Your Authority Is The Bible

 All  this talk and you ,may be wondering, just where does this guy get off? He is writing so much about a Bible and yet, ..

 Yes, the Bible is the authority I go by when I write in this blog because God has spoken and has recorded all He has said in the Bible.

Not everyone has a Bible. Hard to believe. But even those who say  they do,  may only have opne thnat is never read and therefore is collecting dust. 

Brush it off and sit down and read it.

And for those who wish to send a Bible or support a group that sends out Bibles, let me put a banner on the bottom of this post. Click on it and find out how you can be part of the distribution of scripture.

Mostly, unless you have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ you won't be able to really understand what you read. I k now I have covered this topic earlier, and well again in the future. As for this post I just want you to know Bibles are available

Stay a reader of this blog and join in the journey.

May God bless you in your journey/

Gender Identification

 It is all around us now. Or at least it seems to be. I mean this teaching in the schools that boys and girls are the same. That there is no difference. That you can chose who you are sexually. Chose to be a make or a female. Be what you were born to be. And so on.

I am here to tell you a secret. Come closer now. Closer.

When God created you  through the process of birth into this world, He made no mistake. He knew your sexual identity before you were formed in your mother's womb. He knew if you were male or female.

He did not make you a whatever in your mother's womb. 

God did not make a transgender.

"Then God said, "Let us make make man in our image..." God created man in His own image, male and female He created them.

God's image is not what we see when we look at a person. It is inner. 

Let me venture that God's image is relational, in that we were created to be in relation to another person. God also created  him; male and female. He created them to procreate and to fellowship and to subdue the elements around him.

I guess a whole different post could be written, and will be written, on subdue.

Point is, God did not make a  mistake when  He created male and female.

I believe when a person decides to become a gender they were not born as, they tamper with the image of God they have.  They are making  their own god. That new god is self. And God, the creator, is a jealous God. He doesn't share Himself with anyone or thing.

Feel free to post feedback. I will respond.

People Need To Hear From God

 

With all this basic foundation laid down in the past few postings, you may be saying to yourself, sure, but what if the scriptures that will allow me to know God are not in the language of the person I am talking to? I mean, what if I can't end my conversation by handing them a Bible in the tongue they can best read?

I have an answer. Get them a Bible in their tongue. And you can. I can link you to a Bible organization that will help you.  

Everyone should be able to read what God has said. I believe God has spoken and has overshadowed some writers to record what He has said. This was because He wants to communicate. Since He is spirit the only way He could connect would be this way.

I wish to inform you that this posting contains a link to an affiliate market. When  you enter using my link given and purchase an item, I will get a commission for providing you a link.

Created To Be Special

 God didn't have to as he was complete in and of Himself. God, being a trinity, three persons in one being, He was not alone. The Trinity is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

 God is also love. And love likes to share. He wanted to share. He had finished creating angels, but these angels are ministering spirits. God needed no one to minister to Him if in ministering it means to provide something lacking. God can not lack. God is not his creation . That is above space, time, material and need. But He could create time, material, space and humans. AN dthen HE woujld have something for the angels to minister to. 

The human was not divine. He is not God but in the likeness of God. He was created to share with God the control of the material, time, space around him. But not to rule or manage God. God is above and always has been and will always be outside time, space, material.

As detailed in earlier posts, man blew it. Big time.

Man is still special. Yet now he must deal with blockage in the way to greatness. The only one who could remove the blockage is the creator.   

Stay tune for further posts.

Man Needs To Be In Relation

Next step in the story. God creates man. Gives him authority over animals and co-ruler-ship. He creates a woman for man so he won't be alone. Daily God would come and fellowship with Adam and Eve. All they had to do was tend the garden, eat of the produce .
The produce of the garden was theirs. All except one thing.
In order for God to test them as to their obedience, He gave them one restriction. There was a tree in the midst of the garden. Of this tree they were not to eat. It was a simple rule of obedience. Not at all difficult to understand or obey.
This makes one ask, in what state was Adam and Eve created? They were innocent. But untested. That is the best answer I can give.
But they disobey a command. And now they must be punished with (As God promised) death."The day you eat of it you shall die." was what God told them when he first gave them the restriction.
We don't see them dropping dead at that moment. (Maybe this is where death was introduced into the story. We will never know.
But they are driven out of the garden and the relationship they had with God.
So now we say.. wait! God created them for a relationship with Him. This I believe.
It so happens God was not surprised at what happened. God had already decided in eternity pass what He was going to do when this happened.
There was a way provided back to a relationship. It required shedding blood. Not just any blood would do. It had to be the blood of a sinless creature. Adam and his offspring could not give this blood. It had to be from a perfect individual. A sinless creature.
The only sinless subject was God Himself. I wouldn't say creature because God is not a creature. He is the creator.The un-created creator. The plain was to take on humanity and live a sinless life so he would be the perfect person to die for our sins (disobedience, though that is a very limp term. Sin being anything that is less than the perfection of God, which He demands).
So God started His plan by preparing the world for that event.
And that is the cliffhanger I leave this posting on.

Man Is Special

To further our discussion as started in the last few earlier postings--What is man that you are mindful of him. Man is a  separate creation of God from the rest of creation.. God did one more thing  than He did with the creatures created on the sixth day. He took him and breathed into him the breathe of life. A special endowment the creatures created on that day didn't get.
Man thus is able to fellowship in a relationship with his creator. This is something the animals don't have.
You may think your cat of dog is able to have this type of relationship with you-- his owner-- but it is not the same.
But.. get ready for the bad news. when Adam and Eve were given a simple request, they chose to disobey and use their free will to  act independent of what God had told them.
We can see that in the parent/child relationship on a lesser level.
But God still wanted to have a relationship with man. This is what makes man special and makes God take mind of him.
But since man-- Adam as our representative before God-- disobeyed, God had to , from the human standpoint of looking at things, set up a way man could get back in relationship with God without God brushing the act of disobedience away. In other words, God could not say, forget it. I will pretend it never happened. It happened and, if I may say, hurt.
I plan in a later posting to return to this. Let me leave you with this posting. A sort of cliff hanger.

Man In God's Image

So to  continue with the last posting, just what is man-- I shall say this..it was on the sixth day of the creation account man was created. It was the same day the animals were created, the beast of the field after their kind along with the cattle after their kind and the things that creep on the ground after their kind. But man was created special. God brewed into their nostrils the breath of life . Formed man of the dust of the ground. Gave him the image of Himself. Made him at creation a living soul. GAve him submission over the animals and the rulership. It seems He wan ted man to rule with Him and control the earth.

Click  here for link

Something happened. They disobeyed God when God told them about that tree they were supposed to eat the fruit of. ( it may be a symbol, but I am not ready to talk about that just yet.)
They lost, not the image of God. We still have that. They lost for all mankind the likeness.
But God so loved His creation that He had a plan. I will talk about that later.
For those of  you who like reading more about this or would wish to explore other books, I will have a link in the banner Here.
Enjoy the exploring.

What Is Man?

Again we make a turn. There is so much that I can share and I can write on. Earlier in these postings I did a series on Bible study methods. It seems the ABC system is being well received.
And many other subjects through the years have been handled. For this series I would like to return to discussing major subjects handled in the Bible.
The book of Psalms chapter 8 verses states: "When I consider Your Heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained; what is man that you take thought  of him.."
No, I don't wish at this moment to unlock creation. Instead I wish to start to unlock us. MAN.
Just what are we? Are we, as the secular  says, a product of time and chance?  And is so, why do we feel there is something different about us?
Perhaps we are a special creation of a being greater than us.
Maybe in the beginning God created us male and female and put us in a place known as Eden. Maybe this being greater than us, and uncreated being beyond time and space limitations, wanted to fellowship with us.
That would make man different from the animals and the plants and other things.
Let us call this being God. One greater than we can conceive.
If this is so, man is special and asking what is an that you (God)  take thought of him is a very important question to ask and answer.
In the postings to come I hope to explore this deeply.
I feel enough has been started here for you to consider.
 

And Such Were You

Another turn in our discussion.
I am sure there are many out there who are reading this blog series and are fascinated  by the many turns and subjects this whole blog has traveled since the start.
Bible study methods- church beliefs both true and false religions, church offices, general subjects. Popes, Roman Catholicism, and so on.
Seems the Bible study methods were the best read. I would conclude that there are a few out there who are interested in that topic. Great. Keep it up.
Here is the new avenue we will travel down for a while.
True conversion.. The requirement that Jesus gave to Nicodemus as recorded in John the third chapter. And yes, I will be using scripture in the Jewish/Christian Bible.
So let me start:
I have been a Christian now for-- let's see, 1968 to 2020, 52 years. I think that is enough time to have somehow accumulated some knowledge.
No. If you have read my  postings of many years ago you knw what I am talking about.
I also posted a post on can God be known. Click and go to that one.
Back in 1968 I was at Taft College, journalism major. I got a phone call from home which was down the coast at Brentwood, California. My brother, Todd, had been killed in the Viet Nam war. He was a medic. The date was around March 13 when I received this call. I went home and went through the funeral. I found myself asking just where Todd, in death, was, heaven or the other place. Ie remember thinking of that passage in Job, "The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away." Okay. New Testament says that for a person to see heaven he must believe in Jesus. What does that mean? The Bible says that we are all sinners. "There is none righteous, no not one."
I had been brought up in the Roman Catholic system, so I was somewhat used to the Bible. Never read it up to this point. The priest read it. the nuns taught it in school. Mostly Matthew and the first pope being Peter passage and the authority given to Peter to retain and forgive sins  ( don't bother looking, there is none. That is one of the proof texts the Catholic system points to to try to prove something the Bible does not teach)
Anyway. Jesus claimed to be the way to God and God was in heaven. If I was to be in heaven and with God when I died I had to come through Jesus. "I am the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me." He said. It is recorded in the Bible (And the Bible is Bod's communication to man) Also the Bible tells me that all who come to the Father must believe (receive) Jesus. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved."
Enough for one posting. There will be more in the future.

The Dividing Line

I  have discussed in an earlier posting "Why There Can be No Union With Roman Catholics" why I feel evangelicals and Catholics are not combatable.
I would like to further discuss that topic.
It is not that today if you were to look around you would find belief wise in the life of the individual evangelical and the Catholic that much of what they would call different. In fact,, the ones that the protestant churches are losing to the Catholics seem to feel  the need for more liturgy. This they seem to be able to find in the Catholic belief system.
But the evangelical has the practice of Bible study and discussion groups.
Well, the Catholics since Vatican 2 have been allowed to read the Bible for themselves. They better not try to interpret it on their own. They can read and discuss and use the authorized Catholic material  provided. And when they have a question they , if they are good Catholics, need to go to their priest who will look up what the traditions of the church have determined want the passage is saying.
The evangelical is allowed to discuss and prove all things using the Bible as the authority of what the meaning is. they don't have to have tradition of the church determine what the passage means or says. Sometimes they are wrong, They are allowed to be. Yet that is why they have commentaries and a pastor.
And they also seek charismatic manifestation in worship.. that is both the evangelical and the Catholic  The charismatic movement may be one reason for the confusion.
Let's cut to the core problem.
 It is the statement 'saved by grace alone through faith alone.'
That is saying God does the work. Grace is a gift. Faith is a gift.
Not of works so no one may boast.
Catholics add works. Grace plus works. And the works are the individuals.
To add more heat to the fire.. it all goes back to a council. A council called Trent. It was here that the pronouncement was made by the Bishop of Rome, The Pope at that time, and the council who states that if anyone believed you were saved by faith alone  without works and taught such was put under an anathema and consigned to hell. And on top of that the council was deemed infallible and irrevocable.
So the Roman Church still holds that to be true. No sola scriptura. No sola gratia. No sola fide.
Sorry, guys. They don't mix and stick together as a whole. I am referring to the evangelical and the Catholic.

Further Help In Bible Study

I know some of you out there are doing a  research once again in  my posts on bible study methods. I notice 3 have  done a recent read  of the ABCD Method of Bible Study again. For further suggestions I would refer you back to an earlier one I posted in 2017 on Chapter study. This may help you do more intensive study. The only way we are going to dig deep in our study is to use different methods so our study doesn't become mundane.
I am happy to see that people are reading and interacting with this blog, for Your Information. Keep up the good work.

Search For Helpful Aids

Why There Can Be No Union With Roman Catholics

This must be addressed by someone, and I have yet to see it.
It is important because there are quite a lot of young promising Christian people, both male and female, who are drifting into the Roman Catholic Church feeling that the Roman Church is the  "better way' to do Christianity.
It is my contention it is not.
Of course, I am assuming something primarily. That is that you are a Christian.
Define terms.
I was taught to define terms so that the one you are discussing things with is understanding what is being said.
Christian. The way I define it is a person who has a living relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
An Evangelical would say --a person who has been born again as Jesus explained to Nicodemus as recorded in John chapter 3.  By grace through faith.
On the other hand, a Catholic would say one is saved by grace plus works.
Define grace.
Sola gratia , which the evangelicals who are saved, means by grace alone. Without works. And then grace is not something we have. It is a gift from God.
Let us look at that word Evangelical.
It is a word the Protestants use because the term Protestant started to get a bad name..  Protestant is a name the Roman Church gave a group of people who didn't agree with them.
But that is off the subject.
A Catholic believes that the church is the authority to believe when it comes to proper study and understanding of what the Bible says. Since they believe, without any scriptural proof, just some idea the Pope came up with, that they were given the authority to determine what is and is not 'Bible".
Let us use the term Christian for the other group, the one that consists of people who have a relationship with God through the finished work of Jesus Christ.
The Christian says the Bible is complete and does not need to have a group of people decide what is or is not 'Bible'.
Sola scriptura.
And let us look at this question:. Is there salvation in the Catholic church? Not if you adhere to their teachings which are not able to be located in scripture. They base their understanding on scripture plus tradition as taught by the priest who is stating what tradition, or the church, has determined it means. They are lost, not able to guide the blind since they are one themselves.
Enough for now. That is enough for a person to chew on. Be sure to leave a comment which I can see and respond to, if you desire to. If not, well, don't.

Research The Question

Creation In Time

Created

in the beginning- Creation had a beginning. At a point of time, which was created at the same time as creation, the world came into being.
The Bible informs us that it took six days to create all that is here. If the days were actual 24 hour periods of duration or periods of time, I am not going to discuss that here.
Time is a product of creation. Before creation there was no time. Just eternity. eternity does not need time to measure it.  It is outside of that restraint.
God exists in eternity but also is not part of eternity.
But that is for a further discussion in another post.
And you may ask, if God is existing in eternity, why does He need to create in His  creation of time?
I think that HE wanted to share His Love. God is love. Love must have something to love.
Sure, God exists in a trinity. Three in one. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
He wants to share His love with others. He wanted to share outside the Godhead. That is why He created angels. That is why He created man. These creations were in time.
He wanted to share His love with those things He created.
So he created with time. Both together. It takes time for true love to work out.
Keep those messages coming. I enjoy posting these posts and would like to know how you are enjoying them. If no response after a period of time, like say, three weeks, I will move on to other subjects to post under For Your Information.

God Has Decreed

The Bible Says

This is a subject that not many preachers preach on, but it is in the Bible.
This doctrine is found mainly in the Reformed Theology books and the Presbyterians hold to a form of it.
As I understand it, God has decreed certain things. God decreed to create. He decreed to give man free will with which he, man, can choose to obey or disobey.
In His decreeing it is not the same as the action. If God decreed and there was no free will, man would only be a puppet. God would pull the strings and man would jump.
There is the decree to save those who come to God through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
Jesus said, I am the door. I am the way. No one comes to God but through Me.
God allowed sin to come into the world. I don't see him as someone cruel  enough to decree sin and then walk away.. He is not responsible for man's disobedience. Man must pay the penalty for his disobedience. And that penalty is recorded in Romans 6:23- which is death, or separation from God.
The decreed is not the act. Let me keep saying that.
He has decreed that all who come to God are saints. Not perfect but forgiven sinners who will spend eternity in heaven.
Please, respond to me. I promise to answer as soon as I can.

In Six Days

The Bible tells us it took God only six days to bring the earth, as we know it with plants, animals, fish, trees, man, into existence. Some hold to a big bang theory.
Without God,there is n o way it could have happened. It just couldn't have. Even a false idea of a big bang is hard to believe if there wasn't a first cause. It had to be a cause for which there is no cause.
The first people were Adam and Eve. Of course the Hebrew words Ish and Isha  may only infer male and female and Adam only refers to man and Eve is the mother of all born, But come on now, allow the Bible to say what it says.
Since it is God breathed, that is, God spoke it, it is truth. I don't see anything like a mistranslation.
Itsays six days. Evening and morning were the first day. note- the day is counted from night and day not day and night. This is he Hebrwew way of day,. Night coming before day.
Were these days like 24 hours each or a mass period of time?  The reference to night and day seem to suggest they were a specific period of time and not long eras.
Were these real people? Yes.
Did it really happen? Yes.
Keep up your Bible study and feel free to comment to me. I would like to hear from you.

A Line To The Almighty

A long time ago I posted on this subject. Labels with prayer mentioned in them keep popping up. So I guess it is time, once again, to mention the subject.
Everyone prays. The eastern belief system refers to this as chanting instead of prayer. And I realize it is not the same, but they chanters expect to make contact with some spiritual being whom they hope will happen to help them.
No, prayer ,as I am talking about it, true prayer, is only done successfully by the Christian.
Definition: Christian. One who has a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, whom has said, No one comes to the Father by through me.
Of course you would want to talk to God if you have a relationship. Just as you would talk to a friend.
What should you talk to Him about? Everything. Your day's events. Your worries. Your joys. Your needs.
He wants to hear from you. He is waiting to hear your voice.
Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you.
It is a line to the Almighty.
When you have a relationship with Him it is like you belong to a family. If you are normal you talk to your family. In return your family talks to you.
God talks to those who have a relationship with Him by the Bible. God overshadowed the writers and what we have is what He wants to communicate. I think that is a great deal.
Please consider talking to God on a more regular basis. But to be heard you must have a relationship with Him. Otherwise He is not obligated to hear and answer.

Being A Deacon Has Honor

I was doing my morning devotions and I was do my study in First Timothy. In chapter three it details what an overseer and a deacon should have as qualifications. Since, as I see it, it is a great responsibility to be either an overseer or a deacon. They don't seem to be the same although the requirements seem close.  But as leaders, they should be someone you can look up to for direction. So they are important positions.
I don't see them as the elder. Requirements for an elder come in chapter four.
Only here and I guess in Titus is a deacon mentioned. They appear in the life of the church when the tables needed to be waited upon. There they were set up to help the apostles. Today they are set ujp to help the pastor.
Deacons should not try to dominate or take the place of the pastor. They don't run the church. They weren't set up to do so and are not presently in that position.
Honor comes in the way they conduct themselves. Details are given in first Timothy and in Titus. These two letters were written  by Paul to pastors who were ministering in newly formed Churches. They are still good letters to read for the purpose of forming up a new or established deacon and overseer. Therefore, it is worthy of being studyed.