Life Wins

Life Wins

8/28/18

This has been a huge topic of interest over the age of my life and when it researched over the ages itself.  Many topics and subjects have been written about this term from what it means to who has control over it but one constant continues to remain is that once a life is created it is always going to be around and if destroyed a memory.  God intended for this process to occur in such a manner of remembrance it is mankind that tries to sweep it under the rug along with the help of the ruler of the world.  Life is eternal just as the Creator of life and one day we shall see all life come together as it was meant to be established.  The question is this: how will we determine that day and what will become of our life when we witness the truth about creation and what it means to be created.  God wants us to understand as much about life as possible which is why He gave us His Word in order for us to have an eternal reference about our eternal existence.

Over the past few years, we have been witness to many people voluntarily ending their lives.  It does not matter if they are rich and famous or just the so-called normal average person.  I know that our community has been blasted over the past two years with news of teenagers committing suicide due to a number of reasons.  The procedure of abortion is always an interesting topic to discuss for it too erases an act by humans for various reasons all of which terminates a life on the physical side of things yet causes a multitude of personal and familiar issues after the fact.  We continue to see countless acts of violence across this nation and many others and each one of these acts ends in a tragedy that will scar people’s lives forever.  As we turn on the news each day it is easy to become overwhelmed with such human idiocracies and travesties, but we continue to plunge forward without any avail.  Where does this cycle end and more importantly where did this cycle begin would be the two logical questions that need to be answered?

It is clear that the human mind when it comes to its presence in this world is on a personal level only with disregard for anything and everyone else around it.  One cannot argue the fact that each day we see or hear about some type of violent activity that has claimed another life or multiple lives.  Human violence has been around ever since Cain and Able walked the earth and if we are honest, probably further back than that since Adam and Eve were separated from the world while they were in the Garden of Eden, it is just that we read about the first murder committed between their sons.  It is this process of snuffing out of a life that concerns all parents each time their child walks out the household door, and that sigh of relief does not occur until their precious feet walk through the threshold again.  It is also just as easy to pass by when we hear about others’ lives being taken away before natural causes occur simply because we are not close or familiar with those families or individuals.  Far too often this is the case and our hearts eventually become numb to such news and by the next morning, our minds have totally forgotten about such incidents.

I remember a few years back when one of our prominent people in the community took his own life.  He was praised over and over during his funeral service for all of the accomplishments that he had done over his time on the earth.  You would have thought he had died of old age or from some sickening disease for nothing was really mentioned about how he passed from this life nor was there any mention of his eternal status that had already been introduced to him, it was only the positive issues that were mentioned and nothing more.  This is only a half-truth which means it was a lie because his life was just beginning for there is the spiritual aspect of life that God gives us and it is this part of our existence that lives on forever, a term that is difficult for us to understand given that our physical portion lives for a documented amount of time.  We can ill afford to forget this truth and no matter what we wish for our lives they shall continue long after we draw our last physical breath.  Our enemy tries his best to fool us enough in believing that our problems shall end as soon as we draw our last breath, no matter what method takes us away but just all other statements by him this is a lie and one that cannot be taken back if successful.

One of the more grotesque lies that humans fall for is for us to believe that once their life is over that they will no longer be a burden to their families.  They lose all concept of reality of choice and how it should be handled by the spirit that God has given us.  When the spirit is placed second or third in our lives it is easy for our enemy to control our thoughts and lives for our Creator is not first and leading the way.  One cannot expect anything but death if they place God in another position than first.  Satan understands that God places His spirit into our lives for a reason and that reason is to maintain the presence of His Word being spread to a dying world.  Your life is a unique masterpiece that has a specific purpose and while your breath may not always reflect this great setting your children or grandchildren may be the key to some extraordinary achievement down the road.  It is the desire for Satan to see us eternally separated from God and it is this reason alone that we must keep our noses and our hearts grounded in the Word of God for if we do not know what to look for when our enemy attacks we will become target practice for him and at some point our truth shall confide in the world and its reward shall take hold.

When I look back at my life I have to wonder about such an argument for I was what the world would consider being a bastard child who was given up for adoption to save face for my mother.  Now, for the longest time, I did not know all the truth about my life nor did my parents for they were told a lie in order to cover up what had occurred.  Mom and dad never kept anything from me and through their truth about what they had been told they relayed to me as I grew older.  Almost a decade ago now, my biological family found out about me and then found me, the old proverbial knock on the door setting came true in my heart.  At the time I was not writing anything but God was sure knocking at my heart’s door with a bunch of information that needed to be shared with others.  To this day, I have no idea who these words that God gives me to share with others are for but I know that there are those out there who know of someone that needs them and I obey God and what He gives me to say.  I am fifty years old now and up until a few years back, I hated to write but now my heart needs to write for I know that God has this plan for me to give His Words to someone in need.  As of now, this is my purpose that God has given me and I shall do my best to fulfill it every day, it has taken a while to complete but it proves that my life was meant for living not dying.

As Genesis Chapter 3 unfolds we see what occurs when humans try to override God and His plans for each one of us.  While Adam and Eve were just two individuals they continue to represent what life is all about, the future.  They had things made with no issues whatsoever to think of but chose to change their lifestyles to satisfy their own desires.  The manner in which this event occurred actually gave God the eternal authority to end the lives of Adam and Eve and thus wiping out humanity before it even began to grow and establish itself.  Yet, through this complicated system of sin and disobedience, God had created in us through the manner by which He created us the option to continue life and to present ourselves as the ultimate eternal choice of proving His Kingdom to be true and valid.  A further testament and proof that our lives are worth far more than what our enemy tells us for God cannot tell us or show us that our lives are anything less than priceless.  It is through this example that God shows us that life wins because God is an eternal Being and a consistent God who can only create life and since He is eternal that is all He can create as well.  In other words, life shall always win no matter what the case may be.

When we look at the life of King David we can see a similar pattern that I follow.  No, I am not saying I will be a king at all but my life follows many aspects of David’s and we need to take a closer look at what he had to endure and what it meant for the nation of Israel.  The order in which David had to live under at home was brutal, to say the least, but the lessons he learned while living his life at home provided the skill and knowledge that would forever live in the hearts of countless people along with a stubborn and rebellious nation.  A question all of us pose to ourselves at some time is why does God have a plan for us or what is the plan that God has for our lives and why?  If there was not an eternal side to our lives then our enemy would not have a reason to target us today.  His job would have been done and over in the Garden of Eden when he tricked Adam and Eve.  Yet, he continues to adhere to his position of lying to us and thwarting God’s truth from being manifested in our lives.  God understands this and it is this understanding that God Created us so that we may continue His work of life eternal.  It is the specific plan that God has for our life that promotes then conducts the eternal life setting at all of us wish and seek after, so why does death become so important enough to execute?

The ruler of this world loves to tempt us into believing that what our physical says actually rules our spiritual and while this may seem to some as an absurd statement in the eyes of our enemy is cannot be any truer.  See, our enemy used the flesh in order to disguise the spiritual truth about obedience while we were in the Garden of Eden.  Flesh, before spirit is a dangerous state and category to rely upon for the single line of communication with our Creator, is in jeopardy when we are living in this condition and if not changed within a reasonable timeframe it is certain that our eternal communication line will be cut thus relying upon a death sentence as our “savior”.  So, if this is the way we choose to live then yeah, it not an absurd statement at all but a correct one.  However, this type of living is a lie and at some point, the truth shall be revealed and if not while we are breathing then afterward.  See, the title of this article is “Life Wins” and there is nothing else before that phrase or after it either and it is for a reason.

No matter how much we sugar coat our physical lives we cannot escape the truth when it comes to our spiritual life.  God is a consistent God and He is Spirit in nature which means He lives and breathes in this manner, which automatically places Him in a spiritual category that defines life itself.  He is perfect and holy in ALL manners that our minds can comprehend and even to those manners in which we cannot comprehend.  The Jewish language does not even have a definitive definition or written word for God, for He is that vast and incomprehensible.  Yet, He offers us a plan of redemption and salvation so that after we draw our last breath we have the assurance that life as we know it and what we do not know of it yet shall continue.  God is the source of life and if we do our best to obey Him and His Word at all times we will personally know and understand just how life wins for eternity.  However, there is an alternative side of things and it is one that our enemy sells as the optional truth and sadly, many people buy into this lie and upon their last breath realize that they were wrong and God was correct.  Life wins!

Since God is eternal in all things that means life is eternal since He is the definition of life.  We have previously been taught that God has no rival which means He has never been defeated and thus has never been wrong.  What does this mean to us when it pertains to life?  It means that God is the eternal source of life and if we choose to challenge Him and His definition then we are sending ourselves up against the same eternal Being that Lucifer challenged.  Do we need a reminder of how that confrontation turned out?  One can argue all they want in front of human courts and beg to keep all forms of murder legal, it does not matter for when you and I stand in front of the Creator of EVERYTHING, our selfish desires, and wants will melt away when God’s voice speaks which means all of our defenses shall be destroyed before we have a chance to open our mouths.  Life wins!

God is the author of all life and since this is a true statement, He cannot represent or give anything else but life.  Up until Genesis 3:6 Adam and Eve had no idea about what death was for all they knew and understood was life and the eternal benefits that it brought with it.  Adam and Eve were created in life itself and are the only humans that knew how life was intended to be.  Even though Adam and Eve chose the world instead, life continued to win for it did not die but was still intact and protected by God because if it was not then there would have been no reason for sacrifices in the Old Testament and definitely no reason that God would send His only Son to die and serve as the eternal sacrifice in the New Testament.  Even though to our human eye that this type of definition of life is far-fetched or a long ways away, it is not for it is actually closer than a brother.  What I find so intriguing sad is that many people who call themselves Christians spend less time studying the Word of God than those who do not know God at all but are seeking foundation to ignore God.  How can even argue with anyone when they have more knowledge about God than we do?  Do you realize that they actually understand, blindly of course, about life than we?

To the world, this type of final outcome that is constant and secure would be considered final without any degree of variability possible.  This cannot be any further from the truth because we have all the options known to mankind to make such choices while we walk this earth.  When we present ourselves to the world on a daily basis it is a shaky plan and outcome at best, for the world continually changes and as it does take any and all stability with it.  It is well known that our lives do not do very well when the rug that we are standing on is constantly threatened with being pulled from under us.  God cannot create such chaos only the ruler of the world can establish such animosity and uncertainty.  God is the Creator of life itself which follows a certain pathway and is subject to this chaos if we allow our enemy to infiltrate our lives.  To the world, being calm and resting during a storm is madness and in some circles be considered insane, but this is the life that God brings to our lives and is exactly why He can represent Life eternal and why we can always state the truth when we claim that Life Wins!

One of the most probabilities is that people who seek out the truth about life will be bombarded with different opinions concerning the issue.  This type of aggressive behavior should be expected and is warranted since those who stand on this truth statement go against what the world preaches.  It is at this time that the Church should be bold enough to take a stand and to proclaim the truth about life but we sit in silence and accept what the world teaches as the truth and in many cases participate in the physical aspects of the world when it comes to life or ending life.  Ending a life on any scale is exactly what our enemy wants for when the physical is gone the potential for what that life was commissioned to do is null and void but what our enemy shall not tell you is that even though that physical life is no longer present it is alive and well in the spirit realm.  It does not matter if that life was an aborted baby or a murdered adult, the physical is gone but the spiritual is alive and it was the human that took its physicality from this place.  Did we learn anything from this life that is now gone or did we just allow our own selfishness to rule the day and establish the kingdom of the world’s grip tighter around our necks?

In a world that cries out for some kind of consistency and stability, it would seem logical for every single one of us to be running as fast as we can to this eternal and perfect source.  Yet, the one entity that should be the voice of this eternal truth is silent on the matter and promotes personal and physical choice over what is proven true and righteous.  Her voice of reason has been replaced with reckonings of worldly trash and acceptance of revolt in the streets.  Her congregational walls have been lined with adulterers and pedophiles which are on the exposing block almost every week and yet I never hear a single word about repentance from these denominations, only needed time off to get away from the spotlight for a while.  How vile God’s House has become and presents no shame or remorse for such activities, to me it seems like God needs to come down and wipe out a bunch of structures that serve no purpose to Him and once again set straight the moral compass of what His Temple should stand for.  There is a reason God says that He shall never be mocked, for with God and everything He stands for and does cries out to all creatures that Life Wins!  God does not represent a double standard and He shall defend life as it is His definition and since God is a consistent God He cannot vary from this truth.

God wants us to reevaluate our position and stance on just accepting the physical aspect of life once again.  Yes, the necessities of the physical are important but it is the spiritual that gives us our definition when it comes to eternity.  There is nothing we can do about our physical life for it shall end some day, but that is NOT where our existence ends and I can guarantee you that if we do not fully believe in God and all that He possesses and gives then we are sunk eternally due to our teaching of lies.  Eternity is not a game nor is it a handout, it is a free invitation for a battle that needs to be recognized and understood.  God loves each and every one of us and it is vital that we know what is at stake, for if we allow our enemy to infiltrate and then win over our hearts we shall never see eternity in the fashion and manner that God intended for us to walk within.

The world shall always pretend that God is out of date or behind the times and when a presentation that is so wishy-washy in its existence makes a statement such as this it is easy to believe.  Change is a good thing as long as it follows the Ways of God but any variance from such Standard and the world shall win, guaranteed.  In either outcome, God always wins and that means Life Wins no matter what one may believe.  Church, what are you showing and teaching the world?  Is it a worldly stance where you are afraid to proclaim the truth as you stand over a young person’s body after they have been taken from this world by their own hand, or are you eulogizing them adequately with eternal truth being proclaimed to those sitting in the pews of that service that are contemplating the same action?  Too many of our loved ones are dying or are being taken away from us not knowing who eternally loves them and how important it is to obey God and His Ways for the physical may end but the eternal is just that, eternal.  In all conditions and circumstances, Life Wins but which side of Life shall you give stance upon when your time arrives to represent your life itself?

DLB

A Comfortable Position

A Comfortable Position

8/26/18

All of us would like to live in a position where we feel comfortable and safe at all times and it is this belief that many of us try to compel others to accept.  But do we ever reach this goal and achieve the ultimate prize of complete and total peace concerning all aspects of our life?  When we look at the world today, it seems near impossible to comprehend this far-fetched idea but in truth, there is a Way that leads to this desperately sought after path.  God and His Ways is the only representative of such a lifestyle and until we go back to such a pattern of living this perfect assumptive belief shall remain as such only an assumption.  So why do we continually believe that the world can provide such settings?  Take a look around you once again and notice what the world has given us and how we voluntarily accept such garbage, then take another look at God and know that only He can provide all our needs and the true desires of living that we need.

For people who were born before the 1980s, probably have a concept of the Cold War and what it meant to live in such times.  It is difficult for me to grasp the concept of the younger generations who do not have to grow up with that manmade threat and how they have no feelings of tension that the world that they live in could end with a push of a button.  It was a time in my life that I had to know how to protect myself if something drastic did occur and my parents taught me as much as they could about the dangers that lurked around our world, they did not leave out the personal issues as well such as keep your eyes open for any unusual people roaming the neighborhoods or never go close to a stranger, etc.  I enhanced this training by joining the military in 1988 and spent the next four years trying to seal my skills in this defense mechanism and all the settings it presented.  But during this time of training my perception of nuclear disaster began to fade when our enemy fell and after their release of their contingents, I started relaxing and along with the other higher-ups in the government began to wallow in our mud of comfortability.

I sometimes envy the younger generations because of the lack of need to keep abreast of major enemies that have the necessary skills and equipment to destroy the world many times over.  It seems like the threats have become smaller in size yet larger in number and somehow this seems to be less of a threat to our societies than one large destructive force.  The methods in which people protest and activate their individual alarms over seemingly minor details while other major inner issues are ignored seem quite illogical in natural defensive tones yet this is the manner to which we as societies now function; oh, and then when these individual and smaller issues arise we put out the proverbial “pray for _____” signs and wish that all will be safe and okay down the road.  It is at this point that my heart breaks because it becomes physically visible that our hearts do not point towards the One who has the authority to stop this bleeding pain that is constantly being provided through our own devices and choices.  In this world of continual luxuries and comfortable money flows, we fail to recognize exactly who has given us these privileges and through these blessings forgot how to live according to what has been provided, starting with returning it as it has been commanded.

We cannot ever forget that God is a consistent God and when things are going well for our lives it is easy to ignore or not think about where our luxuries come from.  Sadly, it is this one-sided feeling that concludes with us complaining and groaning when times become tough and we then wonder where God is at not understanding that His consistency is concurrent and inclusive all the time and never conditional.  Growing up my family never had a bunch of excess items floating around the house and even though my toy box was handmade and quite simple in nature it was almost always full of items that I had received at various times during the year.  This did not mean that I received everything that I asked for, but did receive enough to pass my spare time in happiness and peaceful conditions.  While I had the necessary upbringing with clothes, food, and a roof over my head I still knew that all could be wiped away if a natural or manmade disaster occurred.  But in reality and when I look back at these conditions of my past, can I honestly know how things would be in my life if those conditions were taken away due to my own upbringing and choices?

There is a part of me that as I look back at my life have to accept that all the while I was living in a comfortable place did not do what I had been taught concerning spreading of the gospel of Christ to those who needed Him.  At that time, I was living great with no worries to think about and while not even considering what others might be going through, I hid the Truth from these beautiful people that Jesus died for and who knew Him not on any level.  It was easy for me not to think about this eternal status of their lives all the while not realizing that as I sat in the pews of my father’s church building and did nothing for Christ, I too was in the exact same boat that those people who had never heard the Word of God taught to them were in.  With this personal information of mine in tow and the small amount of knowledge that I have about the Church today I can see that she is in dire need of Christ into her life again for she has failed to teach the eternal Truth about Christ and what it means to live a separate life from the world, a sad history lesson that is hard for me to swallow for me personally and on an overall Church level.

When we are young, we sometimes miss what is right in front of our eyes and when it comes to the issues that God wants us to see and to understand this pointed setting is common in all of us.  Each one of us is given a dominion when we are created and it is through this dominion that we must keep clean and dressed so that we may have a functioning existence in a world that wants us dead.  There is nothing orderly about the world and what it pushes onto us contributes to our disruptive state of mind, but for some reason we have become used to such a lifestyle that we deem it to be normal and expected at all times thus initiating the calming effect as an unsettling time in our lives, one that is seen as an exciting and invigorating opportunity.  God did not intend for us to live in such calamitous times and lives, nor did He intend for us to involve ourselves in such troubled times that we fail to completely understand our drive and our direction; however, we now thrive on such shocking developments and thus fulfill the results of what Adam and Eve had no idea would present down the road.

In Genesis Chapter 2 we have the perfect setting that each of us wishes we could live in but do not reach ever even when continually doing our best to get close enough to this goal.  When our ambitions turn from completing our job for our dominion to be in order to realize that our place of work and living is a place of comfortability instead, there is only one result that can be achieved and that is disobedience.  If I do not complete my assigned tasks at work each day how can I expect to receive a good report on my evaluation or even keep my job for that matter?  I must care enough about my patients, my coworkers, and my place of employment enough to want to complete a result in a timely manner so that a correct regime of treatment can be delivered.  It is natural for a bad word of mouth to follow me if my work is slow and sloppy for that is what I deserve but when I do things according to the correct period of time and through the instruments that I use I deserve to have a good rapport with my patients, administration, and community.  Adam and Eve clearly had a good rapport with God when things began for their lives and this is a true statement because if they did not then Satan would not have had to trick them into disobeying God’s one command.

I have no idea just exactly how long it was from the moment of their creation until they fell into sin, it could have been weeks, months, years, decades, millennia but whatever amount of time passed it became obvious to Satan that both Adam and Eve became increasingly comfortable in their position and lifestyle.  It was at this time that Satan knew they had become vulnerable and that it was time for him to begin his process of deception.  Believing that all is okay and that everything you do is acceptable through the power and stability of comfortability is the highest form of a sitting duck that one can display and it is this position that Satan saw the opportune time to strike and he did so with an eternal accuracy that continues to haunt humans today.  Adam and Eve had become so predictable to the enemy that he was able to play them face to face without them even knowing what direction they were headed and evident through the misquotation by her concerning the command that God gave them.  Does this placement and sayings resemble a society that we know of today?  It should because it describes us right down to where the period is placed at the end of our sentences.

Adam and Eve began to live under conditional obedience and it was through this belief in a lie that Satan gave them their orders and results.  Conditional obedience is a state that many of us follow and it is one that we shall discuss in depth at a later date but please know that obedience is either there or it is not and it cannot be partially present, many want to believe that it falls into the same category of “being a little bit pregnant”.  Please, do not understand God incorrectly, He established a perfect and comfortable setting for Adam and Eve, but it was their lack of sustained equality between God and themselves that brought their doubts into play thus establishing a negative or divided environment for which Satan could operate.  God is ALL FOR His prized and eternal Creations to live in such happiness and peace, but if we live in such conditions and then turn from God only bad results can occur.  Conditional obedience can only lead to one result, full disobedience if not checked and repented from and will be evident through the resumption of the dominion desired to be complete or not.  God taught Adam and Eve so much about what they were protected from, for God is a complete God and even when it comes to the knowledge of what is around He fulfills this standard.  It was Adam and Eve who began the doubt and thus followed into the physical comfortable position that God had already provided for them.

Do we understand what a major sign of this comfortable position is, especially when it has incorporated itself into our lives?  The direct sign of such a position comes in the progress of upkeep of our respected dominions for if the product is not kept pure the direction of completion stops but the size of the dominion begins to change the growth complex.  It is like when our metabolism is at one pace and our intake of food is at another and the resulting weight gain or loss becomes noticeable to others, including the ones willing to notice and then invade with ugliness.  This previous statement is not meant to be taken as an insult on any level, but as a truth statement about how we work to complete our dominion and thus become obedient to our eternal Creator.  At some point, if we do not correct this size increase with true progression, then our size will far outgrow than the direction of what we are supposed to complete and then Genesis Chapter 3 shall occur and our lives shall change forever.  I am sure that Adam and Eve believed that what they were accomplishing and completing as each day passed was the “right” thing to do, but in truth, it was completing nothing to what God had commanded them to do thus opening the door for lethargy and then disobedience to arrive.

Look at our world today and it is easy to see that our size is far outgrowing our direction.  We have become so large in stature that we can no longer bend over and take care of the grounds that need to be cared for, nor can we even see that there is an overgrowth occurring.  We continue to move along a path with our eyes fixated on our appearance and abundance that we fail to recognize that we are being watched by those who do not wish for our status to continue as such.  In fact, we invite them to our places of living and grant them privileges that are not earned but handed out in the means of free handouts in the name of equality.  Can you imagine if Adam and Eve granted Satan this type of access to their lives in the name of such condolences?  It is a legitimate question and probably has great merit in an answer as well.  Many of you have heard before the statement that we no longer know or care to know about God which is a true statement but what we forget about is the second half of that truth and that is when we do not know or care to know about God we can by default not know or care about our enemy either.  It is this evidence that doomed Adam and Eve and Israel and it is the same ignorance that shall be the destruction of this nation if we do not get our act together before God says “enough”.

The lifestyles of the West and its societies have reached the repugnant stages in the nostrils of God and what makes things worse than one can imagine is that the actions of the world have the direct and complete blessings of the Church.  The world has received a pass from the Church to run amuck and free without any hindrances or consequences for what it taunts and preaches.  Our pompous and arrogant attitudes about the blessings we have received have been turned from the outside towards others to the direct insurgent belief that what we have belongs to others without invitation, in other words, directed inwards.  This type of living example cannot be more predictable than an individual, a state, or nation having the belief that they are in a comfortable position and need to spiritual governing body over them.  In this instance, we cannot forget that God is a consistent God and if He was consistent in the Garden of Eden and in the land of Judah and Israel He shall be the same with our land as well.

Failure to recognize this path of ours shall have but one ending and it shall not be as before.  Remember Adam and Eve were taken from the Garden of Eden and never returned and Judah and Israel were taken from their lands as well and were never the same when they were allowed to return either.  In both of these instances and settings, God placed either Himself or people that sounded His message to those who did not listen or ignored the truth about what they had been given as a witness to the world.  Church, it is us who are responsible for passing the message of God and His Ways to those that do not know God, not to be a flag-waving banner holder for the causes of the world.  These words are so predictable for they have been mentioned over and over for years now but they are given for a reason and that reason is to make sure that every ear and heart has been told that there is an answer to every problem that we face, both physically and spiritually.  In order for this perfection and restoration to occur, the Church needs to repent and start once again to dress and keep up her dominion properly.  The Church as well probably believes just as Adam and Eve along with Judah and Israel that the ways that they are acting is the “right” thing to do but just as before unless you are living a separate life and witnessing 100% of the time, you are not in obedience but in a lethargic state.

Church, we have lost the message of Psalms Chapter 16 and what its content states about our lives and how we obtain life itself.  We have converted this eternal and holy truth into a physical realm and goal as a means of survival.  I pray that we find it in our hearts the truth of this passage again before God has to clean out our hearts in such a supernatural manner as He did in the Garden of Eden and in the lands of Judah and Israel.  Our structure needs to be placed in God and to lean onto His understanding and not the world and we need to teach this to those who are lost instead of the doughnut and coffee sermons as each week passes.  As the old song says and while it might seem a tad funny it speaks volumes of truth because they do not serve breakfast in hell.  All spiritual food that we need to hear comes from the Bible, the definition of God and nothing else. Church, we have fallen down and as of this moment, we have another opportunity to speak out the truth to the dying world.  For even as the rich and famous of the Kingdom of Judah and the Kingdom of Israel were slaughtered and taken into captivity so God shall do the same through His pure and supernatural abilities.  It all boils down to the choice that you and I have to make; the world is waiting for an answer, so what will that answer be Church?  Which comfortable position shall you and I endure?

DLB

Not Worth Anything?

Not Worth Anything?

8/22/18

Every human being has asked themselves at some point in their lives this question or has believed that their worth does not matter to anyone.  It is this madness that our enemy acquires renting space in our hearts and minds that causes so much discontent that our reactions to such lies can reach to the eternal status.  It was never God’s plan for you or me to experience such disbelief in our existence and it is still today not God’s plan for you or me to live in such poverty.  When we doubt our own abilities and existence, the purpose that God has for our lives to the world is halted thus rendering us useless for others, the perfect setup for our enemy.  God wants us to understand that He has not lost faith in us nor has He placed any less value on our lives; however, He does want us to stop the path that we have chosen and return to Him so that He bless our lives for eternity before it is too late.  We are all more precious than we can even comprehend and it is our responsibility to share this truth with others.

After my discharge from the United States Air Force in 1992, I was at pretty much rock bottom in my life.  The long military career that I had been hoping for had been dashed through my own accord and almost everything that I had learned from the military was now but a memory.  I knew that my life was at a crossroads and I had two options to decide from and while it took me a while to actually believe in myself again, it did arrive at some point down the road, but that road was a bumpy one to travel.  I also could have given up on the career path that I had chosen long before my military service but instead, I clung on to it and held it tighter than ever.  God was not the most favorite person in my life either - at least in my eyes - for I had violated one of the most sacred acts of human existence as my military career ended, a divorce.  Growing up as a minister’s son I had always heard about the consequences of divorce and how bad things were when one occurred.  Also, I had been taught that when you marry it was for life and that it should be considered a holy institution for it was and continues to be the closest thing to the image of Covenant that humans have to compare with God’s Covenant.

This was the point in my life to which I had found myself existing back in late 1992 when I moved to the current town that I reside.  How could I ever live up to the potential that my parents always told me that I had, and how could I ever face the one Being that gave me such a protected and purposeful life when I was younger?  These questions and a billion more continually ran through my mind and dictated a good portion of my waking day and sleeping night, yet I always continued to rise and face another day as a mere mortal who had fallen into a likewise category that so many others had faced or were facing at that time.  I was miserable, had no confidence in my abilities as a human, as a husband, as a brother, or even as a son and with that, I started over.  I believed my worth had been taken away so deeply that I would never again understand what worth was or that I could ever be useful to anyone else all to the fact of my choosing and of my selfish choices sometime before this status was now my own and this is how my life would be remembered.

As my contact with more people increased, it became clear to me that I am not isolated in this condition of mine and that many others struggled with the same “condition” as I did.  It soon became apparent that two choices presented themselves to my life and once again I had to decide which direction I wanted to travel.  It was an easy choice this time and I chose to get out of the mud and clean myself off with God being the one who held the water hose this time.  As I watched person after person pass through my ED or laboratory, I made up my mind that I was not going to continue this death trap kind of lifestyle so I changed my attitude and allowed God to begin digging in my life, taking out the ugliness and turn my heart back to Him.  With all that had happened in my life, I sat back and wondered just how I became off-track with the idea that my life was worth nothing and that I could no longer adequately contribute to God’s Kingdom any longer?  No, I never contemplated suicide or just completely dropping off the face of the earth, but at this point in my life I had the thought of just existing and remaining a figment of everyone else’s memory, but God had other plans for me and in fact, His plan for His Kingdom was just getting started.

It was not until a few years later that I had an opportunity to stop and look around me and take notice of how my life and worth had returned.  To be honest, my worth had never been taken away from me for it was given to me even before I was born it was just hidden from me heart’s eyes because of the sin that I had allowed to infiltrate my life that caused me to believe that I had no worth and that it was gone forever.  It is this lie that our enemy uses to blanket our lives with self-worth alone and useless informative progress according to worldly standards, and sadly, it is through this lie he uses the advantage we give him and then gains complete access to our lives in which he attends to destroying us piece by piece.  It took me a while to see such mud and muck but I thank God every day that He brought me out of this condition before I reached the point of no return.

I know that many of us know about the story of Lazarus and how Jesus raised him from the dead, but have we looked at our lives through the love of Christ that He has for us according to this famous passage?  For the last few years, we have learned that God is a consistent God and that He cannot change His Ways no matter how much humans can preach differently.  God’s love for us began even before we were created, Jeremiah tells us this and since this truth is known and declared it means that God cannot change His Ways to satisfy our desires to fulfill our earthly desires.  But how does this passage tell us about issues that we deal with today including the ones that deals with our insecurities about God, His love for us and our eternal worth?  The verse that we are going to focus on is verse 3 where Lazarus’s sisters come to where Jesus was located and informs Him that Lazarus is sick.  A specific portion of this verse gives us the clue about our worth for it says “Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.”  This love was once again proclaimed in verse 5 where it says that Jesus did love Martha, her sister, and Lazarus.

So, as the story goes, Jesus returns to Judea and arrives what it seems too late to save Lazarus for he had been dead for three days.  We all know that Jesus commands Lazarus to come from the grave and that this miracle of Jesus bringing him back to life occurred.  One of the old heresies in the Early Church proclaimed that Jesus was not God and that He was only a human and did not represent God on any level.  It is through this miracle alone that proves such teachings false and that Jesus is part of the eternal and holy trinity; yet, part of the human race as well the perfect condition for an eternal Savior.  Another verse comes to mind about God’s love for people and that is John 3:16 where we have the clearest message from God concerning this matter.  It is this verse that specifically states that God loves the entire world and that this love was the single reason God sent His Son.  So, once again, God asks this question of how much are you worth?  As we shall see when we continue to study this passage in the Book of John, Lazarus is no good to Jesus dead, so He raises him and brings life back into his body, it is this worth of life that Jesus brought back and it is His motion of life-giving existence that reinforces the truth about our worth to God.

When Lazarus was in the tomb, it seemed to his loved ones that his life was over and that there was nothing else to be done.  This is a common state that many of us find ourselves in and tend to exist in such a lifeless manner.  When we believe such a condition exists in our lives it always means that the world has been allowed to infiltrate our presence for the world can only produce death as a result of anything.  It is this point that Jesus was making to Martha and Mary when it came to Lazarus because God represents nothing about death but of life and He desires for everyone to live both in the physical sense and in the spiritual realm.  See, God’s eternal Covenant goes totally against what the laws of the world operate within and it is this eternal Covenant that Jesus demonstrates here when He raises Lazarus from the dead.  We are all dead due to the sin that we inherit when we are born and it is our choice to accept the powerful Covenant of eternal life that comes from God alone or not.

Our lives are worth more than we can imagine and it is proven by the healing powers of Christ as shown to us in the passage of John 11:1-10 and through the well-known verse of John 3:16.  It is apparent that mankind is doomed to failure through our sinful existence but God has graciously provided an eternal escape plan if we only take it and live under its protection.  From the beginning, God’s Law has been in place to protect us from the world and to separate us from the world and not as a system of punishment.  Over the many millennia, humans along with the help of our enemy have perverted the meaning of such holy Law to make this Law the formidable enemy.  It is through God’s Law that our worth is defined and whether or not we understand it or not, the passages of reference in this article represent Gods Law.  God has one overall law for our lives and that was given to us in Genesis chapter 2 when He laid out the one command to Adam, that law has never changed and it is still in place today, obedience.

When you place the truth into our hearts about sin we cannot deny the fact that sin is death and cannot represent anything else but such.  God’s Law demands life and life abundantly and completely clashes with the laws of the world and it is through this battle between the two law states that proves God’s Love for our lives and just how much our lives are worth.  God had every bit of authority to wipe humans from the earth more times than just one, yet He chose to continue His work in our lives through His unbroken truth.  Do we understand that how we look at our worth directly depends on who rules within our hearts?  Sadly but honestly, I do not believe that many people who call themselves Christians believe this question or understand it because of how they live their lives as each day passes.

Over the past few moments we have learned that Jesus loved one of His fellow humans and while this should not come as a surprise to anyone, we must consider the fact that Jesus is consistent as His Father so that means Jesus loves you and me just the same as He does Lazarus.  As I have stated before I have never looked at this passage with such intent but God has the uncanny ability to allow us to see things not only for ourselves but for others to understand as well.  God also has spoken that He loves us as well, all of us which means that this includes everyone who existed, who exists today and who will begin their lives tomorrow.  While this love of God and His Son never waivers in any form, it does not give us the authority to comply with the ruler of the world by accepting factors into our lives that would deprive us of knowing the true existence of eternal love from our eternal Father. 

Yet, we have a tendency to believe the liar instead of the victor in a quest to continue our lifelong journey without any bumps and bruises.  It is this aspect of our quest that our enemy preys upon and when his claws are allowed to take hold begins to change our ways of acceptance and creates a divide from the eternal truth about our lives that brings shame and doubt to why we exist at all.  We can ill afford to forget that it is this same type of weapon that our enemy uses on us today that he used on Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and through this doubt he can manipulate ANY system that exists within our lives.  Doubt gives him the door to operate any type of organized or disorganized means of personal sabotage against your worth thus against the worth that God has given you.  This type of belief and acceptance is a defeated life and can have only one author, Satan.  God cannot be defeated nor can He create such sin, for He is always victorious in all that He is and does.

There is a wonderful song out now called “Still Rolling Stones” by Lauren Daigle and it fits right into play with the topic of this article and the message God wants you and I to fully understand.  What Jesus did with Lazarus is nothing short than a miracle and it cannot ever be denied as such but what is more important is that we understand that God loves us just as much as He does Lazarus and He wants us to never doubt this eternal love either.  If Jesus rolled away the stone of Lazarus and he came forth, then rolled away His own stone when He came forth what makes us doubt the love He has for you and I today?  We have the eternal Creator and His Son that vouches for us with every breath we take, so how can we devalue ourselves enough to warrant such worldly bribery?  You are a miracle and everyone knows it, but when we allow the enemy to invade deep enough to doubt that truth then we eventually reach the point where the doubt becomes our truth and not God’s truth.

I wish I could state that doubts about our worth will not come around but if I did so then I would be lying to you and not telling you what God wants to hear and to understand.  Yes, there will be times where we may think twice about our existence but it at this time where we draw from what we have learned about God and how His love for us gives us our worth.  It is also at this time that we know the Word of God well enough to know how to combat these attacks against us, for it is the knowledge of this Word that points out to our enemy that we know our worth and we believe in our worth that has been given to us.  There is a correlation here that we need to permanently fix into our heads and it deals directly with what we allow into our heads and then hearts.  In the Garden of Eden, all was perfect until Adam and Eve allowed the words of the world infiltrate their thinking which grew into their beliefs thus rendering their actions.  The same occurs in our lives if we allow it, the conditions and settings of the Garden of Eden did not change when they sinned, it was their lives that changed and had to leave.  The eternal protection of God has not changed today either, it is us who change our thinking about and our beliefs about who we trust and choose and it is this truth that is fixed.

If we take a hard look at our existence as the Church, can we see who actually has changed their thoughts and beliefs?  If for one second we have the inkling of the idea that God has changed His plan for our worth then we are gravely ill and need a repenting heart soon for we are on our eternal deathbed.  The only issue with that previous statement is that the modern Church DOES believe that God has changed His Ways and that He is now accepted another form of salvation for His people.  The CHURCH believes this!!  It is this lie from Satan that has come into our being and has destroyed countless amounts of lies in its wake.  For if anyone believes that God has lowered His standards for His people in any manner then you automatically believe that YOUR standards of creation and existence have been lowered as well.  If God would ever do such an act, then it would mean that His Kingdom would be divided and we know what happens to a divided kingdom.

Church, why do we promote such lies then?  Why do we water down God’s definition and the authority He has over our lives?  Why do we pursue the world’s values through biblical ideas and then expect the blessings of God to continue to rain down over our presence?  How foolish and blind can we be to believe such a lie?  Have we become so focused upon our physical existence that we have forgotten what God says about our lives?  How can we stand as a nation before God not to mention as individuals and ask for God to continue to cover us with His Covenant when we slap him in the face and spit on His beard?  Oh, Church, repent and allow God to open our spiritual eyes to see how far away from God we have strayed before it is too late.  Let us return to His Ways and live under His protection again before the storm becomes a mighty hurricane in which we will face without any protection.

It is clear that when any individual or organization becomes enthralled with the world, their ambitions become self-guiding and the value of life becomes “some girl in Iowa”.  God knows exactly who that “girl in Iowa” is and continues to love her very much and He holds her value so high that He would have sent His Son to die for her sins even if she was the only human being ever created.  “Some girl in Iowa” is the product of this world and it is the only result that the world can provide which is the exact reason this precious life in Iowa was snuffed out by someone who other ambitions for her.  God does not value death or disobedience in any way, He only values you and your eternal placement with Him and that is the ONLY reason for His Word and Ways.  Church, we are not completing this eternal reality we are playing games.  If we do not fulfill the plan of God and the mission of Christ in its entirety then we are devaluing not only the lives of others but our life as well.

DLB

No Beginning

No Beginning

8/14/18

It is difficult for our thought process to comprehend that something has no beginning for the very definition of our life begins at conception, a process that takes place and begins a growth process.  Yet we are familiar with or have at least heard about a being that has no beginning or an end, one that cannot be accurately defined due to this status but one that provides eternal life and love beyond our human belief system.  The world projects this Being as a controlling and manipulative creature that wants nothing but to place you under His thumb but in truth, all He wishes to do is to bring us eternal life and freedom from the true enemy of our existence.  We have chosen to accept the world as our friend and as we do so, watch the world grow within our hearts which only can bring tragedy.  It is time to bring back God into our lives and to once again believe and place our trust in the One who has no beginning.

It is no mystery that our lives have a beginning, a place where male and female come together as one and form a new life this is an old practice that has not changed since mankind was out from under the eternal cover of the Garden of Eden.  When one studies the process of Embryology, it becomes apparent that the entire act of conception and then growth is a process that is a miracle within itself, for there are so many errors that can take place yet few ever materialize.  It is this conception point that represents our beginning and a point that many will contend as the arguing stance for their beliefs, but no matter how one wishes to perceive this truth, it is the truth of conception that begins our life until we draw our last breath sometime later.  It is this point of reference that if something does go wrong the issue can be noticed and in some cases fixed but the point is we have a definitive starting point and everything from that moment on can be written about and talked about as our point of reference.

Everything about our physical lives can be defined from the point of our conception for it is at this point where our genetic makeup begins to replicate itself into who we are and who we will become.  There are no genetic codes for some of the current theories that the world is promoting, just eternal lies that seem like great alternatives to facing reality and the truth about the fight that is being waged against us.  Angels are in the same boat as we are, for they too have a beginning for they are created beings, it does not matter if they are fallen angels or angels that continue to serve God and His Ways, God is the only Being that has no beginning and it is for that reason alone that He is always given a capital letter when referred to.  It is hard for our finite and limited minds to believe or to even comprehend such a truth and so it goes that through this limited and foiled mind of ours we should believe that there is one Being that stands far greater in wisdom and knowledge that we can ascertain.  Isn’t it kind of worrisome that many people who want to find a definition of their lives totally ignore the Bible?  In truth, it is not a mistake but a conceived lie from our eternal enemy to keep us ignorant of our existence and purpose for our life.

Genesis 1:1 brings us into light about just how long God has been around, or it at least gives us an idea that even though our beginning as we know it God was already present and from all indications had been present for countless ages before our starting point.  Genesis 1:1 also states that even before we were present on this earth God was present and through this verse alone proves that God was around when the beginning of all things known was started.  This verse states as follows: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”  This means that God was around long enough before this verse occurred that He understood the necessity of this creation and the reasons why this creation was needed to further His Kingdom.  Now, to be honest, this type of information is hard to deal with in the presence of our minds for we cannot even remember when we were little babies much less when our Creator was alive and well so far back in time that there is no way to measure such an era.  It is also through this verse that God sets apart the foundation of eternal faith in Him and therefore defines His existence through the truths of His Word.

It is this foundational truth about our Creator that our enemy seeks to destroy in our hearts for he knows that if he can place doubt in our hearts about this truth all other lies that he will present in our lifetimes have the possibility of believing as well.  We forget that science is all based upon the physical laws the God established for our learning, not in the direction of disproving that God exists.  The idea that God does not exist is a concept that many educated people have come to agree with, solely based upon the theories of humans seeking the truth but believing a lie when their results are presented to them.  The human laboratory (the heart) can never fully understand what occurred eons before time began but we can put pieces of the puzzle together if we are listening to the correct voice.  God placed it in our hearts to learn, this world is limited and God is not; therefore, in order to understand this limited rock, we must first begin to understand God.  We can never forget that there is only one Being that has no beginning and since God has no beginning that automatically means that He can only have and thus survive in one direction. 

Since God has one direction this also means that anything He creates will be created in the same manner but since God is the ultimate representative of eternal love He gives all of His beloved creations the ability to choose Him and not hover over us like a controlling master or slave owner.  Which sets the Scripture passage of Isaiah 55:8 into motion when it states: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.”  Now, many have used this verse to try to grasp the understanding of how God works in His mysterious ways and rightly so, but how about we look at things on a more direct and personal level and place this verse to our standards.  If we do this we see ourselves as a failing creation due to our choices and one who needs pure and holy guidance at all times in our life.

God understands that our finite minds cannot completely understand His existence.  While this is a detail about His existence that might deflect some thoughts and beliefs about Him, His Word does provide our minds and hearts with enough information to give us the direction in which He wishes for us to know.  For example, while Adam and Eve were still within the holy confines of the Garden of Eden and pure in all standings of existence, God knew that even in this perfect state humans could not fully understand His presence and existence.  This limited ability of ours is explained in Genesis Chapter 2 when God instructed Adam to dress and to keep the Garden of Eden and not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  If mankind would have understood all things about life and about God, God would not have needed to instruct this command to Adam and Eve for it would have already been known; for even the angels have choices and our enemy is one that chose to leave God and His Kingdom.

God has never left any of His people to rot in a land without giving instructions; in fact, God has never left mankind rotting in ANY type of living conditions or existing conditions for that matter.  God has always instructed His people, everyone, that is, of how to live under His protection and grace and it is our choice to either abide by His authority or to go our own way and live according to the world’s principles.  Today, God has left us with specific instructions on how to survive in this world and trough this definition of His existence also provide a means to which others can live eternally as well.  In doing so, God has not left out the truth about His existence and in Isaiah 55:8 we find that God is willing to share with us the truth about how long He has been around.  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, saith the Lord.”  Through this verse, God sets Himself on a different plane than what we are constituted, for we have a beginning and if He represents a different plane, He must not have a beginning.

It is this difference that begs our hearts to study His existence and definition, or if we are honest with ourselves and listen to the desire of worship that He placed within our lives.  Through God’s will for our existence to understand His being, He made His Word possible for us to understand it, which means that humans had to write His definition in such a manner that through His Divine instructions gave to us as wisdom and knowledge about Him; a brilliant method of individuality and personality that no human could ever conjure up alone.  While many people seek the Bible for disproving His existence, God has placed His Word in our hands so that it may serve as the greatest covering and guide for eternal life.  God has never pushed any one of His children away from Him but made it strictly our choice to serve Him or not and it is through this eternal gift of His definition (the Bible) that serves as the foundation of eternal life if we choose to bring ourselves closer to Him through living within His definition.  In short, if you do not believe that the Bible is the eternal, unadulterated, pure and holy Word of God you cannot truly state that you believe in God or His Son because if one does not believe in a definition as being specific, no definition can be adhered to.

Isaiah 55:8 might seem a tad odd or even a verse that has no relevance to the topic at hand but when you dig deeper into the verse one will find that it actually brings inviting possibilities into our lives not only about God but our existence as well.  This verse does separate those who wish to understand God and the true and holy definition of His existence from those who superficially and whimsically read over verses to satisfy a reading guideline or conscientious timeline (religious) which provides a guilt-free mindless environment.  Many people use this superficial drawing table as a defense for how they wish to interpret God’s Word and in doing so, voluntarily invites our enemy into our hearts with an open door.  If we pursue God with a pure and holy heart, He has stated that He will justly show us His Ways and thus can adopt them into our lives.  As God demonstrated to us back in Genesis about how He cannot serve our lives when our hearts are not pure, this holy Way still stands true today.  However, He did not leave Adam and Eve back then and He will not leave us today, for He always provides a way even when the waters rise and take away dry land.

How many times have we humans tried to make things work, or provide answers on our own without God being the center of the explanation?  I know that I have personally tried to hand out answers to those with these types of limited and rhetorical words, all to the effect of naught for nothing gets accomplished with such gibberish.  If we stop and really contemplate what God is saying to us here we will begin to understand that everything that we need cannot be defined or answered from a finite beginning.  All true and vibrant answers must come to a different and separate source that has far-reaching abilities than what a limited source can provide and God wants to make it clear to His children that He and He alone, is the source of all our answers and the eternal provider of all our needs. 

Over the past centuries, many individuals, leaders, and nations have come to rely upon their own physical characteristics rather than having faith in the One who has no beginning.  While some scientists will tell you that anyone who believes in such spiritual and faith-related beliefs is hysterical in nature, they fail themselves in providing a sound and holy alternative answer.  When one who has a beginning tries to rise above a Being with no beginning the entire truth claim of that person’s presence is automatically falsified.  Once again, the prime example of this is given to us in Genesis Chapter 3 when humans choose to believe in a defeated and created being instead of listening to the One who has no beginning.  Now, God poses another question here concerning our beliefs and lives, and that is who do you believe in?  Do you believe in the created beings that have a worldly covering defined through a defeated enemy or do you believe in an eternal Being who has never been defeated and has no rival who can give you short term, long term and eternal answers that will not only give you answers you wish but eternal knowledge as well?  The answer to that question is definitely visible today and it does not look good for the people that walk the earth.

Church, you too are included in this limited answer session, for you have violated God’s truth laws when it comes to your desire to live under the Covenant that He provides.  Oh yes, you love to claim the “grace” portion of the Covenant but fail to recognize, understand, then live under its ENTIRE Ways.  Claiming grace alone will not provide you with ANY protection from the wiles of the devil, nor will living at the edge of the Covenant “umbrella” either – you know, the condition that you can step out from under the covering in public but step back under it when time comes to show off your Christian status.  Church, you have become stricken with a disease that you deem is necessary to be accepted within the communities of the world, to remain relevant. You are NOT supposed to become relevant to the world, you are supposed to oppose the world in love according to the Ways and definition of God.  So, once again God has a question for us and it goes like this.  How do you expect the conditions of the world and especially your lives to miraculously improve if you first do not follow the One example that can provide everyone with the desired conditions? 

The answer to this question is quite simple in that we shall never understand or know the true meaning of life and the conditions that God desires for ALL His children until we turn our hearts back to Him.  God’s call to repentance is clear and concise with no hesitations or obstacles in front of it.  God knows that at some point if we the Church do not stop our sinning and turn back to Him so we can correctly proclaim His dominion to the dying world, our nation and all other nations that exist shall be physically and spiritually affected by a grave judgment, and this judgment is NOT the one represented in the end times.  We must once again find the fire of the Holy Spirit and allow Him to burn away all ugliness and sin from our hearts before God has to say “enough”.  Church, repent and allow God to restore His perfect heart into our lives again so that we may fully understand His Ways and His truth about His No Beginning.  This is good news, people and it is our responsibility to teach this and to proclaim this truth to those who are dying and need answers.  Are we afraid of the answers that we may receive or is it really that we are afraid of the truth about God and the truth that He has no beginning?

DLB

Not Alive?

Not Alive?

8/1/18

Many people do not believe that there is any connection between the two Testaments of the Bible, nor do they believe that Jesus fulfills the Old Testament through His life and presence on the earth.  Jesus and His words gave life to many around Him and this life should be evident in our hearts today yet we sit and ponder the meaning of our existence with a worldly vision, then cry when issues arise and tear down another portion of our lives.  It is through this confession that our hearts demonstrate the lack of truth and faith that we can know if we study the Word of God.  It is true repentance and the allowance of God to restore our hearts to His Ways that God seeks today and one of the main focal points of this restoration process comes from the wisdom and the application of God’s Word to our lives and in our lives.

I recently watched a small clip from one of Dr. Ravi Zacharias’ talks where he gave the audience an opportunity to ask questions concerning the topic that he had just completed.  One of the questions asked to him was from a scientist who stated that all of us were predetermined and that all of our actions were programmed in and there was nothing that we could do to change such predestined status.  The young person also claimed that Adam and Eve nor the Garden of Eden ever existed and that there was no foundation for such story or beginning of our existence in that manner; this all supports this young person’s thinking and beliefs.  Scientists like to conclude that if it does not line up exactly with what they have been exposed to that whatever information goes against the grain is not the truth and therefore is false evidence.  But science leaves out an important aspect of life and that is the human mind and the abilities it has to see through what may line up superficially and explain the more in-depth truth of what has occurred.

The argument that this young person had was that free will was not a part of our lives and that the actions of each person is already predetermined, which means basically that all of us are machines pre-wired to act and to think in a certain manner and that no matter how hard we try we cannot change this fact.  This is a dangerous concept because it means that if this is true, there will be people already out there who could be destined to end your life when they come into contact with you or any other type of possibility of demise upon your life.  Now, if one believes that this is a true claim, I can understand how they believe or want to believe that Genesis Chapters 1-3 do not exist and that those texts are a lie for it goes totally against the scientific logic of our existence for these chapters clearly define our freedom of choice and how we at any moment can change our beliefs according to how we feel or think.  Do you understand the difference between these two concepts?  One believes that you are predetermined and you can do nothing to change such outcomes and the other teaches that you have the overall choice of what to believe and how to act.  Now, I ask you, which setting in our lives teaches that you can do anything you want as long as it follows a trend and that there is absolutely nothing wrong with a person when they do such an act, versus the one who teaches that all of us are subject to our consequences yet has an escape plan in place for our redemption?

In a predetermined lifestyle, a person cannot be alive on any level since they are already programmed to live such an existence, in truth they have no choice in any matter.  The Bible teaches us differently for it actually defines our truth as humans and presents us with the evidence that we were created with an independent mind and heart with the ability to think and to choose accordingly.  These two comparisons contrast each other quite significantly and so goes the definition of the two kingdoms that are currently, have been, and will be fighting for your eternity.  We would expect this type of contrast to be presented when two people of opposing beliefs come face to face with each other but for it to exist between two believers is quite extraordinary, or is it.  The question of if the two biblical Testaments are connected is one that many have answers to and just as it has been stated in the previous sentence, many variations as well.  This division all stems and boils down to if one believes that Jesus Christ is the true and holy Son of God or not and if one believes that He came to this earth for a Divine and specific purpose, which is the focus of this article that God wants us to take a hold of today.  We never can forget that eternity is not subject to science but that science is subject to eternity, for it is God and His definition that defines eternity and the holiness and purity that it represents.

In the previous article we learned about Mark 16:12-15 and what it meant for us to go into all of the world and preach the gospel of Christ and how if we are not doing this on a routine and daily basis that we can harbor atheistic tendencies which can lead to our total falling away from God.  We also learned that if we do not study God’s Word more than a book or novel we read that our hearts are no longer in touch and in tune with God and that the atheistic conditions are stronger than previously noted and should be taken accounted for immediately.  Here, we continue with Mark 16:15 but we are going to focus on two words and those two words are the last two of this verse.  Mark 16:15 states as follows: “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”  I love it when God uses a short and simple verse to illustrate and to answer a dynamic question to those who do not understand the connection between what we refer to as the Old Testament and to the New Testament.  This verse alone continues what God commanded Adam and Eve to do in the Garden of Eden, so connected that the command is spoken by Jesus in two words.

The two words that are the focal point is “every creature” and it is these two words that tie Jesus’ command to His Church to that of the command God gave to Adam and Eve in the Garden for it represents the exact same command.  When God told Adam to dress and to keep the Garden of Eden He did so in a manner to which He meant it to be a warning about obedience and how important it was for him to complete this command at all times.  It was the act of disobedience that led to Adam and Eve’s downfall and subsequently humanity from that point onward.  Adam and Eve understood the importance of this command yet over time fell wary of its meaning and importance for we can ascertain this fact by our own methods of dealing with issues and rules today.  Adam and Eve were humans just like us and they had every opportunity to make the choice of whether or not to obey the rule that was before them.  They chose to listen to the ruler of the world and allow sin to enter into their presence and it was through this act of disobedience that has led to the state of affairs that is contained within our innermost portion of our lives, death.

The impact of death was immediately felt in Adam and Eve and this feeling of death continues in our bodies today.  Death is the single most feared word that humans have in the languages we speak.  It is bad enough that our lives have to end at a certain point in time that we have to shorten that lifespan by committing horrific acts of violence and other means of physical destruction against one another.  It was not too much longer after sin entered into the lives of humans that we read about the first murder of another human, a far grasp from the total serenity and holiness type of living experienced in the Garden of Eden.  All fear death and this final physical act that everyone has to deal with actually starts the eternal phase of our existence and it is this existence that represents the most important phase of our lives for once this is the only side of our lives that is present our choices are permanent and cannot be changed.

In Mark 16:15 we have two words that tie the command together and it is through these two words that God once again presents Himself as a constant, pure, and holy Creator.  Every creature represents every aspect of life and it is life that all of us seek to have for as long as possible.  When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden they did not have to worry about their lives endings for they were created in a perfect manner but when sin entered into their lives their entire world changed as they knew it which should have triggered a thought of the future for all people in their minds.  We cannot forget that the choices we make today will have some type of effect on our children or our societies in the future and whether we like it or not we need to ensure for as long as possible the safety and guarantees of God and not the world.  Mark tells us that Jesus told His disciples to go and preach the gospel to every creature, this means everyone who truly believes in Jesus participates and everyone obeys this command for it is the exact words from His Father in the Garden of Eden to the humans then.

The parallel that exists between these two passages lies within both of the biblical settings in which the places and times of the two commands represent an unwavering and constant command, obedience.  It is easy to become focused on the words that were commanded themselves instead of focusing on the fact that the words given to the humans were of a holy origin and were meant to be fulfilled at all times by all participants.  God does not want a bunch of programmed robots running around saying a rehearsed message to those who need Him, He wants to have an intimate relationship with every person that He has created for it is through this relationship that He will communicate with us to then communicate with others in a specific manner so that they will know Him and His eternal love for them.  If we do not have this inner connection then the words of both settings become superficial and mean nothing which is exactly what Satan wants them to become.  Satan did a masterful work in the Garden of Eden to rob what God had given and today he is working the exact same “magic” on our hearts today to obtain identical results.

God gave Adam and Eve dominion over every tree and plant in the Garden of Eden, and Jesus gave us dominion over every creature to be witnesses to and to tell of the truth about Jesus and His presence on the earth.  Remember that the plants and trees of the Garden of Eden were alive and needed to be kept up which means that if they were not then their presence would not be in the order that God designed them to be.  Jesus gave the same command to His disciples in the same manner for He knew that if we did not do this command as we should that the children who came after Him would be in the same disarray as the failed attempts of Adam and Eve if they did not obey.  Our purpose in life is to ensure that every person is groomed according to the commands and laws of God, not the ways of the world that so many teach, the world cannot produce anything that involves life, only God can do this miracle.  In other words, a part of our dominion that we need to keep up is defined in the command that Jesus gave to His Church and that is for us to go and to preach the gospel to those who need to hear about God no matter where it takes us in the world.

The command of obedience from God to His children is alive and does not represent anything else but life.  The command itself is not based on the words but on the principle of the concept and truth of obedience.  All of God’s definition is important and it is imperative that we understand all of His definition God obeys His Laws in all ways and at all time which means that He expects His children to do the same for if God disobeyed His Laws He would essentially be disobeying Himself which would pose as the eternal damnation of all life as we know it, plus prove Satan to be correct.  When God’s children obey His commands, the future effects of human life are astoundingly healthy on all levels for this obedience counteracts the means of sin that disobedience portrays.  We cannot forget that obedience and disobedience are products of Kingdom and the kingdom or Kingdom in which it presents rests solely on our acts of either process.  Kingdom advancement, no matter which kingdom one refers to, is advanced or declined by either obedience or disobedience which means that this process is alive in our lives and includes our past, present, and future.  Now, place this concept on a national level and you have the explanation as to why our nation and other nations alike are either in trouble or are stable.

We cannot deny the fact that Both Testaments of the Bible are linked and that they represent a common bond which runs in tandem with each other and the definition of God.  The bottom line is that obedience brings life and to be more specifically eternal life and the only way to obtain this eternal status is to obey God and His Ways.  God’s eternal plan for our lives has not changed and it has been in place even before we were created and this means that it is still intact today and easily rendered if we only accept His Son as our Savior.  It is not the idea of God or the Way of God for us to take any other matter into our hands than to keep our dominion pure and holy before His Eyes.  It is not ours to increase the dominion that God gave us, it is His authority alone that secures our perimeters so why is it our belief that we can interject selfish ways into our lives in order to keep our dominion up?  The answer to that question is simple, this occurs when we allow the ruler of the world to overshadow the eternal truth and have a position and then legal say in our lives.

If one wishes to argue the fact concerning the meaning of these two passages, let them for when studies both they will find that the words used in both passages are the same and represents one single meaning and way to the truth concerning obedience and dominion.  Adam and Eve were required to give their all to ensure their all was secure and kept up according to the standards of God.  Jesus gave the exact same command to His disciples, which in turn means He gave this command to us.  The word “us” represents the Church and it is this command that we should be doing not practicing any other practice for our worldly position of popularity condition.  Ultimately, we cannot control what people believe; however, it is our responsibility to put the eternal truth out to everyone so that the ones who are looking for the truth about their existence can hear it.  It is this truth that is alive and is what changes people’s lives an hearts if they wish to understand, obey and then follow.

But the Church has sat on her hands and not delivered this message to the world thus not keeping their dominion from the Garden of Eden and therefore not keeping the command to preach the gospel to every creature either.  This lack of obedience is called sin and the greatest disobedient act occurs when we do not keep what Jesus told us to do and that is to tell others.  If we do not tell them about eternal life and how it is to live free from the bondage of this world and its ruler, what life can we offer to others on any level?  For if we do not tell others about God and His Son we cannot offer anything else but the world and the world can only represent pain, suffering, and ultimate death.  Church, we need to once again burn with the fire of God so that His light may reach those who are in darkness and it is “us” who has this responsibility to shine.  Repent Church, and get off our duffs and hit the world with the love of God and tell those who do not know, that Jesus and eternal life is alive!

DLB