What are you waiting for?

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

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

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

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

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

Losing our sanity!

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

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

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

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

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

The Sinner’s Prayer

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

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!

It’s your decision, so make it a good one

This question or rather this statement was made by Jesus two thousand years ago, He said: “What will it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his soul.” Our world is on the verge of doing just that, losing our collective souls because of our tendency to reject the Truth. Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to be forgiven of your sins and to gain access to Heaven itself!

Just as in John 3:16-17 it states: 16“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him

Yet, many people today reject this teaching, this prophecy, and some even reject the entirety of the Bible itself. That is, of course, your choice even if it is a bad choice. We are allowed to choose our own way and our own destiny, but what good will it do you if you come to the end of your life and find that God does exist and you didn’t believe in Him?

It may not seem to be important now, while you still live, but just a few seconds after your death it really won’t matter. This life is the only chance that you get to make that decision and once it is done, you will face your judgment by God. That is how it is told all through the Bible, when a man dies he faces the judgment of God. What you did throughout your life, good or bad, is taken as evidence and shown to you. It is your decision about Jesus and His atonement for your sins that will cast you into hell or not.

If you have accepted Him as your Savior, then your sins are covered and you are assured of eternity in Heaven. If you rejected Him as your Savior, then your soul will live on into eternity but it will be in hell, separated from God, forever. There is no gray area, no waiting for someone to pray you out of. The Bible is clear on this, and there are only two sides just as with a coin, heads or tails, right or left, black or white.

God loves all of us, no matter what color you are or where you are from, but the choice that we make about Jesus Christ will determine the direction of your life for eternity, Heaven or hell. Many people say that “My God would not send anyone to hell”, God doesn’t but He won’t force you to choose one way over the other. So, it is your choice which condemns you to an eternity in hell, not God. It is your decision only and you have your entire life to make up your mind about it.

But, when your life is over then your choice for going to Heaven or hell and your ability to choose which direction you will go is over. There was an old commercial that said something like this: You only go around once in life, so grab all the gusto you can! This was a commercial about a beer that you should buy, but the message is true. You only have one life in this body, when you die your soul and your spiritual body will stand in front of God to be judged for your life and what you did with it. Did you grab all of the gusto or were you scared? By gusto, I am speaking of Jesus because if you took hold of Him in this life, eternity is assured for you in Heaven! If you were scared of asking Him into your life or you just didn’t want to accept Him, that is okay but your eternity will be much different. Satan’s lies that many people believe say that God wouldn’t send you to hell for not accepting His Son. Maybe you’ve also heard this one: You will have plenty of time, don’t worry about that until you get old.

What about the drive home today? What if you don’t make it home? Your time may be up this afternoon and when you stand to be judged all that you can say is “I thought I had more time”. You will be welcomed into hell but it won’t be a loving welcome.

Seek Jesus in His Word, the Bible and pray that you can come to know Him before you life here is over. God loves you and wants to bring you to Himself, but if you keep pushing Him away then one day He will give you over to your life the way you want it to be and He won’t bother you anymore.

Think about it.

So many things happening

It seems that every day there is something new happening. It could be a new disease or some decision by our government that is going to change things or it may be something happening in the Middle East. It seems that much of the news every day has something to do with that area and it gets more and more intense each day. Every day more people die from diseases which were eradicated years ago, but now they have come back and are more resistant to treatment. Some of the diseases are not old ones but new ones or even some that are familiar but different in a bad way. Life just seems to be getting worse in some ways for everyone. Of course if you have the money to pay for the treatment, then your problems don’t seem to be so bad.

The problem with the money is that many people tend to use it as their “god” and depend upon it and what it can do for them more than they depend upon God. That is why Jesus spoke these words: “23And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24“Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”…. (Matthew 19:23,24) Rich people rely on their riches, their money, more than they rely and depend on God. They don’t think that they need Him because with their money they believe that they can do anything. The problem is that money can’t and won’t take care of you like that. It is just paper and that is all that it is!

We have been trying hard and succeeding at getting the Bible and its teachings watered down and taken out of educational settings, particularly in the past fifty years or so. It’s really not a stretch to see why our world is so crazy today because of the influence of the world and the culture which pervades our everyday life. Can it be fixed? Not by us!

We need to pray and get God and the Bible back into our culture and our country! Our laws were based on the Ten Commandments in the Bible, but our judges and our government have watered them down and changed words around so much, that most of our laws bear little resemblance to the ones that were put into the constitution in the past. God’s Truth and His laws are the only way to get our world back on the right path. I am not saying that we need to be a theocracy, but our world needs Christ not just America! I know, I am offending some by saying this but it is the truth!

One day in the not too distant future, people will wake up to a world where all of the Christians have gone missing. They are no longer working or flying planes or driving their cars, and their disappearance will happen while people are asleep in some parts of the world, but in others there will be wrecks of all kinds. Planes falling from the sky because there are no pilots, people missing from buses and trains, cars crashing because their drivers just vanished. I don’t know the date, no one does except for God. The world is going to be a very messed up place at that time, because many who have been in church but have never given their hearts to Jesus are going to know what is going on. It will frighten many people to the point of suicide, many will be going to churches and trying to find the answer.

It isn’t too late at that point, to come to Christ, but you will have missed the rapture of the Church. Life will not be easy for Christians because they will be blamed for all of the deaths in the world. Persecution will increase everywhere. If you become a Christian after the rapture, then you may need to go into hiding, but never give up on your faith in God. He will strengthen you and carry you through this time, even if it means that you have to give your life or have it taken from you, you will live in eternity with Him. Our redemption draws near. Seek Him in Scripture, pray and attend a Bible teaching church, ask Jesus to become your Savior before this time comes upon the world.

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.

God doesn’t like sin, but He loves you

In your life and mine there have been times where we fall, whether we are Christians or not. When you haven’t given your life to Jesus, it doesn’t make much of a ripple in your life when you sin. You don’t really notice it much, unless you have been to church and listened to a sermon or two, but your Father in Heaven does. When you are still lost, your sins are..well, expected. Because you don’t have the power of the Holy Spirit to help you to resist the temptation. The sins which we commit in our lives before Christ are those which are designed to draw you away from God and keep you away from Him if possible. An example of these is found in this passage from the Bible:

You see, God hates the sins BUT He loves the sinner. Which is why Jesus spent so much time with tax collectors and publicans and others which the priests deemed as undesirable. It is also why Jesus said that “it is the sick who need a physician”, He was speaking of those who were lost and in need of salvation. The song which is sung in churches, “There is room at the Cross for You”, is one that is meant for all of us who are in need of salvation. There are no steps to reach the cross, the ground is level at the foot of it and all are equal there. It doesn’t matter how much money you have or how much resources you may or may not have, God loves all of humanity because we are His creation. Salvation is offered to everyone, but only if you will reach out and take it and repent of your sins.

If you were offered one billion dollars but there were some requirements before you could have it, would you gladly do them? For instance, if you were a pornographic movie producer and you have made some money at it but you are also into drugs and alcohol and all sorts of occult practices and you were offered the one billion dollars with the catch of going into rehabilitation for all of your sins, repenting of those sins and becoming a true Christian person…would you? Some might, but for many in our world today even the allure of that amount of money would not be enough to draw them away from their lifestyle. Some would try to fake it, but that would fail too because the change which comes when you truly give your life to Christ is a visible one and something which can’t be faked.

He cares about your life, your impact in someone else’s life and you in particular because you are a part of His Creation. You are not a number or some nameless person to God! If He knows when a sparrow dies and falls to the ground, don’t you think He knows about your pain and suffering too? There is no power in the universe which can come between you and God except yourself. You are the deciding vote whether you will give your life to Jesus and truly become a child of God or if you will just stay lost and on the side of Satan. There truly is no grey area in the spiritual realm, you are either a Christian who is working for God and eternity or you are lounging around in Satan’s camp hoping that your side wins. If you have ever read God’s Word you will know that Satan has lost every time he went against God and he will lose again in the end.

¹⁵And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15

We are only human

In today’s society, it seems that when you are a pastor of a church you are held to an almost god-like standard. One which penalizes you and calls for your resignation when you fail or when you fall like everyone else does. It’s like walking a tightrope, one misstep and you will fall to your death unless there is a forgiving net to catch you. I have felt the stares of people, watching me because they know that I pastor a church. It doesn’t matter if it is a small church or a huge church, the standard is the same. Just because we are preachers, proclaiming the gospel of Christ and His forgiveness, we are not perfect! Our sins are covered by the blood of Jesus, so God has forgiven us, but when you see us sin and fall from that pedestal the forgiveness doesn’t seem to follow.

People, humanity has a very long memory when it comes to its teachers and preachers. Nobody is forgiven it seems, when the sin is made public. It is more akin to being tarred and feathered in the public square and then having that picture put up on Facebook or Instagram where it will never go away. On the other hand, if you are a politician or a lawyer or maybe a football star your sins will be overlooked and forgotten in a few hours or days.

Why are we held to such a high standard? Because we are telling you about the love and the forgiveness found in Jesus Christ and that you can have it for the asking. It isn’t a magic formula or a potion that you have to buy, it has been paid for through the blood of Jesus. All that you have to do is believe in Jesus’ sacrifice for your sins, just like the thief on the cross. He couldn’t get baptised and there was no way that he could tell others about Jesus, but he could believe and he did! Jesus told him that “today, you will be with me in Paradise”, if that isn’t an affirmation of being saved I don’t know of one!

The apostles and all believers were given a command to go and tell the world about the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. Telling is what preachers do and it is up to you whether you believe the good news and ask Jesus into your heart or not. Do we fall sometimes? Of course. Do we say things that we shouldn’t? Yes, we are human. The difference is…we are forgiven. All that we have to do is to repent and ask forgiveness for the slip or the fall that we got into. You can too! Grace, love, hope, peace and forgiveness are all offered to you from God through Jesus. It is your responsibility to ask for forgiveness and repent of your sins, not just lip service but real honest repentance!

Why do I say it that way? Because, that is what I did for many years. I would go down and feel sorry for my sins and pray and even get baptised. Then, I would attempt to read and understand the Bible for a while, but I would eventually follow a friend to a bar and get drunk, or take a girl home for a night and I would be back in my same rut again. Some call it back-sliding, but I don’t think I was true to the repentance that I professed so it wasn’t real. I was just going through the motions, doing all of the things to “look good” when I was still just as lost as I was before.

Think about it and seek God in His Word, then pray and ask Him to show you what you need to do to truly become a child of God and a Christian.

Would anyone ever think that you are a Christian?

In service to Him

Well? Could someone look at your life and the things that you do every day and tell that you are a Christian without you telling them? Do you frequent places of worship during the week, not just on Sunday? Does your weekly life show that you are a follower of Christ? Our country needs Christians who can stand up and show that their beliefs are real and not just words. Many people in the world and in our country can’t tell the difference between a Christian and someone who isn’t!

Do you think if your Christianity were put on trial in a court of law, would there be enough evidence to convict you of being a Christian? For many people, the answer to this question would be questionable. For some, there may be enough evidence to actually prove that they are Christians. But in the near future during the time…

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