Jesus

Where does God fit?

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My pastor made an excellent point on facebook the other day. Where is the church when it comes to helping the poor and those in need? Gone are the large charity drives, gone are the charitable organizations that once flourished before World War II. Now most go to church seeking appeasement and stroking. Most that go to church live in expensive homes, drive fancy cars yet go about saying their life is terrible and a mess. Well that is why. Those that go to church have their priorities messed up. It is not “God give me give me.” It is “God what can I give what can I give.”
Today’s “Christians” have lost their way. They go to church on Sunday and believe that is all that is required of them to get into heaven. Well, per the Bible it is not. (Revelation 3:14-22; John 15 and 1 Peter 2).
Jesus made it clear it is harder for the rich to make it into heaven then it is for the poor. He also stated that if you seek your reward here in this temporal live less would be your reward in the eternal life still to come. Wouldn’t you rather have more for a few billion years then live wealthy and comfortably now for up to a hundred? I would rather have my reward come to me in the eternal life to come.
Again I must address this false teaching that has become the mainstay of most religions. Many have this image of going to heaven and sitting about doing nothing. Others have this believe that there is nothing beyond this temporal life. While even others believe you can fix your mistakes in purgatory or come back as another life form. These are all false.
If purgatory were real I would say you are living in purgatory this very minute. Are you trying to work through the sins you live with every day? Yes even though those that say they are saved still need to be ever aware that they are human and can sin for we are human and the human heart is corrupt. (Matthew 15:18-20).
Yes we are saved, but we are warned in 1 Peter 2 that we can fall back into sin and that it will be worse for us for having known Jesus’ love and salvation. I believe this with all my heart that is why I make these messages for I know there are sins still within me that need to be removed. I know that I am saved I know I am a child of God, but I listen to the word of God and know that it can be lost once again.
I do not ever wish to be a “Sunday Christian” and live in hypocrisy, thinking I am saved and going to be with God when I really am not. This however is how most that go to church are and is why charities have fallen on hard times. Why people are turning to the government and not God which is exactly what those that wish to rule over other wants. It is those that have power and wish to stay in power encourage. They love that the church no longer cares for those in need. They relish that people either do not go or once they leave forget that they have ever been till the next Sunday comes around and starts the cycle of hypocrisy all over again.
So to answer the question to the title of this post. God should be number one then everyone else second and then just maybe you. So stop trying to succeed in this life, but instead try to succeed in the life that is to come. The true existence that anyone that truly calls themselves “Christian” should seek after. Give to charities within the church, volunteer your time and money unto that which is precious to God and in return you will be given rewards beyond measure. Most likely not in this life but in the eternal life yet to come.

Confessions of a screwed up middle aged man: Only through Christ

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I use to be a liar. I use to lust after women. I use to be a selfish self-centered piece of garbage. I use to think people owed me something. I had a few other sins that are even too heinous to place into this post.
Throughout my childhood and teenage years I looked at and read the Bible as well as watched movies with a Biblical theme, but I never REALLY asked Christ into my life. I was like most out there in the world, thinking myself to be a Christian but in reality I was not. I was at the most a hypocrite at the least an ignorant male. I thought myself to be a good person, but I saw more than once how I hurt others, was it intentional? Sometimes I would have to say yes.
On June 24th 1986 everything changed for me. On that night I asked Jesus Christ into my heart. On that night I was filled with the Holy Spirit. I stopped being a liar that day and I stopped be selfish and self-centered. Did I mess up? Yes I did. Did I totally stop lying? No I did not, but I was no longer the liar that I was. Living a lie within a lie to hide a lie. No that person died that night and the person I was when I was twelve returned to live within me and so lying become something that happens very rarely.
Do I still do selfish acts? Yes I do, but not to the degree that all that is important to me is me. I am quick to realize that I have done a selfish act and I feel remorse and sorrow over my actions and when possible I ask forgiveness from the person I have wronged. (Which is usually my wife). I have a conscience now where before I did not.
Not all my sins died that night. Some sins are still with me, but as each day passes these sins fall away dead and useless. It was not till a few months ago that I stopped lusting after women. As for my more heinous sins those did die that summer night in 1986, but I know for a fact that they did cross my mind once or twice in the last twenty-nine years but I turned it over to God through Christ and soon those thoughts fell away dead once again.
I know it is Satan testing me. I know it is also God pruning me and making me into not only a better servant unto Him but a better person.
I write this confession hoping it will shine a light unto to those that are like I was. Thinking they are “Christian” when in reality they are not. Through Jesus there is truly a removal of sin. You are no longer the person you once were. You are truly born again and you no longer think like you did just a short time before you asked Christ into you. I know that I become the person I was before the age of accountability took over and I fell deeper and deeper into sin. That person of sin is dead as are the sins that were within that version of me.
As I stated before. I am by no means perfect and any that say all your sins are taken from you when you are born again are not being honest; not only with you but themselves. It is an ongoing journey. One that will have no ending till God calls us unto Him.
As I said the other day to someone that posted “I thank God that I have awaken to another day.” my reply to them was “God let you wake up because you have forgotten to do something for Him.” Each day I awaken here in this temporal life I strive to understand what it is I have not done for God that makes Him say “It is not his time to come to Me.” Someday He will call me and it is then through my continued struggle to know and learn more about Him and His Son and their ways that I will know that I have done well for Him and I will look upon Him with joy and happiness, for I feel he will say unto me “You have done well.”

Let’s not shake the boat… it might sink.

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This is the mentality of many that call themselves “Christian.”
They are in a place of comfort. They are well off, well fed, and at easy in the place.
This is the home of the “lukewarm.” (Revelation 3: 15-16)
This is the home Jesus has made it clear you will be spit out by Him.
Yet here you sit saying: “Wow, glad this guy isn’t referring to me.”
Let’s let that last sentence sink in a moment.

God has made it clear that you MUST be HOT or even COLD, but you must never be “LUKEWARM” or “gray” as I call it.
A “gray” is someone who walks the middle ground neither embracing fully sin nor fully the commitment to Christ. Most that call themselves “Christian” in today’s world are in reality “grays.”
Your views to yourself condemn sins yet when it comes time to confront these sins you sit at home in a chair and complain and do nothing about it.
When it comes time since through your action to vote for example you say the words “I am a Christian” yet you either do not vote or vote for a group that has denied Jesus. (Matthew 10:33)
You just handed a victory to Satan, congratulations, good job.
When it comes time to follow the laws of the land as we are instructed to do in Titus 3:1 and you choose not to do so you are a “gray,” congratulations, good job.
When it comes time to get out of your chair and do something for God, you decide not to for someone else will do it instead.
No one does it as all, because it was you that was supposed to do it not someone else, you are a “gray,” congratulations, good job.
When the Rapture comes and you find yourself left behind and you begin to weep when you realize you failed God, you are a “gray,” good job.
When you find yourself getting you head sawed off with a dull knife you realize you are no longer a “gray” and are dying for your faith and believe in God. CONGRATULATIONS YOU ARE A CHILD OF GOD ONCE AGAIN!!!!!

To live in sin is not to know God

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This is basically what it says in 1 John 3:6.
Let me get you to understand how repentance works and yes I must use an extreme example to get my point across.
In Leviticus 20:13 we see one of the laws that Moses brought down for Mt. Sinai. (Once again people need to understand that it didn’t take forty days to bring down Ten Commandments but all the laws that are in Exodus through Leviticus.)
It clearly states that homosexuality is a sin so the other day when I saw a sign in front of the Supreme Court which said “I am gay and I am a Christian.” 1 John 3:6 shows that one of these statements is not true. Since the men live in sin they do not know God and so are not “Christian”
It is that simply. It is black and white. It is hot and cold. (Revelation 3:15-16)
You cannot live in a sin like this and say you know God. It is an impossibility.
Do I hate these men? By all means no I do not.
I actually pity them.
This believe they have that they can be both and thus “lukewarm” is leading them down a false and dangerous path to a fate I wish upon no one.
This message needs to get out there they need to see it more often. Then need to have this burden of this weigh upon them till they walk away from it if they truly do wish to know God through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are told to turn from our sins not continue to live in them. Yet this is what these men are doing. Living in their sin thinking they know God when God at this time does not know them. If they leave their sin then yes He will know them and Jesus will acknowledge them, but as along as they chose the sin over God the latter will not know them at all.

Infertile Ground

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When a farmer grows the same crop year after year in the same field it soon refuses to allow this crop to grow. If planted once again it withers and dies. This is the mentality of many throughout the United States. They have done the same thing over and over that they are walking dead. In a way you could call them zombies.
Those that say I will support this group because that is the way it has always been are living in this dead ground that offers nothing but death and destruction.
It is through change that life is renewed and given a foothold upon that which is nourishing and good. When a farmer starts to rotate his crops is when the ground become fertile once again and is able to give a good and bountiful harvest.
All life requires change. Even within Christianity it requires change. In John 15 even Jesus uses the growing of a plant to show this point. It clearly states that God Himself prunes the branches so that they will bear more fruit. It is this pruning that is change.
You do not sit there and say I accept Jesus into my heart and then do nothing else. Yet this is the mentality that is being given throughout this nation. Not only within the Church but other places as well. For example the welfare system is infertile ground and is causing nothing by death and destruction to rise out of it. Why? Because in many states they took away the time limits on which you could use these aids. They were never meant to be a permanent step, but a temporary one as you moved on to your next stage of change and growth.
There is one party out there that wants this not to change. They what people permanently on welfare which is nothing more than a new type of slavery and yet many willfully and gleefully walk into this lifestyle living under the delusion that they are owed something when in reality they become owned to the system. Slaves to a dead and infertile ground. Used as tools to cause riots, frustration and mayhem and yet they are so use to this lack of change that they do not see they are pawns to their new masters. Fodder in their war against change which will cause those that do change to see the truth and that the truth is found within God through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ

Steps in learning how to live an eternal life

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This may not be what you are expecting to read, but within the Bible there are certain things we are told will take place.
1) We are told all will receive an eternal body. (John 3:16, Daniel 12:2)
2) Jesus Christ and those that are taken in the Rapture shall rule the Earth for one thousand years (Revelation 20: 4-5)
Now why do I point out these facts from within the Bible? Because they are the foundation of what I am writing today.
This temporal life we now live which at the most at this time can last just over one hundred years is the first step in this learning process. Through this life due to our sin nature we go through trials and tribulations that are designed to strengthen our minds in the teaching of the Bible. For within the Bible we are shown all we need to know to overcome this corrupt form we now live within. The reason for this is do we can show we can handle tasks that will be greater and of longer duration in the times to come beyond this temporal form.
Then if we are worthy in the eyes of God we will be called up in the rapture and we shall throw off the corrupt and put on the incorruptible and eternal body. It is at this time that one the Tribulations is over we are to co-reign with Jesus Christ upon this planet for one thousand years.
This is the second step in our growth into eternal life.
In this thousand years we shall not only learn new tasks but how to continue on in faith service unto God for one thousand years. This is ten of the lifetimes we now live with. These time will not be easy but filled with work and glory unto to God. For “reigning” is not just sitting upon a throne giving commands but actually going out into the people that are still living corrupted lives for not all shall be killed during the Tribulation.
Once this is done and the final battle with Satan takes place then we shall be truly into the eternity of our life and service unto to God. It is here that I feel we will go throughout the universe being tools and witnesses of God’s glory and so new experiences will be had joyfully by all that make this part of eternal life.
But do not think you are going there as you are now. I don’t even think that. It is an ongoing and daily struggle that is only made it through with pray, trust and faith to and in the God.

Because those in the pulpit were afraid to scold their flock it fled.

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In a new Pew Poll it has been shown that Christianity within the United States has diminished from 78% to 70%.
One of the major factor behind this has been today’s churches themselves.
They stopped kicking their congregations in the proverbial can and started mollycoddling them. It was no longer right to teach the “fire and brimstone” messages.
Those that read my blogs have noticed that time to time I do not pull my punches. I am harsh, direct, some even call me mean. Well I can be and I am not ashamed of being so.
Proverbs 13:24 He that spareth the rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chastened him betimes.
Proverbs 29:15 The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.
How many knew these verses were within the Bible?
There are times when you must scold your congregation just as a father must spank his child. Both must be done within reason.
One reason the “fire and brimstone” messages died out was they were too harsh too blunt. Just like the football player that spanked his four year with the switch and left whelps on the child. This is too extreme.
There needs to be a balance, a middle ground that needs to be reached. One that teaches people the Bible and also the consequences for not following the teachings within the Bible.
Too many in the pulpits as well as too many parents have shown that in reality they hate their children. Why? For they did spare the rod and as a result thousands if not millions are bringing shame unto their mothers and their churches and as a result shame before God.
This is why Christianity has diminished. This is why a Politician can openly say in an interview that he lied and no one is doing anything about it. It is this same mentality that allows someone to run for president that is obviously hiding the fact that they took bribes at the least and purposely caused the intentional death of many American citizens at the most.
It is because children have not been raised in parental love let alone spiritual love.
Please hear and understand that if it is called a sin in the Bible it is a sin and if you continue to live in this sin you will not be welcomed by God even if you profess to call yourself “Christian.” Why? Because you care more for the sin then you do God and since you do you do not truly know God or His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 John 3: 4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. 5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. 6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
We are told to place God first and others second and ourselves last. (Matthew 22: 36-40) Why? Because this teaches us to be humble. If the Bible says God will punish you if you continue to live in sin, believe me He will do just that. If you are fortunate He may do it in your lifetime as He did for me in my year of Job. If He does not the more the pity not only upon you but those that denied you the rod for it is upon their hands as well for not teaching you and guiding you down the right path to salvation and free of all sins. Sins you willing surrender and try never to do again. Will it be a struggle? For most yes. We will stumble and we shall fall, but in the end we will stop that sin. Then we will find a new sin that has been there all along and we will start to work on removing that sin. It is an ongoing never ending process till either we go to heaven or the Rapture occurs.
So ministers, pastor, reverends, priests it is time to teach the full Bible. It is time to give those that listen to you the bad news as well as the good. It is ok to say verses like Revelation 21:8. It is ok to say that it says in the Bible that man shall not lie with man. It is ok to actually teach Christ for if you deny Him to your congregation Jesus will deny you to His father. You can give those that look up to you and listen to you that Christianity is not heaven on earth, because it is not. This is not promised until after the thousand year reign of Christ. Since that has not happened then you need to let them know that to live in sin is not salvation as was explained above, but the abandonment of sin takes all on the right path toward God.

Why do you call yourself a “Christian” when it is obvious to all you aren’t?

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This is a question I think needs to be asked more than it is. Why? Because too many live within the world and still say they are “Christian” when in reality they are at the least an agnostic and at the most a hypocrite or as Jesus calls them “lukewarm” or “grey” as I call them.
Just for those who are not aware an agnostic is someone neither claims faith nor a disbelief in God. Yet many that actually think this way call themselves “Christian.” Why is this?
Because they go to a building filled with other agnostics who think and feel the exact same way and they call it a church. Now is this true of all churches? No.
Then you have other buildings again called churches filled with people living their lives as if they are of the world. They seek after materialistic gains; they stab people in the back. They demean others. All they care for is themselves. What they wear, how they look. How fancy their cars are and their homes. They live a life thinking that God is rewarding them totally unaware that they are hypocrites and destine to be spit out by Christ from His Body. Yet they do not know this and go about calling themselves “Christian” when in reality they are not.
All that is important to them is their “toys” and themselves. They speed down the highway, they cut people off, because the other person got in their way and is “the real problem.” Totally unaware that it is not the other person, but themselves that are the problem.
Yet when will they come to realize they are wrong? For most it will not be until that day they stand before God when He holds the Great White Throne Judgment. For others it will be when the second blast of the horn is heard throughout the world and they find themselves still standing here upon the earth instead of in heaven with God and His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.
If they do not make the call of the Rapture they will have a chance to fix their dilemma. Many will then realize the truth, but only a few of these will decide to beg forgiveness from God, but it will come at a cost. A painful and unpleasant cost for they must face a horrible death since they missed the calling of the last horn.
But as for those that only realize their errors when the stand before God on His White Throne. Those I have the most pity for. For them it will be how they did on their own merits and most will fall short. For God will be harshest upon them for because of them many that would have come to God did not because of the hypocrisies which led the other to turn their back upon God and all His wonders and Glory.

Seeking for others to pay attention to you for what you say about you is extremely important

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Now just so we keep the record straight right from the start. There will be those that say me posting a blog and given my comments and insight about the Bible and God is seeking after attention and self-glorification. My answer:
I do not write these for me. I write these for you. If you read them or not that is your choice. If you believe them or not, again that is your choice. I do this for God, for this is the ministry that he has given me and I will continue to do this until He tells me to stop.
Now for the post:
I have seen one of my fellows recently become more active on facebook. He types this, records that, post trips. All of it aimed at glorifying himself and his “achievements.” This is not humility. We are to place ourselves last. If you place yourself before all others how can you be humble? You cannot.
Philippians 2:3-5 – [Let] nothing [be done] through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
Vainglory which is kenodoxia ken-od-ox-ee’-ah; empty glorying, i.e. self-conceit:–vain-glory
Self-conceit – an excessively favorable opinion of oneself, one’s abilities, etc.; vanity.
Vanity – 4. lack of real value; hollowness; worthlessness: the vanity of a selfish life.
5. something worthless, trivial, or pointless.
Give praise and glory unto those about you not yourself is what those that call themselves “Christian” are supposed to do. Yet in many places this is not what is being taught not only outside Christendom but within it as well.
When someone says “God is inside you and only through you can great works be done.” This is a twisted and false teaching meant to make you look to yourself to accomplish all, but we are not to look to us but God through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ that we are to turn and go too. We are to pray to Him and seek His aid and council through the Bible and the Holy Spirit.
God is not within us. God is throughout is the universe. Yes we can commune with Him and yes we can hear Him inside your mind. To say that God dwells in the corruption is misleading and a false teaching and so it is something made by humans for humans. It is a way not to take responsibility for our actions.
Even after you become saved and are committed to Christ you still sin. How do I know this? Because I sin. Do I do it on purpose? No, because I am human. Here is what they Bible says in inside humans:
Mark 7: 21- 23: For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
If this is inside us God would spit us out of Him… oh wait. Jesus did say that very thing:
Revelation 3: 15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth
Seeking after the self is repugnant to God.
So don’t share your life on facebook, but Christ’s life. Send out His teaching. Share His word. Like what is called Blessed by God and humble yourself.

A past hardship is not a ticket out of facing up to your responsibility to God

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Trials and tribulations are promised to us that truly try to follow Christ. In John 15 it clearly states we are to be pruned by God Himself so that we may bear more heavenly fruit for His glory. If you use them as a crutch to go no further in your growth toward God’s grace and wisdom then you have fallen short.