Job 7 – 8

Before starting today … I have to wonder was Job the reason employment in English is job. Verse 7:9 reminds us how brief our life is on this earth:

As clouds thin and finally vanish,
so it is when people enter the land of the dead.

As a fan of Robert Frost, this reminds me of one of his poems, Out, Out. The little boy dies andeveryone just goes about their business, a sad commentary, but so often true. The poems title came from Macbeth’s soliloquy where he says “out, out brief candle, life is but a walking shadow.” As depressing as death may be here on earth it’s a release of our earthly meat suit for time with God. How cool is that?

Job through this is asking why and he too is wondering if he did something “inadvertently” that he is being punished for. In Chapter 8 his friends Bildad and Shuhite come to visit and push this theme even more. Verse 8:3 has Bildad starting to tell him the problems:

Does God corrupt justice,
or does the Highest One corrupt the good?

That is an interesting question when one is in misery. I know when jobs are lost, house sales fall through and despair sets in, I ask what have I done? Was it just bad timing, or is God teaching me a lesson? Is He correcting sin in my life or is this the hand of Satan or Lucifer? What will happen on the other side to show God’s glory? As I sit typing on my computer each day these questions run through my head, much like Job must have.

As you read, Bildad is less effective than Eliphaz since he implies this may be the sin of his children. Imagine having someone come to you and imply the reason you are sucking right now is little Bobby had premarital sex. This even becomes more absurd when you get into it. God does punish, God does correct, but God is also graceful and will forgive the repentant heart.

Now does this make things rosy on the flip side or repentance? Not always since often times our “punishment” is not because of our sins but rather by are sins. Since little Bobby is sleeping around, we will look at his sin. Bobby takes his sin to an extreme and starts sleeping with other men. One has HIV and infects little Bobby, now this will take it’s toll. Little Bobby realizes his sinful ways and whole heartily repents of his sins. Does that mean his HIV is wiped clean, most likely no.

That is where we get all messed up, we thing God will fix things and make it better. Well often times the resulting mess cannot be cleaned or will not be cleaned by God. Little Bobby’s HIV is a result of him leaving God’s will. Our nation’s current fiscal mess is a direct result of spending more than we make. We can repent all we want, but the hand of God is not going to come down and pick your lottery numbers. As I have prayed for that over and over, it “ain’t gonna happen.” Now I have tried following God’s principles in money management and a $576k debt is not down to $340k in 5 years with NO lottery win. So remember we are often not punished for our sins but rather by our sins. Now in Job’s case his is being messed with more than punished.

Psalms 9 – 11

Interesting that in Hebrew Psalms 9 & 10 are actually a “acrostic pome”, meaning each stanza begins with the next letter in the Alphabet. As you can easily see this is lost in English. Verse 9:1 opens with thanks to God:

All my heart will give thanks to You, Eternal One.
I will tell others about Your amazing works.

Notice that is one of the first things David says in most of his prayers. Maybe that should be integrated into our prayers. “The attitude of gratitude” is one of the main themes in many new age thoughts like “The Secret”. Unfortunately they express the gratitude to get things and not just to be thankful. It’s a fine line between loving God and loving stuff that gets blurred frequently in new age thinking.

Off on a tangent now, but think about how much of these “new age” ideas integrate much of the Bible and prayer. The focus or idea is to get us thinking we don’t need God. The Secret is dangerous in a way since it implies we are all like gods and can manifest our desires. True we tend to go where we are focused, but take your eyes off God and the tangents can get hairy.

Verse 10:2 often I pray this, but think it may be selfish:

Mean and haughty people hunt down the poor.
May they get caught up in their own wicked schemes.

Shouldn’t we ask for protection and also for their salvation? Love is the main key to Jesus’ teachings and is it “love” to wish harm on anyone? Unfortunately we are seeing this happen in full bore today. I honest look at the government and wonder if they are hunting down the poor. Think about how rich some are getting on the backs of the poor? Sure the poor are not “paying” for this, but they are being held down to continue the scheme. Take money from caring people use some for helping and the rest for and ever growing “administration”.

Let’s stop this tangent before it gets out of hand. The key to this verse is David did not like the acts of evil people and hoped they “got theirs”. I guess that is ok, if they cannot accept salvation. Either way I say, let God sort it out and we just “keep on keeping on”.

Verse 11:4 has some issue with the illustration:

But the Eternal has not moved; He remains in His holy temple.
He sits squarely on His heavenly throne.
He observes the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve, examining us within and without,
exploring every fiber of our being.

The reason I have problems with things like this is we are making God in OUR image and not trying to make ourselves in HIS. Now God may reveal himself to us in this way since we would not comprehend all His glory. I think of the film Contact, where the scientist meets her father and it’s explained that she would be overwhelmed otherwise. Maybe that’s the same for us?

The only real danger I see is for non-believers who read this and then get confused when they hear God is all knowing and everywhere. We have to look at God in different ways as we grow in Jesus; otherwise we get stuck on the old man in the clouds and not His real glory!

How arrogant was that? Dissin’ David’s writings! I really think we need to be aware that most of these are “examples” of David’s faith and not Biblical truths. If not we can get into this contradiction spiral that atheists love to glom onto.

Joshua 16 – 20

Today’s reading is one of those sections that is rater dry and not full of great insight, but one can still find lesions in life. Chapter 16 and 17 starts the division of the land with Joseph’s sons, who get 1 potion between them. This causes conflict later and Joshua steps in during verse 17:17 to resolve the problems:

All right; it’s true that there are many of you and that you are powerful. You should not have just one share.

As for conflict resolution goes this is an awesome technique to quell discontent. First thing Joseph does is acknowledge the problem. Often times we tend to go for resolution which may be the same end result, but if you don’t have all parties agreeing it’s worthless. So first acknowledge the problem and then look for solutions. That is the key in starting to get all parties on board with the solution. This takes the focus off the problem and opens them to a solution.

Verse 18:3 has Joseph getting people to work:

How much more time do you intend to waste before going to claim the land the Eternal God of your ancestors is giving to you?

Often times in good management, one must get the attention of the workers. This is done by being direct with the problem. Notice Joseph does not use adjectives that may belittle the people. He just goes right to the problem and then directs them to a solution. Often times your people need a little direct motivation to get things done. I know often times I find myself just doing things that is not on task and need a swift kick in the pants to get me back on track. Notice this is done in a way that gets them back on task.

Other than conflict resolution and management techniques we see in verse 20:2 that God is setting aside a place of refuge:

Tell the Israelites, “You must set apart cities of refuge, as I directed you through Moses,

This is actually quite critical since the people of the time were quite direct and often violent. The positive was swift solutions to problems, the negative was often innocent people were punished. This is something God knew and planned for in their society so someone who unintentionally killed another would be safe until all the facts were shown.

I always wondered about this since a good psychopath could manipulate the systems into having an intentional murder seem unintentional. But I guess that could happen today without much question. Case in point is Michael Hastings, a Rolling Stone reporter, who was about to break a big corruption story. He died in a high speed single vehicle accident. Nothing odd other than the vehicle he drove could have easily been hacked and piloted remotely. Also, an explosion was heard before the impact. This along with an engine that was dislodged and in a location that would have required an different force acting on it other than momentum, makes this unintentional death seem intentional. So systems can always be manipulated except for the divine judgment of God.

Genesis 12 – 15

We start in this chapter with the story of Abraham (Abram now). In verse 12:3 God gives Abram his first promise of descendants:

I will also bless those who bless you and further you in your journey, and I’ll trip up those who try to trip you along the way. Through your descendants, all of the families of the earth will find their blessing in you.

They key here is an immediate reference to Jesus with the statement of “all families” since there was other descendants of Noah who repopulated the earth. We see statements like this all over the Old Testament that get thrown in as “bread crumbs” so we can see the trail to Jesus. When this was written Moses probably had no idea what was being reviled to him, but just wrote it as he was told.

One story to look at in Chapter 12 was his first entrance into Egypt and how he immediately got God upset not claiming Sarai as his wife. When you think about it, this is a story of the head of a nation who is quite flawed. His faith that God will protect him and honor His promises is weak in many cases, yet God still teaches him.

One can look at stories like this and have faith that all will be good, no matter how bad we mess up. In verse 13:16 God reassures Abram with His promise:

I will make your descendants as many as there are specks of dust on the earth. If anyone could count the dust of the earth, then he could also count how many descendants I’m talking about!

Interesting here God uses “specks of dust” while in another place in the reading He uses stars in the sky, yet the “sands on the seashore” from verse 22:17 is the most remembered and quoted. Either way the illustration is he will be the head of many people.

Verses 15:13 & 14 foretell another event to the people of Israel:

13 I will tell you this on which you can stake your life: Your descendants will first be foreigners in a land that is not theirs. They will be made slaves there and will be oppressed for 400 years. 14 But then I will judge the nation that enslaves them. When that time comes, your descendants will emerge from that land with many possessions.

I know one could argue that this was not told to Abram, but rather interjected by Moses, but it does show the forethought that God had in how the people would live. I can only assume this was a recording of a story that was passed down through the generations, since much of it prior to Moses has been proven in archeological digs. I think the biggest thing to take away from today’s reading was how many times God revealed the future.

Romans 5 – 6

Verse 5:18 is Jesus’ sacrifice in a nutshell: So here is the result: as one man’s sin brought about condemnation and punishment for all people, so one man’s act of faithfulness makes all of us right with God and brings us to new life. This is very straight forward and simple when you read it. The Gospel tends to get overly complex when you start trying to tie Old and New Testament doctrine into all the teachings of Jesus, when really salvation is found through Jesus and then the rest can be learned.

Chapter 6 is the answer to the question if we can sin or not. Verse 6:6 opens with the promise:

We know this: whatever we used to be with our old sinful ways has been nailed to His cross. So our entire record of sin has been canceled, and we no longer have to bow down to sin’s power.

But now we must decide how to behave after receiving this salvation. Can we sin because we have a “Get Out of Jail Free” card or do we live lives of righteousness? The answer is simple and can be very disturbing when researched, but live pure. In the previous reading we see that heaven appears to have levels and living saved, but knowingly sinning could place you in the not so nice section … which I am sure is better than hell.

Paul addresses this in Verses 6:15 & 16 addressing the issue of sin:

15 So what do we do now? Throw ourselves into lives of sin because we are cloaked in grace and don’t have to answer to the law? Absolutely not! 16 Doesn’t it make sense that if you sign yourself over as a slave, you will have to obey your master? The question before you is, What will be your master? Will it be sin—which will lead to certain death—or obedience—which will lead to a right and reconciled life?

This was the root of Jesus’ question to the rich man, who does he honor more money or God. This is the key and was addressed in the 10 commandments by putting “no other gods before Him.” In this case as really seen today “gods” is no longer Zeus or Osiris, but rather Porsche or Armani. Now we tend to worship sports stars or stuff and not mythical figures. So Paul nails it in simple easy to understand words. Obey God and life will be blessed. NOTE – Will not be “easy”, but will be in God’s will.

Matthew 5 – 6

The Sermon on the Mount is one of the most preached teaching of Jesus in the Bible, but I believe often misinterpreted. Verse 5:3 opens with the first one that I noticed something new:

Jesus: Blessed are the spiritually poor—the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

Luke 6:20 is the more commonly preached sermon, since it only says “blessed are the poor” and that is something we can relate to. This says something completely different since the “spiritually poor” implies that it could be anyone. The poor in spirit is more defined as someone who knows they need the salvation of Jesus, where just poor means they are in need of earthly things. Big difference between the two scenarios, since you could have all the money in the world and realize it means nothing in relationship to ones relationship to God.

Due to the quantity of verses to look at I am not going to snip each one, so opening your Bible is required!! Verse 15:16 has the action one must take as the “light on the hill” in doing more than just professing. This is a problem in today’s Church since the doctrine of “once saved, always saved” and “works will not get you into heaven” may be true on one level, but makes for a complacent church. We are told to DO not just attend.

Verses 6:19-20 actually spook me since it implies we can lose salvation. We need to be aware that righteousness, like the Pharisees who appear holy on the outside but have internal issues, is fundamental to our afterlife. We need to do two things; run away from sin and when we do sin confess it before Jesus quickly. If we continue to knowingly sin without repentance, which is turning away, then our salvation is in question. Also, Jesus addresses the law and states clearly that we must follow it. So was that to the Jews or all Christians? Why is it we only seem to be preached follow the basic moral laws and tithing, but not say the food laws?

Verse 5:22 is something that we may not do in public, but the gossip is just as bad. Sorry, even with “brothers” in Jesus, we need to hold from saying slanderous things. We just need to “suck it up” and pray not only for them, but that we are not the problem.

Verse 5:32 is very clear; past lusting mentioned in verse 5:27 this is clear that divorce is not an option. Interestingly it says if the “wife” cheats then divorce is ok, but nothing if the husband does. Either way this is something we need to examine very closely when thinking about getting married, if we look at it as a lifelong commitment and not just a more serious form of dating then this is different.

Verses 6:5-8 talks about praying in the open and how we do it. You listen to prayers in church and small groups where there are some that put the words together like it’s something meant for God. Then we pray and it’s a garbled mess since we try to use the right words with simple straightforward requests. I personally hate praying in public, since I like simple prayers like “God help so and so.” After this Jesus gives the model prayer that is a simple formula: praise God, petition God, confess to God, ask God for protection and accept His divine will. Be thankful for everything and just continue on being genuine.

Isaiah 12 – 17

Once again we get prophecies that are mixed between different times. This becomes very difficult to track since it’s not given out clearly as x will happen, then y around this time, then finally z. Instead we get x, y and z presented as one possible event. The key is don’t let yourself spin too much on this, but just observe what we know to be true.

Verse 13:19 maps to the history of Babylon:

But afterward, the awesome and mighty city Babylon, pride of the Chaldeans,
will be razed to the ground like Sodom and Gomorrah, which God destroyed.

Interesting that when things like this are written, the non-believers (lump Christians/Jewish/Islamic religions here as believers) assume this was either written afterwards or forced into matching history.

Verse 16:5 does this again:

Then God will establish a royal throne, in loyal love—
the One who rules there will be utterly reliable,
With absolute integrity under the auspices of David.
With a passion for justice, He will be quick to decide and do what is right.

Christians immediately latch on to this and say it’s Jesus, while Jews and Muslims believe this one has not come yet. Again, this is where the interpretation is not clear and is biased on one’s belief on who Jesus really is to mankind. Is he the savior, a prophet or the example of God we must live to? We can only go on what we know from the Bible and our hearts.

I think back to when my mother was searching for “spiritual meaning” in the 70’s. We entered many churches and places like an Indian temple. All of which, without salvation of Jesus, seemed wrong. It wasn’t until landing at West Side Bible and Pastor Miller that the salvation thing became clear and felt right. That is when I knew in my heart that we had found truth. So do the same when reading these prophecies.

Verse 17:4 is I think the key to our own destruction:

Eternal One: Israel will be humbled then too;
our cousins, the children of Jacob, will lose their luster, their wealth and excess.

When we get too full of ourselves, suddenly we are humbled. Often in ways that are subtle and others that are grand. There was a period when I was going my own way and was way outside God’s plan. I was getting very fast on my motorcycle and full of myself. I was just out of an adulterous relationship and now involved with a roommate when I was humbled. In this case it was being all but naked in front of the audience in the Cow Palace. I never really recovered from that injury since I never was at my peak again and I seemed to fail at work. I think this is why I latch on to verses like this since I appear to always be humbled when I get full of myself.

Job 5 – 6

Job’s afflictions are now being scrutinized by his friends. In verse 5:1 Eliphaz chimes in:

Eliphaz: As for you, Job, feel free to call, but will anyone reply?
Among His holy attendants, to whom will you turn?

The problem with his friends is they make assumptions based on teachings and experience, ignoring the root cause.Job is a good man is being tormented by Satan and not because of transgressions. I know I think like Eliphaz more often than not. When things are down, I wonder if I was praying the right prayer, or if I did something wrong. The economy crashed in 2007 and by 2010 our shop closed. We were provided for with a job and survived. I question if we would have thrived if I had not followed God. Now that is foolish since God would not punish the entire nation/world because my lack of faith bought lottery tickets.

Or should I say misplaced faith assuming God was going to give me a lottery win. Either way it may have just been a consequence of everyone spending more than they made and not “driven” by God at all. One thing that Eliphaz assumes is all “bad” things are punishment from God. I tend to think God has a more hands off approach, where we reap the consequences more than receive God’s wrath. Spend more than you make and eventually someone will fail, either the banks loaning the money or the people over burdened by debt. In the most recent case, it was both!!

Verse 5:17 is something to remember when we are “corrected”:

Remember, a happy man accepts God’s correction,
so don’t despise the discipline of the Highest God.

Honestly don’t despise the discipline of any one, when justified. The only time in my life I received “discipline” I did not deserve was in 1st grade in Arizona. We had a substitute and everyone decided to sit in different seats, but did not tell me. Well I am standing before my seat and could not compute the person sitting in it, so I waited for them to move. The substitute assumed I was the cause and set me to the principal’s office. I was only doing what I was told, yet someone was in MY SEAT!! It’s been almost 50 years and that still bothers me!!

Now Eliphaz is a man of strong beliefs and convictions guided by his ancestors who made it seem that all bad things were punishment for sin. That is the bias for his comments and unfortunately is not changed by Job’s response. Verse 6:15 has Job calling his friends out:

But you, my brothers, are unpredictable
like an unexpected flood of the wadi that quickly rises and then falls,

They latch on to something that they observed or learned in the past and do not open their minds to something different. Ironically this ties into the discussion this week on YouTube with a M.R. about evolution. Both of use perceive the other as being this way. I keep questioning the data and he keeps saying the same thing. That is not rooted in fact and since the “data” is so convoluted and difficult to understand for the “layperson”, he assume mine is blind faith in God. Rather I have discovered a ton of this on my own research and understand the “data” … he has gotten into my head!! I pray I have gotten in his!! Key today is be open and not rooted in your beliefs. Do not drift from the word, but understand it fully and not compartmentalized.

Psalms 6 – 8

In reading the Psalms I see many of my prayers that I often dismiss as frivolous when in reality David wrote them for us to see that many are normal. Verse 6:4 is something that I seem to always ask:

Come back, Eternal One, and lead me to Your saving light.
Rescue me because I know You are truly compassionate.

I am constantly asking for clear guidance and rescue. Today I sit in panic, since the holidays are among us and I have not gotten any “nibbles” on my resume. The house that is our saving grace is in title turmoil that implies I may only own half of it. We are looking at new homes if we sell the farm … again another saving grace, but far into the future. Then if all falls in place and I do not get work we can only survive a few years. So right now I am praying this exact Psalm.

Through all of the above I must say the “panic” is not really that bad. It comes in waves and then I pray for clarity. Then the panic subsides. What is the worse? What if everything was lost? We still have options and family to fall back on, and I thank God for that every day!

Verse 7:9 is another Psalm that I pray, in my own words of course:

Please, bring the evil actions of these wicked, wicked people to an end!
But secure the righteous,
For You, righteous God,
examine our hearts and minds.

Today evil and wicked people are on all levels of society. The slums are full of “entrepreneurs” dealing drugs and the Hampton’s are full of bankers looting grannies savings. So I pray that all this wickedness ends and people find salvation in Jesus. And the key to this verse is after praying for “all them evil folk” is to examine oneself to ensure we are pure. How many times have you seen evil and rebuked it only to find yourself in the middle of it?

Verse 8:5 is in a Psalm where David is acknowledging Genesis 1:

But You placed the son of man just beneath God
and honored him like royalty, crowning him with glory and honor.

I tend to read this and look at the current human condition and wonder why. David can think like that since as a king, he is crowned and treated like royalty. While on the other hand one of the most “Godly” families I know are met with tragedy and crisis with their son Brice being paralyzed in his high school years. Sure we may be crowned with glory and honor in heaven, but David implies now.

Joshua 11 – 15

Joshua is basically two stories about the Promised Land. The first part is the battles waged and God’s favor to take the land. The second part is dividing of the land. We see this split in today’s reading. Verse 11:6 is God ensuring that the army they are going to fight will be defeated:

Don’t be afraid of them. By this time tomorrow, I will have given all of them as dead bodies into your hands. You will disable their horses and burn their chariots.

Before we are told their numbers are huge! And as God promises they come in and rout the enemy. One thing I have a problem with and often question is why God is so brutal with conquering enemies. I understand that even a small amount of impurities can corrupt the nation, as we see later. But why must everyone die? Can’t anyone convert?

Verse 13:1 starts the final part of Joshua’s role:

Now the years passed and Joshua grew old; and one day the Eternal came to him.

Eternal One (to Joshua): You have grown old and there is still work to do, for part of the land I have promised has yet to be conquered.

Once they have secured the land, now they must divide it for the tribes and people of Israel. Think about how this must be done in an orderly fashion, since they are probably millions that need to be given land. This honestly is a beautiful story in leadership, because he is able to do this without any recorded incidents.

Also I think the biggest key to leadership is how he relies on God for his guidance. Now it appears he, as with Moses, has a clearer connection with God. But honestly we have that today, we just have to clearly listen. We have the Bible to assist us in the clarity and now are growing into a deep relationship with God.

This is why it is key to life is to read the Bible daily. It doesn’t hurt to read it over and over again, after 3 complete reads I am getting new revelations this time. It’s something that you must do to experience. So as Nike’s motto says; “Just do it”!!

Genesis 8 – 11

Today I am in a heated discussion over a YouTube video that suggests the Bible’s rendition of creation is correct. It is actually based on science and not the Bible being the only source of information. And how the Fundamentalist Evolutionists cannot look at anomalies and question them. They have to make stories that work for their assumptions of fact. Like man being mixed with dinosaurs bones; the story goes they must have been mining and had a tunnel collapse, even though no tools indicating that activity were found or a shift in the strata indicating a collapse.

So we get to the great flood, which everyone dismisses as a “story” and not fact. But one only looks at the Grand Canyon to determine that something catastrophic happened. There are even layers which can only happen underwater where wind, rain and temperature would change the contour. Then the shape of the canyon indicates a quick cut and not a SLOW methodical one … this all could be evidence of a great flood.

But don’t say that in the scientific community or you will be labeled insane and perverse.

Something that caught my eye that interests me is verse 9:3 which may prove why the lion and the lamb lived in harmony:

Every living thing that moves will be available to you as food. Just as I once gave you the green plants to eat, I now give you everything.

The teeth of the lion explain how they never could have been a herbivore, or do they? That would require a bunch of time, but again I reference Walter Veith’s work for the technical explanation. But suffice it to say we appear to have been herbivores before the flood.

Verse 10:8 open us to Nimrod, who is not really explained but can be the liked to almost all the cults and satanic influences:

Cush also fathered Nimrod, who was the first man on earth to be known as a powerful warrior.

Again it’s a ton of time to expand on this thought, but TheFuelProject’s YouTube series or book “Know Your Enemy” does and awesome job explaining the connections … in 80+ 15 minute videos on YouTube. You can see why a few paragraphs will never scratch the surface. But through this we see the people did not scatter and populate the earth and instead created the Tower of Babel.

I implore you to research Nimrod and his wife Semiramis to see how that is the root of the occult. Sure Satan’s temptation was the start, Nimrod provided the “foundation” with the Tower.

Romans 3 – 4

Verse 3:22 talks about who is saved by Jesus:

This redeeming justice comes through the faithfulness of Jesus, the Anointed One, the Liberating King, who makes salvation a reality for all who believe—without the slightest partiality.

Think about it, throughout the OT we are told the Jews are the “Chosen People” and therefore assume they are the only ones going to heaven. The reason they were the “Chosen People” was because from them would come the savior of all people. That is so awesome that all of God’s creations are loved and not just the Jews!!

I have to say through most of this reading today I was not focused. I kept getting lost in the wording and the history Paul was talking about. Like when he is talking about Abraham’s faithfulness in verse 4:19:

His faith did not fail, although he was well aware that his impotent body, after nearly 100 years, was as good as dead and that Sarah’s womb, too, was dead.

Reason I got hung up on this is Abraham and Sarah took matters into their own hands with Hagar to have Ismael. That was not faithful obedience at all. His disobedience has had ramifications throughout the ages. In this case GOD was faithful and not Abraham. God kept his promise despite Abraham’s willful disobedience.

That is where one must be thankful God is that way. Since we blow it often and a more “earthly” god would be spanking us in public constantly! I am so thankful that God is more faithful than I am. He waited for me to come back and I hope He was like the prodigal son’s father wrapping his arms around me.

Matthew 3 – 4

John (the Baptist) is introduced speaking a “stern but exciting message” in the wilderness. John is ushering in the coming of Jesus. His main message is for everyone to “repent” and prepare yourself for the coming of the Messiah. Verse 3:2 is this message:

Repent! For the kingdom of heaven is near.

What exactly is he saying? What do you feel repent means? Is it just saying the prayer and living life as you did? In verses 3:7 – 9 John rejects some Pharisees and Sadducees calling them “children of serpents”. Why was this? Why did John reject them, but not others?

The key is the definition of “repent”. A key part of the definition is often missed. We get the confess part, but not the turn away part. To turn away from sin is to do everything to stop sinning and turning to God. Often we miss that and continue to sin, using the excuse we are not perfect. Tie this with the idea that we are clean on confession of sin, you can quickly get into a quagmire of self-destruction.

Verse 3:12 states mankind will be examined:

He carries a winnowing fork in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor; He will gather up the good wheat in His barn, and He will burn the chaff with a fire that cannot be put out.

Winnowing is separating the “chaff” from the wheat. Interestingly the fork is very simple and seems to be very indiscriminate in what is does. It’s wide and just tosses the wheat up to allow gravity and the breeze to do the business. It’s not careful shifting through a strainer, but just a tossing into the air and seeing how they fall. Interestingly we ALL get tossed into the air; there is no time for a last minute repentance.

As we get into chapter 4, it’s a similar story of Jesus’ fast and temptation in the wilderness. After it was finished I found verse 4:14 interesting:

He did this to fulfill one of the prophecies of Isaiah:

He is fulfilling one of Isaiah’s prophecies that we recently read in Isaiah 9:1 & 2, but he is purposefully doing it in this case. Is this a fulfilled prophecy or did Jesus manipulate the result? I am surprised the “Jesus is a story” doesn’t glom on this. Again did Jesus do this from necessity or to do what scriptures said needed to be done. One could say Jesus did this to ensure people understood who He was.

Isaiah 7 – 11

This is the start of Isaiah’s prophecies of Jesus, the Messiah. Verse 7:14 is the first in Isaiah:

Suit yourself. The Lord will give you a proof-sign anyway: See, a young maiden will conceive. She will give birth to a son and name Him Immanuel, that is, “God with us.”

A “young maiden” implies a virgin, but apparently is not directly translated from the Hebrew. The Complete Jewish Bible, which is my “go to” for OT translations,also uses “young woman” and not virgin. That may have been translated to “virgin” in other translations to help clarify the significance (since at that time “young maidens” were virgins). Either way Mary fits the definition of this prophecy.

Look at other verses within this reading and you will see many prophecies that Jesus fulfills. Verses 9:1 & 2 are where Isaiah talks about Jesus’ Galilean ministry. Verses 9:7, 11:1 and 11:10 all talk about Jesus being from the throne of David. These were being told to Ahaz to ensure he understood the importance of maintaining the throne of David. So where Isaiah’s words ring so clear today, they were of utmost importance then. These words were not to only to encourage us today, but were also for encouragement to King Ahaz (granted what is happening to Ahaz is not necessarily good at the time).

Verse 10:15 reminds us that we are not the ones who get credit for anything we do:

But wow, are they ever mistaken! Assyria seems to think it has used God.
Can an ax take credit instead of the one who swings it?
Is a saw better than the one who uses it?
Only if a club or rod can move on its own.

This is really the key when you think of it. We are really not to take credit for anything. I just reread my blog on Creation vs Evolution and realize that was not me. I just was the conduit to attempt to explain where God is in play to an atheistic scientific community. Where did we get the skills? Where did we get the words? How did things happen the way they did? We are not in control of any of this, it’s more how we manage what we are given is the key.

Verse 10:33 reminds us to be humble:

But wait, look! The Lord, the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, will protect you;
He will cut the arrogant and self-serving down to size.
With terrifying power He will prune Assyria’s branches,
hack down the high and mighty, and humble all those who think they’re so great.

Remember God will do as he promises and will always be faithful. I know when you are in the mire of life it doesn’t make sense, but clarity always comes at the back end. That is the key to peace and faith in God. I think of Kipling’s poem ‘If” which says “if you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs.” In the poem this was the measure of a man, while in life it’s our relationship with God. I can go on and on about life’s little “problems” that ended up being a blessing. One is the sale of our home in Buford. It unwound into a 6 month fiasco that was ugly and stressful. I actually remained calm for the most part and watched things unfold. The end we see it was actually better to delay the eventual sale since it appears the money that we would have left would have been squandered on improvements that may now be abandoned. Again we will see what’s on the other end, but my faith is that God is doing great things and the end is HIS will, not mine!!

We are just the jackass that is giving Jesus a ride – Pastor Kevin Queen

Job 3 – 4

Imagine being in such bad shape you curse the day you were born. Think of all Job has lost and the misery he is enduring physically, his first words are cursing the day he was born. This idea was expanded in the movie “The Butterfly Effect” where Ashton Kutcher’s character has the ability to go back in time and change something, each time he does life is different but ugly all the same, so he keeps going back and altering what happened till his final solution is to commit suicide in the womb.

This is where Job is, wishing he could do just that. Verse 3:11 he asks the question:

Job: Why did I not die at my birth,
simply pass from the womb into death?

Imagine the despair to say this! He lost everything and if it was not for him living those lives would not have been taken or existed. I hope to never imagine the loss he has. At the same time I cannot understand why God would have allowed this in the first place. It’s almost like he was manipulated into this by Satan!

I love the story of Job and his faithfulness, but at the same time have to question God on allowing Satan to do this. Job passed the test and is “restored” with the stuff, but not with the people. Life would never be the same without that, unless God resurrected all Satan had killed.

Verse 4:17 asks some great questions:

“Can a mortal stand innocent before God?
Can a man or even a hero be pure before his Creator?”

The answer is NO to both questions and this is where the story of Jesus is wonderful. We do not have to be perfect before God, just redeemed by the blood of Jesus. This simple act made the afterlife with God possible for all mankind. The biggest key to this salvation is accepting it and trying to do good. We will never earn our way, but at the same time we could lose it. We can look at the “once saved, always saved” doctrine in throughout this study to determine what we need to do to protect ourselves.

Psalms 3 – 5

The Psalms are an interesting group of writings. Many of which were written by David during his up and down life. Think about it he was a farm hand when Nathan told him he would be king. Then he slew the giant and became Saul’s right hand man. Then Saul went nuts and he was on the run and had to live in caves. Then he assumed the role of king. Then he had the adulterous affair with Bathsheba and the resulting turmoil for the rest of his life.

You can see from these Psalms how his prayers have shown those troubles. Verse 3:1 opens after his son had taken the throne:

Eternal One, my adversaries are many, too many to count.
Now they have taken a stand against me!

His back is against the wall and he is being mocked (verse 2). But he knows that when God is for you who can be against you. At the same time think about this battle, both believe God is on their side. In Joshua 5 this question is asked and the response is “neither”. In marriage this happens often, where God is petitioned by both people to change the other one. Both believe in God, and both may be righteous in their petition, yet the key is the heart.

If you know God is with you, who cares if you win or lose. We see this in David when Saul and his sons attack him. He honors God first, sure he may complain but he understands God’s ultimate power.

Verse 4:1 opens a Psalm of worship:

Answer my prayers, O True God, the righteous, who makes me right.
I was hopelessly surrounded, and You rescued me.
Once again hear me; hide me in Your favor;
bring victory in defeat and hope in hopelessness.

I first would like to ask a question to you. Have you ever prayed something like this? I know I have and often the prayers seem to remain unanswered. Garth Brooks’ line from a song comes to mind … “some of God’s greatest gifts and unanswered prayers.” I look at a property “deal” we were working years ago and how it fell through. At the time I was crushed and did not understand, but with perfect hindsight I can see that two years later we closed the shop and that sale would have purchased a large commercial building that would have been an anchor to the shop.

So don’t worry if your prayer life does not always match your life, there are reasons that you may never understand, but often become clear years or decades later.

Verse 5:1 is one of my favorite verses because of what it is asking:

Bend Your ear to me and listen to my words, O Eternal One;
hear the deep cry of my heart.

Think about what David is asking. He is asking God to listen, assuming He does not sometimes. I like it because it shows me the great King David has the same insecurities that I have with my relationship with God. The funny thing is God, by his nature, is always listening. He may just not respond as we believe he should.

Joshua 6 – 10

This is Joshua continuing to take the Promised Land with one of the most famous battles of Jericho. This is a classic story of the fortified walls that came tumbling down. Interestingly, this story has been verified via archeological digs around modern day Jericho. I often wonder if the “curse” Joshua gave Jericho in verse 26 happened, since it was obviously rebuilt.

Verse 7:1 opens some questions on Israel’s ability to follow directions:

But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in one thing: they did not allow everything from Jericho to be destroyed, as God had ordered. Achan (the son of Carmi, grandson of Zabdi, and great-grandson of Zerah of the tribe of Judah) had carried some things away from Jericho, so the Eternal was angry at the Israelites.

I never have gotten the “punish all for the acts of one” logic. In this case Israel figured Ai would be a rout, but got whooped instead. The people not only were being punished for the acts of Achan, but also for not consulting God before attacking Ai. How many times has this happened to us? A favorite of grade school teachers is to punish the whole class for one fool. I know I was that “fool” more than once and my class mates were not real happy with me, fortunately my fate was not that of Achan.

The other more “nebulous” punishment is from not consulting God. This is something I have had problems with over the years since I have always had a tough time differentiating between God’s voice and my own. So when I charge into battle and fail, I wonder if it was me or it was not God’s will. Often it’s after charging in that I ask for God’s guidance and I still want a clear voice, but have never got it.

What we need to understand and learn is to always consult God and if the voice is not clear consult scripture to ensure you are doing the right thing. God will not give you a prompt that is outside His laws. The ‘ole getting great financing or finding the one after you’re married is just not how He rolls. If you had followed God to begin with you would not need to finance and the “one” would have been figured out before getting married.

Joshua continues with deceptions from their enemies and more battles being won. Through this all the key things is when they consult God the result is grand, when they do not it fails. I think the key from today’s reading is to never go on our own and always consult God. Don’t get carried away, like praying for what to eat for lunch, rather for the important decisions.

From 2:9 “Instead you are picking and choosing which of My laws to teach and follow.” Are we doing this today? Where scripture is taken out of context and twisted to allow all sorts of evil! Beware!!!

Mark Driscoll @marshill nails it this weekend on Malachi 2:1-9! Read it and if you can download the sermon it was solid.

Genesis 4 – 7

We go from the first children of Adam to the great flood in a few short chapters. Genesis is one of those books that everyone knows because many of the stories told are from this book. It also provides the “set up” for Jesus appearing some 1500 to 3000 years later. Verse 4:9 is Cain’s response after God confronts him:

Eternal One (to Cain): Where’s your brother Abel?

Cain: I have no idea. Am I supposed to be responsible for where he goes and what he does?

Before we get into the nuts and bolts about this, I wanted to notice how The Voice handles conversations. It’s actually written to be performed and not just read. It helps in some ways and makes it more difficult to read in others.

Now this verse in other translations is well known, with Cain asking “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (NKJV). That quote may be on the top ten list of most quoted verses in the Bible, since it has become part of our vernacular. This version actually is clearer, but the famous quote is gone. Cain was chastised for his offering, took offense, became jealous of Abel’s offering and then killed him. Not even 1 generation into the Bible and we have a murder.

So much could be said about this but I think the key point is the “jealousy” part that caused the rage. We tend to get messed up when we start looking at the grass on the other side of the fence. Granted most are not driven to kill, but it can easily snowball into a very predictable series of events to get your share.

As you read you will notice how old this generation gets, Adam was 930 years old, Seth was 912 years old and Noah was 500 before he had his sons. Notice God realizes that with our reproductive capacity and the resources available He needed to do something. In verse 6:3 he “will put a limit on their lifespan of about 120 years.” Some may say that was God’s plan to populate the earth, while I on the other hand some may say he was correcting an “oops”. I can say either way there, but it’s something to think about.

Now Noah and the flood is one of the more well-known stories that is often dismissed as a tale. But as you know Noah was told about the flood and he made an Ark to save his family and a pair of all the animals to repopulate the earth after the waters recedes. Verse 7:17 talks about the rain fall:

The deluge continued for 40 days on the earth. 18 The waters kept rising until they lifted up the ark so it floated safely over the land;

Now I can take days to give the facts of the “flood” but the easiest thing to look at is the Grand Canyon. Each of those layers of strata you see is nice and flat with this giant river that cut it over millions of years. Or so science says! First look at the even layers, where do you see undisturbed even layers of sediment? Only under water do we see this, rain and wind disturb those layers on the surface. The canyon is a nice “V” shaped canyon, which we only see when a fast moving torrent cuts a soft surface. Otherwise “old” canyons have more of a “U” shape with undercuts. Just these two facts alone imply we need to relook at science and the Bible to determine who is right and who is wrong.

Romans 1 – 2

As I read Roman’s I learn that Church and commitment were different then. Today the idea of being challenged or corrected is missing from many, if not most, churches today. We go in enjoy the warm up song, the announcements, the worship set of 2 or 3 songs, the message, closing/offering song, with payers sprinkled in during each “set” change. Most of the time we are listening to a watered down message directed to the lowest common denominator or unsaved individual.

Personally, I can enjoy these environments since I tend to forget things easily. I get “moved” or “touched” by a message, go eat and continue as normal. Rarely anything changes in my actions during the week. That is a problem and I assume I am not the only one experiencing this. Paul in his letter to the Church in Rome, he holds nothing back. Sure addresses the good things they do, he is quick to point out things that need correction.

How many of us can make the statement in verse 1:16 that Paul makes:

For I am not the least bit embarrassed about the gospel. I won’t shy away from it, because it is God’s power to save every person who believes: first the Jew, and then the non-Jew.

Take note the conviction, and the key point that he is not embarrassed. How many of us would speak boldly to a critic of God and Jesus? How many of us could boldly profess their faith to anyone they met? How many of us could say I love Jesus when those around them were saying Jesus was just a fabrication by the Romans to make good taxpayers? Personally, a co-worker, Mike K, intimidated me with his devout atheistic views. Only once did we get into it and I had to back down quickly when the Flying Spaghetti Monster was invoked.

Is that what Paul asks of us?? Not at all, we should never be “embarrassed” about our views.

Verses 1:25 – 26 are telling:

24 So God gave them just what their lustful hearts desired. As a result, they violated their bodies and invited shame into their lives. 25 How? By choosing a foolish lie over God’s truth. They gave their lives and devotion to the creature rather than to the Creator Himself, who is blessed forever and ever. Amen.

Why did God do this? Is what we may perceive as God’s “blessings” really a curse? This is critical when you think about it!! Our “lustful hearts” desire money, relationships, toys and pleasure, so when we pray for those and get them we think God gave them to us because they were good. Think otherwise! Maybe when we are “blessed” with that big payout, it becomes more of a curse since suddenly the “tithe” becomes less since they don’t “need” it or your daily devotional gets pushed away from last night’s revelry.

Verse 1:32 give us the choice:

Despite the fact that they are fully aware that God’s law says this way of life deserves death, they fail to stop. And worse—they applaud others on this destructive path

This chapter is a warning not to follow the crowd and do God’s will. This is so hard when we are taught that Jesus fulfilled the Law and therefore we are no longer bound by the Law. Then when we don’t follow it we are chastised. So what is it? Honestly I can’t say with 100% certainty on what or obligation is to the Law. My “uneducated” belief is the parts of the Law Jesus fulfilled were the sacrificial and ceremonial parts. The rest is still valid and we should abide by it.

Now the argument is also made that we are not always punished for our sins, but rather by our sins. Think about it, why would God give us our “lustful desires”? We learn from our “misteaks” and sometimes that having the snake we are playing with bite us. We tend to want to play with the snake again if it’s batted away from us and we get scolded. So really think about those prayers for winning the lottery;-)

Verse 2:9 is interesting in the order of punishment:

Suffering and pain await everyone whose life is marked by evil living (first for the Jew, and next for the non-Jew).

Like before in the salvation order, the punishment is doled out the same way!! At least most of us are on the end!! I wonder if this means the Jew, or the Jew that has accepted salvation in Jesus, but still messes up in evil living?

Lots to think about today!! Read 2:13 on your own and dwell on it.

Matthew 1 – 2

First thing I picked up in this reading was the number of prophecies mentioned that Jesus fulfilled. If you were counting I believe it was 6. Now if you count through the whole Old Testament there are somewhere between 30 to 700 prophecies mentioned that Jesus fulfilled. The most accepted number is 66, but the key is the odds. If Jesus fulfilled just 8, the odds of this happening are 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. There are better odds of winning the lottery than Jesus fulfilling 8 of these prophecies written hundreds to thousands of years earlier. For 1 man to fulfill 48 of these, the odds go to 1 in 10 to the 157, or 1 electron in the entire universe that fulfills these prophecies.

So by the odds one must accept Jesus is who He said He was. I believe this is one of the reasons the “story” of Jesus is being questioned as a fabrication. Honestly, if you think about it a story about Jesus would have been squashed by the Jews at the time it started. The Jews do not accept him as “the Anointed One” but that is the only “fact” they question. The Muslim’s believe He is the Messiah just that His role in the end times is different than what Christians believe. Since all these beliefs contradict the “New Testament” significantly, one could argue it would have been advantageous to show the story was a fabrication at the time it was developed, not 2000 or more years later.

Verse 2:2 caught me with some interest based on where I have been over the years:

Where is this newborn, who is the King of the Jews? When we were far away in the East we saw His star, and we have followed its glisten and gleam all this way to worship Him.

Recently I have been studying Luciferian cults and their beliefs, trying to understand the End Times that appear to be unraveling before us. This caught my eye because of the “star” reference, since Lucifer is Latin for “the Morning Star”. Its verses like this that could be how “they” suck people into the “cult” since one could argue Lucifer was guiding the wise men. Sorry for this tangent, but it’s my “thought” and I like to lay it all out of what I was thinking and hold nothing back. I will find the truth here!! It took me 10+ years to accept the “trinity” theology.

Verse 2:11 was explained exceptionally well in the footnotes:

and as soon as the wise men arrived, they saw Him with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped Him. They unpacked their satchels and gave Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

I always here about the gifts, but have never really understand their significance. It’s more than just fancy trinkets that these men gave Jesus. First gold represents what is given to a king, showing Jesus IS the King of Kings. Second, the frankincense was incense that is given to high priests, showing Jesus is the High Priest of all high priests. Finally the myrrh ointment was used for healing, showing Jesus as the healer. One other use of myrrh was embalming corpses showing Jesus was born to die for our salvation.

How cool is that!!

Isaiah 1 – 6

I love Isaiah like many prophetic writings in the Bible, I wonder if they are for their time or ours. Verse 1:11 has God addressing the people since he is angry at them turning from His ways:

Eternal One: What do I care for all of your slaughter-gifts?
I have had enough of your burnt offerings.
I’m not interested in any more ram meat or fat from your well-fed cattle.
The blood of bulls, lambs, or goats does not please Me.

Imagine the LAW says you must sacrifice and repent from your sins and God rejects those sacrifices. What did they do to reject God so much? Then I read this and apply it to today’s church and nation. I wonder if our gifts are being rejected since many give expecting greater rewards and not out of honoring God. I know I have done this over the years before where I give with the expectation of a greater reward, which is justified since it will allow even more giving.

Later in verse 14 God says he “deplores” the holidays and celebrations. As we enter the Christmas season one has to wonder! The “holiday” was set on December 25th to “offset” the pagan celebrations of the time. It’s ironic that after 1400 or so years those “celebrations” the church was trying to squash has overtaken (in a way) the meaning of the holiday. The “ideas” are all perverted in the name of Jesus, although the giving is around a mythical character and not the real one.

Verse 3:4 & 5 again makes this visions look like it could apply today:

4 In the chaos of their absence, I will make mere kids rule.
Even infants will govern them,
5 Leaving people to take advantage of each other,
making their lives miserable.
Youngsters will terrorize the elderly,
and the most despicable will bully the upstanding.

Many parts of this nation are overrun by gangs that terrorize the neighbors and we have allowed a group of “minors” rule by their law and not God’s. We cower as those who “protect” us do little to nothing to reign in these thugs. Along with this our ability to defend ourselves is being choked. So the big question is when does this prophecy apply?

Funny how our leaders, although legally adults all seem to act like “infants” when they don’t get their way!

Verse 5:10 again points to today and not just another time:

Huge investments in 10-acre vineyards
will yield tiny dividends, mere gallons of wine.
Prime property planted with plenty of seed
will grow a nearly worthless amount of grain.

The “banksters” today are hoarding everything and not “spreading” the wealth. Sure one could argue for them that this is acceptable, but at the same time morals are not involved. Think about it, it’s all about the dollar and not the society. We have destroyed our nation by looting it and removing all the income producing opportunities. Think about it … you design a widget to compete against Apple’s iPad. You cannot build it here and compete. That’s what I am talking about; we have allowed the morals of the dollar take over basic fiscal morality.

I read these and look at history and see how society after society follow these same footsteps and wonder if we are “hardwired” to do this. Does Satan work his magic on all societies or do we just keep doing it to ourselves? Many argue we have evolved over medieval times, but really all that has evolved is technologies. We have the same innate drive for power, control and pleasure. That is what God says we need to control or society melts down, as it has over and over again throughout history.

Verse 6:9 is a response I would love, but terrifies me at the same time:

Then I heard the Lord’s voice.

Eternal One: Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?

Isaiah: Here I am! Send me.

Knowing the stories of those who have been sent, would you jump up? Think about it, really think about it. Moses did amazing things, but never stepped foot in the Promised Land. Samson died in the rubble. Of the 12 disciples, all but John were martyred. So before jumping up to be sent, think of the consequences. I know we a say we would jump, but define what that means and your answer may change.

Job 1 – 2

Job is one of those books I love to read, the story is amazing, but at the same time I don’t get why God allowed Satan to do that to Job. Verse 1:1 shows the type of man Job was:

Once there was a man from Uz by the name of Job. He was a very good man—his character spotless, his integrity unquestioned. In fact, he so believed in God that he sought to honor Him in all things. He deliberately avoided evil in all of his affairs.

This is something I wish could be said about me, but sadly know it cannot fully. I “try” but fall short in so many things. I get “lazy” often and do not honor God in hard work. I believe this is common for many, since the world’s distractions lead us to missing the mark on work output. I can’t say how many times I would get trapped on the iPhone or see others on theirs during the day.

As you can see the world has become technologically more advanced, but that has made it easier for most to sin. Porn I think is the biggest winner in this new world. What use to require a trip to the seedy part of town to a very questionable business to either watch porn or purchase videos or magazines. Today it’s as easy as a click on the internet to get the vilest pornography delivered to you connected device. The easiest thing to do is what Job did and AVOID evil and not try to “dance” with it!!

In Job 1:10 the Accuser (note this translation is not Satan) makes a claim on Job’s character:

Haven’t You encircled him with Your very own protection, and not only him but his entire household and all that he has? Not only this, but Your blessing accompanies whatever his hand touches, and see how his possessions have grown. It is easy to be so pious in the face of such prosperity.

Notice how he says how easy it is to be “pious” in the face of danger, where this is not the real condition of Job’s heart. This accusation was continued to be made at Job and God just let the accuser continue to hammer on Job. That is what I do not get!!

Verse 1:18 has the fourth messenger reveal his family is lost in rapid secession like the previous 3:

And while the words were still leaving that messenger’s mouth, yet a fourth messenger arrived.

His livestock can be replaced, but his children cannot. That is the most bothersome thing about this story. I continue to go back to this calamity and question why God would allow this, it’s not like they can ever be replaced.

Finally many argue Job’s friends were questionable, but honestly how many would do what his did in verse 2:13?

Then, they sat with him on the ground and stayed there with him for seven days and seven nights, mourning as if he were already dead. All the while no one spoke a single word because they saw his profound agony and grief.

Seven days they sat and really said nothing, but were there for him. Sure we have family that may do that, but how many close friends would? I would have a hard time doing this with work and family obligations. I think the best I have done are a few hours each day for a friend.

This story again shows how much simpler this time was since that was something that people did. Sometimes we hear of “cataclysmic” solar flares that wipe out communications and electronics that would usher in the end times. I often wonder if that’s not ushering in Paradise?? Think about it!!

Psalms 1 – 2

Psalm 1:1 opens with an important message to everyone:

God’s blessings follow you and await you at every turn:
when you don’t follow the advice of those who delight in wicked schemes,
When you avoid sin’s highway,
when judgment and sarcasm beckon you, but you refuse.

Unfortunately in today’s world we define “blessing” different than what God may have in mind. Today we define “blessing” as prosperity and maybe health, but mostly a fat payday. We have gotten sucked into the Prosperity Gospel where if we “give it all” we will be “rewarded” beyond our imagination. Matthew 21:22 says we will get whatever we ask in Jesus’ name and that gets taken out of context often.

Sure the story in Matthew 19, Mark 10 and Luke 18 tells the story of a rich man not “letting go” of his riches. Is this a story about money being evil or that we should give everything? One sermon I heard suggested the “unwritten story” story of this was how much God would have blessed him if the rich man would have let everything go. We need to accept the “blessing” if it comes to us as a massive windfall or a layoff that will allow one to get caught up. The key understand what a blessing may be, is understanding that initially the blessing may seem like a crisis.

Psalm 2:1 made me think of the USA today:

You are wondering: What has provoked the nations to embrace anger and chaos?
Why are the people making plans to pursue their own vacant and empty greatness?

Have we embraced anger and chaos in this nation today? People today are definitely pursuing their vacant and empty greatness in riches and “blessings”. More and more we are pursuing selfish desires and not God. Maybe these two Psalms are telling us something that we should change our direction quickly? I know I get caught up in the more and the “blessings” that God will provide while not be content with what is happening now. I know I lose focus on God when I get in this mode. I am in my third “blessed” layoff and am trying to determine if I understand why this is happening. Maybe I need to remain focused on God AND focus on my job. I need to stay away from distractions and keep focus on everything in my life and ensure the focus remains Godly.

Finally, is Psalm 2:12 talking about Jesus or some other “son” of God:

Bow down before God’s son.
If you don’t, you will face His anger and retribution,
And you won’t stand a chance.
For it doesn’t take long to kindle royal wrath,

But blessings await all who trust in Him.
They will find God a gentle refuge.

God is asking us to bow before Jesus BEFORE Jesus walked the earth. Jesus’ existed before with God, since he is God and therefore we always should honor him. The “trinity” is difficult to understand in the “physical” world we live in, but when you study the QUANTUM world it becomes inherently obvious. If we understand God as “energy” and not an old guy in the clouds, this all becomes easy to understand. To really delve into this it would require a book, so stay tuned;-)

Joshua 1 – 5

Joshua 1:8 reminds us of something we often forget:

Let the words from the book of the law be always on your lips. Meditate on them day and night so that you may be careful to live by all that is written in it. If you do, as you make your way through this world, you will prosper and always find success.

I sure did, after being away for 6 months; this was a powerful reminder in my diligent study of the word. Sure I’d pick up the Bible from time to time, but honestly did not do it more than a few times. My “excuse” was I wanted to get a new version and was waiting for it to be on sale. In reality I was just being a cheapskate and lazy. I saw it multiple times in the store, just was not parting with my money. Ironically a few days after buying it I was laid off, so in a real time of need I got the book I needed most.

Joshua assumed leadership of the nation of Israel after Moses’ death and immediately knows the importance of keeping in God’s word. There are a few I know who have read the entire Bible over 7 times, and keep finding new stuff. I can say the few reads I have done, new things keep popping up and I get reminded of things I forgot. They key to living in His promise is to just keep reading and living by the word each and EVERY day. It was something I forgot, but am slapped upside my head once again.

Chapter 2 describes the story of Rahab, the prostitute and her lying in verse 2:6:

She was lying, because the two men lay where she had hidden them beneath the stalks of flax laid out on her roof.

I have read this story over and over without question until this last time. This is one of the most famous Jewish stories where a person of questionable past is used for good. But this time it bothered me that this story is exalted, but is in direct violation of the 9th commandment. Is this God’s way of saying it is ok to “bear false witness” in some circumstances? I have studied many “cults” that claim Christ and the way they get around this is by justifying “the ends justify the means” and cover themselves by muttering it’s a lie or the truth without anyone hearing.

“Honesty is the best policy” but in this time was the lie needed? Would Jericho had fallen without the scouts or the lie to protect them? Yes it would have, that is the key! “God’s will” shall be done no matter how much we mess it up.

One quick translation note I have not followed up on in verse 3:6:

Joshua told the priests from the tribe of Levi to pick up the covenant chest and to walk in front of the people, so the priests lifted the chest and carried it to the front of the procession.

The “covenant chest” is more commonly referred to as the “Ark of the Covenant” in most other translations. I will put this on my radar, but have not found the reason it was translated this way. I do note Noah’s Ark is translated in the Voice as Ark, so word study time will have to happen. We will have plenty of time to get to the reason.

I am doing the same study outline as before but with a new version …. The VOICE. I picked this one for a couple of reasons, first they made it more “readable” and in a format where it is clear who is addressing us. Also, as much as people will argue they seem to want to hold more true to the original translation and language. The main argument is they never mention Jesus Christ in their translation. The reason is justifies since “Christo” in Greek is where this word “Christ” comes from in most English versions. “Christo” translates to “Messiah” therefore in the original text when “Christo” is used they do not apply it to Jesus’ name, but rather His title of the Messiah.

A couple of other little details that intrigued me … one was the translation of Isaiah 34:14 where most translations describe “night creatures” for the demon Lilith. The Voice calls her by name, which a few footnote, but most ignore. After researching demons I am under the belief that they are fallen angels in control of Satan.

Also, Lucifer is a study I have wanted to do in depth, but have hit a ton of road blocks, since Lucifer is translated from “the light bearer” or “morning star” in Latin. Like Christ, Lucifer is more a transliteration than an actual translation. So … again I am on a quest for a more pure understanding of the word of God.

I am also going to focus more on scriptures and less on my comments … so it will be a quicker read … so let’s get stated!!

Genesis 1 – 3

Genesis 1:1 has to be considered the most important verse in the Bible today:

In the beginning, God created everything: the heavens above and the earth below. Here’s what happened:

The key to the Bible is here, since if you have a tough time believing “God created everything” then the rest of this book is more a story with good morals. Think about how significant that statement is and how faith in this is critical. I could spend hours upon hours discussing the scientific aspects of how Genesis 1 can be proven as true, but will save space by suggesting you search “Walter Veith” for a clear scientific explanation on this subject. The key is faith and belief that Genesis 1 is true and not allow the atheists/ Satanist to sway you into thinking otherwise.

Genesis 1:26 mentions man’s rule of the species:

Now let Us conceive a new creation—humanity—made in Our image, fashioned according to Our likeness. And let Us grant them authority over all the earth—the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, the domesticated animals and the small creeping creatures on the earth.

Notice how God has given us rule over the domesticated animals and small creeping creatures but not the wild animals described in verse 24. That makes one understand more fully why it is almost impossible to tame a wild beast today, the Bible is clear we do not have dominion over them. Notice how in verse 30 all the creatures from verse 24 are mentioned:

As for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and every small creeping creature—everything that breathes the breath of life—I have given them every green plant for food.

Also notice how everyone was vegan!! There was no consumption of flesh, even by the wild animals. This may be why the lion and the lamb could hang together without one becoming a snack.

On day 6 God created mankind, but did not detail Adam and Eve until chapter 2. Why was this. Also, where did Cain and Abel get their wives? These are big questions that are difficult to explain. Many believe that Cain married his sister while others believe they were there with them. I tend to fall on the side that humankind was created, and that Adam and Eve were created to head the “Chosen People”. So where most believe Adam and Eve are the head of ALL mankind, one might suggest that they are just the head of the Jewish people through which the Messiah was to come.

Verse 3:12 is the start of the blame game:

It was she! The woman You gave me as a companion put the fruit in my hands, and I ate it.

And then it continues where no one can take responsibility. It’s ALWAYS someone else’s fault. The last president I knew that really lived by that was Truman, who said “the buck stops here” when it came to responsibility. I wish the most recent bunch of occupants of the White House were as honorable. I think the most IMPORTANT thing to take from these chapters is this lesson! When you mess up, take responsibility and your punishment will be less. 1 John 1:9 gives us the ability to “own it” and confess to God. Continue to do this to hold your salvation true.

Once Saved, Always Saved?

1 John 1:9 – But if we own up to our sins, God shows that He is faithful and just by forgiving us of our sins and purifying us from the pollution of all the bad things we have done.

The big question is confession and how often should we do this. First I have to say “once saved, always saved” has not Biblical backing that I can find. My concern is that we may lose salvation if we don’t remain in a constant state of confession.

I know there are scriptures where one can reject their salvation. Many say one was never really saved, I believe it’s more an extreme case of backsliding. We can look at many scriptures to see this. Matthew 7:19-23 comes to mind first where in the end people are crying out saying they did good in Jesus’ name and he rejects their pleas. That is quickly explained away as on the salvation not being “real” and they were just doing “works” in Jesus’ name without a relationship.

Now I turn to 1 Timothy 4:1 for a one to really ponder:

Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons.

It continues in verse 2 to say that the ones who reject their faith “are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead.” The only way one can “turn away” is to be either exposed to it or in it altogether. Theologians argue this is people that did not have true conversions and therefore turned from the faith, I believe one can turn from salvation. I know many, some very close to me, who have rejected their salvation which I believe was genuine. I fear they will be pounding at the door saying I knew you Jesus, and he will reject them.

So can you lose it? Sure, if Devon or Veronica looked at me and rejected me as their father, I would still love them with all my heart. I would also never reject them from my inheritance, small as it may be. John 6:37-40 support this saying that Jesus “will never drive away” his children. So the argument can be given that God will allow those to return even if they rejected the faith from love.

This would then imply that all God’s children would be welcome into the kingdom of heaven. I reject that whole heartedly since there is no scripture that would even imply this, but it does offer a logical argument for the “once saved, always saved” theology.

In the end the key is not to “turn away” and take that chance that Jesus will not know you. Keep praying, keep reading the Bible and keep going good in Jesus’ name.

This is one thing that has bothered me is the whole origins of Lucifer, the Devil, Satan, et. al. Are they one in the same? Are they different entities? Why did the “light bearer” or “shinning one” become Lucifer anyway? (preview .. Lucifer is latin for “light bearer” or “shinning one”) Was Lucifer cast out, still in Heaven or as some claim, Jesus?

This is a touchy subject and I feel we need to wrap our heads around it since many beliefs out there are “Luciferian” … so are they the truth or a twisting of the truth? 

Time to study and draw conclusions.

NOTE ALL VIDEO LINKS WILL BE AT THE END.

New stuff is in italics … my premise is not to prove creationism but to prove evolution is weak. Also, in the end is doesn’t really matter how we came into existence. The now is what matters … Albert Einstein agrees;-)

Since YouTube does and awful job at sorting threads and we have 500 characters to prove a point, I will blog this response. First I will comment on the video Yeti on Guitar sent me to view. Honestly nothing new was given to me based on the actual science other than the idea whales came from land based animals, I have not seen that connection before. Now the argument could be made this and the horse example given was simply micro evolution in work. The whale case is micro on steroids, but is not a cross species mutation.  Also, the question can be asked that why over thousands of years the water buffalo has not shown any change to adapt to the water. I can argue that like with “global warming” data which is infinitely old compared to true data collecting techniques can be manipulated to forward an agenda.

The feathered reptile to bird is really the only true proof he gave for macro evolution in that hour video, I would hope his book gives more compelling evidence and I would have hoped he would have used that in his diatribe against God. In this case he moves from “guess” to “fact” very quickly. Also, for anyone that understands aerodynamics the artist’s rendition of the Sinornithosai Mellenni would never fly. This only proves that this species was there before birds, not that birds evolved from them. Coyne admits the rest is speculation, and then continues to insist that it’s fact. 

The five pillars of evolution need to be addressed quickly.

1. Not denying evolution defined as changes in species is fact and honestly not denying it could be the way things happened to change life from early days to present just saying the trans species mutation is not fact, just the most plausible explanation at this time outside of creation.
2. Evolution is implied in the fossil record and many anomalies are rejected. It does prove species evolved and changed but does not reconcile the origins or changes of types
3. This is nothing more than proving species evolved. Man evolved dogs from wolves by breeding characteristics desirable in much the same way.
4. The common ancestry gets lost once you leave species.
5. Natural selection has only been observed on a mirco level and NEVER on a macro level. It’s only implied in the fossil record.

Now Coyne spends well over a ¼ of the video on trying to disprove God existence, which is the underlying premise to his book and beliefs. If there is no God then we, as man, do not have to answer to anyone. And the premise that God exists is the root of the issue. The idea dinosaurs and humans walked the earth together is mind blowing and as he said would blow away evolution. The fossils that have been found that are anomalies are dismissed by Coyne and Yeti on Guitar as easily forged. 

I liken this debate to the abortion debate; on both levels neither argument can be argued. Women should have a choice on what they do with their bodies and the life of an unborn child should be saved. You cannot argue either of those two alone without the underlying premise that the embryo is either a living human granted the same rights as any human that is born OR it’s just a viable tissue mass that is not a human until the chord is cut. You cannot be pro-choice and believe the embryo is a human or pro-life if it’s not. This like evolution is the root. If God exists then He controlled the creation and even if evolution happened it was managed by God. If there is no God, then this just happened and we have to have come from somewhere. Evolution works and in this instance must be FACT so that the existence of God is proven wrong.

So the evidence found that proves creation to those who believe in God has been dismissed as forgery or an anomaly by atheists. This again ties into the science of ancient data that can easily be forged and manipulated to prove a point. Just as the fossil records “prove” that whales came from cows, I can say it just shows different mammals that closely resemble each other. An example is Malachite Man where 10 in tact human fossils were found in the same formation of Lower Cretaceous period. This is quickly explained away by evolutionists as a collapsed mine even though there are no tools or evidence of mining. 

There are many instances that contradict the fossil records that are quickly dismissed since they don’t fit the model and again can easily be “forged” in the world of evolutionists. This argument can therefore be applied to the “valid” data that evolutionists use to prove their argument. 

Carbon dating is a perfect example, because it’s based on the assumption that isotopes exist and follow the same behavior we have seen over the vast 100’s of years or so of actual verifiable data we have. Exponential decay is a phrase that popped into my head which could cause fits to the data either extending out way further or chopping it way down. Again the data we have does not prove anything. 

Mr. Coyne uses Atomic Theory and Germ Theory which are considered fact based by tightly knit hypotheses which prove them beyond a shadow of a doubt and then implies that Evolutionary Theory fits this mold. I content that Evolutionary Theory must be moved into two distinct types, Micro and Macro. Micro Evolution Theory is a true theory based on the mountains of evidence that shows this to be true and this can be demonstrated in recorded history. Macro Evolution is not really a theory since the hypotheses that prove Micro Evolution only imply Macro Evolution. I know one will argue that I am nuts in saying this, but consider the fact that no real mutation has ever been seen in fossil or recorded biological times that prove this. The only thing that can be proven is these trans species changes are destructive and not constructive, therefore could not produce a new species over time.

The idea that MICRO becomes MACRO is valid until you start adding this up. Assuming the view of MICRO evolution is correct and from what we have observed in nature is correct it takes a few generations for minor changes to take place. Assuming we are dealing with a “few billion” changes and assuming each generation is averaged out to 5 years and change may skip multiple generations the numbers start getting outlandishly long. The time is exceeding the age of the universe much less the planet. 

The Cambria Explosion is not explained well with this is taken into account. In the period of 20 million years the fossil records show a massive number of new species appearing on the earth and do not work on this time line when talking a few generations for each minor change. Sorry but even Wikipedia states “ Interpretation is difficult due to a limited supply of evidence, based mainly on an incomplete fossil record and chemical signatures remaining in Cambrian rocks.” The other problem is with this rapid change it implies that over the past 1000 or so years of relatively recorded history we should see something new, But we do not see any additions in species, only reductions. Why is this? Did MACRO evolution just stop?

Science is simple when you get down to it. The whole idea is to produce something that is observable and repeatable. Once that is done you can give it to the engineers to do something with it;-) Now the only observable and repeatable evidence is the fossil record which everyone admits it can be forged. So if it’s easily forged how can we trust the ones gathering the data are correct in their assertions?

Now Yeti On Guitar did bring up some valid arguments against needing a fossil record at all to prove evolution. I will admit the top ten engineering school I graduated from did not require us to learn evolution or any sub classifications Mr. Yeti described, so Google and Wikipedia were my sources of information.  First was phylogeny, or the evolutionary relationships between species. The underlying premise is evolution is fact and therefore is slightly flawed. Mr. Coyne did touch on this briefly and it does provide some insight to the similarities between species, but does not prove beyond a shadow of doubt that evolution is true. Bet if area 51 released the Roswell alien we would find similar tracings there;-)

Second was cladistics is very similar to phylogeny so my comments would be the same.

Third was biogeography, or the study of distribution of species over time is interesting. It fascinates me that man “evolved” exactly the same with only a few minor differences, over the entire globe. It is interesting that this tends to find that modern man originated in East Africa, which interestingly is close to where the Bible claims Adam and Eve were created. Coincidences or proof in the Bible, you decide.

Finally there is embryology, or the study of embryos, which Coyne also touched on in his video. I will use his example since that was shown to be “proof” that intelligent design had no intelligence. First comment is on the dolphin with “legs” developing at 24 weeks before disappearing. The anomalies Coyne uses where dolphins have a rear set of flippers reminded me of the SU-47 with “stabs” on the front. This could easily been explained away as the evolution of the flippers and flukes and NOT the legs they allegedly had 8 million years ago.

Through all this we don’t even touch spontaneous creation of life and how it has never been proven or done. The only thing close is creation of amino acids, but past that nothing has been proven or even done once.

To end this doesn’t it bother the evolutionists that some old guy writing in “sand script” some 3500 years ago wrote about creation which matches the fossil records and present knowledge of how the big bang worked? Sure the time line is immediately attacked, but Albert Einstein resolves this in Relativity and the observer. We know speed and gravity affect time so therefore if a grain of almost infinite matter was expanding at close to the speed of light, time dilatation implies the one observer could see this happen in 6 days while the other saw it happen in 14 to 16 billion years. In the end who knows and to cite Einstein, a noted scientist, he doesn’t care since the now is all that really matters. Bill Nye’s claim that you MUST believe in evolution in order for science to move forward is CRUSHED by this lowly hack. Honestly it doesn’t matter and has not stopped progress yet.

My contention is God exists and our knowledge of science “aint squat” which makes me a fool in the eyes of evolutionist and atheists. There are 66 books of the Bible with over 40 different authors over around about 1600 years that all point to salvation through Jesus is an odd coincidence. Now hold the name calling since Mr. Coyne already considers me “perverse” and think for yourself.

To sum it all up the above is why I call evolution “weak science” … which is the comment that sparked the debate.

The Video that sparked these comments and started the discussion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAHthY9rRfw

Yeti on Guitar suggested video in the thread:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW9G2YVtBYc

The Original Bill Nye comments with Bill Maher:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSt9dYsQMi0

Currently I am reading a book about Roger Williams, a “religious nut” who actually was the first to talk about the “wall of separation” between church and state some 100 years before Jefferson. It is interesting how this nation was formed on from the ills of England during their peak.

I wonder what country will become God’s favored one after our demise? This question of course is assuming we had favor in the first place.

“Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” – Winston Churchill

We must study history so not to repeat it, unfortunately in most of our cases we are just trying to understand what’s happening so we can prepare.

I know many are hunkering down and hoarding so they can survive. Where really the case should be made that the hoarding should be done to help our neighbors survive with us! At the same time one of the reasons we are in this mess is the ultra-rich are hoarding money;-)

The Veil is an interesting book which explores viewing into the spirit realm. Many would say this is poo-poo or witchcraft, but Mr. Healy had an interesting analogy. He described how we would work with “employees” and “family”, where the “family” would be shown every intimate detail of the “business” to allow them to take it over.

That is how he believes God wants to work with us, we just need to ask. Now if you have followed my blog before one of my complaints is we are to do things “greater” than Jesus and I don’t see it. So if God had wanted us to do this, wouldn’t he want to show us as much of HIS kingdom as possible? We just need to ask and “practice”.

Again for the skeptics I have worked with two people that claimed they saw into the spirit realm. Both were consistent in their description of Jesus, and this is continued in this book. So from my “sampling” this appears to be right in line to be verifiable. Granted 3 samples do not make a true experiment, but it’s consistent. The only thing I am concerned about is doing something that God does not want us to do. But again Jesus did promise we would do greater and God would want to share his kingdom with those that seek him.

So my suggestion is get this book and explore a deeper relationship with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

Sorry for the hold … I am finishing out a few books … Crucial Conversations, Critical Conflicts and The Veil … then back to the Bible. Looking at the Voice as my next read for comment. I like it for two reasons … it’s new and has not been out long. Also, there is a bunch of controversy steeped in the translation, since it’s more written like a play and removes a bunch of the traditional formatting.

Again, I am trying to learn the true intent and meaning of God’s words. As much as we like to think these interpretations are like a game of telephone, where each subsequent version gets further from the original. All versions I explore are from the original transcripts and not a third or fourth translation of say the KJV.

One quick note on “The Veil” … should check it out. This guy sees into the “spirit realm” and is a very interesting read. I pray to gain that skill some time, since it would really help in discernment.

what would church look like today?

then you have put him in the wrong seat!!

1 John 2:6

whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

This is a rough one since today we are living more with the motto of “do what thou wilt” (Alastair Crowley – Satanic Law) than “your will be done.” There is a fine line here but Crowley’s “thou” is self-indulgence and “your” from the Lord’s Prayer is God. So we are praying for God’s will to be done, as long as it’s our will to be done. This is a tough idea but we want our prayers to produce the fruit in the Bible like healings, miracles, revivals and blessings without following Jesus.

I know this is a continuation of a thread about going and doing, but we need to strive for faith and righteousness before the “treats”. We need to eat our broccoli before getting cake!! We have to pick up our cross and follow the narrow road. I know it’s impossible to be exactly like Jesus, but we don’t focus enough time to strive for His character. We figure it’s impossible and continue what we are doing, be it drinking, partying, lustful ways, porn, greed or not controlling our tongues.

Often the sin becomes a way of life where we never try to break the bonds, since it’s an addiction or doesn’t hurt others. When it becomes so every day that we forget it’s sin, that is a big problem. We need to be rooted in Christ and live for him every day, not just Sunday. We want all the miracles, signs and wonders without being obedient. 1 Peter 3:12 give us some insight on why our prayers may go unanswered:

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their prayer.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

We really need to take the words of the blind man to hear when questioned about Jesus in John 9:31 and do his will, not just say we love Jesus:

We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshipper of God and does his will, God listens to him.

The key word is “AND” in this sentence. Churches today get us worked up in the spirit and give us an idea we do not have to do works in the name of Jesus. Jesus destroyed the merit based system that came before, but we still need to show fruit to gain access to his power. Jesus told his disciples in John 14:12 to go and do greater things:

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.

Today we want all the signs, wonders and power that this verse promises us without living the righteous life Jesus and his disciples did. Sure we are not perfect and we will slip, that does not justify slipping always. If we shoot for the power without going after a life like Jesus we will get neither. Ever wonder why your connection with God was incredible when you first believed and now it has seemed to wane? You knew God was there because He answered prayers and showed you signs and wonders. Then “He” dropped the ball and things stopped happening like they did. As new Christians we need the Holy Spirit to revel Himself to us, but as we grow we need to FOLLOW the Holy Spirit more.

In my life I ignore the Holy Spirit more than I like to admit. One instance I was standing in the front row worshiping God and singing with love during an alter call. People were coming down and accepting Jesus, being baptized. It was wonderful. A girl stopped in front of me and the staff was busy with others, the Holy Spirit said HELP and I worshiped instead. I watch that girl wander with a need to talk with someone now only to turn away and leave. I watched her walk out the door and I did nothing … NOTHING. How can I keep asking God for signs and wonders when he “asks” and I do NOTHING?

This is where we need to be now; stop expecting signs and wonders but rather stepping out in faith! Power will come to the righteous, not the other way around. We need to live like Jesus before we can expect to heal like Jesus. Praying for power and blessing without picking up our cross is dangerous. Our focus becomes on the gifts and supernatural experiences, not the GIVER. We demand signs in church, we don’t care because we want something supernatural. We just don’t want to be bothered with doing this afterwards.

Pastor Miles told a story about his young daughter praying for a butterfly. His faith was to get a net and capture one to help God. Instead while in the park with Mom a butterfly came and spent an hour with her, without him catching one. God came to prove Himself to her! Now that we know, we must follow and not expect the butterfly every time we pray without doing the hard work.

Why is this dangerous? Remember Satan and demons can perform miracles. Pagan culture have a history of miracles, even Moses had pagan sorcerers perform many miracles similar to God’s. God just one upped them! We cannot be so desperate to be insearch of signs and wonder that ignore following Jesus. Revelations 16:14 is a stark warning of this:

For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty.

The key is follow Jesus first, strive for His righteousness, and do what the Holy Spirit tells you, then the signs and wonders will return. We cannot expect the same relationship and power without carrying the cross. Do not be deceived by demonic spirits looking Holy. We need to read, pray AND do for the miracles to follow. Don’t expect the pray and worship only formula to work.

@devonsmillie put down a dozen at the Bakery. http://insidethebakery.com/devon-smillies-bakers-dozen/

Matthew 28:19

Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,[a] baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

James 1:22

But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.

This was a tough and convicting discussion out of lack of my own personal action or actual inaction. Sure a blog is one thing, but sharing my faith face to face with a harden atheist is another. We all seem to settle into a comfort zone of not really sharing our faith and only declaring it to friends and fellow Christians. Otherwise it’s a difficult conversation we don’t want to have.

You’d think I would be comfortable having read the NIV, NLT and the ESV translations of the Bible. With such a simple message I still have a confidence problem. Right now I am looking for a mentor who would walk with me and let me observer the fundamentals. It’s something I think would help all to get into the trenches and help serve others.

The best approach I have heard was after becoming involved, serving them, before leaving and never seeing them again, mention you are a Christian and was wondering if there was anything you could pray about for them. This is a simple non-aggressive method to actually share your faith without asking them if they believe they are good and if they are going to heaven or hell.

All we need is an open door to share the Gospel and help save another life, eternally. If we don’t have a mentor, the Bible gives excellent examples of the way to do it in Jesus’ life. Notice He never browbeat people over their faith unless they were hypocrites. I think part 1 is just read the examples and try to apply them. Do what you feel comfortable doing when meeting people and just slip in the faith thing, let them ask.

The other thing is get a group of friends in the same place you are and become accountable to one and other. This semester’s small group that I am planning to lead will be titled “GO … DO” and we will create groups to be accountable with each other. We will explore Jesus’s example and try to apply it each week. If it requires going out together or solo, just as long as at least one contact is made.

Right now finishing up on Crucial Conversations and getting ready for a talk at Men’s Step Up this Friday.

Just finished @KenColeman ’s book One Question .. good read and gets you thinking. A ton of subjects covered in mini chapters, nice bed time book.

Genesis 1:1

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

This is where faith and science clash, instantly in verse 1. This is the foundational verse of the whole Bible because if you question it than you must question the rest. Hence why there has always been such an attack on the idea that we just came to being. The universe exists because of only two reasons, God created it OR it spontaneously created itself.There are no other explanations than these. The only choices are God created the universe or it just became of nothing, there are no other explanations.

The time line for the actual universe is so far out that I will not attempt to prove anything there, but I will go for the “creation” of mankind and live as we know it today. That can be proven as having a start through the fossil record. There is definitely a start to life here on this planet; it hasn’t always been as some could argue with the universe. So I want to tackle evolution verse creation.

Before we start please understand my background. I am an engineer with over 30 years of experience. I have not been exploring science, but rather putting science into application. As you may gather, my understand of science from school is much more in depth that that that of most college students. And for full disclosure, the only D I got in college was in organic chemistry, granted I talked the professor into changing it to a C, I earned the D.

I understand that a theory is an accepted fact based on proven hypotheses. Now this brings us to the theory of evolution and its foundation. First I argue it’s not fact for many reason. First being the proven hypotheses that it is based in are so loose they provide a weak foundation to the theory. The basic foundation of Darwin’s theory was formed by observing species evolve to fit their environment. I am not arguing this is wrong, what I am arguing is the connection between changes in color or a characteristic proves a change is species. There has been no evidence provided that prove a species has changed or evolved into a new species even within major groups like mammals, much less a change from reptile to mammal.

Second, the fundamental belief that life happened spontaneously without outside influence has never been proven. We have never been able to prove the second pillar of evolution that there was “spontaneous creation” without influence from a higher power. The main argument here is the amino acids, which can be created by combining basic elements. Amino acids are the fundamental building block of living tissue and therefore if we can create them life is only soon to follow. The problem here is we have never spontaneously created life from these amino acids.

Right now the only proof the science community has to support a change in species is on the germ level. Problem here is the germ morphs into another germ. Although this is a good argument, it does not prove a reptile evolving into a mammal; it just proves a germ can change its “configuration” much like a baby. Here you have a sperm penetrating a mass of cells to start the creation of a life. The random mass of cells spontaneously changes into something that can be very disrespectful when growing up, but it comes from the same fundamental “critter” and never changes into something else.

Natural selection is the morphing of a species to produce a better species. We have observed this through our natural, recorded history. But it doesn’t explain some species like the woodpecker. For the woodpecker to do their “job”, it must have the cushioning for the brain and the reflexes to close their eyes on impact to survive that impact. Natural selection would have never allowed this bird to evolve since the first attempt to slam their head against a tree would result in a loss of the eyes or brain damage.

In the instance of the woodpecker, they would not have “evolved” into a head banging grub muncher it is today. Natural selection refines the species to do what they were designed to do and not do something different. With the woodpecker, I contend that it was designed that way so to save trees. The woodpecker helps keep the trees clean of bugs that could destroy it.

Now the immediate argument would be why did God design insects that would destroy HIS creation? Simple, nature has limits and everything eventually dies. The only way the planet would not be strewn with rotting corpses of organic matter would be for something to help speed the decay. That is the intended purpose of these life forms, by design.

Back to Darwin and his writings and beliefs. One must take a snippet from chapter 6 of his book, The Origin of Species to see there is doubt even in his writings.

Organs of extreme perfection and complication. To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree. Yet reason tells me, that if numerous gradations from a perfect and complex eye to one very imperfect and simple, each grade being useful to its possessor, can be shown to exist; if further, the eye does vary ever so slightly, and the variations be inherited, which is certainly the case; and if any variation or modification in the organ be ever useful to an animal under changing conditions of life, then the difficulty of believing that a perfect and complex eye could be formed by natural selection, though insuperable by our imagination, can hardly be considered real. How a nerve comes to be sensitive to light, hardly concerns us more than how life itself first originated; but I may remark that several facts make me suspect that any sensitive nerve may be rendered sensitive to light, and likewise to those coarser vibrations of the air which produce sound.

In his own words the eye cannot be explained by his theory, yet it is considered fact in the scientific community today. The complexity of the eye cannot be explained through natural selection, it is a miracle of science. How can it evolve through natural selection without existing in some form or another? A nerve has never just started doing something it was not already designed to do. How can a sensor to touch suddenly become sensitive to light and create an image that gets transmitted to the brain for processing?

Darwin saw this in his theory and spent a bunch of time expanding on this idea. The problem comes because one can only point to this to “evolutionists” to get a sudden outburst of insults. The arguments never are based on facts on lack of knowledge and ignorance. If you question this scientific doctrine you are a “flat earther” and uneducated. The “overwhelming” evidence proved that evolution is a fact according to the scientific community.

This has led to what many coin as the “Science Dictatorship” where their knowledge is the only true knowledge. I was raised on science “evolving” and not being fixed. If it was the “flat earthers” would have won and knowledge is over. I contend that until truth can be proven, we can only live on what we know. With evolution what we know is science has proven micro-evolution where a species is improved through natural selection. We have not proven a species can or has ever changed from say a horse to a cat or a lizard to a rat. We have never proven that living matter has ever spontaneously been created from non-living elements.

Not saying that this may or may not be discovered in the future but with our current technology and brain trust we have no proof or evidence on anything past “natural selection” of a species. The main argument is we have not taken the time to study the whole theory to truly see the facts. No normal person has the time and the ones who do and question it are ridiculed to obscurity. Funding for their projects are pulled from this dictatorship and they stop being noticed.

Now this is where I start to sound like a nut job, but we need to look at the facts. Charles Darwin’s theory was actually first purposed by his grandfather and further developed by him. We look at grandpa and find he was a high order freemason. This is where I will lose many, but follow my logic for a bit because you will see the underlying premises are accepted in society today. I even said it’s partially true with accepting “natural selection” and micro-evolution.

One underlying belief of higher order freemason is they can “evolve” into gods. This has been proposed in a “documentary” (and I am very loose on this definition to the movie) exposing the “belief” called “The Secret”. This gets into quantum theory and how we directly influence our existence through the cosmic energy. Once we learn to “tap into” it we can become gods by creating our existence. We evolve into higher beings. This is the foundational belief of Charles Darwin and allowed him to throw together observations that do not prove macro-evolution but only point to the possibility.

With all the vast scientific knowledge we have today, the only logical explanation to life as we know it is God. We cannot explain our existence in this world without all the evidence pointing to God. I know many argue just because it “is” and we cannot prove it doesn’t mean there is any higher power. But as an engineer I look at the world today and the intricate interaction between it and can see nothing be a grand designer. Even hurricanes are by design, since if they did not exist the swamps which create much of our oxygen would become toxic and die. Without earthquakes we would not have the purple mountains majesty.

No this world we live in is a well-planned and designed living organic world. We just have to remember not to make God in our image or what we have defined Him as. No the image of God is not our “meat suit” but rather the energy that for example takes the optic nerves input and creates an image of a beautiful sunrise in our brain. We are not God, but like him. The key is we need to know His is the one and only uncreated on and not try to usurp his power by attempting to evolve into Him. Remember this was the fruit that Adam and Eve ate that caused the fall.

Stephen Hawkins, a known atheist, said it best when talking about knowledge: “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” Occam’s Razor proves God exists because He is the simplest explanation when you really think about it.

https://vimeo.com/69059463

Hebrews 5:12 – 14

12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Paul is chastising believers for not going further with their learning.Think about it, Jesus gave us a model to grow the church, he took 12 and trained them. He didn’t do this to teach our preachers something to feed us every week, he trained them to do as he did. Pour your life into 12 so they can do the same, and so on. Think about how quickly Christianity grew in the early years, it was like wild fire.

Many nations who are Muslim today were considered Christian nations shortly after Jesus walked the earth. What changed? What has the Christian church growth slowed? It seems that we no longer creating disciples’ en mass but rather we define discipleship as inviting to church. James 1:22 really lays down what the church Paul was addressing was doing, and what churches all over the world appear to be doing today:

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves

We are not teaching by doing, we are teaching in a classroom environment and never going to the “lab” and applying what we teach. A quote credited to Confucius really works well here: “I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand.” The churches today do spend time on multimedia presentations so we can “see”, but does that really sink in? Think back to many services you have been to and recall them, it’s difficult. Often the ones that stuck were enhanced by a play or short film to drive home the service.

But even still we leave the 4 walls of our church and rarely apply the Gospel or serve others. We need to be as James is saying and be “doers of the word”. We need to GO and make disciples. Is it not happening in the 4 walls? We get milk, since the message needs to be safe for unbelievers so they can be brought into the body of Christ, but mature believers are not getting their solid food. We need to take an active role in this, no longer praying for your neighbor to accept the invite, but engaging them, helping them and bringing the Gospel to them! Not hoping God will move them to come to church and hear the words that will move them.

Will this be ideal and clean, NO WAY! But it will help us grow in Christ and bring more into the body of Christ. We need more active parts to the body, more hands and feet and less eyes and ears. Be doers and not hearers!

Mathew 28:19 – 20
Luke 10:3

Have you ever felt like you’re not getting much out of church anymore? The sermons appear to retell the same story week in and week out. Out only real goal is to invite others to hear the Gospel and be saved. The problem is each week the pastor is preaching a message of “milk” (1 Corinthains 3:2) to reach the unsaved and the mature Christians are not growing.

The pastor has a great job before them, they have to preach to a large range of people. It’s like a math teacher whose audience is first through eight graders. If they were to teach to the 8th graders they would lose the first through seventh. Conversely if they taught to the first graders, although the information would not go over the head of the second through eight graders, they would never learn math.

Mathew 28:19-20 is clear about what we need to do when approaching this world:

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This is very clear; it does not say teach the clergy to preset the Gospel each Sunday so we can “invite” others to be saved. This tense is very active an all-inclusive statement. We are missing the mark when we are not training disciples in church today. We have become lazy and are now just relying on the church to do the evangelizing and not the body of Christ. We assume our role as the “body” is to invite at best or just “shine our light” hoping others will notice.

We all need to be prepared to present the Gospel of Christ in any situation, not just at church when we have “backup” to cover our errors. The Gospel is simple, Satan has made it complex. We just need to GO and cover our actions in prayer. The church’s job is to make sure we are ready because like Luke says in verse 10:3 we have a difficult task before us:

Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.

Again we are told to “GO” and act, not invite and sit. The church’s task is to make sure we are ready for the wolves. This does not mean target practice at the range and concealed carry permits, but rather knowing how to defend oneself verbally against challenges Satan will throw our way. Sure you are going to reach some that will argue to the end and will rock your foundation of faith. But that is where the church is failing today, since most are building a foundation of milk and not solid food.

Russia and China are great contrasts in the church. In Russian when communism took over and destroyed the leadership and infrastructure of the traditional church, it died. The people had no idea what to do and the faith died. When this happened in China the people just moved underground and the body of Christ grew. What was the difference? The Russian church was teaching with milk where the Chinese church was teaching disciples who could “GO”! Unfortunately most churches are not going to change this model any time soon, it’s a false idea of marketing where they need a watered down message to appeal to the broadest base and hope the “small groups” will grow the church. It’s our job to grow small groups and study on our own to be equipped to bring salvation to the world and not try to bring the world to salvation.

I’d like to thank the FuelProject for most of this inspriration from their Restless Church series on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0f6_epwixV5qlZLKLx5SxZw4Roxosyb4

Psalm 119:105

Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.

In a dark and desolate world we need a lamp to help us see the way. This lamp is the Holy Bible and should be used often. A trap most Christians get into is they consider Sunday’s service to be enough to get them through the week. Honestly if I just did that, as I have many times before in my life, the world would take over and I would be consumed within it quickly. No we have to make a conscious effort to love God and be in his word often.

God is called the “Word” and often we confuse that with the actual text being God. That is a slippery slope since really the reason the Bible seems living is the Holy Spirit working within you as you are reading. The book is in no way God or a manifestation of God, but rather a collection of God inspired writings that help us understand Jesus and God.

In John 1:1 the “word” is a translation of the Greek word logos which could also mean thought, speech, account, meaning, reason, principle or logic among other things. So the “word” in the original may be more than just the writings, but the idea of God. Don’t get so hung up on the literal since they Bible was not always there, first came God, then came our writings of God.

Psalm 119:105

Your word is a lamp to my feet
    and a light to my path.

In a dark and desolate world we need a lamp to help us see the way. This lamp is the Holy Bible and should be used often. A trap most Christians get into is they consider Sunday’s service to be enough to get them through the week. Honestly if I just did that, as I have many times before in my life, the world would take over and I would be consumed within it quickly. No we have to make a conscious effort to love God and be in his word often.

God is called the “Word” and often we confuse that with the actual text being God. That is a slippery slope since really the reason the Bible seems living is the Holy Spirit working within you as you are reading. The book is in no way God or a manifestation of God, but rather a collection of God inspired writings that help us understand Jesus and God.

In John 1:1 the “word”  is a translation of the Greek word logos which could also mean thought, speech, account, meaning, reason, principle or logic among other things. So the “word” in the original may be more than just the writings, but the idea of God. Don’t get so hung up on the literal since they Bible was not always there, first came God, then came our writings of God.

Matthew 4:8-9

 ⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹ And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”

The other day I got into a scientific debate about the Bible and how “backwards” the writing was. The comment was if the Bible was of God and not man they would not describe the earth as flat. Verse 4:8 was used, along with the same story in Luke, as their only reference. I have read this over and over and do not see evidence of a “flat earth” at all.

The claim is the idea is you can go high enough on a point to see the whole earth, therefore the mindset is the earth is flat. I read this more as allegory and less as litteral. But when you are trying to disprove the Bibe with one verse it’s difficult at best, more like folly. But lets say the people believed in a flat earth, what would be the best way to tell this story?Go litteral and say he took Jesus to a point in space and watched the earth for 24 hours, while it passes before him? That would not make sense to man today, so an allegory is used.

Jesus talked in Parables because they were easy to understand, why make this book difficult for all to understand? What is the importance of making sure we understand the earth is a sphere, which roatates on an axis and revolves around the sun?

Philippians 2

14 Do all things without grumbling or questioning, 15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labour in vain. 17 Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. 18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.

We really have to start considering these verses more fully. I can’t tell you how many times I have whined about work or home not considering how bad of a witness this is to others. Think about it, we are born again in Christ and should be filled with joy. If so they why do we “grumble”?

Sure our situation is different and is tougher than most. Really?? Think about the man who wrote this. He use to be jailed and beaten for his belief in Christ. He walked all over the region to preach the Gospel. He apparently was martyred, although this came out in 110 AD and was not recorded in the Bible or other record of the time.

Paul was in jail singing the praises of Jesus. More than once did he defend his faith with the possibility his position would me death. So how can we say our life is much more difficult and deserves the complaints. No, we need to stop and we don’t have to be “plastic” where everything is “wonderful” (my favorite phrase), but we should not overly complain. “It’s tough right now, but with the hope we have in Jesus things are great.”