Category Archives: biblical
MOM KEPT HER FORK
Toward the end of my mom’s life on earth I had sent her a letter with a story in it about “keeping the fork”. My mom cherished the story and held onto that letter. She told several people about the letter and this story. As time went by she became more and more troubled will health issues requiring hospitalization and finally she had to be placed in a nursing home to provide the care she required. She had been in the nursing home for a couple of months. My wife and I were living down in the Atlanta, Georgia area. One early evening our telephone rang. It was my sister informing me that our mom had just had a series of mini-strokes and was not expected to live all that much longer. She said if I wanted to see mom before she died I needed to get there ASAP. We had no money to afford to fly so we planned on driving. We were going to go to bed early that evening and get a few hours sleep before getting up early and embarking on the 10-11 hour drive. Before we even got to bed the phone rang again. My sister told me that mom had died. It ripped my heart out that we were not able to be with her before she passed away. The good news is just a few weeks before she died she got saved their in the Christian nursing home she was in. She had watched the Jesus film and the minister who came there had led her to the Lord. We went back home to attend the funeral and burial. Several in the family knew about the story of keeping the fork as my mom had told many about it. As various family members were viewing my mom’s body lying in the casket someone said “Hey, where is her fork? She should have a fork in her hand”. We agreed. Even my dad who had been a hard hearted person totally turned off to anything about of a “religious” nature agreed to this. I went out to talk to the funeral home people about getting a fork and placing it in her hand. They had encountered this request a couple of times before as I had asked them about it. So we got them a fork and they placed it in her left hand and a rose in her right hand.
I had taped a paper on her closed casket that read: MOM KEPT HER FORK! I did this to spark peoples’ curiousity as I had also prepared a message I wrote to give to them explaining this sign.
Here is the message I wrote to give out to those who attended the funeral and/or burial service:
Yes, mom kept her fork. What about you? What have you done with Jesus? There is no more important question to be asked and responded to. Someday your heart will be asking … “What will Jesus do with me?” That is aleady settled as should you die today “in your sins” you will spend eternity separated from God in hellfire. God has done all He can and all He needs to keep you from such a fate, but the choice is yours. Once you draw your last breath there is no more oportunity. Your fate will be sealed. God loves you, but He hates your sin. Call upon the Name of Jesus while He may be found. The best is yet to come for those who are IN CHRIST.
HEY MISTER, CAN YOU HELP ME WITH MY BIKE?
Hey mister, can you help me with my bike?
Are you here you looking for pornography? Sorry to disappoint you. You won’t find it here. But wait … I have good news that won’t disappoint you which I will get into a bit later. First I want to address what is going on here. You might be wondering how you arrived here. Well, I was wondering how you and many many others were arriving on one one of my other blogs. I noticed that one of the articles I wrote concerning “misters” was getting a lot of traffic. It didn’t make sense so I looked into it. I discovered that search engines were listing my blog article in response to the search term “hey mister can you help me with my bike”. I did a search for that myself and discovered why I was getting all the traffic. I can’t say I was pleased about it, but obviously there is nothing I can do about it. The title of my article is “Hey mister, can you help a fella out?“. Upon looking at my article it is quite obvious it has nothing to do with what all these people are looking for … pornography … specifically a particular video and still pictures.
As I was growing up starting at a very early age I got “hooked” on pornography and it nearly destroyed my life. It is a very natural thing for man as we are flawed from the gitgo. We are attracted to the opposite sex and for a man we are very stimulated by what we see … the physical realm of it all. Sight and touch turn us on. It might surprise you, but God created us this way. It is not a bad thing, but it is a dangerous thing which must be properly channeled and controlled. If not we will find ourselves on a slippery slope and in the end we will find ourselves in deep deep trouble that has no escape. We will do what are flesh dictates as we have no control over it. We are slaves to our sin nature. The problem is sin has a high price. It will cost us our eternal soul for the wages of sin is death.
Yep, we have a most serious problem. And there is nothing you or I can do about it ourselves. We are doomed! We need help beyond ourselves. The God Who created us and loves us beyond our comprehension has come to our rescue. He knows we can’t help ourselves so He did something about it. He left His heavenly throne and came to earth to be born as an innocent baby Who would grow up into a man and live among us to show us Who God is and demonstrate His love toward us … ultimately laying down His life for us dying a horrific death in our place to pay the penalty for our sins. He alone can save us and set us free from the bondage of our sin enabling us to live our lives in obedience to Him and bring glory unto Him.
That is not to say we will be perfect and never sin again. However, by repenting of sin and calling upon Him He forgives us of all our sin and cleanses us from our unrighteous so that we are acceptable to Him. Our sin separates us from Him which means at the end of this life on earth since we can’t be in His presence we will spend eternity apart from Him in the place He warns us about … hell. We not only have a dilemma, but thankfully we have a choice. We can continue on in our sin or we can repent and turn to God for His help and His offer of forgiveness and eternity with Him.
We are without excuse and will stand before Him in judgement. If we die in our sins our fate is sealed. Procrastination is a very dangerous thing as we don’t know when we will draw our last breath. So I say to you … you can continue to try to find the pornography you were looking for when you landed here … or you can respond to the God Who loves you and wants (and has) a great plan for your life if you will only turn to Him.
HERE is further help.
MIDDLE EAST SHOWDOWN
There is lots going on in this world we live in. Here is a video I highly recommend (as I do all of this man’s VIDEOS):
WAIT TIL YOU SEE MY BRAND NEW HOME
I was listening to some music playing while driving our car recently. A song came on and as I listened to the words to it I was moved to write an article about the title of the song. The song title was “WAIT TIL YOU SEE MY BRAND NEW HOME” and was being sung by the late Jesse Dixon who has gone on to be with his Lord in heaven and experience all that God has promised to His children when they come home. Jesus Himself said to those who belong to Him, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:2-3 KJV)
Note the word “mansions”. I have never lived in a mansion. I have never even been in a mansion nor stepped onto the property of a mansion. And I have no expectation of such ever happening here on earth. But I have a heavenly Father Who is living in splendor as He owns everything. And He plans on sharing it all with His children. So as the words to this song go … I can honestly proclaim “WAIT TIL YOU SEE MY BRAND NEW HOME”. Yes, all God’s children will have mansions. But is this passage of scripture talking about a mansion as we think of a mansion? That being said, I will point out that there certainly is disagreement as to the KJV rendering of the Greek word which was translated into mansions. Most other bible versions have translated it “rooms” or or “apartments” or “dwelling place”. I can’t even attempt to get into the Greek as it is all Greek to me. 🙂 However, a well known and respected source, Strong’s Condordance states: “In John 14:2 the word mansions is μονή – pronounced mon-ay’, and means residence or abode”. (Strongs G3438). HERE is a good article on the subject. And HERE is another good article.
God lives “in” His children … He indwells them thru the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. This passage of scripture, John 14:2, may very well be speaking of a brand new glorified body to replace this earthly body which is wearing out and having problems as it ages. And we know that this present body we have must be replaced as it is corrupt and God can not permit it into heaven. I know I am looking forward to the glorified body scripture speaks of. It won’t be long and I look forward to that day. I wonder who my neighbors will be. I am sure they will be great folks to share eternity with. I’ve got a mansion just over the hill top. Heaven is indeed sounding sweeter all the time! I hope to see you there.
lyrics:
If you’re awed by this world and all its beauty
Many stately mansions daily you will see
But without great wealth I know that I will never own one
And you will neither if you’re no more rich than me
But if your eyes will look beyond what man is building
You will see what no earthly mortal can see
For on the other side of Jordan there’s construction
On a mansion being built just for me
Chorus
Just wait till you see my brand new home
Wait till you see its beauty rare
There’s nothing down here that can compare
Just wait till you see my brand new home
My Heavenly Father’s building me
And I’m gonna occupy for free
Just wait till you see my brand new home
Verse II
My new home will not stand upon foundations
That are manmade and someday will pass away
It won’t be built where the storms of life can batter
And where rain clouds often hide the light of day
Oh, the cornerstone of God is my foundation
The Root of David, Christ the Lord our coming King
What a great homecoming there awaits me
And I’m expecting any day to move right in
Repeat chorus, then:
My Heavenly Father’s building me
And I’m gonna occupy for free
Just wait till you see my brand new home
YOU CAN MISS HEAVEN BY 18 INCHES
Did you know you can miss heaven by 18 inches or less? It is true! That is the distance between our mind and our heart. Quite simply it is not enough to simply believe in our heads in God and even the gospel message of “Jesus saves”. Satan believes in God and knows God’s Word but he won’t be going to heaven. We must embrace the gospel and the Savior deep within our innermost being. We must be “born again” and become new creations in Jesus Christ. Yes, it goes way beyond just simply believing in our heads.
I am reminded of the song “Born Again” sung by Evie Tornquist back in the 1970s.
Here are the words to the song:
You May Think It’s Foolish What I’m Going To Say,
I’m Not Ashamed, No Not Ashamed,
One Day I prayed Jesus, Take My Sin Away,
And That’s When I was Born Again,
Born Again, there’s Really Been A Change in Me,
Born Again, Just Like Jesus Said,
Born Again, And All Because of Calvary,
I’m Glad So Glad, That I’ve Been Born Again.
One Man Came To Jesus, John and Chapter 3,
Oh So Afraid, Oh So Afraid,
Master Your From God, I really Do Believe,
And Jesus said, Be Born Again.
Born Again, there’s Really Been A Change in Me,
Born Again, Just Like Jesus Said,
Born Again, And All Because of Calvary,
I’m Glad So Glad, That I’ve Been Born Again.
It is so true … God wants to recreate us from what we are and have become apart from Him and mold us into His image having the “mind of Christ”. Truly when we “receive” Jesus we will never be the same again. We will have a new life in Christ.
Please don’t miss heaven … not even by a mere 18 inches.
WHERE THERE IS DESIGN THERE IS A DESIGNER
Looking at the obvious complexity of this watch no reasonable thinking person would say that it just happened all by itself … that it evolved into what we see … perhaps from a stone or something such. No, someone designed it! This looks very complex for sure yet our human bodies are far more complex that this watch. The more we discover about this complexity we are totally amazed and, indeed, should be. Yet many many people so foolishly believe that somehow we humans just happened … that we evolved from the lowest life form into what we are today. What utter nonsense! WHERE THERE IS DESIGN THERE IS ALWAYS A DESIGNER!
God is that Designer. He created man in His own image. We are far above any animal God created. There has not been a computer made that can match the brain God designed in man. As awesome as computers are just think about it … they didn’t just happen. Man created them. Man used this fantastic brain God gave us to create all the things we see such as this watch, computers, space craft capable to travelling out into distant space and returning to earth, etc. How can anyone believe his ancestors crawled onto land out of a swamp? Satan is a deceiver and he is hard at work deceiving man.
We can be extremely sincere in what we believe but if we are wrong then we are simply sincerely wrong. Let God be true and every man a liar! (Romans 3:4)
Are you deceived or do you believe God and trust in His Word?
HANGING BY A CHAIN
It is said, and rightfully so, that a chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link. Keep this in mind as I delve into an illustration of those who are trusting and/or hoping in anything else other than coming to God on His terms to save us and obtain entrance to heaven when we die. I am talking about such things as keeping God’s Commandments, trying to be a good person, doing good works, counting on the good in our lives outweighing the bad as if this is on a balance beam scale, etc.
One illustration I like to use is this: God is in heaven above, man is on earth below, and man is suspended by a chain made up of links. Hell is below man and the only thing keeping man from plummeting down into hell is the chain. The links represent God’s Commandments. Man is depending upon the chain to be used to pull him up to God in heaven. This means that man has to keep all of God’s Commandments all the time for his entire life. If man could do this God would honor it and this would work. The problem is we can’t keep God’s Commandments. We fail miserably at this starting as a little baby. So trusting in this is futile and foolish. The second we fail in keeping a Commandment that link is broken and we are doomed. This same illustration could be used with any of the other things I already mentioned above that man trusts and hopes in.
That is why we can’t make it on our own effort and merit. We need a Savior. God has said that “all of our righteousness is as filthy rags”. Isaiah 64:6 reads: “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” In short, we are totally bankrupt. We have nothing to offer God other than what He requires … ourselves (a completely surrendered heart and life).
What will you do with Jesus?
HOW DOES GOD KNOW EVERYTHING?
Omniscient … that is just one attribute of God. He knows everything. Have you ever pondered over how this can be? Certainly no mere man can make such a boast. How can God do so? Well, I am glad you asked. Let’s take a look and see if we can figure some things out here. In order to know everything a person would have to be everywhere at once. Hey, that is another attribute of God … He is omnipresent! But how can He be everywhere at once? That doesn’t sound possible. And to add further complication He not only is everywhere at once but He is everywhere all at the same time no matter when we are talking about … today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, next decade, next century … well I think you get the picture. And not only is all this true but He was everywhere yesterday, last week, last month … well, I am sure you see where this is leading. Scripture tells us that with God all time is now. That makes Him a very awesome God! We still have no explanation as to how this can be so let’s work on that.
What would it take for someone or something to be everywhere at once? The infamous Albert Einstein just might have the answer for us.
One of his theories involves space travel. It is a fascinating study. It involves two clocks. One clock remains on earth and the other travels in a space craft. You can read about it HERE. And HERE is a more in-depth look at this theory.
Another aspect of Einstein’s theory is that as an object approaches the speed of light it becomes infinitely large. You can read about it HERE. I will attempt to explain the theory via a very brief illustration. Let’s say we have a basketball and we throw the basketball out into space. This basketball is capable of increasing in size (diameter) without bursting and we have the ability to throw it so hard that it just keeps speeding up. As the basketball travels along going faster and faster it starts to grow in diameter. As it approaches the speed of light it gets so large that it is actually occupying all space all at once when it reaches the speed of light. Einstein’s theory simply says “an object”. I use the basketball as I think it makes it easier to visualize what is happening as the object, whatever it is, approaches the speed of light.
In 1 John 1:5 we read: “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” NASB And there are several other verses telling us that God is light. Are you starting to see where I am going with this? If God is light then according to Einstein’s theory God would be everywhere all at once. I am not saying that this is the absolute answer to this matter. I am just saying it is a possible explanation and most certainly interesting to think about. There are other factors as well which play into this. God’s Word tells us that God is a Spirit. We know from God’s Word that God exists in three distinct Persons … the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the One Who is omnipresent. Notice I said “Who” and not “which“? The Holy Trinity is scriptural. People argue against it but it is right there in God’s Word. That is a bible study in itself and I am not going to get into it at this time.
I don’t think man can begin to fathom all there is to know about God. If we could then we would be as God Himself and that ain’t gonna’ happen. God is so very far above us. His ways and His thoughts are not like ours at all. He is perfect in every way. As awesome as He is the most amazing thing about Him is His great love for us. What is man that He is mindful of us? Now there is something to ponder over! Don’t ponder too long though as we don’t know when our lives will end. We could very easily miss out on His great love and all that He has for us. It is imperative that we seek and call upon His Name while He may be found (read Isaiah 55:6). Tomorrow may be too late! As brilliant as Albert Einstein was he did not believe in the existence of a personal God. He missed out! How sad! You many not be as smart as he was but you can be far wiser. Don’t repeat his mistake and die in your sin as he did.
THE FLAT EARTH SOCIETY
I don’t know what is taught in schools nowadays, but when I went to school we learned about how in past history it was commonly accepted and believed that the earth was flat and if you ventured far enough in any direction you would eventually “fall off the edge”. It was a time I refer to as “THE FLAT EARTH SOCIETY”.
Fortunately man eventually discovered “it just ain’t so” and we moved on from there … for which I am most thankful. I have traveled by U.S. Navy destroyers over 200,000 miles on the oceans of the world and never once did we come near any edge.
There have been a number of things man has greatly misunderstood and had all wrong in the past and no doubt this is still the case today. God has told us in His Word about many many things which come under the heading of science. A few which I will touch on are: the folly of bloodletting (life is in the blood), the water cycle, stars emitting sounds, the “foundations” of the earth, springs in the oceans, false science, our sun and moon, lightning and thunder, heavenly expanse, wind currents, seed and harvest, foods most beneficial to man, ocean currents, and the list goes on. Among the things that are found in the bible is the truth about the earth being a sphere. Now man had the bible for a very long time before man discovered that the earth is round and not flat after all. (Read Isaiah 40:22 … “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth” … also read Job 26: 7 & 10 and Proverbs 8:27) In fact Proverbs 8 is a great chapter speaking of many of these things.
If only man would look to God and His Word a whole lot of things would be different. Think about it … the truth was there right along yet man believed utter nonsense for a very long time. Man in all his wisdom and intelligence oftentimes is rather stupid. Interestingly when these truths were finally discovered it was often Christians reading God’s Word who brought it out and fought these “enlightened scientists” who held these wrong views and positions. It was difficult to change the mindset of the scientific community. It is still that way to this day.
Amazingly there are still THOSE who say that they believe the nonsense of a flat earth. I haven’t read much about them to know if they are really serious or not. They are actually called THE FLAT EARTH SOCIETY.
As for me I choose to believe God over man whenever there is any difference in “opinion”. Many people choose to disbelieve the bible and reject it as foolishness. God has said that they are fools. There is no argument from me on this matter. Anyone who chooses to disbelieve and reject God and His Word do so at their own peril. They won’t be able to say that they weren’t warned and that they weren’t given opportunity. They will be without excuse.
Don’t be a fool!
YOU ONLY DIE TWICE
In 1967 the James Bond movie, You Only Live Twice, was released. I, like many others, have always been a James Bond movie fan. This has nothing to do with what I am writing about today other than the fact that the title of this article is very similar to the title of that movie. Obviously I used the word DIE in place of LIVE. There is no truth to You Only Live Twice ** but there certainly is truth to You Only Die Twice. How do I know? The bible tells me so. I don’t think anyone would argue that we all eventually die. No one has ever managed to escape it with two exceptions and even those two will die physically in God’s timing. God’s Word (the bible) tells us ” And just as it is appointed for [all] men once to die, and after that the [certain] judgment,” (Hebrews 9:27 Amplified Bible) Yes, we will all die and then face God in judgement. So that is one death. Upon judgement those who have never repented of their sin and come to Jesus Christ for His forgiveness and salvation He alone offers will face a SECOND DEATH. There are various passages of scripture which speak of this, but probably the most profound is in the book of Revelation. In Revelation 20:11-15 we read … “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
Those who die in their sin will face Jesus Christ as their judge. This judgement is called the Great White Throne Judgement. As you can see experiencing this second death is not good news. It is, in fact, bad news … the worst! It is a horrific fate everybody faces if they ignore and reject God’s salvation He offers freely. It is called death but it is not death at all … not as we understand death. Actually it is eternal life where one will experience a horrific fate in the Lake of Fire where they will be tormented and in anguish forever. They w ill wish they would die and end this punishment for their sin.
There is good news however … “JESUS SAVES!”
“Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.” – Revelation 20:6
Those who have turned to Jesus Christ in repentance and received the eternal life He offers will not face the Great White Throne Judgement. Instead they will face a different judgement known as the Believer’s Judgement.
So we all have a choice. We can choose door number one or door number two … to say it is modern day vernacular (game show style). But this is no game. It could not be more serious! We will either face God in judgement on our own and find ourselves in deep doo doo as we will have to pay the penalty of our sin … or we can repent and call upon the Name of Jesus Who suffered and died in our place so that we would not have to face this horrific penalty for our sin. Jesus will not only be our Savior but He will be our Advocate (our defense attorney) representing us before God the Father as the charges against us are read. Those who have rejected Christ as Savior are on their own and will have no defense. And they will have no excuse which is acceptable. We have been warned!
What will you do with Jesus?
** I said that there is no truth to You Only Live Twice. What I mean by that is there is no such thing as reincarnation. We are born and die physically one time. There is, however, the matter of being born spiritually … born again … which some call a second birth. Truly those who are born again have a New Life in Christ. Never the less, we are still living only one life (one physical birth) and facing at least one death. Most will face this second death I am writing about.
DID GOD CREATE EVIL?
Did God create evil? Sounds like a fair question. And after all does not God’s Word say in John 1:3 … “All things were made through Him (Jesus Christ), and without Him was not any thing made that was made.”? (Also other verses say this … 1 Corinthians 8:6 and Colossians 1:16) It sure sounds like God created evil if you go by these verses and don’t bother to look further and “rightly divide” (interpret, understand and apply) God’s Word. Man gets into all kinds of trouble by failing to do so. Many things are misunderstood and as a result we can get all messed up in what we believe. The answer to the question is … NO. No, God did not create evil … but what He created was the potential for evil to come about. He originally created angels as free moral agents with self will. They had the ability to choose to obey Him or disobey Him just like we humans do. All was fine at first as the angels obeyed God, but after awhile one angel became prideful and decided he was going to disobey. He thought he could take upon himself God’s glory and position. This angel persuaded a third of all the angels to join him in this rebellion and attempt to overthrow God’s rule … to exalt himself above God. A war took place in which this angel and all the others quickly discovered they were no match for God after all. You can read about it in various passages of scripture …
Isaiah 14:12-14
12 “How you have fallen from heaven,
O [a]star of the morning, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the earth,
You who have weakened the nations!
13 “But you said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.
14 ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’ ” New American Standard Bible (NASB)
This angel’s name was Lucifer. He was a special angel and was very pleasing to look upon. He was in charge of the worship of God in heaven. You can read more about Lucifer and how he became prideful which led him to rebellion which resulted in his becoming Satan (the devil). Some of the angels who joined him in this rebellion became demons and they serve him in carrying out his evil in our midst.
Ezekiel 28:12-19
12 “Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “You had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 “You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: the ruby, the topaz and the diamond; the beryl, the onyx and the jasper; the lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; and the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you. On the day that you were created they were prepared. 14 “You were the anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. 15 “You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you. 16 “By the abundance of your trade you were internally filled with violence, and you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane from the mountain of God and I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. 17 “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings that they may see you. 18 “By the multitude of your iniquities in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries. Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you; It has consumed you and I have turned you to ashes on the earth in the eyes of all who see you. 19 “All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you; You have become terrified and you will cease to be forever.”’” New American Standard Bible (NASB)
We find more concerning the story of how Satan (the devil) came about …
Revelation 12:7-9
7 “And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, 8 and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” New American Standard Bible (NASB)
This was the introduction of evil into God’s creation. When God created man and then woman Satan came in the form of a snake to the woman lying to her and deceiving her so that she chose to disobey God. She called out to man wanting him to join her in this disobedience. Man was not deceived but he did give into to the woman and went along with her disobeying God.
Genesis 3:1-6
3 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. ” New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Upon disobeying God all sorts of problems began and continue on to this day. This comic book style tract tells the story well …
So did God know all this would happen? Yes, He did! You might be thinking “Then why would He do this knowing what was going to happen?” That too is a fair question. I will state upfront that God knows what He is doing and has a purpose in all that He does. And everything He does will ultimately bring glory to Him. So what is His purpose in this? I just told you … to bring glory to Himself. “But how will allowing evil and all the horrible things which have happened, are happening and will yet happen in the future bring glory to Him?” He is in the process of proving to Satan and his fallen angels as well as to all of mankind that LOVE IS GREATER THAN ANYTHING ELSE. By this I mean He is showing that because He loves and first loved us there will be many who will love Him in return and live their lives in obedience to Him motivated out of love. Thus LOVE TRIUMPHS OVER EVIL! When we fully and truly understand His great love for us then we are greatly attracted to Him. We are all very special to Him.
God is bringing all of this to a close as we are living the the End Times. It won’t be long before some very horrific things happen as this age we are living in comes to an end. Satan knows his time is short and he and his demons are working hard to do all they can trying to thwart God’s plan and to accomplish all they can to deceive man and take as many with them to hell as they can. They will lose in the end and will admit defeat and that God is Supreme.
What about you? What have or what will you do with Jesus? There is nothing more important than this. Your eternal soul is at stake! There is no neutrality. We are either for Jesus or against Him. And being for Him is not just something we say from our mouths. Jesus Himself said that we must be born again. Otherwise we will all die in our sins and enter a Christ-less eternity in hell fire suffering torment and anguish forever and ever. It could not be anymore serious.
THERE IS NO JOY IN BONDAGE
I would think that anyone who has ever spent any time behind bars in a jail/prison would readily agree that it is not pleasant. Having your freedom taken away is not something anyone would enjoy. The key word is “enjoy” and in the word enjoy we see the word JOY. When God created man He created us to be free and enjoy life. That is His will … what He wants and has for us. He doesn’t want us to be in bondage. Yet many of us are for one reason or another. As a result there is no joy … no true joy … in our lives.
In life there are rules we are to follow and obey. Rules are usually good and sensible. Sometimes man’s rules are not sensible, but God’s rules are always sensible. Even if we don’t understand or agree with them it doesn’t take anything away from the fact that they are good, proper and very much needed.
There are two approaches when it comes to obeying God’s rules. One approach is “because we have to” (are supposed to or required to). I want to state upfront that there is no joy in this approach. People who are involved in religion are caught up in this approach. The other approach is “because we want to”. In this approach there is complete freedom and joy. People who know Jesus Christ and are in a personal relationship with Him have this approach. Therein lies the difference between religion and relationship.
I live near people of the Amish faith (religion). If ever there was a people who live in total bondage they most certainly do. They have a big long list of rules they have made which they require their people to abide by. Many of their rules are really ridiculous. And, like the Jewish people, they have managed to skirt around the rules considerably. They may use a small gasoline engine to do something most of us use electricity for. They may use air motors in place of electric motors. These air motors may be used to power all sorts of machinery … saws, lathes, drill presses, pumps, washing machines, etc. Many of their rules are to ensure that they don’t possess those things which are modern day technology … convenient and practical. And some of their rules are based on superstitious nonsense. They can use a cell phone but not a phone which uses a wire coming into their home. (The devil can come into their home thru the wire. … what utter foolishness!) Their lives are very controlled by their fellow man. In short, they are in bondage … a whole lot of bondage. They believe that if they live their lives depriving themselves of these things I speak of and live in a simple old fashioned way that it will somehow be pleasing to God and make them more acceptable to Him. Nothing could be further from the truth. God does not care about what we have. God cares about what has us! When we truly understand what Jesus Christ has done for us in taking our place dying a horrific death to pay the penalty for our sins then we can and will appreciate it and want to live our lives pleasing to Him … which means wanting to obey God’s rules.
God is a jealous God and He insists that we put Him first at all times. And He deserves to be first!
If all we have is a big long list of “do this” and “don’t do this” that we feel we must abide by then we will be most miserable and not at all living our lives in the liberty that is available thru a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Anyone who is familiar with the board game, Monopoly, knows about “go to jail” and “get out of jail free” cards. Jesus is our “get out of jail free” card. He alone can set us free!
“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:1-4
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, …” Luke 4:18
So if you find yourself living in bondage I invite you to use the “get out of jail free” card God offers you. If you remain in bondage all your life you can be sure that you will personally be the one who pays the wages of your sin … eternal damnation. And I guarantee you that there will be no joy in that either.
BIG BANG? … SORT OF!
We have all heard of the Big Bang Theory. No, I am not talking about the stupid immoral television show. Wikipedia shows this:
“The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model for the early development of the universe. The key idea is that the universe is expanding. Consequently, the universe was denser and hotter in the past. In particular, the Big Bang model suggests that at some moment all matter in the universe was contained in a single point, which is considered the beginning of the universe. …Georges Lemaître first proposed what became the Big Bang theory in 1927.”
There is very little of man’s theories that I buy into as most don’t line up with scripture. However, the Big Bang Theory does line up with scripture … sort of! The single point where it all started is none other than God. Scripture tells us that He spoke everything into existence.
“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” Hebrews 11:3
“For He spoke, and it came into being; He commanded, and it came into existence. ” Psalm 33:9 Holman Christian Standard Bible
“The LORD merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born.” Psalm 33:6 NLT
“Let them praise the Name of the LORD, for at His command they were created” Psalm 148:5
“But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water.” 2 Peter 3:5
So when I read God’s Word I visualize Him speaking and commanding everything He created into existence. The words leave His mouth and travel out from Him … expanding into the vastness of His creation forming all that exists just as He commanded. So, yes, I believe in the Big Bang Theory … as I have described it. And I believe that God is still creating so it makes sense that His creation is expanding. There is much we don’t know about God and all that He has done and is doing. His Word tells us this … now we see as thru a darkened glass, but eventually we will see and understand all (my paraphrase). (see 1 Corinthians 13:12) God has only revealed certain things to us. He has told us all we need to know for now. Most of us know and understand very little of what He has already told us. This is tragic as He will hold us accountable. I am reminded of the billboard message …
NOAH’S ARK 2014
Currently, much to my surprise, the brand new movie, Noah’s Ark 2014, is available to view on YouTube. I watched it a couple of weeks or so ago. I was extremely disappointed by it as it was not only ridiculously dumb as it was not at all scriptural, but it made God out to be some kind of an incompetent fool Who didn’t know what He was doing and had regrets over His decision. I could not recommend this movie to anyone. Those responsible for its creation will answer to God for what they have done. God will not be mocked. Whatever a man sows he will also reap! (Galatians 6:7) It was bad enough that they smeared the good character of Noah and his family, but to portray God as a fool is simply intolerable. I could not help but wonder if whoever wrote this script was on drugs.
I was just thinking … Noah’s Ark was built by amateurs while the Titanic was built by professionals. The major difference was that the builders of the ark didn’t mock God. The builders of the Titanic made the boast that even God could not sink the Titanic. Having spent 8 years serving in the U.S. Navy aboard a total of 7 ships and one large boat (some very short term and one pier-side no longer used for going out to sea) I know what it is like to sail the ocean waters as well as Lake Michigan. The dimensions God gave to Noah for the ark were later discovered by man to be the most stable ship design.
A full-size Noah’s Ark will be built in Kentucky biblical park. Builders of a Noah’s Ark in Northern Kentucky put faith, painstaking detail into $50 million tourism project. And it’s to be big. Five hundred and fifty feet long, 85 feet wide and 51 feet high. You can read about it here as well as view a video.
As I have spent a few hours looking thru websites, YouTube videos, etc. looking for ark related stuff to share here I found a whole lot of very critical commentaries, etc. of people who reject the biblical account of Noah’s Ark and the global flood. I guess that doesn’t surprise me, but it does sadden me. We are living in the End Times and God has said that people will be the same as they were back in Noah’s day. They laughed at Noah and his family and rejected the warnings. When the water level got deep enough they finally realized too late that there must be something to all this. Only 8 people were spared. They were safe in the ark. Everyone else drowned. Jesus Christ is the “ark” of salvation and only means of escaping what is coming upon the earth … when God pours out His wrath upon sinful mankind. Only those who are in this ark will be spared. What will you do with Jesus?
BUMBLEBEES CAN NOT FLY!
BUMBLEBEES CAN NOT FLY! Most of us have probably heard that this is what science proclaims. As is often the case it is not the full story. This scientific proclamation turned out to be a “faulty analogy between bees and conventional fixed-wing aircraft. Bees’ wings are small relative to their bodies. If an airplane were built the same way, it’d never get off the ground. But bees aren’t like airplanes, they’re like helicopters. Their wings work on the same principle as helicopter blades — to be precise, “reverse-pitch semirotary helicopter blades,” to quote one authority. A moving airfoil, whether it’s a helicopter blade or a bee wing, generates a lot more lift than a stationary one.
The real challenge with bees wasn’t figuring out the aerodynamics but the mechanics: specifically, how bees can move their wings so fast — roughly 200 beats per second, which is 10 or 20 times the firing rate of the nervous system. The trick apparently is that the bee’s wing muscles (thorax muscles, actually) don’t expand and contract so much as vibrate, like a rubber band. A nerve impulse comes along and twangs the muscle, much as you might pluck a guitar string, and it vibrates the wing up and down a few times until the next impulse comes along.” — Cecil Adams
aerodynamically impossible for bumblebees to fly
Man doesn’t have all the answers after all. If he eventually comes up with the answer oftentimes God’s Word had it all along and if man would have just read, understood, believed and applied what God had said he would have known these things much sooner and greatly benefited. One example of this which comes to mind is the practice of “bloodletting” that used to go on. Many people died as a result of purposely removing blood from the body in the attempt to “cure what ails ya”. That was such a foolish and dangerous thing. George Washington, the first U.S. President, died after having 3.75 liters of blood removed from his body within a 10 hour period as treatment for a throat infection . If scientists had only looked into God’s Word and understood what God had told man all of this could have been avoided. God’s Word says that “life is in the blood” (Levitcus 17:11). When a person or animal loses too much blood they will die … as life is in the blood!
God’s Word says that man is made in the image of God. God is the ultimate in intelligence and wisdom. With the exception of man He created everything that exists out of nothing. (Scripture tells us that He created man out of the dust of the earth and woman He created out of the rib bone of man.) Being made in the image of God man also creates. However, we have to have something to work with. We can not create something from nothing like God can and did. Man has managed to create some awesome things thruout history and in our generation man has truly accomplished some amazing things.
So when man doesn’t understand or have the answer … when we would say it is impossible for such a thing to happen or exist or work … we should always remember … “With God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26, Mark 10:27).
There are always those who come up with things like … can God create a rock so large He could not move it? There is an answer to that. God is a God of logic, of order and common sense. He is not stupid and would not do something like this and so such a question is absurd.
Science eventually comes up with many of the correct understandings including how a bumblebee can fly. The bible is always in full agreement with true science and true science is always in full agreement with the bible. The key here is the word TRUE science. There is usually disagreement between the bible and pseudoscience. By definition pseudoscience is a claim, belief or practice which is presented as scientific, but does not adhere to a valid scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status. In other words pseudoscience is not science at all! It is a false science.
We can fully trust in God’s Word as it comes from God Who is trustworthy.
By the way, contrary to what you might have heard … pigs and elephants still can’t fly!
GOD LOVES AND GOD HATES
One of the search terms someone used resulting in visiting my blog was “God hates”. I Googled this and when I looked thru the search results I was quite saddened by much of what I saw. There were so many people who have grossly misquoted and misapplied Scripture and in thus doing have painted a very wrong picture of Who God is. They will be held accountable for doing so, but it concerns me greatly the damage people like this can do in influencing others. For instance, when people say things like God hates homosexuals they are most definitely guilty of misquoting and misapplying God’s Word. God does not hate homosexuals. He loves homosexuals. What He hates is the sin of homosexuality. There is a difference … a major difference! Nowhere in God’s Word does He say that He hates anyone. He loves everybody. He does, however, hate all sin. This is such a key thing. People are good at taking God’s Word out of context and misusing it. Another often misquoted passage of scripture is 1 Timothy 6:10 … “for the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil”. We often hear/read “money is the root of all evil” … leaving the “love of” off. Again, there is a big difference.
God is love! That doesn’t mean He can’t and doesn’t hate. What it does mean is that He is just and fair in all things. We hear people say that they can’t believe in and follow a God Who would send someone to hell. All I can say to them is … “you don’t have to”. However, if you continue to take your position on this, you will be the loser as your ignorance and stubbornness comes at a very high price. You will stand before Jesus Christ in judgement and have no excuse … at least none that is acceptable. First of all it is not God Who is responsible for anyone going to hell. We are! God in His great love for us has done all He can do to keep us from ending up in hell. He loves us so much that He left heaven to come to earth to show us His love and to take upon Himself the punishment we deserve. He suffered and died on a cruel cross … the most terrible form of death devised by man. Yes, I said “we deserve”. You see, that is the problem! With the position some take concerning God they are not willing to own up to the fact that they are responsible for themselves … for their sin … and accountable to Him. They want to blame God and make Him responsible for their sin. That is ludicrous! It ain’t gonna’ happen!
God is holy and perfect in every way. We are sinful and our sin separates us from Him. He can not allow sin in His presence. That is why we must deal with the sin problem. We have nothing to offer Him other than ourselves. All of our own efforts are unacceptable to Him. We must come to Him on His terms. He requires of us that we acknowledge our sinfulness and that we are willing to turn from sin (repent) showing Him that we desire to follow Him and obey Him … to give ourselves in total surrender to Him. This is the only way we can receive His pardon and the death sentence over us. In doing so we not only receive His forgiveness, but we are adopted into His family with full benefits including eternal life with Him. That is a great deal! That is the ultimate expression of a loving God. He did not have to do this for us. Our sin condemns us and He could have left us in that state … without any hope … assured of eternal damnation in the lake of fire and anguish and torment forever and ever.
Here is another excellant video 28 minutes in duration which you can watch if interested:
I encourage you to READ what Jesus went thru to provide salvation for you and I so that we don’t have to go to hell. If after reading this about what God did for you I would ask you … do you still hold the same view and position? And if you do I would further ask you … how can you?
Yes, God loves and God hates but we need to understand things right. Sin is sin, however God calls some sin an abomination before Him. There is much difference between the word sin and the word abomination. SIN VS. ABOMINIATION
Solomon spoke of the things that God hates, and the things that are an abomination unto Him in the book of Proverbs: “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes (a proud look), a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.” (Proverbs 6:16-19) “A false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is His delight.” (Proverbs 11:1)
The Greek word for sin is HARMATRIA or HARMARTANO. The meaning is “to be without a share in; to miss the mark; to err, be mistaken; to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honour, to do or go wrong; to wander from the law of God, and to violate God’s law”. The Hebrew word for sin is CHATA and means “to miss the way, to err, to miss the mark, to wander from the way, to become unclean”. Another Hebrew word used for sin is PESHA and means “transgression and rebellion”. It refers to those who rebel against God’s intended way in their lives.
The word for abomination in the New Testament, it is the Greek word BDELUSSO or BDELUGMA and means “to abhor, a foul thing, a detestable thing, to stink, smell bad, odious, wickedness, and to turn one’s self away from on account of the stench”. In the Old Testament there is more than one word used for abomination. The main word used is TOWEBAH and means “a disgusting thing, a thing of wickedness”. God hates all sin but there are certain sins which God has listed as an abomination before Him. Certainly the sin of homosexuality is one of them. Sexual perversion is an abomination in the sight of God. There are many forms of sexual perversion and mankind is involved in all of them. Most, if not all, are found in the church. God spoke to Moses, “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” Leviticus 18:22 Homosexuality and lesbianism are abominations in the sight of God, a stink in His nostrils, that He will turn His face away from. All types of sexual sin defiles a society and will incur God’s judgement and wrath. We tend to forget Sodom and Gomorrah … two cities and their citizens God totally destroyed because of sexual sin. It is only by God’s grace that we too are not destroyed … yet. We live in a day and age where those who practice this wickedness boast about their disgusting sin. We even have the term “gay pride”. As a society we not only tolerate this in our midst, but a very large percentage of the population fully support the idea of such sin. How sad this all is. We even have homosexual churches and ministers. What an oxymoron!
Homosexuality is not the only sin going on in our midst that God is extremely displeased with so I don’t want to come across as singling out this sin and ignoring all others. And truthfully God is far more upset with sin among those who call themselves Christians that He is those that make no such profession.
God has made the difference between sin and abominations very plain in His Word. Sins are those things in our lives that cause us to miss the mark of the high calling in God. Abominations are those things that are an abhorrence unto Him, and a stink in His nostrils.
Yes, God loves but He also hates. Understanding the truth about both is essential. Acting upon that understanding of the truth is also essential.
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (but not necessarily in that order)
Ah yes, those good ol’ Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns. Who can forget them? I am sure many can if they aren’t fans of Clint Eastwood, but for those of us who like his movies/his acting they remain high on the list. Certainly they did launch his career. Then there was Charles Bronson who also got a big boost by succeeding in Europe before making it big here. This article I am writing is not about either of these actors, movies, or anything of the sort. If fact, as often is the case I don’t have a clue what I am going to write about as I start typing away here. I was just sitting here when the words “THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY” popped into my head followed by “not necessarily in that order”. Now all I have to do is make something out of this. Does that sound strange to you? Sometimes things just happen this way for me when it comes to writing something for this blog … and not just this blog, but all the blogs I have had before. I guess it is just the way my mind works … at least some of the time.
When I look at those words … good, bad and ugly … I really don’t think of the infamous western movie so much as I do “good news”, “bad news” and “ugly truth” or “ugly situation”. And when I think of good news, bad news and ugly truth/situation I then think of “but not necessarily in that order”. I would imagine that this isn’t making much sense to you but I will further explain it. I will try to make it a short explanation. Good news equates to the “Gospel” (of Jesus Christ) as that is what the word gospel means … good news. Bad news is the fact that hell awaits all mankind. And that is the ugly truth! In order to grasp and appreciate the good news (the gospel) one has to first grasp and understand the bad news. The good news is just not good news unless one has become aware of and is concerned over the bad news. Are you following me? The bad news is we are hellbound! The good news is we don’t have to go to hell! And with that the ugly truth is changing dramatically into something beautiful.
Perhaps the next time you think of this movie title you might think beyond
as there are far more significant matters to concern ourselves with
WHAT’S WRONG WITH _____________?
The internet and search engines have become so very handy to look stuff up. Of course, just because one finds something on the internet does not make it factual trustworthy truth. I had a pastor once many years ago who used to say “you can make your mouth say anything”. When it comes to scriptural truth God has made it very clear that there are those who mislead others. God has instructed us to search the scriptures diligently and to properly understand and apply God’s Word. We are not just to accept any and everything that is presented. Many many things come to mind when I think about this subject. Getting back to the internet and search engines one of the popular means of searching is to type in “what’s wrong with _____________?” (fill in the blank). I have done this many times.
I just checked the “stat” page of this blog and noticed that somebody visited this blog as a result of an internet search for “has anybody went to purgatory”. I would assume that they are Catholic as Catholics are the only ones I know of who believe in such nonsense. In the Tom Cruise movie, “Jerry Maguire”, a line has become well known … “Show me the money”. To anyone who believes in “purgatory” I say “show it to me in the bible”. Therein lies the problem … people believe all sorts of falsehoods accepting these things without ever checking it out for themselves. God has said “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge“. (Hosea 4:6) We get caught up in false teachings and if we believe and follow them we greatly endanger our eternal souls. God has given us His Word. We are responsible to study it and are accountable to Him. We should never just accept something we hear or read as truth without checking it out against what God has said in His Word.
What I am writing about here may come across as unloving but actually just the opposite is true. If I didn’t care about the eternal soul of others I would just keep silent. It is not loving toward others to allow them to walk down a path of destruction. It is loving to warn them and try to rescue them from destruction. If you were sound asleep in bed at 2:30 in the morning and I was driving by your house and noticed it was on fire would you want me to just pass on by and let you sleep or would you want me to stop and try to awaken you and your family so that you could escape the danger?
Have you ever looked at and thought about the word “PROTESTANT”? … PROTEST & ANT which is one who protests. So what are they protesting? Martin Luther started it all. He was a Catholic who dared to look into the bible for himself to see what it says. Upon doing so he realized how messed up the Catholic religion is … how it has so many things very wrong … not in accord with what God has said in His Word. Martin Luther could no longer just sit back and continue on with the teachings and practices of the Catholic church. He could not just remain silent. He protested these false teachings and practices he had discovered by reading the bible.
When I first got out of the Navy I went to work as a maintenance weldor at Kraft Foods. Shortly before I hired in something happened which I was told about. Two maintenance mechanics were up on the roof of the building walking along during the night when it was quite dark and they couldn’t see very well. The area of the roof they were walking on had multiple levels and no kind of railing along the edge of the roof to keep someone from stepping off the edge and falling down onto the level of the roof below. They were walking along one in front of the other when the lead man stepped off the edge and fell onto the roof level below. The man following him did the exact same thing. You might say it was a case of the blind leading the blind. Fortunately neither of them got seriously hurt. Why they didn’t have flashlights with them and use them I don’t understand. Many laughs resulted of the telling of this story. In the image below you can see the various levels of the roof. The dark areas are higher than the lighter areas and there are even different levels among the dark areas.
I share it here because it illustrates exactly what is going on in any false religion. The only difference is those who step off the edge plummet into eternal damnation. How tragic … especially since we have God’s Word to light our way. Like these two maintenance mechanics most people walking along are not using the light to help them avoid tragedy.
My sister and her husband as well as my wife used to be Catholic. My brother in law did as Martin Luther did. He looked into God’s Word for himself and found the truth and saw the great falsehoods of the Catholic church. Many people have left the Catholic church as a result of discovering the truth and understanding the deception and danger of the false religion that they had been a part of.
Let’s look at some of the things people believe that are not in accord with God’s Word. I am not going to take the time and go to the effort to type all this out as there are numerous resources available already …
What’s Wrong With Roman Catholicism?
Why Catholics Are Going To Hell
Are Roman Catholics Christian?
Much of this not only applies to the Catholic church but it also applies to other false religions.
GOD HATES RELIGION!
“Religion is the opium of the people”. This is a well known quote attributed to Karl Marx. From what I read he did not actually say these exact words, but they are credited to him anyway. Regardless I want to go on record saying that I could not agree more. Religion is something most dangerous. I want to further go on record saying that GOD HATES RELIGION! Satan, on the other hand, loves religion. You see, Satan is all about deceiving people and keeping them in spiritual darkness and ignorant of the Truth. His goal is to ensure that people end up in hell. He is a master at it. He doesn’t care what church organization a person belongs to although most certainly he prefers some over others. I say this because some preach and teach the Truth according to God’s Word while others do not. Obviously Satan would much rather see a person be a part of a church which does not present the Truth than one that does. Being in a church where one is exposed to the presentation of the Truth just might result in that person coming out of spiritual darkness and into the Light.
Yes, God hates religion. Religion is something contrived by man and Satan. Satan is quite guilty of leading people astray and keeping them lost. But we need to be careful not to give too much credit to Satan. Man is quite capable of accomplishing this all by himself. We have churches full of people who warm the pews (seats) on a regular basis who go thru all the motions and feel good because they have done their duty or spiritual service unto God (at least that is their thinking). They might even be very involved in their church serving in one capacity or another. They might be involved in community service and affairs. There is nothing wrong with any of these things and, in fact, more of us should do so. However, if we are only religious and not BORN AGAIN as God requires then it is all for nothing. We will remain lost and eventually die in our sins and spend eternity in torment of hell fire. God hates religion. He is “into” and is all about PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP. He wants us to know Him personally and be “in relationship” with Him.
I can say that I knew various things about President Ronald Reagan, but I never met him and established a personal relationship with him. Knowing things about someone is not the same as knowing them personally. A lot of people know things about God, but they have never met Him and established a personal relationship with Him. We must come to God on HIS TERMS.
I mentioned earlier that Satan is a master deceiver. It stands to reason that he will always try to thwart God’s plans and God’s ways. When someone attempts to share about being BORN AGAIN you can bet that he will try to explain it away and convince people who are trapped in spiritual darkness that they are ok and that they are or will be BORN AGAIN when they are not. This is very prevalent in the Catholic church.
In closing I just want to say that we can hear and read lots of things from many different sources. They may sound good, convincing, authoritative, etc., but if these things are not in accord with God’s Word (and a proper understanding and application of it) then it is all very dangerous poison we should steer clear of. Everything needs to be carefully examined in the light of God’s Word. Our eternal soul is at stake.
Steve's Mixed Bag 