I was watching the movie, "Apostle Peter and The Last Supper". A very good and poignant movie about Peter before he was martyred upside down on a cross because he felt he was not worthy to die the same way as Jesus Christ. There were many thought provoking lines in the movie, but one that stood out was at the end, as Peter was being led to his 'death'. He said something that resonated in my soul. He said, "Take me to Jesus, and be quick about it." Wow, Peter knew his physical death was imminent and that it was not going to be a pain free death either. We don't know for sure what Peter said before he died, but we do know that he went boldly to his death because he knew that death was just a door to his Lord and Savior; that death was just a transition to his eternal peace and joy.
So many today claim to be Christians, but if the truth be told, how many of those "Christians" when faced with a certain and cruel death, would continue to claim Christ or would they deny Him. There are some who were faced with this very choice; 21 brave men in Libya who were cowardly beheaded for- not stealing, or raping, or murdering-; no, they were ruthlessly killed because they WOULD NOT DENY CHRIST! and so many more saints around the world have been killed and are being killed now, and if not killed, they are harassed, they are beaten, they are jailed, their property destroyed, all because of their faith in The One True Savior, Jesus, the true Lion of Judah, King of Kings, Lord of Lords. The fact that people believe in killing another because of their 'belief', not their actions, but what a person thinks about in their head, that the Bible is ABSOLUTELY TRUE! "Oh but what about the crusades?!" It is ridiculous to charge true Christianity with the crusades. The fact that those people killed and tortured people if they would not covert to Christianity PROVED they were NOT real Christians!! True Christianity is responsible for the hospitals, the orphanages, the soup kitchens, the homeless shelters, the end of slavery. Jesus Christ said you would KNOW His true followers by their fruit- the fruit of TRUE Christians is love and sacrifice. Christians are to pray for God to 'teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom' because as James proclaimed in James chapter 4 verse 13, "Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will* go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is EVEN A VAPOR that appears for a little time and then vanishes away." Tomorrow is NOT promised To ANYONE. Each day is a blessing from God, but we don't know when our last day on this earth will be. Jesus has a warning for all who play the middle/sit on the fence, those who say, "I will seek Jesus when I am older, I want to have fun now and I want to build my empire." The warning is in a story, in Luke 12 chapter 12, Jesus spoke another parable, "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?' "So he said, 'I will do this: I will will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods, 'And i will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your EASE, DRINK, and be MERRY." "But God said to him, 'FOOL! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided." "So is he who lays up treasure for himself and not rich toward God." So ask yourself, are you ready to die today? If you were given the choice to deny Christ or be killed, what would you do? Will your answer be, "Take Me to Jesus."? If you can't answer that question today, this per the Word, shows your faith is in question. That is not me saying this, that is God speaking. Don't rest in unbelief, do everything you can to get to the bottom of why you can't answer this question. You don't want to gamble your eternity on a maybe. There is going to be a Day of Judgment, and God will judge everyone who has ever lived, His wrath is going to poured out on all the wicked and ungodly. The Good News is Believing in Jesus saves us from the righteous wrath of God. But that is not all, He gives us a new heart and mind NOW, and we receive some of His blessing from heaven NOW and are equipped to be able to live a life that is holy and acceptable to Him NOW. 1. Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is real, He lived and died and rose from the grave. 2. Believe that you are a sinner, repent-turn from your sins and realize and accept you need Jesus. 3. Confess that Jesus is your Lord and God 4. Find a local Bible preaching church that does obey the commandment for water baptism for the remission of your sins and to identify yourself with Christ. This is just the first step to a lifelong journey of growing in truth and love with the God who created this earth and everything in it, including every human being that has ever lived. Bible verses related to this post: Luke 12:16-21; Psalms 90:12; James 4: 13-14
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I already know that most will ignore this message or scorn or mock it. I am not writing anything new. There have been watchmen on the wall calling for America to repent for over 50 years. David Wilkerson, D.L Moody, Billy Graham, and many other contenders for The Faith. People don't want to know the truth. How do I know? Because it has been proven over and over through out the existence of mankind, people don't want to hear the truth. They would rather live their lives as if they will continue on forever, unchallenged. All people want to here today are "kumbaya" messages and the prosperity gospel. Most people only want to talk about the love of God. Most like to skip, ignore, and disbelieve the numerous parts of the Bible that clearly talk about God's wrath and absolute hatred of sin and His coming Judgement. Why I am repeating a message that is hated and ignored and has been and is being repeated by many others? Because I am to follow God, and not man. God calls all His people to WAKE UP! and the commission is not over, Jesus commanded His true followers to go out into the world and tell THE WHOLE GOSPEL. The writing IS on the wall for America and the world. "MENE, MENE, TEKEL...MENE-God has numbered the days of the United States reign and will bring it to an end; TEKEL-The United States have been weighed on the scales and found wanting". Destruction is on the horizon. The age of grace is quickly coming to an end. I know the Bible is true. I just have to turn on the TV, read the newspapers to see the predictions of the Bible made over 3000 years ago have come and the rest are coming true before my very eyes. What prompted this blog post was yesterday, I was reading the news stories, so many stories that prove we are in the 'birth pains' Jesus warned His people about in Matthew chapter 24, but a few stood out. The first story, According to the World Health Organization, 25% of pregnancies in the world end in abortion; that 56 million babies were killed by abortion between 2010-2014. 56 million innocent baby's blood is crying up to God! Bloodguiltiness is upon all the nations who shed innocent blood. This is just one indictment against the US and the world. Another story was interesting about the poisoned river Ganges in India. According the reporter this river is one of the largest in the world, but it is now on the brink of extinction. It is polluted with human waste and toxic chemicals from man made machines. What really stood out to me was a portion of the article about how the Hindu's worship this river, a quote from the article,"Hindus revere the Ganges as a god, They believe she came down from heaven to Earth, and that bathing in her waters can wash away sins." The only thing that can wash away mankind's sin is the shed blood of Jesus Christ! I am not surprised that India is currently having the worst drought and heat wave than they ever have. The issue of pollution is happening all around the world, you can't breathe in China, you can't swim in Rio, unless you don't mind getting any number of diseases. In fact according to the World Health Organization pollution is every country around the world. The Bible tells us that when innocent blood is shed it pollutes the land, the whole world is guilty of killing all those babies, the whole earth is polluted. Another story that caught my eye, was about the epidemic of opiate use related deaths in America. According to statistics, someone in America dies every 19 minutes from an opiod related drug over dose. Every 19 minutes someone loses their life to get high. The very chilling fact is this phenomenon is only in the United States. The United states is known to have not the largest population in the world but the US is the biggest abuser of all drugs and alcohol in the entire earth. There are millions of Americans who are not contributing to society but instead are addicted to either drugs, alcohol or both and the lifestyle that comes with being an addict in no way contributes to society other than keeping jails/prisons and hospitals overflowing. Why is that in America where we have every luxuries, more freedoms, more opportunities, but millions of people use drugs/alcohol to escape from what ever reality they believe they can't handle? Despite ALL the medical knowledge that is now available about how drugs work on the brain/body, millions still try and get addicted to mind altering drugs and alcohol. So knowledge obviously isn't really the answer to the problem.
My heart was very heavy after I read these articles, and as I thought about all the other sad and heart wrenching stories of murder, war, genocide, abuse, human trafficking, disease, pestilence, and killing of innocent blood, I said in my heart with tears, "How long oh Lord, Holy and True before you avenge the death of the babies and your saints on and all the vile abominations committed by those who dwell on the earth?" I said my prayers and went to bed. I woke up unexpectedly early the next morning, and a name came to my mind. I know it was from the Holy Spirit, the name was 'weeping prophet'. I sat up, thinking, the weeping prophet, who was that? I do study my Bible but for the life of me I could not remember which prophet was the weeping prophet, so I googled 'weeping prophet' and who popped up in the search was Jeremiah. I thought, "yes, now I remember." The google search had brought up verses in the middle of the book of Jeremiah, Chapter 31 verses 27-34, but I decided to start reading from chapter 1, I read through the first verses but my heart stopped when I got to verse 11 and started reading: "Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, "Jeremiah, what do you see?" And I said, "I see a branch of an almond tree."....And the Word of the Lord came to me the second time saying, "What do you see?" And I said, "I see a boiling pot, and it is facing away from the north." Then the Lord said to me: "Out of the north calamity shall break forth on all the inhabitants of the land. For behold, I am calling all the families of the kingdoms of the the north,"Says the Lord; "They shall come and each one set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, Against all the cities of Judah. I will utter My judgments against them concerning all their wickedness, because they have forsaken Me, burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands" 11-16 The pronouncements did not stop there. On through chapter 2, starting at verse 7, "I brought you into a bountiful country, to eat its fruit and its goodness, But when you entered, you defiled My land and made My heritage an abomination. The priests did not say, 'Where is the Lord?' And those who handle the law did not know me; The rulers have transgressed against Me; The prophets prophesied by Baal, And walked after things that do not profit." This is America! The nation started out by Christians trying to escape oppression and to have the right to worship God freely, but it did not take long for the evils of slavery and the murder of the Indians to stain the land with innocent blood. But goodness tried to over come the evils, but the evil seed was laid and now it has hatched. Our rulers have passed laws contrary to God's law: 1. They have legalized abortion- "..Do Not kill the innocent and righteous" Exodus 23:7 2. They have legalized same sex marriage and 'common law' relationships-" "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. IT IS AN ABOMINATION." Leviticus 18:22; "Therefore God also gave them up to their uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie...for this reason God gave them up to VILE passions, for even their women exchanged the natural use for what is AGAINST NATURE. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is SHAMEFUL." Romans 1:26-28 3. The preachers today prophesy and live falsely and God's laws and truth are no longer in the school systems, the entertainment industry, or the government-"And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filling with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgement of God, that those who practice such things are DESERVING OF DEATH, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them." Romans 1:28-32 4. The pride of the flesh, the pride of life and lust of the eyes are the moral values of most Americans today. God is getting ready to pull back His restrainer, and just like in Jeremiahs day, God once again is giving His people time/mercy to return to Him, by giving His warning message through people like me and the others with the same message REPENT!. God promises to heal its backsliding if this nation will repent, humble itself and return to God, but if not He comes quickly and NONE will stand or prevail against the True and ALL Powerful and ALL Mighty Wrath of God! There is going to be a Day of Judgment, and God will judge everyone who has ever lived, His wrath is going to poured out on all the wicked and ungodly. The Good News is Believing in Jesus saves us from the righteous wrath of God. But that is not all, He gives us a new heart and mind NOW, and we receive some of His blessing from heaven NOW and are equipped to be able to live a life that is holy and acceptable to Him NOW. 1. Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is real, He lived and died and rose from the grave. 2. Believe that you are a sinner, repent-turn from your sins and realize and accept you need Jesus. 3. Confess that Jesus is your Lord and God 4. Find a local Bible preaching church that does obey the commandment for water baptism for the remission of your sins and to identify yourself with Christ. This is just the first step to a lifelong journey of growing in truth and love with the God who created this earth and everything in it, including every human being that has ever lived. Bible verses related to this post: Matthew 24; Deuteronomy 19:10; Numbers 35:33; Romans Chapter 1, Exodus; resources: www.bbc.com/news; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_polluted_cities_in_the_world_by_particulate_matter_concentration http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/11/health/sanjay-gupta-prescription-addiction-doctors-must-lead/?iid=ob_homepage_deskrecommended_pool There is a common saying, "Sitting in a garage doesn't make you a car, just like sitting in a church building doesn't make you a real Christian". The same goes for those who call themselves pastors/fathers/ministers/preachers/reverends/apostles or any other name-just because they have gone to seminary school and can quote bible verses doesn't mean they are true followers of Christ. It is sad that many people don't believe in Jesus because of the false teachers way of living. The mansions, the planes, the expensive cars, the lavish lifestyles are the basis of disbelief in the Christian message and Christian way of life. If anything the fact that some of these 'preachers' live the way they do just proves the bible is true. Jesus had a lot of choice words to say to the Pharisees of His day. And none of it was good. The Pharisees were concerned with external and material things. They may have 'said' they worshiped God, but Jesus told the truth when He described the Pharisees/Sadducees/Teachers of the law.:
The Word of God stands in severe judgement of those who would use the Gospel of Christ for personal and monetary gain. Jesus was talking to the Pharisees and scribes when He proclaimed, "These people-the teachers/preachers- draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart if far from me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." And Jesus warns His followers to 'beware' false doctrines/teachings. What is also bible proving is the fact that Jesus clearly states church leaders are NOT to be called 'teacher, rabbi, or father' and yet many religious leaders call themselves teachers/father/ and rabbi. There are many false doctrines today, no time or space to cover them all. The 'get rich' with Jesus teachings is one the most common false doctrines. Jesus instructs His followers and leaders to be humble servants, not storing up treasures on earth, but storing up treasures in heaven. False preachers may have the 'best' life now, but they will be judged more harshly in the coming Day of The Lord. False teachers/preachers and their extravagant lifestyles is not an excuse to not believe in Jesus or the Bible. It just proves what the the Bible says, the heart of men are evil, and the only thing that can fix it is a heart transplant, God removes the heart of stone and replaces it with a new heart; and this surgery is only done by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. There is going to be a Day of Judgment, and God will judge everyone who has ever lived, His wrath is going to poured out on all the wicked and ungodly. The Good News is Believing in Jesus saves us from the righteous wrath of God. But that is not all, He gives us a new heart and mind NOW, and we receive some of His blessing from heaven NOW and are equipped to be able to live a life that is holy and acceptable to Him NOW.
1. Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is real, He lived and died and rose from the grave. 2. Believe that you are a sinner, repent-turn from your sins and realize and accept you need Jesus. 3. Confess that Jesus is your Lord and God 4. Find a local Bible preaching church that does obey the commandment for water baptism for the remission of your sins and to identify yourself with Christ. This is just the first step to a lifelong journey of growing in truth and love with the God who created this earth and everything in it, including every human being that has ever lived. Bible verses related to this post: Matthew 8:16:5-12, Matthew 6:19, Matthew 18:1-4, Matthew 23:7, Matthew 23:14 Hell, a place, a curse word, an adjective. Not many preachers today talk about the reality that there is an actual hell. The way many pastors/preachers and parishioners, and the unsaved live, they don't believe there is a hell either. They don't believe that a loving God would send people to hell. There is a false belief that everyone goes to heaven. There is a false belief there is no heaven or hell. The Bible refutes all of these seriously erroneous assumptions. "Jesus accepted all, He ate with sinners, and He approves of any lifestyle." Where did this belief come from? Jesus clearly warned that a person who sins will NOT inherit eternal life, but eternal damnation. Many preachers don't talk about hell giving excuses like "it scares away members, people don't want to hear about hell. 'Hell fire and brimstone' preaching is not relevant in today's culture". This could not be further from the truth. The truth is if you don't have a saving faith in Jesus Christ, you should be afraid, actually you should be terrified, because Jesus described hell as very horrible place. We can't understand or really know how bad it is unless we actually die and go there. Then it is too late. There is no second chance like many falsely believe, that there is a way to get out of hell. Many make fun, making stupid statements like, "Send me to hell, I'll be okay". Really? Jesus made some very chilling statements about hell. In some instances He said it was better for a man to NOT HAVE BEEN BORN rather than going to hell. This is not a message that will lead to happy feelings. It's not meant to. Jesus died so that NO ONE has to go there. It is a CHOICE. You can choose to believe and follow Jesus or you can choose to believe and follow Satan into the hell that was prepared for him and his angels. God never meant for humans to go to hell, it was for Satan and his angels. But if you want to follow Satan, you will suffer the same consequences as him. God doesn't force us to choose. It may feel that way, many say, "why can't God just accept me for who I am and let me in heaven anyways?" God is a HOLY God, heaven is a HOLY place, no sin or evil can be there. Just think about the earth now, with sin running amok, What difference would there be in heaven if sin was allowed to be there? That is the POINT, heaven is paradise, no pain, pure pleasure beyond our imagination, NO EVIL!! BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO DO HIS COMMANDMENTS AND THEIR NAMES ARE WRITTEN IN THE LAMB'S BOOK OF LIFE THAT THEY MAY HAVE THE RIGHT TO THE TREE OF LIFE AND ENTER THROUGH THE GATES OF THE ETERNAL CITY OF GOD WHERE THERE IS NO MORE DEATH, OR PAIN, OR SUFFERING Many will say To Jesus in that day, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name,cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then I, Jesus Christ, will declare to them, I NEVER KNEW YOU! Depart from me you workers of lawlessness! CURSED ARE THE UNBELIEVING, LAWLESS,FORNICATORS, IDOLATERS, ADULTERERS, HOMOSEXUALS, THIEVES, THOSE WHO COVET, DRUNKARDS, VERBAL ABUSERS, EXTORTIONERS, SEXUAL IMMORAL, MURDERERS, LIARS, SORCERERS, CHILD ABUSERS, THE COWARDLY, HYPOCRITES THESE WILL BE CAST INTO THE FURNACE OF FIRE AND BRIMSTONE THAT SHALL NEVER BE QUENCHED, WHERE THERE IS NO REST DAY OR NIGHT, THEIR THIRST WILL NEVER BE SATISFIED THERE WILL BE WAILING AND GNASHING OF TEETH
Only God can help a person to truly change. It is the supernatural, mystical help of Jesus Christ that is available to anyone who will believe. The Good News is there is going to be a Day of Judgment, and God will judge everyone who has ever lived, His wrath is going to poured out on all the wicked and ungodly. Believing in Jesus saves us from the righteous wrath of God. But that is not all, He gives us a new heart and mind NOW, and we receive some of His blessing from heaven NOW and are equipped to be able to live a life that is holy and acceptable to Him NOW. 1. Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is real, He lived and died and rose from the grave. 2. Believe that you are a sinner, repent-turn from your sins and realize and accept you need Jesus. 3. Confess that Jesus is your Lord and God 4. Find a local Bible preaching church that does obey the commandment for water baptism for the remission of your sins and to identify yourself with Christ. This is just the first step to a lifelong journey of growing in truth and love with the God who created this earth and everything in it, including every human being that has ever lived. Bible verses related to this post: Revelation 22:14-15, 1 Corinthians 6:9, Mark 9:45, Revelation 21:4, Revelation 21:8, Revelation 21:27, Matthew 7:22-23 It's nothing new. The name of God has been blasphemed since the beginning when sin entered and spread throughout the human race. God has many names, but is still One. God's names are not just common nouns or descriptions. There is actual power in the names of God. God took His name very seriously, making it one of the 10 commandments. The 7th Commandment, "You shall not take the of the Lord your God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain." Exodus 20:7. What was the penalty for treating the name of God flippantly? Death. You did not get a trial or get to give an excuse, you were killed immediately. Jesus Christ is God and the same rule applies to His name as well. It was 'In The Name of Jesus' that the blind received their sight, the physically disabled were healed, demons were cast out. There are many bible verses about how you treat and use the name of God.
The Name of God is HolyThere are so many verses about the holiness of God, Everything about God is Holy. Who He is, What He does, His Name. I will only quote two of them. "The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, Who Was and is and is to come!" Revelations 4:8. Psalm 111:7-9 The works of His hands are faithful and just; all His precepts are trustworthy. They are established for ever and ever, enacted in faithfulness and uprightness. He provided redemption for His people; He ordained his covenant forever– Holy and awesome is His name. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His precepts have good understanding. To Him belongs eternal praise. Storing Up Wrath to ComeWhy to people today think that God is no longer concerned about His Laws or statutes? Why do the people not fear or respect the name of the Lord? Where is the zeal for righteousness? According to studies on the faith of the American people, over half of Americans claim to be Christians. Really, over half? So how is it that the movies, the songs, the books, the shows that use the name of Jesus as a curse/swear word are even able to be produced, sold, or watched? The entertainment industry is based on what the people want. They produce and distribute what the people will pay money to go see or do. It is just amazing, the fact that in so many movies and shows and books that Jesus Christ is frequently used as a curse word or an exclamation of frustration. Why are the 'Christians' not protesting, boycotting these modes of entertainment? Oh we rationalize our involvement with these shows/books, etc, many justify their actions by saying, "well I'm not saying His name in name. it's just entertainment." Do you really think God is ok with His people watching and supporting entertainment that blasphemes His name? "For we all must appear before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each one may receive according to what he has done in the body, whether good or evil." 2 Corinthians 5:10 God holds people responsible for colluding with evil. In Numbers chapter 25, a few of the Israelites had given sacrifices to a false god. Not only were the specific offenders killed, but the whole congregation was plagued and 24,000 people died! What stopped the plague was one man who had the righteous fear of God; the man stood up for God and killed the one's who had started the sin in the first place. One man turned back the wrath of God, this man was zealous for God and His laws. Where are those who are zealous for God today?
God has not changed His view of Himself or His expectations on how His people are supposed to act.
There is going to be a Day of Judgment, and God will judge everyone who has ever lived, His wrath is going to poured out on all the wicked and ungodly. The Good News is Believing in Jesus saves us from the righteous wrath of God. But that is not all, He gives us a new heart and mind NOW, and we receive some of His blessing from heaven NOW and are equipped to be able to live a life that is holy and acceptable to Him NOW. 1. Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is real, He lived and died and rose from the grave. 2. Believe that you are a sinner, repent-turn from your sins and realize and accept you need Jesus. 3. Confess that Jesus is your Lord and God 4. Find a local Bible preaching church that does obey the commandment for water baptism for the remission of your sins and to identify yourself with Christ. This is just the first step to a lifelong journey of growing in truth and love with the God who created this earth and everything in it, including every human being that has ever lived. Bible verses related to this post: 2 Corinthians 5:10, Numbers Chapter 25, Psalm 111:7-9 Luke 1:46-47 Psalm 99:1-3 Revelations 4:8. It is so easy to forget just how AWESOME God is. In our day-to-day lives we tend to take for granted all that He has done and what He continues to do for His creation. Partly because of our technology, we have become desensitized about sin and God. On this last day of March 2016, I want to praise God, The Great I AM, The Lord of Lords Jesus Christ for He is GREAT, HE is OMNIPOTENT, HE is ALL POWERFUL, ALL GLORIOUS, EVERLASTING ! I praise You God for Who You Are: You are eternal, beyond our human understanding, You existed before all things were made and all things were made through You. Just with a thought, a word from You, the worlds, the universes, everything was made. There really are no human words to describe how powerful You are. We humans lack the mental capacity to understand what real power is. It's ludicrous to compare anything of human hands to the workmanship of You All Mighty God. Your signature is on all of creation. I praise You God for creating this World: You spoke and the worlds and the sun and the moon and the uncountable stars and gravity and the universe came into being. I thank you for the statistically impossible fact that all of this could not have happened by chance. I thank you for creating a perfect earth that is the only planet that can sustain human life. I thank you for creating a perfect position of the world that if we were too far from the sun we would freeze; if we too close we would burn up. I thank you for creating the perfect atmosphere that if the elements for air were off by just a little margin, human beings/animals would all die. I thank You for the change in seasons. For the light that never goes out or needs to be replaced. I praise You God for creating human beings: I praise you God for creating a perfect human race. You formed skin, bones, complex internal systems, the brain, heart-everything from the dust of the ground! There are not enough pages to thank You for the wonderful human body. The DNA strand that is so amazingly 'organized', The brain that processes over a million messages in a second! I thank you for the brain in which we can reason and think and feel. The eye that can process millions of images in seconds. I praise You God for Your Love for Your creation: You God are the Alpha and The Omega, The Beginning and The End, You ,already knowing how mankind would reject You, went ahead and created everything anyways. You give good blessings to your creation despite the fact that we Dishonor You, Blaspheme You, Ignore You, Disobey You, Curse You, Reject You and Your free gift of eternal life through Your Son Jesus Christ. Thank you for doing what we could not do for ourselves, by sending Your Son Jesus Christ to die in our place for our wickedness and sinful state, we now can be reconciled to You. Only God can help a person to truly change. It is the supernatural, mystical help of Jesus Christ that is available to anyone who will believe. The Good News is there is going to be a Day of Judgment, and God will judge everyone who has ever lived, His wrath is going to poured out on all the wicked and ungodly. Believing in Jesus saves us from the righteous wrath of God. But that is not all, He gives us a new heart and mind NOW, and we receive some of His blessing from heaven NOW and are equipped to be able to live a life that is holy and acceptable to Him NOW. 1. Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is real, He lived and died and rose from the grave. 2. Believe that you are a sinner, repent-turn from your sins and realize and accept you need Jesus. 3. Confess that Jesus is your Lord and God 4. Find a local Bible preaching church that does obey the commandment for water baptism for the remission of your sins and to identify yourself with Christ. This is just the first step to a lifelong journey of growing in truth and love with the God who created this earth and everything in it, including every human being that has ever lived. Bible verses related to this post: Revelation 1:8, Genesis Chapter 1 Resources: http://www.everystudent.com/features/isthere.html
I was shopping in my local grocery store when I came across this in the magazine stand near the check out line. Newsweek's Special Edition 'Spiritual Living'. The Holy Spirit was stirred within me as I picked up the magazine. From the cover I already knew this was not going to be any 'new' revelations. In fact from the start, the listing of what was inside gave a clue as to what was inside of this 'special edition'. The old saying, "There is nothing new under the sun" is very apropos here. "Psychic awakenings", "Healing Stones", "Tarot Cards". "Find your inner self, you are gods", The Devil has not changed his tactics, not one bit. From the very beginning he has been tempting mankind with the promise that we can "be like God", that we can find happiness without God. Many people are looking for spiritual enlightenment. just look at the thousands if not millions of different religions, sects, doctrines, theories. The common, satanic mantra is, "all roads lead to god". Why do I label this as satanic? Because it is a false belief that is leading many down a road to eternal damnation. It is undeniably clear, there are not many ways/roads to God, there is only ONE way, and that is Jesus Christ! Jesus said clearly and repeatedly, He is the Truth, not a truth, but THE Truth; He said I am THE Door, not a door, Jesus said, I am THE Way, not a way. There is no other name, doctrine, belief, god/entity, religion that reconciles sinful man back to the Holy and Righteous God. NONE. No other person or deity died, undeservably, shed their blood or gave of their life for mankind other than Jesus Christ. Mohammed didn't do it, Confucius didn't do it, Ghandi, Buddha,nor any other. They are ALL dead in their graves, and yet their false doctrines and false beliefs live on through those who don't know the truth or the true God. The 'new spiritual awakening' is not new, it is an ancient set of false promises and false hope. "Free yourself", "Become one with the universe", This magazine reports to have"The secret to Peace and Happiness", Is it really a secret? Well I guess some could say, yes it is by looking at all the unhappy people in the world, including some of those who call themselves Christians. It's really sad, many spend hundreds and even thousands of dollars on the pursuit of happiness, and yet people are more depressed and suicidal than ever in history. That is one the reasons many people enter into therapy, "I want to be happy". And Satan loves when people are unhappy, because he can temp those who want to be happy with what ever their heart desires with the thing they think will make them happy. There is no question about what true happiness is in the Bible. I will end with this. Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, summed it up perfectly when he said, after experiencing EVERY pleasure known to man, that it was all just vanity-USELESS, so what is the true secret to peace and happiness: "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: "FEAR GOD AND KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS!" Only God can help a person to truly change. It is the supernatural, mystical help of Jesus Christ that is available to anyone who will believe.
The Good News is there is going to be a Day of Judgment, and God will judge everyone who has ever lived, His wrath is going to poured out on all the wicked and ungodly. Believing in Jesus saves us from the righteous wrath of God. But that is not all, He gives us a new heart and mind NOW, and we receive some of His blessing from heaven NOW and are equipped to be able to live a life that is holy and acceptable to Him NOW. 1. Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is real, He lived and died and rose from the grave. 2. Believe that you are a sinner, repent-turn from your sins and realize and accept you need Jesus. 3. Confess that Jesus is your Lord and God 4. Find a local Bible preaching church that does obey the commandment for water baptism for the remission of your sins and to identify yourself with Christ. This is just the first step to a lifelong journey of growing in truth and love with the God who created this earth and everything in it, including every human being that has ever lived. Bible verses related to this post: Genesis 3:1-5, Ecclesiastes 12:8-14, John 10:9, John 14:6 Every human being is born with the same sin nature we inherited from Adam, the first man created by God. As we grow up, our growth as individual persons is nourished, developed and molded either for the kingdom of God or a kingdom without God, and the kingdom without God belongs to Satan. Every human being is born with a heart, I am not talking about the physical heart that pumps blood, for this post, I will be discussing the spiritual heart. Craig von Buseck from CBN provides a simple description of the heart:"Man was created with spirit, soul and body...Genesis 2:7 states that Man was created as a loving soul. The soul consists of the mind, the conscience, will, and emotions. The spirit and the soul mysteriously combine together and make up what the Scriptures call 'the heart'. "
The Bible has a lot to say about the heart of man whom do not know God, and none of its good as shown by just a couple of verses: "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; Who can know it?" Jeremiah 17:9 "From within, out of the heart of man, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness." Mark 7:21-22 It's really mind blowing that so many try to ignore God, His Word. They proclaim that we don't need God. They foolishly believe that man will 'evolve' into some Utopian Star Trek society. You don't have to be a rocket scientist or fortune teller to see what the world would look like if God did not exist. Just look now at the world, the cities, the countries now and since the beginning of time. After thousands and thousands and thousands of years, centuries, MAN IS DOING THE EXACT SAME THING IT HAS BEEN DOING! Why? should we not be 'evolved' into a better society by now? Oh, wait, there are some who blame it on religion. If the religions would go away, then society would be perfect. This is another stupid belief. Most religions, (not the ones who tell their followers to kill/destroy other people) promote harmony, giving, civility, peace, humility, obeying the law, being a good person. So what then is the real reason we can't get away from wars, poverty, crime, abuse, and all other problems that plague the human race? Why are we not at peace with all the technology we have? It's a HEART issue! One truth that is irrefutable, from all the histories of mankind, the stories in the Bible, one fact that is true about mankind, we are IRREVOCABLY incapable of saving ourselves! We are so deeply in need of a savior, it is ludicrous to think we can get better without God. The hearts of man are evil. Why are we surprised at the murders, the rapes, the abuses, the hatefulness, the selfishness. The Bible says that these type of behaviors are because of the heart. A heart that is closed off from God. But the killer part is that we are all born with a desire to know God too. It is this war within, commonly pictured as the devil on one shoulder and God on the other. Our sin nature battles against God's nature. Paul talks about this internal battle in Romans chapter 7, how he battles within himself to do the good thing but ends up doing the bad/evil thing even though he knows the law. He notes that is the sinful flesh that dwells within him and the only thing that can deliver us from wicked selves is through Jesus Christ our Lord! Because God gave us freewill, we choose which nature to nurture. Now the truth that many don't want to accept is that the battle is not on equal grounds and we have to have help from God to change our hearts. The devil is not as strong or stronger than God. The devil is just another created being, but he is powerful. The heart is powerful as well. It can't be changed by human will alone. Why do you think it's so hard to change? Every New Year, millions declare their New Year's Resolution. A majority will go back to the same old within a few months. Most statistics about change rate that only 10% of people actually change when they have set out to change some behavior. The United States has the highest prison population,and those on parole in the entire world. The US, where food, entertainment, all kinds of pleasures are available, and yet millions of men and women are in prison for various crimes. The US is the largest consumption of illegal substances and alcohol. Any product sold is about supply and demand. The only reason the drug cartels make and sell their drugs is because there is a demand for them, especially in the US. If a life without God is so wonderful, why are the young people still trying cocaine, heroin, and the other drugs? If life is so good with all the food, entertainment, and pleasures, why are millions depressed, anxious and many take their lives? The reason is simple. Man was made in the image of God, and even though man sinned, God still offers man a life with God, but God is a gentlemen, He does not coerce or force Himself on anyone, He wants a willing and humble heart. He offers fellowship and blessings and a new heart and new mind. This heart and mind is able to live righteously as is best for human beings. This is a free offer, you don't have to work for it, you accept and receive. But most reject this offer. And although they do have a part of them that does want God, their conscience leads them either away or towards Him. But when they walk away from Him, the guilt and shame that arrives from living a life without God, chains up the heart. The behaviors that one knows is wrong, leads to more guilt and shame. And instead of turning to God, they try to ignore the guilt, they try to distract themselves from the guilt, many drown the guilt away with alcohol or disconnect from their feeling with pills and other drugs. It's not just with drugs, mental issues develop as well: rage, criminal pursuits, bitterness, hatred, pride, this drives a person to work more, get rich, climb the social ladder, have the most sex partners, but the more they get the unhappier they become. It does not matter how much someone smokes, drinks, injects, how big their bank account, how many partners they have, IT WILL NEVER FILL THAT PART OF THEMSELVES THAT WAS MEANT FOR GOD! Only God can help a person to truly change. It is the supernatural, mystical help of Jesus Christ that is available to anyone who will believe. The Good News is there is going to be a Day of Judgment, and God will judge everyone who has ever lived, His wrath is going to poured out on all the wicked and ungodly. Believing in Jesus saves us from the righteous wrath of God. But that is not all, He gives us a new heart and mind NOW, and we receive some of His blessing from heaven NOW and are equipped to be able to live a life that is holy and acceptable to Him NOW. 1. Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is real, He lived and died and rose from the grave. 2. Believe that you are a sinner, repent-turn from your sins and realize and accept you need Jesus. 3. Confess that Jesus is your Lord and God 4. Find a local Bible preaching church that does obey the commandment for water baptism for the remission of your sins and to identify yourself with Christ. This is just the first step to a lifelong journey of growing in truth and love with the God who created this earth and everything in it, including every human being that has ever lived. Bible verses related to this post: Genesis 2:7, Romans 5:12, Romans chapter 7 resources: http://www1.cbn.com/questions/what-are-the-three-parts-of-man 1 YEAR, 12 MONTHS, 365 DAYS, 8760 HOURS, 525,600 MINUTES, 31,536,000 SECONDSThere are 24 hours in a day and 168 hours in a 7 day week. Stop right now and think about how you have spent the last few days. Many will have put in eight or more hours at a job. Some may have been caring for children. What ever activity you have done, it takes time. We take time for granted. Time is one of the most valuable assets every human being has and yet we treat it like worthless trash. We think we have all the time in the world, but the harsh and cold truth is we don't know if today is going to be our last day on this earth. Jesus talked about the serious error of treating time like garbage, In Luke Chapter 12, starting at verse 16: "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully, and he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?', "So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods, 'And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take it easy, relax; eat, drink and be merry." "But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?" We now are a 'world of fools' Fool, that is what God calls a person who spends most of their time on earthly pursuits rather than things of God. . According to Nielsen's Total Audience Report, Americans aged 18 and older spend at least 11 hours watching TV, listening to the radio, or using their smartphones or other electronic devices. 11 hours out of a 24 hour day minus 8 hours of sleep, minus 8 hours work leaves a negative balance "-3", which of course doesn't exist, we only have 24 hours in a day not 27. So how much of this time is Gods? In reality, ALL of it. God loans us our time here on earth. And it is such a very short time at that. How about those who call themselves Christians? Surely they are spending a majority of their time on spiritual and godly things. Well, the sad truth is professing Christians are no better stewards of their time than non-believers. According to American Bible Study's Barna Group State of the Bible research from 2014, 88% of households have a bible, but 46% don't even read the bible, 53% only read the bible 3 to 4 times a year. Only 15% of bible owners actually read their bible daily, 13% read scriptures weekly. The average bible reader spends an average of 30 minutes when they do read the bible. This is just an average, some spend less some more, but most people spend 30 minutes of the 24 hour period reading the bible. Why the Bible? Now bible reading is not the only 'spiritual activity'. But it is a major one. There are so many scriptures about the importance of the Bible, one of those verses is 2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. How can you know what God commands if you don't read His instructions? What does God say about how often and how much time we should spend on His Word? Is it just a few minutes or just a few times a year? No, this is what He says in Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Wow, think about this verse, if we study and meditate on His word day and night and learn to follow His commands and laws, we will be prosperous and have good success. God's Word=Success. Strive for Success. Being successful is a goal of many people, they strive for their dream job /career, their dream marriage, the house, the car, the white picket fence, or a life of ease, partying, playing games, and being entertained; and when they achieve these things they think that are successful, they've 'made it'. PARTY, CLIMB THE STEPS TO SUCCESS, THE AMERICAN DREAM Actually that is what the world praises people for, 'oh they are so successful, look at them, they are rich and have everything.' But God has a completely different opinion about what is 'successful', the truth is He has some very harsh words for those who think they are 'rich and successful' and don't need God.
"Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing, Jesus reveals their true state, "you don't know that you are wretched, miserable, poor blind, and naked." The End of The Matter. We waste time, we have our priorities upside down, we take time for granted, we take the mercies of God for granted. But thank God He is a merciful and forgiving God. There is a time to live and a time to die, but in between those two ends is our duty to live a life that is pleasing and acceptable to God. Are you building treasures in heaven where thieves can't steal or break in; or are you heaping up coals of judgement by laying up treasures on this perishing earth? One day we all will have to stand before God to account for EVERYTHING done/said in the body. Do you really think He is going to say, "Well done good and faithful servant for: watching 11 hours of tv or texting playing games, or Good Job for working 80 hours a week on your job, or Good Job for partying every weekend at the club." 24 hours in day, but what are you doing with the time God has mercifully blessed you with? I end with a word from God, "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." Ephesians 5:15-17. We only can find what the will of the Lord is by reading His Word! The Good News is there is going to be a Day of Judgment, and God will judge everyone who has ever lived, His wrath is going to poured out on all the wicked and ungodly. Believing in Jesus saves us from the righteous wrath of God. But that is not all, He gives us a new heart and mind NOW, and we receive some of His blessing from heaven NOW and are equipped to be able to live a life that is holy and acceptable to Him NOW. This is just the first step to a lifelong journey of growing in truth and love with the God who created this earth and everything in it, including every human being that has ever lived. Bible verses related to this post: Luke 12:16-21, 2 Timothy 3:16-17,Joshua 1:8; Revelation 4:14-18; Ephesians 5:15-17; Colossians 4:5, Matthew 6:33 resources: www.statista.com; http://www.americanbible.org/uploads/content/state-of-the-bible-data-analysis-american-bible-society-2014.pdf An alpine tundra is a type of region found on mountains all over the world, one set of mountainous alpine region known around the world are the Himalayas. Tundras are described as harsh climate areas that have below freezing temperatures and are exposed to radiation from the sun, high soil eroding winds. But yet, in this not-life supporting area, something beautiful grows. Different species of flowers bloom on the mountain sides and in the dark valleys. When I think about these flowers surviving despite the harsh conditions in which they grow, it makes me think of life and people. In our lives we are either climbing up or climbing down a mountain, or wading in the valley of a mountain. The problems and struggles we endure are our mountains. Pain and loss is another mountain many struggle to overcome. Jesus knew a lot about pain and suffering. God in His awesome wisdom has had a plan since the beginning of time to rescue mankind from themselves. That plan was fulfilled in the great mystery of the trinity of God. God The Father, Jesus the Son, and The Holy Spirit. Now this is not a lesson on the triune God, Just acknowledging the entire Godhead in the plan of salvation. Jesus Christ came in the flesh of man to earth. This was God, the Creator, the invisible and omnipresent utterly 'other' being who became like His created, a human being with the physical limitations, the heart burn, the bodily functions. Can you really imagine what that must have been like? Coming from Heaven, paradise to a fallen, diseased, filthy earth? But He did. And He did not come in His splendor or in a royal palace surrounded by fine linen and servants. He, who was a King of Kings, came instead in squalor. Jesus had a tough break from the time He was born. Instead of getting to be a bubbling happy baby, He was was having to be hidden away because an evil king wanted to kill him. For most of His life no one understood Him. His parents even though Mary and Joseph understood where Jesus had come from (God), they still did not understand Him as evidenced by the only other passage of scripture we get about Jesus's childhood. Luke, Chapter 2starting at verse 41, "His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He, Jesus, was 12 years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast." Now think about this time. Thousands were in Jerusalem for this feast. And we can assume that Jesus traveled with a large number of people because they traveled in pacts and it tells us in verse 44 that they traveled with relatives. After the feast was over, Joseph and Mary and the rest of the family headed back to Nazareth. A whole day had passed before they realized Jesus was missing. Three days they searched for Jesus; Jesus was found not playing with other children, He was found in the temple of God, listening and asking questions. Here we get a glimpse that Jesus was not like other kids. But how did Mary and Joseph react? Did they say, "Oh, we knew you would be in Your Father's house". No, they were frustrated that He had abandoned them. They did not understand who Jesus was. Throughout Jesus's ministry, He was misunderstood. Although He healed the sick, gave the blind their site, raised the dead, and offered them eternal paradise, and offered them freedom from their life of sin, His own disciples turned their back on Him, He was beaten savagely , and then they Crucified Him. Jesus took humankind's place and was the sacrifice for ALL SIN FOR ALL TIME, Jesus incurred the righteous wrath of God and He bled and died so that His creation, which is irrevocably and permanently incapable of saving themselves, could be brought back into a loving and forgiven relationship with The Father, The Creator, The Great I AM. Even now, today, Jesus is still calling, saying come to Me, you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Jesus promises to never leave or forsake you. Jesus is quick to forgive and restore you. There is no issue or problem that Jesus does not understand. In this world we will have trouble, but we don't lose hope because we know that Jesus has overcome the world. Jesus says, in Mark 11, "if we say to this mountain 'fall into the sea' and we don't doubt and just believe we will have what we ask for. At times, some mountains won't be changed, just as Jesus prayed to His Father that He not go to the cross, Jesus Christ obeyed, with a willing heart the will of God, and He went to the cruel cross of Calvary. Your mountain is nothing compared to what Jesus suffered. With these type of mountains, we can only climb up and down or rest in the valleys. But the good news is, He is with us where ever we may be. You can strive and grow like the beautiful flowers in the Tundra. 1. Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is real, He lived and died and rose from the grave.
2. Believe that you are a sinner, repent-turn from your sins and realize and accept you need Jesus. 3. Confess that Jesus is your Lord and God 4. Find a local Bible preaching church that does obey the commandment for water baptism for the remission of your sins and to identify yourself with Christ. The Good News is there is going to be a Day of Judgment, and God will judge everyone who has ever lived, His wrath is going to poured out on all the wicked and ungodly. Believing in Jesus saves us from the righteous wrath of God. But that is not all, He gives us a new heart and mind NOW, and we receive some of His blessing from heaven NOW and are equipped to be able to live a life that is holy and acceptable to Him NOW. This is just the first step to a lifelong journey of growing in truth and love with the God who created this earth and everything in it, including every human being that has ever lived. Bible verses related to this post: Matthew 2:13-18; Mark 11:23-24; Matthew 11:28-30; Luke 2:41-50; Matthew 26:39; 2 Corinthians 5:21 |
AuthorErica Harris is a God Gifted Christian Coach, Counselor, providing insights and truths from the Word of God, The Bible. Archives
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