Deeper Truth

In God We Trust

2009-07-19T13:59:00.001-05:00

"Every one has heard people quarrelling. Sometimes it sounds funny and sometimes it sounds merely unpleasant; but however it sounds, I believe we can learn something very important from listening to the kind of things they say. They say things like this: "How'd you like it if anyone did the same to you?" - "That's my seat, I was there first!" - "Leave him alone, he isn't doing you any harm" - "Why should you shove in first?" - "Give me a bit of your orange, I gave you a bit of mine" - "Come on, you promised!". People say things like that every day, educated people as well as uneducated, and children as well as grown-ups.

It looks very much as if both parties has in mind some kind of Law or Rule of fair play or decent behavior or morality or whatever you like to call it, about which they really agreed. And they have. If they had not, they might, of course, fight like animals, but they could not quarrel in the human sense of the word. Quarrelling means trying to show that the other man is in the wrong. And there would be no sense in trying to do that unless you and he has some sort of agreement as to what Right and Wrong are" -Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis.

This letter is not about Republicans and Democrates. It's not about liberals nor conservatives. It's about Right and Wrong.

I wholeheartedly believe this to be true...
...NOBODY CAN SPEND THEY'RE WAY OUT OF DEBT!

Do we agree? Do you agree? If we can not agree with this most basic of principles then I would like to suggest that you read no further and go back to believing "Barack Obama is not a socialist, he is not a communist, and he is not spending us into a black hole". As for the rest of you, please continue.

Some of you have attended Tea Parties. Some of you are watching the news and wondering what is going on. The rest, well, they are probably not reading this. Ya know, Michael Jackson died. No disrespect but there are life changing events happening in the world. It's time to focus.

And what should that focus be? Cap & Trade? Universal Healthcare? Hate Speech? How about giving the Federal Reserve even more power?

Those are some very disturbing things to be greatly concerned about indeed and I disagree with all of them. I believe we should all stand up and speak out against these things but these things are not where our focus should be.

Our focus should be on God!

There is right and wrong! Why? It's like gravity. It's a law! Right and wrong can not be subjective. Right is right, wrong is wrong, like on or off, black or white.

The problem with America and the world is people are not looking to God. Here is what happened to Isreal when they stopped looking to God.

1 Samuel chapter 8 begining at verse 11, (brackets are mine)

11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.
(Not that the goverment has this authority by their office, but that such as reign in God's wrath would usurp this over their brethren, contrary to truths that are "self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certian unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" -The Declaration of Independence)

12 And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.
(This speaks of hard labor and war. There is no choice in this.)

13 And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
(Women will not be exempt from the toil. This too is not by choice.)

14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.
("By fraud or force, as Ahab did from Naboth. He will not only take the fruits of your lands for his own use, but will take away your possessions to give to his servants" -Wesley. No property rights means no private property. Can you say wealth redistribution? How about being told where you will live?)

15 And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.
(Could this be taxes for bailouts and lobbyist friends impossed upon the people?)

16 And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.
(Do I need to explain this?)

17 He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.
(Still taking your property and labor away. "That is, he will use you like slaves, and deprive you of that liberty which now you enjoy" -Wesley)

18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day.
(We must repent! Repentance is the answer!)

When America removes God from every public place and Christians sit silently this is what we can expect from our goverment. When we deconstruct books and progressively push ethical relativism denying that anything has any real meaning other than what one makes of it, we deny God.

Everyone knows, even those who deny, right from wrong. It's the "work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness" (Romans 2:15).

If America will not have God rule then we will "find the yoke exceedingly heavy. Those that submit to the government of the world and the flesh, are told plainly, what hard masters they are, and what tyranny the dominion of sin is. The law of God and the manner of men widely differ from each other; the former should be our rule in the several relations of life; the latter should be the measure of our expectations from others. These would be their grievances, and, when they complained to God, he would not hear them. When we bring ourselves into distress by our own wrong desires and projects, we justly forfeit the comfort of prayer, and the benefit of Divine aid. The people were obstinate and urgent in their demand. Sudden resolves and hasty desires make work for long and leisurely repentance. Our wisdom is, to be thankful for the advantages, and patient under the disadvantages of the government we may live under; and to pray continually for our rulers, that they may govern us in the fear of God, and that we may live under them in all godliness and honesty. And it is a hopeful symptom when our desires of worldly objects can brook delay; and when we can refer the time and manner of their being granted to God's providence." -Matthew Henry’s Commentary

The American motto is, "In God We Trust".

It is time to repent and "seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33). Then perhaps the Lord will tarry His soon return, "can ye not discern the signs of the times?" (Matthew 16:3), but I digress.

... One Year Later

2007-11-25T18:17:00.000-05:00

If anyone has ever checked in on this here old blog of mine in the past year they would have saw a couple post about me making music and asking for your support.

I have deleted those post and thus the last post is over a year old now.

Much has happened in the past year. None of it has helped my walk with the Lord. Most of it has helped me walk away. If you would like to pray about that I would appreciate it.

I have changed jobs and that had much to do with everything. I slowly started dropping the things I love the most. I quit going to night seminary. I couldn't accept my pastor paying for the classes anymore when I wasn't doing my part anymore at church and had become discontent completely with the church I attend (yes, I still go there, not often enough).

I stopped making music. I stopped reading my bible. I stopped praying.

As of this writing most of these things are still current.

I'm going to go over this blog and fix any broken links and whatnot.

I'm thinking maybe I'll start posting again. I'm thinking I miss the challenge of the study it takes to write the Deeper Truth. I know I miss being in the Word and have been picking it up lately, just picking it up, not opening it, yep, I suck.

I'm thinking I miss making music but I won't be trying to bring that into this blog anymore.

I looked over some of the writings here. The Lord really has blessed me hasn't He? I should do something more with it. That sorta seems to be a thing with me through out the writings here. A head full of Deeper Truth and me stumbling and bumbling through my life.

"Sometimes I feel I am lost in darkness. Sometimes I tarry a little too far behind my Shepherd.

He understands. He holds up, He whispers to His flock to remain still for a moment, while He turns to coax me back into the light." from Curious Servant's Art

Wonder if anyone will even know I wrote something .... One Year Later

Ecclesiastes 2:16-20

2006-09-10T08:23:00.000-05:00

"For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool forever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool.
Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
Yea, I hated all my labor which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.
And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labor wherein I have labored, and wherein I have showed myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity.
Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labor which I took under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 2:16-20).

People often say that money can not buy happiness. You may not agree but it seems to me that the people who tell me that the most, have money. People without usually will add, "but I would like to try". I think Solomon was telling us as part of the over all message in Ecclesiastes that money does not bring happiness. I must confess as I believe I have done before that as I study Ecclesiastes I am always thinking, "but I would like to try".

Why though? Why would I like to try? Well, because I don't have faith like I thought I did. When faced with all the financial problems that I posted about recently I didn't turn to God. I sat down to write another Ecclesiastes post and read "Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit" (Ecclesiastes 2:17) and thought.....EXACTLY! Have you ever done that? I think it is something I have done numerous times and I have a feeling I will do it again. I suppose that is how God grows our faith.

Solomon does something in these verses I often see people with money do. They take all the credit. Do you suppose Solomon really did any of the labor? I think not. Do you suppose Solomon went out and told the workers that success was vanity and vexation of spirit? I bet he did.

Here's something you should never do if you own your own company. You should never ever complain about money to your employees. It makes them feel like their job is not good enough. It is even worse in Solomons case....... You should never complain about money while it is obvious that your doing well and your employees are struggling. This inspires bitter feelings.

Solomon was the richest man ever and to take the credit for their labor and say he wasn't happy with it while the labors saw how he prospered...... doesn't exactly inspire anyone to follow God and it obviously brought Solomon nothing but misery.

I see Christians today who have plenty but give nothing or if they do give, they give to some foreign country, charity, and/or anything other than those around them. I see Christians in charge of others who tell them to "tighten up" while they are buying new cars, trucks, motor homes, and taking trips. I bet Solomon told his labors to work harder and they looked at the life he was leading and thought .......why?

So money doesn't buy happiness, what then? Maybe it's the idea that it brings security. I certainly only saw nothing but doom in my recent financial trouble. I wanted the security that money brings. I wanted the peace the security would bring. Awwwww......but look at Solomon. Money and security did not bring peace. He broke fellowship with God and Ecclesiastes is the result. I broke fellowship with God and the previous few post are the results.

There is no peace outside Jesus. It's a lesson I must learn again and again. It's a lesson I offer to you to learn yet again. Without Jesus as my focus I see nothing but people prospering while I struggle. With Jesus as my focus I see nothing but Him. What else is there?

Ecclesiastes 2:16

2006-09-03T23:58:00.000-05:00

"For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool forever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool" (Ecclesiastes 2:16).

Today we had communion at church. It caused me to reflect, to prove myself, to examine, to reevaluate......it got me praying. I felt unworthy to take communion and thus I zoned out on the preaching and turned my attention to God and found that I have been floundering. Floundering has an interesting definition. It is, "To make clumsy attempts to move or regain one's balance. To move or act clumsily and in confusion". This is and has been me.

I wonder if Solomon was floundering when he wrote the above line. obviously he did not think it would be remembered. I wonder what I'm doing for God that will be remembered. I want to do something.

I decided today that I am a hot coal. I smolder and make a lot of smoke and every now and then I flame up but I'm finding that I can't seem to catch anything on fire. It's hard to smolder. I miss my seminary extension classes and can't wait for them to start up again but I'm drifting off topic.

There was a man who drove through the fields one day picking up teenagers who were doing their chores. He spotted a boy bailing hay and asked if he would like to join the others on his old flatbed truck and come to a revival. That boy accepted. We know him as Billy Graham. We don't remember the man driving the truck but I wonder if he was smoldering until the day God used him to catch Billy Graham on fire.

I hope that I can catch something on fire here. I hope I can make a difference. I hope that God will use me to put something here worthy of remembering and I hope it's not me getting in the way of starting a fire. I hope I am done floundering.

Between the Head and the Heart

2006-08-12T18:08:00.000-05:00

I have often heard that "You can't just have head knowledge. You have to have Him in your heart".

Alright then, got that covered, next......is pretty much my thinking on that.......Until now.

My head explodes with all sorts of stuff. Do I believe it? Heck Ya!

Did I believe God could get us out of our financial difficulties? Did I believe He could calm the storm our household had become?

Yep, but did I believe He would? ......... Awwwwwwww........now I'm falling short.

I was talking with a person today and I was telling them what I'm about to tell all of you who for reasons beyond me frequent my rants and raves at this blog and actually seem to care about them! But I digress, as I was saying, I was talking to somebody today and I told them I felt like at any time God would simply draw a line in the sand and say, "That's it, I'm not taking care of you anymore, time to reap what you have sown your whole wasted life!".

I suppose that characterizes my walk with God. I don't ask for much since I don't think I deserve much. I'm always waiting for Him to punish me..... but He never has....... not really.....Certainly not what I deserve and continue to probably deserve.

So my world was all falling apart and I'm thinking, "This it it! Here comes a life time of devastation upon me. Time to reap what I have sown"........ and so as the deadline drew ever closer and things flew into a disarray at the home front here I do what I always do when I'm upset. I sat down and began to write. A whole bunch of you read that and began praying. I CAN NOT EVER THANK ALL OF YOU ENOUGH!

My dad who I have pretty much treated like a door mat my entire life decided that after his visit down here that something good has happened with my wife and I. He decided that she has made us a nice home. He thought she was happy and was doing a great job raising her kids that have come to live with us. He thought I was a "new person". He didn't think we deserved to lose everything because I was a royal mess up not so very long ago and so he gave us the loan........the day before the deadline.

I received a letter from the IRS today. They did indeed cease my income tax return. It was more than enough to pay them off and we are expecting a tidy return. Student loans are paid off and will not be garnishing my wages. The money that used to goto my ex is now going to my dad. Nobody is comming after me for anything anymore.

Did I believe God could do all these things? YES!

Did I believe He would? No..... I don't think I did........But He did it anyways........and as far as I can tell it's because I ranted and all of you prayed.

THANK YOU!

I think I'm going to start believe that God will bring my daughter back to me in 3 years when she turns 18.

I will try to get back to a regular posting schedule soon, resuming Ecclesiastes.

Why I Haven't Written

2006-07-26T15:30:00.000-05:00

The reason I started writing here was because I am exploding with stuff to say about the Word of God. That, and I wanted to convince myself that life isn't all that bad. Well, I'm still exploding with stuff to say about the Word of God but life is bad and it's been getting worse.

I simply can not sit down here and write hope filled messages when I feel pretty much without hope. I can not continue the study of Ecclesiastes when in reality I envy Solomon. I wish I could know that I am not one paycheck away from being homeless with student loans, my ex, and eventually the IRS doing there very best to make sure I don't bring home any paycheck at all.

I currently have 312$ a month removed for child support. That's all fine and dandy. I accept it. My ex absconded my daughter and after 2 years claimed I abandoned her, took me to court, forced me out of her life, adopted her to some other man, and won all the child support I didn't pay for the time she was missing. That's 10,000$ left to pay. FINE! It's the consequences of sin.

The IRS says I don't make enough money to pay them the 6000$ dollars my ex stuck on me when she changed our filings and lost the earned income tax credit the last year we were together. FINE! I agree. I don't make enough money to pay that debt, but I would like too and be done with it.

I tried to better myself at one point in my life and went to school to be a welder. I graduated with two welding certificates but nothing really ever came of it. NEVER GET A STUDENT LOAN!!! They are impossible to repay. In any case, unlike the IRS, student loans thinks I make plenty of money. So much so they decided they would help themselves to 181$ a month. FINE! I owe it. I should pay it.

Now if God would simply tell me how I'm going to do it all? I have some ideas but it seems God does not want me to accept my responsibility and pay these debts off. It seems he would rather watch us go under as my marriage crumbles under the burden of "my past.

Oh but Michael, Have you been tithing?

Um.........NO! Show me how!

Well, Have you been going to church?

Ummmmmmm.....NO! I don't feel like making nice with the 3 life long dedicated old women I can't relate too that attend our church.

Well have you at least prayed then?

YES! They bounce off the ceiling.

Are you in sin?

Probably......I probably sin on a by the moment basis in my head.

Well then how can God help you?

I THOUGHT THAT WAS WHAT GOD WAS ALL ABOUT! Ya know, unconditional love, can't earn His favor, all forgiving......helps those who can't help themselves......all that jazz.

It's not like I don't have a plan. If I could borrow 15000$ dollars I could pay student loans off and my ex and then apply the 312$ a month that she was getting to the loan and pay it off in 4 years and be debt free by the time I'm 42.

What about the IRS? Well, they will seize the next couple income tax returns since student loans won't be able to seize them anymore and my ex won't be in line for them. The IRS is the only people making any sense. "Mr. Pendleton, You don't make enough money to pay us!".

Ding Ding Ding! That is the correct answer!

I imagine they will take a cut pretty soon.

But you know what? Nobody is going to give me a loan. No one anywhere at any time is going to accept me for a loan. I have tried. I can't get one. I have bad credit from...guess what? Defaulted student loans!

Never had a credit card. Never bought anything on credit ever till this marriage and the only reason we have the two things we have on credit, a car and a TV, is because they are in my mother -in-laws name.

In any case, my life is crumbling. I can't pay everything and we are going under. My marriage is crumbling. Everything is falling apart and I simply do not feel like writing anymore. Pretty soon the interenet will be turned off anyways.

Alive and Kicking

2006-06-01T19:02:00.000-05:00

I'm alive and kicking. That couple days off from rain is now having it's repercussions and I have been working a bit longer hours plus the past couple Saturdays to make up for it. It's rent and car payment weeks. I wish I lived in a mud hut in the woods.

The heat has just been wiping me out. I get all the heat with none of the benefits lately working inside new construction homes without and power, much less, A/C. Sometimes were lucky and a breeze blows through.

Been working in the yard a bit. Got this bug that I want to have a tropical rain forest in my back yard and so I have been getting all the free plants I can from people. Got 4 banana trees growing now. Think I'm going to make a pond with a fountain back in the bamboo we have and try and get some sorta peaceful spot I can go sit at. If everyone is lucky I just might share it when I'm done. Maybe I'll make me a little mud hut back there too.

My mind definitely hasn't been on the blog. I didn't exactly realize how many days have gone by since I last posted something. I can't even begin to say when I even looked at it. I haven't checked mail in a few days. I know that. I've been coming home and kicking back trying to absorb as much A/C as I can. I have read one book and am just getting going in another. Been awhile since I have read anything completely. Makes me realize how much time I really do spend doing stuff. I was thinking about that Sunday working in the yard. How much time I spend at the computer, working, sleeping, eating, reading........Almost in that order and then I thought......What about God? What time am I spending with Him? I decided that in everything I do I am with Him and went back to pulling dead branches to the road.

Our girls are out of school now and my wife said something when we were at the city pool a couple weeks back about the memories they are going to have of their childhood are going to be memories of me pretty much since when the go to see their dad this summer it is only 2 months out of the year and he doesn't spend any time with them while they are there........sooooooooooo........I have been playing with them a bit more too. We just had a big water fight yesterday and I got my butt kicked at PIG (basketball) tonight.

Anyways, I was sipping on a milk shake my wife made me...YUMMY! and she wanted me to Google something and I checked mail and here I am, and there ya go.

I'll try and get back to a normal posting schedule soon.

The Weekend

2006-05-21T17:06:00.000-05:00

Sorry I'm late on the next Ecclesiastes post. I'm sorry I'm late with a post period.

I thought about posting Friday but I thought I would wait for Saturday, you see, Saturday was pageant day. My wife and her mom enters one of our daughters in pageants. That means I stay out of the way all day long and/or hide which means usually watch a movie or sit at the computer. Yesterday however was not one of those days. I decided to go outside and rake our yard. While I was at it I raked my mother-in-laws yard and then part of our neighbors. It was like Jesus said, "Are you frustrated? RAKE!". And so I did with 3 big ol scabbed up blisters to show for it.

Today we took the girls to the city pool and now my big fat belly is all tanned and I'm tired from throwing girls through the air and pulling them around the pool at break neck speed!

We probably should be going to church right about now but were going to stay home. I'm just not ready for another sermon on how to get saved....but I digress

I will try tomorrow to get the next Ecclesiastes post up. I know what I want to write about. I have it all in my head. I just need a couple names I don't feel like looking up right now and I'll be set. It's going to be on Ecclesiastes 2:16-17. Just think of what one person can do. Can you think of any examples? I'll give you a hint. Abraham.

Thanks for all your comments on the previous post. I didn't expect that! Just some spontaneous thoughts that dumped out into a post.

Thanks for coming to Deeper Truth!

Jesus is my American Idol!

2006-05-17T21:18:00.000-05:00

My wife likes to watch American Idol so we were watching tonight when the contestants all went back to their respective home towns to thousands upon thousands of cheering, screaming, hysterical, people.

All this for people who are not even technically stars yet.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could get that excited about a Savior who died to show how much He loved us and wanted us to be with Him?

Jesus wasn't a star but there was a time when He road into a city to cheering, screaming, hysterical, people......yet the same people screamed "Crucify Him!" only a few short hours later.

People are fickle like that and thus the church is driven in purpose to please the people with it's best American Idol glitz and glam to attract an unfaithful bunch who only want to hear about their best life now.

Perhaps if we would "determined not to know any thing among" the world, "save Jesus Christ, and him crucified" the Holy Ghost would move and produce "The sacrifices of God" which "are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart". "The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit" ( 1 Corinthians 2:2, Psalm 51:17,34:18).

What did that say? The Lord would SAVE them!

We have it all backwards.

"He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him" (Psalm 126:6).

We want to rejoice first. We want feel good messages that will help us find a purpose for our best life now. We don't want to be told that smoking a cigarette is a sin. We don't want to be told that living together out of wedlock is a sin. We don't want to hear about our braty kids that don't listen because we plop them in front of video games and TV's while we work two jobs and marriages crumble chasing an American Idol dream. Nope! We want to forget all that every Sunday when we go to church and hear what a great bunch of people we are and how proud god (small G) is of us for simply showing up every other Sunday for the fourth service.

I'm rambling. This is a spontaneous post. Just something I was thinking about.........maybe God will use it bear some precious seed.

Ecclesiastes 2:14-15

2006-05-16T16:39:00.000-05:00

"The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all. Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity" (Ecclesiastes 2:14-15).

In the previous Ecclesiastes post we saw that in verse 11 Solomon turns to look back at everything. In verse 12 he turns himself to look back upon his actions. Now he begins to draw conclusions from looking back upon his past and actions.

Solomon knew that the wisdom of a sensible person guides his way of life, but the stupidity of fools misleads them (See Proverbs 14:8). He also knew wisdom is directly in front of an understanding person, but the eyes of a fool are looking around all over the world (See Proverbs 17:24).

The Hebrew word roshe means to shake; the head (as most easily shaken). It would seem that Solomon is saying that a wise man is not easily shaken. The word rendered darkness is kho-shek'. It means, the dark; hence (literally) darkness; figuratively misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness: - dark (-ness), night, obscurity. I am pretty sure Solomon was miserable. I believe he knew he was walking toward destruction and death. I believe he knew he walked in wickedness. If he didn't know while he was walking in those paths he certainly knew when he sat to write Ecclesiastes and looked back at the path he took.

Perhaps Solomons was warning us. Do not let your focus be shaken from the Lord or you will die! In the Word of God separation from God is death. Sin separates us from God. No, We don't lose our salvation but we separate ourselves from God by our sins. God's Word says, "Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death (James 1:14-15).

Do a search of the word fool in Proverbs. You will find it 41 times in 41 verses. What Solomon says about fools in Proverbs all applies to him! Maybe this is why he says here, "As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise?". Here is one example of what God has to say about a fool through Solomon in Proverbs. "Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit" (Proverbs 25:5).

We are seeing God's answer to Solomons folly in Ecclesiastes. Solomon was drawen away by his lust which caused is eyes to be shaken from the Lord which caused him to walk into darkness where he was separated from the Lord and died spiritually which brought misery and sorrow. God's answer was to rise up 3 adversaries against Solomon which most likely caused havoc in his kingdom. I imagine Solomon was full of regret at this point, looking back, remembering the wisdom God had given him that he exchanged for the folly of the world. Then he said, "that this also is vanity" or pointless.

It is indeed pointless to allow anything to distract us from the Lord, but, God Is Good! "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9). This promise is only for those who know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. If your saved may I ask what foolish decisions have shaken your eyes from the Lord today? May I be so bold as to ask what you might need to bring to God and confess? You don't have to carry that burden anymore. The guilt will be lifted. The darkness will clear.

Death does come for everyone. The wise and fool alike. For the fool who dies without Christ there will be no forgiveness and cleansing. They will be eternally separated from God, the second death. "Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death" (Revelations 20:14). If you don't know where your going then click below to find out about Jesus. Don't die a fool.

Going to be late posting, SORRY!

2006-05-15T17:11:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry I have not got to the next Ecclesiastes post.

We had revival last week. This past weekend was busy. Tonight I have the last classes of the quarter for my seminary extension classes.

Got the final test tonight! *whew*

I will try and get the next post by tomorrow night.

Sorry!

Thanks for coming to Deeper Truth!

Called to Preach

2006-05-12T05:15:00.000-05:00

I think I have always knowen that the Lord has a purpose for me. I think I might have even knowen this before I was born again. I believe I was always and still am scared of the purpose. "What if I stumble? What if I fall? What if I lose my step and make a fool of us all? Will the love continue, when my walk becomes a crawl?"*

When I first got saved I got to the part of the Word where Solomon asked for wisdom. Of course this is after Proverbs, and I thought, YES! This is my prayer! This is it! I think the Lord honored that request. I also think Satan stomped all over it and I let him for a long time. Satan did this with one sentence I have heard repeatedly. "You have to have more than a head knowledge". I know better than to let this judgmental statement get the better of me now.

I believe I have been called to preach. I started actually voicing that belief almost two years ago. It scares me to death. I have preached four times. Once on Heaven and the other three times I preached what I believe I am called to preach which is, "the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins" (Mark 1:4).

I have repeatedly heard from people, even my wife, that preaching sin is not what people want to here. I should preach an encouraging message. My pastor has even fell into this trap. This is why I have preached once on Heaven.

I'm not sure I'm called to be a pastor, the fear of failure looms large, but I have no doubt I am called to preach. I think my call is that of Ezekiel. "Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD" (Ezekiel 37:4). I think I am to be an evangelist which I have often heard is a dying thing. I believe I am to be an evangelist to the church.

"God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are" (1 Corinthians 1:27-28).

I believe these verses are me. I was and may still be the foolish thing. I was certainly base.

I have heard that the message of repentance is not being preached anymore. I hear a lot of people talking about that fact. I see a lot of pews that are empty and I see alot of pews full of empty people. I believe the end is near. I believe Jesus is coming soon. I believe the message, "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 3:2) is the right Word for the right time and as scary as it may be and as much as I'm afraid I could be wrong and/or fail I think I am the man called.

I'm just waiting on the Lord to, I guess, have other men see it too.

*lyrics by DC Talk

Ecclesiastes 2:11-13

2006-05-10T16:15:00.000-05:00

"Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.
And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what can the man do that cometh after the king? even that which hath been already done.
Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness" (Ecclesiastes 2:11-13).

We covered verse 11 in the previous Ecclesiastes post. I include it here for the first part that says, "Then I looked".

Before chapter 2 verse 11 Solomon was talking about all that he had done. He really hasn't gotten into his full rant yet. Everything before lays the foundation for everything to come. It is in chapter 2 verse 11 that Solomon begins forming Ecclesiastes in his mind. He's looking back now at all that was before this verse. From here on out everything is a review, with more elaboration, of everything already said.

Solomon turns to look back at everything. In verse 12 he turns himself to look back upon his actions. In Ecclesiastes 2:10 I stated, "I am convinced he delved into the deepest darkest sins any of us can imagine". I think Solomon saying, "what can the man do that cometh after the king? even that which hath been already done." is another hint that he did everything we can imagine somebody totally rich, totally powerful, totally in control, and totally in charge can, could, and/or would do.

Notice in verse 13 that it is after everything is said and done he realizes that "wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness". Isn't that the way we are? When we are walking in darkness we are blind. We can't see! At best we can only see what is right in front of us.

When we keep company with folly then folly is all we will know. Everything will be ridiculous. Not ridiculous funny either. Ridiculous as in nothing will make sense. There is no meaning to life in folly. It's all for the moment with no vision beyond that moment. It's when we repent of our ways and turn to the Lord and His wisdom in His Word that we find ourselves looking back at where we were and saying, "Wisdom is better than foolish ways".

If you are like me you have suddenly walked into the light several times and found out just how far in the dark you were. Darkness is always a subtle thing. It creeps in as the light fades but light is always a sudden thing. Light banishes darkness in an instant but darkness will never banish light.

Though I may choose to walk in the Light of the Lord I have often found myself in the dark and wondering how I got there......usually just after the Lord brings me out.

Where are you today?

Sigh Rained out again!

2006-05-09T06:53:00.000-05:00

I'm going to go broke without work. I am one of those people who simply cannot afford any days off. Two days in a row is going to cripple us for a month of making up the difference.

Anyways, I'm going to work on the next Ecclesiastes post and God willing get it posted sometime today. ...... EDIT: It's later now. I did yard work and emptied a shed of a bunch of trash. I have revival in a little bit. No new Ecclesiastes post today. Sorry.

If my mom reads this....SEND MONEY!

Yep, I'm a big kid!

Just in case you missed any.....

Ecclesiastes 2:10 and Ecclesiastes 2:11 were posted in the last couple days.

Rain, rain, go away........Awwww, blah, we need it and last night at revival I was thanking God for it.

Rained Out, Day Off

2006-05-08T08:49:00.000-05:00

I was rained out of work today so I got another post up.

There is three post that came in fairly rapid succession, not counting this one.

Thought I would mention it since the previous two run together sorta.

Have a great day your in!

Ecclesiastes 2:11

2006-05-08T07:52:00.000-05:00

"Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 2:11).

In the last post and the previous verse in Ecclesiastes we saw Solomon chasing after all of his desires and getting every one of them. I closed the previous post with the thought that Ecclesiastes was his portion which was his condition while writing. He was an old broken man regretting every desire he ever laid his eyes on. This verse confirms that. "Then I looked"....and he found "no profit under the sun".

I have throughout these post questioned exactly what Solomon labored to do. I have said he didn't actually labor to do anything. I think the Hebrew word rendered works further solidifies the idea that Solomon did very little with his hands.

The word rendered works in Hebrew is mah-as-eh'. It means, "an action (good or bad); generally a transaction; abstractly activity; by implication a product (specifically a poem) or (generally) property". This word comes from a root word which means, "to do or make".

Solomon looked upon his transactions. He looked upon his actions. He looked upon the results of his transactions which caused things to be done or to be made. A couple of these things I am certain were done by the Lord through him, like building the temple, but most of the things Solomon seems to be taking an account of in Ecclesiastes have very little to do with the Lord. Indeed, his works become little more than activity and product. The end product being "vanity and vexation of spirit". I don't think Solomon could have picked a more apt word to describe his works at this point in his life.

The three Hebrew words after mah-as-eh' are very interesting too. They are: shel "on account of, what soever, which soever: - cause, sake", ...: aw-saw', "to do or make" and, ...: yawd, "a hand (the open one (indicating power, means, direction, etc.)".

So Solomon by his transactions/actions, on his account, caused things to be done or made by his power, means, direction, ect. Solomon certainly was not leaving any room for the Lord to have done anything at all and yet Solomon himself did not labor at all! This is why Solomon found that all he had labored to do was vanity and vexation of spirit, that is, his spirit.

Solomon took pride in things he had not honestly labored for. He looked upon things he commanded to be done by his power and took pride in works that were not his own. He took credit for works that the Lord had done through him. He took credit for works he caused to happen that had nothing to do with the Lord.

As you go through life today give credit where credit is due. "Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor. Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law" (Romans 13:7-8).

Don't be a glory hound! "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Whether a parent, a boss, or a king... remember to pat the childs, the employes, the subjects, ect., remember to pat their backs and thank God and give Him the glory for the child, the good employee, the loyal subjects, ect. It was God who put you in the authoritive position and it was God who gave you the child, the employee, the subjects, ect.

Ecclesiastes 2:10

2006-05-07T15:35:00.000-05:00

"And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labor: and this was my portion of all my labor.
(Ecclesiastes 2:10)

The word joy in this verse means "blithesomeness or glee, (religious or festival)". It's interesting to note that Merriam-Webster defines blithe as, "1: of a happy lighthearted character or disposition, 2: lacking due thought or consideration".

A happy lighthearted character is what I am certain Solomon was thinking here. It was not the joy of the Lord. I think if we just read his next words it verifies his happy lighthearted ways, for he says his heart rejoiced in what? Not in the Lord! His heart rejoiced in his labors.

What exactly was his portion? Who's labor? Did Solomon really have a right to rejoice in anything other than the Lord? I don't think so. It was the Lord who established him. It was the Lord who blessed him. It was all the Lords doing and here is Solomon saying "my labor" twice!

How did Solomon fall so far? Just back up a bit in the same verse. "Whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them", and that was his problem. I probably would have a pretty happy lighthearted character too if I had everything I ever wanted given to me, but Solomon could not find any joy. At least not the kind that comes from being in right standing with God.

What really happened is Solomon got all he desired and it caused blithesomeness or glee which caused him to be lacking due thought or consideration. I am sure Solomon did not mean the second definition when he wrote this but that is what happened with him none the less.

Solomon got everything and anything. He did everything and anything. He saw God perform miracles we can only study and at the same time I am convinced he delved into the deepest darkest sins any of us can imagine. What was his portion? It wasn't the joy he speaks of here. His portion is Ecclesiastes. An old broken man regretting every desire he ever laid his eyes on.

What will your portion be?

Fixing up Deeper Truth..... You can help!

2006-05-06T06:09:00.000-05:00

I have been toying with the header here as you can see among other small tweaks and such you may or may not have noticed.

I received a comment that this page is too big for at least one persons screen. Does anyone else have this problem?

Do you have any suggestions on how I could make Deeper Truth better? Easier to view? Easier to read? Anything?

I have not found any templates I like so I have settled in on tweaking the one I have. Sometimes things work. Sometimes they don't. Hopefully I am catching the things that don't before they get published, if not, I ask you to inform me of errors.

Your comments, suggestions, criticisms, and/or critiques of any and everything here are greatly appreciated.

Ecclesiastes 2:4-9

2006-05-04T12:53:00.000-05:00

"I made me great works; I built me houses; I planted me vineyards:
I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits:
I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees:
I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me:
I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I got me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts.
So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me" (Ecclesiastes 2:4-9).

What is the first thing you notice about these verses?

Look again, take your time.

Five verses, five I's. Do you know what is in the middle of sIn? "I" am.

I did this. I did that. I I I! ME ME ME!

What did Solomon really do? Did he really build anything? Or did he have things built? Who allowed him to do anything at all? Who's blessing was upon this list of things?

"I made me great works; I built me houses; I planted me vineyards". Oh really? There was another time that people built them a great work and a great house. "And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth" (Genesis 11:4). Was this Solomons attitude too? I don't know but I would guess he crossed that line even if it was unintentional and the Lords punishment fell upon him just as it did the people at Babel.

Read the verses again please.

Now read these,

"When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.
Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:
Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;
And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;
Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage" (Deuteronomy 8:10-14).

Solomon had history. Solomon had these exact words written for him to read. He would have read these words too being the wisest man ever.

WE HAVE THESE WORDS! "Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God"!

What have you done? What have I done? Is it Me, Myself, and I or is it "not my will, but thine, be done." (Luke 22:42)? Who are we giving the glory too?

Do I wish I could have financial security? YES! I tell you the truth though, I doubt I am responsible enough to do anything more than live from one paycheck to the next and just make it. The Lord knows that too and he keeps us lean and thus we lean on Him. I think I would rather be lean than at the top like Solomon and filled with grief.

Joel Olsteen might help you to live YOUR best life now but if you want to live the best life the Lord has for you put that book down and pick up your bible.

TV evangelist might help you achieve wealth but I would venture to say the problem is not how much you have it is your attitude about what you already have.

"Godliness with contentment is great gain.
For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
And having food and raiment let us be therewith content" (1 Timothy 6:6-8).

Solomon was not content. All those I's! that he did and no contentment in any of them. What was it Jesus said? Oh Yes! I remember!

"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

Our best life is in Jesus! Take I out of sIn and put yourself in H"I"M!

Ecclesiastes 2:3

2006-05-01T20:18:00.000-05:00

"I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life" (Ecclesiastes 2:3).

This is a most interesting verse. From a personal standpoint I have gave myself to drinking and drugging. From how I see this verse out of my experience it makes it interesting. What I have learned about this particular verse makes it very interesting. I pray it all transfer to this page and becomes something valuable for you.

Let's start with what I have learned. The word rendered "I sought" in Hebrew is "toor". It means, "to meander". The word rendered "heart" is "labe". It means, "the heart; also used (figuratively) very widely for the feelings, the will and even the intellect; likewise for the centre of anything". The word for "give" is "maw-shak". It means, "to draw, used in a great variety of applications (including to sow, to sound, to prolong, to develop, to march, to remove, to delay, to be tall, etc.).

So Solomon meandered in his feelings, will, and intellect. He then as Youngs Literal Translation says, tried "to draw out with wine my appetite". Solomon broke fellowhip with God and sowed to the flesh. Solomon sounded out, that is, investigated to the full extent, partying. Solomon prolonged himself or removed himself from God. Solomon developed a different set of feelings, will, and intellect. Solomon marched away. Solomon removed himself. Solomon delayed God's will for his life. Solomon became tall in his feelings, will, and intellect.......ect.

Maybe I'm stretching the definitions. Maybe not. I'll let you decide. I will say this. To "lay hold" of anything one has to get a good grasp on it and not let go. It's not a touch. It's not a grab. It's a grasp and hold.

Here's how it worked in my life. I partied hardy before the Lord but that is not what I will be talking about. After I was saved, I meandered in my feelings. My feelings affected my thoughts which affected my will which tossed intellect out the window. It works just like this, "Well God, You didn't do what I wanted so I'm going to go and get drunk!". Solomon couldn't say that though. God had done EVERYTHING! for Solomon.

Are you blessed by God? Watchout! You might get complacent and your feelings might wander and all the rest of you with them. It's a very small adjustment of the rudder that sends a ship miles off course over time.

My feelings got the better of me. God had just done EVERYTHING! for me except the one thing I wanted. Since He didn't do that one thing all the other things didn't matter and I got mad at Him and let my feeling produce a 3 year period of nonstop everything. I laid hold on folly. If you dare to lay hold on folly, Watch Out!, folly does not let go easily once it lays hold on you.

Isn't it interesting that after Solomon was good and drunk he decided to get a handle on anything useful we mortals might do during the years we spend on this earth. Maybe Solomon wasn't drunk on alcohol but he did get good and drunk on the world.

I am doing these post as much for myself as for any of you who come here and read. So I ask myself, "Am I drunk with the world or with the Spirit?". Which are you?

Ecclesiastes 2:1-2

2006-04-28T05:45:00.000-05:00

"I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity. I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?"
(Ecclesiastes 2:1-2).

In chapter one of Ecclesiastes and in the previous post about that chapter we saw that Solomon had broken fellowship with the Lord. He was backslidden. (Ecclesiastes 1:1 , Ecclesiastes 1:2 ). We saw that he had shifted his focus and lost sight of the Lord. (Ecclesiastes 1:3-11). We found that Solomon had given his heart to the world. (Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 ). A couple of post explored the results of all this a bit closer. (Ecclesiastes 1:10 , Ecclesiastes 1:18).

Now we come to chapter two and what do we find? We find a man who has shifted his focus to the world and given his heart to it now going completely against what he knows to be true. Solomon starts right off here, "I said in mine heart".

"I said in mine heart" is a long way from "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered" (Proverbs 28:26). Of course we know "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? " (Jeremiah 17:9). Solomon did not have the benefit of Jeremiahs councel which despite being the wisest man who has ever lived, he probably could have used.

"I said in mine heart" one time, "God has failed me!". I had just gotten divorced. I was upset.
I said to myself, "Let's go for it--experiment with pleasure, have a good time!". Click This For Testimony . Have you ever turned yourself over to having a good time? Did you notice that trying to have a good time away from the Lord takes twice the effort for half the reward? It is no wonder that Solomon says, "and, behold, this also is vanity". I too came to the conclusion that what I was doing was pointless, there was nothing to it, nothing but smoke. It was all a fading wisp with no meaning and empty promises of things unattainable.

"I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it? " (Ecclesiastes 2:2). Do you know why the term "the pursuit of happiness" is called a pursuit and not a capture? No one ever will have it! Laughter? Sure, we may laugh. People may carry on outside the Lord. It's not real. Lost people do not know JOY!. Lost people do not have "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, (that) shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:7).

You know what? Neither do we if we have shifted our focus from the Lord. Neither do we if we have taken our heart away. Neither do we if we are worldy and fleshy and walk after our own desires. The peace of God will be lifted from us.......but you know what else?........

........GOD IS GOOD!

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9). Solomon knew this too. "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." (Proverbs 28:13).

The problem with Solomon was he said in his heart and thus corvered his sins. How about you? What are you saying in your heart? Where is your joy today? Are you in "hot pursuit" or are you at rest in the Lord?

THANK YOU!

2006-04-27T05:41:00.000-05:00

Something happened when I started the study on Ecclesiastes. The number of people coming to Deeper Truth doubled the most that had ever come and has tripled the average amount.

It is clear to me now that bible study is where God wants this blog to be. I think He is keeping His promise, "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it" (Isaiah 55:11).

I would like to thank all of you who visit here. I would also like to thank all of you who take the time to comment. I would like to publicly take the time to Thank God for what He is doing here. I pray all the glory goes to Him!

This blog is a work in progress. I have enlarged the fonts for easier reading and spread the columns out a bit so things don't seem so cramped. As many of you have commented on the background has changed. I simply inserted it into the stock template I use from Blogger. I want to do some work to the header title but thus far have been stumped in the idea I would like to implement. There are some other tweaks and what not I am trying to figure out. If at anytime anything here is not working properly please let me know since everything I am trying to do is trial and error. Hopefully less error.

Thanks Again!

Thank God!

And have a blessed day that your in!

Next Post: Ecclesiastes 2:1-2

Ecclesiastes 1:18

2006-04-25T16:34:00.000-05:00

"For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow." (Ecclesiastes 1:18).

Here we have a man who God blessed to be the wisest man who has ever been or ever will be saying to increase knowledge is sorrow. I have always been struck by this verse. Read it again. It does not say he that increaseth wisdom.......it says knowledge.

Do you know what the difference between knowledge and wisdom is?

Wisdom is knowledge applied! Wisdom is knowledge that has become part of one's being. Wisdom is when knowledge becomes understanding. Many people have knowledge but have no understanding. Solomon is even worse. Solomon had God granted wisdom above and beyond anyone ever and squandered it.

So what is the knowledge that Solomon increased of? What is it Solomon discovered? "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God" (1 Corinthians 3:19). This is what Solomon discovered. Solomon increased in worldly knowledge and found no wisdom in it. It only lead to sorrow.

"But wait Michael, It says, 'in much wisdom is much grief. What about that?'". Well, let's check it out.

Where does wisdom come from? "For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding" (Proverbs 1:7). We know that "God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much". (1 Kings 4:29). We also know from reading 1 Corinthians 3:19 above that worldly wisdom is foolishness.

So is Solomon saying that worldly wisdom brings much grief?

Yes!

He is also saying that the wisdom God gave him brings much grief. Why? Remember, Solomon strayed. He shifted his focus. He gave his heart to the world and removed it from the Lord. All that wisdom that God had bestowed upon him was eating him alive. It is called a conscience.

When we open the Word of God and acquire knowledge, the Holy Spirit in us brings understanding. When we apply that understanding we become wise. When we don't. We feel convicted. You might want to argue that but if the Holy Spirit has brought you to an understanding and you ignore it, "to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin" (James 4:17). I don't think I have misapplied that verse at all.

Solomon knew better. He was and still is the wisest man who has ever lived. Solomons conscience was having him for lunch. God was convicting him.

The more anyone reads God's Word the more they will increase in knowledge. Anyone can get knowledge from the bible. Only people who have accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior get understanding. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:14).

The more a child of Christ reads His Word the more He will bring them to understanding. The more understanding we have the more accountable we are. The more accountable we are the more our conscience is fine tuned to the will of God. The more we listen to God pricking our conscience the more we will be blessed with His Wisdom. When we don't listen to that "still small voice" (1 Kings 19:12) our hearts become hardened. We loss focus. We give our heart away to the world and the lust thereof.

Wisdom does indeed lead to much grief then.

Ecclesiastes 1:12-18

2006-04-24T05:13:00.000-05:00

"I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.
I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.
I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.
And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.
For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow." ( Ecclesiastes 1:12-18).

When do you suppose Solomon decided that the wisdom of the Lord wasn't enough?

"Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.
And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore" (1 Kings 3:13, 4:29).

If I understand the first verse above correctly there has never been and never will be a person granted the wisdom that Solomon had. God blessed him exceeding much! That wasn't enough for Solomon though.Notice what he says in Ecclesiastes 1:12, "I gave my heart". I think that this is a very telling statement early in Ecclesiastes. He once gave his heart to the Lord. He wrote, "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5). He knew, "A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps. The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will" (Proverbs 16:9, 21:1).

Solomon knew these things and yet he says "I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven". Notice that at some point he started seeking things out UNDER HEAVEN. That is the earth. That is wordly things. That is he stopped seeking the Lord and started seeking the world. He further makes this clear when he says, "I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly". Madness and folly have nothing to do with the Lord. Solomon knew this too.

"Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.
For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.
She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.
Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honor.
Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace" (Proverbs 3:13-17).

How does one find wisdom and have this pleasantness, peace, and be happy?

"For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honor is humility." (Proverbs 1:7, 9:10, 15:33).

It comes from the Lord. When Solomon gave his heart to the world he took it from the Lord and lost His ways of pleasantess and peace.

I would like to ask you today as I ask myself..... Where is your focus? Who has your heart? Who are you trusting? Mr. Wordly Wise Man cannot bring peace. Everything done under the sun, in the world, cannot bring peace.

Peace is a gift from God's Grace to us. "Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:3). Search your bible and you will find this thought is repeated over and over, that grace and peace come from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27).

Who are you going to trust with you heart? Who and what do you give your heart too? Solomon took his heart from the Lord and gave it to the world. We are studying the results of that decision in this series.

Ecclesiastes 1:10

2006-04-20T15:51:00.000-05:00

"Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us" (Ecclesiastes 1:10).

I briefly went over this verse in the previous post. I would now like to look at it alone a bit more.

I think this verse is often misapplied to external, physical, stuff. I know I have done it. We might do it looking at a car, "Ya, a car like that was out a long time ago". We might do it with a song or with music in general, "That song sounds just like something the Beattles already did". It could be any number of things and then we go, "Well, the bible says there is nothing new under the sun".

This is not what is intended here I am sure. What follows after this verse is twelve chapters of experiences. There isn't anything new in human experience. We will all feel the same emotions. We will all have the same experiences, oh, the circumstances might be different, but the emotional reaction will be the same. I haven't been skydiving (I would like too though!) but I am certian I have probably felt the same adrenalin rush and have been as excited, scared, whatever one might use to describe skydiving. Most of the people that come here I'm guessing haven't done the drugs I have done but I bet everyone has felt the same emotions, they just handled them differently. These are probably bad examples but the point I want to make is that Solomon is right. There is nothing new in human experience.

People got up and went to work in Solomons day. They paid bills. They paid taxes (high ones at that! I'll let you search it out). They fell in love, got in fights, stressed out, had fun, bought stuff, sold stuff, envied others, were envied, ect, ect. People in Jesus day did the same things. People in all ages have done the same things we are doing today. The only thing that has changed is technology. Instead of watching entertainers in the square, at the gate, in the palace, where ever people went, we goto the movies, watch TV, surf the internet. I'm sure you can think of other examples.

"So what's your point Michael?"

Well, my point is, Solomon is about to give us twelve chapters of human experience. All of it had already been done. All of it was going to be done again. All of it is being done right now.

I think Solomon sat down, looked back, found when He lost fellowship with the Lord, and began writing about all the things he did to fill that vacancy in him. I have done a great many things to fill the vacancy in me. I have drank to the excess. I have drugged to the excess. I have had sex to the excess. I have done most everything I have ever done to the excess. When the Lord came all that changed. The vacancy was gone. God filled it up. I think in the next twelve chapters Solomon is doing his best to ask God to come fill him up again cause none of the things he list were going to do it.

I know there are people who come here who are experencing difficulties right now. I know there are temptation whenever difficulties arise. I know if we give in to them they might help for a brief moment but it will take something bigger, better, and more of it the next time. I admire and find encouragement in people such as live, love, laugh at Sweeter Than Ever! who is trusting wholeheartedly in the Lord as her mom is ill. "It's in God's hands, only He knows how much time we have. I could go today, I am not promised tomorrow, she may be here six more months, or maybe one day, only He knows".

It's who we trust with our experiences that make the difference. Trust in the Lord or trust in nothing since everything else is empty and void. Were about to start a twelve chapter trip down a list of things that will never make anyone happy. Will never bring joy. Will never amount to anything. All any of it will do is bring a person to depression when they realize "vanity of vanities; all is vanity." (Ecclesiastes 1:2).

What Solomon needed is the same thing people need today. THE LORD! Want something new? Try Christ! "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Ecclesiastes 1:3-11

2006-04-16T19:15:00.000-05:00

"What profit hath a man of all his labor which he taketh under the sun?
One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth forever.
The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.
The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.
All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.
All things are full of labor; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.
There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after" (Ecclesiastes 1:3-11).

If you have not read the previous two post on Ecclesiastes may I suggest you do so now?

All of creation testifies to the Glory of the Lord. Solomon would have knowen this. I'm sure his dad David would have explained to him the importance of natural revelation in Psalm 19:1-6. (Got your bible?) At the very least Solomon would have read his fathers writings. Creation testifies to God's glory continuously, verse 1. Creation testifies to God's glory completely, verses 3 and 4. Creation testifies to God's glory clearly, verses 4 thru 6.

It seems that Solomon lost sight of what creation was telling him. I find this remarkable seeing he clearly understood the wonder of God's creation when he wrote a song about him and his lover we know as the Song of Solomon. I would guess that Solomon wrote this early in his reign as king. Probably within the first couple years after he took Pharaoh's daughter for his wife. This would have been his first wife. I can't imagine him writing this song for any other. They would have been young and powerful. Solomon was under God's blessing. It would have been first love unlike the thousand other women he collected. Read the Song of Solomon. Is it not a song of first love? Do you really think Solomon could have written that for his second, hundredth, five hundredth, a thousandth woman? I think not. Solomon used the wonders of creation as figures to write about love. He clearly knew the glory of God's creation.

When Solomon broke fellowship with God he lost sight of the wonders of God's creation. When we loss sight of Jesus we will inevitably find everything ordinary. When everything becomes ordinary we will fall into the next trap Solomon got caught in. The trap of thinking things are better somewhere else. That the grass is greener over there. That person must have it better. That there is nothing new and nothing left. Everything is the same and it's ordinary and boring at best.

Do you think Solomon really thought he was writing for all time when he wrote Ecclesiastes? I doubt it. "There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after" (Ecclesiastes 1:11). Solomon was depressed. He lost fellowship with God. He lost sight of the miracles that had happened in his life. He couldn't see the might of God's hand around him. I think Ecclesiastes in many ways is Solomon's Psalm 51 except Solomon's "heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father" (1 King 11:4) and thus Solomon comes to the conclusion, "Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man" (Ecclesiastes 12:13) and David comes to the conclusion, "For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." (Psalm 51:16-17).

I wonder if Solomon was trying to manufacture a broken and contrite heart. I have tried to manufacture a broken and contrite heart. It doesn't work. God will break us if need be and there is nothing that will stop it and there is nothing we can do to break ourselves. Have you ever noticed only broken people cry for God? It's never like people wake up and go, "Oh what a beautiful day! All the bills are paid. I'm in perfect health. I'm just so very happy. I think I'll go get saved!". Nope, that just don't happen and that is why bad things happen. It's only in bad times people call on God. When their hearts are broken and contrite. When there is nowhere else to turn. When there is nothing left. That is when we find God.

Sunday Morning

2006-04-16T07:34:00.000-05:00

The kids are marching around under orders from their mom. "Brush your teeth! Brush that hair! Here, wear this!" All the while she is trying to get ready.....

"Michael, Help Me!".

"How? You wouldn't like what I lay out for the girls. I can't do your hair. I took the trash out. I did the morning dishes. I'm just going to stay out of the way."

And so I wander over to the computer. I surf around the blogs. I make some comments. I try and remember to pray for my pastor. I try to remember to pray for.....I just try to remember to pray.

I think about the day ahead. The Risen Lord. My Savior. I think about how I'll mumble the songs and wonder why I don't shout with joy the hymns I read. I sometimes try and rehearse a prayer incase I'm called on but I seldom am and if I am I never remember what it was I was going to say.

I have been reading today about how special and great today should be. It's Easter Sunday! Yep, somehow it's the same as every Sunday. Not to say I don't love my Risen Savior and what He has done for me. Not to say I am not remembering the Cross and Calvery. Not to say I don't remember and think of the empty tomb.....but I really do think of these things every Sunday. I think of these things most every morning in the hour drive I have to work. I think of these things when I'm beating myself up for not being perfect. I think of these things when I'm remembering how far the Lord has brought me. I think of these things as I read all of your thoughts on the blogs I surf. I think of these things when I'm far from God and am in desperate need of finding the one prayer that will bring me back. I think of these things when I'm all snuggled up close and in perfect fellowship. I'm thinking of these things now as my wife calls from the background........

"Will you come finish these dishes! I don't want to come home to them."

I must go. Duty calls.

Have a great Day Your In!

Ecclesiastes 1:2

2006-04-14T05:15:00.000-05:00

"Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity" (Ecclesiastes 1:2)

The preacher here is Solomon. He is approximately 55. He has been king over Jerusalem for 38 years. He has broken fellowship with the Lord. The judgment of the Lord is upon him in the form of three people who have risen against him.

I can see Solomon surrounded with splendor. Servants, slaves, wives, concubines, everyone and everything at his immediate demand....but he is not content. He once walked with his Lord. He once cherished wisdom and truth. He walked in them and held them close. Now they haunted him. Now wisdom mocked him and the truth was far from him and yet, it was there alright, He knew it and it's in Ecclesiastes for anyone who wishes to find why this broken man is crying "vanity of vanities, all is vanity".

Websters defines vanity as, "Emptiness; want of substance to satisfy desire; uncertainty; inanity." The word translated vanity comes from the Hebrew root word habal which means "to be lead astray". This is what happened to Solomon.

"When Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods" (1 Kings 11:4). Solomon was lead astray and the result was emptiness; want of substance to satisfy desire; uncertainty; inanity.

I wonder if Solomon realized at this point just how patient the Lord had been with him. It was probably within the first couple years of his reign he "made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about" (1 Kings 3:1). "And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the house of the LORD, and his own house, And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house that he had built for her: for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy, whereunto the ark of the LORD hath come" (2 Chronicals 8:1,11).

It was after taking Pharaohs daughter that Solomon asked for wisdom and had his second personal encounter with God. During the 20 years of building the house of the Lord Solomon took other wives from the countries around about him which the Lord had forbidden. I don't think he built any alters to other gods at this time though. This seems to happen after the last of his father David's advisors dies off. It seems that Solomon had at least 20 years of purely undeserved blessing culminating in the glory of the LORD filling the Temple (2 Chronicals 7:1).

Are not all our blessing purely undeserved? The very fact we are saved is undeserved favor of our God. One day our undeserved favor from the Lord will culminate in His glory filling the New Jerusalem upon a new earth where we will dwell with Him forever "and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: And there shall be no more curse" (Revelation 21:4,22:3).

Praise God!

Ecclesiastes 1:1

2006-04-12T16:09:00.000-05:00

"The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem" (Ecclesiastes 1:1).

So begins the lament of a preacher, a son, a king, and an old man who has lost sight of his first love, namely, God. This man was Solomon.

In 1st Kings chapter 11 (I suggest you read verses 1-13 now please.) we learn that Solomon broke God's command in Deuteronomy 7:3 (Did you get your bible yet?). When he broke that commandment his heart was turned away after other gods which leads to one of the most amazing verses in the Word of God in my humble opinion.

"And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice" (1 Kings 11:9). God was a little more than angry with Solomon. The word translated angry is anaph. It means, "to breathe hard, that is, be enraged: - be angry (displeased)".

God had appeared twice to Solomon! Twice! "The Lord his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly" (2 Chronicles 1:1). Solomon built the Temple and after praying "fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the house" (2 Chronicles 7:1).

I simply can't imagine after all this having a heart turned away from God, but then, I don't have to imagine. I have turned my heart away from God. I have plenty of miracles I can count in my life and yet I have turned away. Shortly after giving all of myself to Jesus I took it all back and went crazy with sex, drugs, and drinking. I wonder if God was breathing hard.

God's judgment came upon Solomon for his unrepentant ways. 1st Kings 11:11,14,23-25 (did you get your bible yet?) and 26-40 discuss three adversaries that were brought against Solomon. I said Solomon was unrepentant. I think Ecclesiastes is his tirade at God. I know I have been in an unrepentant state and blamed God. I have questioned what everything is about. In the last couple post I have expressed feelings of distress. Sin does that to us. It separates us from God and sometimes even though we know better, we separate ourselves. We lose fellowship and nothing can fill the emptiness that is left. This is what Ecclesiastes is about. The emptiness in everything outside of God. It was in this state of affairs that Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes.

What is interesting about Ecclesiastes is it ends (12:13) where Proverbs starts (1:7). Solomon is an old man at this point in time, perhaps 55, with about 2 years left of his life. He comes full circle in Ecclesiastes. He begins in wisdom (1 Kings 3:1-15, 2 Chronicles 1:7-12) and comes back to it (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

I ask that you keep in mind how far Solomon has fallen and the adversaries that are out his door and in his family. These two facts help determine the tone of Ecclesiastes.

Decisions

2006-04-11T05:17:00.000-05:00

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers in/on the previous two post. I have considered them all. I have had a chance to talk with somebody I respect and I have received some additional good advice. Just voicing my thoughts and feelings helped immensely. Here are some decisions I have made.

I am going to talk to God whether I'm cut off or not due to bad feelings I hold. I'm not going to let myself cut myself off.

I am going to refocus my prayers. Instead of praying for others to change or what I usually do is pray for Him to change me, I'm going to pray that He will help me simply get out of the way so that He can work through me for change in everything.

I was told to start a family bible study on Proverbs. I have thought about this. I think it good advice. I think I will simply let God speak. I'll read a bit and let everyone decide what it is saying to them. I don't think I'll have any specific study plan since I would aim it and that wouldn't be of God.

I am going to let my step son pick a new bible so that we will all have the same translation for the bible study instead of each of us having something different. People often have strong emotions over their bibles. I know I was devastated when I lost my first bible. I still wonder if one day it will ever find it's way back to me. I think between picking his own and knowing it is the same as his "mama's" bible will have an impact.

I am beginning to see one set of footprints in the sand and it's not because I was alone.

Awhile back I asked what people would like me to write about here. I have leaned toward the idea of Ecclesiastes. I think I will start on this soon with a goal of posting roughly every three days.

Some Thoughts and Findings.

2006-04-09T14:34:00.000-05:00

I feel as though I am coming out of a drought of sorts. I have been asking Jesus to help me in checking myself out as I said in the previous post. Here is what I have found that I am willing to share.

I found I have a great deal of animosity built up in me. My wives son has been living with us almost a year. He is 16, over 6 feet, 270 pounds. He does nothing. He doesn't go to school. He doesn't work. He doesn't pick up after himself. He doesn't have chores. He stays up all night and sleeps all day. I have a great deal of animosity built up in me.

I have road rage. My wife made me aware of this. I usually drive by myself and have never given much thought to it. After my wife made a comment I have been more aware of it and she is right. I have road rage.

I get bored at church. I am certain that this is probably not right but it is true none the less. I am way more enthused about going to my seminary extension classes than church.

I am probably hard on myself. I feel like I fail God way more than I am used by Him. Out of this self defeating position I have taken on myself my prayer life has dwindled which is the next thing.

I don't pray much. Sure, I talk to God but I don't ask for anything. I don't pray for other people very often. Most of my prayers are prayers to ask God to help me to pray. I seem to be stuck in a loop. I want to pray, nothing comes out. I want to pray with my wife, I just don't. This is the most troublesome thing to me as I am sure much of what I am finding about myself could be taken care of through prayer.

I feel stuck in my walk. I want to move forward yet I find myself saying I am not even faithful in the little things so how can I expect to move forward? I would love to get ordained. I see men of God I greatly respect and I want that. I want to be used of God like that. The Lord knows that is the one area I don't falter in. I study my bible. I have a desire to serve. I could babble on and on in this one topic but I won't.

Out of the desire to get ordained I find discouragement. I have tried to make myself available to preach, teach, and otherwise serve. I have called people that need people to preach at old folks homes. It hasn't worked out. I have expressed my desires with my pastor. It hasn't really worked out. I am going to these seminary extension classes. I'm not sure where they are going....other than I really like them. It seems that the messages I preach when I have are discouraging because I call sin sin and "people just don't want to hear that".

I have given much thought about whether I am in the will of God at this time in my life or not. It's not like God doesn't know all this that I am writing. I write here and some people get blessed and I wonder if God would use me like that if I was not in right standing with Him.

It is a big decision to put this out in the open like this. I try an be transparent in everything, especially here at my blog since I want to help, encourage, and otherwise affect you who come here. I think the best way to do that is to be honest. I simply cannot be the only person who hits areas of their walk with Jesus where they are like, "what is going on here?".

I appreciate any comments and or suggestions but what I would appreciate most is your prayers........maybe I'm the brink of something big. I have felt this way before other steps of maturity in Christ.

Losing God's Blessing

2006-04-07T04:53:00.000-05:00

When I started this blog I had the idea I wanted to write about a bunch of things that I had always thought about and so I started writing a whole series of post. It was my intention that they should have gone on much longer but I stopped writing the series. I just didn't think God's blessings were upon that line of writing anymore.

Many of you enjoyed the Heaven series. I thank you all very much! I was going to write one last post in that series but it began to feel like I was writing in my own strength and so I haven't.

Over at Puritan Belief there has been an ongoing series of post that seem to me they have gone on too long. At Modern Day Magi's sight there was the potential for a post to drag on to long when he had a post titled Green Beer which started a Catholic debate.

All this leads to a question....

Is it possible to move out from under God's blessing upon our endeavors and into a place were we are doing everything in our own strength?

It's not just writing I have been thinking about. It's prayer. It's study. It's going to church. It's the whole Christian walk. It's all part of spiritual check up I think I need. I have been checking myself. Does anyone else do that?

The Fathers Name

2006-04-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

The following post was in part a response to the topic What is the Fathers Name at Puritan Belief. See link at right.

It started getting good to me so I worked it up into a post here.

"In the beginning God created heaven and earth" (Genesis 1:1).

God here is Elohim. It's the first of the three primary names of Deity. It is always plural as is backed up in Genesis 1:26 which demonstrates the plurality of the name,

"And God said, Let us....".

The following verse, Genesis 1:27 demonstrates the unity of the name.

"So God created man in his own image...."

Where did the US go? It's in the plural name Elohim.

In Exodus 3:14 we have God, Elohim, saying I AM THAT I AM.

In Exodus 3:15 we have Elohim still speaking and He says His name is Yahweh which means to be, subsist, signifies "He who is", or "subsists", i.e., eminently and in a manner superior to all other beings; and is essentially the same with eheyeh, "I AM", in the preceding verse.

When Elohim speaks saying that He is Yahweh and that it is His Name forever He is saying that He is the self existent one and that He is in that position forever.

If one looks at "this is MY NAME" in Exodus 3:15 you will find that the word rendered "my name" in Hebrew means position.

The third primary name for God is Adonai. The name Adonai, translated "Lord" (only the "L" capitalized), occurs approximately 300 times in the Old Testament. It's interesting to note that it is almost always used in the plural possessive form meaning "My Lords".

So we have Elohim which is a plural name for One God. We have Elohim calling Himself Yahweh which literally means I AM, and we have Adonai which again is a plural name of Lords.

Seems to me God is saying. I AM LORD!

"the LORD our God is one LORD" (Deuteronomy 6:4).

1 John 5:7

2006-04-01T13:43:00.000-05:00

At the seminary extension classes I have been taking we have learned much about the importance of 1 John 5:7 and about the King James Version translation of it.

Not being satisfied with simply believing what I'm told I have been looking into this verse. Here is the verse from the King James bible.

"For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one" (1 John 5:7).

What we have learned is that many translations of the bible combine verse 7 with verse 8 and read like this....

" 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement" (N.I.V.)
" 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement" (N.A.S.B.)

Now, here is verse 7 and 8 together in the King James.

" 7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. 8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one".

See the difference? I was pretty amazed when I found out my trusty N.A.S.B. had left out the only verse in the bible that definitively expresses the Trinity and so I have been looking into Greek around the web and giving myself a bit of a crash course in how Greek works. What have I discovered? It's all really confusing stuff about neuter nouns, a masculine participle, and more nouns. All that is dependent on what Greek manuscripts are being used.

There is the Byzantine text-type which is what the King James came from and then there is the Alexandrian text-type which pretty much everything else comes from. Youngs Literal Translation demonstrates the difference between the two best I think.

"7 because three are who are testifying 8 the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, and the three are into the one."

I purposely left a part out. Young's Literal Translation follows the Alexandrian text-type in the form I have presented but Young provides the Byzantine text-type as italics so that it reads like this.

"7 because three are who are testifying in the heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these--the three--are one; 8 and three are who are testifying in the earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, and the three are into the one."

Young leaves out the three agreeing all together.

Everything I have just written lead me back to looking into the different text types. I have surfed all over the web reading both sides of the argument. The "King James Only" crowd and the other side which seems to be just about everyone else.

It's all pretty interesting stuff. It all solidifies my opinion that one should question everything!

Heaven part 8: New Earth part 3

2006-03-29T06:15:00.000-05:00

I have heard it said that there will be no more sun and moon when we reach the New Earth. I'm not sure if the people literally mean there will be no more sun and moon or not.

The Word of God says, "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof","And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign forever and ever" (Revelations 21:23,22:5).

Notice in both these verses the Word does not say that there is no sun or moon. What they say is there is NO NEED for them. The word no in Greek is an absolutely negative. It's a strong NO! The word need in Greek is chreia. It means, "employment, that is, an affair; also (by implication) occasion, demand, requirement or destitution" (Strongs).

So God is saying in His Word exactly what He means. We will have no need for the sun or the moon because the Glory of God will outshine them thus the sun and moon will be "retired" from they're "employment" as lights. The Word does not say they are gone which leads me to the next verse I would like to look at.

Maybe there is a new sun and moon. "And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful" (Revelations 21:5). Jesus Himself says He is going to make all things new. I wondered if it were just the New Heavens and New Earth He was talking about so I looked up pas which is the Greek for all. It means all, any, every, the whole. It's is used in the New Testament over 1200 times. 975 of those times it is rendered as all. 168 times it is rendered every. Seems to me that Jesus means EVERYTHING!

But then where was He when He said this? " And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful" (Revelations 21:3-5).

Jesus was still in the Heaven when He spoke that He was making all things new. Was He saying this just about the New Earth? I don't think so. Even if the sun and moon remain I think the laws of nature that God set in place to govern them will be changed upon creation of the New Earth.

Matthew Henry's Commentary says, " I saw a new heaven and a new earth; that is, a new universe; for we suppose the world to be made up of heaven and earth". Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible says, "A new heaven and new earth Rev_21:1, and an order of things to correspond with that new creation. The former state of things when sin and death reigned will be changed, and the change consequent on this must extend to everything".

Of course there are commentaries that say it's only a New Earth Jesus is speaking of but I think I agree with Barnes. There must be a new order. New laws set forth. Just think, we won't die, no night, the tree of life yields fruit every month....does this mean it's perpetual spring? No more seasons?

Were going to look some more at the tree of life in the next post. I think that will be the last of this series on Heaven.

Thinking about my testimony.

2006-03-25T09:20:00.001-05:00

Shortly after I got saved I learned to not give my testimony. In life I never do. My wife has even told me it's better not too, or at least not to fully give it. I wrote it out here (see link to right) and placed it for all to read fully expecting what has always been the typical response. That hasn't happened but I have recently heard, yet again, that the events in my life are not possible because "God does not work that way anymore". It has me thinking.

I never claim to see a "blinding light". I don't say I saw "Jesus". I remember one night in my life more fully than I can remember anything else that has ever happened to me. I'll never be able to fully articulate it. I have analyzed it a zillion times in my mind. I have even debated a couple times with people who told me it didn't or couldn't happen. I will never do that again.

My first wife was a HUGE Startrek fan. I have never liked the show. I pretty much despised it since I pretty much hated everything about our marriage. Captain John Luke Picard of the Starship Enterprise stood on some stairs in a dream I had. The stairs went nowhere, not clouds, not a "blinding light", not anything. I was only aware that they went out of sight. Like looking at a road going into the horizon. He was motioning me to join him.

I have never learned to swim. The stairs started from water. It was arctic water. I was struggling to jump from one piece of ice to the next to get to the stairs. I wasn't going to make it. Part of me was wondering why I wanted to. I hated this man. I missed a jump and plunged into the water. It was cold and black. I awoke terrified.

There was a presence in my room. I didn't see anyone. I didn't see anything. I just knew that somebody had been there and that the presence left which left me even more scared. I ran to the kitchen. I stood there fully aware that Jesus had just removed His calling from my life. I knew what it was going to be like to not feel God working around me anymore. I was not aware that God was working around me till I felt that it was gone.

I stood in the kitchen for a very long time. It was hell. I was dead. Death in the Bible is separation from God. I didn't know that then. What I knew is I was separated and that I had a choice. I could continue on and would always be separated or I could come to Jesus. It was Jesus who had been motioning to me in my dream. It was Jesus who had been in my room. It was Jesus who had withdrawn Himself. It was Jesus I must find!

People can say what they will. I know what I know and that's all that I know. I know it so strongly that once I got a whole bunch of God's Word in me I never once doubted I was saved in my rampage after my divorce. It was because I was saved I had to try so very hard to get wasted. Where before I did everything without much thought I now did everything in anger at God. Where before I thought I might want to die I now hoped to "accidentally" overdose or drink myself to death or stumble in front of a car or wreck my own or whatever....just as long as it wasn't suicide and Jesus took me home, which I KNEW He would do. But He didn't. I'm still alive.

The dream was not my only event though. After the dream I read the whole bible in about a week. I was reading it a second time and was in Proverbs somewhere when I knew I wanted something. I had already heard my dream wasn't possible. I knew the Word was so alive! Everything was blazing truth and I had this whole big, huge, understanding, that people were blowing off and I was so wanting something. I wanted proof. I wanted salvation. I wanted Jesus. I wanted God. I wanted truth. I wanted to know. I wanted everything and I wanted it right now. Right then. Right when I was reading instead of working. Right there hidden in the back of a warehouse. I wanted something to happen......and it did.

It is because of these two experiences that I stay silent when asked about my "salvation experience". There is two extremes in response and I don't like either. I don't know why Jesus worked this way in my life. I have questioned it to death and now I simply let it rest. I write here because I can. It's on my mind and it's my blog......that didn't come out right.....oh well, sorry.

I don't want to know why Jesus saved me the way He did. I don't want to debate it. I don't want to explain it. I know what I know and that's all that I know. Now I simply want to enjoy the gift that has been given me.

My relationship with Jesus is on an intimate level I can never explain. I have gotten angry with Him and tried to run. I have been so close I curled up in His arms. I have tried to ignore Him. I have tried to absorb Him. I have gone without talking to Him and then I feel like I am always talking to Him, after all, He knows my every thought. I am always aware of Him around me. I have a peace that drives my wife crazy. I can't be bothered with my past anymore. I don't even know how to worry about tomorrow. I feel infinitely bad about sins in my life and yet I know they have already been forgiven. My relationship with Jesus is as complex and personal as any I have with my mom, dad, wife, and/or anyone. I often see how I abuse Him as I have those I have loved. I know there is a purpose for me. It is in that purpose I find a possible reason for the way Jesus dramatically entered my life. Maybe it was so that I would never ever waiver in my faith. I have fell in a great many ways but I have never once ever even come remotely close to doubting I'm saved and that Jesus is here and He is real and He loves me and YOU and nothing that you or I or anybody or anything can ever say or do will ever change that.

THANK YOU JESUS! I think I might cry.......

Heaven part 7: New Earth part 2

2006-03-25T08:58:00.000-05:00

Since I left off with the River of Life I thought I would pick up there too, or at least the verse it is mentioned in. I have a list of things I wish to cover that I wrote for myself in no particular order and I'm going through them in no particular order.

"And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations" (Revelations 22:1-2).

There is so much going on in this one verse. I could elaborate on the fact the throne of the Father and of the Son is further proof that Jesus is God. I could talk about the fact that Eden had one tree of life and this verse clearly indicates three for us in Heaven. There is numerous things that one can pull out of this verse but it is the nations I wish to look into.

The word used for nations in Greek is ethnos. It is used over 150 times in the New testament. In most cases it is rendered as Gentiles which is anyone other than the Jews, or, any other nation. When it is not rendered Gentiles it is always rendered as nation. Ethnos means, "a race (as of the same habit), that is, a tribe; specifically a foreign (non-Jewish) one (usually by implication pagan): - Gentile, heathen, nation, people" (Strongs).

Why is it that in most pictures of "heaven" everyone is white? I have been to the flea market and seen pictures where everyone in "heaven" is black. Why? I believe the Jehovah Witnesses to be a cult but have you ever seen their picture of paradise? They always show all races, all colors, all people, standing together in a perfect paradise and this, to me, seems to be what is indicated in Revelations 22:2.

God created each person exactly as He wanted them. This includes nationality and skin color. Revelations 22:2 says to me that different races of people will occupy Heaven. Imagine, no more racism. Everyone equal.

God is pretty big on names. Every name in the bible has specific meanings. We all will receive new names in Heaven. I wonder if nations will have names. Not names of division as we have now but names of reference. I think I would be happy to run to China to pick up some stirfry for Jesus to multiply, which leads me to the next thing I wish to discuss.

I don't have any verses in the Word of God for this topic. It's merely my speculation but I hope that when we reach Heaven we still can be creative. I don't want to magically have food poof into existence for me. I want to have all eternity to learn to cook and paint and play music and dance and sing and learn everything about everything and use my imagination to make beautiful things I can offer to Jesus and have Him tell me how much He enjoys everything and I can tell Him how much I love Him for dying to let me bring these things to Him.

Of course we will have all eternity to do these things since "there shall be no more curse" (Revelations 22:3) but that verse is next post.

Heaven part 6: New Earth part 1

2006-03-18T13:30:00.000-05:00

I have to this point let everyone think I would sum up the our final abode, New Earth/Heaven, by comparing it to the Garden of Eden. There is one problem with this comparison though. Our final destination will be so far better than Eden that there really is no comparison. So instead of comparing I would like to contrast the two.

In Eden God's presence was with man but He did not dwell with them. It appears that His presence could be withdrawn as Adam and Eve heard the Lord walking in the garden which seems to indicate that God had been away or at least in Adam and Eves mind He was.

When we reach the New Earth "the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God" (Revelation 21:3). God Himself will dwell with us! This seems to indicate that God the Father is with us! I know I dream of seeing Jesus! Don't you? My mind just goes off spinning into places I can't begin to comprehend when I think of God the Father dwelling with us. I bet we all fully understand the Trinity then!

In Eden I believe there was pain. There is a difference between being sinless (not knowing the difference between good and evil) and being without the normal problems of a physical existence. An infant does not know the difference between good and evil, but he or she certainly experiences pain and struggles in life. I submit that the fall did not bring pain but multiplied it. I bet Jesus hit His thumb with a hammer, stubbed his toe and/or got sore from hard work, etcetera, and yet was without sin. Not to say Jesus didn't know the difference between good and evil. I'm simply saying one can experience pain without sin.

In man's case, the normal activities of humans were commanded by God. Man was told to "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every thing that moves on the earth" (Genesis 1:28). All of those things require man and woman to work. You cannot have dominion and subdue things without effort and work.

Not convinced there was pain? Eve was told, "I will greatly increase your pain in child bearing" (Genesis 3:16). To increase her pain there must have been pain to begin with. Pain was a good thing before the fall. It prevents us from further injury and/or dangerous situations. Put your hand to flame, it's hot, jerk back.

When we reach the New Earth there will not be any more pain (Revelation 21:4). The implications of this are mind boggling. No more dangerous situations. Nothing that can hurt us. Just let your mind wander. I'm sure you can think of things.

Eden had seas. "The gathering together of the waters called he Seas" (Genesis 1:10). The New Earth has "no more sea" (Revelation 21:1).

Why do you suppose that is? I have read that it is because seas waste space and thus the New Earth will be fully inhabitable. I think this is a great answer. I would like to expand on it a bit.

I wonder if perhaps we confuse sea with ocean. In Genesis the word for seas in Hebrew is yawm. It is "from an unused root meaning to roar; a sea (as breaking in noisy surf) or large body of water; specifically (with the article) the Mediterranean; sometimes a large river, or an artificial basin" (Strongs).

Is it possible that there were no oceans till after the flood? In revelations 21:1 the Greek word for sea is halce. It is "A primary word; salt: - salt." (Strongs)

I think the New Earth will have large bodies of water, just not oceans. I think further evidence of this can be found in the fact that Eden did not experience rain (Genesis 2:5-6). Rain causes erosion which results in minerals running into the ocean were they are gathered to produce salt water. Now think of the rapid run off from a world wide flood and the resulting erosion and minerals deposited to create the ocean's.

I don't think it will rain on the New Earth. I don't think there will be any erosion. I think a mist will go up to water the New Earth (Genesis 2:6) which leads me to the next contrast.

In Eden there was not a River of Life! Perhaps there will be no need for a mist to go up to water the New Earth since there will be "a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb" (Revelations 22:1). Also note Genesis 2:10, "a river went out of Eden to water the garden", but not the River of Life.

I had thought that I could wrap up this study of Heaven in a couple more post. I am beginning to think it will be a bit longer than that. I am sure everyone who reads this can think of many things I have yet to get too.

What should I write about?

2006-03-16T06:08:00.000-05:00

After I finish up the Heaven series I don't really have any ideas of what I want to do next.

Any suggestions?

What interest you? What would you like to know about? Does anyone have any questions about anything that is written here at Deeper Truth? Got questions about my testimony? I'm transparent. Ask away.

I want to know about you! Who is it that comes here? I know there is a couple pastors, a couple teens, I think a few housewives, at least one collage student.....What about the rest of you? What are all of you doing out there in the world?

What can I do from my little corner of the world to reach out and touch you?

Heaven part 5 (John 14 )

2006-03-12T09:49:00.000-05:00

MY DISCLAIMER: Believe what you will about Revelations. There is three things I will probably never enter into debate on. Revelations and/or the "end times", politics, and music.

Having said that....

I thought I might address John chapter 14 in the post I have yet to get to about what the New Earth/Heaven will be like. However, something intrigued me in Plain Truth magazine and Gordon's comments in the previous post have changed my mind.

There is an artical in the March/April 2006 issue of Plain Truth entitled Figuratively Speaking by John L. Bray. I found it highly amusing. I feel the writer unitentialy confirms the the literal translation of the new Jerusalem in his attempt to "show the fallacy of using literal interpretations for the symbolic language in the book of Revelation". The author also provides an excellent way to explain at least part of John 14, albeit, I'm sure he did not mean for me or anyone else to see the connection.

Mr. Bray states that there is an estimated 2,000,000,000 Christians. "To allow seven square feet per person for all 2,000,000,000 Christians, it would take 14,000,000,000 square feet. A square mile is 27,878,400 square feet (5,280 X 5,280). 14,000,000,000 square feet equals 502.18 square miles.

For all Christians, if all were in heaven today, it would take 502 sqare miles, or a space of about 22.5 miles long and 22.5 miles wide, for all to be seated in one area. (This does not count all Christians who have died.)"

Jesus said in Revelations 3:21, "To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame and have sat down with My Father in His throne." Mr. Bray misinterpets this verse and implies that we sit with Jesus ON his throne.

"Using my figures, if all Christians are in Christ, then Jesus is going to have to enlarge his throne so that it will be at least 22.5 miles wide and 22.5 miles long, in order for all Christians to sit with him in his throne." He goes on to imply that the throne itself is not real.

Now let me introduce you to what Jesus has been prepairing for us. John chapter 14 tells us that Jesus went to prepair a place for us. Go read it! Revelation 21:1-2,10 tells us about the new Jerusalem comming down out of Heaven. Where is Jesus? I would like to submit that Jesus has been prepairing the new Jerusalem. "I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven, PREPARED as a bride adorned for her Husband" (Revelation 21:2).

Mr. Bray throws out some pretty big figures doesn't he? I think he would like to boggle our minds with these huge numbers. God is not impressed. Jesus has been working on a city that has a perimeter of 1500 miles. Since New Jerusalem is laid out as a square, this means that each side of New Jerusalem is 375 miles long. In summary, New Jerusalem has an area of 140,625 square miles, or 90 million acres. These are VERY conservative figures. I believe this figure much more accurate, ...The New Jerusalem's dimensions are 1,500 miles equally in every direction or an area of 2,250,000 square miles. We will work with the MUCH smaller figures though for this study.

502 square miles would be a small park in this city. 22.5 miles long and 22.5 miles wide for just the Christians living today would occupy a fraction of the space of 140,625 square miles. 502 square miles fit in the new Jerusalem roughly 280 times! This means that if you "allow seven square feet per person" 560,000,000,000 people could fit in new Jerusalem. Now Click Here. Then come right back here!

Did you see that? It was the entire population of the world right now. Some people estimate that 96,100,000,000 people have lived on the earth. Now check this out. New Jerusalem could hold 560,000,000,000 people. That means that there is room for 463,900,000,000 after you put the entire population of everyone who has ever lived on planet earth in the it!! Remember, this is the smallest possible estimation of the size of new Jerusalem!!

I ask you, Is it any wonder Jesus said, "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you" (John 14:2)? Jesus is prepairing a city that can hold everyone who has ever lived FIVE TIMES OVER but not everyone who has ever lived will be in it. Can you say MANY MANSIONS? And remember, We are working with a very conservative estimate of the size of new Jerusalem. To use what I believe is the actual size is.....well....beyond words.

Mr. Bray is wrong. The Bible is the Word of God. What God says, God can do! Mr. Bray says to "get your reservation in early if you want a good seat!". Don't worry, Jesus promised me that He went to prepair a mansion for me. I CHOOSE TO BELIEVE HIM!

Heaven part 4 (questions)

2006-03-11T10:39:00.000-05:00

This post is in answer to Magi and Gordon's comments on the previous post. It started getting long so I decided to make it a part of the Heaven series. I definatly recomend looking at they're comments before reading this post.

What's interesting about the New Earth is that everyone places it after the end of this one. It is what I did too, but, I have considered it already exsisting. The problem with this is that although God is not confined by time, we are.

Time losses it's grip on us in eternity but things still happen for us in a sequential order. We are not like God who is omnipresent. Omnipresence is the ability to be present in every place at any, and/or every, time. That is something none of us will ever be and/or able to do. Let's look at angels as an example.

Angels experience things in a sequential order. They watch this age unfolding. They watch the movements of time. "[The purpose is] that through the church the complicated, many-sided wisdom of God in all its infinite variety {and} innumerable aspects might now be made known to the angelic rulers and authorities (principalities and powers) in the heavenly sphere" (Amp.B. Epesians 3:10). "For it seems to me that God has made an exhibit of us... For we have become a spectacle to the world [a show in the world's amphitheater] with both men and angels [as spectators]" (Amp.B. 1 Corinthians 4:9).

I do believe there is day of judgment. My belief in that further solidifies my postition that there must be a temporary "heaven" and "hell". I firmly believe that everyone that is dead in Christ right now is indeed with Him. I also firmly believe that they are waiting. "[He planned] for the maturity of the times {and} the climax of the ages to unify all things {and} head them up {and} consummate them in Christ, [both] things in heaven and things on the earth" (Amp.B. Ephesians 1:10).

Those who are dead in Christ are waiting with Him for the maturity of the times here on good old planet earth, the climax of the ages, when God will unify everything. I believe that unification takes place at one point. At one time. In one place. To say that each of us immediately goto that place makes the judgment happen repeatedly or we sit and wait before the throne for everyone to either die or the "end times" to complete.

As an example of waiting for the "end times" to complete I submit these verses, "And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season" (Revelations 6:9-11). The only point I want to make out of that verse is that those slain were told to wait. Once again, let's not get into a discussion of the "end times". The point here is they were told to wait.

All of creation is unfolding towards a single event.

"And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire" (Revelations 20:11-15).

In the fulness of time God brings all and all before Him. "For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God" (Romans 14:11). The dead in Christ come. The dead in hell come. There simply must be a temporary "heaven" and "hell". Once again, whether we are alive or dead everything happens in a sequential order for us. It appears to me that the Great White Throne Judgment must happen before the New Earth is created. The dead in Christ are with Jesus right now in paradise just like He said. It's just not theirs and it's not our final destination.

Which leads me to Luke 16:19-31. "The Talmud is a record of rabbinic discussions on Jewish law, Jewish ethics, customs, legends and stories, which Jewish tradition considers authoritative" (From Wikipedia). The Talmud teaches that there is a division in the after life. "Abraham's bosom (Luke 16:22,23) refers to the custom of reclining on couches at the dining table, which was prevalent among the Jews, an arrangement which brought the head of one person almost into the bosom of the one who sat or reclined above him. To "be in Abraham's bosom" thus meant to enjoy happiness and rest (Matthew 8:11; Luke 16:23) at the banquet in Paradise. Abraham's bosom is said to be the waiting place for those who "lived by faith" in Yahweh, but died before the coming of Christ; sometime during the three days between the Crucifixion of Christ and His Resurrection, Jesus descended into the realm of the dead and retrieved those in Abraham's bosom" (From Wikipedia).

I believe Jesus did do exactly as described above. "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:40). I believe that Jesus told those in Abraham's bosom that He was the fulfilment of prophecy, that He was who they had been waiting for. I believe He took them with Him to.....I don't know....It's tricky. I do know why He took them though. I do know why they were waiting for Him.

Jesus took those in Abraham's bosom because He defeated death. What is death? It's a seperations from God. Those in Abraham's bosom although in "paradise" where still under law and still seperated from God. Grace had not yet come to them. They were "dead" in their sins. When Jesus came to them, Grace came to them, Salvation came to them.....The seperation ended and they went with Jesus. "Therefore He says, "When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts to men." (Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same also as He who ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things.) (Epesians 4:8-10).

This is further evidence that when we die we experience things sequentially. If the dead in Abraham's bosom coud have jumped forward to Jesus they would not have needed to be in Abraham's bosom. They would have gone straight to Jesus and then to the New Earth. It did not happen that way for them and it will not happen that way for us. There is a temporary "heaven" and "hell".

Heaven part 3 (a hurdle)

2006-03-11T06:01:00.001-05:00

It has been the intention of this series to clear up misconceptions of what Heaven is really like. It is at this point in our discussion of Heaven that things get tricky. There is a hurdle I must get us over. We might take a peak at paradise but I think the good look I promised will have to be put off till next post, sorry.

Heaven is not "in the clouds". That is unbiblical. The belief that we will be "spirits floating around in Heaven" is unbiblical. See 1 Corinthians 15:35-58.

So where is Heaven and were do we go when we die? As I said, this is the tricky part, but first, let us set aside whatever our believes may be of the "end times". This is not an "end times" discussionssion. What I want to focus on is after the "end times". We might dispute how we get to the point I wish to take us but the point we are going to is without dispute.

After the end times, the current "heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up" (2 Peter 3:10) replaced by the New Heavens and New Earth. The eternal dwelling place of believers will be the New Earth. The New Earth is the "Heaven" on which we will spend eternity. It is the New Earth that is paradise.

"So what's so tricky about that Michael?" Well, here is the hurdle, were do we go now when we die? For believers, after death is to be absent from the body and present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:6-8; Philippians 1:23). For unbelievers, after death means everlasting punishment in Hell (Luke 16:22-23). Without any absolute bible verse to say I believe that we can put the puzzle together of where we go when we die.

To be absent from the body and present with the Lord means that we are in paradise (paradeisos). Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, Today you shall be with Me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43). I think it is safe to say then that until the final resurrection, after death a person resides in a "temporary" Heaven (paradise) and Hell. At some point after death, believers will be sent to the New Heavens (a new atmosphere) and New Earth (Heaven/Paradise)(Revelation 21:1). At some point after death, unbelievers will be thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15). These are the final, eternal destinations of all people. Where will you go? If you do not know Click Here.

Unless I think of something else, in the next post we will take that good look at paradise and what the New Earth will be like.

Heaven part 2

2006-03-09T17:28:00.000-05:00

In Luke 23:43, Jesus declared, "Truly I say to you, Today you shall be with Me in Paradise". The word Jesus used for paradise is paradeisos which means "a park, that is, (specifically) an Eden (place of future happiness, paradise)".

What did that say? An Eden? Where was the last place that man and God walked together? Here's a hint, Adam and Eve were in it.

Man was designed to live forever in paradeisos (paradise). Paradeisos is the a Greek word taken from the Hebrew word pardes which means "a park: - forest, orchard". God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Sin entered in and caused the fellowship to break. Adam and Eve were cast out of Eden and man has never been back since. This is not how God wants it to be.

Jesus said "Today you shall be with Me "en paradeisos" not "en nephele" which is Greek for in clouds. Heaven is not some fluffy cloud place but heaven is indeed a place. Heaven is a real place.

Jesus said He was going to "leave the world and go to the Father" (John 16:28). When the Creator of the universe hanged on that cross for our sins He could have chosen any word in any of the languages He created. Jesus picked and used the word for a park and it's not just any park, forest, and/or orchard but "the paradise (paradeisos) of God" (Revelations 2:7). That is where the Father was and that is where Jesus is now, paradeisos, which for us will be a place of future happiness.

In the next post we'll take a good look at paradise.

Heaven part 1

2006-03-09T06:27:00.000-05:00

What do you think of when you think of heaven? Pearly gates? Streets of gold? I'm sorry to inform you but this is NOT heaven.

"What? What is that you say Michael? All my life I have heard heaven has streets of gold. All my life I heard I was going to arrive at the pearly gates."

Yep, I know. Me too. All our lives we have been wrong.

"And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of Heaven from God" (Revelation 21:10)

See that word descending? Keep it in mind.

"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (Revelation 21:1-2)

Let's take these verses apart now. John saw a NEW heaven and a NEW earth. Ours had passed away. On the NEW earth "John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven".

Notice that the new Jerusalem was coming down OUT of heaven. It is the new Jerusalem that we get our ideas of streets of gold and pearly gates. The city has these things. Heaven does not.

The original Greek word used for descending in Rev. 21:1o and for coming down in Rev. 21:2 is
katabainō. It means, "to descend (literally or figuratively)".

"So maybe it's just figuratively descending then Michael".

Nope. Let's check it out.

The word katabainō is used 80 times in the New Testament. Everytime it means exactly what it means in these two verses.

In John 6:51, "I am the living bread which CAME DOWN from heaven".
In Mark 15:30, "Save thyself, and COME DOWN from the cross".

Did Jesus figuratively come down from heaven? Were the people challenging Him to figuratively come down from the cross?

Luke 22:44, "And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood FALLING DOWN to the ground".

80 times in 80 verses. ALWAYS THE SAME!

Heaven is NOT the new Jerusalem. The new Jerusalem descends from heaven to the new earth. It does not matter if the heaven spoken of is our atmosphere or the heaven God is in. The point is that it descends and it is a city, not heaven. Personally I think it descends from Heaven where God is. I suppose it goes through our atmosphere "new heavens" but I'm pretty sure it's coming down straight from God. The verses imply that John after being taken to the great mountain saw the city descending from where he just was, which was Heaven.

In my next post we will look at what exactly heaven is.

Were all a bunch of sinners!

2006-03-07T16:41:00.000-05:00

In a couple places on a couple blogs I have mentioned not only am I a sinner but that I sin everyday and am going to sin some more. Of course I don't believe I presented it exactly like I'm saying it here but that seems to be exactly how it has been taken.

I have decided to say what I mean when I express that I am indeed a sinner that sins often.

You have sinned today!

No? Carefull. Your answer could be a sin.

I bet you have sinned. I almost know you have. Why do I say this? Well, if it were possible for you to live one day sin free it would be possible for you live everyday sin free. I don't think that is possible. If you disagree then I guess you can walk on water too? Let's check it out.

I bet I can eliminate most everybody with one question. Did you drive today? Think it through here. Hmmmm.....Well, maybe a couple questions then. Did you do the speed limit all the time, everywhere? Did you come to a complete stop at that stop sign? Did you follow the legal distance from the car in front of you? Did you use your blinkers?

Every person should obey the government in power (Romans 13:1). Are you sure you followed every single driving rule? If you did then I know exactly what your sin is. It's in your mind.

I bet your pretty tired of all those people tail gating you aren't you? Tired of them flying by. Tired of the endless angry looks. I bet you have some choice words you have at least thought about for that guy that just wouldn't get off your butt and then flew by with nasty looks.

If your really obeying every law then your most likely holding up traffic which in itself is against the law. Did you pull over to let that chain of cars go by?

So what's my point? My point is I'm a sinner! Your a sinner! Were all a bunch of sinners! The example given was just driving down the road. Need I go into surfing around the internet? Eyes linger a little too long on some sexy thing? What about us all writing in our blogs. Ever get a little prideful? Never? How about jealous? Not even a little? Some blogs are pretty popular. Wouldn't you like yours to be too?

"Well Michael, I sat at home yesterday and read my bible all day long. I didn't turn the TV on. I didn't see anyone. I prayed and meditated on God's Word all day! Certainly I didn't sin."

Are you sure? Are you proud you did that? You never once strayed in thought? Was it a work or was it out of love? Was there something you were avoiding? God would rather have you go help somebody than hide in your house under the pretense of studying.

For those of us who have a past of mass sin it's even tougher I think. Memories come out of nowhere. Did you linger on it? Did you wish you could go back there? Did you miss it? Carefull, your entering into a no mans land. Sin follows closely on those memories.

Were all a bunch of sinners! Everyday! All the time! You are going to sin again. You might just have. You might have just read this line and told a lie. Think about it. You'll get it.

A Shout Out!

2006-03-06T20:31:00.000-05:00

I simply wanted to give a shout out to Lorraine . She commented on my short story so I checked her site out. She is a young girl I found out that seems to need some encouraging words. She reminds me a lot of myself in that she self analyzes herself to shreds. It's in all her writing.

So Lorraine, if your reading this, I might not know the right things to say but I do know that from what I have read you are a very lucky, smart, ambitious, and pretty girl. I think you should lighten up on yourself. Don't apologize for your writing. It is who you are. Don't apologize for being yourself.

I thank you for your kind words. They have encouraged me to pull out my folder of old writings and post a couple poems. I hope that something here encourages you and if not here then I pray that God will bring somebody to this post that knows exactly what you need to hear.

Long Distance Connections

2006-03-06T18:14:00.000-05:00

Holding you close
Close to my heart
Though not together
Were still not apart

You have touched me
Heart and soul
I feel loved
Were ever I go

Two as one
Your part of me
Love binds us
For eternity

At one time I fancied myself a poet. I was going to write a book called At The End Of A Rainbow.

I once looked far and wide
and found a rainbow in the sky.

So off to the end
I did go
In search for the gold
beneath the rainbow.

But when I arrived,
I discovered something more precious than gold.
I found your love,
at the end of the rainbow.

The Backrow

2006-03-05T13:28:00.000-05:00

Today at church a man brought in several of his family members.

A woman said, "Boy! You brought your crew with you didn't you?".

He said, "Yep, I would have brought more but there ain't no more backrows!".

I'm A Biblicist!

2006-03-04T14:44:00.000-05:00

I found this line of text interesting...

In answer to those who say "the truth lies between Calvinism and Arminianism," Spurgeon replied: "It does not; there is nothing between them but a barren wilderness."

I guess that makes God's Word a barren wilderness cause that is were the truth lies.

Oh! But wait, the same article says I'm going to make somebody mad by saying that....

"To those Baptists who accept the Bible as the final authority instead of the philosophical speculations and theological implications of Calvinism or Arminianism the Calvinist reserves the most scorn. To call oneself a "Biblicist," instead of either a Calvinist or an Arminian, although it is particularly offensive to the adherents of both systems because it correctly implies that they are both unbiblical".

I'm sorry to offend if that statement is true.

Click Here for article

A Short Story

2006-03-04T06:37:00.000-05:00

My Lord and I walked one day out upon the deep, and taking a few steps away,
the Lord asked, "What do you see?".

"I see only you in your glory", I replied.

The Lord took my hand and together we walked on when He said, "Do you see the waves upon the deep where we tread?".
"Yes my Lord", I replied.
"The deep is my Word.", He said taking a few steps away. "Now what do you see?".
"I see you in your glory supported by the Word." I said.
"Are not the waves supported by the deep too? Do they not move about upon it spilling over into each other and merging to move on stronger than before?".

My Lord and I walked on together.
"Do you see the Son?" My Lord asked.
"Yes my Lord" I replied.
"The Son warms the air over the deep which causes winds to churn up the waves upon it". The Lord stepped away, "Now tell me what you see".
"I see the Son in your divine glory supported by the word in the wind that directs the waves".

The Lord said, "See how the waves move about in all directions, these are my children and each is supported by the Word though no two are the same or will lead the same course as directed by the wind which is the Spirit".
"Now tell me what you see".

"I see the Son in your glory supported by the Word overlooking your children in the Spirit that guides them".

"Do the waves know how far below the deep extends? They can not. The waves reach into the deep and the wind directs them to form currents which are constantly changing and never ending but the deepest currents are not made by waves but by the hand of God".

"I do not understand my Lord" I said.

"Only the Father understands the movements of the deep until the Son calls the waves home when all will know the glory that is in the Word".

"I do not understand Father" I said.

My Lord stepped back, "What do you see?".

"I see the Son in your glory supported by the deep which is the Word as directed by the Father over your children who reach for the Father guided by the wind which is the Spirit that the Son is in".

My Lord put his arm around me, "Do you trust the Son?".

"Yes Lord, with all my heart".

"Then you understand as much as any of my children can".

My Testimony

2006-03-02T14:47:00.000-05:00

I suppose my very first memory of life is a drug memory. Crazy hu? I was 3 and we were going to move. I had built a fort out of boxes and thought it would be great to eat all my Flinstone chewable vitamins. Something said that was wrong so I put them back.
My first memory of God I think is when I went to visit an uncle of mine. I think I might have been 7. He lived on a farm. It was a self contained community of believers. They had a small school house, a community kitchen, and did most everything together. I didn't much care for it. I got my mouth washed out with soup for using the Lords name in vain to many times even though I'm pretty sure it was Gosh and not God I was saying but oh well. The whole experience literally left a bad taste in my mouth. Except one thing. There was a massive white cross on top of a big hill that I could walk up too and sit under. That was great. Don't really remember why it was great. I just remember it being quite and I could see anyone coming up on me.
My mom and dad got divorced when I was 10 or so. My dad married the wicked witch of the west and no matter how much water I threw on her she wouldn't melt. Didn't last long but during that time I hated coming home so I didn't. I got a paper route in 6th grade which ended at a friends house. That friend and I got stoned at recess under the slide one day. I loved it!
Somewhere around that time my dad came home with one of those Map of the End Times fold out things. Somebody at work had convinced him the world was going to end I guess. We had a big old bible and we looked at some stuff. It was all pretty interesting stuff. Not sure whatever happened with all that as far as my dad goes but I obtained The Book and read the New Testament. I started having Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses come over and I'd drill them. I got them both to come over at the same time one day. I think that was the first time I realized that not all Christian religions were the same.
Some dude I don't quite remember told me the Mormons were a cult. Seemed reasonable to me. The Book of Mormon was an entirely ridiculous read. Everyone from the Jehovah Witnesses were old so they eliminated themselves by not relating to me. I suppose I could have been indoctrinated into they're cult pretty easy had they sent someone younger.
By the end of 7th grade I wasn't thinking nothing about God anymore. I was in full on party mode. The roller skating rink was the place to be then. I'd convince somebody or another to buy me some beer, chug a can, bend it up, poke some holes, and fire it up......pot that is.
Somewhere between 8th and 9th grade I know God tried to get my attention again. The only reason I say this is because I know exactly what distracted me. SEX! I discovered sex. I found out I had a knack for picking up girls or as I hear it's called today, I had game. Whatever the case was I know I was living sex, drugs, and rock n roll.
I discovered acid somewhere around this time. MDMA was just starting to pick up steam with the punk rockers but it was pretty hard to get. Hash came dipped in opium and as far as I was concerned this was the bomb. I'm pretty sure crack was around but I never liked any of the "go fast" drugs. I wanted to zone out. For some reason I have never been to sure of I wanted to evacuate the world. I'm pretty sure I simply liked the high.
At 17 I think, just turned it, I flipped a car and that was a major turning point. No longer could I hide that I was all messed up. My dad and I began a strained relationship at that point that I only made worse by getting worse.
After flipping my car I tried God again. I attended a Pentecostal church for a bit but they kept telling me I needed to speak in tongues which I couldn't do so I figured God didn't want me. If He didn't want me then I certianly didn't want Him. I quit going to that church.
I dropped out of school at the start of 12th grade. Right before that I got busted for having hash in my locker and went to jail. I had just turned 18. I was only in there a couple days. I read the New Testament for like the 4th time in my life. I didn't do any of that pleading with God stuff.
I went to Job Core shortly after that. It was my first time to be out on my own. I was in Pre-appreciate Painting. I became a small time peddler of pot and probably would have been expelled except I beat them to the punch line and enrolled myself in the union so they graduated me.
I got my first job working on Husky Stadium and moved into a small apartment. I had to share the bathroom with the neighbor. It was one street up from Broadway in Seattle. Anyone that has heard the song My Posses on Broadway by Sir-Mix-A lot has heard where I was living. Broadway is a serious party strip for the collage. I met this chick who I thought was interested in me but she wanted me to come to a Scientology thing, so I went. That was some of the most seriously bogus stuff I have ever heard. Anyone that has ever tried to read Dianetics knows it's just a lot of really big words strung together to sound really intellectual. It's mumbo jumbo. Anyways, I wanted the girl so I signed up for the first class thing they do. Some deal where you were suppose to figure out which memories were repressing you. They sat me in a chair and handed me these two can things that had wires hanging out that were connected to some machine thing. They started asking me questions. I don't remember what. I know that the dude seemed overly interested in my first girl friend and me losing my virginity. I got fed up and demanded my money back. They gave me a lot of grief for nearly a week not wanting to give my money back so I finally made a big sign and stood in front of the place screaming at people that these people stole my money. A manager came down and gave me my money.
I got laid off which happens a lot in the union and I went to work on Water Front Park and the Seattle Aquarium. After that I got transferred to a job at the junior collage in my home town so I roomed up with some friends of mine and moved back cross the water to Bremerton where I was born and raised.
A Japanese guy was the foreman and he'd get really mad and yell at me in his native tonge. I told him to speak English or die and walked off. That was the end of working for the union.
I joined a magazine crew that goes around the U.S. selling magazines. I'm sure you've had them knock on your door. "Hi, I just came by to see you for a minute.....blah blah blah.....I'm in a contest and I could win _______ (fill in the blank)". Never buy anything from these people. There not in a contest. You probably won't get your magazine. If you pay them in cash they are heading straight to somebody that will buy them drugs or booze. I seriously partied on the road. We went everywhere. It was the first time I had left Washington state. I was on the road for nearly a year and covered something like 16 states. I got fired in Texas.
After the Greyhound ride home I didn't have much interest in staying in Washington so I enrolled in a welding school in Tucson Arizona and drove down there. I graduated at the age of 22. I drove over to St. Marys Georgia. Where my mom was stationed civil service at the sub base there. I wound up getting a girl pregnant and married her for all the wrong reasons.
I did stop drinking and drugging for awhile though. After my daughter was born I got serious about work for a bit. It didn't last long. My mom got transferred back to Washington and we went with her. Big mistake. Everything went south from there. We moved back down to Georgia were my wives parents were but the damage was done. I was worse than ever. Drinking practically nonstop. Moving back to Georgia sobered me up till we got out on our own which wasn't long. I went to work with a dedicated Mormon drug dealer. My wives parents were Mormons too. All I knew was Mormons were wack. It was constant friction.
Towards the end of that marriage as it was always in a state of decay from the start I went to work at a warehouse on the sub base. A guy there who was way friendly would listen to all my troubles with my marriage and stuff. I told him about the Mormon pressure. I told him about all my addictions. He kept telling me I needed Jesus. I was like, "been there, done that".
One night I had a dream. Captain John Luke Picard of the Starship Enterprise (I HATE STARTREK!!!) was motioning me to join him on some stairs. I awoke terrified. I ran out of the room, into the kitchen, and just stood there. I could feel one string running through the top middle of my head. That string held me up. I knew without a doubt that Jesus had just told me to decide and the thing that scared me was I knew that I knew that I knew it was my last chance. He wasn't going to call me anymore.
I went to work and asked the guy who had been witnessing to me if God still spoke to people. He was careful with his answer I realize in retrospect. He told me to go and ask Him if it was Him. So that's what I did. I walked out on the loading dock and told God if He had anything else to say I was listening.
I felt I should get a bible and so I did. I read the whole thing in a week. I started over. I was somewhere in Proverbs when I turned to God and asked if I was crazy. The Word seemed so alive. I felt compelled to read. I told God I needed to know if it was Him and if it was Him I wanted what I was reading about. I told Him if it was Him calling me then I was answering and He needed to come claim me.
Pentecostal people speak of a baptism of fire. That is as close as I can call what happened. I ranted on a bit like that when I was like "Just Do Something!"......And He did. I went to shaking. It felt like my whole body came alive with pin pricks. It scared me! I got up and ran down the isle (I was hiding back in the warehouse reading when I should have been working). The sensation intensified. I thought I might lift right off the ground. I was like, "Ok, Ok, It's enough! I got it! Great! Your real! Stop!".

Don't ask God to touch you if your not ready to feel it.

Nothing could stop me from joining a church. I hit the First Baptist Church of Kingsland Georgia like a whirlwind. Those people didn't know what happened. I called on a Wednesday and asked if I could come to church. They said they would be happy to have me. I walked in and announced that I had read the whole bible twice and God had saved my soul and I wanted to be baptised! I read dang near the whole library they had there. If the doors were open I was there. I questioned everything.
I totally stopped all drugs and drinking. I devoured the Word. I had read the N.A.S.B. twice so I went and got an N.I.V. and read it and then I figured I would try the King James since everybody kept telling me it was the Word of God. I didn't settle for any King James though. I got the Reese Chronological Bible and read it.
None of this mattered though. The damage to my marriage was done. My inlaws couldn't understand why I wouldn't come to the Mormon church. Everything fell apart.
I got divorced and got really, really mad at God. For about 3 years I jumped around the U.S. and drank and had endless amounts of sex. I wound up on my mom's living room floor.

The thing about trying to drink God out of your life is He is at the bottom of every bottle staring back up at you.

I was a miserable drunk now. I would get smashed and tell everyone "You know what we all really need is Jesus!". I am completely and totally convinced that when I get to heaven somebody is going to say that in my drunken preaching they realized something that lead them to Jesus.
I got a drunk driving at the age of 32 I think it was. I got sentenced to alcoholics anonymous. They said something about 90 meetings in 90 days. I figured I was twice as bad as anyone else so I did 180+ in 90 days. I hated everything about alcoholics anonymous. They are a cult in my opinion but one night I heard a distinctly southern accent outside a meeting so I walked up to talk to the girl. She blew me off.
I wasn't getting nothing out of anything. Everything meant nothing. I left one day and walked to a church. I spent the whole day in there crying and yelling at God. I was good and pissed off and it was His fault and He was going to hear about it. The strange thing is that several people came and left the sanctuary that day and it was like I was invisible and wasn't making a sound. People came in and practiced a song on the piano and I decided to test and see if anyone was paying attention to me. I screamed at God. Nobody noticed I was there. It was crazy! It made me even madder. I figured if God wasn't going to let anyone come and comfort me then I was going to let Him have it. I went all out with my rampage at Him. The second I ran out of steam my mom walked in and said she had been looking for me all day when something told her to check the church.
A day or so later I was at a restaurant after an A.A. meeting and that southern girl was sitting across from me. She wasn't paying me any attention and I didn't care about her at all, other than she was So Fine! I was all up on my high horse telling this guy the mojo thing he wore around his neck didn't have any kind of power much less a "higher power". I told him He needed Jesus just like I did.

The girl across the table interupted and said, "Ask me anything about the bible". That was the first words my wife ever spoke to me.

I tried to be funny. I asked, "Why couldn't Cain get his offering right?".....He just wasn't Abel. She didn't get it so I asked what the shortest verse in the bible was. She knew that and oh man was she proud of herself. I mean she lit up! We talked awhile.
She called me the next day and wanted to goto Seattle with me to some A.A. meetings I was going to check out. I had heard they had some real psychos that went to them. Remember, I HAD to goto meetings. I had this thing I had to get signed that showed I was at them.
My soon to be wife was in real bad shape. She came out of an abusive relationship and was strung out on cocaine and pills. I told her if she wanted to be with me she had to stop all powdered substances. She went to a rehab for like the 5th time in her life but she completed this one. That was the end of cocaine and pills. We both still drank and smoked pot though.
We packed up and went to Bainbridge Georgia. One thing led to another and we wound up in Phoenix Arizona staying with a friend of mine. I knew our relationship was going to self destruct. I had been down that path so I started working on her that we needed to get straight and go with God.
One night at her work a dude came in with a big Dirty Harry type handgun. She said all she could think about was, "Don't shoot! I'm going to hell!". She started having serious panics attacks after that. It was something I wasn't prepared to handle. She was all flipped out one night and asked me to pray. As far as I knew I hadn't "prayed" in forever but I did. I told God I knew He was more than capable of taking care of my wife and that I certainly was totally unable to do it. I told Him I couldn't even take care of myself and now He had given me this freaked out woman and I didn't know what to do.
My wife tells everyone that she felt the panic attack end right then. I know I saw a peace come over her. She felt relaxed instead of all tensed up. Right then and there Billy Graham came on the TV and my wife got saved. We left everything we had, which wasn't much, got in the car and drove straight through to Bainbridge and moved in with her mom. We have never drank or smoked pot again. A year later we both quit smoking cigarettes.
My wife is totally bible smart. She has devoured her bible numerous times. She Loves Jesus! I have done some preaching. Nothing much. Just a few times. I'm not sure what God has in store for us. I know I'm blowing up to serve and yet I do nothing much at all.
I'm 38 now. July is my birthday. My wife and I have been married 5 years this August. We have been clean and sober nearly 4 years or just over 3. I always get mixed up and my wife isn't here to ask (Yes, my memory is shot). I fought numerous court battles with my ex-wife and lost them all. I won't see my daughter until she is 18 (she's 14 now) and then only if she decides she wants to see me. It's the consequences of sin. I can accpet that. We have my wife's two girls, 8 and 9, and her son, 16, living with us. God has been faithful. He gave her back all she left behind to pursue sin. The girls love the Lord and were working on the boy.

Well, that's my life. See Ya and God Bless!

Not Faith Unto Salvation for Angels

2006-02-28T22:43:00.000-05:00

Hmmmmmmm....

First off let me thank everyone for the awesome input into this topic. This same reply is in the comments. It was an after thought to post it.

I have now seen where I may not be speaking clear.

It was never my intention to imply that angels have "saving faith". Angels are spirit beings (Hebrews 1:14) and they do not die (Luke 20:36). God could not give His greatest love to angels. God wasn't going to become spirit and lay down His life for angels that do not die.

I don't think angels even understand salvation fully. "About which salvation the prophets sought out and searched out, prophesying concerning the grace for you; searching for what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ made clear within them, testifying beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow. To them it was revealed that not to themselves, but to us, they ministered the things which are now reported to you by those who have preached the gospel to you in the Holy Spirit sent from Heaven; which things the angels desire to look into" (1 Peter 1:10-12).

Angels contemplate the work of salvation from without, as spectators and not as participants. This makes perfect sense to me. Angels do not marry (Matthew 22:30). Since angels do not marry they cannot know the intimacy of becoming one flesh (Genesis 2:24). Those of man who place their faith in Jesus become His bride. Man has the potential to be one with the Lord. It's no wonder angels look into these things.

I do not believe angels can be saved or have the potential or capacity to have "saving faith" I do however think the angels demonstrated a form of faith at least once.

I have often wondered what the first thing Jesus said to an innumerable number of angels who just came to be, who He just created. I'm guessing it was "Fear Not!" followed closely by "I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me". No matter what was said I imagine that Jesus did indeed inform them that they were created by Him and before Him there was nothing except Him. Why do I say this? Well, It seems that Lucifer questioned this. One cannot question something one does not know about.

Why do I say Lucifer questioned if Jesus was God? Even if the angels have a complete and total understanding of the Triune God I think Lucifer questioned whatever manifestation of God the angels have the privilege to behold. Why?

Lucifer thought "I will be like the most High". Lucifer did not believe God created him. I'm fairly certain that the attacks and lies Satan uses today are further proof that he does not believe God is the Creator of the universe, thus, evolution, mormonism, ect.

Even if Lucifer was absolutely, positively certain that he was created by God he still questioned God's ability to stop him from assenting. I'm pretty sure most people think his intention was to overthrow God.

I think the temptation in the desert is a prime example of Satan questioning the Godhood of Jesus.

The temptation of Eve to be like God. The devil is looking for a loophole in the system.

It seems whenever the topic of Lucifer and the angels comes up he is portrayed as sneaking around building an army of rebel angels against God. I don't think this is how it was at all. I think when Jesus said He was the angels Creator and Lord, some doubted.

When Lucifer spoke out against the Lord, angels then let the seed of doubt in them blossom and they took sides. I imagine it wasn't unlike the Israelites and the golden calf. Jesus said, "Who is on the LORD's side? Let him come unto me" (Exodus 32:26). The rest were cast out of Heaven. They made a choice and suffered the consequences. All the angels made a choice that day. They looked at Jesus and said, "Yes, I believe He is my creator, my God, and besides Him there is no other" or they didn't believe.

On what basis were the angels to believe? Even if God explained fully how He was all by Himself before He created them they still would have to believe what God was telling them......Based on what?

FAITH! The angels at least once had to demonstrate faith. Do you suppose that it was through faith that the angels understood that they were created by the Word of God? I think it possible. Not faith unto salvation but faith that "believe that he is". What's interesting about Hebrews 11:6 is the word used for "he is". Estee is taken directly from eimi which means, I exist.

There was at least one point without doubt that the angels made a choice. I think the choice was to believe that God was exactly who He said He was or not. I think that decision had to be based on a faith that said "God Is". A faith that said, "We understand that we were framed by the Word of God."

Not faith unto salvation. I'm thinking that is were the misunderstanding has been in my writing of angels having faith.

Do Angels Have Faith?

2006-02-27T16:19:00.000-05:00

In the previous post, Possible Reasons, I made a statement about the angels having faith. Gordon Cloud who I greatly respect and admire disagreed with that statement. He gave 3 points to ponder. I read those points and responded quickly without any additional thoughts than what had been or already was on my mind. I went to work and gave the whole matter much more thought. I was hoping to come home and find that other people had voiced their views but alas, that didn't happen.

Soooooooo, Whatchya think?

Do angles have faith?

(10) Possible Reasons

2006-02-25T09:36:00.000-05:00

In the post on angels I wondered why God created angels before our creation. I realize that angels have ministries to Jesus, to believers, to the nations, and to unbelievers but each of those ministries is a topic in and of themselves. All of these are reasons why God created angels but I don't think that any of them is a compelling enough reason to create them before our reality (earth, man, US). Angels could have been created at anytime before man to fulfill the ministries listed.

I think the key lies in the fact that angels have a will of their own. In the post on Lucifer we took a look at how the ability to decide what to believe possibly played out in his mind. In the last post, The Fall, we saw the angels exercise their freewill and the consequences. Now let's look at the possible reasons behind all this.

God is not a dictator. God will never make somebody return the love He is giving. God says, "Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you" (Matthew 5:44). God loves all of creation equally. "God is no respecter of persons""For He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Acts 10:34, Matthew 5:45).

Since God is not a dictator there had to be a choice. He allowed the angels a choice. Some had faith! Yes! Angels have faith! The angels have faith that Jesus is who He says He is. "Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is" (Hebrews 11:6). The angels had a choice. Come to Jesus or go with Lucifer. I think this choice had to be made before the creation of our reality. Why? "To show that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him""So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth" (Psalm 92:15,58:11). We will be looking into the justice of God next post.

Besides the fact that God wanted the angels that remain in heaven to love Him, serve Him, and worship Him, by their own choice, He wants to show us something. What might that be? Well, I think it could be that God wants us to understand that no matter how close we get to Him if we are serving Him for any other reason than we love Him, were lost. Lucifer was the most high, top dog, most beautiful, closest to God and still fell. Sin was found in him and I think that is the biggest point, the most important, the one thing we must get out of this.....Lucifer, God's chosen angel couldn't make it on his own. The angels in heaven that followed Lucifer couldn't make it on their own. How much less can we? We will never make it to God on our own. Sin separates us. "Without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is" (Hebrews 11:6). Do you know what the best part of Hebrews 11:6 is? It's that it continues, "and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him". Are you diligently seeking Him?

What exactly is it we "must believe that He is"? We must believe that He is our Redeemer. We must believe that we can't do it on our own. We must believe that God IS! We must believe this, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). He gave Himself for us to set us free from every sin and to cleanse us so that we can be His people, His children. (Titus 2:14). Do you believe this? If not

Click Here.

In the next post of this series we'll look into God's justice and I'll explain why I ended post 9, The Fall, with Genesis 1:1-2.

A Rant

2006-02-24T17:21:00.000-05:00

My mind has wandered since seeing that bird mentioned in the previous post and I tied together several thoughts I have been mulling over. I don't know, maybe it's all just random thoughts.

We had an associational revival this past week. It was in a high school stadium and I sat all four nights up high. I'm a big time people watcher. I can completely get lost watching people. Sitting up high allowed me a view of everything and everyone.

I noticed a couple things. I'm guessing that 60% of the crowd was 60+ years old. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the figure is higher and older. The vast majority of the remaining crowd I would venture to say was the late 30's, early 40's, children of the elderly. Then there was the few scattered teens who were their kids. So what I noticed out of this is that there seemed to be a huge missing part of the human population. Were were the 18 to 35 year olds?

I looked out over the crowd each night, remembering that this was an association, and wondered if it were possible that there was no black members. I'm guessing that there was never more than 20 of our black brothers and sisters in Christ in attendance each night.

I don't know. Maybe it's cause I'm "not from around here" that I don't understand these things, but then, there was that bird in the road, and I wonder, what am I doing? I know what I want to do. I want to go to a church were drug addicts, prostitutes, beaten women, sex addict, internet whores, cranksters, crack heads, tweakers, alcoholics, and/or people I can relate to go. There is nothing "shocking" anyone could ever tell my wife and I. BEEN THERE, DONE THAT! I don't see those people coming to church though and the one church in Tallahassee I do know they are going to isn't helping them. They're giving them 12 steps to Jesus just as long as they remember "you are never healed" (from their literature) and your not suppose to "help anyone, just listen".

THERE ISN'T TWELVE STEPS TO JESUS! THERE'S TWO KNEES! The rest is grace.

Another thing that bugged me and has for sometime is the guilt trip invitation. "If your 99% sure your saved then your 100% lost". What is that? All these people saying, "Do you want to be sure?". Well, YA! Why don't you get in 1 John and teach me how I can be sure instead of making me wonder if I'm saved or not. Why do we have to have our heads down and eyes closed? Is there something embarrassing about coming to Jesus? Should it be a hidden thing? Jesus stood on a mountain if I'm correct and said, "Come to me". That was it. Nothing more. I'm pretty sure that most everyone that did come to Him walked right up to Him and requested what they wanted. I just don't see Him saying, "If your 99% sure I'm God then your 100% lost but if you just slip your hand up now I'll say a little prayer and you can be on your way saved".

I certainly don't want to portray the revival as something I didn't enjoy. I got a lot out of it. I don't know......It's a rant. Forgive me. The Lord knows I'm not doing much about any of it.

Passed By

2006-02-24T17:03:00.000-05:00

I saw a little bird yesterday on my way home from work. Maybe it was a baby. I don't know. All I know is it was small and it was hurt laying in the middle of the road.

I thought about stopping and picking it up but I don't know anything about birds. How could I help it? I thought about turning around and running it over to put it out of it's misery but I didn't do that either. I thought I might go back and move it off the road at least but then I was pretty far down the road and so I thought, "Well, God takes care of even the sparrow", so I offered up a prayer. It was a half hearted prayer. How could I honestly pray for a bird? And if I really did want to pray for the bird then why didn't I stop and do something?

I wonder how many people I have done that way. I saw them broken and hurt, laying in the middle of life's road, and I thought, "What can I do for them?", and passed them by.

(9) The Fall

2006-02-23T21:56:00.000-05:00

It seems whenever the topic of Lucifer and the angels comes up he is portrayed as sneaking around building an army of rebel angels against God. I don't think this is how it was at all. I think when Jesus said He was the angels Creator and Lord, some doubted.

When Lucifer spoke out against the Lord angels then let the seed of doubt in them blossom and they took sides. I imagine it wasn't unlike the Israelites and the golden calf. Jesus said, "Who is on the LORD's side? Let him come unto me" (Exodus 32:26). The rest were cast out of Heaven. They made a choice and suffered the consequences. All the angels made a choice that day. They looked at Jesus and said, "Yes, I believe He is my creator, my God, and besides Him there is no other" or they didn't believe.

"And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven" (Revelation 12:7-8). I imagine that this too was not unlike the Israelites and the golden calf. "And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men" (Exodus 32:27-28).

Maybe it was something like this. Thus saith the Lord, put every angel on his sword by his side, and go in and out throughout Heaven, and cast out every angel that stands not with the Lord. And Michael and his angels did according to the word of God: and there fell a multitude of angels.

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep" (Genesis 1:1-2).

A Fatal Error

2006-02-23T13:50:00.000-05:00

In the story in the previous post I noticed I somehow omitted the most important part of the story. The line that reads, "I saw my Father, and quickly fell asleep." should have been, "When I was born again I saw my Father, and quickly fell asleep".

Without being born again the rest of the story means nothing. This has me thinking. Perhaps you are going through the story of your life and you have somehow omitted the most important part.

I have gone back and corrected the error in my short story but someday you will stand before God and you might say, "I somehow omitted the most important part of my story". Unlike my omission though, you will not be able to go back and correct that error. It will be a fatal error from which there is no recovery.

If you need Jesus

Click Here.

And Now For Something Completely Different....

2006-02-23T06:31:00.000-05:00

A short story,

For The Love of a Son

I was born into this life unable to breath due to a collapsed lung. The Lord blessed my parents that day by giving their son the breath of life.

My soul must have hated being in the flesh from day one, but I reveled in it partaking of every secret sinful thing I could while my Heavenly Father softly called.

When I was born again I saw my Father, and quickly fell asleep.

My soul must have loved being cradled in my Fathers arms but I hated it and kicked and flailed my limbs about crying in my sleep while my Father softly coed.

When I woke up, my Father was still holding me in His arms and He fed me His Word but I fused and spit up and fell back to sleep.

My soul must have loved being fed for it cried for more but I was tired and ignored it as best I could.

I opened my eyes after the nap and my Father smiled. I was content and He fed me His Word.

I was hungry and did not know. I ate and grew until I felt I could walk on my own.

My flesh must have enjoyed the brief walk but I was a baby and stumbled in my first step and desperately flailed my arms about trying to remain upright when the Lord picked me up and said, "Now do you understand you can do nothing on your own that does not end in pain?".

I did not understand, being an infant.

My soul must have hated all the nicks and bruises I forced up on it in my insistence to explore the hard and bumpy path while my Father softly tread on the path of righteousness.

I stood and I fell.

I looked to my Father and I spoke my first words.

"Why?"

"Why do you stay with me? Why do you suffer for my distress, for my struggles? Why do you allow me to be hurt and cry?".

"WHY?"

I looked to my Father and I tripped in the flesh and hurt myself but my Father saved my soul and He showed me how to trust.

When I took my Fathers hand I got off my knees and began to walk.

I looked to my Lord and said, "I love you Father!".

He replied, "Now you know why."

By Michael Pendleton

A Question

2006-02-22T21:52:00.000-05:00

I have been at a city wide revival this week. Tonight was the last night. I'm still working on The Fall post. Maybe I'll get it done tomarow.

A question was asked tonight. A simple question. An obvious question. I wish I would have thought of it. Here it is.

How can you get lost from somebody who said they would never leave you nor forsake you and that they would be with you always?

(8) Lucifer

2006-02-21T06:10:00.000-05:00

"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High" (Isaiah 14:12-14).

This is the account of one angel who was cast from Heaven. Lucifers pride got the better of him. For more on pride Click Here for a great post. It is my wish to concentrate on were that pride possibly came from.

In the previous post I guessed what the first thing Jesus said to the angels was. I guessed what was said based on the results. My guess was that Jesus told the angels that He was they're creator and there was none else besides Him. The reaction from at least one angel was to question this. This one angel was Lucifer.

When do you suppose Lucifer first questioned if Jesus was God? I think it was at the very moment Jesus told him that he was a created thing. A created being made by Him. I also think a seed of doubt immediately took root in other angels.

I don't think Lucifer immediately acted upon his suspicion though. We are never told how long the angels were with God before the creation of our reality and there is no way I can know how long Lucifer served the Lord before his fall but I have a guess at the order events went in.

Lucifer upon hearing he was a created being questioned it. I believe he probably would have spoke up right then except he found out he was the most beautiful among the angels and the highest servant (read Ezekiel chapter 28). Pride then stepped in. It was at that moment he became a liar and the father of lies. The first lie he told was to himself in his heart. Lucifer served the Lord but I believe he was serving for his own vain glory until something else was said by the Lord. Something that tipped Lucifer over the edge. Something that ignited a rebellion.

I believe the Lord told the angels His intention to create our reality. It was this that tipped Lucifer over the edge. Here is why I guess this.

Lucifer was not created in God's image. As beautiful as he was he was not in the image of God. Man was going to be in the image of God.

Lucifer was the most high but man was going to be the object of God's affection. God was going to become one with man. God would have an intimacy with man that Lucifer could not know. Why do I say this? Angels do not marry (Matthew 22:30). Since angels do not marry they cannot know the intimacy of becoming one flesh (genesis 2:24). Those of man who place their faith in Jesus become His bride. Man has the potential to be one with the Lord. Lucifer never had that potential.

I think Lucifer was jealous. I think his pride kicked into high gear and he spoke out. Lucifer couldn't understand what the Lords plan was. I believe the moment Lucifer questioned his creation he immediately became unable to understand anything. Lucifer did not accept the things of God, for they were folly to him, and he was not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. All Lucifer knew was he was the most beautiful of God's creation. He was the most high of God's creation. He was Gods chosen servant. All this was crushed at the announcement of God's plan of man and redemption.

Lucifer spoke out. Lucifer spoke out and the angels who had seeds of doubt in them at the announcement of their creation stood with him. Lucifer and the angels that stood with him exercised their freewill to choose to believe or not believe that the Lord was their maker.

In the next post, The Fall.

(7) Angels

2006-02-18T18:10:00.000-05:00

What do you think the angels saw first when they were in their first second of creation? I would venture to say it was Jesus. I would like to bring us back to God speaking. Before God spoke there was only God, but now, God has spoken, "And I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, an innumerable company of angels" (Revelations 5:11, Hebrews 12:22). Angels saw Jesus sitting on a throne.

God spoke an innumerable number of angels into existence instantly and completely. I do not believe God kept creating more angels. Every angel was created all at once and there has been no others created since. Innumerable angels came to be and saw Jesus. God stepped into a reality He created.

I have often wondered what the first thing Jesus said to an innumerable number of angels who just came to be. I'm guessing it was "Fear Not!" followed closely by "I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me". No matter what was said I imagine that Jesus did indeed inform them that they were created by Him and before Him there was nothing except Him. Why do I say this? Well, It seems that one angel questioned this. One cannot question something one does not know about. We will learn more about this when I get to Lucifer.

The fact that God created the angels and their reality before ours can be found Job 38:6-7. Some commentaries say the morning stars in verse 7 are angels, others not. I reserve my opinion to myself. What is not in doubt are the sons of God. They are angels present when God began creating. "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell if you have understanding! Who has set its measurements, for you know? Or who has stretched the line on it? On what are its bases sunk, or who cast its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? " (Job 38:4-7).

Angels shouted for joy when God was creating the earth. It's logical to think they were with God when He started. I have often wondered why God created angels first and why bother with angels at all. Angels are spirit beings (Hebrews 1:14) and they do not die (Luke 20:36). God could not give His greatest love to angels. God wasn't going to become spirit and lay down His life for angels that do not die so why bother with them? Why not just get right to creating the earth and man?

I think the key lies in the fact that angels have a will of their own and that is what I wish to concentrate on. I realize that angels have ministries to Jesus, to believers, to the nations, and to unbelievers but each of those ministries is a topic in and of themselves. All of these are reasons why God created angels but I don't think that any of them is a compelling enough reason to create them before our reality (earth, man, US). Angels could have been created at anytime before man to fulfill the ministries listed.

We are never told how long the angels were with God before the creation of our reality. It's not all that important I don't imagine. What is important is what took place in that time and that has everything to do with the angels having a will of their own and their ability to exercise that will. It's in this I think we find compelling reasons to have angels created first.

In the next post angels use their freewill and we meet Lucifer.

Why I Believe in a Triune God

2006-02-18T07:54:00.000-05:00

I believe there is a god. According to a Gallup poll an estimated 87 percent of the worlds population believe there is a god.

I believe my god cannot lie to me. To believe that god can lie means that we need not believe anything else which means believing in that god is pointless.

I believe my god has spoken to me. If god did not speak to me I would not care much about if there was a god or not.

Since my god has spoken to me and cannot lie I believe Him when He says, "I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me" (Isaiah 45:5). My God is the only God.

I believe my God when He says that He is love (1 John 4:16).

Since my God says He is love and He cannot lie I believe Him when He says what love is.
"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing. Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil; rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things" (1 Corinthians 13:1-7).

I believe my God when He says, "But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love." (1 Corinthians 13:13). God says the greatest thing is love and God is love so not only is God the greatest thing He defines what the greatest thing is by Himself.

Since God is the greatest love and cannot lie I believe Him when He says what the greatest love is. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). What does that say? HIS LIFE. Not another's life. Not a created life. HIS LIFE! God the Father who is love says the greatest love is that A MAN lay down HIS LIFE.

I believe God when He says, "I am the LORD, I change not" (Malachi 3:6). My God who cannot change and cannot lie "became flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:14).

Only one person in history has ever proclaimed to lay down their life for mankind and that is Jesus. God the Son.

Jesus must be God since He said, "I lay down my life for the sheep" (John 10:15). The sheep is mankind. Jesus also said he came "to give his life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28).

Jesus said point blank, "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30).

Since God cannot lie and cannot change I believe God when He says, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).

I believe God the Father demonstrated the greatest love as He Himself defined love by His very nature which is love and became flesh, and dwelt among us, laying down HIS LIFE for the ransom of many. Or we could say, for His friends.

If God did not lay down HIS life life then God is a liar and it would not matter what Jesus said since Jesus would be only man. Nothing God created could ever demonstrate the greatest love God defined by Himself being love. No created thing could lay down their life in place of God. God said HIS life. Jesus was not the first created thing. Jesus was not created. Jesus is God.

"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever" (Hebrews 13:8). "I am the LORD, I change not" (Malachi 3:6). "I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me" (Isaiah 45:5). "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30).

Jesus makes a distinction between Himself and His Father and yet says they are one. God had to lay down HIS life or God would be a liar. Jesus said He came to lay down His life. The only way to account for this is say that the Father is God and the Father is Jesus. Two of the three Triune God. I will tell you why I believe in the third in a second.

"The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being" (Baptist Faith and Message). Since this such a difficult concept to wrap our limited human mind around many choose not to believe it at all. I tried to explain how I think of or deal with the Trinity in my previous post. I hope this one clears up any misunderstandings.

Jesus says, "I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, so that He may be with you forever" (John 14:16). "He dwells with you and shall be in you" (John14:17).

Jesus who is God and cannot lie and does not change says, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you" (John 14:18). "I am with you always" (Matthew 28:20).

Jesus says, "If a man love me my Father will love him, and WE will come unto him, and make our abode with him" (John 14:23). It's not only Jesus who comes. It's the Father too. It would have to be this way since Jesus and the Father are one. Notice the condition though? "If a man love me". There is evidence of that love that I removed from the verse above since that is a whole different topic all together. I suggest you get in your bible and check it out, John 14:23.

God cannot lie and does not change. He Himself became man. Jesus is that man. Jesus says He will come to us, that He is always with us, and that the Father comes with Him.

Jesus says, "I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me" ( John 15:26). Jesus will send the Spirit. The Spirit comes from the Father. Jesus and the Father are one. Jesus says HE will come to us. When the Holy Spirit comes, the Son comes. When the Son comes, the Father comes. The Father is the Son who is the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God. The third part of the Triune God.

I believe "The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being" (Baptist Faith and Message).

I have done my best to explain how I think or deal with the reality of a Truine God. I have done my best to explain why I believe in a Truine God. I am now going to move back to my previous line of writings. We left off with God just speaking angels into existence.

The Trinity

2006-02-16T23:10:00.000-05:00

I would like to discuss the doctrine of the Trinity. It is my greatest desire that anyone reading this understands that my grasping at straws to explain something volumes of literature has been written about is just that......me grasping at straws. I have something that helps me think about the Trinity and gives me understanding. It is imperative to completely drop the idea of time as we know it and that is why I have repeated that so often. This is why the crystal ball analogy of God seeing into the future is incorrect, God is already in the future. We sing it, "I know Who holds tomorrow".

There seems to be two views of the Trinity that I could possibly fall into and it is not my intention in any way to do that. One is that of God being like a father, mother, and child which suggest three Gods and not one. The other is that of a dad who is also a business man and a couch which suggest God with three modes of expression.

We call God the author of life. I have thought long and hard about why we call Him that. I began thinking about John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God". In the beginning the Word already existed.

"The heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain" God the Father (1 Kings 8:27). Yes, I took some liberty with that verse. Nothing God created can contain Him, unless, He chooses to step in.

God the Father cannot be contained by the reality He created and so He must remain outside it. God is omnipresent in all places at all times because everything is contained in Him. As I have already written, God is love and God says that the greatest love is to lay down His life for a friend. At some point in eternity past before God created anything there was only Him. God, by Himself, full of love, being love Himself and defining love by Himself, thinking about you and I. God was thinking about laying down His life for all of us. God created a reality He could step into. "All things came into being through Him, and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being." (John 1:3). Who is the Him? It's Jesus, God the Son. "He was in the beginning with God" (John 1:2).

For sometime I kept turning over the whole thing of eternity and God stepping into creation and then I hit on the whole author of life thing and that Jesus is the Word......and some of you probably can guess where I'm going to go and the rest are going to find out right now.

I have read and heard sermons say that God is like a producer who made a movie. He knows the entire movie while the audience only knows the point they are at in the movie. It don't work for me. I much prefer a book.

We say that God is the author of life. I like that. God the Father is outside the book He authors. He is not contained by it. He knows every detail of it. He is the beginning and the end. Although I believe that God never had to author anything I believe He was compelled by His nature to create. God is love and God says that the greatest love is to lay down His life for a friend.

Jesus is the Word. God the Son. God in His creation. God never changes so God the Son was always meant to step in. He had to author a place He could step into. This is why the bible says He "made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Himself the form of a servant" (Philippians 2:7). Jesus was not omnipresent. Jesus stepped into time and was confined by it. Jesus experienced things sequentially. "The Word became flesh" (John 1:14) but "God is a spirit" (John 4:24). Hmmmm......God the Father is spirit but I'm fairly certain that Jesus, God the Son, has always been flesh and always been love and always was going to lay down His life for His friends. We were created in His image.

God could have taken a million years to plan one second of your life. This is where God the Holy Spirit comes in. God is with you because He created you. You have been authored. You are a character in the book. God wrote whole chapters just about you. It's not that there is a Holy Spirit for each person, It's that God, who is not contained by time, has all the time in eternity to be with just you!

As I said, I'm grasping at straws. Everything makes perfect sense in my mind but between the concept and the keyboard is a lot of sinful me. In the most simplistic terms, God the Father authors a book. He writes Himself into the book, God the Son. He intimately cares for each character in His book, God the Holy Spirit. I can see each as as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being. If by a gift of God you too can see how this works then all praise goes to God because I know I feel it's all inept compared to what is in my mind.

I can't wait to get back to angels! God stepping into a reality He created before our reality.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

2006-02-14T06:30:00.000-05:00

Good Day!

My visit with my dad went very well! I think it's the first time I have ever fully understood how my life can be a testimony. When my dad last saw my wife and I we were living a completely different life than we live now. We were both all drugged up and drunk every second of every day and living in a rat trap studio apartment under a meth lab that eventually caught on fire and tried to burn the building down. How far Jesus has brought us! My dad just couldn't get over how everything is different now. Maybe I'll get around to putting a full testimony in my profile.

God willing when I get home from work today I'll get to work on getting back on topic. It would appear that I need to further elaborate on how God can know everything completely from before creation and still be fully involved with His creation as an unfolding plan of redemption. I'm hoping to move onto angels, Luciffer, and the fall in the next few post.

Sure is cold this moring! Brrrrrrrrrrrr!

Time Off

2006-02-08T07:04:00.000-05:00

Hello Everybody!

My dad (who I have not seen in 4 years) has come down for the week so I will not be doing any post till Saturday at the soonest.

I would like to take the time to thank all those who come here and especially those who comment. I very much encourage people to comment. Although it would be my human desire that everyone agrees with me that does not cause growth. By disagreeing with me it sends me back to look into matters further. We sharpen each other through such interactions.

Once again,
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR VISITING!

(6) God Speaks

2006-02-03T15:56:00.000-05:00

For those of you who have missed the previous post, here is where we are. Our reality has not yet been created. God exist by Himself and nothing else exist except Him. God is love (1 John 4:16). God says, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). Since God does not change and cannot lie then from all eternity past God's intention was to fulfill the ultimate expression of love as defined by Himself. All these thoughts are expanded on in previous post.

In the last post we established that God would not and will not force anyone to do His will and/or respond to Him which led to the fact that God would have to allow anything and anyone He created to have freedom to choose. Choose what? Well, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends", choose to be God's friends. Just who are God's friends? God says, "You are My friends if you do whatever I command you" (John 15:14). What does God command? LOVE! Love Him. Love each other. Love everyone!

Now I need to move on to another point and then we will wrap this post up all nice and neat. Did you know that God knows all the what if's in life? What do I mean? Let's look at some verses.
"Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the powerful acts which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes!" (Matthew 11:21).
What does that say? If something happened. Then what? Then things would have been different.
"And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to the heaven, shall be brought down to hell. For if the mighty works which have been done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day" (Matthew 11:23).
If what? If something had been done, then what? Then things would have been different.

Why do I believe these verses show that God knows what would have happened if things were different? It has everything to do with God not being confined by time. Every thought process God could possibly have will become instant and perfect when placed in eternity. God knows every action and reaction. God knows how each and everything affects each and every other thing. God knows this because He has already saw all possible combinations and sequences of actions and subsequent reactions. I believe God really did know exactly what would happen if things were different in the above verses. I believe God really meant that Tyre and Sidon would have repented and Sodom would have remained. I also know exactly what could be deduced from this. Why did God allow the worst to happen if He knew the best? We are now back to freewill.

In the last post I took some liberty with 1 Corinthians 13. Since God defines love by who He is it seems clear to me that God has our best interest in mind. "Jehovah is good to all; and His tender mercies are over all His works" (Psalm 145:9). God is love and He created everything including you and I out of that love. God says, "I know the purposes which I am purposing for you, says Jehovah; purposes of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope" (Jeremiah 29:11). God knows what's best for us. It's up to us to choose to step into that plan.

So how does God allow us to decide? How does He give us freewill when everything was and is created according to His perfect plan from start to finish? Once again, it has everything to do with God not being in sequential time.

In the game of chess the chess master attempts to think of every move his opponent could possibly make and then think of every counter move he can make. A master can think several moves in advance and develop a strategy that will move him towards the goal of putting his opponents king in checkmate, but, even the chess master can only react to what his opponent does. If the opponent moves in a way unexpected then the chess master must start the entire process over of thinking through all moves and the resulting moves.

God would not be fun to play chess with. Unlike the chess master, God would know every move we could make. Every move we will make. Every move we thought about making. Unlike the chess master God created the game, the rules, the pieces, YOU, the mind you use to play against Him, EVERYTHING! God would have saw the entire game and ever possible out come of the game before the game, you, or anything was created to play it.

Our reality is like that. Since God is not confined by time and does not experience time in a sequential order all of the thought process would be less than nothing when placed in the eternal past God had to plan in before creating anything. Don't get me wrong here. I don't believe God spent zillions of years thinking and rethinking the creation He was about to make. Thinking and rethinking each move of the creation. If He did though it would still have been nothing since the thought process would have a beginning and an end. Anything with a beginning an end is nothing in eternity.

The point I want to make out of all this is God looked into the future of the creation He was about to make and based His creation upon our decisions. God, who is love and wants to be loved, maximizes His creative effort to influence people to decide to be His friends. God stacks all of creation up in a way that points to loving Him but all of creation was built based upon decisions God already saw us make. This is why God says, "all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). God's purpose was for His creation to love Him and for those who love Him to help others see just how much God love's them. Does this remove freewill? Absolutely not! Just because God saw the decisions we make before we make them does not mean that we did not make those decisions fully on our own using our own ability to make decisions. God shaped creation around decisions He allowed all of creation to make freely.

Out of perfect love and perfect knowledge with a perfect plan God spoke. "And I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and the living creatures and the elders. And the number of them was myriads and myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a great voice, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing" (Revelations 5:11).

See you next post!

I just learned how to use the spell checker. My popup blocker was killing it. Please forgive any errors in previous post. Off to work with me!

(5) Eternity Past part 3

2006-02-03T06:55:00.000-05:00

God is love and God says that the greatest love is to lay down His life for a friend. At some point in eternity past before God created anything there was only Him. God, by Himself, full of love, being love Himself and defining love by Himself, thinking about you and I. God was thinking about laying down His life for all of us.

Since God defines love by Himself then the liberty I took with the following verses is absolutely true about God.

God is patient, God is kind. He does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud. God is not rude, He is not self-seeking, He is not easily angered, He keeps no record of wrongs. God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. God always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. God never fails (1 Corinthians 13:3-8).

Out of this list of attributes we can safely say that God does not demand His own way. God will not force anyone to do anything. God is not a dictator. Since God does not demand His own way God realized that there would have to be freewill in the reality He was about to create. There would have to be a choice. Think about it. The mighty eternal God who is sufficient in Himself, needing nothing and no one, looks into the future He was about to create and saw that most of it would choose to deny Him and yet He still spoke, He still entered in, He still came to give up His life for YOU!

In my next post we'll begin looking at freewill and how God let's us have it while still knowing and controlling every detail of everything. We might see some angels too.

Side Note: God Thinking

2006-02-01T21:54:00.000-05:00

In the past couple post I have referred to God as thinking. I would like to take a moment to look at God's thoughts and what I am saying when I say God is "thinking".

As we have already seen, any amount of time in the context of eternity becomes nothing. All of God's "thoughts" therefor would be instant and complete. If God had to think one thought after another and build an idea it would not matter how long the thought process took, once the thought was complete it would become instant. As I said before, if God took one million years to plan each second of your life it would still be less than nothing in the context of eternity.

I simply want to make clear I don't believe God had to stumble around with an idea and experiment, change His mind, and do the whole "brain storming" thing. Everything God does is finished when it begins. There are no mistakes. There is no changing of the mind. Everything that is going on in the reality He has created us in has already been completed. We only get to experience it moment by moment.

I can hear people crying predestination now. Were going to cover that eventually. For now though, let's put God back in eternity past thinking about laying down His life for us.

(4) Eternity Past part 2

2006-02-01T21:00:00.000-05:00

In the last post we established that at some point God exsisted by Himself before He created anything. God was all by Himself thinking about us somewhere in eternity past. Why do you suppose God was thinking about us? Before I answer this question let's look at who God is.

"God is love" (1 John 4:16). God says, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). God says, "I am the LORD, I change not" (Malachi 3:6). Since we worship a "God that cannot lie" (Titus 1:2) we can safely say that God who is love has for all eternity past wanted to express His love in the greatest form He defined by Himself which is, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends".

"The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being" (Baptist Faith and Message). Was God going to lay down His life for the Son? The Holy Spirit? Was either the Son or Holy Spirit going to lay down their lives for either of the other?

God is love and God says that the greatest love is to lay down His life. God is love and what is love if it is not expressed? From all eternity God planned how He would express Himself in His creation. But how would He do it? How would it all play out? We'll begin to look at that next time. Oh! To answer the first question, God was thinking about laying down His life for us!

(3) Eternity Past

2006-02-01T16:17:00.000-05:00

"I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me" (Isaiah 45:5).

In the previous two post we established that any amount of time no matter how expansive is nothing in eternity. We looked at the fact that God created time and the reality we exsist in but is outside of it. All time and the reality we experience moment by moment is completely contained from start to finish in God. This being true and the above verse being true then there was a time before our time that God exsisted by Himself.

At some point in eternity past God was and He was all that was. God says there is no other God beside Him and so if God had not created anything yet then at some point in eternity past there was only God. If this were not true then we are all worshiping the wrong god. I personally want to worship the biggest, best, first, true, god. Not second place.

What do you think God did in eternity past? I think I know. I think He was thinking. What do you suppose He was thinking about? YOU! Yes, God was thinking about you! We do not know how long God thought about His creation before speaking everything into exsistance. What we do know is He had all eternity. If God spent a million years thinking about each second of your life it would still be absolutly nothing in the scope of eternity.

God says, "I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope" (Jeremiah 29:11). God had all of eternity to figure out exactly what would be the very best for you and I, for all of us.

Were going to look more at God in eternity past in the next post and start to look into God's purpose in creating our reality and the time we exsist in.

(2) Sequential Time

2006-01-31T19:15:00.000-05:00

"It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power" (Acts 1:7).

God is not confined by time. We were not created to be confined by time. Time began with the curse of sin. When death began, time began. Before sin man was to use time as God uses time.

God uses time as a tool. "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven" (Ecclesaties 3:1). The time we experience sequentially, moment by moment, God uses to achieve His purpose in His creation.

God is outside sequential time. As we saw in the last post, any amount of time, no matter how expansive, is nothing in eternity. God is the eternal that time is kept in. The time we exsist in God views as one complete segment. God is without time.

I think it's important that we relize that events do not happen in sequence with God. Everything God does He does instantly and completely. Everything we experience moment by moment in the reality God created for us to exsist in has already been completed and finished in God's reality. God is in a reality outside the one we exsist in. Our reality is contained in Him.

Once we realize the significance of these truths we can begin to understand the full impact of God stepping out of eternity into time to experience our reality. In my next post we go back before our time into eternity past and really start digging into some meat.

(1) Time in Eternity

2006-01-30T19:45:00.000-05:00

"Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God" (Psalm 93:1-3).

When I was 5 a year seemed like a long time. A year then was 1/5th of my life. At 30 the years seemed faster. A year now became 1/30th of my life. The year didn't change but the perspective did. 1/30th is a smaller portion than 1/5th.

As long as I grow older each individual year becomes less of my overall life experience and in the same way any amount of time that has an established beginnning and end will always become less significant as long as "time keeps marching on".

In Psalm 93 and numerous other verses in the Bible we find that God is from everlasting to everlasting, or eternal. Once we relize the implications of eterity a great many truths present themselves. It is these truths I wish to explore in this blog.

There are an awful lot of really big numbers. One very big named number is googol which is a 1 with 100 0's behind it. It looks like this:

10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000

The largest named number is googolplex which is 1 times 10 googol, or a 1 with googol 0's behind it. I'd write it out for you, but "not only would it be longer than the diameter of the universe, but, it would take more particles than are in the known universe to even write down the digits of a googolplex one particle per digit". (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)

If I were to live to the ripe old age of a googolplex then 1 year in my life would be almost an infinatly small portion of the overall whole. Just think of 1 in
10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000
time's 10 .

It is estimated that the universe is between 10 and 20 billion years old depending on who and what you read. Whether I agree with this or not is illrelevent. The thought I would like to leave you with is that even if the unviverse were 100 billion years old it would still have a beginning and it will have an end. It would still become insignificant against a bigger sum such as a googolplex, but even a googolplex of time is less than nothing in the scope of eternity which God is bigger than. Eternity cannot contain God and so it goes on from everlasting to everlasting.

We will dive deeper into this when I write again.