Category: Improvement

Why Don’t We Care More About God?

It’s easy to not deeply care about someone we only know by name (a stranger), but not someone we truly know (an important person to us).

Think about this for a minute: think of someone you know: that person you see occasionally (it could be someone from work, or someone living in the neighborhood, this person should be someone you see occasionally but don’t interact with much), you know their name, but you might not know many details about them such as their life story, stories of their struggles, or stories of their favorite memories in life. You know them primarily by name only, the depth of your knowledge about this person is limited. Let’s refer back to this person as “stranger” going forward.

Now think about someone you love (it could be presently or in the past) but pick someone that you believe you truly love, someone whose “well-being” you truly care about, someone you take time to be with regularly, you know their struggles, you know their life story, you know what makes them happy. Let’s refer to this person as “important” going forward.

Take a minute to think about both these people, you “know” both of them, but one you know primarily know by name, the “stranger.” and the other you know many more details about them and they are the “important” person to you. This is how most of us are with God (until we seek Him), we know OF Him, but we don’t truly KNOW Him. If we don’t truly know a person, we can’t genuinely love that person- the same holds true about God. How can we love God or make Him a priority in our life, if we don’t genuinely know Him? We can’t.

The best way for us to get to genuinely know God is by reading scripture (the bible) daily, here’s what I’ve learned about God and us over the past three years of doing this. Let’s start at the beginning: Creation. God’s creativity is so much more impressive than anything mankind can create. Think about our bodies, the intricacy of our unique DNA coding, the systems of the body, how they work together, the ability of our body to “heal”, the intricacy of our eyes, the complexity of vision, all the tiny blood vessels, nerves, and muscles, throughout that provide what’s needed for various components of our bodies to function as designed. Think about our minds, the capacity to think, ponder, analyze, feel, etc. This didn’t just happen by “accident”- there is a complex, well- designed system that even the doctors today don’t have full understanding, often treatments are still trial and error when doctors try to fix something. God made us. He intentionally made everyone of us (we are here because He wanted us here): each of us is unique and has special gifts, created by God. We were created to relate with Him and with others in this world. God wants to be known and sometimes uses supernatural means to be discovered by us. Think, for a minute , about that “important” person brought to your thoughts earlier. You love that person, now imagine this: what if that person didn’t know you? You knew them, you love them, yet they don’t react to you, they ignore you, they don’t respond to you. Wouldn’t that be frustrating? Now think about how God feels when we ignore Him. God has feelings and emotions. We were created in His image and similar to Him, we also have feelings and emotions. How would you feel if the person you love responded to you as a “stranger”?

Creating us is what God did, but there is more about who God is. There is a mystery about God, revealed through scripture. There is one God, but a triune God: God the Father, the Son of God (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit. All three were present during the creation. This is a detail that can be supported by the original Hebrew scripture with the word: Elohim This is very interesting because the word is “plural” and the singular form is Eloah and both are used in scripture, but the creation as well as other pats of scripture use the plural version. Explore this if you doubt. Why would God be referred to with a plural reference if He is not triune? Genesis further describes God’s Spirit hovering over the waters during creation and the bible also says “let us make make mankind in our image” (Genesis 1:26) It is not until Jesus arrives that we fully understand this “triune”, when Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist all are present: the spirit descends visibly when Jesus comes up out of the water during baptism and God speaks audibly telling those present that Jesus is His Son (Matthew 3:17). But even further back in scripture, about how Jesus came became man, we learn from God’s messenger angel, who visited Mary (Jesus’ mother). The angel explained that it is God’s spirit who makes this pregnancy occur, not by man, the angel also visited Joseph who was engaged to be married to Mary and was thinking about secretly departing from her due to the pregnancy, but the angel explains what happened to Joseph and Joseph follows through with Mary. (Matthew 1:18) The three (triune God) are present at the very beginning of Jesus’ human life. Something else to think about: throughout scripture, no one technically sees God, Moses gets the closest to seeing Him, but then hides his face. When Moses returns to the people he is described as “radiant” (Exodus 34). Scripture often tells us God is Spirit, so it’s hard to comprehend His presence, is He pure light or does He have bodily form? Scripture mentions the throne of God and Jesus is seated at the right hand, so it does seem like there is a form of some type and if mankind was created in God’s image, then it would also seem likely. If we look back in scripture again, in Genesis (Genesis 3:8), God is walking in the garden (all three are present: Elohim) it is written about God’s voice being heard, and then the singular version Yehova (Jehova) is also used and so is Ruah (which means spirit or wind in the Old Testament, in Hebrew; ruah is used used 378 times) and is interesting to discover. Could it have been Jesus who was walking in the garden? (I don’t know the answer to this question but it crossed my mind after reading this verse.) Jumping forward, in the book of Revelation, Jesus reveals that he is the beginning and the end (Revelation 21:6), he also reveals this in the gospel of John when Jesus tells the Pharisees that he existed before Abraham who was born around 20 BC (John 8:58). It is believed that Jesus was born sometime between 6 BC and 2 BC. In the New Testament, pneuma is the name for Spirit, it refers to either God’s spirit or other spirits and is referred to 385 times in the New Testament. When we explore the original words of scripture like these: Elohim, ruah, pneuma, and the words of Jesus documented in the New Testament Gospels, our eyes begin to open and the Bible gets interesting by exploring and discovering “who” God is through scripture we begin to learn.

But there is more to learn about God than “who” He is. There is the personality and character of God that we discover through the Bible. This is best discovered gradually throughout the entire bible, so this following summary will not be complete, but is an attempt to summarize some of what I’ve learned about God’s character through studying scripture. Since God made us in His image, I think we can comprehend a little bit of His character is because God is the only one who is good; we are not, so we can’t fully relate to a perfect God. (Jesus said this documented in the Gospel of Mark 10:18 – also explore the word Jesus used for God “theos” in Greek found here) So we are imperfect beings trying to understand a perfect Being, therefore we are limited in our comprehension of God and in what has been revealed to us through scripture. Here are some characteristics of God found through scripture:

LOVE: God loves us greater than we currently have the capacity to love. Our love is often conditional. God’s love is unconditional. He loves us even while we are broken, separated from Him by sin. He created us to experience a loving relationship with Him. When any human relationship fails, it is different from our relationship with God who’s love remains, unfailing. We can’t comprehend God in exactly the same way as we experience human relationships: God is perfect, humans are not.

FORGIVENESS: God sets the standard so high on forgiveness. When we comprehend His capacity to forgive we are amazed, especially when we think about betrayal. How hard is it for us when someone betrays us, then comes back? Some of us may be forgiving yet others struggle with it, but not God and He wants us to be like Him in forgiveness to others. He wants us to understand how often He forgive us (which is whenever we truly mean it and ask Him for forgiveness, He forgives). Aren’t we grateful that He is like this? How many times do we mess up and then regret it? What if He wasn’t forgiving? Do you realize what that would mean? We would never have a relationship with Him again. Think about that for a minute: what if you hurt that “important” person you love and you never had the opportunity to be back in a relationship with them because they didn’t forgive you for what you did against them. How much greater would that hurt us when we know what God has planned (Revelation 21 and 22) for those who love Him back and those who have a relationship with Him?

MERCY: God see us as His little children, He lets us make decisions (even ones that aren’t good and ones that go against Him, the Commandments He gave us Exodus 20)- He is not controlling (He let us have free will), but then He will discipline His children, the ones He loves Revelation 3:19 (for our benefit to learn from our mistakes and turn back to Him) He cares for us and wants the best for us. Jeremiah 29:11

JEALOUS: Yes, God gets jealous. There are different types of jealousy: one type is “coveting” something someone else has; wanting something that is not ours, being envious of someone else. This is not the jealousy of God. God made us, God loves us and God is jealous when our love is shown to someone or anything else more than Him. In fact it is in the beginning of the commandment He gave us (Exodus 20). Whatever we love more than God is our idol: it could be money, it could be a false god, it could be ourselves through self-centeredness, fame or pride, it could be things we may obtain, it could be any person we hold on a pedestal, it could be our “important” person. We should know that God is meant to be our priority, He gave us everything we have and He can take away whatever we prioritize over Him to teach us this lesson. It’s much better to make God the priority now so we don’t have to learn the lesson the hard way.

ANGER: Yes, God gets angry. The anger that God shows is against evil. This is righteous anger. He is not “hot-tempered” and scripture tells us to avoid “hot-tempered” people– that is not God’s character. God is slow to anger, scripture tells us that too. God actually hates 7 specific things Proverbs 6:16 (link here): included are pride, lying, harming innocent people and those who contemplate and choose evil.

JUSTICE: God is just, God is perfect, therefore when he subjects anyone to wrath or to death, it is justified. God is patient (2 Peter 3:9), he gives people opportunities and time to repent, but if God sees there is no repentance, at a certain point (only God knows that timing) He takes action and destroys evil. Yes, God destroys evil. Sometimes He does it now, but He will also do it later to the evil that remains during the Judgement of all Evil (sin) separates us from God, so God destroys it according to His timing, but we can trust that He will do this, even when we don’t see it happen immediately when bad things happen in our world. It will come. Scripture tells us, God says “it is mine to avenge” Unless a person repents, they will perish. Scripture tells us this.

POWERFUL: God is powerful and can make supernatural things happen. With God all things are possible. Scripture gives us insight to God’s power through God’s response to Job about who He is: Job Chapter 38, 39, 40, 41 Jesus foretold that he has overcome the evil within the world through his death and resurrection. (John 16:33) We overcome evil when we choose to be “born again“, become the spiritual children of God, when God’s spirit resides within us. (John 5:4).

God will be respected; all people will end up bowing to Him when Jesus returns and Jesus will rule from that point on through eternity. Those who make fun of God or mock Him have a horrific future ahead- the irony of this is that the ones who are doing the mocking right now are the ones who are currently deceived and will be the ones in the future who will be known as fools in the end. But those who turn to God, get to genuinely know Him and remain in relationship with Him through prayer have nothing to fear because God loves and protects His children. He has an incredible amazing future planned; it’s only a matter of time before we experience it. Take this to heart and take action now: make God your “important” person, your priority, don’t leave Him in the “stranger” category, get to know Him and experience His goodness, His blessings in your life. Click here to see who is blessed by God, there are multiple pages so scroll to the end to see the various pages in scripture that mention “blessed”.

When we think about “success/advancing” in the world, so many of us do well getting to know those at the top who can make a difference in our future, but at the same time many of the same don’t know the ultimate God who WILL make a more substantial difference in our future (eternity). This is called blindness until people are made aware and short-sightedness if they don’t take action that matters for eternity, people don’t understand, but desperately need to understand and need to know God. Not for selfish gain in this world, but for our future, for Life. Once we truly comprehend the truth about Life and Death, we can break from what enslaves us by calling out to God, helping others do the same (we’re not to be selfish), then rest in the grace and eternal blessings from God. Remember it all started with God’s LOVE for us. Jesus made the WAY for us (John 14:6). We simply need to seek God, repent and place our faith in Jesus to save us and help others know this Truth.

by Categories: bible prophecy, bible study, FAITH, FRIENDSHIP, God, HAPPINESS, Improvement, Make It Count, RELATIONSHIPSTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Letting God Guide

I wasn’t satisfied with my life. I continually made goals, found something to look forward to, something to create and work on, but once it was accomplished, it seemed to lead to a “dead end, an unfulfilled feeling” – I didn’t find the happiness, joy, peace and comfort, or sense of accomplishment I hoped for throughout the life I lived. I was disappointed and I wondered if this is all there is to life?

A tragedy lead me to a new quest, a quest for “answers” about life. A well liked, respected, happy teenager died in a car crash on the way to work. This gave me even more questions about life, purpose, why did this happen but it led me back to church in 2015. It also led me to realizing how short life can be and I had a feeling of wanting to make the most of it; to “make it count” as this teenager said it. Only I did it the wrong way “make it count” doesn’t mean “live it up,” doesn’t mean “escape.” (I see in hindsight this is where the “tug of war” started, I was being pulled in opposite directions: towards God and away from God at the same time.) Two years later, I still didn’t have the answers, feel complete or fulfilled but I knew one thing: I wasn’t seeing anything positive coming from my life. Inside I still had hopefulness, but disappointments continued.

One evening at church, I decided to turn it over to Jesus, to surrender my life to Jesus- that was 2017. I didn’t know what that truly meant but what it meant to me was to pray every day in the morning when I woke up and at night before I went to bed: for guidance. And this is what happened, almost immediately bad things started happening to me, but I stuck with it and kept praying. Then I went into a period that felt like a roller coaster ride: big swings of good things happening followed by disappointments over and over again, but I didn’t loose my prayers, I kept praying.

After two years of this, at my lowest point, in 2019, I called out to God in prayer: “What is going on!? I’m trying to do the right things so why is all this happening to me?” Then I opened the bible on my nightstand, the bible I bought but never opened hoping for “something”, and I got more than something! I received insight! “Spiritual warfare” became clear to me; it was the Book of Job that I had opened to, and the first book I read. It then made sense to me what I was going through: I was trying to get closer to God so I was being met with spiritual resistance; God allowed me to be tested. I stuck with my prayer plan but things didn’t get much better and seemed to be getting worse. I had specific questions about how I was living my life, so I decided to try to find the answers in the bible, I started seeking those answers in the fall of 2019, I made the decision and made a goal of reading the entire bible to find out what’s in there: front to back. I did this during every free moment I had and was able to accomplish it in 3 months (August – October).

It opened my eyes to so much. It “convicted” me and made me cry. I knew I had to change things about the way I was living because “sin” separates us from God. I didn’t want to be separated from God. I found out things I didn’t even think were “sin” that I had done in ignorance were sin and did some that I knew were wrong, but made excuses. I decided I wanted and needed to change. This wasn’t a very “uplifting” time of my life, I was confronted with everything “wrong” that I did. It was depressing but it was the truth and I didn’t want it in my life any longer, it had to go. I started making changes and lost people that were in my life as a result, not by my choice, by their choice; they rejected me. Then the 2020 pandemic hit and it affected the world. It made me wonder if this was more significant than the event itself, did it have biblical significance?

I started seeking answers again and arrived at the conclusion that this must be a “wake up” call from God to all of us. I continued studying the bible during the “shut down” of the world and learned a lot about bible prophecy- events that haven’t happened yet. At the same time it became apparent that corruption within the world was being exposed and was greater than I ever could have imagined. Beliefs and trust I had were blown apart during this time. I then realized I couldn’t trust anyone (other than God). People were proving to be more “evil” than I ever anticipated. I was shocked, so I “detached” from most people and spent more time studying scripture and in prayer.

My prayer life then changed. I started asking God direct questions in prayer, starting with a closed bible, asking Him to respond to my question through scripture. It started happening (I was getting answers), but I wasn’t completely convinced, I thought it could be a coincidence. That was until April of 2020, I asked a question and opened the bible but I didn’t like the response, so I shut the bible and tried again, but I opened to the same page. I closed it, prayed again and opened to the book of Job (which is about being tested). I was still not convinced, so I closed the book again, prayed and opened it up to the same exact page I had opened twice before, but didn’t like the response! This was too much of a “coincidence” to be ignored for me: 3 times opening to the exact same page; a page that wasn’t creased, saved or visited probably not more than once before (ie. the first time I read the bible). I called my mom about it and shared it with her; it was not something positive that I read, so I was not going to share it with anyone else. Then a month later, it happened! The response found in the bible happened. It wasn’t what I wanted, but in prayer that day I opened the bible, I had asked God for clarity about what was happening- what the outcome of current prayers would be because this was something that was being prayed about for a long time by multiple people and we were seeing encouragement, then discouragement in response to the prayers, so just like before when I didn’t understand what was happening in my life, I wanted to know about this, so I asked God.

After this, whenever I had questions, I would pray to God, ask Him to direct me to something in the bible that would answer my question and it worked. I say “it worked” because I would get an answer then oddly various God focused people would mention the same subject that very day or within 24 hours, I usually heard the message repeated about 3 times from different sources. This seemed to be confirmation to me. This continues currently.

At this point, in May 2020, I decided I was ready to get baptized. I delayed this decision because I knew I wasn’t living my life in obedience to God and I didn’t want to get baptized and be a “fake” Christian, but I was finally ready, I signed up BUT the annual baptism event that occurred in June at the church I was attending was canceled due to the pandemic restrictions, so I didn’t get baptized in 2020.

In August 2021, I happened to see an email from the church, somewhat of a “last call” for anyone who wanted to participate in the September 2021 baptism. This was odd to me! For years the baptism was offered in June, but now I see one for September? I signed up, but almost missed it! Thankfully I got in and I did it.

September 12, 2021 I was baptized! But this is when more unusual things started happening. The night I was baptized, I had a spiritual dream. It wasn’t a positive one, it was somewhat threatening so I shared it with someone I know who is a true Christian, I prayed about it, prayed for forgiveness of my past, prayed for protection and affirmed my decision to follow Jesus and reject everything contrary. Some time later (weeks or months later), I was alone, it was nighttime and I literally saw the exact imagery I had dreamed about in the sky that evening. I took a video of the sky because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing: EXACTLY what I dreamt about. Then after this, more started happening. I started having spiritual dreams which I NEVER had in my life before. They were very detailed and the strangest part about this is that parts of my dreams started happening in my real life, not just once, but numerous times. I wrote down my dreams and recently recorded them on my podcast (Faith podcast link). I decided to record them after things that I dreamt about happened over and over again. It was another point where I thought: I don’t think this is coincidental, something is happening. I had 9 dreams so far, since my baptism, the last one was Mother’s Day 2022. The dreams encouraged me in faith and belief that God is real and the bible is true!

Through these past three years of seeking God, seeking answers and studying the bible, I finally know the God who was once distant from me, who I “knew of,” but didn’t know personally. During this time and through my trying times, God provided exactly what I needed: not more, not less, but just exactly enough. I finally know God better but also believe there is probably still so much more to know. The distant God I learned about in religion, showed up in my life when I started seeking Him. In hindsight I see that He was always there, patiently waiting for me to “wake up” I am forever grateful that I “woke up” in time. God is there for all of us, patiently waiting, loving us and hoping that we seek Him and love Him back. He loved us first, He loves us despite our bad choices in life and longingly, patiently is waiting for all who have not turned to Him. This is my experience, and now my prayer for you: that you may “wake up” and get to know the real, living, communicative God who loves you and wants you in eternity with Him when this all transitions from a broken world to the perfect world God has prepared, waiting for His Children.

The bible reveals God’s nature, His love for us. He created each of us out of love, He delights in us (those He created). He is saddened by our blindness to Him and the sin we choose that separates us from Him. He wants us back, but leaves the choice to us: do we love Him back? Will we seek Him? He made it easy for us to be with Him in eternity: it is a simple choice: do we choose Him in return? He took care of the “law” and judgement of us through Jesus. Jesus specifically came for sinners (all of us) to enlighten us about God, the future kingdom, during his years of teaching and then he provided the way for us to be in eternity with God. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life- the only way to the Father (God). The “law” (the 10 Commandments) teach us what is right and wrong. The payment for breaking the commandments is death. Without Jesus, that will be our future: death/eternal separation from God because God is Holy and sin can’t be in the presence of holiness, whatever contains sin dies in the presence of holiness (we find this information in the bible). But Jesus provides protection from judgement through his death on the cross. Protection for those who accept, have faith, believe and trust in Jesus. That’s what it means that “Jesus paid the price” for us. He gave his life in exchange for our death. Jesus, the Son of God, was sinless and obedient to God the Father. He was the only “acceptable” being that could pay for the enormity of sin of all mankind, because he was and is perfect/without sin. He willingly suffered and died specifically to save our lives through satisfying the law of justice. This is a spiritual law that we may not fully understand, but God is just, the law is just and God took action to save us from the law of death because He loves us and want us with Him. This is something many of us can’t truly comprehend completely: the extent of His love and willingness to do whatever it takes. God is love.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.


8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13: 4-13

If you haven’t already done this, please seek God, get to know Him, it is worth it and will change your life, make your life complete. I am praying for all who read or hear this. God is compassionate and forgiving. Life is complete when we are connected to Jesus. Jesus is our protection and our way to an immortal life once God gives us His Spirit which happens when we ask Jesus for this and He sees our good intention by our response to His love. Jesus told us the way we show God our love back to Him is through obeying His commands. He is so encouraging to us, He even gives us His spirit to help us where and when we are weak but seeking Him. The flesh is weak but God’s spirit is strong. God’s spirit fills the gap of our weakness and give us love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Completeness) When we choose to surrender to God, we become a brother or sister to Jesus and a spiritual child of God. We become “born again.” Jesus told us that we will not be in God’s kingdom unless we are “born again”- born of the Spirit. Have God’s spirit residing in us. We are promised an inheritance with an eternal immortal life with God, so incredibly beautiful and fulfilling that it can’t be adequately described by any of us, but there is this revelation of the presence of God that happened to me in my dreams that I can’t describe well enough either, but I will assure you: you want this in your life, you will be grateful in the future that you made this choice to love God back- to be “born again”!

by Categories: bible study, FAITH, FAMILY, Following Passions, FRIENDSHIP, God, HAPPINESS, Improvement, Letting Go, Love, Make It Count, RELATIONSHIPS, WellnessTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

3, 2, 1…Watching the Countdown (NOW)

Here is the introduction and reason for this post: (click link here)

Time is getting close, some are running out of time and are not aware of what is ahead for ALL of us! Look into this now, “you’ll thank me, many others and most importantly: GOD later” for sharing this information with you!

Here are the links I promised in the introduction:

Revealing Revelation by Amir Tsarfati, you can also find the book on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other places.

I’m not promoting this book to increase their sales; I have no affiliation, in fact you can hear and see much of this information via YouTube (at no cost), but some prefer to read and other prefer to listen, so either way, don’t delay! The most important is that you comprehend this information.

As I mentioned in the introduction, there are many others (some who have studied bible prophecy for 40 years!) I will provide YouTube links to the main account, you will need to search their videos to to listen to their opinions, and there are many different opinions, but there are also points that all agree, namely:

  1. There will be a final 7 years until the return of Jesus (for judgement this time: both good and bad)
  2. There is an Eternity ahead, nothing to fear, a beautiful future ahead: an abundance of laughter, happiness, beauty, adventure, music, no more tears, immortality, peace and love for those who take action now (Read Revelation 21 and Revelation 22)
  3. There are warnings for ALL of us in the Book of Revelation
  4. We appear to be in the End Times right now: either in the beginning of the final 7 years or just slightly before the 7 years start (there are mixed opinions about where we currently are in this timeline)
  5. There will be a major battle involving Israel forthcoming.
  6. There will be a global governance. It will be both political and religious.
  7. The leader of both will be inspired by evil and will deceive the majority of the population sending them into eternal torment through deception. The deception will involve miracles.
  8. The only way to “save” ourselves is to accept Jesus as our Savior, put all our trust in Jesus, ask God for forgiveness of our sins, change our sinful ways, get baptized, then watch and wait for all this to happen, staying in close contact through prayer and reading the bible so that we do not fall for the forthcoming deception and that we have endurance through trials and testing. Technically we are NOT “saving ourselves”- Jesus did that by his death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. This is how it is possible for us to be “saved” only through Jesus, we can’t do it on our own. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, no one can come to the Father (be in eternity/God’s Kingdom) except through him.
  9. There will be a time when Jesus calls his followers (those who have prepared in advance- see #8) to meet him in the clouds (some will raise from the dead and others will ascend alive and will be changed due to God’s spirit residing in us). This happens before Jesus’ return for judgement of all. Jesus will protect us from God’s wrath. (There are many opinions about when this happens: before, during and towards the end of the 7 year period. I honestly don’t know who is correct. I think the towards the end, but it’s better to prepare now so when it comes we are ready)
  10. The leaders of this political and religious governance will eventually force people to “take a mark” in their right hand or forehead and this will be the only way we will be able to buy or sell anything. They will be all about controlling the population.
  11. The leaders of this political and religious governance will be revealed soon and rule for 3 years and 6 months.
  12. Jesus will conquer them (evil) after this period and he will be recognized as the only authority, the King of All when he returns on the clouds in Jerusalem, Israel, visible by all (made possible perhaps because of the Internet/technology?)
  13. Jesus will rule (here on earth) for 1,000 years. Mortal and Immortal people will be present during this time, the immortal reigning under Jesus, as appointed by Jesus.
  14. There will be a final battle with evil after the 1,000 years are over. God wins, He destroys evil supernaturally forever and Judgement Day occurs (Jesus will be the judge of all of us). People will be raised from the dead for judgement day, then sentenced to eternal life or eternal torture based on the choices they made during their life on earth.
  15. For those who receive Eternal Life, Immortal, new bodies will be given to us. God has prepared a New Heaven and New Earth that will come down and replace what we have today (the present earth will be completely destroyed) and God will LIVE in eternity WITH us!!!

As I mentioned, if you want to see, hear, listen to the various opinions on End Times through a variety of personalities, here are some YouTube accounts to check out- but as always, let the Bible be the “truth checker,” people are not perfect, everyone makes some mistakes and there are “opinions” discussed in each that are open to interpretation, but they have been typically forthright in telling us when it is “an opinion” vs “fact from the bible”:

AOC Network

Behold Israel

El Shaddai Ministries

Endtime Inc.

J.D. Farag

Nelson Walters

Ken Raggio

In addition to those listed above, here are some YouTube accounts that will help you grow in faith:

Answers in Genesis

Got Questions

The Bible Project

One for Israel

Maranatha Bible Church- Chicago

I pray that you don’t take this lightly; that you do something today if you haven’t already. There is much to be hopeful about in the future, and to look forward to, but it all depends on the actions we take today! There will be trials ahead, but don’t loose faith- keep your eyes on Jesus and what he preached. (Read the gospel of John to know more about Jesus- John was one of the original followers of Jesus and he was also the one who received the vision from Jesus that is documented in Revelation)

My prayer for you right now: Dear Jesus, Please open the eyes and minds of those who read this and reveal your truth. Amen.

May God bless you today in some way!

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Dates. Dates. Just Wait.

I was inspired to write this after watching this recent video (click link to watch): Amir Tsarfati: Breaking News: Who Controls the Temple Mount? In this video he references Luke 21:24 with a emphasis on the Temple Mount being trampled by the Gentiles. Amir lives in Israel, therefore he is actively aware of what is happening and he provides information and insight that we won’t get in our local news. As he spoke these words, another verse from the bible came to mind: Revelation 11:2 (which provides a time frame of the Gentiles trampling: 42 months).

Wow, as I was just linking that verse, I made a typo and searched for Revelation 11:12 (the Rapture!) This is ironic, because I’m aware Amir has a different belief than I do about the timing of the Rapture. I think it happens later than he does and that Believers will go through Tribulation, but not God’s Wrath. I would certainly welcome an earlier Rapture if it happens that way and will be thankful if it does, it may come as a surprise to me. I just don’t currently see the scripture supporting the earlier timing. But that is okay, the Rapture (believers rising to meet Jesus in the sky) will happen when God chooses it to happen, we just need to be prepared, as in right now, don’t delay. If Amir’s timing is correct, this rapture could happen at any moment. If what I believe happens, it could be 2026 (yes, I’m putting a guesstimate date out there). I’m not saying I know this date, but I’ll tell you why I’m leaning towards that date at this moment.

If anyone puts a date or timing out there right now, it is purely speculation and an opinion, not fact because there are some obscure timing of events and no one will know until it actually happens, but we may get the “season” right. So how did I end up with this date? It’s a combination of of events foretold in Bible prophecy. Biblical scholars have interpreted a final 7 years, before Jesus takes over and reigns as King. This is from the book of Daniel (Daniel 9: 24-27). Many people who study “end times prophecy” focus on a 7 year covenant and many people think this is a peace treaty that is signed. But scripture isn’t clear about what type of covenant is confirmed and there are many covenants within the Bible, so I can’t state with certainty that it is or isn’t a peace treaty. The start of the 7 years is something I think we will only realize in hindsight. Midway through (about 3.5 years into this final 7 years) it is understood that sacrifices will be stopped (Daniel 9:27) and an abomination (something detestable to God) will be set up in the holy place (most likely the Temple Mount in Jerusalem). When we are midway through the 7 year period, we will have more certainty. Jesus even referenced the Daniel prophecy in Matthew 24:15. Getting back to possible “covenants” there are those who believe the Abraham Accords, signed in 2020 is the “covenant”, there are also those who believe that the Pope’s Laudato si (which ironically became known as a 7 year action plan and was launched in 2021) is the “covenant” and there are still more people waiting for the confirmation of the covenant in the future between the Palestinians and the Israeli’s, and there are probably even more thoughts, so as you can see there are a few different opinions out there about the covenant. Perhaps we might be close if other foretold signs in bible prophecy are also present (and there certainly are current events which appear to be unfolding, leading to future bible prophecy right now). We won’t know until this abomination is set up in the holy place, but when we do see this, there will be trouble like was never known before in all of time and will never be again, according to Jesus in (Matthew 24:21), so we might want to get our life in order with God (as in acknowledging our sin, asking for forgiveness of sins, showing true regret by changing our future actions- discontinuing what we know is “sin”- and trusting in Jesus, keeping in communication with him through prayer) NOW before this happens, because it seems like after the abomination is set up, the times will be pure chaos and people may not be thinking clearly at that time…just a thought: prepare now!

So getting back to what if 2020 initiated the final 7 years? If that turns out to be the year, then 3.5 years into it would be between 2023-2024 (that’s when I will be watching for “the abomination”). If “the abomination” doesn’t happen, then I will know that the final 7 years didn’t start in 2020 and there are more years to wait. But, if it does happen, then we know 42 months after that is when Jesus returns- the second coming (according to Bible prophecy). If we add 3.5 years to the midpoint, following the abomination appearance (if this appearance does happen in 2023-2024), then we arrive at 2026-2027. This is why my guess is that Jesus 2nd coming could be possible in 2026-2027. I believe that would be approximately when the rapture occurs: 2026 – given this timeline. The opening of the sixth seal (Revelation 6: 12-17) matches the description Jesus gave in (Matthew 24: 29-31).

There is a theory on Jesus returning at the 6th Seal (seated on the clouds) to gather his elect (Believers: both Messianic Jews and Gentiles) but this is not the same event as the 2nd coming (where Jesus arrives seated on a horse with armies of heaven following him: Revelation 19:11 -16). This theory is supported by quite a bit of scripture. The following video makes the timing very clear, you can watch it here: LOOK UP Your Redemption Draws Near – When Are We to Look up? Now or Later? and another video about when God’s wrath begins: WHEN Does God’s Wrath Begin | 5 Eye Witnesses from Revelation and for a summary of timing of events: Revelation Timeline Discovered and What is the Order of Seals Trumpets and Bowls?

As I mentioned earlier, we truly don’t know the dates (yet), but there has been a significant amount of “strange” things happening in these past two years (2020 -2022), unlike any years I’ve experienced. There have also been some unusual “spiritual/biblically related” dreams that I personally had recently and they started the night I was baptized (September 2021). I shared them with a skeptical family member who thought maybe this was because I had been reading/studying the Bible so often. But then I questioned: why didn’t it happen when I first read the bible in 2019? Or when I first thought what was happening in 2020 could be a warning from God (that was when I started looking into end times bible prophecy, because it “felt” to me like there was something more happening in 2020)? And why have I never had a “spiritual” dream before this? 2020 was the time that it was most on my mind, it concerned me enough to start “warning” other people (and many got angry with me for doing this; my “warning” wasn’t well received). I feel like I’ve done what I needed to do and now it’s up to the individual to respond to God directly.

Without going into all the detail of the dreams I’ve had (I wrote them down and dated them for future reference) but the second dream I had occurred about a week after my baptism (leaving out the details) it was about a “surprise” engagement/wedding party (I was very confused in my dream as to what was happening and why all the people I saw were there) and on a bar/counter in this dream there was this plaque with the date: 12/__/2026 (but the day was blank). That’s all I will share about this dream.

Then about 2 weeks later I had an non-biblical dream where the internet was taken away so we couldn’t communicate. That next day I was traveling for work, driving most of the day and at the end of the day, I heard from friend who said to me: “Wasn’t that weird today how everything went down unexpectedly: Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp and banking?” I was unaware of this happening because I was driving all day, but that surprised me a little because I remembered the “insignificant dream” I just had the night before. What a weird “coincidence” I thought!

Then 4 months later (February 2022), I had another very detailed dream with a scene where someone I know told me their daughter was telling them “the end” was coming soon, as in the next 7-9 years. In another scene of the same dream I saw people gathering like they were going to an outdoor celebration, similar to a 4th of July celebration.

Then about 2 weeks after that dream, I had a dream that it was night time, dark outside, and I was in a passenger in a vehicle driving somewhere and suddenly, almost instantaneously we arrived at a place that appeared like a Florida vacation home and people were gathering for another “surprise” party. The night went from dark to instant daylight, but the time was 1am in my dream! Because of the instant change from dark to light I looked at the clock (in my dream) to see what time it was when it became so bright instantaneously.

Then 5 weeks later I had another dream, very detailed again but I will only share this part: it was at dusk in my dream, then instantly everything went solid black where I could not see my hand in front of my face and it scared me, but then a light behind a low billowing cloud above a lake started to shine and in my dream, I became aware it was “the Rapture” and I began to ascend, then I woke up.

Then about 2 weeks after that dream I had another dream, completely different setting than the prior, but a storm was approaching, then everything went completely black again, and in my dream, I spoke to the others with me and told them, don’t worry, I know what is happening, this happened in a prior dream: it’s “the Rapture”, then I woke up.

There was much more detail in these dreams that I haven’t shared here (it would be too long), but after I’ve had so many dreams over the past 8 months with a repeating theme: a “surprise” party, instant darkness turning to light, and that one dream with a month and year, it makes me wonder if these are just dreams or if there is more to them? I don’t know but I will wait and see. It’s been about 3 weeks since my last dream.

I’m sure prior generations thought similarly, when events in normal life seemed to line up with bible prophecy. Today, it seems like many concurrent events are happening and I’m also seeing many different religions (Jewish, Christian, Muslim) all saying we are in the last days, but this brings me back to the Title of this article: “Dates. Dates. Wait.” We need to wait to see how this truly occurs; the important part, as always, is that we prepare ourselves now, so we are ready whenever it happens and are not caught by surprise, unprepared.

When I mentioned “being prepared”, this is what I was referring to, click the link: “Listen Earth!”

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Listen Earth!

Yes, I had another one of those times, just now, when I prayed to God asking: “show me something in the bible” about how I should communicate this, and this is the page I opened to: Isaiah Chapter 1 Sometimes I just chuckle when stuff like this happens, as in: “Thanks God, once again!” From reading this before, I had underlined “Listen earth!”…because this is a message for “the entire earth” as was Isaiah’s message.

The purpose of this post is to give you a link to (4) Episodes of a podcast (for your benefit), please don’t delay doing this. Fit it in before you go to sleep, if you go on a walk, or if you have a long drive. Fit it in while you’re doing something else that doesn’t take much concentration- you need to hear this as soon as possible!

Episode 70: The Future

Episode 71: Prepare

Episode 72: Others

Episode 73: Understand the Times

Thank you!

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Immortality

Do you believe in immortality? Many people don’t answer “yes” or “no,” they say: “I’m not sure.”

But we can be sure of our answer: Yes. Throughout the gospels (the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the Bible), Jesus continuously talks about God’s Kingdom-the place of immortality and throughout the New Testament books, Jesus’ disciples (students/followers) continue to talk about this. The Old Testament also tells us about it. The entire bible is the story of God’s never ending love of us, the revealing of His future plans for us in eternity and how we can be certain of being with God in eternity.

Why don’t more people talk about this? We talk about death. Why not talk about life instead? Why not talk about the eternal future? Eternity is so much more exciting to look forward to than anything here on earth. Our physical death is just a transition to something better, if our faith and trust is in Jesus. Why don’t we focus all our attention on eternity? Isn’t that being short-sighted thinking about the “here and now” without regard to “eternity”?

What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?

Luke 9:25

The earth and heaven will be completely destroyed someday (2 Peter 3:10), but God has a new earth and heaven planned for His “children.” Jesus destroyed death when he died on the cross and resurrected (that is why his resurrection is celebrated among Christians in the springtime). The absence of death in God’s Kingdom is referenced here:

He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

Revelation 21:4

But not everyone will experience this: those who reject Jesus and his teachings will have a different experience:

“But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

Revelation 21:8

When we finally understand what Jesus did for us, how much he loves us, we are filled with gratitude and want to do all we can for him, for God’s kingdom, for God’s will which is to have as many people as possible come to his kingdom. Jesus came to save us. Until our eyes are opened to this, we just don’t “get it”- even though we know the “facts.” I was like that. I knew the words, but it wasn’t “real” to me. It didn’t happen until I started seeking God, reading the bible and praying daily, then I finally understood; it became real. Jesus very openly tells his disciples about this happening (it’s God that allows us to finally understand, when we truly seek to know Him):

He (Jesus) replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.

Matthew 13:11

If something in the bible doesn’t make sense to you, ask someone knowledgeable, ask several people, pray about it, read all the different entries in the bible on that subject. You can do a word or topic search, but keep at it, don’t give up or forget about it because evil wants you to do that, so you will become separated from God, destroyed. Don’t blow this off, your future depends on what you do, your persistence matters.

If something bad happens after you start seeking God, expect it, it will happen. I didn’t know about this, but experienced it and then, after the fact, was told by others. This happens because evil is real and wants to separate you from God. Just push through it and seek God more. The bad will be temporary, just keep trusting and praying to God during that uncomfortable time.

If you hear about what Jesus did, but then don’t stay connected in prayer and through scripture, your focus can easily go towards worrying about things in your life or about building up wealth. Don’t worry about anything, pray about it and trust God. He will provide. Don’t focus on building up wealth, you can’t take it with you; it’s meaningless and can become an idol (something more important than God) which will then separate you from God and miss out on eternity.

What I just wrote in the three paragraphs above was a paraphrase of what you will find in: Chapter 13 from the book of Matthew

Seek God’s Kingdom: What do I need to do to get to Heaven?

I believe in immortality, through Jesus. Jesus proved immortality to be real by his own resurrection from the dead when he ate and visited with friends and his physical presence after death was witnessed by hundreds. We have immortality because Jesus paid the penalty of death for us. (More about this) Recently I read this book: The Resurrection and You, if you are skeptical about the claims regarding Jesus, read this book. It addresses many questions. After reading that book, I have a different, more meaningful understanding of the commonly known holiday of Easter. The greatest act of love (dying for the benefit of someone else) was done by Jesus for all of us. I am grateful to Jesus. Remember this on Easter.

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