SEARCHING FOR LIFE and PEACE?

We may be ‘in this world’ but we should not be a part of this world and it’s cares.

The Bible says that the mind that is set on the Spirit is life and peace. It’s not just a philosophy or a feel good teaching. This is the Truth, but it takes work and discipline.

Here’s the guarantee:  If you will separate yourself (your mind, will and emotions) from the cares, worries and attractions of this world, and set your mind on the Spirit of God, you will not only have LIFE and PEACE, you will find success and will prosper even as your soul will prosper!

Here is how: Take one of these verses each few days, memorize it, visualize it, speak it, and do it. This, the Word of God, will literally change your life.

Verse 1.

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, (The English Standard Version).

Recap:

1. Rejoice always
2. Pray without ceasing.
3. Give thanks in all circumstances.

There is another verse in the Bible that says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7). If you train your mind, soul and spirit (heart), so you will be, also.

The fruit of the Spirit, the result of His presence within us, is love, unselfish concern for others, joy, inner peace, patience – not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Positive, happy, healthy, encouraging and respectful people are like honey to bees. If you want friends, peace and life and would like to be respected, practice these things.

I will be posting a verse every few days. Let’s do this together – in His Name!

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

(Next: Verse 2)

NOT OF THIS WORLD

The title sounds like it belongs on a science fiction novel. It might bring to mind strange looking creatures in other-worldly surroundings. But a similar caption can be found in the New Testament book of John 8:23, “And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.” (the words of Jesus).

And again, in John 18:36, “Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”

Is Jesus speaking in metaphors, or is this to be taken literally? Is He really ‘not of this world’?

Then in John 17:13–19, “But now I am coming to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. I have given those you have given Me, Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world (kósmos; literally, “something ordered“; an “ordered system”, the world. ), just as I am not of the world. I am not asking You to take them out of the world, but to keep them away from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. Just as You sent Me into the world, I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, so that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.”

Are those who profess to become Christians really not of the world? (I mean, they were born into the world of natural parents.)

Then, in Romans 12:2, we are told that the believer is not to be “conformed to this world, but (to) be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Again, are these verses to be taken literally, or is it metaphorical?

It is a peculiarity of becoming a Christian that a transformation takes place. I suspect, unfortunately, that most people consider this transformation to be a natural cognitive process. Is it a natural process being described by metaphor or hyperbole, or is it something that literally happens with a believer?

Again, 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us that, “If anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creature; the old has passed away; behold, new things have come.” (Some Bible versions have altered that word to read, “If anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation.” After all, becoming a new creature or a different creature is a bit out of this world.)

The Bible talks about being born again, of being made new, being transformed, being filled with the Spirit of God. Are these just exaggerations, metaphors, hyperboles or similes, used to get a point across? If so, it is odd then, that on the one hand, the Bible talks about unexplainable events, out of this world events, as miracles, then on the other hand would reduce the transformation of a human being into a child of God and a child of light, to a metaphor? Or is it both?

Is it possible that it is we – those of us who read the Bible and profess to believe in God – who are ascribing the miraculous to events which happen to others or miracles in nature, as being possible and literal? But are reducing those things that happen to us – individually – as metaphorical?

Or, are you and I just unwilling to believe such out of this world things can literally happen to us?

Or, perhaps, we are unwilling to do the literal, that is to die to our old lives and our old selves in order to literally become Christlike and to literally follow Jesus? (Before you answer, consider the Apostles and read Hebrews chapter 11.)

Please consider these events and decide if they literally happened or if they were just metaphors and hyperbole:

• Jesus, having been crucified, killed and buried, literally coming back to life.
• About all believers, at some point, being raised from the dead when Jesus miraculously appears in the clouds of the sky and His angels will gather His elect to be raptured into heaven.
• About the lame being healed; the blind given sight; the dead raised back to life; axe handles that float; a donkey speaks;
• Then there is the parting of the Red Sea (Exodus 14).
• Jonah and the big fish (Jonah 1:17).
• The virgin birth of Jesus (Matthew 1:18–25).
• Daniel’s survival in the den of lions (Daniel 6:21–22).
• Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s preservation in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3:25).
• Jesus’ walking on water (Matthew 14:25–27).
• Jesus’ calming of the storm (Matthew 8:23–27).

Miracles of healing

• Jesus’ healing of the nobleman’s son (John 4:46–47), a leper (Mark 1:40–45), a paralytic (Matthew 9:1–8), and a woman with an issue of blood (Luke 8:43–48)

Miracles over demonic forces

• Jesus’ casting out of many unclean spirits (Mark 1:23–28; Matthew 8:28–34)

Miracles of provision

• God’s provision of manna (Exodus 16:4).
• Jesus’ turning of water into wine (John 2:7–9).
• Jesus’ feeding of the multitudes (Matthew 14:19–20; 15:36–37).

Miracles of resurrection

• Elijah’s raising of the son of the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:17–24).
• Elisha’s raising the Shunamite woman’s son (2 Kings 4:18–37).
• Jesus’ raising of the widow of Nain’s son (Luke 7:11–18), Jairus’s daughter (Luke 8:52–56), and Lazarus (John 11).
• Peter’s raising of Tabitha (Acts 9:36–43).
• Paul’s raising of Eutychus (Acts 20:7–12).
• Jesus’ resurrection (Luke 24:1–7)

Could it be that becoming a Christian is more than just adopting a religion, and a new world view? Is it possible that something ‘supernatural’ actually takes place in your own mind, body, soul, spirit and life? Something OUT OF THIS WORLD?

It is interesting that the Greek word used for ‘transformed’ or ‘transformation’ is metamorphóō; it translates to “metamorphosis” and “metamorphize. (Metá, “change after being with” and /morphóō, and means “changing form in keeping with inner reality”; transformed after being with; transfigured.

A creature that has gone through a metamorphosis is radically and permanently changed from one thing into another. It is a process, when taken literally, that cannot be undone.

2 Corinthians 3:16-18 says, “Whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

So, why all this talk about miracles, metaphors, and hyperboles? I use it to help us focus on the idea that the Bible is not a religious book, nor is it a book about religion. I am wanting to ask and ponder the question “what if the Bible is indeed a book breathed and written by God, describing Himself, His plans, purposes, methods and His Kingdom – and about us as His creation, who came from another world to inhabit earth? SOMETHING TRULY OUT OF THIS WORLD!

The Bible is a book that not only answers all the questions of life but directs us to ‘rise up out of the dust of this earth’, to be born again and to be transformed into a new creature to inherit the coming new heaven and the new earth. God intends us to take our place as His children, as joint heirs with Jesus over all that God has created. It is entirely plausible and practical that our experience of a natural birth and our life on this earth is nothing more than God’s incubator for our maturing into the image and likeness of Christ Jesus in preparation of our eternity with Him.

I hope this gives a new urgency and meaning that “The gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life and there are few who find it”, because there are literally very few who call themselves Christian, willing or able to see the Bible as a literal call from God to come out of this world and its ways. They fail or refuse to see that if they are truly born again and transformed, they are NO LONGER OF THIS WORLD and should not simply be adding the benefits of being a Christians (such as going to heaven receiving answered prayers, etc.) to living like they are of this world! They must stop entangling themselves with the concerns and matters of this world and follow Jesus in His inexorable march to the consummation of this age!

I hope this gives incentive to re-read the Bible with new eyes that can see.

Furthermore, I pray that the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened, so that we will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe. (see Ephesians 1:18-19).

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

(Next:  The Prophetic Words of Jesus)

(Scroll down the page as the audio file plays).

(Christian): Come! Follow Jesus!

OK. How do I do that?

(Christian): Read this little booklet. Pray this little prayer. Find a good bible-believing Church. Read your Bible.

10 years later.

                           

What now? I’ve done all you have said and there’s been nothing but trouble inside and outside the church. It seems that I’ve changed, but little else has changed.

(Christian): What are you doing different?

Nothing.

 

(Christian): Oh, I see. That’s probably the problem. You actually have to follow Jesus. Do what He says and do what He does. You know?

 

Huh? Do you mean, really follow Him around? So, if I am to actually follow Him, please tell me, where we are going?

(Christian): I don’t know. I mean, we are going to heaven! In the meantime, just read your Bible, be nice, and to the best of your ability, do what it says. Or, listen to your preacher. He will tell you what to do! Right?

I have been asking around, and so many people and preachers are saying so many different things. Who should I listen to? Whose advice should I follow?

 

Jesus answered, “Be careful that no one misleads you, deceiving you and leading you into error. For many will come in My name, misusing it, and appropriating the strength of the name which belongs to Me, or representing me in the Church, saying, ‘I am the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One,’ or saying, ‘I represent Jesus as His anointed one, His spokesman or spokeswoman’ and they will mislead many.” Do not listen to them and do not follow them. Follow only Me.

 

I feel like I am lost in a forest of religions. How can I find my way home to God? How can I know which way to go?

 

 

The world seems to be in an irreversible spiral of chaos, careening out of control. But that is only the appearance. There is order behind the apparent chaos. Satan creates chaos, disease, poverty and death to discourage and distract you from God’s Great Design and Plan. Satan will try to convince you that he has a plan for your salvation. It is a lie.

Everything, past, present and future is going according to God’s Plan. Knowing and following God’s Will from beginning to end will help you see and know what God is doing in these Last Days and why He is doing it this way.

Let me take you on a journey. A journey through the Bible, following Jesus and important signposts from the beginning to the end.

My prayer is that you would read the Bible (from the beginning to the end in the proper context), and that everything you may have wondered regarding the reasoning behind God’s plan for the world and for your life – all your successes, all your failures, all the good times and the hard times – will begin to make sense and fall into place. That God will give you an increased and a renewed enthusiasm for His Word so that you may be able to perform His Word and His Works in these Last Days.

Please, be aware that this will not be an easy journey. Jesus has already told us that we will have tribulation in this world. In fact, it is through these trials that we are made ready – perfected into the image and likeness of Christ Jesus – in order to inherit this world and the next as joint heirs with Jesus. (see Matthew 5).

I promise you that this is an amazing journey. A journey from the beginning of time through recorded world and Biblical histories. We will identify important past Bible prophecies and correlate them to the actual past world events; then we will compare both prophecies and histories to one specific prophecy known as ‘Daniel’s Seventy Weeks’, which will bring us to current events and the final epoch of time known by various names, such as, “The Last Days”, “The End The Age” the “Latter Days” and “The Tribulation”, which are now unfolding with frightening accuracy.

I will not stop there, however. I will conclude by laying out a successful response to these events, a plan of action by which you can both survive and thrive in these final days.

Finally, there is an event coming which is so fantastic as to be unbelievable. But I will show the evidence leading to this event, known as the ‘Rapture’ and I will even help you calculate the odds of its occurrence.  You will then be faced with the most monumental decision you have ever faced. You don’t want to miss this.

NEXT:   PERFECTION

(Please note: Links on this page are used in lieu of citations, footnotes and references, and they are important in order to gain a full understanding of this teaching. Please use them as you go.)

THROUGH JESUS EYES

The phrase ‘seeing through another person’s eyes’ is a figure of speech – an idiom. When someone sees or considers something through another person’s eyes, they consider it in the way that another person does; they see it from their perspective or their point of view.

Which leads me to ask, ‘why was Jesus so mysterious to so many people’? Why can’t we understand who He is and why He behaved the way he did? I believe the problem was that most people either have no concept of where Jesus’ comes from and have little idea of His mission – or choose not to believe it.

However, I believe that if a person would ‘see through Jesus’ eyes’, so to speak, they might better understand what He was saying and teaching. I believe we could better understand His intentions and His purpose. Then the question would be, or could we believe? (And this is especially true for professing Christians).

Jesus’ purpose, (His plan, ministry, methods and mission) was often misunderstood, even by those closest to Him. Perhaps it was because He would explain Himself through figures of speech, such as idioms, metaphors and similes, or perhaps it was because the miracles He performed were too fantastic to believe. Other times Jesus was very clear and exacting in His teachings and in His proclamations, but He was still misunderstood, or worse, He was rejected as a liar, a lunatic or a fraud by many.

Nonetheless, Jesus clearly stated that He was sent by God the Father. His home and domain is the Kingdom of Heaven and His mission is to defeat sin and its consequences and to seek and save those who are spiritually lost – this was and is Jesus total reason. This is how Jesus sees our world. Everything He said and did was in response to this one mission.

John 5:37-38, “And the Father who sent Me, He has testified about Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. Also, you do not have His word remaining in you, because you do not believe Him whom He sent.”

John 6:38-40, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of everything that He has given Me I will lose nothing, but will raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

John 5:30, “I can do nothing on My own. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of Him who sent Me.”

John 16:25-31, “These things I have spoken to you in figures of speech; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father.  On that day you will ask in My name, and I am not saying to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf;  for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”

His disciples said, “See, now You are speaking plainly and are not using any figure of speech. Now we know that You know all things, and that You have no need for anyone to question You; this is why we believe that You came forth from God.”  Jesus replied to them, “Do you now believe?”

If you or I do not see this world (and the world which is to come), as Jesus sees it – if we do not have the mind and attitude of Christ – we do not understand even the first thing about Jesus, His mission, His methods, His promises, His claims or His Word.

I know this is a bold statement. I can hear the Bible student’s mind whirring right now! “That can’t possibly be true”, they might say. But I stand in this statement, as narrow as it sounds.

Listen to the words of James as he says, “You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request on your pleasures.” (see James 4:2b-3). James is adamant that using the promises and power of God for things other than the Mission of Christ Jesus leads to ungodly behavior, greed, selfishness, vanity and division. It is a sad misunderstanding of the teachings and calling of Jesus at best, and a mockery of the Gospel at worst. (You should read the entire chapter to get the full context of what James is teaching.)

Furthermore, no matter how well-intentioned we may be, Jesus has warned, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.  Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”

On the flip side, if you are willing, there is nothing that compares to following Jesus. You will never regret the results! Then you may ask what you will and it will be done for you!

 

Seeing through Jesus’ Eyes should radically alter most Christian’s view of everything they think they know, especially in matters of one’s own salvation and what should follow.

What we Christians should now be facing, I pray, is making the second most monumental decision following our decision to follow Jesus, and that is to actually follow Him, which requires that we “see through the Eyes of Jesus”.

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

(If you think this sounds harsh or too narrow, please know that I have felt the same way. But, please believe me, salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus is neither cheap nor easy – no matter how it is being sold. Please consider this short series: “It Ain’t Easy”.)

 

 

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working…

(these words, ‘the working’, from Strong’s Greek concordance #1753, enérgeia = working, action, productive work, activity; in the NT, confined to superhuman activity; “divine energy”; typically refers to God’s energy which transitions the believer from point to point in His plan (accomplishing His definition of progress),

…of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.  (Ephesians 1:18-21, NASB.)

In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek word, enérgeia = ‘activity’) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a physical body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat and light. Energy is a conserved quantity—the law of conservation of energy states that energy can be converted in form, but not created or destroyed.

Mass is an intrinsic property of a body.

In physics, mass–energy equivalence is the relationship between mass and energy in a system’s rest frame. Mass–energy equivalence states that all objects having mass, or massive objects, have a corresponding intrinsic energy, even when they are stationary.

I do not believe that it is simply a coincidence that science and the Bible use the Greek word energeia when describing natural physical or metaphysical energy and mass and  the working of God’s strength. I am certain that physicists use this word as they unwittingly confirm what the Bible had already said about energy and its observable results.

For example:  Elements gather in space. Gas drifts through the universe and is drawn together by the force of gravity.

A star is ‘born; It burns brightly and releases energy and heat; too much mass gathers for the star to counteract the gravitational pull through the exclusion principle. The mass continues to collapse under gravitational forces, expelling and returning its mass out into the universe until it ‘burns out’ and a black hole is formed. Its purpose is accomplished, and the star returns its remains back to the universe and is recycled in an unknown and altered form. That is what is called ‘the death of a star’.

Is this not anagolos to the creation and birth and death of a person? Is this not a shadow of the boundless greatness of God’s power toward us who believe, in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come?

Is the scientific description of ‘the birth and death’ of a star also a fitting analogy to our birth, life and death? We are born and we ‘burn brightly’, releasing energy and heat; at some point our ‘mass’ begins to collapse, expelling and returning our mass from whence it came. Our purpose accomplished, our remains go back to the earth and the universe. But in this case our spirit lives on either as a glorified body joined with the Spirit of God or it goes to eternal death and destruction – an unknown and altered form.

Scientists observe the universe in terms of energy and mass. They theorize what they see using prior knowledge, some empirical evidence, their trained and educated imagination, complex mathematical equations, and assumptions to tell each other and the world what they think is going on in our natural physical world. They anthropomorphize their nature finding to make them more lifelike, relatable and easier for the non-scientific world to accept.

But take the same theories and assumptions and frame them in the language of the Bible and the scientific elite frown and shake their heads in disparaging disagreement.

Nonetheless, these highly educated and supremely intelligent people are also among the most biased, narrow-minded and myopic people on the planet. They expand their minds and understanding through a very narrow lens and down an ever narrower path. (And they have been wrong in their theories more than they have been right, hence the endless litany of ‘new or corrected findings’ on age old matters, once thought settled.)

The scientific community says it is normal that they are evolving and refining their studies and findings. They say this is how science works.

Physicists have done and are doing amazing things. Their findings and the application of those inventions continue to make life much better for people. But any moral and ethical standards guiding scientific research and discovery have been lowered or are frighteningly absent. We thank you scientists for your dedication and hard work and for all of your accomplishments. Now we  pray you don’t find ways to annihilate us all.

The Bible states its findings of science in an alternative language which is constrained and guided by moral and ethical absolutes. And that, in my opinion, is the rub for most scientists. They, like most people resent being told what to do and how the should live.

BREAKING: The Physics Nobel Prize Winner of 2022 just Proved that the “Universe is actually not real”.

“The fact that the universe is not locally real is one of the more disquieting discoveries of the last half-century.”

Scientists, and physicists in particular. could be described as ‘odd fellows’ and as ‘weird’ or ‘strange’, not people who think like the ‘normal person’ thinks. Many of them describe themselves as much. Watch them and listen to them and you will probably agree (unless you too are a ‘brainiac’).

Physicists, astrophysicists, quantum physicists, theoretical physicist, etc., think. They think about the physical world around us. A physicist specializes in the study of the fundamental principles governing the behavior of matter and energy in the universe. Physicists explore the laws of nature, seeking to understand phenomena ranging from the behavior of subatomic particles to the large-scale structure of the cosmos. They employ mathematical models, experiments, and advanced technologies to formulate theories and contribute to our understanding of the physical world.

I could have said that physicists dream, if I wanted to super-simplify my point, and that would have been mostly correct. They dream up things from their odd way of looking at the world and universe and wonder how they work or why they work the way the work. They even dream about unseen things that seem possible or interesting and then go about trying to prove them correct or false.

The latest crazy idea is that the universe is not real. (First, let’s define ‘real’ according to the referenced article). “Real,” indicates that objects have defined attributes independent of observation—for example, an apple can be red even when no one is looking; “local,” which means that objects can only be impacted by their surroundings, and that any effect cannot travel faster than light. Quantum physics researchers have discovered that these concepts cannot both be true. Instead, the evidence suggests that objects are not only influenced by their surroundings, and that they may lack distinct properties prior to measurement.

‘Three physicists: John Clauser, Alain Aspect, and Anton Zeilinger were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2022 in equal parts “for experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities, and pioneering quantum information science.” (“Bell inequalities” alludes to the early 1960s pioneering work of Northern Irish physicist John Stewart Bell, who established the groundwork for this year’s Physics Nobel.)

Now if you think that is weird (and unintelligible), try this one:

Scientists (physicists), say that the universe is made up of approximately 68% dark energy and 27% dark energy and 5% of visible matter. Scientists surmise that these types of matter exist by the effect they have on the universe. They go on to explain that you cannot see dark energy or dark matter and you cannot measure them. In fact, they cannot prove either exist and will admit they aren’t even certain they do exist. They just THINK they do. And with their record of accuracy, they are probably right, to some degree. It sounds rude perhaps, but they dream this stuff up from observation and imagination based on established science.

SO IF SCIENCE CAN ACCEPT THAT, WHY WON’T SCIENCE ACCEPT THIS?

Strangely similar to the study of quantum mechanics, the existence of God is can be observabed by the effects He has on the universe. Romans 1:20 says, “For ever since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through His workmanship [all His creation, the wonderful things that He has made], so that they [who fail to believe and trust in Him] are without excuse and without defense.”

Additionally, read Genesis 1:1-5, “In the beginning God (Elohim) created [by forming from nothing] the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void or a waste and emptiness, and darkness was upon the face of the deep [primeval ocean that covered the unformed earth]. The Spirit of God was moving (hovering, brooding) over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good (pleasing, useful) and He affirmed and sustained it; and God separated the light [distinguishing it] from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.”

The study in Genesis is supported by scholastic research. Scholars attribute the authorship of Genesis – and the other first four books of the Old Testament known as the Pentateuch – to Moses. But how do we know this? How do we know that Moses, and not a series of authors as proposed in the JEDP theory linked above, wrote this book?

First, as this Answers in Genesis article explains, we have documentary witnesses. This means we have verses in the Bible that attribute the authorship to him such as Numbers 33:1-2.

Second, as mentioned in the Answers in Genesis article, not only does the Pentateuch confirm Moses’ authorship, but the rest of the Bible, including the New Testament does as well. This means thousands of years of Jewish tradition would have upheld this position.

But this does bring forth the question: how would Moses know all of these things? How would he know about the events of Genesis and other events that happened hundreds (even thousands) of years before his time?

First, we cannot discount supernatural revelation. Scripture is divinely inspired.

Second, we also have evidence throughout Scripture of tradition being passed down – from specific prayers of Abraham to the bones of Joseph. Their culture worked quite differently than ours. They remembered details better, had a stronger oral tradition, had longer attention spans. Not to mention the events of Genesis ended about 300 years before Moses came into existence. Because of the strong oral tradition and duty of the Jewish people to preserve their roots, not much could have changed in the accounts throughout that time.

God spoke to Moses and Moses had those thoughts. That’s right. Moses thought these things and then wrote them. Does that sound pretty astounding? It is much less incredible than unprovable dark matter, dark energy, the existence of parallel universes and the idea that ‘the universe is actually not real’.

So, is science unwittingly proving the Bible has been right all along? If so, can science and the Bible become compatible once again?

In the end, it’s up to each person to decide. Here is a link to the movie and sequel to IS GENESIS HISTORY? I am pretty sure it will help you along your way.

 

 

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

PS: I realize this article may seem esoteric to some – or unnecessary to others. But I love science. I like to read about what humankind is learning and doing with science. When this is framed within the parameters of THE GOD WHO CREATED IT ALL, and science points irrevocably toward God, I love it even more. I hope you can, too.

 

Is it all just about Heaven or Hell?

Is it all just about

Right vs wrong?

Light vs darkness?

Do vs don’t?

Truth vs lies?

Blessings vs punishment?

or is it

Life vs Death?

If I were to ask you, as a Christian or as someone who believes in God, “what is the destination of a person at the end of their life”, what would you say?

Then, if I were to ask you “how you are to arrive at your desired result and what does the Bible teach about how to reach that conclusion”, what would you say?

A most popular answer about a person’s ultimate destination is Heaven or Hell, and many would suggest that you get there by what you believe or how you live your life.

Many Christians will tell you that they cannot ‘earn’ their way to heaven, but it is by God’s grace through faith in Christ Jesus that they are forgiven their sins and will spend eternity in heaven with God.

Some will say it is based on how you live your life and what you do that gets you into heaven or sent to hell.

There are some professing Christians who believe that it is a combination of faith and works that will get them to heaven.

Either way, I believe that a vast majority of believers, either consciously or subconsciously, hold to the idea that it is the rights and wrongs, the dos and don’ts, the truths and lies that they commit in their lives that reveal a person’s true beliefs and those beliefs will determine their ultimate destination – no matter what they say publicly.

The Bible says the primary destination, the primary end is not heaven or hell or right or wrong, light versus darkness, dos versus don’ts, truth versus lies or blessings versus punishments. What the Bible speaks to is the matter of Life versus Death. All the rest, the rights or wrongs, light versus darkness, dos versus don’ts, truth versus lies or blessings versus punishments, are guideposts, (instructions), along the way to either LIFE or DEATH.

Like in the case of Job, who was blameless, upright, fearing God and turned away from evil, the entire debacle was about LIFE and DEATH. Even his wife snarled that Job should “curse God and die“!  But God instructed Satan “Behold, he, (Job), is in your power, only spare his life.”

In the end, Job repented and chose life, and God restored Job. “After this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations.“

A believer should be keenly aware of and focused on how to live their life, because how you live your life does, in fact, reveal what you believe, and what you believe (whether Jesus is the only way to the Father and into the kingdom of God) will determine your ultimate end.

Before we go further, let me ask you, have you ever tried or are you now trying to break a habit, whether it was, (or is), a habit of thought or a physical dependency? Do you remember how hard it was, or still is? It seems like the more you try the more difficult it becomes. The more you have tried the more you have repeated the habit?

It was, (or is), because you were unwittingly giving power to the thing you hate by dwelling on it. So, what can you do?

That said, I am compelled also to say that if you are keeping a list of things you should or should not do in order to be set free and to get into heaven, you are left in an impossible situation. You just cannot keep up with the escalating intersections of the things on your list, and focusing on the problem just won’t cure it. (Just ask any Jewish person who has tried keeping all 613 laws or commandments of the Torah which include “positive commandments”, to perform an act, and “negative commandments”, to abstain from an act. It will drive a person insane. People haven’t even successfully kept just 10 commandments!)

Even though the Apostle Paul had been set free from the weight of the law through faith in Christ, he labored with the maddening conflict that exists between the ‘doing and the not doing’ of certain things!

Listen to his words as recorded in Romans 7:14, “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold into bondage to sin. For I do not understand what I am doing; for I am not practicing what I want to do, but I do the very thing I hate. However, if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, that the Law is good. But now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I do the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me.

I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully agree with the law of God in the inner person, but I see a different law in the parts of my body waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin, the law which is in my body’s parts. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:14-24).

Even the Apostle Paul confessed that the struggle is just not in ‘doing or not doing, but the struggle is between life and death. Paul joyfully proclaims, however, that “Therefore there is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” (Romans 8:1).

(It is easy enough to imagine that this is just about semantics. But it is much greater than just the meaning of words.)

So, what is the point here? The point is about our attitude and motivation to live.

Paul said that trying to keep up with doing the numerous laws you have set for yourself will imprison you. It is the practice of setting your mind on the laws of the flesh, which lead to death!

“For those who are in accord with the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are in accord with the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.” (see Romans 8:5–6).

It is when your motivation is to live, that your focus shifts from keeping up appearances or keeping a list of dos and don’ts, to living to please God and caring more about others than just being right or wrong, or nicer and better according to your religious traditions.

(Think about it this way: If for some reason you had to make an unavoidable emergency crossing of an eight lane, busy interstate – on foot. You should not concentrate on a stylish stride or how good you look dodging in and out of traffic or how many video hits you might get. You should be focused on staying alive by avoiding oncoming cars and not getting yourself killed and not causing others to be injured by your attempt to cross a busy interstate. You should focus on staying alive. Your focus is on living and it is almost as if you know instinctively what to do. It’s all about attitude, motive and inspiration.)

Please read these following verses and see what God says on this matter of Life and Death.

Deuteronomy 30:15, “See, I have placed before you today life and goodness, and death and evil, in that I am commanding you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, so that you may live and become numerous, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but allow yourself to be led astray and you worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you will certainly perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and take possession of it. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have placed before you, life and death, the blessing and the curse. So, choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding close to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, so that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Then, after the coming of Jesus and the New Covenant:

Matthew 7:13–14, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.

Matthew 25: 41–46, “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you accursed people, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or as a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for Me, either.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

John 3:36, “The one who believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

John 5:24, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

John 6: 52, “Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” So, Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, the one who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. This is the bread that came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died; the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

John 10:7, “So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All those who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly.”

YOU SEE – IT’S ALL ABOUT LIFE or DEATH.

Jesus never said, “I have come that you may have rules and rules more abundant”. Nor did He say, “The one who believes in the Son has eternal rules to live by”. He said you will have LIFE and ETERNAL LIFE!

If repetition indicates importance, then focusing on LIFE in Christ must be pretty important because there are around 135 references to LIFE in the New Testament using the word zóé, life, (physical and spiritual). All life (2222 /zōḗ), throughout the universe, is derived, i.e., it always only comes from and is sustained by God’s self-existent life. The Lord intimately shares His gift of life with people, creating each in His image which gives all the capacity to know His eternal life.

(Please forgive this aside, but this is so difficult for me to explain and even more difficult to understand. Probably because I have been so lousy doing it, myself. It can be even harder to accept if, like most Christians, you have unwittingly spent your Christian life learning to just ‘follow the rules of do and don’t’.)

On one hand we say we have been set free from our worldly and fleshly desires. But on the other hand, we continue to bow and serve at the altars of performance, competition, ego, pride and self, as we accumulate the admiration and respect of others and justify hoarding these treasures under the guise of keeping of God’s laws. But, we secretly find our thrill in life accumulating and serving ourselves, first.

Then, when rust and moths and decay erode these treasures or thieves break in and steal them, as they surely will, we will discover that no amount of performance has been adequate. In the end, we discover that where our treasure has been is where our heart was, also – and we die!

The key is to set your mind on the things that bring life, and you will begin to avoid those things that bring death. Bring every thought into subjection and obedience to the Word of God. Serve God and find the thrills of life through serving Him and others.

Then we can rejoice with Paul as he thankfully proclaimed that there is therefore now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

The mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. Focus on the SPIRIT and LIFE!

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

PS: And what do we do with those lists? The dos and don’ts? Use them as your guideposts along your way. They can be useful and they are helpful, but they are not the answer. Jesus and His Life is the answer. Don’t make excuses in the hard times – Just do what Jesus would do!

 

DENY THE LIE

EMBRACE THE TRUTH

God says that the Bible is His Word, breathed out. Furthermore, “the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.“ (see 2 Timothy 3:16-17, John 1:1-2, Hebrews 4:12).

We are being told, and it would do us good to understand that the Bible is the revealing of the psyche of each and every human being. It might appear to be a list of ‘rights and wrongs’, of ‘dos and don’ts’.  But the Bible not only discerns and reveals the core thoughts and intentions of each man, woman, boy or girl, it foretells the results of your thoughts, when held long enough to be acted upon.

With this in mind, reading these verses and writing this made me uneasy. It is convicting. I find myself asking, “How often do I lie – even ‘a little bit’? What am I doing to myself, my friends and my family if I lie?”

Conversely, I want to know the benefits and the blessings of telling and living the truth?

(In my defense, let me ask, when was the last time you heard a sermon that was singularly against lying and promoting telling and living the truth? It’s been a while for me. I believe God gave me this for the day in which we live. We, as Christians, are to be identified with God as bearers of the light of the Truth.)

LYING PUTS YOU IN LEAGUE WITH THE DEVIL.

John 8:44, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Phonetic Spelling: (psyoos-tace’)
Definition: liar
Usage: a liar, deceiver.

HELPS Word-studies

Cognate: 5583 pseústēs (from 5574 /pseúdomai, “to falsify, lie”) – properly, a lair; a person who falsifies, misrepresents (distorts, misleads).

LYING CREATES DEATH!

Acts 5:3, “But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the proceeds of the land?”

Transliteration: pseudomai
Phonetic Spelling: (psyoo’-dom-ahee)
Definition: to lie
Usage: I deceive, lie, speak falsely.

HELPS Word-studies

5574 pseúdomai (from pseudō, “to falsify, lie”) – properly, lie (falsify), willfully misrepresent (mislead).

Acts 5:1-11, “But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and kept back some of the proceeds for himself, with his wife’s full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God.” And as he heard these words, Ananias collapsed and died; and great fear came over all who heard about it. The young men got up and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him.

“Now an interval of about three hours elapsed, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter responded to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for this price?” And she said, “Yes, for that price.” Then Peter said to her, “Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out as well.” And immediately she collapsed at his feet and died; and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard about these things.

LYING CREATES A DEPRAVED MIND AND MAKE YOU INTO A FOOL.

Romans 1:25, “For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”

Transliteration: pseudos
Phonetic Spelling: (psyoo’-dos)
Definition: a falsehood, untruth, lie
Usage: a lie, falsehood, untruth; false religion.

NAS Exhaustive Concordance

Word Origin
from pseudomai
Definition
a falsehood, untruth, lie
NASB Translation
false (1), falsehood (1), lie (5), lying (2), what is false (1).

Romans 1:18-32, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasonings, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible mankind, of birds, four-footed animals, and crawling creatures.

“Therefore God gave them up to vile impurity in the lusts of their hearts, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for falsehood, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged natural relations for that which is contrary to nature, and likewise the men, too, abandoned natural relations with women and burned in their desire toward one another, males with males committing shameful acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

“And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a depraved mind, to do those things that are not proper, people having been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, and evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unfeeling, and unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.”

LYING BRINGS THE WRATH OF GOD.

Colossians 3:9, “Do not lie to one another, since you stripped off the old self with its evil practices,”

Transliteration: pseudomai
Phonetic Spelling: (psyoo’-dom-ahee)
Definition: to lie
Usage: I deceive, lie, speak falsely.

HELPS Word-studies

5574 pseúdomai (from pseudō, “to falsify, lie”) – properly, lie (falsify), willfully misrepresent (mislead).

Colossians 3:5-10, “Therefore, treat the parts of your earthly body as dead to sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. But now you also, rid yourselves of all of them: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you stripped off the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self, which is being  renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created it—a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, and free, but Christ is all, and in all.”

THE TRUTH MAKES YOU ONE WITH GOD THE FATHER.

John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Transliteration: alétheia
Phonetic Spelling: (al-ay’-thi-a)
Definition: truth
Usage: truth, but not merely truth as spoken; truth of idea, reality, sincerity, truth in the moral sphere, divine truth revealed to man, straightforwardness.

HELPS Word-studies

225 alḗtheia (from 227 /alēthḗs, “true to fact”) – properly, truth (true to fact), reality.

[In ancient Greek culture, 225 (alḗtheia) was synonymous for “reality” as the opposite of illusion, i.e. fact.]

John 14:6-15, “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.

“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”

“Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? The one who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak on My own, but the Father, as He remains in Me, does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise, believe because of the works themselves. Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

THE TRUTH IS A PERSON – HIS NAME IS JESUS!

Please. Let’s pray for one another and hold to the Truth as That Day draws ever so near.

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

I have heard it said that “After you have done all you can do, it is then that God will do what only He can do.”

But is that true? Do we actually play a part in God’s work and activity?

It could seem to be true, just based on all the struggles and battles God’s people have had to engage and endure over the centuries; God has always delivered on His promises to those who have endured to the end!

There have been apparent wins and losses in the battles of our lives, but the battles continue to reemerge and rage on. But this is only how it seems to be from an earthly perspective. We can only see as far as our humanity allows. Our natural eyes cannot see beyond the horizon of this natural world.

God, however, sees from a heavenly perspective – from (before) the beginning, to (after) the end. To say that ‘God knows all things’ is a gross understatement, and He knows all things because He planned all things, including the struggle that we must endure. It is a struggle, a time of tribulation, so that some of those who have insight will fall, to refine, purge, and cleanse them until the end time; because it is still to come at the appointed time. (see Daniel 11:35) and, “many will be purged, cleansed, and refined, and those who have insight will understand.” (see Daniel 12:10).

The battle lines were drawn at the beginning of creation. And we are included as participants in God’s Grand Plan for His creation. We are included in the struggles of this spiritual war whether we understand it or not and whether we like it or not. We are either with Him or against Him in this struggle.

It is all designed with a purpose. It has been God’s Plan and Purpose from the beginning “to seek and save the lost” and to transform and conform us, to perfect us into the very image and likeness of Christ Jesus. This is God’s Plan and our Journey toward Perfection.

And, “Because by a single offering He has made perfect for all time those who are being sanctified.” (Hebrews 10:14).

The Apostle Peter reminds us that, “Our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

“In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which perishes though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

There are no innocent bystanders. You cannot choose to forego. Neither ignorance nor refusal will excuse you. You are among the combatants, and you will either emerge victorious with Christ or as a victim of evil, and beware, for evil brings death.

“MY RIGHTEOUS ONE WILL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF THEY SHRINK BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN THEM.

“But we are not among those who shrink back to destruction, but we are of those who have faith for the safekeeping of the soul.” (see Hebrews 10:38-39).

Know that Jesus has said, “You are my friend”. Also know that the devil has come to kill, steal and destroy. Understand the rules of engagement. Now it is time to choose your side.

Please, dear friends, let’s pray for one another and not criticize. Let’s join ourselves together as we join our Lord in this battle. Let’s arm and equip ourselves with the full armor of God and stand together. The outcome is near. We have been declared victorious.

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

“You have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.” (Hebrews 10:36).

 

JUST WHAT IS “GOOD”?

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

(Romans 8:28)

And, just what is meant by ‘good’ and according to whom?

Good = (agathós) describes what originates from God and is empowered by Him in their life, through faith. Inherently, intrinsically good; as to the believer. Good in nature, good whether it be seen to be so or not.

Genesis chapter one describes Creation. God uses the word “good” seven times when describing completed steps in His Creation. God’s first recorded act was creating the heavens and the earth – and it was good. God’s purpose and act was to create good.

Secondly, what is God’s purpose as referred to in Romans 8:28? Most commentaries and studies on the subject of God’s purpose is proposed in the plural: PURPOSES. This says that God has many purposes. But I am asking what was and is God’s first and primary purpose?

God’s corresponding primary act was the creation of mankind. “Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth.” So, God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27)

We know that God is Good and His act and purpose, once again, is to create good – this time, man and woman.

“And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.” (Genesis 1:31)

God’s primary recorded act was to create the heaven, the earth and humankind – man and woman who were made in His image and in likeness.

A careful study will tell us that God deliberately created man and woman in His image, but with a caveat – a deliberate flaw.

Read Genesis 1, Verse 27, with me, and let’s translate the words. “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

In His own image = tselem = an image; a mere, empty, image, semblance; image, vain show, from an unused root meaning to shade; a phantom, i.e., an illusion, a resemblance; hence, a representative figure, especially an idol, an image, a vain shew, of dubious character.

God created mankind ‘in His Own image’ but, as a mere image of Himself; a vain show, just a shadow of the Original; an image, in icon, a phantom pattern, an illusion, a mere resemblance; a being of dubious nature – but with the potential of being like God!

We are routinely told that we cannot be like God. It is true that there is none like Him. But read what God says in Genesis 3:22-24, “Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out with his hand, and take fruit also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the LORD God sent him out of the Garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the Garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword, which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.”

It is also true that we cannot be like God, but it is God’s intention, plan and purpose to make us all into the image and likeness of Jesus – to be perfected into and by His image.

God has made it clear: You are to “be (come) perfect, (teleio), even as He is perfect, (teleios)”. (Matthew 5:48).

Although God deliberately created mankind with a ‘dubious nature’, a flaw in their character with a propensity to sin, His plan and purpose for us is being perfected into the image and likeness of Jesus.

God provided a way and a method to save us from our sins and to perfect us by way of His perfect example, a savior Who is Jesus Christ.

And, “Because by a single offering He has made perfect for all time those who are being sanctified.” (Hebrews 10:14).

It is in our human nature to define ‘good’ by our own perspective from our earthbound vantage point. We tend to see ‘good’ as those things that are beneficial to us, the things that please us, things that suit our human passions or satisfy our fleshly desires. But it is God alone Who defines ‘good’. His nature, character and existence is the very definition of Good.

You cannot imagine or begin to know what is truly ‘Good’ unless you know the One who is Good. God is Good. He is perfect – and He calls us to be perfect, even as He is perfect!

His plan and purpose is first and foremost His Perfection!

Everything you hope to know about God, about His plan and His Purpose, will fall into place once you look through the lens of His Perfection.

It is only then that we can come to know, believe and truly accept, “that God causes all things to work together for your good, and for the good of all those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

It is only then that we can rest in perfect assurance that whether our life events or circumstances seem to be beneficial or not, it is always God’s plan and purpose to cause all things to work together for good to those of us who love Him, and who are called according to His purpose.”

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

“The Journey To Perfection”

WAS IT A MIRACLE, A COINCIDENCE or just GOOD LUCK?

I am a Christian and I hold to more of a reformed view of scriptures, leaving plenty of room for the Sovereignty of God to be and to do beyond what my puny mind can imagine or think. Which brings me to a question about prayer and miracles.

I have read, studied and prayed at length about prayer. I believe every word the Bible presents about prayer and praying – and perhaps ‘a little bit more’, if that is permissible.

The reason I say ‘a little bit more’ is that I have a nagging feeling that I am missing something. A big something, at that. This feeling comes from that fact that I have seen and experienced some absolutely amazing results from prayer. I should call them miracles because these are things of which the occurrence should have been absolutely impossible, at least in this natural world. These are things that have neither a scientific, natural or coincidental explanation (i.e., luck). They have been 100% inexplicable.

I would like to give a few examples of the things that I have personally experienced over the years. And, even though they happened to me or near me, I still wonder. After these examples, I will pose my nagging question and I ask if you would help me, please?

#1.  I FELL FROM A TREE.

I was about nine years old and like many nine year old boys, I liked climbing trees. I was living with my grandparents in a rural part of Oklahoma, near Oklahoma City. One particular day, I decided to climbed to the top of a very tall cottonwood tree.

The view from over fifty feet in the air was great. The breezes were causing the top of this tree to sway so it was better than a ride at the state fair. Then suddenly, the branches which were supporting me broke and I began to fall, snapping branch after branch until a thick, stronger branch caught me and flipped me over. Now I was falling head first toward the ground.

This happened so fast that my young mind was not able to process the idea that I was about to hit the ground on my head, from fifty feet in the air. Then, suddenly, I was jerked violently to a complete stop.

I was dazed and confused. Hanging upside down, I looked up to see that my foot was caught in a forked branch of the tree. And, not just any branch, but THE VERY LAST BRANCH of the tree. I slowly realized that I had, at least, been spared serious injury.

Now came the problem of how to get out of this predicament. I hung there for a while to ponder. I let my arms dangled below my head. My hands touched something, so I strained to bend my neck enough to look toward the ground. I was stunned.

Just within my reach was a fence post. The fence post was positioned directly in line with my fall. My head would have struck the top of the post had I not been caught by the branches.

Additionally, the fence post had a large steel spike in the top for draping chicken wire around a chicken enclosure. I now realized that had I continued to fall I would hit the post and driven that spike into my skull – an ugly but certain death.

The good news was that I was able to grasp the top of the post, push downward and free my foot from the forked branch and sort of vault down to the ground, with a thud.

I was shaken but not seriously injured. I just sat there, dazed and wondering.

I finally got myself together and went home. I never told my grandparents what had happened. I figured it was just another day in the life of a nine year old boy.

“Lucky me”, huh?

I had heard stories in Sunday school and church how God worked miracles and I wondered if that is what had happened for me?

#2.  HE EVEN CONTROLS THE ELEMENTS

Our family was travelling from a vacation in Orlando, Florida. My sons were about five and eight years old. We stopped at a ‘pull off area’, sort-of-a rest stop, on highway A-1-A somewhere near Saint Augustine, Florida.

The weather was cloudy and blustery. The waves were splashing onto the sidewalk along the shore line, which was lined with large stones to stop erosion, I guessed.

My youngest son, I and walked to the end of a sidewalk cul-de-sac to look at the splashing water. I felt safe enough, then suddenly a huge wave crashed over the rock abutment and onto the two of us. When the water receded, my son was gone! The wave had sucked him into the turbulent water and I could see no trace of him. Prayers began to race in my mind and out of my mouth.

Psalm 116:8-9

For you have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling;
I will walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.

Panic seized me and my first thought was, “GO GET HIM!”. So, I kicked off my tennis shoes and turned to dive into the water, which was probably a very bad idea, when another huge wave crashed onshore and as suddenly there was my son Jody, standing upright on the sidewalk, soaking wet, sputtering water and crying! I grabbed him and ran back toward the car, thinking, “WHAT JUST HAPPENED? Nobody is going to believe this.”

#3.

GOD IS OMNIPRESENT

I had started a mailing business that depended on a mail program to work properly each week. Even a one day delay of getting the mail prepared and sent would be financially disastrous for my business and for our family’s financial needs.

One particular week, this computer program stopped working. The data input from, what was then called ‘floppy disks’, would not work. I feverously tried again and again. I even reformatted the entire hard drive, reinstalled the operating system on the computer, reinstalled the mailing programs and when I tried to download the homeowner’s data FROM THE 26 FLOPPY DISKS, the program would fail at disk number 18, and disks 18 through 26 were the critical disks. I prayed continuously. I prayed fervently. I prayed desperately.

I worked on this for TWELVE hours (through the entire night and into the next morning), reformatting the hard drive and repeating the process, knowing that if this failed, we would become bankrupt and could not even buy groceries the next month.

I stopped in exhaustion, cried out to God, “I give up. I quit! I have prayed and prayed to you! Now, I give up.”

I started putting things away in resignation. I was defeated. My mind darted back and forth between what to do next and resentment. It was then I decided to do this ONE MORE TIME.

I restarted the computer and put disk number one into the computer. The computer whirred and gave me a screen message that confused me, “INSERT DISK #18”. I was completely confounded. It made absolutely no sense that the computer would skip disks 1 through 17 and ask for disk 18.

I followed the instruction and inserted disk #18. The program accepted disk #18 and another message came on the screen asking for disk #19. This continued until disk #26, the final disk, and after installing the data from disk #26, the machine turned itself off! It did it own its own!

My heart was beating what seemed like a hundred beats a minute. I restarted the computer and told it to start printing the mailing list, AND IT WORKED!

God had answered in a humanly impossible situation, in a physically impossible way. As far as I could tell, every logical law of math and programming had been violated and transcended. Yet, here we were. Saved again. Safe and sound. BUT IT WAS NOT EASY.

#4.

THEY FOUND HER!

Dale, a lady from our church in Virginia, came to me after services. She looked frantic. “Would you pray for my daughter?”, she asked.

“Sure”, I replied, “what do you want to pray about?” I was both uncertain and surprised. I wasn’t sure what the daughter or the Mom needed and I was surprised because Dale did not like me all that much.

We were members of a small Baptist Church and this church avoided “expressive worship” and were mostly quiet about miracles. I, on the other hand, was “slightly expressive” and was familiar with miracles.

Dale explained to me that her daughter had stolen their car and had run away and had not been heard from for several days. Dale and her husband had alerted the local police but there had been no word on her.

“Dale”, I began, “I know you don’t like me that much, so I have to ask why you are asking me to pray with you?”

“It’s not that I don’t like you, Mike”, Dale said, “It’s just that you are so, I don’t know, OUT THERE. But, I also know that God answers your prayers. So, please, pray for us.”

“OK, Dale, let’s pray right now.”

“Here”, Dale asked, looking surprised. “Right here in the church parking lot?”

“Why not?”, I responded. “You need help and I say let’s get to it”.

I grabbed Dale’s hands in my hands and began to pray and AS WE WERE PRAYING her cell phone rang. I opened my eyes and saw Dale peeking at the cell phone.

“Hold on a minute”, Dale said, “This could be important.” I watched as Dale’s expression change and she began to cry and shouted THANK YOU, several times into the phone. I heard Dale say, “Yes, yes yes. Oh, I love you too honey. Just come home.”

She listened further, agreed to whatever the caller instructed. She disconnected the call and, her face wet with tears and half laughing, half crying she exclaimed, “They found her!”

The call was from the South Carolina State Police. It seems a State Trooper had seen a car stopped on the side of the road on Interstate 95. He stopped to see if there was a problem and found Dale’s daughter. She had just then, run out of gas.

Dale look at me and said, “SEE! I knew God would hear your prayers!”

“That’s nice, Dale, I protested, “But, God already knew what was going to happen. And it wasn’t my prayers. It was you crying out to Him. It was God at work for you and your daughter. I just happened to be in the way. Please, no credit here. Give all the credit to God.”

What was that? I mean, it happened just like I have explained. What was that?

#5.

ARE YOU A PRAYING MAN?

It was the first Thursday of December, 2012. My eye sight clouded over. I called my ophthalmologist’s office for an emergency appointment.

The doctor examined my eyes and told me to immediately call my family physician. There was blood in my eye and he could not identify the source, but, he said it was from a source outside the eye and it looked bad.

I called my family doctor’s office and explained what the ophthalmologist said. The nurse spoke to the doctor and he told me to come in on Monday.

The “curtain” lingered over my eye sight, but got no worse.

On Saturday, my wife and I went to breakfast with friends. At the end of breakfast, I told my wife I need to get home. I was not feeling ‘right’. When she asked me what was wrong, I could only tell her that something wasn’t right, but I couldn’t pinpoint the problem.

We got home and I sat down and closed my eyes to rest. After a few minutes, my wife asked me how I was feeling.

I opened my eyes to talk to her and I was shocked that half of her face was gone! I practically shrieked, “What happened to your face?”

My outburst frightened her and with a confused look she said, “What do you mean?”

“Your face! What has happened to your face?” I yelled.

She ran to a mirror then came back to the room I was in and said, “Get up. I’m taking you to the hospital emergency room”.

By this time I had regained my vision and I said, “No. It’s OK now. I just need a walk and something to eat. I’m OK”.

I went for a walk. By the time I got home my vision was distorted again. My wife made me get into our car and she drove to the emergency room.

I went to the receiving window to check in. The lady behind the window asked what I needed. I couldn’t talk.

The next thing I knew is she had sounded an alarm and several people emerged with a gurney, put me on the gurney and away I went to an examination room.

My wife showed up and was asking about me. I had regained my ability to talk so I asked the nurse, “Why do you have a sign on the wall that says “U-R-S-E-S     S-T-A-T-I”?

The nurse turned toward me and said, “That’s called vision cut! This man’s having a stroke.”

The nurse leaned over me and asked, “Are you a praying man?”

“Yes”, I replied.

“Well, now would be a good time to start”, she said.

The rest is a partial blur. A neurologist barking orders. And M.R.I. Something called a “clot buster”. Then, a bed in intensive care.

After 2 days in intensive care, one of the two neurologists working on me, came by to say he didn’t think I had a stroke. I was relieved. I was thinking, perhaps I could go home.

Later that day, the neurologist came back to inform me he had read the M.R.I. and I had not had one, but two strokes. There were two “dead spots” on my brain.

The fourth day I had progressed enough that I was moved to the general hospital area. My speech was coming back and my vision had come back. I was a bit ‘wobbly’ but improved.

My wife, my family and I were praying this entire time. And now, after 4 days, I was wanting to go home. I felt it was time. So, I got out of my bed and started walking the hospital halls.

My nurse saw me and demanded I get back into bed. I told her and doctor that I was feeling good enough and that I was ready to go home. They said I needed to lay down and rest.

I got out of the bed and started dressing. They said they couldn’t make me stay there, but that I would have to ride to my car in a wheelchair. I refused and walked to my car (still wobbly, but walking).

Two weeks later, I preached the Sunday evening service at my Church. Many responded.

About six month later, as I like to say it, “The lights came back on in my head, fully”.

About a year later a checkup and another M.R.I., showed I had indeed had two strokes and there were two separate dead areas on my brain.

As I write this, over 11 years have passed.

#6.

YEP. THAT’S GOING TO SCAR.

I returned to my ophthalmologist for a check-up several months after having a stroke. I was still bothered by some kind of obstruction in my eye. The doctor informed me that a blood clot had passed through my eye and had scarred the lens.

I asked if it could be corrected? The doctor told me that there was nothing that could be done, but over time I would become accustomed to the scarring and it would be less annoying.

Several months later, while at church, I was relating the trouble with the scarring in my eye to a friend, and she said she had a similar problem that had resolved itself. She asked if she could ‘lay hands over my eye’ and pray. I agreed. Sadly, nothing happened.

Then several months later I became aware that the obstruction of my vision had cleared up.

At the conclusion my next ophthalmologist checkup, the doctor said my eyes were looking very good.

I asked him about the scarring. He said, “there is no scarring in your eyes”.

I asked him to review his chart notes. He studied the notes and muttered, “Well, that’s odd.”

I asked him what he meant and he replied, “The scarring is gone. Well, good for you.”

“But I thought you said it was a permanent scar. What do you think happened?”, I pressed.

“I don’t know”, he answered. “I just don’t know.”

I related how a friend had prayed for my eye to heal and asked if now it is healed?

“Well, I don’t know about that!”, he retorted.

“Okay”, I said. “I do know. I have had great medical care, but I have a greater God who has shown me mercy and has healed my eye!”

“Whatever”, the doctor smugly replied.

As I was paying my bill, the young medical assistant told me that she had heard my exchange with the doctor, and she knew what had happened – “It was a miracle”, she said.

What has happened? Well, there are just so many of these stories in my life. What do you think? Was it God. Was it miracles? I believe it was and is!

I could go on and tell you about how God saved us and our marriage 43 years ago.

I could tell you how we couldn’t have children until we were 37 years old, then we had two, and the first one was born on my birthday! (really, God?)

Or, I could tell you about…

Well, there are just too many.

Too me it’s pretty obvious. What do you think?

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

(I fall short, so often. And, many times, feel like I am not worthy of God’s abounding Grace or the favors He has shown and continues to show me. But I am always deeply grateful. The older I have gotten, the more humbled I feel by His Goodness and His endless Mercies.)

 

WE MAY NOT AGREE ON WHEN OR HOW – WE DO AGREE ON WHAT – JESUS IS COMING AGAIN!

CREATION  –  THE FALL  –  SIN  –  DEATH  –  REDEMPTION  –  TRIBULATIONS  –  THE DAY OF WRATH  –  JUDGMENT  –  BOOK OF LIFE  –  LAKE OF FIRE  –  A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH.

One of the prevalent eschatological teaching (study on the matters of the end of the age) is the Pre-tribulation Rapture and Premillennialism. It was originated by John Nelson Darby in 1833. Darby is considered to be the father of modern Dispensationalism and Futurism. Pre-tribulation rapture theology was popularized extensively in the 1830s by John Nelson Darby and the Plymouth Brethren, and further popularized in the United States in the early 20th century by the wide circulation of the Schofield Reference Bible.

Other eschatological views include:

Preterism (1554–1613)

Historicism (mid 1500s)

Futurism (mid 1500s)

From these views spring major theological positions of

Premillennialism,

Pretribulation Rapture,

Mid-tribulation Rapture,

Post-tribulation Rapture,

Postmillennialism,

Amillennialism, and the

Pre-Wrath Tribulation Rapture.

Because there are a myriad of Church denominational and doctrinal positions, it is understandable that so many differing eschatological views have emerged.

But, with the passage of time, historical events and particularly religious, social, economic, and political developments are revealing the frightening accuracies and the realities of Biblical prophecies which are coming to life and are bringing Biblical prophecies into focus. A reassessment is under way.

In the meantime, however, most theologians and Bible teachers doggedly adhere to their seventeenth century, long-held denominational-based views of Biblical eschatology, despite the clarity of the scriptures when viewed outside denominational bias and when examining the emerging evidence to the contrary.

Other examples are of those who call themselves Bible teachers or theologians who teach and claim that all Biblical eschatology is metaphorical, and idiomatic, analogical or parables used to explain natural events and their outcomes. This puts Jesus and His Teachings in the category of fantasies, fairytales and lies – although the Bible clearly warns otherwise.

Some other so-called teachers have been teaching that is no literal 2^nd coming of Christ although, again, the Bible clearly and plainly teaches otherwise.

Others teach there will be a 2^nd advent of Christ, however, they would have you believe that the second coming will be ‘in secret’, and that Jesus’ visible and actual 2^nd coming will not occur until the battles of Armageddon.

And if that isn’t enough, others teach that there will be BOTH a visible 2^nd coming as described in Matthew chapter 24, and a visible 3^rd advent (coming) of Christ when He will defeat Satan at the battle of Armageddon.  And, things get even more convoluted when it comes to the various denominational doctrines of The Millennium.

Most of these same preachers, pastors and ‘bible teachers’ will tell you that the entire tribulation period is a yet-to-be experienced, future event, putting you at ease when Jesus clearly teaches the very opposite thing. Jesus warns that you must be on the alert, standing at the ready at all times, during “these last days”! (See Matthew 24:36-44)

Many are well-intentioned, dedicated Christians and devoted students of the Bible and of eschatology. So what are we to think? How are we to know?

There is one thing in the five major views which we all agree on:  Jesus is coming again to get His Church and to defeat Satan, the beast, and to judge the living and the dead.

If you are alive when the sixth tribulation seal is opened, one of two things will happen to you:

(1). If you are counted among His Elect (A Christian and a devoted follower of Jesus):  “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet-call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

(2). If you are not counted among His Elect (Not a Christian and a devoted follower of Jesus):  “There will be a great earthquake, and the sun will become black as sackcloth, the full moon will become like blood, and the stars of the sky will fall to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. Then the sky will vanish like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island will be removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, (including you) will hide themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Furthermore, if you are not killed by these events, you stand to face even greater and more terrible events of God’s judgments spanning a seven-year period!)

If you are not alive when the sixth tribulation seal is opened, one of two things will happen to you:

(1). The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. And we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

(2). The sea will give up the dead who are in it (who are not in Christ), and Death and Hades will give up the dead who were in them (who are not in Christ), and they are judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades will be thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, they too are thrown into the lake of fire.

You have absolutely no control over the sequence of events, nor over any of the events themselves.  But you do have control over your preparation for what is coming.

PREPARE NOW

Surrender yourself to God through faith in Jesus. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (See Romans 10).

The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his great mercy, will cause you to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (See 1 Peter 1).

Who then is the faithful and wise servant of God? It is the one whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.” (See Matthew 24).

IN THE END

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

“And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. (For I was hungry, and you gave me food, I was thirsty, and you gave me drink, I was a stranger, and you welcomed me, I was naked, and you clothed me, I was sick, and you visited me, I was in prison, and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.“

If you never know the different denominational tribulation views and have no clue about the coming millennium, (over which you have no control), these things I have mentioned are all you need to know to be saved – “sozo” – made safe, rescued from eternal harm, made whole and made well this very day.

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

(Millennial Views by The Gospel Coalition – an excellent resource).

WHEN DOES “FREEDOM” LEAD TO CAPTIVITY AND SLAVERY?

Freedom vs Anarchy?

Increasingly, you hear people say, “You can’t tell me what to do. I’ll live my life the way I want!” This kind of remark used to be recited mostly by the young and foolish or the older renegade types who were disobedient to parents and authority or liked living outside the restraints of civil society. But no more.

Today this has become the all-too-frequent battle cry of our youth being trained by the Left’s Marxist-Leninist agenda by the extreme and progressive left – which, incidentally, makes up about 28% of our society. However, when it comes to voting numbers, about 51% of registered voters lean left. What is more troubling is that when voters VOTE for Leftist, progressive and radical extremist issues, they are unwittingly (or wittingly) being played. The LEFT then employs three important strategies to capitalize on the manipulated voter and their support.

#1. A large number of those voting for the Left, are “one issue voters”. They vote for the one thing they want (i.e., “I’ll live my life the way I want – and I want abortion-on-demand, or free healthcare, or more social handouts, etc.), and ignore (or are ignorant) of important issues and ideologies included in the Left’s platform. Another way of saying is that ‘they sell their birthright for a bowl of pottage’.

#2. So, the pols and strategists aggressively promote the in-demand and various ‘one issue’ or hot button topics, and minimize the advertising of more onerous or radical agenda issues. Thereby, the Left gets the vote and then implements their full radical agenda.

It seemed to have started as a defiant, in-your-face challenge to authority and tradition, which incidentally, has been taught by the Leftists in our schools for the last fifty or so years. It is now the prevalent attitude of about forty percent of registered American voters.

#3. We now live in a ‘Wikipedia society’ — where anyone can change the meaning of a word to satisfy some misguided or politically correct social engineering goal.

Leftists, Progressive radicals have become masters of vocabulary manipulation and are constantly changing the traditional meaning of words to fit their political agenda.

Socio-political Left has co-opted the meaning of words to deceive the uninformed, uneducated and apathetic public. This is not a new concept and it has been in practice for decades. It has, however, become a more prominent tactic of the political Left in recent years.

In the 1990s, President Clinton famously defended his conduct with Monica Lewinsky by stating, “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is”. I think most people who completed high school English commonly understood the definition of the word to be the third-person singular present tense of the English language verb “to be.” Its meaning was clear to everyone except Democrats.

Liberals have hijacked many words. For example, the word gay originally meant feelings of being “carefree,” “happy” or “bright and showy.” Now, the most commonly accepted use of the word gay primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual.

The term illegal immigration is no longer politically acceptable because it might reflect negatively upon some poor, misunderstood “migrant” who entered the United States illegally seeking a better life. The liberal left now identifies them as undocumented immigrants, and sometimes called unregistered Democrats.

Recently, Congresswoman Lois Capps, D-Calif., along with more than two dozen Democrats have come together and proposed legislation to remove the words “husband” and “wife” from federal law. The leftists want to replace them with more “gender-neutral” terms like married couple, spouse, or some other non-offensive term. The current social engineering requires leftists to continually change public perception of reality. Same-sex marriages are relatively rare, so they need new terminology to make it seem not-so-rare and socially unnoticeable.

A common language, with commonly accepted and understood words, are a reflection of unity, cooperation and the mores of a society. It creates stability. Commonly understood words not only give definition but carry images of legacies, thoughts and ideas of how things should be.

The lack of stability undermines the very foundation of a stable, moral and civil society. Disrupting the status quo is the aim and goal of progressive Democrats because without conflict or turmoil, they cannot advance their drive to a Paganistic, amoral and socialist society.

In the words of Vladimir Lenin:

• “We can and must write in a language which sows among the masses hate, revulsion, and scorn toward those who disagree with us. “
• “The press should be not only a collective propagandist and a collective agitator, but also a collective organizer of the masses. “
• “Give me your four-year-olds, and in a generation I will build a socialist state. “

In the words of Karl Marx:

• If you can cut the people off from their history, then they can be easily persuaded.” (Revision and redefinition of language, revision of text books, historical data, historical sites.)

The Globalists and Marxists cry “Freedom” from God. Freedom from capitalism, Freedom from social restrictions. Freedom from the slavery and drudgery of hard work. But the alternative is a dungeon of poverty, sickness and want.

History has shown us that Godless Marxism, and all of its variant forms, has always exacted its toll in death and destruction of life and means. It inexorably leads to captivity, slavery of the masses under an elitist, brutal and murderous task master. Always!

FROM A HIGHER PERSPECTIVE

Difficult Times Will Come. (2 Timothy 3:1-9, Amplified version.)

“But understand this, that in the last days dangerous times [of great stress and trouble] will come, [difficult days that will be hard to bear]. For people will be lovers of self [narcissistic, self-focused], lovers of money [impelled by greed], boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane, [and they will be] unloving [devoid of natural human affection, calloused and inhumane], irreconcilable, malicious gossips, devoid of self-control [intemperate, immoral], brutal, haters of good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of [sensual] pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of [outward] godliness (religion), although they have denied its power [for their conduct nullifies their claim of faith]. (This is a narcissistic society of evildoing, lawlessness, chaos and anarchy.)

(NOTE: Many so-called ‘pastors’ love the moniker but avoid and neglect the work and calling of a Biblical pastor. They are not called of God. You know them by their fruit. The above remarks in 2 Timothy aptly describe the new-age of pastor-CEO, pastor-visionary, pastor-leader, pastor-etc., etc., etc.)

“Avoid such people and keep far away from them. For among them are those who worm their way into homes and captivate morally weak and spiritually-dwarfed women weighed down by [the burden of their] sins, easily swayed by various impulses, always learning and listening to anybody who will teach them, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

(NOTE:  The term “morally weak and spiritually-dwarfed women” as it is used here, may seem to be specifically aimed at women and to the exclusion of men. That is incorrect. This description is anachronistic. It must be understood in the social context of that day. Women, in general were considered to be second class members of society when these verses were written. Women’s lives and value were defined almost solely in relation to men: their fathers and husbands. This description is being used contemptuously to define anyone, and specifically a man who would be considered to behave in such a way. (It could be said, in a contemporary and derogatory way, “he acts just like a silly old woman” or “he is such a Nancy”.)

“Just as Jannes and Jambres [the court magicians of Egypt] opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, unqualified and worthless [as teachers] in regard to the faith. But they will not get very far, for their meaningless nonsense and ignorance will become obvious to everyone, as was that of Jannes and Jambres.”

Dear Friends, as for us, let’s continue in the things that we have learned and of which we are convinced [holding tightly to the truths], knowing from whom you learned them, that being God, the Bible and the Holy Spirit, and how we know the sacred writings (Scriptures) which are able to give us the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus [surrendering your entire self to Him and having absolute confidence in His wisdom, power and goodness].

Let’s remember that all Scripture is God-breathed [given by divine inspiration] and is profitable for instruction, for conviction [of sin], for correction [of error and restoration to obedience], for training in righteousness [learning to live in conformity to God’s will, both publicly and privately–behaving honorably with personal integrity and moral courage]; so that the man, woman, boy or girl of God may be complete and proficient, outfitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Let’s stand firm in these (last) days! His return is near.

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

It was for this freedom that Christ set us free [completely liberating us]; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery [which you once removed]. Galatians 5:1.

WHY THE HATRED FOR JEWS?

What is the reason for anti-Semitism?

Besides the normal tensions that exist between different cultures and governments and discounting petty national jealousies, what causes long-running international hatred for Israel and Jews?

One can read current headlines and see what reasons are being given for the current day or even for this 21st century. But this problem of Jew-hating goes back for centuries.

Rabbi Benjamin Blech, professor of Talmud at Yeshiva University in New York, says, “It is the Jews’ acceptance of a higher law of morality and ethics that is responsible for the world’s enmity.

“Jews were the first to preach the message of the Ten Commandments, that worship of God includes the second tablet of respect for fellow mankind. As the mother religion of both Christianity and Islam, Judaism pioneered the ideal of the holy and the human need for acting in accord with divine law. But anti-Semitism stands in opposition to the very idea of civilization. It detests Jews because it acknowledges that Jews are the conscience of humanity and the lawgivers of ethical and moral behavior.

“Amazingly enough, Adolf Hitler dared to verbalize it as justification for his plan for genocide of the Jewish people: “Conscience is a Jewish invention like circumcision. My task is to free men from the dirty and degrading ideas of conscience and morality.

“As Jews prepare to celebrate the reception of the Ten Commandments, anti-Semitism ought to be viewed as a badge of honor. Jews are hated not because they are bad, but because they persist in reminding the world of what it means to be good. Anti-Semitism is nothing less than a visceral reaction to the cry of a guilty conscience.”

I believe there are two other and deeper reason for this type of genocidal pathology that infects so many minds around the world.

Reason #2. The Jews seem to be gifted with an above average ability to excel. I could cite examples, but you do the work. And, like anyone who lags behind, jealousy, resentment and hatred sets in toward those to seem to ‘scoop up all the good stuff’ and leave the rest of us ‘groveling in the dust’, or so the idea goes. This is the same kind of resentment shown toward America by so many other countries, nations and peoples. We are accused of taking from them and their nations for our benefit and wealth, without sharing that wealth with them, when in fact the generosity of America is legendary. However, American business or government makes a deal with a nation, create the desired profitable results and the other side cries foul! They become jealous and angry when they see fantastic results derived from materials that have been under the feet of a host nation for centuries, but had gone undiscovered or undeveloped. So, when the profits are made, they hate America.

(As a conservative and a Christian, I applaud achievement and success of others. But if I think you have stolen from me to gain your advantage or if I feel your success has unfairly cost me financially, socially or personally, I too could become resentful and jealous. I can understand that reasoning. But, not enough to kill or commit genocide on a national scale!)

Reason #3. Hypocrisy. Interestingly, the Bible tells of gross Jewish religious hypocrisy, which, according to the Bible, stems from sinful rebellion toward God. The Jews present the world with the Ten Commandments and a higher level of law and morality, and it is the Jews who defy, ignore and transgress these very Commandments.

 

Jewish religious leaders, Rabbis, and priesthood, at various times and epochs, have obediently and strictly followed the laws of their Talmud; only to fall away from that practice and incur the wrath of God on their nation and people. This might seem to be an internal issue. But with the Jew’s extensive influence and profound interactions with surrounding peoples and nations, it was made a public issue.

Combined with the example cited in Reason #2, this has created jealousy, resentment, animosity and even an intense hatred for the Jew, their laws and their practices.

Unfortunately – or should I say, tragically – a percentage of Jews are innocent of these hypocrisies and behaviors. But, like in so many instances, the entire group is painted with the broad brush of a majority.

The perception of this hypocrisy and greediness of the Jew had spread worldwide. And the resentment has become so intense, that many people will ignore (or privately applaud) the butchering of innocent Jewish men, women, children and babies but condemn a Jewish military response to stem the murderous atrocities aimed at Israel and Jews, (and tens of thousands more similar incidents), and call out even more loudly for the complete annihilation and total destruction of Israel.

This issue, this problem of hatred of Jews, is as old as recorded history, and for the same or similar misguided political, economic, religious and social reasons.

Admittedly, there have been, in the past, and are nowadays, some really ‘bad’ influential and powerful Jews in the world; but there are also some really ‘good’ Jews in the world. And, so it is with any race or nation. But this is no justification for the eradication of an entire race of people – to think that way is a pathological madness. A mental disease of uncontrolled hatred.

I would like to add that there is not one person or nation on this earth that haven’t done the things Israel is accused of, and much worse things. Yet, only Israel is perpetually demonized. (Frankly, it is written in scriptures. There is a purpose – a Purpose so grand and unimaginable, it could only be ordained, initiated and complete by God: The giving of a Savior through the Nation and bloodlines of Israel.)

In conclusion, similar resentments and hatreds have been and are being expressed toward Christians, and for some of the same reasons. And these resentments are also growing in numbers and in their intensities. This should serve as a wake-up call and a warning for Christians everywhere to firmly adhere to the teachings of love, peace and justice toward all peoples – and to prepare for what may be coming.

The Jews are bearing the brunt of genocidal racial and religious discrimination and hatred, but it may not stop at that point for people who resent a higher law of morality and ethics, the principles of the Ten Commandments, and the worship of God which includes respect for fellow humankind.

Jesus said, “If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well”. They killed Jesus for religious, social and political biases. Prepare yourself.

I am presenting a message by pastor Gary Hamrick of Cornerstone Chapel, Leesburg, Virginia titled “STOP LISTENING TO THE MAJORITY” taken from the book of Acts 27:1-25, which can help us all prepare ourselves.

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young