Tag: Satan

Time waits for no one


eternityEvery year you hear someone on television saying that their resolution for the year is to spend more time with their family. It is usually a different person saying this every year but the sentiment and the reality are the same…we feel as if we don’t have enough time. As you get older, the days and weeks seem to go by faster and just mush into one another until, if you are like me, you can barely tell one day from the next.

There are days that I have had to pay attention to the television set or the computer screen just to keep the days separated, so I will know what day it is. I know that those of you who are going to school or work don’t really have this problem because your days revolve around your schedule. But, it is true that time doesn’t wait for anyone. Consider that on New Year’s Day at midnight when the year and the date changed, that specific time period will never happen again.

A few years ago before we got out of the first decade of the 21st century, you could have months where the day, month and year were all the same number. Those won’t recur until another century has passed, and even when they do technology will have changed, our culture and society will not be the same. Nothing repeats itself exactly because once a minute is gone, the things which happened in that minute are in the past.

The best part about our life today is that we, as Christians, serve a God Who can see those seconds and minutes and hours and years even when they have past. Time is not the same for God because He lives outside of time. Just as we will when we are in Heaven. Eternity begins the second that you take your last breath here. One year will be nothing when you are there. Ten thousand years will seem like a day or two, maybe.

Consider where your time will be spent and how much time that you think you have now. Think about your family and friends, where will they be in eternity? Have you considered it for yourself? Don’t put this decision off because you think you have plenty of time, that is a lie from Satan himself and he gets plenty of people to believe it. Those who died the next day thought they had more time. The only time that you have is right now. Make sure that you are absolutely sure and positive about your eternal home. One of them you will enjoy, the other you will not.

When God orders…


“A very poor woman called a Christian radio station asking for help. A bad, evil man who was listening to this radio program decided to make something out of it…. He got her address, called his secretary and ordered her to buy food and take to the woman with the following instruction., “when the woman asks who sent the food, tell her that it’s from the
devil.”

When she arrived, the woman was so happy and she started putting the food inside. The Secretary asked her, ”don’t you want to know who sent the food”?? The woman answered. ”NO , it doesn’t matter, because when GOD orders, even the devil obeys.” The secretary broke into tears.

God is in charge no matter what is happening or what the “news” says about the situation.

Life….


I have written a post with this name before, but not one that has the same message. “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:4,5

Jesus is our Life, our eternity and the Life that takes us into it, so why are we ignoring and ridiculing each other and the message that is in the Bible? Because many people just don’t want to hear the message and the hope that is contained in it and in the message which Jesus brought to us. We need it…all of us, but there are many who think that there are too many rules or they look at our religion as one that has caused oppression, slavery, murder, and many other abominations toward life.

Religion has caused many of these evils in the past, and regardless of the religion that was involved many of the evils committed were laid at the feet of Christianity. Christianity is a religion and many people do practice it under the guise of different denominations but being a Christian is a LIFESTYLE in which you live and walk with Jesus DAILY, not just on Sunday or Wednesday. There is a huge difference between religion and those who practice it in all of its forms and a true Christian.

Just as there is a difference between people who practice Islam and those who actually live by the good teachings of it and those Islamists who practice and live by a form that their Prophet would not recognize were he here.

God, not Allah, is the answer to the world’s problems today but many people don’t want to hear that because they believe that they have the answer and their’s is the only answer regardless of your beliefs! You can become radical about anything…money, power, religion, or any of a dozen other things but being radical about it doesn’t make it the Truth of God!

Why am I saying this today? Because the world is quickly moving in a direction which will lead many people toward a destination which is not the one that they are hoping for. Many religions in our world today take you down a path that is easy to walk and with many things promised to you, if you will just give your life to the teachings of the prophet or the leader or the doctrine being taught. If those doctrines and wisdom don’t come from God and His Word…RUN! Get away from that “church” or “temple” because they are teaching Satanic wisdom and doctrine, and you will pay eternally for it!

Life only comes through the Creator of Life, Jesus the Creator. He is called the Door, the Way and the Life in Scripture and it is through Him that we have access to eternity. Not with our own abilities or our accomplishments, even though we are given those and the ability to accomplish them by Him. You and I cannot work our way into Heaven. It is gained by faith and belief in Jesus. Belief in Jesus comes to each of us by our faith and faith comes from hearing the Word of God, whether you read it yourself or you attend a church which teaches from the Bible!

Life is not just an existence and it is not a drudgery and terrible way of living, regardless of where you live or the system of beliefs that you live by. Life is truly what comes to you from knowing Jesus and His Love in your life, daily! Seek Him out in your life so when this life comes to an end, your Life in Him will truly begin!

Is your life yours?


This is what we think of our lives mostly…that we own it, that it belongs to us and we can do whatever we want with it. If you are not a Christian and you don’t believe in God nor have you given your life to Jesus and asked Him into your heart, then maybe you do own your life. Unless your parents do or your wife or your boss at work does. They do have a certain amount of “ownership” of your time and your life, up to a point. Our life, as we live it, is ours to do with as we please…until we realize that we need Jesus in our life and in our heart. Then we are His.

Why do I say it this way? Because He purchased us with His blood, His death and His resurrection! He paid all of our debts in regards to sin and we are His creation because He knew us before we were ever born into this world! Our purpose in this life, our REAL purpose is to serve Him in whatever way we can. Whether it is as a missionary or a teacher or a preacher or an evangelist. Our work for His Kingdom is to tell others about the gospel, the Good News of His gift of salvation! You cannot earn this gift nor buy it with any amount of work that you claim to do for Him, particularly if the work is done without Him in your life and heart.

Everything that is done prior to repentance from your sinful life and asking Him to cleanse you and make you a new creature if Him has the same value as garbage. In other words…it is worth NOTHING in relation to eternity! Life in eternity is only granted by belief in, and living your days with, Jesus. Remember the story about the thief on the cross? He didn’t have a chance to be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit nor did he have a chance to witness to many people, he only asked Jesus to remember him when He came into His Kingdom. Jesus said to him, “Today, you will be with Me in Paradise.” Because of his belief in Who Jesus was and is, his faith and belief in Jesus saved him from an eternity of punishment. He recognized the Messiah when very few did at that point.

Truly, because of God’s grace toward us, we belong to Him whether we have accepted His grace and mercy through Jesus or not. The unpardonable sin is that we go through life, having heard sermons or read the Bible and know the way of salvation and yet refuse it, sometimes you or someone you know has felt the pull or the voice of the Holy Spirit and just walked away. That is the unpardonable sin which will not be forgiven, especially if you die without ever repenting and turning to Jesus! Think about this, seek Him in His Word, listen for the Spirit speaking to your heart, pray about it and ask Jesus to come into your life and change you. Then live your life as a testimony to Him and about Him until you are called to Heaven by death or by the Angels. Just don’t wait like Satan wants you to, because his lie is that you have plenty of time yet your time may be up tonight or tomorrow!

Changing times…


The world and everything in it is changing. The problems which we have to deal with, the good and the bad things which happen every day rarely give any of us a break in our lives. How can we handle so much change from day-to-day? With prayer and seeking God it is possible but there are many people in the world who either refuse to do that or they just don’t believe in God in the first place. Have you ever noticed the stars or the pictures taken by the Hubble telescope? Our universe is not an accident! The stars and their galaxies were placed by God in their orbits and in their places so that we could wonder at His power and majesty.

This world that we live on was put here specifically for our benefit with just the right amount of oxygen and nitrogen to sustain life. This didn’t happen by accident either. The placement of the outer planets and the comets were planned and placed for God’s majesty and for our wonderment. Why? Because we cannot explain these things away with mathematics and calculus. Philosophy and mankind’s intellect can’t explain these collections of stars and gases nor can it explain our own chemical make-up. No amount of education can explain the chemical signals which produce emotions like love or hate or rage and we never will!

They are out of our grasp but one day we will know as we are known by Him. How do I know that? Because it is in His Word! God said so and the world and everything except us was formed by His Word. He specifically came to the garden and formed man from the ground, with His Hands not by His Word, that is why we are fearfully and wonderfully made!!

One of the most worrisome beliefs that I hear about and read about today is that there are many (only 2 to 5% of the population) who either don’t believe in God, are not associated with any religion or who just choose not to associate with an organized religion. That is fine and you are entitled to your opinion, but don’t expect me or any other believer to stop believing in Jesus and the Bible just because you don’t! As I have stated many times before, disbelief or not believing in something or Someone doesn’t get rid of them!

Yes, our culture has changed drastically in many ways over the past fifty or sixty years, but God is still real and so is Satan. Two opposing sides trying to either save mankind or drag as many into hell as possible, the choice is ours. We are not automatically damned to hell, unless that is our choice, and we don’t get a free pass into heaven either. Many do believe that if a child dies before they are old enough to make a rational and conscious choice then they do get to make that choice in the presence of God. Whether that is true or not, I don’t know because it isn’t revealed in the Bible.

Change is coming soon, though I am not sure of the severity or magnitude of that change but it is coming.

What is your view of the World?


Is it evil or good or somewhere in between those extremes? Do you see much of either during your daily commute or at work? In many ways, our world is exactly the way that we have made it. Cruel, uncaring, apathetic toward anyone with a different opinion or belief than you, because yours is right of course! So, what can we do to make our world and the people in it more caring toward one another? Honestly, I really don’t know the answer to that at all. Because we are flawed human beings, we do the best that we can with what we have. If we were taught a set of beliefs and morals then we will act accordingly. If we came up in the slums of Rio or Delhi, orphaned and alone, then we will possibly be like animals, take care of yourself first and foremost and don’t worry about anyone else because they certainly won’t care about you.

There are other places and cultures where we could grow up in a much different set of circumstances and depending upon the beliefs and the comfort that we lived in while we were growing, our values and outlook would be different still. As some researchers have proven in the past, it really is more nurture than nature when it comes to our culture and values and our beliefs or lack of them.

So, can this horrible situation in which the world stands on the brink of our next war, world-wide though it may be, be solved and fixed satisfactorily by an ordinary man? I very much doubt it! Humans will do things and agree on things only if it serves their purpose. Our world is under the control of Satan and his forces and they are causing all kinds of evil in our world, yet God will not allow them to go any further than He allows. We see prophecy being played out in the world and on the news every day, whether you believe it or not this is happening today. Griping about it won’t solve anything, electing an official who shares the same agenda as the last President won’t solve our problems either. Getting back to worshipping God and learning about His ways from the Bible will help get us on the right path. But, there is no quick fix for any of the problems in our world today. 

God does have the answer, but many in the world today will not like it and they won’t enjoy it at all. When the church is taken up into Heaven and the world descends into the chaos which will follow, those who come to power at that time will bring their answer and many will accept it. But…it is a lie, a ruse, one that will plunge the whole world into a war that many millions will die in and that time is also foretold in the Bible, it is called the Tribulation. It isn’t a made up fantasy, it is a time that will purge the world in some ways and burn the world in others. Please, turn to God and give your heart to Jesus before the trumpet sounds and many Christians are taken up.

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.…” 1 Thessalonians 4:16

 

Huddle up!


In the game of football much of the game’s outcome depends upon what is said and done during the huddle. Of course, the talent that each player brings to the team counts a lot as well, but if each player listens to the plan and follows it, the plays will go as well as they can, depending on how the other team interprets your formation and your strategy.

In life, we have a much harder problem because our enemy can see into our minds just as well as God can. Satan and his cohorts can get into your mind and manipulate you in ways that appeal only to you and your desires. This is why we are instructed to put on the “full armor of God” so that we can be more successful in our life while following Christ. The full armor of God is shown to us in these scriptures:

Ephesians 6:11-18 King James Version

11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

These pieces of armor are only good if you place your life inside of them each day. Neglecting to do any of this can cause you to stumble, which we all do, but make sure that you get up and pray asking God to strengthen you and give you the wisdom and courage to follow Him every day. God emptied Himself into human flesh in order to make a way for us to become His children. He gave His life on the cross so that we would not have to go through the punishment and pain associated with a life that rejects Jesus as Savior.

Some people see God as being outside of the universe and outside of time and He is, but He is also present here. Some may say that with all of the evil in the world, where is God? Think of it this way: without an ultimate, pure, and Holy God there would be no option for evil. In some ways, the idea of a balance is right except when you look at an Asian Yin/Yang symbol there is good and evil on both sides. That is not how the world is nor is it how God designed it to be, there is good and evil…period.

The picture below shows what I am talking about. There is only one or the other, they don’t mix and there isn’t a little of one on either side. We are given a choice and many choose one side or the other, you can’t stand on the middle line and claim both. Yet, many people try to actually live on that line until they find that theScreen shot 2012-07-23 at 10.49.14 AMy can’t live there. You have to choose one or the other, you can’t wobble over here one day and then change sides and to back to the other.

God loves us that is why we have a choice in life simply because you can’t force someone to do something, like love you. Trying to make someone do something which they don’t want to do would be similar to giving a cat a bath or putting water back into a bottle while it is being poured out. Unless the cat has been trained to allow you to give them a bath, you will be needing medical attention before the bath is over!

We are God’s creation, made in His Image or as it is said in Genesis, “let us make man in Our image” since God is a Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We are the only part of creation which God actually used His hands to mold and shape the clay from which He fashioned mankind. Some may wish to ask “when will evil be taken out of this world”, the only answer that I have for that comes from the book of Revelation. At the end of the millennium of Christ’s reign on Earth, there will be one last battle and Satan’s forces will be crushed. Then the White Throne judgement will occur and all of those who sided with Satan and did not seek Jesus in their lives will be cast into the lake of fire for eternity. That will be the end of evil as we know it.

Seek Jesus out in the Bible and learn of Him, ask Him into your life and ask for His forgiveness, then follow Him until He comes again or until the end of your life. Yes, there will be trouble and trials, even with Him in your life, but the reward in Heaven will be so much sweeter!

Life…again!


You know, there are many people in the world that think that we just cease to exist in any form after we die. Not true at all! God can’t lie and He speaks about life after you die. Jesus said that God is the God of the living, not the dead. Your life, your spirit keeps on living long after your death. Think about this, when Jesus was transfigured on the mount in front of His disciples, He met with Moses and Elijah and spoke with them! Both had been dead for hundreds of years and yet the disciples could recognize them! They were talking with Jesus!

God gives each of us a body, a soul and a spirit. The body dies at some point in our lives, but the spirit lives on and if you are a Christian so does your renewed soul! The essence of who you are lives on into eternity, especially if you are a Christian because you have Life everlasting through Jesus! If you are not a Christian…then your spirit goes to a place of torment for eternity. Your choices take you there, not God. God’s love is still shown toward you in that it is your decisions which have condemned you, not Him.

He loves the person, the spirit that is you regardless…but He doesn’t love or even like the sinful choices that we sometimes make. Which, if you die in your sinful condition having chosen NOT to give your heart to Jesus, then those sins actually convict you and send you to a place outside of God’s realm, into hell. It has many names right now. Outer darkness, Hades, hell, but the part that is most painful is the torment that you are in because of your choices!

We have been given and shown God’s grace by the life that we have here, the blessings that most of us enjoy and because we have been given the choice of following Jesus while we are here or we can choose not to follow Him and live life by our rules. Something that many don’t take into account is that you are responsible for what you have heard and learned while you are living. What does that mean? It means that if you went to church or Sunday school or Bible school growing up, from that point on you are responsible for all of the messages about salvation that you have heard. Even if you live to be 100 years old and you begin going to church when you are fifty, if you have never asked Jesus into your heart and life and you die at 100 then you will be sent into outer darkness away from God’s presence.

Sounds terrible doesn’t it? If you have spent fifty years being a faithful church attending “Christian” why would you be sent to hell? Because, you never gave your heart to Jesus. Going through the motions doesn’t mean anything. It is like going to work and sitting at your desk looking at Facebook all day, looking like you are doing something and then coming home. What did you accomplish? Nothing. You went through the motions of “working”, but you never accomplished anything unless you were confronted and forced to type up something. Jesus said “many will say to me ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we do great things in your name? And I will say, depart from me because I never knew you”.

Sad words to hear from the One Who could’ve saved you from the torment to come.

God’s viewpoint


The title sounds a bit grandiose doesn’t it? How could I possibly know anything about His viewpoint? Well, if you read the Bible which was inspired by His Holy Spirit you can find His viewpoint on many different subjects. Life, love, hate, anger, fear, jealousy, foolishness, adultery, the list could go on and on. He gives His view on these things in a format that is similar to an instruction manual. Some of the books rattle on about how the priests are supposed to carry out their work, but somebody had to tell them!

God views each of us as a child, His child. Those who are following Jesus are adopted into His family because they have washed their sins away by accepting the atonement and His grace. It is a gift which we can’t do anything to purchase or add to because we have nothing to purchase it with on our own! God gives it to us freely, all we have to do is realize that we are sinners and that it is His grace and the blood of Jesus which will save us from an eternity in hell.

Many people will think that, “God wouldn’t send you to hell for your mistakes if He loves you so much.” He doesn’t send you there, it is a consequence of your decision NOT to accept Jesus as your Savior which sends you there. It pains God to see us refuse a free gift which provides us with an eternal home that otherwise we couldn’t have. The love of God is deeper than we can imagine just as the hatred of Satan for us is far deeper than we could imagine.

God sees us when we make all of our decisions, good or bad, and He sees the results of them before we do. That is why we should always consult Him in all things, seeking His guidance and direction first before we make a mistake. If you could step outside of time and see all of the mistakes that you have made and where you could’ve made a difference in your life or someone else’s but didn’t, you would understand how God sees all of us. The difference between us being able to see those mistakes and God seeing them is that, if you are a Christian, He can work out your bad mistakes so that you will make a better choice the next time. Sometimes, He will take you down a path that will bring you to a better place or choice than you had hoped for.

Think about all of the lines and paths that God can see each of us walking, good or bad, and how He can guide you and me without being intrusive so that our decisions still turn out for our good and His glory! Read the Bible because it gives us wisdom to live by, advice in our time of need, and hope for a better tomorrow with Jesus as our Savior.

 

We have a lot to do….


There are many young people and some older ones who have lived their lives without Christ. WE, as Christians, have to tell them about Him. This is not a request, but it is a command from Jesus written in the gospels. Christians have turned the other cheek and been quiet long enough and the only way that they will know, that many more will find out about their Savior is if we do our part and get the message out to them! I know that today, even in the USA, Christians are being targeted as hate groups because of our beliefs which come from the Bible. This treatment will likely get worse in the near future, but we must push our fear aside and tell others that the Hope that they are looking for can only be found in Jesus.

Why should we do this? Because of God’s love for us, because He gave His Son up to be the Lamb, perfect and unblemished, as the atonement for all who have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, because all of us fall under that category! There is no one on the Earth now nor has there ever been anyone like Christ! Failing Him and His command is not an option in my being. Like the one who blows the trumpet on the wall to let everyone know about an enemy outside the gate, I want others who follow Jesus to begin to let your friends know, let your family know about Him! We are held accountable for the Truth that we have heard and read in the Bible, therefore we can’t be silent and we shouldn’t be.

If you could save your friend from certain death, wouldn’t you do it if it were in your power? If it were your child or your parent, you certainly would if possible! We are coming to the end of the age of grace, which we have been under for almost two thousand years. Evil is spreading in the world, anti-Christian speech and laws are being passed and reported on around our country and in other parts of the world. The world that most of us grew up in has changed so much in character until it is barely recognizable as the same anymore. It’s not the same as it was, it is much worse!

Television shows and talk shows are bringing up subjects that are occult in nature, much of what is on TV does not fall into the “wholesome” family category anymore. It seems that just in the past fifteen years that it has become harder to find entertainment that is good for the family to watch together anymore. The Internet itself is a place where kids can find anything that they want online, even if mom and dad don’t approve of it. They can bring it up on their phones or their tablet or any connected device available to them.

Even many of the books and games offered on Amazon and other “toy” stores are occult oriented as are many of the games on the Internet. Children don’t think anything is wrong with tarot cards or other occult and witchcraft oriented games or books. Some are innocent to an extent, but if the door to the occult gets opened a crack, many things which you don’t want in your house will have access to your home and to your children.

Read God’s Word and ask for Him to help you understand the wisdom contained in it. Give your heart to Jesus and lead your family in prayer and study of the Bible. The strength and protection that He can give you and your family is needed in these times.