teachers who are supposed to be teaching it so that our children don’t repeat those mistakes made over a century ago! Why is this happening?

Because God has ordained this time as the one in which we will be tested, I believe. The news stories that you see and hear about, the new laws which are striking at the heart of families, the wars and the terrorists who are killing people because of their faith in Jesus Christ! If you have ever read the books of Daniel and Revelation, then many of the beginnings of sorrows that are foretold there are seen on the news almost every day. In Matthew 24, Jesus said that there would be a time when people would call good evil and evil good. He also spoke of a time when people would think they were doing God’s work if they killed believers.

If, as Mr. Tozer put it, “Christianity has been watered down until the solution is so weak that if it were poison it would not hurt anyone”, and this happened in his time…how much more has it been watered down since then? If we are to tell others about Christ, then we should be acting LIKE Christ. We should be going where He would’ve gone and doing as much as we can to make change happen in people’s lives.

Talk is cheap, sermons are given every Sunday morning and night, but if those words and the wisdom from which they come from such as the Bible are not put into practice…practically speaking, then our religion, our Christianity is just words and very little more. If we as pastors and Christians in general, the body of Christ, don’t put feet to our beliefs just as the disciples did then our message is nothing more than HOT AIR!

Good advice


good adviceThis little bit of advice showed up on my Facebook page today and I wanted to share it. Not only with you but with the world. It is true that many people follow their hearts in times of stress and trouble, if they have the courage to do so. Although, many of us don’t have the courage to do it and we end up with regrets later in life. We all have regrets of course, but some more than others.

Why didn’t I stay in school? Why didn’t I go to college? Why didn’t I stay in the military and retire from it? There are many others besides these, but the point is we make decisions sometimes based on incomplete knowledge and fear. We are afraid of where it might take us or what we may have to do if we follow one path over another. It is a fear that we have all of our lives and it seems to cause all sorts of problems and heartache, at least for those of us who take the safe or easy path rather than the one that our heart is telling us is the right one.

Advice is only good when it gives you something which will make your life better. A job or a promotion is only good when it helps you more than hurting your health and your family life. We all see things clearer when we look back on our lives and realize that if we had followed our hearts, we might actually be in a worse condition now and not the one that we thought the decision would bring. The only time that following your heart will truly bring you to a place of happiness and peace is when you follow that longing for Him. Your heart before Christ is missing something or rather Someone and it feels empty and hollow. Many of us have tried different ways to fill that space with something, but it never satisfied our longing until we found Jesus.

He is the missing piece of your life and your heart, so as long as you are following Him then your life means more because you can give Him away to others and yet…He is still with you! God loves us all, He may not be pleased with our lifestyle or with the things that we have done but that doesn’t mean that His love for you and me is any less. God doesn’t change and His love for you…for all of us is no less today than it was before the creation of the world. The very best advice that I can give anyone is to seek Him in His Word and in prayer. To learn more about Him, read the Bible because that is His Wisdom and His instructions for how we should be living according to it.

Many people have said that the Old Testament is irrelevant today because Christ made a new covenant with us in His blood. That is true because He fulfilled all of the prophecies about Himself when He came and lived and died and then rose again. Even though the New Testament reveals the Old and fulfils much of what is spoken of in it, you need to read both to get a complete picture.

Advice like life is what you take from it and use, if you don’t then it is useless. Wisdom from God’s Word is the same, if you aren’t willing to use it and learn from it, then it will be like an empty container of water to a thirsty man.

What have you decided?


Many people seem to have made up their minds that Christians are to be hated and scorned. What has happened in our country? I realize that there are some groups which preach hatred toward other faiths and of people who they deem as “unworthy”, but they are not the majority of Christians! Even the people who believe in Islam don’t all carry bombs and rifles and threaten to kill anyone around them, this behavior only comes from the fringes, from splinter groups, from people, who have IMO, gone off the deep end religiously. So, which camp are you in? Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Are you a practicing Christian? Or do you hang on to a few scriptures and base your beliefs and your doctrine on them alone?

It seems that our country has decided by default that we are no longer a Christian nation, just because of the decision handed down on Friday of last week. That one decision doesn’t nullify the Bible or God’s laws, they still stand as the only beacon of Truth for those of us who claim to be Christians. Yes, there are churches and pastors who have radical views about their version of Christianity just as there are radical Imams and other religious leaders out there, but as everyone else says “they don’t represent the whole group”.

The one religion which has always attempted to help others and point the way to a better life here and in eternity is the one that everyone seems to be bashing and trying their best to disassociate themselves from. Other religions have done those things too, I don’t mean to imply that Christianity is the only one, but the religion which brought the Pilgrims to these shores shouldn’t be the one that we are trying so hard to eliminate. So, what have you decided? Are you on the same side as those who hate Christians and want nothing to do with it? Are you a Christian who is saddened by all of this?

I am praying for our country and the world itself. Please let me know where you stand in the comments. I pray that the number of Christian responses will outweigh those with negative comments.

Thank you for your prayers and your comments in advance.