Render To Caesar

   Our pastor keeps telling us to render to Caesar that which belongs to Caesar when it comes to job responsibility. Also at tax time he says the same. And in Romans 13 we are told to be subject to the governing authorities.
    God is very interested in our daily life and does not wish us to be disobedient. The reason being is that He has set them up as authority. Government has got to control man. Mankind, since the fall, has needed control. It makes no difference if the authority is good or evil. God placed them there and to God they will give an account.
    Knowing that makes all the difference. God will judge, not you.
   How am I doing? Is there any issue you wish to have me comment on? Of course, it will be from the Christian viewpoint. Here I stand, I can do no less.

Sex and the Bible

  Got you with that title, didn't I? The Bible has a lot to say about the subject of sex. In fact, a whole book is in the Bible about sex. For those in the know they will flash to the Song of Songs or the Song of Solomon. It is known both ways. It is about love between Solomon and  one of his wives. It details courtship,the wedding and after.

  If you need help in this area Try Here.

  Of course most of you reading this have no problem in this area so I may be writing and suggesting for nothing.

Bible Study Important

 For proper Bible study you must have a system. It is not wise for everyone to start at Genesis and march through the Bible without some guide. By the time that reader got to Numbers, or Leviticus, he will slow down. And the Chronicles will slow him down also.
  So some guide must be provided. I have a place one can go for help. One is on the book of James--For help, click here. 
   

  You can start in the New Testament book of John. "These things have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His Name." John 20:31 (NASB)

Christain Growth Needed

    It is important  once a person becomes a believer that growth happens.Growth happens through attending a Bible Believing/ Bible Teaching church. Growth happens through prayer and the application of faith. You must also read your Bible. Martin Luther made it possible to have a translation in your mother tongue. Before him all that was available was the one chained to the pulpit for the priest to read and interpret.
    People had to be taught to read. Then they had the Bible they could pick up and ingest. I suggest that you take a small section and read it. Take notes as you do so. Find a verse or two in the day's reading to memorize.
   "Your word have I hide in my heart that I might not sin against God."  Psalm 119:11.
    And there are books you can read to help. I will offer you one link and you can go see about it; Click here.  The offer is for Ebooks.
    Growth is slow but steady so don't get discouraged

Christmas Coming Up

  Soon it will be .December 25. That is the traditional time for Christmas. There will be family gatherings and present giving. Yes, all that. But we must not forget the reason for the season. That is that God sent His only begotten Son to earth.

    Now I know it wasn't in winter that Jesus was born. More likely in the spring. (Shepherds in the field watching their flocks by night) 

    And we must not forget that God gave the first Christmas present- His Son.

    Of course what I am talking about is an American thing. I don't know how it is done in other countries. I am aware that this blog is being read outside the USA. Share with me some of what you do around this time of year.

    This past Sunday Pastor Joe of Acts,(Info.,) gave a sermon on what Christmas meant to him. It was very well done. Christmas is a special time where God broke into history and changed it. It has nothing to do ultimately with pagan ritual. That is just a smokescreen that Satan and his demons have constructed. Yes, the date is not necessarily a good one. But it has been adapted by the church as the day to celebrate God's greatest gift.

Bible Reading Important

   I must tell all my readers that the life blood of a Christian's life is the Bible. From a daily reading he gets his spirirual food.

   I am following a plan of daily Bible reading. The internet offers a web site that makes this somewhat easy. http://www.youversion.com/ is the place. The plan has many translations to choose from. You  are not limited to an English translation. Many other languages are represented here. You can find the version you like and in the language you are most comfortable with.
   You can choose a Bible reading plan. Some are shorter than others. Some are a year long. Some are topical.
   You need to daily feed on the Word of God. We speak to God in prayer. He speaks to us through the Holy Spirit which He has given us. He uses what He  has communicated in the Bihle.
   I have finished my 30 days study of the life of Abraham and am now going though the readng of the New Testament books.
   What plan are you using to read and get the word in you?

God is a Trinity

 The important thing to understand about God is He reveals Himself as one essence in three persons.God in the beginning created. The Father spoke.Jesus created. The Holy Spirit hovered over the deep. The Father oversaw it all. Jesus always existed. I AM is one of the names God reveals Himself under. The self existing one. The one who revealed Himself to Moses when the Israelites were needing a way out of Egypt.
   When God became flesh in Jesus, the Holy Spirit overshadowed a young woman named Mary. The Son became flesh. The Holy Spirit dwelt inside Him to direct Him and the Father was always there to answer prayer.
   That is a bit simplistic.
   This ks one of those doctrines you have to believe if you are a true christian. You can't fudge on this one. It is what theologians call a fundamental. A must.
  

Goal Setting

   It is important that we know where we are going with our lives and what we hope to accomplish. It is easy if you make no plans, to drift.
   A good life goal is to dedicate ourself to something greater than ourself.
   For the Christian I would hope that we would have the goal of  dedicating ourt lives to service that is pleasing to God. Not all of us can be ministers, I'm not, or a missionary or any of the front line people. Most of us have to be satisfied being background people. That we hold down jobs  that are not, in our sight, attaining any recognition. A dishwasher, a waiter, waitress, bus driver, and so on.
    But I am here to tell you, God is pleased with where you are. He knows where you are. And He is happy. He can use you and will use you.
     God can be manifested in every aspect of our existence.
     He has created us with great gifts and talents. Talents are not gifts. I know of one pastor who tells every Christian that their talent is the gift God gave them. No, if you are a Christian you have been given a gift or gifts by God, the Holy Spirit, to be used in the Church. A talent such as singing that you had before you came to Jesus can be used to fortify your spiritual gift, but it is not the gift. The voice you find you have to sing after you become a Christian, now that is another story. That voice and the songs you sing, if they are being used by the Church, could be a gift.
     God gives each one of us a bundle of interests and fascinations. It is important that we develop and cultivate and respond to these. It is important for us to see them as an avenue of pleasing God.
      Life is exciting,don't you agree?
      Feel free to communicate with me. Tell; me what your  gift is. Let me rejoice with you. 

Great Bible reading Site

   I am not getting paid to post this. It is just something I feel needs to be known.
   For book study programs that I highly approve, you can go to http://www.youversion.com/. Sign in and you can decide what version of the Bible yyou want to read. Some have audio features so you can listen to the scripture being read to you.

   There are study plans you can start.  If you are new to the idea, you can start with a small unit.. a weeks study. See if you like it. Venture out. It will aid in your spiritual maturity.

God's Ownership

  This posting is being done on a Sunday. I have just been to service and heard a great sermon. Pastor Joe has reminded the congregation that God owns everything.
   EVERYTHING.
    God got you up this morning. He owns the day. He owns the air you breathe.
    You have money. That is His also. He gives you the ability to make money. He gave you that job. Or He gave you that investment that has not yet gone south. By using your brain, which He also gave you, you can make choices.
    Pastor Joe spoke of the offering plate. God deserves from the people He has a relationship with, rather He requests, a portion of what He has allowed them to get. "On the first day of the week, set aside a portion..."
     In the Hebrew Scriptures it was the first fruit He wanted. Today it is as a man purposes to give. God will not bless a man or woman who does not give into the storehouse. It is all His. He has allowed you to receive. If you can handle much He will give you much. If you don't have much, well, figure God knows you can just handle that much. I am not making a promise. I am just stating a principle that is in the Bible. Read your Bible for yourself.
     And be content with what you have. God is in the much and in the little. What I share with you God has allowed me to do.
      How has God blessed you this past week?

Age not a Disease

  It happens to all of us. We all age. In fact, everyday we get up we are a day older. And there is nothing we can do about it. Nor is it anything to be ashamed of. It just happens.
  Yet we need not fear it. God has set it up that way. We are not meant to be on earth forever. God created us eternal creatures. We have a birth. And we will live forever. I discussed in an earlier  posting the subject and I am sure you can go back to the index or whatever and look at that.
   What brougt this subject up is I am reading a book by Billy Graham, his latest, Nearing Home. I will be reviewing it in my other blog as soon as I finish it. Just wanted to share with you the idea that making it to old age is good. If we are one of the few who make it we should be active in giving back and helping others. "Plan for the golden years. You may get to experience them" was said by good old unknown. He also said "Don't resent growing old. many are denied the privilege."
    When we get up in years we are not able to do everything as fast as we have done it in the earlier years. But we can share our wisdom and pray. Prayer is very important. And we don't need any equipment.
     So have a good day and keep looking up.
     Comment on how you think I am doing. Let me know your story.
       
   

Family

  Yesterday in my blog I started on marriage as a doctrine. Now I want to talk about families. They are very important to a persons physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual growth. To those of us that God has blessed with children (There are some that God has not allowed to produce children. And they also are blessed. A family, in my definition, is basicly a husband and wife., If kids are part of the package deal, so much the better) this is good.
    I posted yesterday that God hates divorce. The reason is very simple. Divorce hurts the image of God. Ands it hurts children. Not only yours alone. Children are observing the adults around them., If they look around and see broken relationships they tend to conclude that this is normal. It is not. One woman and one man. That is normal. And not one woman and another woman. Nor one man and another man.
    In the beginning God made them one woman and one man and brought them together. Not two men and not two women. Marriage was sacred.
    Here in the State of California, USA, there is a movement to have homosexual marriages acknowledged as legal and viewed  in the same way as marriage between a male and a female. They wish to have rights. They seem to be pushing it as a rights issue on the same level as civil rights
     It is not. It is a choice they have made and is not a rights issue.
     But I am getting off the issue.
      Families. The key to having a healthy family is to have Christ at the center. Relationships in life go better, I feel, is you have a sticking point; a standard. He should be rhe center of everything that goes on. Now to get back to marriage. That is the foundation or central point of all families.I feel  God wants to protrect, and expand thre family unit.
      I will close this posting with something many historians acknowledge: "The family is the building block of society; as the family goes, so goes society."
    Please let me know how I am doing. Leave a comment. 

Marriage

     In the beginning God created marriage betwen one man and one woman.
     In the second chapter of Genesis God saw that Adam was alone and needed a help meet. So he took a rib from Adam's side and made Eve. Therefore this says that the male and female are the complete likeness of what God intended.
     The first marriage was performed by God. It was good. It was perfect. But then sin entered the picture.
      Man started to think himself as superior to his wife. Commuication broke down. Divorce was allowed, but we must understand, God hates divorce. It was not an option that God put on the table.
      When sin and self reign supreme, marriages are heading for failure. If so we need to confess to God (1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins...) and to our mate.
      Planning, practice and prayer are needed., At the altar we said something like "Till death do us part."
      Step back and communicate. Learn the love language of the other. Discover the temperament and interests of your mate. You are not the mind reader nor is she. Don't look for solutions outside the marriage. Get into the scriptures. Pray. Build hedges of protection around the marriage and your house. Don't let the world mold you. Be molded by God and the Bible.
       It is work, yes, but enjoyable when the two of you are heading in the same direction.
      More is to come. Doctrine covers a vast field. This is one of the practical aspects of the field. Feel free to comment and use my knowledge. I want to help you. 

Thankfulness

   Today in the United States it is a Friday, 25 Nov 2011.  Yesterday we had our Thanksgiving day. It is a day set aside to thank God for our blessings.
   There is a lot to be thankful for. Even in other countries. God got us up this morning. He gave us air to breathe. If you are reading this you are breathing, so be thankful. He gave you a place to live. He gave you a mind to think with. If you are married he gave you a wife or husband depending on your sex. He has provided a way to have a relationship with Him.
     Yesterday God blessed us by allowing my wife and I to have two friends over for the Thanksgiving meal of Turkey. We started the meal by reading portions of the Psalms. Each member had a portion to read. And then I lead in prayer. I was blessed in having the group pray in the round. Blessed because that was unplanned. We always pray before our meals That part was planned. The action of praying in the round gives me hope that I am reaching these friends on the spiritual level and they might be willing to listen to our story.
       I am thankful also that this blog is being read by people all over the globe and someday I know they will comment and start a dialogue. 
       What are you thankful for?  Let me know.

New Toy

   I finally have enough money to venture out and get an Ipad.
   I am not a fan of Apple and I don't think this will change  my mind. But it is a tool that a good amount of people in my church fellowship possess. So I decided whern ever the time came when I had enough money to buy one of those tools I would.
    I discovered that it has a section or app known as ITunes and within ITunes there is an link to a whole lot of video and audio files. One file grouping is concerning universitys and colleges. WIthin that grouping is my university, Biola University. And also files on classes taught at Dallas Seminary.
    I thus will be able to get classes that I have not been able to take when they were for credit. This time I can sit back and enjoy great teaching.
    And this also will enhance my input in this blog.
    Stay tuned. More is to come. Become a member of this blog and follow along.

Little Things

   There are some little things needed to aid in growth in your Christian walk. There is the worship aspect. As we become like that which we worship we should make sure of our object of worship "Do not forsake the assembly of yourselves together..."
    A Christian should be worshipping God. God is the creator of heaven and earth and the creator of animals and fish and beasts. And of us.
   There is a negative side to worship. It is when we do our worship of things not God, (And unless you think I am saying God is things. He is not. God is wholly other and not the creation) we become like that which we worship.
    For example: Sex is one idol. We worship sex and we become sex obsessed and act out  And we become devastated and not very good for anything. We become changed into the image we carry around. It gets in our thoughts and actions.
    On the other hand, when we worship the true God we start to act like Him. We become patient, kind, see people as important. We want them to know the God we know. We share  love, kindness,we are more truthful with each other. We spend more time with Him in study of the scriptures He left. We pray more, since this is the talking aspect we do with God. And He hears and answers.
    To become like him according to His image we need time spent with him. Maybe five or ten minutes reading the scriptures. Praying back what we find. Thanking Him for what we see there. Thanking Him for getting us up and letting us take a breath and see another day. Let it become a regular part of your life
    The Life of a Christian is both easy and hard. Easy because you have God Himself living within you. Hard  because growth is dependent on us, not God. In God you are already complete. In everyday life you still need discipline.\
    Communicate with me through the comment feature.

It Is In The Blood

  Today is Nov 22, 2011. I went to the UCLA blood and platlet center today to give blood. That was whole blood. I do that on a regular basis to add my blood to the blood supply for those who need blood for operations. I am blesed in that my blood also is CMV Negative. That means it can be used for premees, babies who are freshly born.
    My blood pressue is 110/80. My pulse is 70. Not I am boasting. Just stating facts.
    The Bible makes a statement that blood is important. The Israelites were not to eat anything with the blood still in it. Life is in the blood.
       Also without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sin. You knew that I was going to get into that somehow. It had to be the blood of an innocent animal. Whenever the Jew would sin he was required to bring a sacrifice to the high priest who would offer it on the altar to pay for the penalty for sin. Sin required a sacrifice. But it had to be done on a regular basis since sin was an ever present foe of man's relationship with a holy God.
        Today we have a high priest named Jesus who offered Himself as that sacrifice and did away with the requirements of the yearly and daily sacrifice for sin.
      How my giving blood today hyperlinked with this subject I don't quite know. I just know I had to post this.
    Stay with me in this doctrine series. And if possible, comment back. Ask questions. Help me clarify for you what you need to know.

First step

    A question has been sent to me through the comment feature.
   " I am new at this," the comment went, "and would like to do a Bible study. Which one is the one I should beginning with? You presented so many."
     That is a very good question.
      Of all that I have presented I would use a devotional study method.  The ultimate target of all Bible Study is to get to application for ones' life. For this  one you decide to take a passage of the Bible long or short. Preferably a paragraph.
      Before all Bible Study methods you pray to God for insight. "Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things" Ask for insight on how to apply the passage to your life. Ask what does this passage tell me about God? What does it tell me about myself?
     Then you meditate on the verses you have chosen to study. Refer back to my posting on meditation. Not at all the Eastern way but God's way.
      Now you are ready to write down the application as it applies to you. This is why I say you need a pad and a pencil or pen when you do Bible Study.
   Finally you memorize a key verse from your study. How to memorize was also covered in an earler posting.
    Please. Keep those comments coming. I want to clarify and help.

Christian Meditation

   This subject I may have talked about in an earlier post. If so, I will do so again. It is the subject of meditation on God's word.
   When I post about meditation I am not talking about the Eastern form of meditation. You are not making your mind blank.
    Two quotes about the subject. One is from J.I. Packer "Meditation is an lost art today, and  Christian people suffer grievously from their ignorace.of the practice."
    The other is from Doug McIntosh. "Meditation constitutes the single most important activity that any Chistian can engage in. Simply put, it works."
     In short, it is meditation on God thnrough His Word. It can transform you. It will transform you. It is drawing near to God through reading, studying and  thinking on his Word. Thinking. Not letting your mind go blank. This will allow the Holy Spirit to have  somthing to work with.
    It seems to bring pleasure to God when we do this. It also provides stability to the Christian who does this. It gives a peace that passes all understanding. A calmness to the mind.
    The meditation I am talking about is filling your mind with God's Holy Scripture. Find a portion you sense you need. Learn it word for word. Take your time. Repeat it until you can say it without having to look at the passsage. Of course, you will when memorizing the scripture check back to make sure you have it word for word correct. but ultimatly you will be able to quote it back to yourself without the Bible open before you.
    

Eternity, Our Future

     I may  have said this before. We are eternal crearures. This is one of our likeness to God features. We were created that way.As eternal creatures we are going to live forever.
    The question is where?
     Erwin Lutzer, Moody Church, Chicago, expressed it this way: "One minute after you slip behind the parted curtain, you will either be enjoying a personal welcome from Christ, or catching your first glimse of gloom as you have never known it. Either way, your future will be irrevocably fixed and eternally unchangeable."
     Each one of us in immortal. All belief systems address this in one sense or another. Only Christianity tells you the truth. Or I should rather say,m the scriptures. This is where we should search for the answers. The scriptures. Not in drugs. Not in experiences. Not in sex.
    The answer is this. For those who have accepted God's way to heaven there will be a welcome from Christ. To all others there will be  gloom forever. An eternity away from the presence of God and no second chance.
     Let me repeat: No second chance to choose.
     God's way is the redemption offered at the cross.
     And what  do we get if we accept God's plan? The Holy Spirit living within us as our guide and teacher., And in the future when we pass trough that curtain, eternal peace with God in the presence of God.

Bible Reading--Four

  It is very important to get the scripture inside of you. I myself try to have a daily devotions time. I use at the present the method of reading through the Bible in a year. I have done it twice this year. It is interesting to me to see that with each reading some new aspect or a phrase  seems to pop out. Oh, it was there the first time I read, but the second time it seemed to shine out with a light.
   I always read asking, what does it say here? What does it mean? To them who read it for the first time?  For me who is reading it today? How does it impact me today? This is where I jot down the obsevation in that notebook or note pad I carry with me. It is the gem I have dug out of the book. The Bible contains lots of gems, not all of them are on the surface, most have to be dug for, thought through, noted.
   Earlier in this blog postings I have done a series on Bible Study methods. It would be nice if you were to refer back to them. This will take some hunting on your behalf but it will be worth it.
   You won't need a specialized education. Any person can read the Bible and get soemthing from it. Also to supplement your personal Bible Study you should go to a Bible Believing, Bible teaching church. But that is another subject that will be handled much later in these posts. I would suggest you follow me and become a member of this blog.  And continue to have that nice day.
   

Bible Reading-Three

  Of course for us who have a relationship with God through the finished work of Jesus Christ, it is important we know who it is we are thankful to.
   The Bible contains four snapshots of Jesus.
   Each snapshot is there for a different emphasis. Matthew is writen to the Jews to show that  this Jesus is the fulfillment of the Messainic promises. Mark shows Jesus as active, a busy person. Luke is more detailed and pictures Jesus as the perfect man. John takes a different route and shows Jesus is the eternal God in flesh.
    They are not meant to be exhaustive.
     Paul writes: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ ,for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek." That is Romans 1:16 and is useful to memorize.
    Mark tellls us that Jesus gave us a task.That is to preach the gospel to all creatures. Now, gospel means good news. In this case it is central to God's plan. The gospel is that through the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God can now redeem people. He no longer has to deal with mankind in wrath.
It was this that the trinity was agreeing to way back in eternity past, way before Genesis 1:1.
    It is this we must agree to. God has provided no other way.
    And He comunicated and set it all down in the scriptures. The least we can do is read it.
    More is comiong. Stay with me. Become a member of this group

Bible Reading-Two

 When yu are reading the Bible take the time  to slow down and pray over the passsage. There may be something there that God is using to speak to you. So you pray it back and wait. Sometimes the question you have is answered in the following paragraph. Sometimes not. There may be another passge located some place else in the Bible.
    I would recommend a study Bible. Most study Bibles will have some notes to help you. The notes are not the word of God. But if you get a good study Bible the chances are that the person who included the notes can be used as a conduit. Jot down in your notebook your observations.
   A plan you can use is to read through the Bible in a years time. There are many good programs out there. Your study Bible should have one to offer. Or follow your church's Bible Reading plan.
   Get into the word and get the word into you. You do this by memorizing passages as you read. Say you find a verse thsat you like. Memorize slowly and word for word. This is the process called hiding the word in your heart.
    "Your word I have hid in my heart that I might not sin against God."-Psalm 119:11
    "Study to show yourself approved unto God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed"
     Stay with me. More is to come. Become a member and get all the postings. You may need to refer back to them someday. 

Bible reading-Installment one

   I want to start posting about an important subject. It is important for the growth of a person who has a saving relationship with God.

   It is important that an instruction book be left for those who procure an item. When we are passed from death to life.. an important concept-- we need instructions. It doesn't come natural, this new life we have now. We need to know just what it is we have and how to get the best out of it.

    As I have stated in an earlier post God is not silent and He has communicated. He wants us to know something about Himself. This pertains to those who have a relationship with Him as well as those who are not at the moment assured of His presense.
   The Bible, which you can see in the picture , is God's communication to mankind. Yes, He used human writers. Yes, it took over fourteen centuries to get to where it is today. Sure , ir has many literary forms contained between its covers. But no one can say God has not communicated. He is not silent.
    On that premise I would like to say that God created all things. And by right of ownership of what He created He has the right to say how it, the creation, should act.
    What we have today is not what He first created. One day He will come back and recreate. The one thing that made it not perfect is man's wilful disobedience to a direct command. "You shall not eat of..."
     You say you think that was unfair, to place all men under condemnation for one person's act. But you also have to acknowledge that because of one man's act, dying on the cross for the sins of the world,- that is all mankind,- God can restore what He had created back to where it once was.
    First He is restoring man to a relationship He had with Adam and Eve in the garden. Some day in the future, spoken of in the book of the Revelation, He is going to give us a new heaven and a new earth.
    He has presently left us His communication-the Bible. We are to study it to show ourselves approved to God as a workman. To study, it would mean we. need methods. In earlier posts I have laid out some methods that can be useful.
    But first, sit down and open the Bible. Have a notebook handy to jot down what is there.. Which would mean you also have a pencil or pen. Read and ask questions as you go along. What does this passsage mean? How does the writer develop the point. What did it mean to those of that day who read it or heard it for the first time? What does it have to say to me today?
   Keep reading the posts to come. I have just begun.
   Follow me and you will get the development of the series. Become a member today.

Thoughts About Heaven

    "It is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgement."
     Yes, I hold that there is life after death. Not the life that the world is trying to push on us. Not the Muslim life with the virgins. Nor the Mormon life with the procreation of kids. But a life after death. A life we choose now while we are alive. We either choose eternal life with God, our creator, or eternal separation. But we do live forever either way.
    The last book in the Bible tells us what heaven will look like. Floors of clear glass. Stones making up the gates. It is day all the time. We will be worshipping God, our creator. We will be serving and adoring the One who saved us.
   Just some of the ideas.
   I don't at this moment have an open Bible before me so I am just giving my impressions of what I have hidden in my memory. But it will be a wonderful place. No more sickness. No more pain. No more aging. No more youngsters not doing what you tell them to do. No more bad literature..
    No, we will not be on clouds and playing harps. We will be too busy serving God and praising God to have time to compose music.
   Our days of struggling will be over. No more overdue rent and the landlord knocking on your door. No more road rage. No more drive by shooting. No more watching a loved one die. Or watching a pet die. Or suffering yourself.
    We will never get sleepy or need rest. We will have different bodies. We won't marry. There will be no need.
    In short, I am sure, it will be more than we can think about. What God wants us to know about it is all found in the Bible.
    Become a member of this blog. Become a follower. Enjoy the postings. Leave comments and we can even have a discussion.

Hidden Assets

  I was sitting in church today looking out at the congregation. I am the chat room man on the media team. As such I sit in the back of the room next to the IT man and the video man. I glanced out on all these heads in front of me. Now since I was in the back I could view the whole room.. I noticed that they were mostly female heads. There were some male heads out there, but mostly female.

   And I got to wondering why weren't there more men out there? Why weren't men coming to church? Is there some reason that I was not aware of?
    Just having finished a book called "Why Men Hate Going to Church" I have an idea. Most of the service is geared to feminine psyches. Not too much masculine involvement. Illustrations from the pastor that are geared to the lamb rather than the lion aspect of God.
    Please give me some feedback on this. Let's start a discussion.
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Invisible Agents

  We are not alone.There is a world that surrounds us that we are not aware of. It is the supernatural realm of Angels. Oh, sure, there are people out there who report to be talking to spirits. And on that subject I will  post as this posting goes on.
   Angels are nothing but God's creation.They don't have bodies. they are spirits. Their purpose is to guard God and to do His bidding.  Goid sends angels, now remember we can't see them, to care for people on this earth. Mostly He sends threm to help His people. I don't find them helping the people who are not His people.
   Complicated. Let me see if I can make it simple.
    In the beginng ,before God even is mentioned in Genesis 1:1, God created Angels. He needed servants to guard His throne and do His bidding. And to care for His creation as overseers.
       They must have had free will of a sort. One named Lucifer, who was one of the guards, decided he was more impotant or something. He wanted to be the supreme person who was worshipped. So he somehow talked a third of the angels into storming against God. for this, he and his angels, whom we now know as demons, were thrown to earth. At that moment, I believe, God  made their decision final. He took away free will and locked in the decision. thsoe who stayed with Him were now always good. Those who went with Lucifer who had a name change to Satan were locked into the fallen state. They lost free will.
        We are not to worship angels. The are merely messengers.
         Those who do and call upon spirits are condemned by God. The spirits they contact are not the good angels  but the evil ones.
         Satan still wants to be worshipped.
          The Lord  your God is One Lord. You shall have no other God before you. Worship belongs to God alone.
        This doctrine is not a major one but I felt it needed to be mentioned.
        Please keep on following me and these postings. Thank you for your reading these postings in the past and here's hoping you will continue to read in to the future.

Grab it Back

  I am still talking about the Church of Jesus Christ.

  Recently I have recieved a book to be reviewed called "Why Men Hate Going To Church by David Murrow. It is not ready to be reviewed and when it is I will be posting it on the other blog I have, http://drsbookplace.blogspot.com/.

   The thesis is that the church has been losing men because it no longer is masculine or speaks to their needs. Women have stepped in and taken over the outreaches of the church and as such have feminized the way it is run. Pastors have had to tailor their preaching to the feminization. They have re-packaged Jesus as the harmless androgynous male. People see pictures that picture Him not as a muscle bound, man figure (He did take up Josephs' trade of carpenter. He was known by His country men as the carpenters' son) The preachers preached too much on the Lamb of God aspect of Jesus and not enough on the Lion Of God aspect seen in the driving of the sellers from the temple, or the one who controlled nature    .
     Men are the Miracle-Gro for a Church. Get them involved  in the church and there is a possibility of growth.
     The church needs some "footholds" and "handholds" for the men.  Men need to know they are valued.
It has to become once again manly for a man to speak about Chistianity without feeling effeminate or henpecked.
      Follow me. Become a member and follow me as I talk about things that you need to be aware of.

Warning-- error can come in

  For those of you who don't read my book blog I mentioned this there and since mentioning it  I have seen more developments. It is a book by a Todd Burpo, a minister of the charasmatic bent. It is called Heaven Is For Real.  It is a story of his sons' out of body experience. It is dangeous. Fiirst of all because this guy is a minister and people tend to believe ministers as always telling the truth. People tend to trust ministers.

     First off, this is an attempt by satan to plant error.  Even though the message the child brings back is that God loves the children , the idea that God is behind the out of the body experiences seen today is not Biblical.

     All that God wants us to know is in the scriptures we have now. Besides, for anyone who reads the gospel accounts already knows God loves the children.
    Secondly, the push now is to pakage with the book a CD and small group curriculum. This is from the pit of hell. We don't need a book to tell us there is an afterlife Let me repeat, God's Word tells us so.
    I don't understand why Thomas Nelson would publish a book of this type.

Education and Skill Training

   I am all for education. Yet with the cost of a higher education  being so high it is best to consider, is that
college degree all that important for you in your future plans for life? I mean, if you wish to be a plumber, do you really need that college degree? You can find a master plumber  to learn under and with sweat equity and close supervision you could get what you need to be a plumber. Just be the best plumber there is.
   I don't think Jesus had a college eduation. He grew up in a carpenter's family. He learned the trade from Joseph. I am sure Joseph and Son was a good compnay. And after the death of Joseph I am sure Jesus Bar Joseph was a good company to get your chairs and tables and other things from.
   He was an easy learner. What we might call a genius today. He picked up what needed to be known. Of course, being 100% God and 100% human helped, but I don't think he shortcercuited the human. He had to learn the same as us. He was tempted in all things, such as we, but without sin.
    And he knew the Jewish Scriptures. In Luke we are told He was left in Jerusalem in his thrirteenth year and stumped the wise men in the temple with what he was saying. But still he went home with Mary and Joseph to continue his child and young adulthood. At about thirty He came out and was baptised by John in the Jordon.

Blog Reason

     I got to thinking. I may be going too fast in this series that I am posting at the moment.
     In my philosphy class I took I was told to define teams. I guess it was section on metaphysics-- the philosphy covering things beyond the physical. Christian Doctrines seems to be in that camp.
    So you must be asking-Why do I need to know doctrine? And just what is doctrine?
    Good question. Doctrine is a branch of knowledge or a system of beliefs. As I use the term it means the system based on and drawn from God's special revelation as found in the Bible. As such I mean to be posting on the subjects of God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit. I will cover salvation and the reason for this need for salvation-Sin. In doing so I will also touch on Angels, Elect and Fallen.
     Since there is a need for instruction  I will handle the doctrine of the church, What it is, where it came from, why we need to gather together as a group. That will aslo call for a discussion on the offices and what I call departments of said church.
      I will cover the Chrustian disciplines such as prayer, witnessing, useage of gifts.
     Of course, some of our Christian Doctrines are limited because the Bible is not exhaustive. God has not revealed everything in detail. For example, what we know about creation is such. Because that is true man has tended to lean to the explanation of evolutionary theory. Or that God started the whole thing and then stepped back to watch.
       Well, that is just some explantion. Hold on and keep reading.

The Way You See It

  Today let us step back and consider a subject that involves us all; you, me, the whole world. And that is the simple subject of world view. We all have one. It is the way we see things.
  You pick this world view up from those around you and especially from your schooling. Yes, your education.
    First of all your world view does effect the way you see other people. Is that other person just a chance accident? Or is he a special creature, a creation of a Superior Being.? Yes, I am talking about God, a Creator.
    In school you may have been taught man evolved from a lower form to what he is today. There was no proof given. You accepted it because an adult told you that and they no doubt knew more than you.
   Yes, I understand your view that creation is not proven either. If by proof you mean is it repeatable? Only if you can create something out of nothing. That is how God did it. Out of nothing. He spoke and it was.
    Their view is not repeatable either. You don't see it because it is not feasible. And it takes more faith to hold to that view than to the view that man is a special creation.
    Your world view will also affect how you treat people. If you see that other person as inferior to you than you will treat him poorly, because he has less worth than you. This is the basis of the civil rights issue. This is the basis of the feminine issue. They feel inferior to a man and therefore must try harder.
     They don't realize that in the beginning God created them with no distinctions as to superior/inferior. All are seen from the viewpoint of God as equal.
      I will let you chew on this for a while. I will get back to this issue as time goes on
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The place of rest

  It is a place of instruction. It is not a social organization, although it is a place where fellow seekers come to receive what they seek.
  I am talking about the church. It is a place where people come to worship the Living God. They come to deepen their relationship to God.
  Every believer should belong to a local church. Church membership does not save and is not a means of salvation. But it is a place where each member should have the freedom to discover and develop and use the gift that they have received when they became a Christian. The Word of God, the Scriptures, do say that each one of us is given a gift for the development of the body which is the church. We are, I believe, all needed. We can be seen as a body part  No part is more important than another and each part is needed.
   We go to church to pray, confess, hear the word of God as spoken through the leader or pastor of the congregation. Also to use our gift in the body, as I have said above. And by the way, there is no gift known as pew warmer.
    Tell me your experience in a church group. Is there anyway I can be of help? 

Holy Spirit, God in the world

  I decided to talk today about the third person in the Godhead. He is often overlooked because He could be viewed as the backup. He teaches, to those who study the Scriptures, what the  Scriptures mean. For the world His job basicly is to convict of sin and unrighteousness. He works in conjunction with the Father to draw people to Jesus, the savior.
   In the Jewish Scriptures He hovered and entered some men to enable them to write Scripture according to their personality. Therefore David can sound different from Moses. Moses can sound different from Jeremiah, and so on. But always overshadowing in such a way that He made sure what was recorded was what God wanted recorded.
   He gives power to witness to Christians. He indwells them so as to make them tabernacles. He teaches the Christian what he needs to know. Hopefully the Christian has a Bible Study plan to be in the Word so that the Holy Spirit can inside the believer say, "pay attention to that".
   Also He helps in memorization. As the believer hides the word in his heart the Holy Spirit is able to use it.. bringing it back to memory when needed. This is meditation.
    The trinity is neat. All one in essence. All having a job to do. All needed.
    Keep on searching my posts. Follow me and don't miss any.

Prayer--God's Weapon

   Before talking about other doctrines I feel I should discuss the one tool all Christians have and probably don't really understand. That is the tool of prayer.
    God speaks to us through the Scriptures. It is His communication if we believe it or not. It really doesn't make any sense until we become a child of His through a relationship with Him. It was that way when I became a Christian back in '68. The book suddenly seemed alive and meaningful. Before that time, if I ever read it, especially in religion classes, it was just words.
    When I became a Christian the Holy Spirit, the thrid person of the Godhead, came to dwell inside me. He no longer was outside me trying to convict me of sin and unrighteousness. I was getting enough of that from the Roman Catholic Church I used to belong to but by 1968 had given up on. There was no truth to be found in that group.
    Anyway, I was saying, now the Holy Spirit was within me and teaching me what the Scriptures said. God used preachers of good Bible believing, Bible teaching Churches to firm me up.
    But I now could talk to God and He would hear me and answer me. This is what prayer is. A communication between God and the believer..  There is a Father/child relationship set up. It takes time to learn. It is a process. You learn to pray by praying.
   There are many books out there on prayer. Andrew Murray In The School Of Prayer  is a good one. There are others. I am not doing this post to liist them.
   But the best book on prayer and how to do it is the Scriptures. All the characters in the Scriptures prayed. You can learn by sitting in and listening to them pray
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Sad but alas true

  I have just been looking at the Biola website http://www.biola.edu/ and come across this sad, but alas, true statement. "Biblical literacy is plummeting. Churches are exchanging doctrine for slogans."

   I find that sad because doctrine is the life blood of the church. That is why I have this blog and do postings on the subjects I do. I find doctrine to be very iimportant. If you have no doctrine to stand upon you are standing on air, or worst, vapor. You have no belief system. Or maybe you do. It just has not stood the test of time.
    The doctrine I write about here is orthodox. It has been here from the start. When there are diviations from orthodoxy I speak out about it. That is why I did a small series on Cults earlier. It may not have been pleasant to read but it is fighting against error. It needed to be done.
    And I may not post as systematically as you would like me to, but that is just the way it is.
    Read on. More doctrine is coming. Follow me and get all the postings. Comment and let's talk.
   

The Invisible God Explained

    "God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth"

Book used for Doctrinal subjects

     Yet God has also chosen to reveal Himself.
      A couple of posts ago I did an imaginary dialogue between the Godhead where the second person of the Godhead said that He would become flesh and dwell among us.
     The Holy Spirit overshadowed a virgin in a small town in Israel. Hr name was Mary. He placed within her a seed that would develop normally into a fetus and into a new born. And this new born would have the name of Jesus. He would live a normal childhood. He would learn his father's trade, a carpenter. At the age of thirty he would be baptized by John. The heavens would open and the Spirit like a dove would come down and rest upon Him. A voice from heaven would aknowledge Him as the Messiah. He would be tempted in the desert by Satan. He would gather disciples, twelve of them would be his Apostles. One of them would be his betrayer (He knew from the start which one it would be) He would do all the things that the Messiah was to do. Heal the sick, raise the dead, proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, to name a few. He would go to the cross and die for the sins of mankind. He would raise from the grave on the third day. He would ascend to the Father in heaven to present His blood to God and pour it on the altar in heaven.
       Yes, I am talking about Jesus, the Messiah.
        "He is the image of thre invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or prinicipalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him".--Colossains 1:15-16 NKJV)
       I shall talk about thrones, dominions, powers and principalities in a later post.

      Follow me. Firm yourself up. Comment.I do read and answer.

What do I Call You?

  This is very important. Just what do we call God?
   "Hey, You"
   "Great power in the sky."
   "Dude"

    I would sincerely hope none of the above. God may just shorten your life if you dissed Him.
    God has many names. They all are names that refer to His attributes. He is greater than anything you can imagine. And remember, He is 'Qanna" or jealous. I guess that name means He is not going to share us with any other.
     Let me give you a few names of God as I have surfed the web.and started to collect them. You can do that yourself if you wish.

     El Shaddai- Lord God Almighty
     El Elyon- The Most High God
     Adonai- Lord, Master
     Yahweh-  Lord, Jehovah
     El Olam- Everlasting God
     Jehovah-Jireh- Lord our Provider
     Jehovah-Nissi- Lord our Banner
     Jehovah-Shalom- Lord our Peace
     Jehovah Tsid-Kenu- Lord our Righteousness
     Jehovah-Shammah- Lord Omnipresent
     Jehovah-Shabaoth- Lord our Provider
     Jehovah-Raah- Lord our Shepherd
     Jehovah-Rapha- Lord our Healer

     As I said, just a few. God has many names. These listed should be enough to show His majesty.
     God is incomprehensible and unknowable. Yet through His names we can get some feeling for Him. Jehovah states that He is Eternal. But He has revealed Himself through special revelation. And in these last days He has revealed Himself through HIs Son, the Lord  Jesus Christ.
     He is an awesome God.

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Memorize to Recall

    If a person wants you to know him he will do everything in his power to communicate with you.
    God wants to have you on the same page as Him. He wants to be able to be involved in your life. Memorization of Scripture is a good way to do this. God speaks through the Bible. He is not silent.God can be known. He has caused to be written all He wishes you to know.
     If you were to receive  a letter from someone you really care about, you would memorize portions so you could quote it to all who will listen. After you get into a relationship with God you will want to have portions of what He has said hidden in your heart.
   Psalm 119: 11 states, "Your word I have hide in my heart, that I might not sin against God."
   Psalm 119 also says "Your word is a lamp onto my feet and a light onto my path."
   A person easily can take a portion of the Scripture and learn it. "Be anxious for nothing, but by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your heart and mind through Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:6,7.
     Okay. That last passage is a bit longer. But if you only remember"Be anxious for nothing." you can remember it at times when you start to feel anxious.
     A way to memorize. Select the passge. Read it through a few times. Five times may be a start. Then without looking try to repeat it word for word.It is important you do it word for word. Also try to stay with the same translation of the Scripture. I first started with the King James. I now use the New American Standard. The New International is good. Just stick to one translation.
     Repeat the verse by memory five times. Check for accuracy. Rest up for a while. Repeat until you have it word for word without looking. The reason for this is that most of the time you won't have the Bible with you when you want to quote it to someone.
     Be sure to get the address as part of your Scripture verse when you memorize. This will help you remember where it is located.
     From time to time I will be repeating myself when it comes to topics. Just want you to know now. The best idea for you is to fellowship me so you don't miss a word of this important blog. 
     And feel free to comment. I love reading comments. I do respond.

Choice

   So before the first verse in Genesis.." In the beginning God... " there was the Trinity. Yes, God was there in three persons and one essence. He was not lonely. He had Himself. That is hard to comprehend.. how a person all by Himself can be satisfied.

   So God, and remember this is mainly speculative for me since there is no place in the Scriptures that this is found, made a choice.  He decided He was going to share the Joy He had. He got together as the Trinity and made a choice. "I am going to make me a universe. I am going to make stars and moons and suns and 'things'. I am going to choose to make one planet inhabitable and place a whole Eco-system there. And I chose to make animals and plants, and fish, and rivers, and man. I chose to make man in my image-- I am going to give him an intellect. I am going to give him a choice. I am going to give him love. I am going to give him a wife. "

    Each person of Trinity had a say. The Son said, "I will create all things by the Word of my mouth. I will speak it into existence."  
    The Father said "I will place man in the garden and give him the choice of obeying me or not. In order to prove this out I will put a tree in the middle of the garden and forbid him to eat of the fruit of that tree. The obedience will be in his not eating. But I will allow him the choice to eat and  diosobey, thus losing fellowship with me.
    The Son said, "Yes, then I will offer myself as the way back to fellowship.. to a relationship with us that they had in the garden. I will allow myself to become flesh and be born and live among them and die on the cross, shedding my blood. I will rise on the third day from the grave to prove all I said in the Scriptures was true."
    And the Holy Spirit said, "I will be among the people and convict them of sin and be drawing them to the solution of how to once again have a relationship with Us. I will overshadow some and cause them to record our communication to them in a book that will become Holy Scripture.. I will overshadow a virgin named Mary, and place a seed within her that will give You, Jesus, a body. I will be with You through Your earthly existence."

   Become a follower of this blog. Interesting postings have been coming and there are more on the way. Let me know who is out there and what I can do for you.

Man, God's Creation

   Let us move from the Bible, which is the basis for all I am going to post in this series ( as it is for all I post) to the supreme creation of God. I am of course talking about man.
   First off, man is not a thing nor is he a product of an evolutionary burp. As recorded for us in the Bible, Man is the pinnacle of God's creative work.
    For five days God was setting the earth up for hhabitation. He created the sun and the stars and the moon . He set aside day and night to mark the passage of time. He caused vegetation to grow. He created fish and fowl and four legged beasts. And on the sixth day, according to the report, God created animals and man.
     Once again, let me say, man is not a animal. For which animal did God look at and breath into its nostrils the breath of life? That is, to what animal did he give His image to?
      And what is this image? This Likeness? It is creativity. It is the ability to think. It is the ability to communicate. And so much more.
      Into this garden God had created He placed Adam and Eve. Was that their real names? Maybe not. Adam means man. Eve is mother of all living. The point is, they came fresh from the creative hand of God.
These two enjoyed fellowship with God, spoken of as walking and talking with God in the cool of the evening. During the day they would take care of the garden. Work was a pleasure. God had given to them the deed of co-ownership with Him of the earth. 
       They had fellowship with Him face to face.
        God didn't want them to obey Him just because He had created them. He wanted them to choose to obey Him. So He set up a quiz, sort of. They could eat the fruit of all the trees in the garden. They were not to eat of the fruit of the one tree in the middle of the garden. This was a quiz or test. Will they obey or will they decide not to obey? This was a direct command of God.
         One day, I don't know how long after creation, Adam and his wife were out taking care of he garden and they were walking around. They passed by the tree in the middle of the garden.
        They run into one of the animals. The Bible calls him a serpent. Maybe not an four footed animal. A reptile. This reptile was being used by a fallen angel, the chief of the fallen angels, named Satan.      
          This indweltt reptile spoke to Eve. Adam was close by.  But Satan spoke to Eve.She must have been an easy touch. Satan had no doubt been observing the couple and knew where the wickest link was. Adam had direct communication with God. Adam would then transmit what God said to the woman. This may have been the first instance of family devotions.
            Eve gave in. "Has God said...? And she took and ate. And then must have turned to Adam who by now had turned his attention back to his wife. She gave him the fruit. He ate also fully knowing where it had come from.
            So they disobeyed. God had to throw them out of the garden and they lost fellowship with Him. No longer could they walk and talk with Him. They now had to come through a sacrifice God had shown them this when He killed an animal and clothed them. "Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin." They had to transmit this truth to their offspring.
         But God also promised them a redeemer who was to come and shed His blood.
          God had said that in the day they ate of the fruit of that tree in the middle of the garden they would die. They ate, but physically they didn't die.Not that day. But they were separated from God. This is the first death. The second death comes to those who don't come to Him by the way He provided .. those who live a life separated from Him and who physically die. And that isn't always happening to the very old. A person can die at any time. God holds the years of your life in His hand. My brother was only twenty one when a snippers bullet in Vietnam cut off his life. You never know the time of your death.
   "There is a time for everything under the sun. A time to be born and a time to die..."

Further Look At Bible

   Today is Sunday. Time to be in church. I find it quite admusing that God has a way of emphasizing what I have been doing doing the week. He seems to put on the heart of my Pastor to preach on an area that is current in my experience. In this case, it is the Bible.
    To be more specific it was on memorization of scripture. That was the next step in this doctrine series I am starting. Just what can we do with the Bible to aid Christian growth? I am an advocate of memorization. that is hiding the word in our heart that we might not sin against God, "How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to thy Word. Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against God." Psalm 119:9,11
   Pastor Joe this morning gave some steps troward meditation. http://www.achurchthatstudies.org/.
   Let me share them with you.
   First is to realize God's truth. Looking at the passage you are studying ask what did this mean to the original readers? Then once you have researched this using aids, ask yourself, so, what does this mean for today... what does it mean to me?
   Second is to Retain God's Truth. You do this by memorization. Maybe just a few words of the verse... The goal should be to memorize complete verses. This will help bring to your memory scripture. "Be anxious for nothing, but in everthing by prayer and supplication, make your requests know unto God." Phil 4:6.
    Even if you remember " Be anxious for nothing" in times of stress, you are ahead of the game.
    Third is to reflect on God's Truth. This is a meditation step. Not the meditation of the Eastern philophy. This meditationj is the thinking of what it is you are saying. Chew on it and then drop it into your heart.
    Forth is to respond to God's Truth. This is allowing what you memorize to change your life's values. Yes, there should be change.
     Stay with me. Be a follower and get all this series. May God bless you as you do so.

The Plumb Line

    I am sure you will want to follow this new series I am starting up. I am planning to look at some doctrinal basics. I will be sharing my story with you as I do so. I just don't see how a person can talk about doctrine and not share some of his story.

     As I have said, I started out life as a baptized Roman Catholic. I had no choice in the matter. I was born into a Catholic family, my father being the Roman Catholic and my mother having to sign  a piece of paper stating that I was going to be raised as a Roman Catholic.

     Upon baptism, a sprinkling as a baby, I was washed away of my guilt I had inherited from Adam. God thus was free to pour out grace to me.From that moment I was on my own to keep myself sinless, my soul scrubbed from the stain I still carried , and if I sinned, which all do and will, I had the Catholic Church to fall back on. They would give me an education and the way to obtain this grace.

      But that is not found in the Bible.

      So the first doctrine I want to look at is the Bible. What is it? Is it trustworthy and how can we know? What makes it different than other books?
       First off, the 66 books are God's communication. Francis Schafffer has said that God is not silent. It is supernatural in origin. God, the Holy Spirit, moved on the people He used to write it, and made sure that what they wrote had no error. God breathed out the Scripture. Holy Men of God wrote down what they heard. True. He wants to communicate. He communicated through people who wrote it down and preserved
      It is the instruction book on life and how to have a personal and everlasting relationship with the Creator God.
     As a book it has endured for thousands of years. Yet as you read it it seems so up to date. It can be applied to things today. It doesn't seem dated. Archeology has found proof for many cities mentioned in the Bible that people in the past have said didn't exist. New discoveries are  proving facts that were under dispute years ago. The prophecies of the Bible came true. Well, there are still some that need to be fulfilled. But all the prophicies pertaining to the coming Messiah, the first time, as the suffering servant, came true. And the Jewish people are still here. The Bible said they would be.
      The Bible also convicts people of sin and shows the way of pardon. It is not through belonging to the right church or being baptized as a baby. That viewpoint is held by the Roman Catholic church: Not the Bible.
      Arthur Pink summerized in his book The Divine Inspirartion of The Bible : "The Bible is the book to live by and the book to die by. Therefore read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, practice it to be holy."
      I will be looking at Bible reading in another post.
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Answers For The New Age

    Before I start this post let me ask you this. Are you following me?  I mean, have you clicked follow located in the side bar?. That is the only way you can get a fullness of my postings.
     So if you are following you have the question, Yah, I know you are trying to say it is pervasive, this New Age philosophy. And since that is so, just how do I answer them?
     Let me give you some ideas. Since there are many different answers given when you ask them what they teach... remember, it accepts all religions as being one.-- you need to realize some answers to their belief.
    When you ask about the Trinity they may tell you "He is not one individual, but an energy gestalt" In other words, God is not a Trinity but an impersonal energy field who is a sum of its parts.
     This is a Hindu concept. Both Christianity  and Judaism hold this answer in abomination. We both see God as a personal, benevolent, and loving Deity who is immanent within His creation but not part of. it.He is transcendent. Both halves of the book validate this. "Hear O Israel:, The Lord our God, the Lord is one."
    Jesus Christ to the New Age was just an avitar. To the Christian He  is "The Living God, who is the savior of all men,especially of those who believe." I Timothy 4:10."Even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles." John 10:38
    As to the doctrine of man they see man born into this world both good and divine  in his nature. Salvation thus depends upon his looking inward at his spiritual nature and recognizing he is a god.
   As you are aware, the Bible sees man differently. He is a sinner who has transgressed the law of God . There is nothing divine inside him. He needs a savior. "I have not come," said Jesus, "to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." Matthew 9:13.
    "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23 
    When it comes to a doctrine of  Judgement, Heaven and Hell, the New Age has a doctrine of reincarnation. No judgement because you are coming back.
    There is a judgement spoken of in the Bible. There will come a day when all will appear before the throne of God and rewarded or condemned for what they have done.
    The New Age has Karma and that seems to be the closest they come to Hell.
     They are cute when they deal with  evil. They say, " It is important to see that Lucifer, as I am using the term, described an angel, a being, a great mighty planetary conciousness. It does not describe the popular thought form of satan who leads man down the path of sin and wrongdoing...Man is his own satan just as man is his own salvation." David Spangler.  Satan thus becomes the "other dark side of the Force".
    Stay with me. It is getting interesting (if it hasn't before. All this is interesting)  Follow me and keep informed. Post comments. I will read and respond. Sometimes in a new posting.

Failure Secular Humanism

    Secular humanism has had its day. As a movement it came out of a religious humanism of the Renaissance. Religious because it came with a basic appreciation of humanity Secular because it slowly eroded  progressively to attention on the glory of humanity. The humanist started to exclude God. The humanist shifted from theism to atheism in his worldview. Human reason and scientific innovation became the final authority for life and thought.
    It brought about a loss of purpose ultimately for the universe. With man no longer seen as made in the image of a Creator God he became seen as a product of chance evolutionary forces. There was no more an absolute standard for morality. Thus morality became a whim of humanity--a philosophy of relativism.
    Still we feel a need for transcendent meaning, purpose and value because we are created in the image of God.
    The humanist can not give us that compelling world view we seek for.
     But let us not forget that Christianity contained the seeds of its own destruction and a such can be directly blamed for the development of secular humanism. As developed, Christianity pushed God into the distance. They formed a click and didn't do as Jesus had told them, "Go into all the world and make disciples"
     Man forgot God entirely and found themselves left to their own devices. They substituted nature as a testing ground for technological devices..Man became dehumanized and the environment became polluted. Man no longer saw God's mandate to be stewards of the earth. Instead they substituted a view that earth was the mother of life.
     Still America had religious freedom.  But no firm foot hold any more in the Bible. America needed a spiritual foundation. So they looked to the Eastern philosophies for that foundation. They allowed in Hindu scriptures and Buddist teachings.
     Note: America was founded on Judaic-Christian values. They had a belief in a God who ruled over the affairs of men. And they favored relgious freedom.
     What we see in the New Age world view is a long line of pantheistic traditions. We also see that the origin of modern humanism in the Renaissance and Enlightenment is closely related to pantheism, occultism and animism. The spiritaul emphasis was switched from God's glory to humanity's.-- Panteistic humanists who affirmed the immanence of God but denied the distinction between the creator and creation.

   We move on. Be a follower of this blog. Stay with me and we will  go places.

An Age By Any Other Name

  Now we shift from belief systems to what I consider very very dangeous. It is dangeous because we are accepting it and I would bet you that it is not a big deal to you. Your child comes home and says, "I have a new friend. He guides me in all I do."
    This is not like that friend your child had that he imagined when a child, his playmate.. Or maybe it is.
     What I am going to be looking at has its roots way way back. In fact it goes so far back that it can be found in the Garden Of Eden. "You shall be God." hissed the tempter to our mother, Eve.
      It has its roots in the occult. That word occult comes from a Latin word for secret and mysterious things.  For all practical purposes, what we know as a New Age Cult movement can be equated with the transplatation of Hindu philosophy.
     They have a Christ. "The world has had enough of hunger, injustice, and war. There is an answer to our call for help, a world leader for all humanity."
      They will say you are the Christ.
      Since God is all and all is God, all things are perfect and you are perfect.
      They leave no room for sin. There is no room for a saviour from sin since you have none.
       Astrology is accepted as a way to get correct information.
       It is in our state houses. In our White House.In our schools.
        It is a threat to Judaism. It is a threat to Christianity. It is monistic pantheism. All is one and all is God. Man is divine .
       We have all said it.."If it works, use it--if it feels good, do it."

   Stay tuned and keep commenting. You will want to follow this blog. So click in and become a follower. 

Golden Plates- Golden Error

   All it took was one lad in 1823 who had a vision of an angel called Moroni as the lad prayed beside his bed. The story goes that the angel told this lad where to find something called golden plates which, according to the story, contained the 'fulness of the everlasting gospel.'
    God had waited all these years to reveal His message to mankind and He needed a lad to show up and discover it.
    It was the Book Of  Mormon. Okay. But is it the word of God?
    "Thou fool, that still say: a Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible.. and because I have spoken one word ye need not suppose I cannot speak another...Wherefore, because that ye have a Bible ye need not suppose that it contains all my words, neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written." II Nephi 29:6,9,10
     Not only the Book of Mormon but .The Pearl Of Great Price.  were added along with Doctrine and Covenants.  added to their sacred books. 
    Orthodoxy has only one book of God- The Bible.
    As for the teachings:

1. Polytheism
2. God was once a man
3. Adam was the angel Michael come to earth.
4. Polygamy is right
5. Jesus had three wives
6. Jesus was produced by actual sexual relations between a resurrected Adam-god and Mary.
7. Man works his way to heaven
8. Heaven is on three levels.
9. Only Mormons get to the third heaven (Celestrial) where God is.
10. Second heaven  (Terrestrial) is for Christians who did not accept the Mormon message
11. First level, which is called telestial, is for the heathen people who reject the Gospel (Mormon Gospel)
12. Salvation is by faith plus works
13. The dead can be baptized in proxy
14. The family unit will endue unto the eternal ages, and that those in heaven will produce spiritual children. ( who will be born to Mormons who will be asked to produce many children thus freeing  them to live on earth.)
15. Celestrial marriage is a ritual that takes place in a Mormon temple and seals the person for eternity.
16. Adams sin was necessary in order to provide parentage for the spirit children
17. Man can achieve godhood.

     I  want you to be my follower. Howe else can you be part of the great things yet to come?
     Hang on. We are on a ride.

It is Just An Error Of the Mind

  "Only God or principle exists and everything else is an illusion."
  "There is no matter; material things such as a person's body are not real"

   Recently I read a book that explains what it is like to grow up a child in a house where your mother and father have embraced the religious system known as Christian Science. It is not Christian and it is not Science.
    The book review is found in my book blog http://drsbookplace.blogspot.com/ and it is a book called motherfathergod. It was posted around Sept 26.
    Don't get sick. They don't have medical doctors. Just a Science Practitioner (sic) who will come and pray over you. Healing, for them, is found in right thoughts.
    The belief system is easy to list.

•    God is all in all
•    God is good. Good is mind.
•    God, Spirit, being all.nothing is matter
•     Life, God,omnipotent good, deny death, evil sin, disease. Disease, sin, death, deny good, omnipotent God, Life.

   That is taken from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by the founder Mary Baker Eddy.
   There is also a claim made that the Bible is the only authority. But it is not. You need her book, mentioned above, as the textbook because she believed that God was also the author of her book. You will need her book because the Bible is in error in places, so she teaches and followers of this cult believe. Her book being inspired and far superior to the Bible.
    Let us hear more.
     "Man is not matter; he is not made up of brain, blood, bones, and other material elements. ...man  is made in the image and likeness of God. Matter is not that likeness...Man is spiritual and perfect...He is..the reflection of God."
      Enough already. 
      She and her group don't see man as sinful since his birth, since to them, birth and death are but illusions. God can not be sick and neither can be man. It doesn't exist.
      In their system Jesus was not a real man, but only a spirit.Or at best, a teacher.
     So what about God? To them He is an impersonal Principle not a Person.
   Am I helping you with my postings? Comment and keep a conversation going. Also become a follower of this blog. And hang on. This blog is going places.

Flat Denial-Nothing New

  King Solomon penned a book in our Bible that is very useful in looking at things from the viewpoint of a Humanist. "There is nothing new under the sun." he wrote in Ecclesiastes. There is no new cult that can be invented, no new heresy.
    Earlier in another post I defined what a cult is and in another I defined the signs that you could be in one. I will not redefine. If you desire to read my earlier posts (Which I hope you do. I hope you are going up and down this blog and rereading portions.)  feel free to do so.
    Some where in the eighteenth century a group got fed up with the radical Calvinism of the New England Congregational Churches. Calvin was a strong influence and  his influence could be found in the Congregational, Presbyterian, and other Protestant groups. But it started in the sixteenth to seventeenth century in Poland and England.
    We know them today as Unitarians. Back then they were known as Monarchians. They held then and still do that there is no such thing as the Trinity. No Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Instead they held and still do that God is one and that He cannot manifest Himself in three persons.
    One group holds that Jesus wasn't exactly God nor mere man. A group that follows Ralph Waldo Emerson  believe that all in nature, evan man, is part of a great overloard.
    Those who hold to these views but are not our unitarians are known as our liberals.
    They hold to a belief system.

1. The Bible is not the word of God. Some parts of it may contain the Word of God but are mixed with superstition.
2. They also deny the Christian doctrines that are derived from the Bible
3. God is seen as a force, an overloard, a prime mover.
4. Jesus was a teacher. Merely an exceptional man like Moses and Budda.
5. They have a changing theology.
6.  Man should be his own savior
7. Man is not a sinner. He is just imperfect and all he needs is a "redemption of character."

   They see the answer to man's problem being that of education.

   As I have said, be careful. This is not Orthodox.

   Comment and keep the conversation going. I will try to help as much as I can. I feel like a watchman on the walls crying out for those to hear. He who has ears to hear, let him hear..