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My Thoughts on Christianity and Other Things

Archive for the tag “christianity”

10 Jan 2014
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Revelation: The Seven Churches

th[3] edited 150
In three days I read the book of Revelation three times. First in the New Living Translation and then in the English Standard Version then again in the New International Version.

I have read Revelation several times before and have even read through the whole Bible a couple of times. Recently I have signed up with a group in our church to read through the whole Bible in only four months. I have never done it in four months before. So anyway let’s see how this old mechanic will do, trying to figure out this book called Revelation.

A couple of people have told me that I should be more open about who I am. OK. I call myself a mechanic because I’ve been one for most of my life. However I also have an AA degree in computer networking and I used to be certified as an electronic technician. But as I have said in earlier posts, I have never been to seminary, or to any form of Bible college or training. It would very wise to test everything I say. And oh yeah, I am also a veteran of the US Coast Guard and the Army National Guard.

Revelation 1:3
God blesses the one who reads the words of this prophecy to the church, and he blesses all who listen to its message and obey what it says, for the time is near.
OK let’s see what this message is. After all we can’t obey if we don’t know the message.

First I don’t understand the seven or sevenfold spirits of God in Revelation 1:4 yet. By the way I will often say ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I don’t understand’. Often times in school, a teacher may not know something. But if the teacher tries to bluff or makes something up, the students will often pick up on it and the teacher will loose the respect of his students.

The book of Revelation was written by John from the island of Patmos. The seven churches were all from the western part of modern Turkey. These seven churches are represented by seven golden lampstands and each has an angel or messengers is represented by seven stars. Our Lord Jesus is doing the talking.

The seven churches in Revelation 2:1 through 3:22 are like many of us today.

Some of us are like the Ephesus church and have lost the love we had when we first became believers. What is scary is the Lord knows this. He knows our hearts, our minds, our feelings. We can fool a lot of people, but we can not fool Him. And if we don’t repent from this, God will take away the lampstand. I don’t know what that means really; but I do not want to find out. It is good that the Ephesus church hates the practices of the Nicolaitans. They were basically faulty teachers who led others astray.

Unlike the Pergamum who did follow the teachings of Nicolaitans as well as eating food sacrifices to idols and committing sexual immorality. I don’t believe there is much of a problem of eating food that’s been sacrificed to idols in North America, but the sexual sin is everywhere. Sexual immorality covers a large area of activities. Adultery, incest, homosexual activities, and others. I’m not judging, I am only saying what scripture says, in both the New and Old Testament. Anyway if those in this group don’t repent, they will find the Lord Jesus Himself fighting against them. This will not be good. On the plus side it is good that they never deny their faith in the Lord Jesus.

One warning that I must add. It’s about Revelation 2:14 where it talks about Balaam. Numbers 22 talks about how Balaam refused to curse Israel. (Which is a good thing.) But think of sin as pollution. You may be holy until that first sin; then you become polluted. Any little sin (wrong doing) is like a supertanker breaking open and spilling oil on a beach. Think you’re mostly OK? Try telling that to the wildlife on the beach. This is why we need to know Jesus, to be forgiven.

The Thyatira church is similar in that they tolerate the woman called Jezebel who misleads God’s servants into eating food that’s been sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality. If they don’t repent, they will suffer greatly with her. On the plus side, the Lord has seen your love, faith, service, and your patient endurance. He sees your constant improvement in all these things. Revelation 2:19. Revelation 2:24-25 says some of you are OK though.

The Sardis church is like so many today. We humans love to pretend. We want to fit in. Many of us pretend to be “spiritual” when in fact we’re dead inside. We can fool a lot of people, but we can’t fool God. So wake up, be alive! Revelation 3:3 says Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. Fortunately some will be found wearing white, walking with the Lord for they are worthy.

I find the Laodicea church interesting. My wife and I are far from wealthy, yet we do know a few who are. I would like to think they have their act together. But knowing human nature, I know some do not. (I’m glad I have no idea who.)

After reading this several more times, I wonder if maybe some of the rich get a little too comfortable. I wonder if since they can buy most anything, they stop relying on the Lord. What if they of course still believe and love the Lord but at the same time are no longer in fellowship with Him. Of course I am only guessing at all this. But if I am correct it would maybe explain Revelation 3:15-18. Now Revelation 3:20 is looking also looking a little different. “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.” In other words Revelation 3:20 is says, “Hey you! I’m knocking on the door of your life. Let me in so we can have fellowship together.”

By this time you may have realized that I have not mentioned either the church of Smyrna nor the church of Philadelphia. If you read Revelation 2:8-10 and Revelation 3:7-10 you’ll see Jesus isn’t holding anything against them.

Another thing I left out until now was the ‘victorious’ parts. So if you are victorious:
1 – You will be given the tree of life . Which is the same tree as in Genesis 3:22 .
2 – You will not be hurt by the second death as in Revelation 20:14 which is the lake of fire.
3 – You will get hidden manna and a stone with a new name on it. (I don’t understand the stone part.)
4 – You will have the authority over the nations, and will also be given the morning star. I find the morning star interesting because according to 2 Peter 1:19 and Revelation 22:16 the morning star is Jesus. So if you seek the Lord you will find Him. 2 Chronicles 15:1-4.
5 – You will not have your name blotted out of the Book of Life and will be knowledge before the Father and His angels. The book of life is also mentioned in Revelation 20:14-15.
6 – You will become a pillars in the temple of God. And He will write on them the name of His God and the new Jerusalem. In other words everyone will know we belong to the Almighty.
7 – You will sit on the throne with Jesus Himself.

One thing that I forgot to mention is God discipline those Him loves Revelation 3:19 .

Well that’s all for now. Someone told me they would like to memorize the book of Revelation, and for that I say that’s great. However I don’t want to memorize words, I want to understand them. Now I wonder if memorizing might be easier. I believe the seven churches is the easy part. Other parts of the book will be much more difficult. Oh Lord please help me with this. What did I get myself into?

Also don’t worry, I will write about other stuff from time to time. After all I don’t want everyone to be bored to tears. Because if everyone was bored to tears the whole world could flood and then I would be to blame. Not good.

Posted in Christianity, Prophecy, Revelation and tagged , , , , ,
27 Dec 2013

New Years Resolution

Christmas is now over and 2014 is almost here. Many of us are making New Years Resolution. Dieting, going to school, getting in shape, and others things. This dieting business is hard to do. Even the Pink Panther knows this.

Just over a year ago I made an interesting discovery. For quite awhile my blood pressure has been a little high. Not high enough to take medicine, just high enough for the doctor to say “watch it”. So we have been watching our salt intake. I love to eat crab and shrimp and other types of shellfish, but partly because of the cost of such stuff and other reasons I haven’t had any for a long time. I struggle to get the blood pressure down. Nothing worked.

Then for some reason, (I’m not sure why) we hadn’t had any pork for about a month. When I went into the doctor’s office for a checkup; I found my blood pressure down. Not just down, but right in the middle of normal! Later my wife went in for her checkup and her numbers were close to normal also. Why?

I found the answers to be in these verses:

Leviticus 11:2-4
“Of all the land animals, these are the ones you may use for food. 3 You may eat any animal that has completely split hooves and chews the cud.

Leviticus 11:9-10
“Of all the marine animals, these are ones you may use for food. You may eat anything from the water if it has both fins and scales, whether taken from salt water or from streams.

In other words kosher foods. (There are more verses on the subject. I just didn’t list them.) So we will try to eat only kosher foods, more or less. What I mean is, if someone offers me some BBQ pork, well, I’m going to eat it. Because, well I really like the stuff. Another reason is to turn it down would be rude. The third reason is, Jesus said we could. That means that if we really want to, we can even eat little creatures called grubs. Yummy. (Yes I did try it once. I even had seconds.)

I believe the reason Jesus said we could eat anything is because without the food barrier, it made it easier for the early Jews to spread God’s plan of salvation through Jesus to the Gentiles. Sharing the same food makes it easier for fellowship and talk about Jesus as commanded in Mark 16:15-16.

So now a couple of thousand of years later, because of these early Jewish Believers, there are now Gentile Believers all over the world praising worshiping the same God as the Jews themselves. And this fulfills the prophesy in Isaiah 49:6 and is still being fulfilled.

Isaiah 49:6
He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me.
I will make you a light to the Gentiles,
and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

And this brings us to the next part of my New Years Resolution. I want to go through Revelation bit by bit. I’ll be making notes and may be writing about it as I go along. Please remember that I am not a theologian, nor was I trained in any Bible college. I pray that I won’t mess up. Because even though Revelation 1:3 says God will bless those who read, listen and obey the prophesy in this book; Revelation 22:18 says that if we add or take away anything; we’re in trouble. And now I’m thinking, am I crazy for doing this? Please pray that I won’t mess up, and also if I do mess up and get something wrong, please tell me.

Getting back to kosher foods; if cod is kosher, is lutefisk still kosher?

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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
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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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