Tag: Judaism

If you don’t try, you can’t succeed!


Basketball great, Michael Jordan, and hockey great, Wayne Gretzky, are both attributed with saying, “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”

When we are telling someone about what Jesus has done for us, it is glorifying God, but if we don’t tell them how will they ever know? If John or Peter or any of the other disciples had not gone on their missionary journeys how would the Church have started? We also wouldn’t have much of the New Testament since the books are letters that were sent to churches that they started in other parts of the Middle East. If Saul had not been as zealous for his faith of Judaism as he was, he might never have met Jesus and become Paul. Paul truly did write nearly half of the New Testament because of his travels.

If you stay at home, you never will know what is on the other side of the hill or the state or the world. You will miss out on all of the wonders that God provided for us to discover, and you will miss out on all of the chances that you will have to share your faith. Success in life and in anything that you try, whether it is a business or a chance to witness to someone about your faith, will never succeed if you don’t try. The Spirit of God will give you the words and the ability to do and say what is needed when the time comes, whether you are shy or outgoing and it won’t matter whether you have memorized scripture or not because He will give that to you too when the time comes.

Our God loves all of us, individually, more than we can imagine. This is the reason that He sent His Son to die as a sacrifice on the cross, sinless and pure, so that we could have eternal life through faith in Him. We are not required to do anything and we can’t do anything to add to what He has already done! The task is complete in that Jesus did it all for us, all that we have to do is accept it and then tell others about it. Even if we only tell one other person, and that person may take it to a group of over twenty or fifty and then those people may each tell two or more people so just one witness can accomplish a lot.

We may never find out how much our witness may have impacted people’s lives until we get to Heaven, and then we may be amazed at what our words and witness meant to God’s Kingdom! Even though we didn’t cause the number of people to come to Him, the seed which we planted did. It took root in one person’s heart and then planted a seed in others and those seeds grew and produced more fruit for God’s Kingdom.

Like the song says, “it only takes a spark to get a fire going”, and that spark is each of us doing what God wants us to do. Some people may want to say that they could never do anything like that; well I didn’t think that my blog would make much difference but I think it has with the Holy Spirit‘s influence in my life and in the lives of those who read these words. I pray that you will find something in this or in other posts that I have here. God bless you all and I pray that your heart will receive these words in the spirit in which they are written.

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!”

Can my religion save me?


There are many thousands of religions or “movements” claiming to be religions today, but what do they offer us? Do the atheists who claim to have no god or belief in a god have it right, that we are our own god and that we are the ultimate authority in our lives? What about Hindi or Buddhists with all of their gods? Then there is Islam, the Mormons, Judaism, the list goes on and on. We have been inventing religions of one sort or another for thousands of years but is any one of them right?

There are some who think that the earth itself is a goddess and there are many different religions which go along with this view. However, you cannot possibly think that the earth is going to bring about peace in the world when it is the population of the world that is fighting each other. People are not inherently good, we only have to listen to the news to find that out. Our goodness comes from something or someone other than our own thoughts and feelings. Is it possible that we can’t get it right on our own. We have had many thousands of years to attempt just that and yet peace never reigns for very long regardless of where you live. There is always civil unrest of one sort or another, whether it is violent or not makes no difference.

The animal called mankind is incapable of peace on his own. Religion and religious people have actually caused much bloodshed in our world and its history, mainly due to one thinking that their way is superior to others. In these writings that I have left here over the past few years I have pointed to Christianity and its teachings and I will continue to do so. However, men have used the claim of being Christians to do many terrible things in the past and I will not deny that. Yet, following Christ and His teachings is the only way to be assured of a place in Heaven.

I am not claiming that Christians are perfect, far from it actually. We all make mistakes, we all screw up, regardless of which religion we claim to follow. Christians have a living Savior who is our model that we attempt to follow, but we cannot do it on our own or with our own strength. When we, as sinners, accept Jesus as our Savior the Holy Spirit fills a place in our hearts and if we listen to His voice, He will guide us in doing His work on earth so that others will see that it is not us doing it, but Him.

Yes, churches are full of hypocrites, and drunks and all sorts of sinners but they are supposed to be! Jesus told the religious leaders of His day that “people who are well need not a physician, but those who are sick”. If you believe that you and your life are doing fine, how can I possibly convince you otherwise? By showing you that I have something that you need. Not by beating you with it or berating you for your lifestyle, but by showing you my life and the One that I follow. If you decide that you want Him too, great! If my witness, however feeble it is, does not convince you that you need Jesus then I have done what I had to do and I will leave you to your life.

No one can force you to believe in Jesus or any other religion, even though some try. The one question I would like to leave you with is this: What if following Jesus is the right path? How will you answer God when He asks you “What did you do with My Son?” If your answer is nothing, that is the wrong answer!

Jesus is the answer. I know that it seems to be a cliché’ but it is the truth. We all have a place in our hearts, in our being that feels empty and we attempt to fill it with something. Yet, nothing fits because the only thing that fits is Jesus and until we ask Him into our lives and our hearts that space will always feel empty. Ask Him into your life and into your heart because until you do your life will always be less than it could be. After He comes to live there, your life will be more than you can imagine!

Oh, and to answer the question that I started with in the title of this entry…the answer is no, religion cannot save your soul or make you righteous in any way. Religion only points you to the One who can do those things and that is…Jesus!

If you repent and turn from your worldly ways….


“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

Our world is in sad shape. Not just in America but everywhere, especially in the Middle East around Israel and north Africa. There are so many people who are dissatisfied with their religion and their life until they are looking for something, ANYTHING that will help in some way! Our lives are tied together all over this world regardless of where you may live. If we turn to the only One who can help, He will!

Give Jesus a chance in your life. He loves you and will come into your heart and heal the brokenness that is there from whatever may have put it there. Our lives don’t last very long in this world but by following Jesus and giving our life to Him, your life will never end.

There are many religions in our world, so many that I won’t try to name any other than the few that I know about; there is Buddhism, Hindi, Islam, Christianity, and Judaism just to name a few. They all have an “end of the world” scenario of one kind or another and each one is similar in some respects. There are other so-called “religions” which were devised by mankind which really don’t count in my opinion so I am not going to name them here. Even though a few that I did mention were devised by men but they are followed by many and are not “fringe” religions.

Our God loves you all because He created everyone of us and did so with a purpose, His purpose. When we wise up and realize that He wants us to fulfill that purpose, we are drawn to Him. Although some of us tend to go our own way and ignore that “still, small voice” which is calling us. Truly, once we are called, we will serve God’s purpose. It may take a while, but He will work us toward His purpose and His calling one way or another. Please, give your life more meaning by accepting Jesus into your heart. You will never regret that decision.