My Thoughts

My Thoughts on Christianity and Other Things

Archive for the category “Christianity”

27 Nov 2013

Spiritual Gifts

I didn’t really want to write about this, but here it goes. And I’m sure there will be trouble.

Some people say that every believer has a spiritual gift. Whether they know what theirs are, or not. Some believe that there are no more spiritual gifts, and that those who say there are, are just fooling themselves. Many people are very opinionated about spiritual gifts. And to a point, I believe that’s OK. However if one gets stubborn and refuses to listen, even to Scripture, well that’s not OK.

One of the common things I hear about spiritual gifts is that you must speak in tongues or some strange language. Why? The Bible doesn’t say that.

I know many people will say “In 1 Corinthians 14:5, Paul said ‘I wish you could all speak in tongues’.” Yet they ignore the rest of what Paul said. I believe this is wrong and dangerous on many levels. I’ll explain why in a minute.

1 Corinthians 14:5 says I wish you could all speak in tongues, but even more I wish you could all prophesy. For prophecy is greater than speaking in tongues, unless someone interprets what you are saying so that the whole church will be strengthened.

Saying that you must speak in tongues isn’t in the Bible. So claiming that it is and that you must do it if you have the Holy Spirit is a lie. 1 Corinthians 12:7-10 says there are different gifts for different people. NOT EVERYONE will get the gift of tongues. 1 Corinthians 12:11 says It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. HE ALONE DECIDES WHICH GIFT EACH PERSON SHOULD HAVE. Not you and not me.

I wonder how many young believers, who honestly wanted to follow the Lord with all their heart felt defeated and give up because they were told they did not have the Spirit because they couldn’t speak in tongues. This is evil, because this faulty teaching is dividing the church and driving away some believers.

If somebody prays and heals someone right in front of you, will you ignore the gift of healing and tell that person he or she doesn’t have the Holy Spirit because that person can’t speak in tongues? I would like to see you explain that to our Lord.

For years I have been having trouble with my left leg and left foot. Sometimes it hurts. The pain is on the skin just under that bone that sticks out at the ankle. (The right leg and foot is OK.) The doctors know what’s wrong, they just can’t fix it. A few years ago, a woman asked if she could pray for it. I said yes. She then asked if I speak in tongues. I said no. She told me that if I don’t speak in tongues, it’s a clear sign that I don’t have the Holy Spirit. She even quoted the first part of 1 Corinthians 14:5, but of course not the second part.

I knew what she was saying was wrong, and I knew I should tell her, but I didn’t. I was in pain and I wanted to be prayed for. Well the next day the pain got worse. And for the next two years I had very intense pain, with infections, and even MRSA a few couple of times. To give you an idea of how bad the pain was, one day I had a little discomfort in my tooth. I went to the dentist so it wouldn’t get worse. Turns out the tooth was so bad it needed a root canal. Yet the pain in my foot was over shadowing the pain in my foot.

Many people prayed and I prayed, but nothing happened. One day my pastor and a few people in our church put oil on me and prayed. The pain eased up a lot, but it still hurt. Soon after that I was thinking about that woman who told me the faulty doctrine about speaking in tongues. And how I knew I should have said something about it, but didn’t. I knew it was wrong because I knew the truth but said nothing. I confessed my sin to God and to my wife.

The next day the pain was gone and the infection was gone. In a few days the sore was healing. I was pain free for a whole year! I still have a little pain now. Not much, just enough to remind me. I have other problems now, but that is another story.

The woman claimed to be praying in the spirit. But she wasn’t. I know she’s a Christian, yet she wasn’t praying in the spirit but instead praying in the flesh to show off. That was her sin. My sin was knowing it but not correcting her. And I paid for it.

If you honestly have the gift of tongues, good but use it wisely. If you do not have the gift of tongues, I say that too is good. But I must add, if you don’t have the gift of tongues, I hope you would be brave enough to say you don’t and to not fake it. And try not to let anyone bully you.

I know a man who is in his 30s and have Downs Syndrome. He is friendly and out going. Sometimes during Bible study he speaks slowly and carefully making sure he says exactly what he means to say. (Our church is active in Young Life Capernaum.) One night though, while he was praying during the group prayer, something happened. His speech changed. It was still his voice but what he said and the way he said it was not him. He spoke as clearly and as fluidly as an expert speaker. He prayed by giving thanks for the new bodies we would receive after the Resurrection. Bodies that would not get sick, when there would no longer be any suffering. He was prophesying. The Holy Spirit was speaking through him. I shouldn’t have been amazed to see this, but I was.

1 Corinthians 12:7
A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.

We may not know what our gifts are, and I think maybe that’s OK; though it would be nice to know. I may be wrong, but I believe that when needed, we will naturally use that gift. Just keep in mind that God created all of us differently. And He will also gift us differently as shown in 1 Corinthians 12:8-11 .

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28 Oct 2013

I Am A Wanted Man

Acts 13:48
When the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked the Lord for his message; and all who were chosen for eternal life became believers.

I have been writing about several things in my blog since I started. But one of the main things I have been writing about is how much God loves us. I very rarely talk about myself whether good or bad, but here it goes.

Recently we had a class at church and in small groups we were to tell about our experience in the church. Not in a church building, but church as in the body of Christ. People in my group told of their experience, and then I told mine. One person in my group said something I never fully thought about before. But now I want to share it with you.

My family moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, just in time for me to start high school. Moving to New Orleans was a real culture shock. There were lots of voodoo, witchcraft, and racism. In the early 1970s I know of one high school that had Witchcraft as an elective. I’m sure there were others. Just think, in high school you could chose to take shop, home-making, or witchcraft.

One day I found some high school students that belong to Youth For Christ. After awhile I asked Jesus into my heart… mostly. I could see that to fit in I should witness to others about Jesus. But I wanted to play it safe. So I handed out tracts at our Christian church youth group. To my surprise, my parents were getting complaints from other parents. I was told to never hand out Christian tracts at that church again, even if it was a Christian church. I knew something was wrong.

Later I enlisted in the US Coast Guard and was stationed in Alaska. And there I turned my back on the Lord. I never really done anything very bad… except I did steal a wedding cake once. (You can read more about this in my book A Whole Mess Load Of Grace.) A chief cook who happened to be a Christian would often invite me over to have lunch with his wife and himself. And of course he would talk to me about Jesus.

When I was transferred to Seattle, again someone was talking to me about Jesus. I again ask the Lord into my life and this time I meant it. Since that time I have been laughed at, fired from a job, insulted, even from those who were close to me. Once at a job someone did sloppy work and then signed my name to it. A real friend found out about it before I did, told me and even reported the whole wrong doing to our supervisor. (I don’t like talking about all this, but for some reason I feel I should.)

When I was done with my little story someone in our little group said it’s amazing how great God’s faithfulness is. God wanted me and was faithful to me. And after all that I’ve gone through, I stayed faithful to our Lord. And even though I am thankful for this, I am awed by it all. What is it that would allow me to turn to God, and not the next guy? The Bible says we are chosen. Matthew 22:14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.” How does that work? What makes me so special? These are things I don’t understand. When you consider that we are chosen and yet it’s our choice, it gets complicated.

If you apply for a job and and get it, it shows that you not only chose that job, the employer also chose you. Very simply I believe this is how it works with God. But then if you add in the fact that God knows everything, he would know that you would chose Him if given the chance. (Even if it’s not the first chance.) So I believe God would do whatever it takes to give you the chance to turn to Him. God gives that person a chance to repent. To make things more complicated, what about those who God chooses that normally would not follow Christ, like Saul? Saul at first didn’t even like Christians, but Christ chose him anyway. I could go on, but I won’t.

But I’m starting to get off topic. Some may say I survived persecution, but I haven’t. I haven’t been persecuted yet. I hope I never will be. Even though I do not like to be insulted, I don’t consider insults to be persecution. I know some may say getting fired is being persecuted. But let’s face it, this is nothing compared to what many of our brothers and sisters in Christ are going through in this country and around the world. Will I do as well as they do when the time comes? If it comes? I hope so. But I really don’t want to find out.

Mark 13:13
And everyone will hate you because you are my followers. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

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23 Oct 2013

Mission Fest Seattle

This last weekend my wife and I went to Mission Fest Seattle. We went last year and enjoyed it. This year because my wife is now retired we thought maybe we could find something we would be interested in and that the Lord would be leading us to. If He wants.

There were 81 different exhibitors which included a few universities, three radio stations, and the rest included missions like Word Concern, China Outreach Ministries, SAT-7, Puget Sound Christian Clinic, and many others. There were also several speakers. My wife and I listened to Josh McDowell an evangelist and apologist, and Linda Smith a former US Congress and founder of War Against Trafficking Alliance. Both of them were good speakers and had some very sobering things to say.

There were 86 separate individual seminars. There is no way one can take in all of them from 4:00 Friday afternoon to 9:00 Saturday night. You only have 6 opportunities attend to them, so you really had to pick and choose. My wife and I went to Reaching Evolutionists With The Marvel Of God by Mark Champney and he presented to us parts of his video Evolution Demolition. It was very interesting. I enjoyed it.

I also went to Jehovah’s Witnesses: The Mission Field On Your Doorstep by Richard Berghammer from Mormons Need Hope. There I learned that I have been telling the Jehovah’s Witnesses about Jesus the wrong way. Turns out when I tell them what the Bible really says, they stop listening. They are trained not to listen to anyone who is not with the Watch Tower, or to even question what they have been taught to other Jehovah Witnesses. From what I understand, you must keep them in a ‘teaching’ mode. If you force the facts, they are trained to think they’re being persecuted. I didn’t say this but the first thing that came to my mind was, “What whimps! Being persecuted means losing your job or being thrown in jail for your beliefs. Not having someone disagreeing with you.”

Later I had trouble deciding which seminar to go to. Do I want to go to The Great Commission Means More Than Go, or do I want to go to Islam, Challenge or Opportunity? For some reason I had a very difficult time deciding. So I did what anyone in the Pacific Northwest would do; I sat down and had coffee. Iced latte, 24 ounce. After all I still had about 15 minutes to decide. I turned around and a young woman sitting behind me stated talking. After we were talking for a while two other people came and started talking with us. After a while my wife came and join in talking with us. It was like a family reunion with brothers and sisters you never met. Maybe the reason I couldn’t decide which seminar to go to was because God wanted me to talk with the woman, just to help raise her spirits.

My wife and I went to Mission Fest Seattle last year and this year. And the Lord willing, we’ll go again next year. For those who can make it the next Mission Fest will be in Vancouver, British Columbia.

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08 Oct 2013

What Are You Talking About?

1 Corinthians 3:1-2
Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in the Christian life. I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready,

About 35 years ago my wife and I were visiting her Grandmother. I had been a Christian for only a couple of years then. Anyway her grandmother told me that she was reading about when Jesus was talking to Abraham. The way the Bible was opened; I could tell she was reading in the Old Testament. So I asked “What are you talking about?” “He was one of the three angels.” She said as she showed me in her Bible, but I couldn’t read it. It was written in Norwegian.

When we got home I looked up Jesus in the concordance. But Jesus was not listed in the Old Testament. I looked up Abraham and read Genesis 18, but I didn’t recognized Jesus there.

Soon after that our church was showing a video for a few weeks by Francis Schaeffer. And I thought ‘What in the world is he talking about?’ Many other people wondered what he was talking about too. He was talking way over everybody’s heads. The only thing I got from the videos was that he was some old guy with long hair, wore strange clothes and no body could understand him. (Reading A Christian Manifesto by Francis Schaeffer still makes me go cross eye, a little.)

Years later my wife and I were going to a church with a very knowledgeable pastor there. But many times, many of us didn’t know what he was talking about. He wasn’t saying anything wrong, he was talking way out of our league.

1 Corinthians 3:1-2
Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in the Christian life. I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready,

One thing these three people had in common was they weren’t just having spiritual solid food, these people were enjoying spiritual steak!

A couple of times, when I have been talking to someone about the Bible, they have said that they wished they knew more about what the Bible says. All I can say is, start reading, and keep reading.

There several thoughts on reading the Bible and learning from it. One you can use a reading plan. There are many of them around, just pick one. The first time I used a “Though the Bible in a Year” plan, it only took me 15 months to through the 12 month reading plan. Yes I missed a few days. But I also been looking up places on maps, taking notes, and cross referencing things. For an example from Isaiah I wrote:

6:2-3 same creatures in Revelation 4:6-8?
6:8-13 is maybe the fall of Israel a long time ago
7:14 the birth of Jesus

Another way to read is to pick a subject and study it. What does the Bible really say about judging? Is it always wrong for us to judge? Does the Bible really say Paul fell off his horse when he saw the flash of light? Those who say yes, well you’re wrong. Bible didn’t say Paul was on a horse then.

A third way is to sit down in your easy chair and read it from start to finish. You can’t learn God’s word without reading God’s word.

Any reading or listening outside the Bible, even this blog, you should check it out. That is why I add links to my blog. To make it easier.

1 Thessalonians 5:20-21
Do not scoff at prophecies, but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good.

Getting back to my wife’s grandmother. She was right about Jesus being one of the angels with Abraham. I recognize Jesus there now, as well as many other places through out the Bible.

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25 Sep 2013
3 Comments

Dark Fire?

Pipe

Luke 16:24
24 “The rich man shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.’

Matthew 22:13
13 Then the king said to his aides, ‘Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Many of you are familiar with these parables Jesus told. For a refresher, click on the links. Both of these parables talk about people not going to Heaven, but instead going to the other place.

So what will Hell be like? Will it be dark? Will it be fire? Is there a contradiction here? If so, why would Jesus contradict himself? Or did He? If both are true, then that would mean there is dark fire. But, what is the pipe up above all about?

I have seen dark fire. In fact many mechanics (like myself) and welders and plumbers that have been around for a while have seen dark fire. Also those who cook with natural gas or propane.

Just over 30 years ago, I was outside in the dark heating something up with a propane torch. I was amazed at how little light the flame put out. (WARNING – THIS IS VERY, VERY DANGEROUS. IN THE DARK ACCIDENTS DO HAPPEN. YOU COULD GET 3RD DEGREE BURNS, OR DEATH. YOU COULD BURN DOWN YOUR HOME, OR WORSE. IT’S BEST IF YOU DON’T DO IT.)

When I light my oxygen-acetylene torch, and only the acetylene is burning, the flame is very bright. Bright enough to hurt your eyes. But when I turn on the oxygen the flame gets smaller. When the flame gets to be only a ¼ inch long, it’s no longer as bright. But it’s very hot. If I remember correctly, it’s about 5000 degrees Fahrenheit. (2760 Celsius) When I cut the pipe above, the flame wasn’t that bright. But the melting steal glowed so blinding bright, that dark goggles were a must.

Acetylene only burning

Acetylene only burning

Acetylene with oxygen burning

Acetylene with oxygen burning

Right now some of you are very interested, but some of you are bored. Sorry. But the point of all this is that it shows that dark fire is real. Which gives credit to what Jesus says in the two parables in Luke 16:19-31 and Mathew 22:1-14.

Revelation 20:15
And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.

Now this is scary. And when you consider Luke 16:19-31 where the rich man is not being consumed by fire but suffering endlessly; well that’s very scary.

The good news is none of us really have to go there. God loves us enough that He sent us His son Jesus so that who ever believes in Him will have ever lasting life with Him and not in the Lake of Fire. This is good news. Good enough for us to be telling others.

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15 Sep 2013

LOST

We have all lost things. This last week we lost our checkbook. We looked all over the place. We looked in the car, by the computer and anywhere we could think of. But we couldn’t find it. Tracing our steps we realized that we haven’t taken the checkbook anywhere, therefore it’s still here at home. We finally found it on the kitchen table, under the freshly washed clothes waiting to be folded. We were both very happy to find the checkbook.

We often would do anything to find what we have lost. Even the Pink Panther did all he could to get that coin back.

Jesus told a story similar to this.
Luke 15:8-10
8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”

I used to have a very friendly dog who loved everybody and believes everyone loved her. And like most all dogs she would get loose once in a while and run down the street. Then I would call out, “Char! Come Char! Come on girl!” She would then stop, look at me and start back. “Oh yes what a good girl. Come Char, come on, oh what a good girl.” About then she would pick up her pace and race back to me at full speed. It’s a good thing I’m a big guy because she would sometimes hit me with her smiley floppy tongue followed by 100 pounds of solid yet wiggly body. She was part lab, part rottweiler, and all charm. She knew I loved her.

God loves us and He wants us. He’ll do anything to get us back. Including sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. Just think, loving us so much He sent His son to pay for our sins. Payment which is death.

John 3:16
For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Our sin have made us lost or separated from God much like the coin being separated from the Pink Panther in the video.

Remember God loves us, even when we sin. And we always sin. It’s our nature. God has made it easy for us to return to Him.

John 3:13-15
13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man (Jesus) has come down from heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.

For these of you who wonder about this bronze snake; you can read about it in Numbers 21:4-9.

This is what God said in Ezekiel 18:30-32.
30 “Therefore, I will judge each of you, O people of Israel, according to your actions, says the Sovereign Lord. Repent, and turn from your sins. Don’t let them destroy you! 31 Put all your rebellion behind you, and find yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O people of Israel? 32 I don’t want you to die, says the Sovereign Lord. Turn back and live!

Even though He was talking to Israel, I’m sure every nation, language, race, everybody is included. We must turn back to God. We must talk others about going back to God through Jesus.

John 14:6
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

And we must do it with love. Anyone one who knows anything about dogs, knows that when your dog runs off, they never want to return to you if your mad and angry at them. (However even if you’re not mad sometimes they still may not want to come back right away.)

On a side note, no matter what some people may say, I never spoiled my dog. Just because sometimes I would take her in my pickup into town, and I would buy us both a hamburger, doesn’t mean I’m spoiling her. We do need to eat.

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27 Aug 2013

Following The Lord Is Hard To Do

But why? And why is it so hard to trust the lord?

We all know about the Ten Commandments as listed in Exodus 20:3-17. A lot of dos and don’ts. It true we don’t like rules, but what about the fourth commandment?

Exodus 20:8-11
“Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 You have six days each week for your ordinary work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

You would think we would have no problems with this one. Laying back and taking it easy for the day. But we do work. Or we think about work. Some of us think more about work on our day off than we do when we should be working.

When Adam and Eve first sinned, why did they do it? They knew they were created. They knew everything around them was created. They knew God personally. So why would they make the decision to stop following God. Why would they decide to trust a snake more than they trusted God?

Moses did trust God enough to follow Him, and because of it lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, across a sea bed after the waters had been parted, through the wilderness with God feeding with food from Heaven, and on to the promise land.

King David committed adultery, then murdered the man whose wife he had the adultery with. Yes David sinned. But David repented. David trusted God enough to follow Him. Even to the point of standing before a giant to kill him when he himself was only a boy.

What about Joshua at the town of Jericho? The Lord told him to walk around the town with his men for 7 days then shout on the 7th day, and the walls of the town will fall. How does that work? When I was in the military, if my commanding officer told me to do this; I would wonder if my commander had flipped his led. And everyone else would wonder the same thing. Yet Joshua trusted God enough to follow orders. No matter what.

Joshua 6:20 said what happened when Joshua trusted God.
When the people heard the sound of the rams’ horns, they shouted as loud as they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the town and captured it.

When a woman was net by Elijah, she trusted him because of God. God had told her to feed Elijah.
1 Kings 17:8-9
8 Then the Lord said to Elijah, 9 “Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there to feed you.”

The widow and her son were about to run out of food. But even though it made no sense to do so; she trusted God and fed Elijah anyway. Read what happened next.
1 Kings 17:8-16

I would like to say I am good at trusting the Lord. But I’m not. Instead I am like one of the very many Israelites that roamed around for 40 years after leaving Egypt. After everything God has done for His people, they were still whining about this and that, not trusting God and therefor not always following Him.

In the book of Haggai chapter 1, it talks about how things may not go well for you if you don’t take care of God’s temple. We all know the temple is in ruins, and it’s not yet time to rebuild it. But we still go to a church or a synagogue. Is there something you can do to help fix it up if it needs it? Paint, cut grass, maintain the church or synagogue van, upgrade something? Fix the lawn mower maybe?

I choose to do something. It doesn’t always make sense, but I choose to trust my Lord, my God, and follow Him.

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12 Aug 2013
1 Comment

What Happened?

Jeremiah 52:17
The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars in front of the Lord’s Temple, the bronze water carts, and the great bronze basin called the Sea, and they carried all the bronze away to Babylon.

Jeremiah 52:20-23
20) The weight of the bronze from the two pillars, the Sea with the twelve bronze oxen beneath it, and the water carts was too great to be measured. These things had been made for the Lord’s Temple in the days of King Solomon. 21) Each of the pillars was 27 feet tall and 18 feet in circumference. They were hollow, with walls 3 inches thick. 22) The bronze capital on top of each pillar was 7½ feet high and was decorated with a network of bronze pomegranates all the way around. 23) There were 96 pomegranates on the sides, and a total of 100 on the network around the top.

So my question is, “What happened? Why?” I don’t mean why the Babylonians took the stuff, I mean why were they not able to measure the weight of them. What happened to their education?

Let’s start with the pillars. I am not an engineer, but I’m sure it was a real engineering feat to move the pillars from where they were made to the temple. Otherwise why would they be made hollow if not to cut down the weight so they could be moved?

So if Judea and Israel had the skill to make the pillars, why did they lose the skill to even calculate the weight? Why did they become ‘dumbed down’? What happened to them?

The Jews are God’s chosen people. But they sinned greatly from time to time. Sometimes because of their sin God allowed their enemies to attack and rule over them.

So did this dumbing down happen before the enemies attacked and conquered them, or after? Has this ever happened before? Has it happened since?

Job 26:7-8
7 God stretches the northern sky over empty space
and hangs the earth on nothing.
8 He wraps the rain in his thick clouds,
and the clouds don’t burst with the weight.

Many people including me believe Job lived shortly after the world wide flood, about 4,500 years ago. Yet they knew that the earth hang in empty space with nothing holding it up. They also knew that clouds are not just light fluffy stuff floating in the sky and they are in fact very heavy. Yet for maybe a few thousand years we have forgotten this knowledge until a couple hundred years ago.

Like I said I believe Job lived shortly after Noah’s flood. Did he live before or after the fall of Babel? I’m thinking maybe before, but I honestly don’t know. I do know that the great flood and the fall of Babel was because of people’s sin. The number one sin I can find for them is in Genesis 9:7 when God said, “Now be fruitful and multiply, and repopulate the earth.” They didn’t do this but instead stayed in one area. Did people became dumbed down before or after the fall? I’m not sure.

So here we are in the year 2013 after Christ, many of us in the United States of America. And we are being dumbed down. Everybody knows this, but no one wants it. We have some very good teachers. I’m even related to a few. So what’s happening? For some reason, some young people aren’t learning. I have seen this first hand when I went back to school in my early 50s.

Is America sinning? The first commandment is “You must not have any other god but me.” Exodus 20:3 Yet we worship false gods. Hindu gods, witchcraft, Allah, reincarnation, fantasy science called evolution (I’m not against real science, only the fantasy of evolution) and others. We also worship fancy cars, money, sex, power, you name it, whatever we put before God.

Exodus 20:7 “You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.” how many times have we heard God’s name used in cussing? Since Jesus is God, how many times has His name used as cussing?

Exodus 20:13 “You must not murder.” Think you’re OK here? Guess again. Everyone has their own DNA. (I know identical twins share one) But your human DNA is different from your parents. Your human DNA is different from your mother when you were only a toddler. You had your own DNA the moment you were born. You had your own DNA the moment before you were born. You had your own DNA the moment you were conceived. Killing a being with this human DNA is scientifically murder, morally murder, Biblically murder. And anyone who approves of this murder… well it’s not good.

This was only three of the Ten Commandment and we as a nation failed. We also failed the others too. Is this country falling? I honestly don’t like saying this but, it might be. Is there hope for us? YES!!! But this nation need to change our hearts to God. The God of the Bible, and as a nation it won’t be easy. Another thought I just thought of, what if God’s judgment to this country is to fall under the attacks of terrorist. This would be shameful.

The good news is God is still God and His loves us and will be with us if we turn to Him through His son Jesus. Our Lord Jesus will come for us. Hopefully very soon.

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06 Aug 2013

Truth About the TV Show “Zero Hour”

I have watched everyone of the episodes of the TV show Zero Hour, and the best thing I can say about it is the writers had imagination. The other thing I can say is not so nice.

When Hank Galliston in Zero Hour starts looking for his wife after she had been kidnapped, he finds all kinds of shady characters who are suppose to be ‘believers’. The show suggests that the believers are leaders of Christians who are willing to kill and destroy to protect the truth. What truth? Basically the only thing the show got right is that there is a book called the Bible and that there was a man on this earth 2000 years ago named Jesus. Everything else they seemed to got wrong.

Half way through the series, you find that some of the people wanted to clone Jesus using drops of blood from the cross. This cloned Jesus would be his second coming. So let’s look at what the Bible says about all this.

Many times in the New Testament, it talks about Jesus being God. One example is John 1:1 combined with John 1:14.
John 1:1
1 In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
John 1:14
14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

After Jesus died on the cross He rose again physically from the dead, with his own body. Luke 24:37-43 talks about his disciples seeing Him after He physically rose from the dead with His own body complete with holes in His feet and hands. He even ate in front of them!

Luke 24:37-43
37 But the whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost!
38 “Why are you frightened?” he asked. “Why are your hearts filled with doubt? 39 Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it’s really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do.” 40 As he spoke, he showed them his hands and his feet.
41 Still they stood there in disbelief, filled with joy and wonder. Then he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he ate it as they watched.

Another important thing to read is Mark 16:15-20.

Mark 16:15-20
15 And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. 16 Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. 17 These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. 18 They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”
19 When the Lord Jesus had finished talking with them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 20 And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked through them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs.

This is important because He told them to spread the Good News to everyone. Plus it shows Jesus is still alive in His own body in Heaven. Then His disciples went everywhere and preached. The TV show Zero Hour said that Jesus needed to be cloned for His second coming. Why? His still alive. He will return on His own when it’s time.

Luke 21:27
27 Then everyone will see the Son of Man coming on a cloud with power and great glory.

There is no weird plan as in the TV show Zero Hour to help God. There are not 12 disciples today running around trying to kill people to keep God safe. God is God and we are not and never will be. There is no great secret to protect, it’s all in the Bible for everyone to read. There is no need to clone Jesus. He is still alive, he is Lord, and He will return when He sees fit, and there is nothing we can do about it.

Two other things were important in Zero Hour, the cross and the 144,000. First let’s start with the cross. Does it exist still? I doubt it. But if it does, it does. More likely it have either decayed back into the dirt, or maybe it was cut up and burnt. The 144,000 is talked about in Revelation 7:4-8. What follows is something that many people for some reason refuse to see. Revelation 7:9-10 says:

Revelation 7:9-10
9 After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. 10 And they were shouting with a mighty shout, “Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!”

The 144,000 Jews from the twelve tribes definitely are not be alone. A whole lot of other people will be there. By the way, in case some of you don’t know, the Lamb is Jesus as ‘The Lamb of God’ because He was killed for our sins. In the Old Testament they killed lambs as a sin offering to God so they could be forgiven. However a lamb is only a temporary solution to an eternal problem, which is sin. Since Jesus is eternal, He is the solution to the eternal problem, sin. If we believe in Him, we avoid judgment and are forgiven of our sin.

So why am I fussing about a TV show that ended August 3 in the US? Over the years I have noticed that for some reason people seem to love a lie. Often times when people hear a lie about the Bible or Christians and Jews in general, they will most likely to believe it than to check out the facts for themselves. I am trying to spread the truth. After all Jesus did say in Mark 16:15, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.”

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01 Aug 2013
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Into The Future III

Isaiah 42:9
Everything I prophesied has come true,
and now I will prophesy again.
I will tell you the future before it happens.”

As I have said before, there is so much I don’t understand about Bible prophecies. Well here I go again.

I was reading Isaiah 19 and, well, it brought up a lot of questions. Isaiah 19:2-4 talks of a lot of unrest in Egypt. Could this be Egyptian Arab Spring? If so, what about the other countries in the Middle-East that are going through turmoil? Like Syria? Why would Egypt be singled out?

During the Egyptian Arab Spring there was riots in the streets then the Muslim Brotherhood took over. But now only a short time later, there is trouble in Egypt again. This group is against that group, and there are so many groups that are against each other that I can’t keep up with it. (To be honest, I really haven’t tried.) All I know is you hear about it on TV news and the internet.

So now Isaiah 19:2-4 is starting to make sense.

2 “I will make Egyptian fight against Egyptian—
brother against brother,
neighbor against neighbor,
city against city,
province against province.
3 The Egyptians will lose heart,
and I will confuse their plans.
They will plead with their idols for wisdom
and call on spirits, mediums, and those who consult the spirits of the dead.
4 I will hand Egypt over
to a hard, cruel master.
A fierce king will rule them,”
says the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

But what about Isaiah 19:5-10 where it talks about the Nile River drying up? I have done some research on this and found that the Nile River has never failed to flood. It also has never completely dried up either. So obviously this part of the prophecies hasn’t happened yet. But I wonder; will this be because of climate change, or because somebody built a dam.

But what really interests me is Isaiah 19:17-25 where Egypt becomes afraid of Israel. Then some of the Egyptian cities will start speaking Hebrew and start worshiping God. How can this be? I have never known or heard of Jews forcing their beliefs on others. So why would Muslims give up and willingly abandon Allah and willingly follow the true God of Israel?

Here are my thoughts about how this might happen. Of course I’m no expert, but looking over my notes I think I can put together a possibility.

In Jeremiah 30:20, talking about modern Israel, God says He will punish any who will hurt Israel. With the Obama administration seemingly wanting to under cut Israel as far as security and it’s capital Jerusalem; I believe the United States will either fall or at least not be a great nation any more. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t believe I am. With the US out of the way some of the Muslim countries may feel empowered to attack Israel, and they will. Right now, many of them are already quoting Psalms 83:4.
“Come,” they say, “let us wipe out Israel as a nation.
We will destroy the very memory of its existence.”
However they will fail. Psalms 83:13-18 says Israel’s enemies will become terrified, ashamed, and utterly disgraced. They will learn the Lord God of Israel, alone is Most High.

Psalms 83:13-18
13 O my God, scatter them like tumbleweed,
like chaff before the wind!
14 As a fire burns a forest
and as a flame sets mountains ablaze,
15 chase them with your fierce storm;
terrify them with your tempest.
16 Utterly disgrace them
until they submit to your name, O Lord.
17 Let them be ashamed and terrified forever.
Let them die in disgrace.
18 Then they will learn that you alone are called the Lord,
that you alone are the Most High,
supreme over all the earth.

Psalms 83:5-8 has a list of the countries involved. According to the maps I looked at, the modern names of the countries involved are Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt. These are the countries that will go to war against Israel and lose. Big time. In the end people from both Egypt and Syria will be worshiping, freely the God of Israel and not Allah. They will also be at peace with Israel according to Isaiah 19:23-25.

I believe the war that the Anti-Christ creates against Israel will come later and it will be a very bad war involving many of the countries of the world. It will look very bad for Israel. But then God Himself will step in and fight for Israel. Israel will again win. Then the Lord Himself will sit on the throne as King in Jerusalem, Israel. He will come from the line of David. Many people today know Him as Lord Jesus. He will be our King.

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