Thoughts

As I look about me……..

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For around 2600 years the time of the Gentiles has been heading down a journey. A journey toward the acknowledgement that God is the creator of everything. For longer than that they have rejected this believe because they do not wish to surrender themselves to the dominion of something above them. They make up fantasies which enable them to say “No there is no such thing as God.” Others go about saying there is a God, but they do not honor Him as such. They imagine Him to be a benevolent spirit that grants their wishes and allows them to live their lives as they please.
This is not what God wants. God wishes to have a relationship with us, not just as our Creator, but someone that will talk and share His creation with Him. There is only one way to accomplish this relationship with Him though and most of the human race has no real desire to do what is required of them.
What is required? Surrender. To turn over all that was, is and will be within us over to Him. To not only say He is God, but to truly follow what He asks of us. In the book of Daniel this happens two times. Once for Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego when they are ask to bow to the image of Nebuchadnezzar and when those that were jealous of Daniel plotted to place him into the lion’s den.
What is the most important element in both instances is that these four men refuse to submit to what the world offers. They place more value in God over the world and all that is within the world including those in power.
This has been lost for the most part from those that say they are followers of God. They place more value in the world then they place in the Creator of all. They compromise too much when they should be standing their ground. They say that the world is grey when God through His Son Jesus Christ says it is black and white.
The compromising must end. Too much is happening too fast, must faster than we have ever thought would happen. Does this mean we are approaching end of times? More and more are saying yes it is, I am leaning strongly in the direction myself, but there are still things that must take place, more signs that were given unto us through the Bible. The handbook to salvation through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. But there are those that try to discount the Bible. Why? Because they still wish for humans to be the gods when they are not. So they blind themselves and other to the truth, for it is better to share misery than it is to share happiness.

Daniel’s journey into the den of lions

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What caused him to be taken and given to the lions? It all boils down to humans trying to be more important than God. What Daniel did was say “no God is more important.”
In several recent laws humans are saying they are more important than God. This should have caused everyone that calls themselves “Christian” to respond as Daniel did. Most did not. They caved in and said let it be. This using what Daniel did as an example of what someone that calls themselves “Christian” should have done lays guilt at the door step of all that did not echo Daniel.
Ponder upon that and make the necessary changes required in your life to reassert God as the most important being in your life and in your world and culture.
(2 Timothy 4:1-5)

My personal insight into the feet of iron and clay with the help of God

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In the book Daniel a statue is seen in a dream by Nebuchadnezzar. It has been established through the passage of time that Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome were the first parts of the statute.
The feet of iron and clay people do not wish to place a label upon since the do not wish to place this combined group of nations to any time period. Why they are doing this I do not know, but when you apply the translation to the wording and use commonsense and understanding you can formulate a very strong possibility.
In Daniel 41-43 – And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
As you can see there is a lot going on here. First a foremost it shall have the appearance of Rome, yet it shall be divided. This in its basic format fits the how Europe now appears today. It is within a good part of what use to be the Roman Empire geographically, yet the nations within it are separate yet they have joined together to make themselves stronger finically, but at the same time they are weak. Evidence of this is seen in how they are handling the sudden influx of migrates from the Middle East, which in itself brings in more elements of the former Roman Empire into the European Union, since most of the Middle East was part of the former Roman Empire. This gives some weight to the statement that it shall mix with man’s seed yet it shall be fractured and divided. Not only are the nations separate, but within their borders they are becoming divided as cultural groups slice up the regions into smaller fragments. As we look upon the turmoil that is happening within the EU and the Middle East events are transpiring which could lead the development of ten new powerful leaders that will encompass both the west (Europe) and the east (the Middle East), each have five powerful leaders emerging from the mayhem.
Events transpiring this very moment are unlike any others that have happened since Christ ascended into Heaven. Mainly since they are happening so quickly because most change has taken several generations to go by as change took place. Now though events are becoming hard to follow they are happening so quickly. Once solid cultural communities are be shattered and fractured. It is not nations, but regions and it is within these regions that ten powerful leaders will emerge.
Does this mean the way Europe is now is a sign we are nearing the return of Christ? This in itself would not give enough evidence to support this, but throughout the Bible in both the Old and New Testament are other elements within the behavior of humanity that does lead credence to such a supposition. It is also important to note that the people as denoted by the degradation of the statute, become weaker and more susceptible to sin. More willing to embrace that which is wrong and hate that which is good. This again is witnessed throughout other areas of the Bible. A prime example being 2 Peter 2.
Now I do not place any confidence in my insight upon me alone. For like Daniel I give all my belief and ideas upon this to the glory of God. For without Him I would not be seeing what I do see, for only through Him is the world seen for what it truly is and where it is truly headed, but the Bible makes it clear that no human can say when the return of Christ will be, but we are to watch for the signs that are given within the Bible. Many of which are now transpiring. Are there enough of them to fully fulfill prophecy? Only time will tell, but it is better to be cautious and make yourself right with God through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.

Confessions of a screwed up middle aged man: You know there are just some days you wish you could see the plan God has set for you

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As I write this I have encountered such a day. It would just be so cool to look over God’s shoulder as he is mapping out the way your life should go if you honor and trust His lead, which is what we are to do just for the record. When you are hit with a sudden and unexpected emotional punch in the gut. You are going along thinking you are doing fine and bam the wind is knocked out of you and your emotions go into a spiral.
Yes I got angry for about five minutes then I just started thinking and praying and I lost the anger. The anger would do me no good it would accomplish me nothing, so why be anger? Am I still depressed over the issues? Yes I am for I was becoming excited at the prospects that lay ahead of me and to once again having those goals, that I saw as something good for me and my family, kicked out from under me as they had been once before, but again not as depressed as happened the first time this occurred. Mainly due to the fact that I am placing my trust and faith in God as to how He wishes my life to go so it will honor Him.
Then I started to look at this at different perspectives. First and foremost was the prospective that God has something else in store for me or that His timing was not just write. Could it be He wanted to see if I would do what I am doing this very moment? Sharing it with you the reader. Giving you an insight into how God’s plans work under His time table and never under yours. For we are His servant not the other way around and any that tell you otherwise either do not know the Bible or are lying to you.
Yes it would have been a help for this event to occur for it would have allowed me to be more accessible to my family, but I will just have to try and figure out another method to do that better until God says I have accomplished my goals assigned by Him.
You see we all have tasks that we are assigned to do by God. For this life a test to see if we are worthy to go to the next level of existence. It will be approximately one hundred years now, then if we pass that we are told there will be a thousand years here on earth co-reigning with Jesus Christ, then there will be the eternal life beyond the Great White Throne Judgment. These latter two things are beyond our full comprehension to understand so God has saw fit not to tell us too much about them, but we are told they are real and will take place.
So in the mean time we must go through our maze of life, seek after the righteous path God desires for us to go down. Will we make the correct turn at the correct time? Not always, but that is the cost of free will. What is most important is to honor God, to trust God and believe all is possible through and with God. For once you forgotten this you have definitely turned down the wrong path.

A dream within a dream

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I have just awoken from my sleep to write down what just occurred within my dream. For as I have said before I am one of the old men in Acts 2:17.
So within this dream I was given a statement and I was given an answer to this statement. Then I found myself at an event which was a ceremony for those going into the world, and I was one of three speakers which were holy men. There had been other speakers, but I was the middle one of the three speaking for God. (Now remember this is just a dream and I am not placing any import to that statement. It is just how it was in the dream.)
So I get up to speak and I state that I had a dream about a statement I was given to say. The statement was:
“Go and feed my children.” Now, as I specified in my dream, those within the audience were the children. These “children” were all young adults about to start their live in the world, just so you understand.
So I said: “What is it we are to feed the children?” and commented that those listening were the children I was referring. At this point a girl next to me stated her view as to what to feed them which cause those in the audience to laugh and I mentioned that they just heard her answer.
I then tried to return to my topic when a young man close to the stage became disruptive trying to discourage any from listen and cause my speech to be shutdown. It got to the point that the young man got up from his table and came before the dais. At this time the previous speaker got up and tried to protect me. I become filled with a righteous anger, I moved the previous speaker aside and went down and literally picked up the young man under his arms and carried him back to his table and said he would be expelled from school if he continued his interruptions and the dean of the school agreed to do so. The young man has gotten fear upon his face even as I carried him bodily back to where he sat, and was silenced.
I then continued: “As you can see there will be those that do not wish to hear the answer. There will be those that interrupted with silly comments to distract and then there will be those that will become disruptive so as to shut down the word of God. But as you can see God’s word cannot be stopped. For how can you challenge the Creator of all there is? You can’t, you will lose.
“The answer to the question is: The knowledge of God, but what is the knowledge of God? It is not just the Ten Commandments, or more accurately the twelve commandments since Jesus Christ Himself added two more. That being to love God with all your heart and to place Him first in all that you do, and second to love your neighbor as yourself, which means simply to follow the golden rule of ‘Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.’
“It also means to understand that this knowledge states clearly in both the Old and New Testament that if it is called a sin it is a sin. That you must repent of these sins. For if you are to honor the greatest commandment which is to love God and place Him first, NOTHING can be before Him. If you would rather live within a sin, then it is first and not God and so you in this alone are not only sinning against God you are rejecting God for you do not wish Him to be first in your life.”
It is here that I awoke and came straight to my computer and wrote it down for all to read and think upon.
John 21:15 – So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. 16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. 17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

Out of insignificance God causes greatness.

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Now why such a title?
This is why: Nazareth is the town Jesus was raised within when Joseph returned them to Israel from Egypt. It was such an insignificant town that there are skeptics that doubt it existed during the young year of Christ. In comparison it is like a going through the countryside on a two lane road, suddenly the speed limit reduces for forty-fire to twenty-five. You see a stoplight that is green for you, as soon as you pass through the intersection the speed limit returns to forty-five. That was a town, you didn’t give it a second thought and it was gone. That was Nazareth. As mentioned above this is where Christ came from and he is the greatest thing to have happened for this planet, which brings me to my next topic: this planet.
It is on the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy. One galaxy out of millions, maybe even billions. Yet is this solar system even close to anything? It is not even close to the center of its own galaxy, a galaxy that is off in the woods so to speak when compared to other galaxies as seen through astronomy.
So it is easy to say that this little planet of ours could be considered “insignificant.” Yet it is here that God chose to place Adam and eve upon. Yet it is here that He spoke to Abraham. Yet it is here upon an insignificant mountain in that a burning bush drew Moses to look upon it and hear the words of God.
So what greatness and wonders are there that we can look forward to in our eternal lives that we are promised to partake of? Just how great and wondrous will it be since we are in such an insignificant planet on the edge of nowhere.
The only way to find out is to accept Jesus as your Savior and to repent of your sins and never do them again.

The Plea to awaken for time is running out.

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More and more in what I see and hear, as I look about me, I believe more and more that the end times are upon all humanity. In Acts2:17 it states:
And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
I have no question that I am a dreamer of dreams that deal with the Body of Christ. I know of those that have seen visions. As of yet I am aware of any that have prophesied. There are other things occurring that meet what the Bible tells us to watch out for and I see them increasingly every day.
Events are taking place I never thought possible a decade ago, but now I see them and know ever more that God is real, that Jesus is real and the Son of the Creator of the universe, including this tiny speck of dust on the edge of that which He created.
Too many are lukewarm and I have been tasked to attempt to get these to hear, to awaken once again to the glory of God. I am praying and hoping some have heard and are endeavoring to fix their ways and their place with God.
The Bible says people will listen to false teachings. The newest craze is the “God Loves all” false teachings. The thing is they mix just enough of the truth into what they are saying to confuse and befuddle those that are not aware of the full gospel. Yes God does love all, but there is a “but.” (Couldn’t resist doing that sorry)
Here is what the Bible does say. Yes God loves us, why? Because who wouldn’t love that which they have created. If you write something, if you make artwork, if you build something, do you not love it? The answer is yes, but don’t you just feel there is something you could have done differently to make it just a bit better than it is, yet you leave it alone.
That is how God sees humanity. The think is the little difference needed is already placed within us. We just have to act upon it.
“What is it?” you ask.
It is accepting that Jesus is your Savior and committing to a FULL relationship with God through His Son. To do this you must stop sinning. If you live in a sin and place that sin over everything else, especially God, then you are not repentant, you have no real desire to serve God, for the is sin more important to you than God. This is living a lukewarm life.
We are to place God first in all that we do. To do that you must fully honor His instructions, which are given within the entire Bible. If the Bible state that something is a sin, then you must turn away from this sin 100%. This is living hot for God.
Now all true Christians know that we do commit ourselves 100% mentally, but there comes times when we falter and fall. We trip over our sins, but here is the difference, we feel remorse, we feel sorrow, we feel regret. That is because we realize that God is real, His Son is real and we have, even for a very short time, place God second to our sin nature.
Being human we are stuck in this body, this corruptible, until we are finally called into the presence of God, and it will be then that we will finally put on the incorruptible. It is then that we will finally be able to fully and completely be free from the taint of Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God.
However, do not mistake what I am saying as permission to still live in sin. It is not, you must fight against it, you must pray to Jesus for strength to overcome your weaknesses and seek His forgiveness and glory.
You must leave your sin behind. You cannot serve two masters. It is either the sin or God. The Glorified Jesus Christ makes this perfectly clear in Revelation 3:15-16. God would rather you be cold or black for Him or hot and white for Him. It clear states that for those that live both in their sin and say they are for God will be spit out. “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”
In 2 Peter 2, in John 15 and in the verse above it makes it clear. That there are those that came to Christ, but turned their back upon Him. This believe of once saved always saved which is a man-made doctrine. So is going to confession, another man-made contrivance into lulling you into sin. For anything made of man is corrupt and ultimately leads back to its roots.
This is what Satan wants. He wants all to fail so none will be higher than he. He still believes that he shall defeat God, unaware that he has been living within one of his own lies. The father of lies caught within his own lies, the irony of that is just mind-blowing.
You have to understand that below that Holy Trinity of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost will be those within humanity that overcome their sins and fully commit to God through Jesus.
The Great White Throne Judgment will literally weed out the rest.
Those that overcome will be in the service of God, as it should be for we are His creation, but we will be given wondrous tasks to fulfill in this service to our Creator. Can you get your mind wrapped about that?
The end is closer than many think or believe or fear to believe. It is important that you think now, that you act now, that you turn from your sin now. Understand that yes God loves you, but also understand that due to this love He is willing to allow you to live with your choices. If those choices due to free will that leads to the darkness then so be it, but know that is not where He wishes you to be. He wishes you to come to the light, live in the light, and know that if the Bible states a sin is a sin, that it is never meant for the light. Leave the darkness and come to the light and to the glory of our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen

WORSHIP WARS!!! (Maybe the most controversial thing I have ever written).

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Excellent point

amokarts's avatarAMOKArts

As creatives in the church, we will sometimes be called upon, by God and man to try new things, sometimes these things will work and sometimes they won’t and when they don’t there can be backlash. We in the church can become very protective of worship, and by worship I mean style of worship. Some time around 2010, I did a web comic that was probably one of the most controversial things that I have ever done.

worshipwars It was part of my Weird World of Weiss comic for Cyberlight Comics. It was written in a time of immense frustration and yet a whole lot of hope. You see I love the church of Jesus Christ. Having been in almost 150 different, diverse churches in the last four years makes me love it all the more. There are so many different expressions of God’s Kingdom out there, and here is what…

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So folks are getting on Billy Graham’s case are they?

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So Billy Graham has released a new book entitled “Where I am.” Per his son Franklin Graham he had originally indented it to be all about Hell. He changed it a bit and decided to talk about his insight into events in the eternal life we are all going to face.
The thing is people are trying to change Billy Graham’s message into one where all will go to heaven, or as I see it go and serve God and be able to explore all of God’s creation, but both Billy and his son Franklin say that this is not the message that he has taught. The message he taught we you must repent of your sins and accept the will of God through the salvation offered by His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.
This however is not what those that wish to live in sin and expect to get to heaven wish to hear.
This reminds me of how people said that the events in the Bible are a myth, but the letters and the gospels were all written when those that had witnessed the events were alive and could say this is true or that is not true.
Well in this case Billy and Franklin are saying this is not true. They are saying you MUST repent. You MUST stop sinning and you MUST truly ask Jesus into your life and honor the teaching of the Bible. If it is called a sin in the Bible then it is a sin… period. This is also what the Grahams are saying.
So these “critics” need to stop trying to turn the words given by the elder Graham and twisting them and trying to turn them into mythology.
I agree fully with the Graham family. A sin is a sin. If the sin is more important than God then the sin is your master not God. Repent, Turn from your sin and accept Jesus as your Savior or face the consequences which includes Hell, the Pit of Fire, the Lake of Fire, which ever term you don’t wish to hear.

Confessions of a screwed up middle aged man: The most compelling evidence yet

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Today as I was coming to the end of the book “The Case of Christ” by Lee Strobel I came across some of the strongest evidence of the reality of Christ’s resurrection. Now you have to understand. I have been a born again believer since 1985. I have had my ups and downs as is unfortunately normal for this day and age due to the weak society we live within. To hear this evidence worded in such a manner just deepened my belief and faith in God and His Son Jesus.
In the last chapter of the book Mr. Stobel is talking to Dr. J. P. Moreland. Here Dr. Moreland brings up the change that took place within thousands of Jews within Jerusalem. For thousands of year and to this day there were and is still a Jewish people. All other nations that existed since before Joseph led the Jewish nation into Egypt and their eventual enslavement have ceased to exist in their original form or are no longer even thought of. In that time the Jewish people have continued to exist. Many of those traditions are still in use today save the sacrifice and burnt offers. Yet soon after Christ’s crucifixion thousands of Jews abandoned these tradition. Why? Because many had seen the risen Christ and others were witness to the miracles performed by His disciples as well as seen the fires of Pentecost and heard the disciples talking in many languages which many of the Jew understood having come from far parts of the world upon pilgrimages to Jerusalem. This caused them to turn from their traditions to embrace Christianity.
You have to understand this. The world two thousand years ago was nothing like the world we now live within. Today those in this world are weak minded. Going to this fad or that fad. This bit of happiness over here and then a few days later running to this happiness over there. Face it we as a people are weak compared to those that lived not even a hundred years ago due to Television and other devices of technology. So it is hard for many to understand how people can turn away from their cultural foundations and wholeheartedly change literally overnight and stay that way the rest of their lives even under the threat of a torturous death.
God is real. Jesus is real. An eternal life is real and is for all of us. You, me, the person next to you. It is something that is truly worth dying for.
The disciples had run away from Jesus. They had thought Him killed, gone. Then within days after His death they suddenly were literally willing to die for their belief that Jesus rose from the dead, because He did and they attested to that till their deaths, many of which were horrifying.
Think upon that for a while.