Month: March 2017

What is the difference between pride and selfishness?

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re-post —- originally posted in 2/15 and shows reference to then President Obama
The other day I had a discussion with someone and I stated that I believed selfishness to be the ultimate sin. They replied stating no it is pride.
Now I will not argue that in the Bible it does implicate that it is pride, but let’s take a good look at that word.

Pride a high or inordinate opinion of one’s own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc. Per Dictionary.com
This SELF-glorification and believe that you are better then all others. Is this not a selfish, self-serving mentality? Yes it is. So to me there is absolutely no difference between these two words. In fact they seem to complement each other.
In Luke 14 Jesus states this: “For whosoever exalteth (be prideful) himself shall be abased (be brought low); and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. “
Jesus also states that those that wish to lead need to be a servant unto those that you wish to lead (Mark 10:44). This again is humility and the lack of pride and selfishness. Most in some type of leadership roll these days are not humble. They are prideful and many are selfish and self-serving.
We need to seek out leaders that are reluctant to lead, but still capable of doing so. Ones that seeks the true good for all, placing all others before themselves and their own personal agenda.
“But there is no such person!” you shout out. That is a possibility, but still we must seek one out and support such people, for if we do we can fix more than has been fixed in the last decade. Most of this last decade has had a person in the White House that is petty, selfish, self-serving and only wish to place forth ideas and doctrines that have resulted in a nation in crisis.
All because there is no true understanding of the Bible by most of those that live in the United States for they are “too busy” to take the time to learn what is right, what is pure and what is holy. For only some that fully reads and understands the Bible can hope to achieve what is glorious in the sight of God, and they can only accomplish this through humility.

Nature vs. Nurture the Biblical view

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re-post
There are those that strongly believe the theory that has been placed out there that some are born a certain way. The main reason behind this theory is designed to overcome the Bible and thus show that it is a nothing but a book. What is to follow is purely me stating what I find to be shown as facts within the teaching given within this book, but we must first have a starting point. Mine is God’s view of children.
Jesus stated that he wishes all to come to Him as if they were children, innocent and pure. This means that up until children enter into their teenage years they are not held accountable for their sins. Why? Because they are learning. They are being taught right from wrong from their parents, their spiritual leaders and teachers. They are being given the foundations of knowledge that will lead to how they should respond when they are presented with either sinning or not sinning in various encounters they will have as they go from being a child into an adult.
It is during these teenage years that we are presented with free-will. For only as we head toward and then become adults are we held accountable for our actions. This is why many Protestant and Pentecostal churches do not wish people to become baptized until their teenage years and beyond because they have made the free-will choice to turn to Christ and accept Him as their Savior. This is why it is important to teach children of the Bible and the meaning of right and wrong as well as what is considered sin during their informative years. So when it comes time to make a free-will choice it will be with an understanding that they may be exposing themselves to sin. Many will choose to do so and because it was a free-will decision they are more than welcome to do so.
So now that we have established that children are born innocent and pure and without sin. How can someone state that they are born into a sin nature? How can they come into this world already fully encumbered with free-will when they are a clean slate? You cannot. Yet this is how those that state nature causes someone to come into the world full of sin. This is actually counter to the teachings of the Bible, which tells all to teach their youth of God and His Word. For to say that someone is born already tainted it negates the statement Christ made wishing all to come to Him as if they were children. For children would already be accountable for free-will from the moment they are born, which they are not. So since those that say it is through nature that someone ends up someway then this rules out the existence of God, which is exactly what they wish people to believe.
But what if there is a God and the Bible is correct and a new born babe is free of sin and only becomes aware of it as they grow and become accountable for it as they come into adulthood. Then this promotes that it is through nurturing that someone decides to enter into any type of sin and since this is how the Bible states it is and should be then there is a God and it is through teaching children of God and what is right and wrong as well as what is considered a sin or not a sin that we reach the point of free-will fully informed of our choices and decide how we shall live our lives.
Since this is not how most are now taught due to the theory that nature is the way people sin that it ends up that people do sin, because they have been nurtured by those teaching this false idea that this theory is indeed fact when the Bible says the opposite.

Minimalism, tiny houses, liberals and Christianity

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A trend that has been growing for the last four to five years has been the sudden realization that less is better. Well that is what several shows, documentaries and liberal movements have led many to believe.
The Christian faith, something that many on the left wish to deny, has always taught to live in moderation. Not to live in excess or luxurious ways. This is something that many that call themselves “Christian” have forgotten or never knew. Why? Mainly because they took the word of a person in a pulpit or on a dais that never told them that they were sinning by seeking to be wealthy and seeking after the bigger and best things. Again why? Because those that were called leaders of the church sought after worldly rewards themselves. Becoming sinners themselves. So how could they teach of moderation? To do so would label them as what they were or are, hypocrites.
Now suddenly those upon the left have discovered this great idea. Living with less. However, what is the real reason for this sudden interest to be able to live with less? The answer, Socialism. A key element in the control of the masses is to keep them poor and broke. A prime and current example: Venezuela. So those that embrace this great “new” trend to live with less will be those that will become the leaders of this “new” movement and in time they see themselves rising to live in the promised land of temporal elitism. The thing is those that are the elitist now and their offspring and chosen select, which are those that associate with them on a daily basis, will be the only ones that ever make it to elitism; otherwise known as the rich and famous. This was seen with the royalty and their elitist mentality that eventually led to both the American and French Revolutions.
There is nothing new here. It is just people awakening, or more accurately, reawakening to the truth. That they are living with more than they need or require. For deep within our souls, be they saint or sinner, we know what is right. This is explained in Romans 1.
So the real question is, what do we do about it? The answer is simple. Embrace minimalism and the tiny house culture, but do so in the correct light. That of following the teachings of the Bible and not hording our earthly riches and only living on what we need to live day to day and giving the rest to those with true need. First to our fellow Christians then to the sinners.
Once we make this major step we will in time see the rewards we are promised once we move on into our eternal life that is as real as the live we now live, with major differences covered by accepting Jesus as our Savior or rejecting Him. Other than that it will truly last billions upon billions of years, either in service to God and exploring ALL of God’s creation or in a very warm and uncomfortable place.

Confessions of a screwed up middle aged man: In depth study is shown to be the best way

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In the last few posts I have recounted three different occurrences. Each centered on a key element in faith and works that many ignore. The works. The first and the last had the faith, but all three lacked the works of truly studying deeply the word of God. I know without question that this has been my failing in the past.
It is extremely important that when we read the Bible. That we READ it. Not just hear the words and say: “I have been filled with the word.”
I mean dig into the meaning of the words as they were originally written down upon paper as they were inspired by God.
That is what we are instructed to do in 2 Timothy:
“16 – All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”
This is seen to be true when a man of the cloth states that those that are divorced and any that help them to remarry are damned. As was shown, this was not true and it is best that those that are widowed and divorced to remarry to escape sin.
This is seen when you take the Bible out of context as in the second posting and the person had in his mind legitimized sin thus in turn denying God and His Son.
And as was shown in the posting from yesterday that it helps those that are following the Bible to do so in a better light.
This shows that as is stated in James that faith without works is dead. Part of the works is to diligently study the Bible to make sure we are on the right path to God, which is narrow and rough.

Confessions of a screwed up middle aged man: an interesting discussion

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So the other day I posted about the “unmarried.” I had a discussion on the topic with one of my co-workers and he brought up a point about a word that we conflicted upon and so I looked deeper into it and this is what we determined.
The word in question was “burn,” which in the Greek is “puroo.” This is defined as:
“pass: I burn, am set on fire, am inflamed; glow with heat, am purified by fire”
Now what caused the discussion is that in the NLT version of the Bible it is shown as “burn with lust”
However in other uses within the New Testament it is not use in this context.
When Paul is recounting his tribulations for his ministry in the service of Jesus Christ he says this in 2 Corinthians 11:29
“Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?”
In Ephesians 6:16 it is used to describe flaming darts or arrows:
“Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.”
It is used in 2 Peter 3 in a description of Tribulation times that have yet to be fulfilled:
“Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?”
It is used twice in Revelation. The first time in 1:15, where it is used to help describe the Glorified Jesus Christ feet:
“And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.”
Then it is used in 3:18 in reference to heaven treasure that have passed the test of fire and come purified:
“I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.”
As in the main definition of the word all things are implied to be on fire or having passed through fire. Now I do agree that when we lust it can be said that we are “on fire.”
As was my counter in the discussion with my friend. Living in sin will lead us to the pit of fire where we will be on fire there as well.
Isaiah 66:24 – And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
Why I say this, is that living in fornication and adultery are seen as sins which will lead to this fate.
Galatians 5:19 – Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Now we must also remember that many times there is a type of duality used within not only the Greek but Hebrew word usage. Where words have two means, but the same overall ends. This could very well be one of these instances. Where we would find the unmarried and widowed burning with lust in the flesh having experienced natural sexual relations, which would lead to adultery and fornication, which would ultimately lead to damnation and being on fire forever in the pit of fire.
So this is what we both agreed upon in our discussion. That it has both meanings. Neither of which is good for those that find themselves without a spouse, and lack the self-control not to live a celibate live.

A foundational misunderstanding that can lead folks down the wrong path

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Re-post
I recently had a discussion with someone who has the belief per him “we live in a New Testament world where all things are permissible but not all things are profitable”
He was referring to a loose translation of 1 Corinthians 10:23 in which the discussion of that chapter was about being able to eat of something that had been sacrificed either by the Jews or the Gentiles since being Christian we are no longer required to sacrifice due to the sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross and the giving of his blood and life for our salvation.
His perception and wording leads many to think that they can do whatever they wish, but as I point out to him the preceding two verses to the one he was referring this is not that case:
“You cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?”
This once again points to my previous posts that states we still must look to what is God’s and what is not. We are to not sin or we are to sin, it is still either cold or hot. (Revelation 3:15-16)
I truly understand the human mind, being one myself. Our desire to seek out that which gives us the most happiness, yet sometimes there is no happiness when we stop sinning some types of sins at the beginning of our decision to stop.
One type of sin if we stop it would mean we could no longer live a life we have lived and still be with the person we loved. This would give us great sorrow, but it is something that must be done.
What many still do not comprehend is that this life we now live is a short and fleeting one. One that will last like but a blink of an eye when compared to our true eternal life we are all promised. It is how we want to live the eternal one that we must address now in this time of trial and tribulation.
God tells us many times within the Bible that it is without sin that we must come to Him and it is only through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ that this is accomplished. We must seek Him out and ask Him into our lives and once we truly do this the old and the sinful shall fall away.
Yet as I have said time and again not all our sins leave us all at once. Some can take a long time to be purged from us as God prunes us for His glory, but they shall fall away because we place God before all else.
Yet there are those that call themselves “Christian” that still place themselves first. It is for these I have the greatest sorrow, for theirs shall be like those shown towards the end of 2 Peter 2:
18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. 21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. 22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

No one is perfect, but when we make an error with the Bible we must help to correct our mistake

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Since become a born again Christian in the mid-1980s I have yet to see someone admit they have made a mistake in how they taught the Bible. I remember the PTL club. I remember Jimmy Swaggart. I have seen the false teachers of prosperity churches. I have read and heard those that say they know the Bible yet get it totally wrong. I must add that I have grown in how I see the Bible thanks to the blessing of God’s enlightenment He has blessed me with. Have I been wrong? To some degree I must say yes, for I am human. However I must point out that I have not been too way off the mark, especially when I delved deep into the Word of God by studying it in the Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic. So we can say I have been wrong, but I must add I have strived to correct anything I found to be out of the will of God. I must also interject here that when I did have doubts about where my standing was with the Bible I kept it to myself and did more study and research into the Bible. This was especially true for the Book of Revelation.
This makes me the exception to the rule, which is extremely sad. Many, especially those in the clergy, develop an attitude that they are perfect and beyond error. Just because they are “Christian,” does not make them God. So errors will occur. A prime example happened earlier this week and was included in yesterday’s blog post. For those that did not read it I will give a quick overview.
A clergyman stated that it was blasphemy for someone divorced to remarry. I pointed this out to the person and there has been silence ever since.
This shows the importance of when we are taught to verify it ourselves.
1 John 4:1 – Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. 2 This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. 3 But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here. 4 But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. 5 Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. 6 But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.

Confessions of a screwed up middle aged man: The case of the “unmarried.”

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In one of the groups I belong to on Facebook. One of the other members wrote a post about once you are divorced you can never remarry. He went to the point of stating that if someone remarries, not only the couple doing so, but the clergymen preforming the service are, per him, blaspheming against God.
I was led to 1 Corinthians 7 to address this issue. Here it is laid out by the requirements for marriage.
6 – But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment. 7 For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that. 8 I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I. 9 But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.
I must add that the verses encapsulated within this chapter deal with several aspects of not only marriage, but of natural sexual behavior as it has to do with the teachings of the Bible and Jesus Christ.
What must be established is first being chased. We are to remain virgins till marriage. If we never marry we are to remain this way.
Now as is pointed out in verse eight, the need to avoid sin comes into play. The person that wrote the posting in Facebook took the word “unmarried” to mean single. By his meaning, that they never have been married. However let’s look at how this verse is presented by Paul, who was celibate. His admonition in verse seven makes this clear. His desire is that all seek to achieve this end, but he realizes that there is temptation for those that have experienced natural sexuality with a spouse. So those that have lost their spouse due to death, which leaves them widowed, or divorced in many cases. Have a memory due to the natural desire to reproduce our species, of an act that if done out of wedlock is seen as a sin by God.
So let’s examine the word “unmarried”
Unmarried is “agamos” in the Greek and is defined as: “unmarried, of a person not in a state of wedlock, whether he or she has formerly been married or not.”
This is fortified by the way it is used in 7:11
“And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: 11 But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.”
Any who find themselves not married even after being married are seen as “unmarried.” So why give reference to the “widowed.” For one, they had their spouses removed from them without their consent. It also shows that those that have divorced fit within the verse as well.
So we come to verse nine:
“But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.”
Contain – egkrateuomai – properly, to exercise self control – literally “exercising dominion, from within.”
So as can be seen here it shows that if we cannot maintain self-control to remain chased then we are allowed to marry to prevent falling into sin and thus damnation.

Only you are responsible for where you will spend your eternal life

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First off we need to get to a point of understanding about what will be THE eternal life.
Most in this world think that there is only heaven and you sit about doing nothing or walking in beauty. Then there are those that actually acknowledge there is a counter to this which is hades or hell in addition to heaven. Furthermore there are even those that still believe in the Catholic made myth of purgatory, which is never mentioned in any form within the Bible.
When you truly study the Bible you come to a realization that the eternal life is beyond heaven and hades. You see, heaven and hades are merely holding placing for the souls of the departed until they receive their eternal bodies that are promised unto us within the Bible upon the return of Christ in the first Rapture, and then for those in hades at the end of the thousand year reign of Jesus Christ.
The Bible, unlike what many are hoping for these days, IS black and white, good and evil, right and wrong. In fact it is made very clear that those that live in the middle, in the grey, are rejected by the Glorified Jesus Christ Himself (Rev. 3:15-16). They are also seen as worse than those that live in the black, the evil, the wrong.
The eternal life that is to come is just that: eternal, immortal.
Does this mean that those that sin and live outside the Bible will receive eternal life? In a fashion yes. They will receive an immortal body. However they will have no freedom. In fact it is called the second the death. For even though they are living immortally they are dead to God and His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. They will be living with who they decided to follow who will be suffering just as they are suffering.
Isaiah 66:24 – And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
Revelation 21:8 – But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
Revelation 20:14 – And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Revelation 20: 10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
The only person that can decide on where they are going to either spend eternal life with God and Jesus or in the second death is you, yourself. You must decide for yourself to live in the here and the now, or to strive to reach for immortality with God.
You must ask Jesus to be your Savior, you must reject sin. You cannot live in sin and say you serve God. That is those that are seen as worse than those that reject God outright. You must learn the Bible and to follow its teachings. If you do this you stand a chance to make it, but only time and God will tell.

It is obvious

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As we look at the behavior of those that call themselves the “left” in the nation. That those that go out into public and behave like they are still children. Resorting to gross and vile actions, have not read the Bible for themselves.
Now I know that many of them call themselves Atheist, which in part explains their desire not to read a book that they consider “fake.” However there is a large element that actually calls themselves “Christian.” These in the latter group even they “know” the Bible, yet as I pointed out above have never read the Bible themselves.
So how can they know the Bible having never read it? The answer is completely obvious. They can’t and don’t. So in reality they are not nor have they ever been “Christian.” Many go to a building and hear from people that stand on a dais or in a pulpit and call themselves “priest” or “ministers” yet the message they give does not come from the Bible, and if it does they do not interpret it correctly. They take out of it what they wish to say and leave that which insults them or does not fit into their beliefs, which they have made for themselves. It has been said by many publicly that they wish they could tear out parts of the Bible so they could never have to hear what it says.
Galatians 1:6 – I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News 7 but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ. 8 Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. 9 I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed.
These that do this are cursed and will not be welcomed into the eternal service of God that is to come. They need to accept that which they truly are. Not “Christians,” but hypocrites. Seen by the glorified Christ as something that is worse than the Atheist mentioned above.
Revelation 3: 15 “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! 16 But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!”
They are spit from the Body. Seen has something nasty and vile in the taste buds of God and His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.
READ THE BIBLE FOR YOURSELF! DO NOT TAKE THE WORD OF OTHERS!
Look it up online, look to the New Living Translation if the King James is difficult to understand, but do not look at the NIV Bible for those that changed it were addressed in the verses of Galatians written above.
Start in the New Testament and actually read it and think upon what you are reading. For this world is changing quickly and is heading toward an event that if you are not truly “Christian” will leave you in a place you really do not wish to be at.