Grateful thanksgiving

The Bible tells us to be thankful in our lives, even during hard times. It is something that we find hard to do because you can’t understand why. Why do I have to be thankful for the hard times in my life? Consider the grace that we have been given by God. We don’t deserve it, but He has given it to us because He loves us.

Grace and being grateful go together because you can’t have one without the other. God gives us grace through faith in Jesus Christ and as we live as Christians we become so used to having grace in our lives…we take it for granted. Be thankful for God and His love for us because He loved all of us many years before we were born.

Being thankful every day because you woke up this morning. Be grateful for today because God has given it to you and He wants you to tell someone about Jesus and what He has done for you. He loves you and has provided a way for you to gain entrance into Heaven one day and that door is Jesus Christ. Ask Him to come into your heart and change your old heart into a newborn heart that is loving, grateful and thankful for every blessing that you have received from His hand.

Because one day, Jesus is coming in the clouds for His Bride and when He does, the world will see Him and they will see that the Church is gone. The news that day will be terrifying because the Holy Spirit is gone too and the evil in the world will now have nothing to hold it back. Make sure that you have given your life to Jesus and that your heart has been changed today. Because, life will be so much sweeter and everlasting when you are in Heaven with Him one day.

Endure through the hard times

The world is going through some hard times today. How we get through them is not only our responsibility but it is also our witness to others who know us and our beliefs. Christians have a Savior to lend a hand with our trials. We can lean on Jesus and His teachings when our lives get a bit rough during illness or family troubles or financial troubles. Most of the world does not have that. Many people in America and around the world only have their family or themselves to get them through troubled times, regardless of the severity of the trouble may be.

Those who find themselves in a real fire-fight like during war or during tribal problems have to rely on their wits and their neighbors to get through these times and very often it isn’t enough. Sometimes it takes more faith than we can imagine to get through even one night of ideological skirmishes and attacks. God is close to all who have faith in Him and in Jesus and the joy that comes with that is something that most people can’t understand. Especially during physical attacks and war because faith in God gives us comfort for our eternal life but it doesn’t take away the fear and anxiety of today or tonight.

Comfort from God comes from the strength we get from our faith in Him regardless of our circumstances right now. Seek to know Him as your Savior and your King because one day He will appear to take His Bride, the church, home to be with Him. The true joy that we have in Jesus is knowing that as long as we are His in our hearts and live like we are ready to die to be with Him, there is nothing in this world that can take that away from us.

If…

If God doesn’t exist? Really?! How can you possibly believe that there isn’t a God? Life in the universe, or even the possibility of it, wouldn’t have been possible if He didn’t!

There are many things in science, particularly regarding the universe, that prove His existence without a doubt. The position of Earth from the Sun, for one. If the Earth were just a few miles closer, it would be too hot for life to be here. If our Sun was just a little bigger, there wouldn’t be life here. There are so many other details about the constants in the universe that would’ve caused our universe to just be full of hydrogen if it was just a tiny bit different. All of these are out there on the Internet to find, I can’t list all of them.

My point is, God’s influence in our universe is necessary for just our planet to be able to support life as we know it. He created all of it, but He put us here and made many of us smart enough to build and use telescopes so we could ask these questions. So that we would wonder about how all of this was put together and why.

God allows us to ask questions about His existence because He made us that way. Some of us will believe in Him and His plan for our salvation and some of us will not…and that’s okay. He already knew which one we would choose. But He gives us that choice. Why? Because He loves each of us. You can’t force someone to love you or to depend on you, but when they see the reason behind your love for them and read it in the Bible, many people will walk down the aisle and accept Jesus as their Savior by faith.

A relationship that is built on love and compassion is one that will grow deeper as time goes on. A relationship that is forced is one that will grow bitter with hatred not love. God doesn’t force anyone to serve Him or do as He asks. Angels even have the free will to love Him or not, but many of them do. We have free will to love Him and there are many in our world who do and they know that He loves them. If God did not exist then our culture and the people on Earth would’ve destroyed each other long ago. Most of the prophecies in the Bible have come true already. If you are looking for a Savior, seek to know Jesus Christ. If a “man in white” has told you He loves you in a dream, seek out someone who can tell you about Him. Don’t turn away from a life with Him as your Savior.

The entire Bible is a love letter written by men who were being used by God to tell others about Himself.

Where will you be?

In our society today, where do we see ourselves in five years or even ten? With all of the advancements in artificial intelligence in the past two or three years…will there even be a human race left in a decade and if so, how will our society look at that time?

God is still in control, regardless of the advance of technology and how swiftly it is moving to supplant humans and our own cognitive ability by dumbing us down when we rely on some AI bot to teach us and inspire us and in some cases “be our friend”. Society will change rapidly and in the wrong direction if we allow AI to become our counselor.

What will become of humanity in the next decade? Only God knows for sure. According to some pundits, AI will either bring unrivaled health and advances in medicine or it will be used against us, maybe not in a militaristic way, but just as our replacement in the job market. Then how will we live?

It is a question that was part of the book 1984 and it is scary and humbling in the extreme. The best and most anticipated event for me is the calling of the church to go to heaven. Yes, it is called the rapture but that word isn’t found in the Bible. The wording in the Bible refers to snatching away or in some chapters it is “taken to the third heaven”. Either way, I’m looking forward to that most of all.

God loves us regardless of our intent of embracing technology more than we do His Son. I pray that many of you will seek Jesus as your Savior soon because the world will get more dangerous after the Holy Spirit is taken to heaven with the church. Please, don’t wait. We are not guaranteed to have tomorrow so make sure you know Jesus as your Savior.

How can we rejoice with thanksgiving?

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18: “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

I know that the Thanksgiving holiday is coming up soon…like in a couple of weeks, but how can we be thankful in the climate that is against Christians in America and around the world? First…don’t question God about your situation. You are there in that place for a reason. Good or bad, it will be a blessing for you and you will give glory to Him for it.

Why do I say this? Because my life was a mess while I was growing up. If you don’t want to read a portion of my life story, stop reading now. My parents divorced when I was five. My Dad brought us home to my grandparent’s place, parked the trailer there that we had been living in with him and left. From that point on through the seventies and eighties my emotions were all over the place.

I thought that nobody wanted me and that’s the way I lived from day to day. From the first grade on through high school I pretty much kept to myself. I made friends but I didn’t join any “groups” in my class or participate in sports. I didn’t like school…period. I started drinking when I was in the ninth grade because there was a place in town that you could get whiskey as long as you had the money. So, every Friday night I told my mother that I was going to the football game. I did actually go but I wasn’t there for the game, I came to get drunk. Most of the time I slowly drove home and I was not caught being drunk until I wrecked my Mom’s car one night.

To make a long, boring story short, my teenage years weren’t much fun. After I graduated, I worked for the first summer with my Dad in Florida while Irby was putting power lines through the Everglades. Hot and sticky doesn’t describe how those swamps felt during the summer of ’79. I did attempt to go to a junior college that fall but I drank more than I studied, so I quit after the first semester and joined the Air Force. Still looking for a place to fit in.

I won’t bore you with life after all of this because it was up and down for many years until I got married to a wonderful girl and a few years after that we had a baby boy. That is when God got my attention. I had given my life to Jesus a few years before my son was born but I didn’t know how to be an example for him and that is the “job” that God wanted me to take on. I began studying the Bible and praying about being a good example. Of course, the answer was to be more like Jesus.

Why have I written this way today? Because, the young people in America and around the world need to know Jesus. They need to see grown-ups living out their faith. Yes, there have been revivals since Charlie Kirk was killed and there will likely be many more because young people are hungry for Someone real to follow and Jesus can fill that empty space that I felt years ago and that many feel today. Your life can have an impact on someone. Make sure that your impact is one that Jesus would approve of. Make your life into a discipleship of following Jesus so that others will want to follow Him too.

My brief testimony about the lonely life I had due to a broken home shouldn’t impress anyone and I doubt that it will, but I pray that anyone who reads this would seek to know Jesus as their Savior. He is the One who can bring joy to each of us in the good times and during bad times too. God loves us and sent Jesus to pay for our sins so that we might be forgiven if we only place our faith in Jesus for our salvation. It requires nothing on our part except for belief in Him for our salvation. Begin your new life with Him today so that you will be in His family for eternity.

Where are we?

Today and most any day, the news has much to talk about…in spurts. A few words here and there, then they put on commercials about some drug that will help you lose weight or lower your cholesterol. It doesn’t seem to matter much about where the news comes from or who it may be about. Most of the time the few blurbs that you hear are so random until I can’t tell if it is actual news or not. It doesn’t seem to be important news, just a few words between commercials.

Nobody seems to be looking at the world and what is happening with a lens through the Bible. We are living in prophesied times and it seems that 99 percent of the world couldn’t care less. There are Christians being killed in Asia and Africa almost every day but you never hear about it, unless someone from a Christian news agency happens to report on it. Even then, most people don’t pay much attention to it.

The world around us is being controlled by a Satanic worldview but nobody seems to care about that either. The church doesn’t even talk about it much anymore. We should be at least praying for those Christians in countries where they are persecuted and killed for their faith.

One day soon, Jesus is going to come back to get those who believe in Him. Those who have died and those who are still alive will be changed in the blink of an eye and taken out of this world. When that happens, the world and those left here will know that the Bible was the Truth and that they were left behind. Some in the churches will be left, but they will know what happened. It won’t be long after this that the world will be seeking a leader who will take their fears away and bring “peace and safety”.

For a few years, everything will look good but it won’t last. Seek your salvation in Jesus Christ today because we are not promised tomorrow. He could come for the church at any time, make sure that you are a part of it before the Trumpet blows.

Where are the disciples?

Before Jesus left He told His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations; teaching them everything that He taught. We have taken the gospel to many nations but have we discipled them? Have we taught them how to carry their good news to others? In some places we have, but it would seem that it hasn’t taken the world by storm given the time that we have had over the past two thousand years.

Even in America, where we have the freedom to believe and worship however we want to, it seems that the church has dropped the ball on discipleship. What happened? The answer is this: the enemy has twisted our gospel and we, the church, have allowed it to happen. We have been afraid of being labeled as extremists or radicals, but Jesus was labeled that as well and His followers too.

So…what’s keeping us from taking His message to the other side of the street or to the next town? We shouldn’t be afraid of rejection because Jesus told us “if they will not receive your message, shake the dust off of your shoes and move on”. Thank them for their attention and wish them a nice day. God knows those who are called by Him and their hearts will be receptive to the gospel.

God calls those who will receive His message and if some don’t, then take it to someone else. Eventually you will find someone who is actively looking for a peace that can’t be explained or a Savior that will change them from who they are into the person He knows they can be. Carrying a grudge against someone only hurts you, so give your heart to Jesus and allow that grudge to be taken away. Let God fix that part of you that was hurt so you can be His regardless of the past.

Tell people about your encounter with Jesus and what He has done for you. Eternity is just up ahead, make sure it will be with Jesus. Our lives here are only a small part of the training, make sure of where you will spend the rest of your life. Will it be with Jesus or without Him?

Doctrine…

Our country has so many different religions in it. Most are good religions and some do good things all over the world. But when you cling to a “doctrine” that is written by men and then the religion clings to that doctrine as if it came from God’s…then your “church” has a problem. A doctrine can cause all kinds of problems because it is written by men and many of these doctrines don’t have a foundation that comes from the Bible.

Major Historical Doctrinal Conflicts

1. The Great Schism (1054 AD) – East vs. West

Context: The early Christian church was one body for about 1,000 years, but cultural, political, and theological differences grew between the Greek-speaking East (Constantinople) and Latin-speaking West (Rome).

Key Doctrinal Disputes:

Authority: Rome claimed the Pope had universal authority, but the East emphasized a “council of bishops.”

Creed: The West added the phrase “and the Son” (the Filioque) to the Nicene Creed, which the East rejected.

Outcome: Mutual excommunications — and the permanent split into Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.

2. The Protestant Reformation (1500s)

Context: Martin Luther and others challenged practices of the Catholic Church.

Key Doctrinal Disputes:

Salvation: Catholics taught faith + works + sacraments; Reformers insisted on “faith alone” (sola fide).

Authority: Catholics upheld Scripture + Tradition + the Pope; Protestants held to “Scripture alone” (sola scriptura).

Sacraments: Catholics had seven; most Protestants reduced this to two (baptism and communion).

Outcome: Europe fractured into competing denominations, sometimes violently (e.g., Thirty Years’ War).

3. Baptism & Communion Wars (1600s–1800s)

Even within Protestantism, differences exploded:

Baptists vs. Presbyterians over infant vs. adult baptism.

Lutherans, Calvinists, and later Evangelicals disagreed on what happens during Communion (real presence, spiritual presence, or symbolic).

These weren’t just minor quibbles — they determined who you worshiped with, married, or even trusted politically.

Modern Examples

Catholic vs. Protestant: Still divided on authority, Mary, saints, and the sacraments.

Evangelicals vs. Mainline Protestants: Clashes over biblical interpretation (literal vs. symbolic), morality, and social issues.

Pentecostals vs. Others: Disagreements over spiritual gifts like speaking in tongues.

Why Conflict Endures

1. Truth Claims: If one group is right, others must be wrong — and “wrong” can mean eternal consequences.

2. Identity & Loyalty: Belonging to a denomination often ties into family and culture, not just belief.

3. Power & Influence: Churches compete for members, resources, and legitimacy.

👉 So, doctrine causes conflict because it’s never just “intellectual.” It touches salvation, authority, community, and even politics.

Freedom in Christ!

How do we have freedom in Jesus Christ, when the world around us wants to silence our message? Is it possible to keep telling the world that Jesus is the Messiah and the only way to salvation in a world that is trying to bury the message and call it hate speech and lies?

The only way to keep our freedom in Jesus Christ is to spread His message and tell the world His story and our testimonies about what trusting in Him did for us. We can’t back down or back off from the message that Jesus gave us to take to the whole world, regardless of the push-back that is happening today. The world needs to hear this…NOW!!

I’m not sure when the rapture/taking up of the church and believers will happen. Some have said it might occur during the feast days in Israel but only God knows when He will send the call out. The angels don’t know, Jesus doesn’t know and nobody on Earth knows, so don’t believe any “prediction” about it.

How do we have freedom in Jesus Christ? Because of our faith in Him and His own words about coming back to take us where He is. The freedom of Heaven is like nothing any of us has ever known here on Earth. Freedom from pain and hardship. Freedom to seek and ask God questions that we’ve longed to ask and He will answer us even before the question is formed in our mind. We will have the freedom of an eternal home where there is no suffering or death. That is the hope that I am waiting for because I have read about people who have died and visited Heaven for a while before coming back. Their description of children and pets and all of the things that we will have to enjoy in eternity only makes me want to go today.

Life on Earth is only a shadow of the life in Heaven. The colors and the Presence of God’s love for each of us is so much more than anyone can describe. That is why the pale descriptions of God’s throne and heaven itself in the Bible are so limited. Our minds can’t come up with descriptions for the beauty and the majesty there because we can’t compare it to anything on Earth. I pray that anyone who reads this will seek to know Jesus as their Savior soon because this life, this existence will be ending soon. All of the prophecies in the Bible have happened except for the Church/Bride of Christ leaving to be with Him. When that happens, I pray that even more people will come to know Him as their Savior.

Uncommon Love

The thief on either side of Jesus knew that Jesus was innocent and didn’t belong there. He had done nothing that would require death by the cross. Even the priests knew that Jesus didn’t deserve the punishment that they had yelled for but that didn’t mean much to them. They just wanted Him gone because they didn’t see Him as their Messiah. They didn’t want a Savior like Him.

Even His disciples didn’t understand the type of Savior He was until He was resurrected on the third day. Some of them knew that He was the Messiah but He didn’t fit their definition of a Savior. Many of them wanted a military figure to rescue Israel from the Romans. Jesus didn’t come to bring that kind of Kingdom to Israel. That Kingdom would be later when He comes after the Tribulation as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Now, go to the cross and see how the thieves looked at the Messiah. One of them berated Him and was saying the same as some of the priests, “Come down from the cross and we will believe in You”; “Save us and yourself, if you are who you say you are”. The other thief believed that Jesus was innocent and was the Messiah. He asked Jesus to “remember me when you come into your kingdom”. Jesus told him “today you will be with Me in Paradise”.

Believe in the love of God that Jesus showed to everyone during His ministry and ask Him into your life to be your Savior. It sounds too simple, but that is the way to salvation. He is the only way to salvation, so seek Him for your eternal Life!