Sunday, November 20, 2005

ANGELS AMONG US

Hebrews 13:2 (King James Version)
2Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Psalm 34:7 The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.

Psalm 91:10-12 (King James Version)
10There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
11For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
12They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.


When I was a child my family lived in an apartment on top of a building we called "The Floor Store", that was probably the name of the building. One icy morning I started down the outside stairs, which were iced over, and completely lost my balance. I was going to fall from the top of those stairs and there was no way to stop it, but then, unexplainably, I straightened up. Whether it was an angel or the power of God, I don't know, but I do know it was the intervention of God that kept me from falling down those stairs, and that was before I accepted Christ as my Saviour. I think I was more amazed that I just straightened up than I was startled that I was about to fall.

My brother tells me that once when he was angry at me about something he threw a full can of pop at me and at a certain point before reaching me he saw it stop and fall straight down. I don't remember this incident but he has no reason to tell me it happened if it didn't.

Now for my visible angel experience: Again it was a very icy day, my sister and I had an arrangement in which we shared my car to get to our jobs. It was a day when cars were getting stranded all over the place on the icy roads. She managed to get to the hospital where I worked to pick me up, and we were on our way to get her son from day care. We took a route we thought would be salted and passable but we ended up in a lane of traffic that wasn't going anywhere. My sister was almost to the point of hysteria because they would charge an extra day if she didn't pick up her son on time, which she really couldn't afford, and she didn't know what they would do with him if she was very late. I was very uncomfortable with the amount of gas we had, which was less than a quarter of a tank. We prayed, then I noticed that one lane of the traffic moving in the opposite direction was open. I don't remember if I was driving or my sister, but I decided we were going to get in that lane to get out of the stranded traffic. Wouldn't you know a police car was in that lane coming straight toward us. Now we were also probably going to get a ticket. But the police car just moved into the other lane of traffic going that direction and let us go on, we turned at the corner which was a short distance away and were in our proper lane again. We were a little late getting her son but they didn't charge her because of the circumstances. So now we had to get to a station right away and get gas. We started down a little back road that we were familiar with but it was blocked off at the end, we tried to get out of there but my car was stuck in an icy patch. I never learned how to skate and trying to walk on ice is something I dreaded. I didn't know what I was going to do except trust God to get us out of it. We were trying to dislodge the car from the ice, by rocking it, to no avail, when a well dressed man, in a very nice top coat, comes walking toward us, not slipping and sliding, but walking normally toward us from the blocked off section of the road. He asks if he can be of assistance and pushes the car out of the icy patch, then he continues on down the road. We looked back and didn't see him, we managed to back out of there and still didn't see him again. We managed to get our gas and everybody got home just fine. Was he an angel? I think so. Why would a man as well dressed and well groomed as he was be walking down an old side road on an icy day, and have no trouble at all walking on the ice? If I'm wrong, well then one day the Lord will tell me "Pam, that wasn't an angel, just a nice man I sent your way to help you out of a jam."

There were other people God sent along to help me, that may have well have been angels, like the man who wrapped a hose in my car with duct tape that got me all the way from south Texas to Oklahoma City. And many, many peoples who have spoken encouraging words "in season".

One very funny incident of God's help and protection occured when I was walking to school one morning. Several dogs surrounded me and started growling and barking at me. I was frightened, to say the least. Without thinking about or realizing what I was doing, all of a sudden I barked at them and they scattered. To this day I don't know why I barked or why they would run because of it except that God knows how to get his point across to dogs too, even if he does have to speak through people to do it.

This is a link to a site where you can look up scripture references in many different versions of the bible: http://www.biblegateway.com/.

Sunday, October 23, 2005

GHOST BUSTER

Since we're approaching halloween I thought I'd throw in a little about the supernatural.

When I was a child I enjoyed that scared feeling when I heard a ghost story or saw a scary movie. Around halloween we are bombarded with horror films, but now I have no inclination to watch them. Even as a child I couldn't understand the concept of ghosts, even though I knew or heard of people who swore they had seen them. The reason I couldn't understand how there could possibly be ghosts is because when people die their spirits either go to Heaven or Hell. If they go to Hell, there is no way out, they are not free to come back and haunt people. In Luke 16:25-31 the rich man who had died and gone to Hell wanted Abraham to send Lazarus to his family to warn them about Hell because he couldn't go himself, but Abraham told him they wouldn't believe even if someone rose from the dead, inferring that the only way for someone to come back here was to come back as a live person again. If a person's spirit goes to Heaven God wouldn't allow them to come back to scare or destroy people, God has other ways of dealing with people, he doesn't need to send back those who have died.

Ok then, what do people see or experience? I believe it's something. Here's my theory: there are really devils (or demons), the bible has many references concerning people who were possessed by devils. When the person dies, or the devils are cast out of the person, the devils that possessed them are still here, I believe they probably took on some characteristics of the person who they possessed that died or that they were cast out of, so people who think they see ghosts may really be seeing devils that had possessed that person during their life. The good news is devils or demons can be cast out, Jesus and the disciples did it all the time, Christian's do it today. I wouldn't recommend trying this if you're not a Christian or don't know what you're doing, the seven sons of the chief priest, Sceva, tried it in Acts 19:12-16 and were overcome, but not killed, by the demon possessed man. If there were such things as ghosts here on earth there wouldn't be much you could do about them, the dead can't die again. The witch of Endor who supposedly conjured up the ghost of Samuel for Saul in 1 Sam. 28, really just conjured up a familiar spirit or demon who imitated Samuel, because God didn't answer Saul when he prayed, He certainly wouldn't answer him through this wicked woman.

So where did devils or demons come from, the popular opinion is that they are fallen angels, those that rebelled with Lucifer and those that fell in the days of Noah. The problem is these angels are currently bound in Hell (Tartarus) 2 Peter 2:4. I heard Bob Yandian give what I believe to be a credible explanation of the origin of these devils, he suggests they are the spirits of the pre-Adamites who inhabited this planet before it was destroyed and re-created (See my first two posts How It All Began, and How Art Thou Fallen).
http://www.precepts.com, the links are Free Study Materials / Archives / Angels and Demons / The Origin of Demons.

There were a couple of movies I watched in my youth that intrigued me, "The Three Faces Of Eve", starring JoAnn Woodward, and "Sybil", starring Sally Field. These movies were about women who had multiple personalities that caused them to behave in different ways depending on the personality that was manifesting itself at the time. This apparently was something new to the doctors who were treating them in these movies. I soon noticed that people were using "multiple personality syndrome" as a legal defense for horrible crimes they had committed, stating that it was one of their more deviant personalities, not them, who had committed the crime. I thought this was just some scam they concocted in order to be able to commit crimes and get away with it, and in most cases it probably was. Then all of a sudden it clicked, when Jesus asked the demon possessed man in Mark 5 what his name was the devils answered "My name is Legion, for we are many", this man really did have "multiple personality syndrome", but in fact he had many different demons that manifested themselves in many different ways. Psychiatrists and pyschologists who encounter people who really do have "multiple personality syndrome" might do them a world of good by having the devils cast out of them by a bible believing Christian. Just think how many people in Mental Health facilities might be cured if their doctors only knew what they were really dealing with. I am not suggesting, however, that all mental illness is due to the person being possessed by a devil.

When a devil is cast out it wants to go somewhere, it might possess another person, or an animal (in Mark 5, when Jesus cast the devils out of a man called "Legion" they asked to be sent into pigs and Jesus allowed it). If the person from whom the devil(s) are cast out doesn't guard his or her life by accepting Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord it may come back with more devils:
Matthew 12:43-45
43When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
44Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
45Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

A devil can't just decide they're going to possess just anyone they please, the person has to open him or herself up to being possessed by the demon.

Now about halloween, the Celts believed a lord of death sent evil spirits into animals and they went around playing tricks on people. To escape the people wore a disguise so that the evil spirits would think they were one of them, Celtic priests, called Druids, built bonfires on hilltops to frighten the spirits away and even offered human sacrifices. Later Christians tried to change the holiday to "All Hallow's Eve" which means "all holies" or "all the saints" to change the holiday from one of fear to one of joy, celebrating the lives of loved ones who had gone on to be with the Lord. The pagans would have none of it and changed it into "The Witches Sabbath" and they met to worship the devil. This information about the origin of Halloween is taken from a children's book titled "Halloween Is It For Real?" by Harold Myra.

A lot of churches offer safe alternatives to going house to house on Halloween. Many children have been harmed participating in the activity of trick or treating.

This is a link to a site where you can look up scripture references in many different versions of the bible: http://www.biblegateway.com.

Sunday, October 02, 2005

LET ME TELL YOU THE FUTURE

Every prophesy in the Bible, except for prophecies for the future, have been fulfilled. For instance:

1. That Jesus would be born, die for our sins, and be resurrected (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:21-23; Isaiah 53; Psalms 16:8-10; Acts 2:22-40).

2. That the Jews would be dispersed and brought back again as a nation: they returned home and Israel was declared a nation May 14, 1948. No other dispersed peoples have ever come back again as a nation except Israel, the only one that God, in His Word, said would become a nation again. Ezekiel 11:13-20; Isaiah 11:11,12; Ezekiel 36:24-27

3. And do you recognize this...? "Know this also that in the last days perilous times shall come for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof... ever learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. 2 Timothy 3:1-7

4...or this? But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. Daniel 12:4

5. Do you see this coming? This King will make a seven year treaty with the people (Israel), but after half that time he will break his pledge and stop the Jews from all their sacrifices and their offerings... Daniel 9:27 The Living Bible

Have you watched the news lately? The point is YOU CAN TRUST THE BIBLE!

A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE FUTURE ACCORDING TO GOD'S WORD:

The Rapture: There are no prophesies that still need to be fulfilled before Jesus comes to take the Church (those who have accepted Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord) off this planet. For a little more information about this read my previous post "Me, Die? I Don't Think So!"

The Tribulation: After believers are removed from here to Heaven, there will be a seven year period of horrible events on the earth we call the Tribulation, the last three and a half years will be the worst. There will be devastation and destruction as we have not yet seen. Hurricane Katrina won't even compare to what will come. (The book of Revelation in the bible reveals a lot of what will occur during this period, it's also referenced in other books of the bible.) At the beginning of the Tribulation a leader will be revealed, which we call "The Antichrist", though I doubt he'll be referred to that way by the media or the majority of people who are still here. He will offer "solutions" and people will listen and be deceived by him. Some Bible Prophesy teachers have said that his authority will be mainly in the Middle East, but I believe his influence will extend to most nations of the world. He will establish a seven year treaty with Israel which he will break after three and a half years. There will be a lot for him and other government leaders to work with, Christians will be leaving behind a lot of land, property, and goods. Think of what the governments of the world can do with all of that! Anyway you don't want to be here during this time, though there still will be people accepting Christ. I may discuss this period more in a future blog post.

The Second Coming (or We're Back!): Jesus Christ returns to Earth with His raptured and resurrected Saints (riding on horses). He will fight and win a battle called The Battle of Armageddon with Antichrist and his armies. Satan is bound for a thousand years (Rev. 20:1-30). At the rapture Jesus doesn't set foot on the earth but at the Second Coming he's here to stay! Revelation 19:11-21

The Millennium: Jesus Christ sets up His throne in Jerusalem, He will reign for a thousand years and His Saints will reign with Him. There will still be nations and natural people on the earth, they will marry, have children, live normal lives, except better than we can imagine now. Rev. 20:4-6

The Battle of Gog and Magog: Believe it or not, as good as they have it, there will still be rebels on earth. After a thousand years Satan will be loosed and will stir up these rebels, there will be another battle called the Battle of Gog and Magog. Of course the good guys win again and Satan will be permanently terminated. Rev. 20:7-10

The Great White Throne of Judgement: (You don't want to be there!) The wicked dead (or those who did not accept salvation through Jesus Christ) are judged according to their works. The Book of Life is brought out but their names won't be found there. Unfortunately they will never die nor lose consciousness but will suffer endless torment in the Lake of Fire (called the second death). (Rev. 20:11-15 ). I didn't say this the Bible does, it is my desire that everyone, friend or foe, will accept God's free gift of Salvation through Jesus Christ.

New Heavens and New Earth: The earth will be renovated by fire. 2 Pet. 3:5-15 The people of the nations still here will have bodies like Adam and Eve had in the beginning so they can't be destroyed by the fire. The Holy City, New Jerusalem will come down to earth and God will dwell among His people. Rev. 21, 22 There will never be an "end of the world", but it will sure be a lot different than it is now!

Recommended reading: "Dake's Annotated Reference Bible"; "God's Dispensational and Prophetic Plan" and "Prophecy Marches On! Daniel and Revelation" by John G. Hall.

This is a link to a site where you can look up scripture references in many different versions of the bible:
http://www.biblegateway.com/

Saturday, September 24, 2005

ME, DIE? I DON'T THINK SO!

In my job I deal with death all the time. I often hear people say "Everyone has to die sometime". Usually I just bite by lip and don't say anything, other times I just tell them "I don't intend to die". They either give me a surprised expression, a "you must be a lunatic" expression, or an "I know you're just kidding" expression.
Occasionally I get an "I know what you're talking about and I'm with you" expression like we're part of some secret club that shares information no one else knows. The fact is the information is available to everyone who wants to believe it.

1 Cor. 15:51-58 NLT 51 But let me tell you a wonderful secret God has revealed to us. Not all of us will die, but we will all be transformed. 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, the Christians who have died will be raised with transformed bodies. And then we who are living will be transformed so that we will never die. 53 For our perishable earthly bodies must be transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die. 54 When this happens -when our perishable earthly bodies have been transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die -then at last the Scriptures will come true: "Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" 56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. 57 How we thank God, who gives us victory over sin and death through Jesus Christ our Lord! 58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and steady, always enthusiastic about the Lord's work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.

We call this the "Rapture" of the church, the "catching away". If you think the hurricanes hitting the Gulf are horrendous, they are nothing compared to the horrors that will happen after the church is taken off this planet. The period after the Rapture is called the tribulation period. The book of Revelation tells much of what will happen during that time. Believe me!!!, you want to go in the Rapture, you don't want to be here. The tribulation period will last seven years, with the last three and one half years being the most horrific. While this is happening on earth, the resurrected and raptured saints in Heaven will be having a great celebration and feast.

Some call the Rapture "escapest theology". You betcha!!! God is known for keeping his children from disasterous situations. He had Noah build an ark to avoid the flood of his day, he had an angel guide Lot and his family away from Sodom before He destroyed it, he has warned many Christians in this day and age not to get on planes that eventually crashed, or to be in restaurants where shootings occurred, etc., they listened and obeyed and lived to tell about it.

I have heard all my life that "He's coming soon"! I've always believed it would be in my lifetime. Many, many Christians have a deep "inner knowing" that we are living in the last of the last days as we know them now. There will never be an "end of the world". God has plans for this place, which I will discuss in other blog posts yet to come.

One day, most likely in your lifetime, there will be headlines that read something like "MILLIONS MISSING ALL OVER THE WORLD". Hopefully you will not be here reading those newspapers. I pray you will be one of those "missing". Don't worry though, you'll be celebrating and feasting if you are.

Friday, September 16, 2005

WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME?

Face it, this life can be rough! The bible says that the Devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1Peter 5:8).

The fact is we have everything to gain and nothing to lose when we accept Christ as Saviour and Lord. (Galatians 4:9) indicates that before we become Christians we are in bondage to weak and worthless elemental things. (1Peter 1:18-19) states that we were not redeemed from our vain manner of life with corruptible things like silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. Until we accept the salvation Jesus Christ offers us, we are separated from God. He offers us adoption back into the family of God. We become heirs of the Father and joint heirs with the Son. We become children of a Father who owns every good thing. According to Revelation 1:6 God’s children are Kings and Priests unto God.

God through Christ has established a new covenant with us (Heb. 8-13). We have gained the right to come boldly unto the throne of grace, to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb. 4:16). God wants to answer our prayers and take care of our needs and even our wants. (Matthew 21:22) If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. (Philippians 4:19) And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. God gives His children power and authority over adverse circumstances in this life that the world just really doesn’t understand. Matt. 6:33 tells us that if we seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness he will provide everything we need. Psalms 91 explains how firm and sure our protection is in God.

When we sin, as Christians, Jesus becomes our advocate before the Father (1 John 2:1), and 1 John 1:9 states that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

This life is not all there is, we may not know a lot about heaven but as Christians we can know for sure we are going there and that it will be wonderful. Revelation 20, 21 gives us a glimpse of what you can expect when you get there.

The alternative is to reject God’s offer of salvation and to be separated from Him forever. Whether you believe it or not there is a hell and those who choose not to accept His free gift of salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ will spend eternity there.

This is a link to a site where you can look up scripture references in many different versions of the bible: http://www.biblegateway.com/

Monday, August 29, 2005

THE MOST IMPORTANT DECISION OF YOUR LIFE!!!

At some point in your life you will have to make a decision about whether you will accept or reject God's free gift of salvation to you, if you will allow Jesus Christ to take the punishment for your sinful nature and give Him your life that He paid for with His blood. Other decisions may affect you for a lifetime, this decision will affect you for eternity. This message contains a sample prayer you can pray when you are ready to accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord.

Some things you need to acknowledge or be aware of before you make this decision are:

1. You were born with a sin nature, therefore you have sinned.
Rom. 5:12 Rom. 3:23 1 John 1:10
2. The price of sin is death.
Rom. 5:12. Rom. 6:23
3. Jesus Christ paid the price of sin for us.
Rom. 6:23 Heb. 9:26-28
4. We only have access back to God through Jesus Christ.
John 14:6 Romans 8: 1 - 39
5. You are not saved by confessing all your sins but by confessing with your mouth that Jesus is your Lord and believing in your heart God raised him from the dead.
Rom. 10:8-13 Eph. 2:8,9

When you decide to accept God's free gift of salvation, you are doing much more than just repeating a prayer someone asks you to pray to "get saved", you are making a total life commitment. Confessing Jesus as Lord means that from now on obedience to Him and following His will for your life is your first priority and believing that God has raised him from the dead means that you understand that everything necessary for your salvation was accomplished in Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. In death he took your place so you wouldn't have to die in your sins, he became your sacrifice; during His burial period He went into Paradise where all the righteous dead had gone, (Jesus told one of the thieves who was crucified with Him, and had acknowledged belief in Him, that he would be with Him is Paradise that day - Luke 23:39-43) but Jesus didn't stay there and no longer would they, He brought them out and took them to Heaven with Him (Eph. 4:8-10 and Matthew 27:52 and 53 states that after the resurrection of Jesus the graves of many saints were opened and they that slept arose, came out of their graves, went into the holy city, and appeared to many; in His resurrection He broke free, and set all who receive His salvation free, from every sin and bondage. Death and sin no longer had a hold on Him nor on anyone else who would believe in and accept Him as Saviour and Lord.

A PRAYER YOU CAN PRAY (or pray your own prayer from your heart)
(Repeating these words won't save you, praying them to God and meaning them from your heart will change your life and your eternity.)

FATHER GOD, IN THE NAME OF JESUS I COME TO YOU TO ACCEPT YOUR FREE GIFT OF SALVATION. I BELIEVE THAT JESUS CHRIST DIED IN MY PLACE TO TAKE MY SINS AND MY SINFUL NATURE FROM ME, HE TOOK MY PLACE SO THAT I WOULDN'T HAVE TO DIE AN ETERNAL DEATH AND SO THAT I CAN LIVE WITH YOU FOREVER AS YOUR CHILD. HE PAID THE WAGES OF MY SIN, WHICH WAS DEATH. I BELIEVE WITH MY HEART THAT YOU RAISED JESUS FROM THE DEAD, THAT IN HIS RESURRECTION HE BROKE THE POWER OF SIN AND DEATH OVER MY LIFE, HE WAS THE FIRST ONE WHO COULD RIGHTFULLY ENTER HEAVEN TO LIVE WITH YOU, AND NOW BECAUSE OF HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION I CAN LIVE WITH YOU FOREVER. LORD JESUS I NOW ACCEPT YOU AS MY LORD AND SAVIOUR, YOUR SPIRIT WILL LIVE IN ME AND I WILL KNOW THAT I AM A CHILD OF GOD. FATHER, I BELONG TO YOU, I AM YOUR CHILD. I AM RESPONSIBLE TO BE OBEDIENT TO YOU AND YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE TO TAKE CARE OF ME AS YOUR CHILD. THANK YOU FATHER GOD AND MY LORD JESUS CHRIST FOR SAVING ME.


You were made righteous and became a child of God when uou confessed with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believed in your heart God raised Him from the dead, but you are a spiritual baby who will make mistakes, and your Father, God, has given to you God the Holy Spirit and a selection of many good bible believing churches to teach and guide you so you can learn and grow into perfection.

You need to learn more about God, we need to read His covenant with us (The Holy Bible - especially the New Testament). You need to pray (Matt. 21:22 And all things, whatsoever ye ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.),God wants us to communicate with Him. You need to find a good church that believes the whole bible is the inspired Word of God and teaches you the truths from the bible, as a spiritual baby you need some help to learn and grow.

This is a link to a site where you can look up scripture references in many different versions of the bible: http://www.biblegateway.com/

Sunday, August 28, 2005

THIS WAY TO A NEW LIFE.

A rich young man asked Jesus how he could have eternal life. Jesus recited some of the commandments to him and he said he had done all those things, but something was lacking, what else could he do? Jesus told him to sell everything he had, take up the cross, and follow Him (Mark 10:21). Jesus didn't mind that the young man had money, but he knew that the money had the young man in bondage, it was an obstacle to what he really needed to do which was to follow Christ (be obedient to Him in every way). Mark 8:34-38 Jesus tells the people He is speaking to and His disciples and tells them that they must deny themselves (their old bound up cursed lives with it's affections and lusts) and take up their cross (their death to sin) and follow Him, because nothing we have here is worth our eternal souls or spirits. God blesses His children with good things to enjoy in this life, but we are not to be in bondage to these things. Obedience to Jesus Christ is to be the first and formost concern of people who have become the children of God through him.

Read 2 Cor. 5:14-21

In Romans 10:9-10, when it says to be saved we must confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, for with the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation, you are doing much more than just repeating a prayer someone asks you to pray to "get saved", you are making a total life commitment. Confessing Jesus as Lord means that from now on obedience to Him and following His will for your life is your first priority and believing that God has raised him from the dead means that you understand that everything necessary for your salvation was accomplished in Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. In death he took your place so you wouldn't have to die in your sins, he became your sacrifice; during His burial period He went into Paradise where all the righteous dead had gone, (Jesus told one of the thieves who was crucified with Him, and had acknowledged belief in Him, that he would be with Him is Paradise that day - Luke 23:39-43) but Jesus didn't stay there and no longer would they, He brought them out and took them to Heaven with Him (Eph. 4:8-10 and Matthew 27:52 and 53 states that after the resurrection of Jesus the graves of many saints were opened and they that slept arose, came out of their graves, went into the holy city, and appeared to many; in His resurrection He broke free and set all who recieve His salvation free from every sin and bondage.

We are made righteous when we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our hearts God raised Him from the dead, but we are spiritual babies who make mistakes, and our Father, God, has given us God the Holy Spirit to teach and guide us so we can learn and grow into perfection.

This is a link to a site where you can look up scripture references in many different versions of the bible: http://www.biblegateway.com/

BORN AGAIN?

John 3:1-21
Nicodemus came to Jesus by night, apparently because he was afraid that his peers might question him about why he came to see Jesus. He was a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews and most of his peers hated Jesus because He didn't totally comply with their version of the law. He saw something different in Jesus and acknowledged that he knew He had come from God because otherwise he wouldn't be able to perform the miracles that He did. Jesus must have seen that he was troubled and anticipated his question because before he could even ask Jesus answered him. His response to the unasked question was that unless a man was born again he could not see the Kingdom of God. This puzzled Nicodemus, and he asked Him how a man could be born again, he couldn't enter into his mother's womb again. Jesus replied that he had to be born of water and of the Spirit. Nicodemus was still confused so Jesus tells him that He is going to be lifted up (die on a cross) and that whoever believed on him would not perish but have everlasting life.

When Jesus told him to be born again he had to be born of water and the Spirit, I was kind of confused as to what he meant by water, as we are not saved by being baptized in water. I asked the Lord for help to understand this and I believe this is what He showed me concerning the birth of a natural baby: "As the fertilized egg grows, a water-tight sac forms around it, gradually filling with fluid. This is called the amniotic sac, and it helps cushion the growing embryo." www.webmd.com
I believe that being born of water is our preparation period, a period of development we go through so we can be ready for and accept our new birth, some people readily accept, for others it takes a while. (Although water baptism doesn't save us Jesus does want us to follow his example of being baptized in water and I think I understand more about why now, not only does it represent our death, burial and resurrection, it also represents the time an embryo spends in it's mother's fluid till the time of it's birth, Romans 6:3 states that we are baptized into Jesus death, so his blood is like the fluid in the mother's womb that protects the embryo, when we come up out of the water (blood) it represents our new birth, it's not our salvation, it's a witness that we are saved.) Another possible answer is the one Jesus gave a Samaritan woman when He asked her for a drink, she was surprised because He was a Jew and they usually didn't have dealings with Samaritans. Jesus told her he could give her living water, and that anyone who drank that water would never thirst again, that it would be in that person a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

The following verse explains being born of the Spirit: You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God lives in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him -Romans 8:9- The Holman Christian Standard Bible. Being born of the Spirit is accomplished by believing and accepting who Jesus is: the Son of God, the Word made flesh---the Son of man; why He came: that the World through Him might be saved; that He died for our sins, His sacrifice is the one and only payment for sin that God will accept, in other words He took our place, our deserved spiritual death; that He rose again, death and sin had no claim on him, he was perfect, had never sinned, he was able to cast off the sins and judgments of all who would believe in Him. Jesus told Nicodemus being born of the Spirit was like the wind blowing, you could hear it but you couldn't know where it originated from or where it ended up, in other words it had to be taken by faith.

This is a link to a site where you can look up scripture references in many different versions of the bible: http://www.biblegateway.com/

Sunday, August 21, 2005

HOW MUCH ARE YOU WORTH?

The price of sin was death, both physical and spiritual, eternal separation from God. But God had no intention of losing us forever, He had a plan. Life is in the blood and blood would be spilled, a death had to occur to atone for sin, God would allow a sacrifice to take our place. In the Old Testament of the Bible God set up a system of sacrifice in which animals were killed, their blood was spilled to take the place of the spiritual death of men. This was just a representation of the perfect sacrifice that was yet to come, it could not gain people entrance into Heaven. Until the blood of the perfect sacrifice was shed the people who died in faith and obeyed the laws of the sacrifice were taken to a place called Abraham's Bosom or Paradise. Luke 16:20-31 is the story of two men who died, a rich man and Lazarus, a beggar. The rich man went to hell but Lazarus was taken by angels into Abraham's Bosom. The tormented rich man wanted Lazarus to give him a drop of water but was told by Abraham that there was a great gulf fixed between the two places making it impossible to pass from one place to the other. Paradise was not Heaven, it was an underworld place adjacent to Hell. But Paradise was not to be the eternal abode of the righteous, one day God's perfect sacrifice would bring them out of there, and take them to Heaven.

"But when the time had fully come, God sent His son to be born of a woman and born under the law, to purchase back those that were under the (imperfect) law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." Gal. 4:4-5 KJV paraphrased.
Jesus Christ, God made flesh, was born for one reason, to become the perfect, unblemished, sinless sacrifice for our sins. When He died on the cross he took our place so that we could again be sons and daughters of God and live forever with Him.

This is my own thought, I've never heard it in a sermon by anyone or read it in a book, but I think of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil as a type or representation of Christ and his death on the cross, when Adam and Eve took from the tree and ate of it, they took what was perfect and made it imperfect and received in themselves the curses of sin and death. The Lord was not evil or sinful but He knew about evil and sin and they also received that knowledge. When Jesus died on the cross it was as if the perfect fruit was placed back on the tree and took all sin and evil back into himself and destroyed it in the lives of those who accept His sacrifice for them.

This is a link to a site where you can look up scripture references in many different versions of the bible: http://www.biblegateway.com/

Sunday, August 14, 2005

HOW COULD A GOOD GOD ALLOW_____?

A perfect world is what Adam and Eve enjoyed. They walked with and fellowshiped with God. They couldn't get sick, they couldn't die, there were no tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, no famine, no poverty. They couldn't murder because people couldn't die, nor would they want to. They couldn't commit adultery, they couldn't covet because they owned everything, but... they had free will. Without free will they could not truly have been created in the image of God. They could do anything they wanted, but in order to exercise their free will there had to be a test of it. God gave them one thing they could not do, eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The serpent (under the influence of Satan) tempted them and they succumbed. They were no longer covered by the Glory of God and they felt naked and ashamed. The first sin was disobedience to God. They immediately died spiritually. They separated themselves from the God who created and loved them. With the first bite they brought death and devastation into our lives. They caused all mankind to become separated from our loving Creator and Heavenly Father. He was put in the position of having to judge and take vengeance against the sin which he loathes because of the harm it creates. A son of Adam and Eve, Cain, murdered his brother Abel, eventually Adam and Eve died physically, now we all face sin, sickness, poverty, disasters (both natural and otherwise), and death. But the worst part of the curse of sin is our separation from God.

Sin brought with it a curse on us and our world, and the results are what we suffer from today. When something dreadful happens you often hear someone say "How could a good God allow this to happen?", but it was mankind, not God that brought suffering and devastation into the world. Proverbs 19:3 (NIV) reads "A man's own folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the Lord."

Satan also attacks us with disasters and diseases. Satan was permitted to test Job by the death of his family, destruction, poverty, and sickness. Job actually put himself in the position to be able to be tested, in his agony he revealed the truth (Job 3:25 "For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.") Job 1 reveals that he constantly offered burnt offerings for his children to sanctify them because he was afraid they might have done something wrong. He was allowing fear, rather than faith in God, prevalence in his life. Luke 13 recounts the story of a woman bound by a "spirit" of infirmity for 18 years and was bowed together, Jesus healed her, and when the ruler of the synagogue complained that it was done on the Sabbath day Jesus replied that a daughter of Abraham, who was bound by Satan for 18 years ought to be loosed.
1 Peter 5:8 admonishes us "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the Devil, as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.

Most of what we endure is a result of the curse that sin brought on us, that is not to say that sometimes God will not use disease, disaster, or even humans as judgment against certain human actions and lifestyles. It was God that brought the judgment of leprosy on Moses' sister, Miriam (Numbers 12:9), when she spoke against Moses (but He also healed her after seven days because Moses asked Him to), and on King Uzziah for transgression in the temple of the Lord (2 Chronicles 26:19). It was God that commanded Saul to slay every man, woman, and child of the Amalekites and their animals, because they ambushed the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt. God brought the flood that destroyed everyone except Noah and his family and select animals, God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and Lot's wife for looking back to her destroyed city. Romans 1:27 states that people with a deviant lifestyle "received in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet," in other words they are justly paid back for the sins they commit. The just God that created Hell for Satan, fallen angels, and demonic spirits, but will also allow the people who refuse to reconcile themselves to Him to be confined there for eternity is also able to use sickness and disasters as judgments against sin. Absolutely God is Love, his perfect will is to reconcile us to Himself and be our Father and our protector, not our judge.

This is a link to a site where you can look up scripture references in many different versions of the bible: http://www.biblegateway.com/

Thursday, July 21, 2005

HOW MUCH FAITH DO YOU HAVE???

Where did we come from?

The Big Bang Theory and the Theory of Evolution are taught as if they are scientific facts. The word "theory" is usually ignored. (Theory: A proposed explanation whose status is still conjectural. Conjecture: The formation or expression of an opinion or theory without sufficient evidence for proof. -Random House Webster's College Dictionary 1991.) These "theory's" are quite convenient for those who do not wish to believe in an eternal, omnipresent, creator God.

But what does it take more faith to believe?

The big bang theory? First there was nothing at all, and all of a sudden a "infinitesimally small, infinitely hot, infinitely dense" singularity formed, which appeared out of nowhere for reasons unknown, which inflated, expanded and cooled, going from very, very small and very, very hot, to the size and temperature of our current universe, and continues to expand and cool to this day (from www.big-bang-theory.com). The cooling led to the evolvement of atoms, protons, neutrons, quarks, etc., and apparently, eventually--us, I assume. And thus we have the universe and everything in it, organized, efficient, all parts moving in sync, all brought together by a random, unintelligent something or other. Take your car apart, piece by piece, how many millions of years do you think it will take for all the parts to come back together to make a whole car, or something better, without an intelligent being putting it back together? (The parts will be kind of rusty by then.)

Then there is the theory of evolution. We all came from the sea, and over time evolved from sea creatures, to land creatures, to us. Apparently going from improvement to improvement. I wonder what we will be a million years from now under this theory??? Nature teaches us matter doesn't improve over time, but diminishes and decays. We get old and we die, we don't get younger and better. Metal rusts, cloth wears out, flesh goes back to dust.

Creation (not a theory) is explained in the Word of God, how an intelligent, eternal, omnipresent, everlasting, Spirit -- God, created the all that exists, and created a Spirit Being -- Man (not a non-spirit being -- ape) after His image and likeness, and man became a living soul.

Which explanation of creation takes more faith to believe? I suppose if you don't want to believe that everything, including us, was created by God, then you can probably stretttttttttch your faith way, way out there and accept that everything came about randomly as in the big bang theory or things are progressing and getting better and better as in the theory of evolution. It's just much easier for me to believe in an intelligent Creator.

This is a link to a site where you can look up scripture references in many different versions of the bible:http://www.biblegateway.com/

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

HOW ART THOU FALLEN?

What happened between Genesis 1:1 and 2?

"For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water. Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men."
2 Peter 3:5-7.

The world of Noah's day didn't perish, these scriptures refer to the period between Genesis 1:1 and 2. Notice that Genesis 1:2 states that the "darkness was upon the face of the deep (or waters). And the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters." Genesis 1:9 states "And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear, and it was so." God didn't create the earth filled with water, He created the earth and it was destroyed by a great flood, long before the re-creation of the earth and the creation of present day mankind.

But why?:

The New Living Translation
Ezekiel 28:12-17
"Son of man, weep for the king of Tyre. Give him this message from the Sovereign LORD: You were the perfection of wisdom and beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Your clothing was adorned with every precious stone – red carnelian, chrysolite, white moonstone, beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald – all beautifully crafted for you and set in the finest gold. They were given to you on the day you were created. I ordained and anointed you as the mighty angelic guardian. You had access to the holy mountain of God and walked among the stones of fire. "You were blameless in all you did from the day you were created until the day evil was found in you. Your great wealth filled you with violence, and you sinned. So I banished you from the mountain of God. I expelled you, O mighty guardian, from your place among the stones of fire. Your heart was filled with pride because of all your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth and exposed you to the curious gaze of kings."

Lucifer (king of Tyre) was placed on earth as a guardian, perfect in beauty, blameless in all he did, till iniquity was found in him, his heart was filled with pride. He actually thought he could dethrone Almighty God and take His place. His beauty caused his pride, but could it have been something else as well?

The New Living Translation
Isaiah 14:12-15
"How you are fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the morning! You have been thrown down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world. For you said to yourself, 'I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God's stars. I will preside on the mountain of the gods far away in the north. I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.'
But instead, you will be brought down to the place of the dead, down to its lowest depths.

There were pre-Adamic nations on earth before the world was destroyed by a great flood and re-created for present day mankind. We know that Lucifer deceived them and they were destroyed. Could it have been that they began to worship him because of his beauty, is that why his heart was lifted up? Or was it because he became so enthralled with his own beauty that he deceived them into worshipping him instead of God? We can only conjecture about this because the bible doesn't reveal much about this period.

This was the period of the dinosaurs. Maybe they were a judgement of the people of that period because they began to worship Lucifer. Maybe they were gentle and became ferocious, again we can only conjecture.

The bible does reveal that these pre-Adamic nations were weakened by Lucifer's rebellion and pride and eventually destroyed. We don't know how long the period was between this destruction and the re-creation of the earth and the creation of the Adamic race in Genesis 1:2-31.

Lucifer was cast down to the earth because of his fall, not to hell, but to the earth. He was already here as Satan when Adam and Eve were created, ready to tempt them to sin. He is called the "Prince of the power of the Air" (Eph. 2:2), his dwelling is in the atmosphere of the earth, not in heaven or hell. I'm sure if truth were known, he doesn't want to go anywhere near hell. But he doesn't mind deceiving us and causing our destruction like he caused the destruction of the pre-Adamic nations.


Recommended reading: "Dake's Annotated Reference Bible";
"God's Dispensational and Prophetic Plan"
by John G. Hall.

This is a link to a site where you can look up scripture references in many different versions of the bible: http://www.biblegateway.com/

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Genesis 1:1

There seems to be a descrepancy between the Bible and Science because scientists say the world is millions of years old, yet many Christian's believe it is only about six thousand years old. Science is right! But the bible is not wrong. There could be eons between verse 1 and verse 2 of Genesis 1. Verse 2 actually should read "and the earth became without form and void". The rest of Genesis 1 is not the story of the creation of the earth, but the story of the re-creation.

Recommended reading: "Dake's Annotated Reference Bible";
"God's Dispensational and Prophetic Plan"
by John G. Hall.

This is a link to a site where you can look up scripture references in many different versions of the bible: http://www.biblegateway.com/