Tag: Jesus

Charismatic movement a cult?


I just read a little of the article which carries this as the title and I couldn’t believe it! If the Holy Spirit is drawing people to Christ all over the world right now, I don’t care if they are speaking in tongues or jumping pews or whatever, if God is getting the glory for it then it is not a cult! On the other hand, if the man or woman bringing the message is getting the glory then it most likely is a cult!

Jesus told His disciples that “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draw him: and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:44). If the Holy Spirit is moving in the world today, and He is, then who are we to say that it is wrong? The Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God is moving and will continue to draw those who will answer the call to come to Jesus until the Father decides otherwise. It will do so until the end of the age, if God wills it, so who are we to say if it is something out of the ordinary.

Arguing and fighting between denominations and churches should not be happening, and yet Satan will cause this to happen because if he cannot get rid of the church then he will tear it apart from the inside. He has done it before, numerous times in the past, and he will continue to do it. If we can’t agree on Biblical teaching and preaching and stick to the Word of God as the Truth, then we are wrong altogether, regardless of denomination or translation.

The disciples argued among themselves during their evangelistic efforts after the resurrection, about doctrine and law. The point is that if we are going to show a united front to the world as Christians, then we cannot allow the body of believers to come apart because of disagreement between doctrines and denominations. The facts are that our churches have come apart in the last two centuries, mostly over small disagreements and sometimes over things which have nothing to do with evangelism or Christ.

This is the kind of divisive work that Satan enjoys the most because he can show that we are petty, spoiled children. Unable to cooperate or get along with each other and continually sniping at each other about points of doctrine and disciplines and man-made laws that our congregations should abide by if they want to belong to a certain conference.

How is it that Christians can claim to know the Truth from God’s Son, Jesus, and yet we make up rules and statutes and disciplines for those who belong to our conferences to follow? Isn’t this what the Pharisees and Sadducees did in Jesus’ day? They laid so many rules and regulations on their people until they couldn’t possibly fulfill them all. Many of our churches today are doing this, especially in the Methodist group of churches. I am not against the Methodist denomination, but it seems that they are a divisive and divided group.

There is little wonder why people call the church a place of hypocrites, because it seems that we cannot make up our minds which way we will follow Christ. Biblically we are supposed to be following Jesus and the doctrine that He taught, not our own! After His resurrection and ascension, individual congregations existed in different localities, but they were not religiously divided. All of them had the same pattern of organization, doctrine, worship, salvation, etc., so why can’t we do this today? The reason is Satan himself. He is the one who is putting the divisions and the jealousy in our churches to break them apart so that they will be ineffective for God’s kingdom!

We must cling to the Word of God and to its doctrines and not our own. Stick to the teachings of Jesus and don’t add anything to it nor draw your own conclusion from it, if the wisdom is not coming from the Holy Spirit then it should be questioned and proven through the Word of God. Pray that our churches can stay the course until Jesus arrives in the clouds to take His saints home.

What is going on now?


Many people are confused, scared and worried about what is going on around the world and in our own country, and they should be! Our officials seem to have lost their minds about what needs to be done about our economy and about our nation as a whole. They want to pass a so-called “balanced budget” which we haven’t had in years, but they won’t let go of an insurance tax that no person in America can actually afford! Why are we being pushed to the brink of economic disaster? Because those in charge don’t care about the people that they were elected to represent! That is why!

I know that my site is supposed to be about learning about our Lord and how to serve Him, but sometimes it is hard to keep from preaching about something that it seems that many in the media are ignoring completely! Yet, God is in control, whether those in Washington, DC want to believe that He is interested in our country or not. He knows which direction our country is heading in and where it will end up. Time is catching up with us and with the world in general and how much longer we have before the time of testing, only God knows.

There are many things happening all over the world right now, every day, and yet God is in control. Many people think that He is not because of all the evil, sick stuff happening everywhere but that is due to Satan and his demons which influence all of the evil that men do. Mankind is evil without God, their thoughts are evil and against God’s law from the time they are born until they feel the call of God on their hearts. If they listen to it and follow Him, God will create a new heart in them so that they will know and follow Him and learn from Him how to be a Christian.

You don’t have to do anything to be saved and become a Christian, in fact it is free. There is no amount of “works” that you can do or have to do in order to receive the grace that God provides for us through Christ because nothing that we do counts in eternity until after we accept the gift of grace from Christ! Your life in eternity begins with your acceptance of Jesus into your life, then everything that you do in His name counts in eternity. A glass of water given, teaching someone about Jesus, giving food to someone who is hungry, if all of these are done in the name of Jesus and because you are a Christian, then you have done it to Jesus Himself.

Charity in this life, done as a follower of Christ, has eternal rewards and maybe eternal consequences. The charity that you do for someone may have an impact in their life and may cause them to become a follower of Christ and it could go on from there. Eventually some small thing that you did for someone may affect many people that you don’t know, but because of something that you did the effect rippled out away from you to include more people than you could’ve known. If we, as Christians, act as we are supposed to do after we come to know Jesus then the world will be a different place, even if it is only one person at a time.

The “ripple” effect can eventually effect many hundreds or even thousands of people. Yes, there is a lot of evil in the world and a lot of bad people to go with it but if we can inspire one person each, then there will be more light in the world than there is darkness eventually. People need to know that there is good in the world, that there are good people, Christian people in the world who show the love of Jesus to those around them. What is going on now can be changed into something good going on now and in the future, if we will be the witnesses and the disciples that Jesus had at the beginning and the ones that His Word commands us to be today!

What kind of faith do you have?


Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible.

This is the definition of honest, child-like faith, something which many people cannot understand, even though they have a kind of faith too. Take the scientists and professors who believe in evolution for example, the amount of faith that they have to believe in a theory which is still just a theory would have to be more than mine!

Richard Dawkins is quoted thus — “Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence.”

There is plenty of evidence for a number of extinct animals and plant life all over the world and I agree with it. There are many different types of animals found in different places and climates, which I don’t and won’t argue with. But…no one has found a transitional fossil of any kind (species) which shows an animal in the process of changing from one type of animal, like one that lives on land or even an amphibian which lives both on land and in water, into another like the theory which says that whales evolved this way.

If scientists claim that evolution takes millions of years, then where are the fossils to prove it? Unless an amphibian stepped into the water one night and the next morning found that it couldn’t get back up on land, how can this be? It seems to me that it would take an enormous amount of faith to believe in evolution happening in that way. So, how can these questions be satisfied? If faith is a cop-out, then scientists are guilty of it too, don’t you think? Jesus said that we only need the faith that a child has, trusting faith, in order to believe and receive the gifts and grace of God. We don’t have to do anything, nor can we do anything to help us get into Heaven. It has already been done, by Jesus Himself. All that we have to do is surrender to Him in faith and believe what the Word of God tells us.

Although, there are many who think that the Book, God’s Word, was made up by the men who wrote it, there are many proofs of its authenticity. Such as the historical account of Israel’s past kings and kingdoms, these have been proven by archaeology and if there is proof of part of the Bible, then the whole of it can’t be dismissed as fiction.

Forty men over the course of fifteen hundred years wrote the books which appear in its pages and yet they are all pointing toward the salvation of the world through the Person of Christ. You couldn’t get forty scientists to agree on enough issues to be able to write a book with sixty-six chapters and coherently point toward one conclusion, whether they were separated by geography or time, let alone over fifteen centuries! The message contained within this Book points clearly to the Savior but it also points to how much God loves each of us. Not specifically for who we are or because of what we may have done, but just because He chooses to.

Isn’t it wonderful that the Creator of this universe loves each of us enough to send His Son, Jesus, to take our punishment for the sin that is in our lives! It is very humbling as well, because He knew me…He knew each of us before we even knew about Him! All of this information is in His Word, the Bible, along with the promises that He made to Israel and most of their promises have been fulfilled. If those promises were fulfilled, don’t you think that those promises to us about salvation, and eternity will be fulfilled too? Give your heart and your life to Jesus because He loved you first.

New age, what does it really mean?


Many people think that “new age” is a reference to our placement in time, like the twenty-first century, but the name has been in use for many more years than in just the past decade. For a complete list of what and when this began see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Age.

For many people in the world, the new age movement began to be popular in the 1960’s, which is why it is associated with all of the crazy stuff that went on during that time. Even many gurus latched onto it with their beliefs and teachings about meditation and an all-inclusive religion. One that doesn’t claim superiority  or even claim that it is right or the only way, like mono-theistic religions do.

New age tries to develop a harmony between science and religion so that you can sort of, have your evolution and creation at the same time. What a concept!?

Really?

All of the religions in the world that are apart from the three mono-theistic religions of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, have some component of work that has to be performed by man in order for him to reach a level of being above his place in the universe. An attainment that can only be reached by doing things in a correct way or prescribed manner during a person’s lifetime. Where does this work-based belief get you? Tired, frustrated, anxious, scared, wondering if you did enough or did it right, is that how you want to reach the end of your life? Full of worry and scared that what you have done or haven’t done in this life may not have been good enough?

I know the arguments of people who claim to be atheists or agnostics, I have read some of their books. The crux of the matter is this: what do you believe? If you don’t believe in anything after death, then you don’t have anything to fear, do you? You’re just dead and that’s it, so what’s the difference? OK, but what if you are wrong?

If your belief is Scientology, will the Thetan‘s carry you to a place and change you into a god? Will Allah take you into his bosom and give you eternal life? There are many other religions in the world which claim to bring you into a state of oneness with the universe, but will you know it or does your essence just merge with the cosmos forever and you fade away like a puff of smoke?

I don’t know what happens after we die, but I do know what is promised in God’s Word. Jesus said that we would have eternal life if we only believed in His sacrifice and that it paid the penalty for our sins. Is that such a crazy idea? Its not any worse or crazier than some others I don’t believe.

The New Age thinkers don’t know any more about what happens after death than any of the rest of us and they won’t until they die. The problem is that we can’t come back and tell anyone Who we ran into or what we found out on the day that we crossed over life’s threshold into eternity. It really is a mystery that cannot be solved by anyone who is still alive. I know that there are some who have had near death experiences and came back to tell what they have seen, and some of them I believe are credible and as truthful as they can be.

The truth is that we can’t really know until we die and it seems that many people just don’t care what happens after their body dies. Many people think that all of our existence stops when our body dies but according to Jesus, our soul continues on and we will have a glorified body to go with it. So, if this life is just the beginning, don’t you want the eternal part of your life to be more than you ever hoped or dreamed about?

Yes, I do believe that Jesus is the only way to Heaven because He said so. That is all that I need because of my faith in Him. It is true that there are many other religions out there but do they claim to be the pathway to heaven? Most of them don’t actually, they claim other types of existence such as reincarnation or they don’t claim any eternal existence at all. I think I would rather believe the One Who says, “Today, you will be with Me in paradise!”

Is hell real?


(To those who may read this be warned, this is the dream that I experienced during a sickness that I had about a year ago. The scenes which I have portrayed in this story were scenes which I was allowed to see, but which frightened me at the time. I have just now been able to put this down in writing so be patient and kind in your comments, but take heed to the warning given.)

I stood looking over the edge of the world as I knew it, I noticed a place that had not been there before. No light illuminated any part of it, although I could see it and see down into its depths. I suppose God was allowing me to see this, whether it was in a dream or a nightmare (more likely), I am not sure but it was frighteningly terrifying to my soul …. to me.

The reason that I say it terrified my soul is because I felt a fear deep down inside, in a place that I didn’t know was there. I couldn’t feel the heat physically but by the look of the place I knew that it was hot, much hotter than any place on earth. There was fire, but it seemed not to be the kind of fire which had light. I know this sounds crazy but this is my nightmare, so it was crazy and I knew that it was a place that I did not want to go. Nor did I want anyone that I know, whether they are a friend or not, to go there either.

There were places which seemed to throb with wave-like motion sort of like an ocean of liquid pitch or tar and yet it was more than that, because it seemed to be the hottest part of this place. Yet, it did not produce flames. I could hear screams of agonizing proportions, as if someone was being cooked, boiled alive in this lake but they would not die or could not die. The screams came at different intervals so I guess it was due to the wave-like action of the lake of fire, since this is the best description that I can give it.

Outside the lake, on the shores of it, there were caves that were just as hot as the lake but they were relatively dry because the oily lake did not reach them. There seemed to be people, damned souls, who were bound inside those caves so that they could not escape. These were those who had not accepted Jesus as their savior in life, but who had attended church or some religious meeting at some point in their lives. Intellectually, they knew of Jesus and what He could do for them, but they never accepted Him. Some had been deacons, some were even former pastors. They had used their position in the church to gain power and money and for some, prestige, but they had missed the real point of their own ministry, the focus of what their real ministry is about and that is Jesus.

The information on these souls was given to me by the Holy Spirit and He told me that after I had learned all that I could about what I had seen, He would give me the words to go with it.

The descriptions that I have or can remember of this place had been blocked from my mind until tonight. They were so horrific in their magnitude of pain and suffering along with the certainty of this place being part of hell, if not the very place itself. I am very glad that I didn’t experience this place directly or I might have gone completely mad. The fear that these nightmares brought into my being at night was of a type that I have never felt before. I have been a firefighter and have seen some horrific things but nothing that I had ever seen compared to this.

The imagery that I have used in this portrayal, this story, is the best that I can give because, like John, I saw things, images, which no human eye was meant to see. Hell was not, is not made for us, we were created to reign with Christ, not be punished in hell. It was created as a place of punishment for Satan and those who rebelled against God with him, but if you rebel against God then you are part of Satan’s kingdom. I know this sounds crazy, the images and the fear and terror that they brought out, but this was a nightmarish vision which I experienced and I believe it was for a purpose. Not to write a book and make money off of it, but to use it to tell others about the place that we have been saved from.

It may seem that I am making it up as I go along, but I experienced these nightmarish dreams last year while I was sick and they terrified me so much that I would wake myself, shaking from fright! I have never been that scared before and it is just now that I am able to remember the details by the Spirit’s prompting. The point of this sermon, talk, whatever you want to call it, is to bring into your reality and mine, as much as possible the terror of hell, and also the eternity of it so that no one would want or desire to go there.

Even though we think of glorified bodies that we receive in heaven, in order to endure an eternity of punishment in hell we or at least the people who will go to hell also receive immortal bodies. The difference is that they will endure pain, suffering, and heat that would be enough to kill a mortal body, but they will endure it like the immortal demons and Satan, for eternity. The reason for this punishment is because of one simple decision: the people that I saw decided not to follow Jesus and believe in His atoning blood that was shed for you and for them or they just never got around to it before their time was up.

I know that some will say that I am trying to scare people into believing and following Jesus, and you would be right! I would rather scare you out of going to hell and into a relationship with Jesus, Who many people don’t believe in at all, than to see you go into hell and know that there was a possibility that you could be saved from that eternal place.

If you decide to follow Him and learn from the Living Word while studying the Word, then you will not go to this place. However, if you put it off or just decide that being a Christian is just too much for you in this life, because you want to do your thing and not be held accountable for it, then you are deciding to be on the side with Satan. Hell was prepared for Satan and his demons and those who won’t follow Jesus, who decide that they want their fun rather than finding out about the fun of being a child of the King!

The time is now to make up your mind, so which will it be? An eternity in a place where the heat of the day doesn’t beat down on you and you are living and working with those who decided to love and follow Jesus or an eternity in a place where there isn’t much light at all. Where the heat is not from the sunshine, but from hell itself, where the heat and the burning never end for eternity, because there will be no parties in hell, there will be no place where you can “chill” in hell, there isn’t any water there at all, only heat and plenty of it.

What is truth?


Pilate said, “What is veritas?” Asking Jesus what is truth before He was sent to the cross. He had the Truth standing right there in front of him and didn’t know it. So, what do we believe is the truth today? Is truth relative to each person or their situation?

Today, many people claim to have their own version of truth, because many people say that “truth is relative”. Is it really?

How large is the Earth? Would you accept that its equatorial diameter is 12,756 km as the truth? Considering that we can all look this number up in the library or on-line, I would think that it would be accepted. All of the planets in the solar system have been mapped and measured and the Sun has too, so any statements made about them will be accepted as truth as long as I don’t change anything.

What about your beliefs? Do you have a faith in something that is accepted as fact and can be proven by other means rather than faith? Many people who are religious in any way, can’t prove their faith or belief scientifically because the major religions of the world were started hundreds or thousands of years ago. All that they have to base their belief on is a written account which was written many years ago. So, how do you know it is the truth? Can you prove it?

Most of the great scientists of the last few centuries like Newton, Bohr, Kepler and others were Christians who were trying to prove things which were found in the Scriptures. In the book, “Temple at the Center of Time”, it is written that Isaac Newton was searching for the knowledge that was given to those who lived before the flood. Original knowledge given by God. Could this be proven? By today’s scientific methods?

If you read this book and look at Newton’s work and the math that he used, then it is possible to prove many of the theories as well as much of the prophecies contained in Scripture. Considering this, the proof is in the Book itself and since it was inspired by God, Who cannot lie, then it must be the truth!

Of course, there are people who don’t believe anything that is in the Scriptures. It is supposedly a book that was dreamed up by the men who wrote it and very little of it is true. The Jewish scholars would have to disagree with you on that point because they were very meticulous about the written history of their people, which is what most, if not all, of the Old Testament is. Also, the prophecies written by those prophets hundreds of years before Jesus was born were fulfilled by Him and many other prophecies concerning the Jewish people have been fulfilled as well. Prophecies that have been fulfilled are not “dreamed up”, they were inspired by God.

He is the only One who could have given them the words of prophecy that would come true because He knew that it would come true. So, the truth about absolute truth is in the proof. Read it, ask questions, study it and find out the real truth, then look at the way the world is going and ask yourself: “Which truth will carry me to Heaven and which one will condemn me to hell?”

Following your own path and your own truth without Jesus will lead you to a place that you do not want to spend eternity. And, if you think that there is no eternity and that we just stop being alive when we die, you are right. Our body does die but our soul lives on in a glorified body, one that cannot die regardless of the final destination. So, consider this…which truth do you want to follow and live by, yours or the One that is the Truth. Finding out that yours was wrong, regardless of how long you live, is not a good way to begin your life in eternity.

 

New-age thinking


We are beginning a new month and it is one that is fraught with ties to a pagan past. Witches, goblins, ghouls, ghosts, vampires, the list could go on and on but you get the meaning. This month is a time for seeking ties to the past, our pagan past but is it? True enough, the so-called ancient religions existed before Christianity, but did their gods really exist or were they just figments of people’s imaginations?

Some might say that it could have been in their imagination or partly due to some herbal tea that they used to get more in touch with the spirit world. Whatever the case may be, it is also possible that Satan and his demons also had a part in most if not all of them. They could stir up deception and lies among the people and get them to believe anything they wanted them to believe as long as they could keep them away from a belief in God, which was their goal.

Pagan religions and new age thinking, whether they are referring to religions or non-belief in any god, are mostly the same. They are trying to put a man-made twist on something which doesn’t need it. Many of those who claim no belief in a god of any kind and also don’t claim any religious affiliation are just trying to justify themselves. They don’t want to be responsible to anyone but themselves, regardless of their actions.

Many of these people have a moral center because they were taught right from wrong at an early age but they don’t know why it is right or wrong. It just feels that way so its OK with them. Pagans, Wicca followers, atheists,  and druids as well as other eastern religions claim to revere nature and the natural beauty around them. Their belief is, like evolutionists, that everything just is and always has been and in times long past it may have been in a different form. It and we have evolved into what is seen today but I contend that if we, as evolution says, evolved from apes, then why are there still apes around?

Religion and the followers of any religion can be religious about their beliefs and the rituals associated with that belief but what do they believe in? The purpose of this site is to point you toward the One who created all of the beauty that is around us every day. None of this came about by evolution or by accident and whether you believe it or not is not going to change it. I know that many people might disagree with me about this but ask yourself this: What if I am right?

Just as not believing in the Sun or the moon or gravity won’t make them go away, non-belief in God or Jesus doesn’t get rid of them either. Denying that gravity exists before you jump from a building or an airplane won’t make the landing any softer, it is still going to kill you. Then when you are standing in front of God, Who many say doesn’t exist, it will be a huge wake up call for you, but by then it is too late.

What will you do? The life that you have here and now is the only chance that you get to make that choice about what you believe and Who you believe in, so what will you decide? Will you choose to go through life seemingly unaware of God or will you truly take notice of the order and beauty around you and realize that this could not have come about by accidental means?

Mathematics and physics and all “hard”science agree on the outcomes of their formulas and theorems and the fact that those outcomes don’t change. But, neither does God. He created those laws and the universe around them, they are His creation too. Just because He is not visible to us now does not take away from Who He is. The wind is not visible but its effect is felt and seen every day. The light from the sun is visible because the sun is visible as well as the heat that comes from it.

Christian beliefs are not some tale made up to frighten people or to give people a crutch to hold to in times of trouble. Our faith is not just based on rules which bind us to a belief, but it is in One Who is coming again. Jesus is the Son of God and will return soon and just as the sun rises it is a sure thing. We do not know a specific day or hour, but He will come again.

The time is growing short and yet I cannot tell you that it will happen in five or ten or even twenty years. I don’t need to know the time, my time may be next week and yours may be tomorrow. We are not guaranteed a number of days, but when you wake in the morning you will have at least part of another day to live. If it turns out that you have the whole day, then you have. But, what about tomorrow? Are you sure about tomorrow and the outcome of your meeting with God? Have you scheduled a meeting with Him? Will you?

Think about it.

What do you want from me, Jesus?


I feel that there are many who may have asked this question over the years and decades and even through the centuries. The answer surprises many people because they think that Jesus wants more than we can give. For many, their beliefs of what He wants causes them to back away from Him because they cannot imagine themselves giving Him anything, even when they know that He is the only One that can meet their needs.

How can we get around our own beliefs and cultural bias toward serving Jesus? What can we do that will make us be useful to Him? Is there anything that we can do that will answer these questions or even, can the answers be found? There is a simple, for many people too simple, answer to these questions and it is …. No!

Yes, we can get around the cultural bias, but the answer to the other questions referring to “what can we do” is nothing. We can do nothing on our own to help Jesus. We cannot assist Him in our redemption and salvation because only He could do what needed to be done and He has. His death on the cross that day in 33 AD, accomplished everything that was necessary for every person on earth to be able to come to know Him and to have access to God.

His sacrifice, His life that He lived in total obedience to His Father without sin, was what was required so that the gulf between us and God could be spanned by Him. So that we would have access to God the Father and forgiveness through Jesus as long as we believe in what He did on the cross and in Who He is.

Belief and acceptance as well as being able to follow in His steps to bring the message of the Gospel to others through our life and our witness. We don’t have to go on mission trips, you just have to represent Him through your life, your character by allowing Him to shine through your life into the lives of others, this is what Jesus wants from us. Obedience to the command that He gave to His disciples to take the gospel to everyone who will hear.

Obedience is our job in God’s kingdom. Faith and belief in Jesus and the work that He accomplished on the cross is our requirement, our part that we need to do because it is the only thing that we can do ourselves. He has already accomplished everything that was necessary for our salvation by His death, burial and resurrection because He was the only One that could do what needed to be done.

Mankind is not able to redeem himself in the eyes of a Holy and righteous God and Creator. We are His creation, the only ones who enjoy the ability to commune with God and have fellowship with Him. The angels worship Him but they don’t have the privileges which God gave to us and they long to know of it. No matter how many amino acids that are found in ice or how many theories that are put forth trying to explain our existence as some cosmic accident, there is no scientific proof of it at all. God is the only one who created this universe and each one of us!

We are the work of His hands and everything else was spoken into existence because He wanted it that way. The perfection and specific way that everything works and moves is by His design, not some accident. God loves you, each of you, and there is no denial of that if you are able to read this. Even our eyes are marvels to science because they can find no evolutionary trigger that would cause an animal to “evolve” cells which do what our eyes can do. God did it and that settles it!

Do you know much about Christianity?


As a religion it has taken a bad rap from the other religions and from many people all over the world. So, what do you know about the religion of Christianity? Those who claim to be Christians are supposed to be following Christ and in His footsteps be His reflection to the world at large. In essence, we are supposed to be “little Christ’s”, but are we?

How many really live up to that high standard of conduct? Can we do it with our own strength? No, we cannot do it with our own strength. Very few have done this in the past two thousand years, although there have been some. Many use their “take” on this religion in the pulpit or on television to make lots of money off of many people that they don’t know and in the process many have paid the price for their arrogance.

The church, with all of its denominations and divisions, has paid the price of false teachers and doctrines over the past two thousand years. Granted, there have not been many but over those years but the ones who existed in the dark ages did a lot of damage to the church. Many of those who have bee active in the past century have also done a good deal of harm to the church and the way that Christianity is perceived in the world today. Some of them may have believed that their interpretations and their teachings were correct, and yet they were found to be false later.

The church does have hypocrites in it, in the pews and in the pulpits, but by being Christians and leaning on the strength of Christ we can be the people, the church which Jesus always intended for us to be. In the time period that we are living, we should be doing more to tell people about Christ and about Jesus, one person yet two different people according to history. Christ is the Jewish Messiah and many are still waiting for Him to return. Jesus is the Christ that many have rejected and He is sitting at the right hand of God. This is the message that we are to be sharing with the world, even though many don’t want to receive it or even believe its truth.

Many people seem to reject that the Holy Scriptures are true, those which came to the Jewish people through Moses and the Prophets and the New Testament which came by Jesus’ disciples. Yet, all of the books of the Scriptures point in one direction, to one Person and to our salvation through belief in Jesus. All that we have to do is be obedient to them and the wisdom contained in them as well as to realize that we all need salvation through Jesus, because He is the only way, the only perfect sacrifice that was given in order for us to be saved and sanctified. We cannot do this on our own! There is no amount of “works” that a human being can do to be perfect in the light of God because we are not and cannot be holy without Jesus! Any teaching which says otherwise is lying and is false!

No one can be perfect and fulfill and obey every law perfectly, not missing even the smallest detail of the law regardless of Whose law it may be. Whether it is a man-made law or one that comes from God, we cannot claim to be able to perfectly conform to any law because in thought or deed we will break a part of the law and when we do, we have broken the law regardless of offense. Which is why Moses was given the law to begin with. It was for the purpose of showing that humanity cannot attain perfection in obedience to the law because we cannot be and are not perfect. The only One that was able to keep from sinning against the law was Jesus.

He is our example and our Messiah. He was the perfect Lamb of God and is our Savior, sent to redeem the entirety of humanity from eternity past up until He comes again. Give your life and your heart to Jesus and even though your troubles won’t vanish, the strength to make it through them will come from Him! Even though you have to decide each day to die to your own selfish ways and live for Jesus and allow Him to live and show through your life to others, it will get better and you will be stronger for it. Think about it.

The heat of the day and the battle!


We face dark times ahead, not only because of the situation the world is in right now but the day-to-day situations which we face in our personal, daily lives. Every soldier knows that the heat of battle is the most dangerous but also the times when it gets really quiet is one in which you especially have to be on your guard. It is the same in our lives, regardless of the life that you live, whether you are a follower of Christ or not and no matter what type of job that you may work at, there is an element of danger in every sphere and every vocation today.

Driving to work, you are only a few feet from the cars in front or behind you or if you are on a two-lane road the cars meeting you are only two feet from you when they pass you. Anything can happen in a moments notice or without a moments notice on the road, on the job or in your life. One job that I have been thinking about lately is one that I worked at for many years and that was as an emergency medical technician. I worked at this for about ten years first at an ambulance service and then on a rescue unit for a fire department.

These are jobs which are needed but as the news has shown lately, even when you are trying to help someone you can be hit by another vehicle and possibly lose your life too. At a fire department, you may be at a fire, trying to find someone trapped or trying to get into the building to put the fire out so you can see if there is someone in the house. Many things can go wrong while in these situations and it is only by the grace and mercy of God that many of us come out to “fight another day”.

Although, many of my comrades would tell you that they have it covered, no problem, the fact is that the roof can cave in or a gas line can blow or a piece of furniture may fall and trap you, and then if your buddy is not nearby and you are getting low on air, what can you do? My best advice in a situation like this is to never get far from your buddy, just like in scuba diving. You may need him and his strength, you may need his life-giving air until help arrives. There are many different situations and problems which can crop up in one call that you take, that may be the last one you see!

The times that we live in are fragile and the time that we have with our family and friends is fleeting. You will never have those times again, once today is gone, the opportunities and the words that needed to be said are gone and will never present themselves again. Soldiers know this, police know this, firefighters know this, but in our own bravado and our pride we ignore the signs. We all do this, no matter what vocation we may have.

Life is fleeting even if you think you will live to be one hundred, especially compared to eternity. So, what will your answer be when God asks you “What did you do with my Son?” He knows the answer before you do, so think about it now while you have the time to take some action to correct the prideful ways that you have held on to most of your lives.

Yesterday is gone and is in your past, tomorrow isn’t here yet and none of us are guaranteed to wake tomorrow, now, today is what we have, each of us, and if we don’t think about Jesus and our relationship to Him and with Him today, then when? Life gets in the way, situations and our jobs take up our time and our thoughts. Our family can demand much of our attention on a daily basis, but what will happen when your life is over? It can happen in an instant, so while you have today, right now, listen to the small voice in your heart and give Him the attention that He deserves so that He can give you the Life that you deserve. Think about it.