Tag: lies

Spiritual Warfare – Is it affecting You?

I clearly see this happening to us, although it was present well before I was born; I was blind to it. I didn’t know it truly existed until a few years ago: the unseen forces we often battle! And so many of us react: “I just don’t know why that happened?!” After reading this, you might understand:

12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Ephesians 6:12

8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

1Peter 5:8

7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”

Job 1:7

Throughout the bible, there are references to being “sober” or avoiding being drunk. Have you ever heard someone make an excuse for something bad that happened and say: “Well that’s because I was drunk,” or “I wouldn’t have done that if I hadn’t been drinking,” or simply: “I was drunk.” Could it be possible that being under the influence of anything that puts our mind in an uncontrolled state literally allows or gives spiritual access and influence over our mind and body? Isn’t it interesting that alcohol is also called “spirits”? These are questions to think about, I don’t have the answers, but these questions have crossed my mind recently. I think about this next statement Jesus made to the Pharisee named Nicodemus:

12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?

John 3:12

There are heavenly things and spiritual forces we do not see nor comprehend. It seems to me there are some spiritual laws that we do not fully comprehend either, but we are affected by them. Jesus also said this about Satan:

10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

John 10:10

and Jesus said this to the unbelieving Jews:

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

John 8:44

We also know from the Bible that right after Jesus was baptized by John (the Baptist) in the Jordan River, the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness for 40 days, and he was tempted by Satan. It’s interesting that this “tempting” occurred immediately after people visibly saw the spirit descend on Jesus and audible heard God speak. I believe this happens in our lives too, when we get closer to God, we can be sure that we will experience this spiritual warfare to try to interfere with our connection/relationship with God. It’s much easier to deal with an enemy, when we know who it is that is attacking.

16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Matthew 3:16

Jesus knew scripture and quoted it in response to Satan’s temptations. This is a good reason why WE should know scripture too, so that when we are tempted, we can recall what scripture states and avoid the lies, deception or the temptation.

  1. In the first temptation, about turning stones to bread, it seems to me that Jesus is emphasizing this point; we live by every word (scripture) that comes from God’s mouth, not just by the bread that provides physical nourishment. In another part of scripture, Jesus refers to himself as “the bread of life” and in the gospel of John, Jesus is described as “the Word.”
  2. In the second temptation, it seems Satan wants Jesus to commit suicide, but Jesus responds that we are not to test God!
  3. In the third temptation, Satan wants to be worshipped, but Jesus responds: only God is to be worshipped.

4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted[a] by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’[b]”

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
    and they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’[c]”

7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’[d]”

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’[e]”

11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Matthew 4:1-11

Here is another example of the spiritual warfare affecting mankind. Saul chose to do things his way and not obey God. Saul wasn’t repentant for doing it Saul’s way, he justified it. Therefore, God rejected Saul as King. From this we see that when God’s spirit is with someone they are blessed and protected, but after a period of time when a person remains disobedient, God removes His Spirit and an evil spirit is then allowed access. Here is what happened to Saul, found in scripture:

14 Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil[a] spirit from the Lord tormented him.

1 Samuel 16:14

The entire book of Job is about a spiritual attack from Satan. Everything was taken from Job to turn Job against God, but fortunately Job did not turn away from God and God rewarded Job. We also see from this that everything is under God’s ultimate control, even Satan. God transferred the power over Job to Satan. This is concerning because Job was righteous and God allowed some horrible events to occur. But we have to remember that our time on earth is temporary, our focus should not be on this world, but on the next. Those with God’s spirit will live in eternity with God in the future when Jesus returns. So ultimately whatever hardships we experience as testing of our faith when we continue to trust in God, if we endure and prevail, we will be rewarded in eternity, if not before then. God is faithful and keeps promises. We may not always like the way events work out, but we must trust that God will work out everything for the best of those who love Him.

9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

12 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”

Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

Job 1:9-12

10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before.

Job 42:10

Another thing to know about the spiritual attacks is that we can’t let our guard down. When God removes an evil spirit, if we don’t remain connected to God, even more evil will come to attack us. Here is the example of this from scripture of what Jesus said to the Pharisees (the righteous law keepers):

43 “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45 Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”

Matthew 12:43-45

To summarize, we are likely experiencing spiritual warfare (if it is not a direct consequence for our “sinful” action) when the following happens:

  • Sadness
  • Believing negative lies
  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • Loneliness
  • Physical Illness
  • Physical Destruction or Brokenness
  • Feeling Unworthy
  • Feeling Emptiness
  • Feeling Lacking in some aspect
  • Feeling Insecure
  • Experiencing Temptation
  • War/Fighting/Anger

From scripture, we learn if we are not living obedient to God, we can experience these things as a consequence of our behavior. The consequences are allowed by God with the hope that we “wake up” and turn back towards Him. While this may be upsetting to hear, if we turn back towards God with all our heart, He is merciful, forgiving, loving and wants all of His children (us) living in Eternity with Him on a new earth and heaven that will come after Jesus returns. God has incredible future plans for us in Eternity; his plans are so much greater than ours.

because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
    as a father the son he delights in.[a]

Proverbs 3:12

HOW TO STOP SPIRITUAL WARFARE

Knowing about spiritual warfare gives us the ability to fight it off. First take an honest look at the life we are living, do we need to change anything according to what God wants for us? Secondly, pray. Turn to God for help. Jesus often withdrew from the crowds to pray and Paul said this in scripture:

17 pray continually,

1 Thessalonians 5:17

Sometimes this spiritual warfare can feel like it’s on a “repeat cycle” and never ends, just keeps coming. There could be a reason for this too because Jesus told us:

34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 

John 8:34

Continual disobedience (aka sin) or towards God keeps us IN SLAVERY of sin. Doing something we know we shouldn’t but can’t seem to stop, that’s what continual disobedience is, and we wonder “why?” Why is because we are SLAVES to it, we have allowed it, by our choice, now it takes over and CONTROLS us. If we believe we are not enslaved, well that’s another LIE and spiritual attack to keep us in the continual disobedience. Do you see how this works? We allow ourselves to be MANIPULATED by Satan when we don’t fight it off and do something different. Remember: insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. We need to make a change to end that cycle! It will continue until we do something about it, until we get tired of being a pawn in slavery to the enemy of God. This fact comes from the mouth of Jesus himself: if we are in sin, we are a slave to it. What does Satan come to do? steal, kill and destroy. So how long will we let this cycle continue before we truly take action and defeat it? Maybe we’ve unsuccessfully tried to stop this on our own in the past? Why not try this time: WITH GOD!? Remember what Jesus told his disciples:

26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Matthew 19:26

When we surrender our life to God, when we choose God instead of remaining in disobedience, God HIMSELF will make it possible. By FAITH in God. Faith can do unimaginable things, Jesus said this too:

20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Matthew 17:20

Remember what happened to Peter when he had partial faith, or fleeing faith:

27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

29 “Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Matthew 14: 27-32

So how do we obtain FAITH? Paul tells us how (read scripture!):

17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.

Romans 10:17

ETERNAL SECURITY

It’s simple to know if we will be in eternity because Jesus said to enter God’s kingdom, we need to be born again, born of the water and of the spirit. The water is a baptism indicating “repentance,” born of the spirit is receiving the Holy Spirit from Jesus when we ask him for the Spirit and he knows that our intentions are towards being obedient to God. The Spirit helps us overcome the natural rebellion we have and gradually changes us.

5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[b] gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You[c] must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”[d]

John 3:5-8

This is interesting as documented in the gospel of Matthew, John (the Baptist) also said water for repentance and that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. It makes sense because we receive the Holy Spirit through Jesus, from God, but John also mentions “fire” – to me this sounds like the testing, often throughout scripture it mentions refining metal through fire symbolic for refining of people through testing.

11 “I baptize you with[b] water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with[c] the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Matthew 3:11-12

When we know Spiritual Warfare exists and how we can fight it and we know how we have Eternal Security- we then have nothing to be concerned about and can experience peace in all circumstances, knowing the promise of God. This peace can remain in our lives when we talk to God daily (through prayer) and our faith increases as we learn more from scripture about Jesus, daily reading of scripture is recommended too. We need daily reminders of the love of God. Jesus made it possible for us to share in God’s kingdom, when Jesus returns, we just need to make the choice.

I pray for wisdom, guidance and protection from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit to come to you and remain with you until we have that eternal security when Jesus returns and then will be together as brothers and sisters in God’s kingdom, eternal peace, joy, happiness, and celebration. It will be amazing! It is from God! Get ready for it!

by Categories: bible study, FAITH, God, Improvement, RELATIONSHIPS, suicide, WellnessTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Discernment vs. Deception: Good vs. Evil

We are in a deception transition period from what I see happening in the world where good and evil are mixed up, creating confusion about right and wrong. Our warning about this came almost 2,000 years ago, if we don’t express and support the truth, soon the younger generations will have a difficult time identifying good from evil. This is what we were told:

Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Romans 1:32 (Paul)

Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.

Romans 1:28 (Paul)

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God–having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people….They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected.

2 Timothy 3:1-9

We are seeing truth distorted on a continuous basis and anyone speaking against the lies is called “the enemy” and is publicly “shamed”. There is a tremendous pressure for all to “comply” with this new “untruth/lie” deceivingly packaged as “compassion and love” – a strong deception, but “marketed” as something opposite, completely confusing many. There are many opinions, but there will only be Truth remaining in the end.

HOW TO AVOID DECEPTION- WHAT TO LOOK FOR

Know the messenger! Don’t trust anyone you don’t know very well. Find out who they truly are. They may be charming, convincing, appealing, etc. BUT:

Though their speech is charming, do not believe them, for seven abominations fill their hearts.

Proverbs 26:25

So what are 7 abominations? Possibly the 7 things God hates:

There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty (proud) eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood (murder), a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

Proverbs 6:16-19

If the following surrounds their life, do NOT trust them:

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery (intoxication), idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Galations 5:19-21

WHO TO TRUST – WHAT TO LOOK FOR

For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Galations 5:14

God is love. When a person has God’s spirit (Love) residing within them, you will notice the following surrounding their life:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Galatians 5:22-23

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails…

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Knowing this information, we can “test” the messenger and know if this is a trustworthy or untrustworthy source of information, despite the delivery of the message.

If we want to be known as “good” we should remember that Jesus said there is no one “good” but God, however, God is kind and compassionate and with our “surrender” to Him, Jesus said if we ask, he will send the Advocate (the Holy Spirit) who, once we are open to receiving the Holy Spirit, will begin to work within us. The Holy Spirit provides wisdom, guidance, protection, understanding of truth, peace, gifts (Romans 12:6-8) (1 Corinthians 12:7-11), power, love, discipline, and God’s eternal seal placed on us for our resurrection, redemption at the time of Jesus’ return.

11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of[a] his Spirit who lives in you.

Romans 8:11

USE IT OR LOSE IT!

So remember these verses and use them to evaluate people better knowing who is trustworthy, use it to make future critical decisions in life, and most importantly, get to know Jesus through scripture (read the Gospel of John) If you believe what John writes about Jesus, what Jesus said, pray and ask Jesus for the Holy Spirit to come to you; we all need the Holy Spirit for all the reasons mentioned above.

by Categories: bible prophecy, bible study, FAITH, FRIENDSHIP, God, HAPPINESS, Improvement, Love, Make It Count, priorities, RELATIONSHIPS, WellnessTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Trust, Questions and Freedom

I was living life like a trusting child, in somewhat of a carefree way until the years 2020 and 2021 happened when I began noticing contradictions that made me question what I was hearing. You know what I’m talking about, the really obvious type of (let’s just call it what it is) LIES: when actions don’t match the words we hear. When what I observed didn’t support what I was hearing. I didn’t want to accept what I was observing; my trust was broken. This wasn’t just one aspect of my life where my trust was broken, it was in the world, in business, in relationships, and it was all happening at the same time.

When trust was broken in a majority of the areas of life that “supported” me, where did I turn? God. I turned to God even more than I ever have in my life. I prayed, read the bible and studied the bible and it distracted me from the harsh realities I was facing. I’m a curious person and I love to explore, as in travel, but also in exploring thoughts and ideas of others. So I explored. I started seeing that some things I was taught in religion didn’t line up with what I was reading in the Bible. The timing of this was ironic, because this meant another area of “trust” was broken: the religion I was taught growing up. I just wanted the TRUTH to be found SOMEWHERE! This caused me to want to separate from others and look deeper into these findings: What is the Truth? Where can it be found? I trusted God, and I still do. After reading the complete Bible, most of the questions I had were answered, and it made sense of all these nonsensical things happening in my life. I felt compelled to share what I discovered in the bible and I did.

Click here if you want to explore more about the Bible being trustworthy/true.

From the secular aspect of the world and what’s happening today, the Bible gives clarity to this too; it’s all in there. Many things happening in world events right now were foretold in the Bible. If I hadn’t studied the Bible, I wouldn’t be aware of this. Our freedom is under attack, there are those who seek power and dominance and the only way for them to achieve this is through forced control because if given the choice, not everyone will choose to submit. Many people are seeing this and becoming vocal about it, and something that I understand from the Bible comes to mind: God created each of us with a purpose: to fulfill His will. People are using their skills and talents to resist this forced control and I thank God for each and every one of you! May God be with you in this effort.

While freedom remains, to some degree, despite some censorship, all of us have the freedom of choice. Our choice comes with consequences and we individually weigh the choice and consequences when making a decision. I believe “choice” remains because God is the one who gave all people that freedom from the very beginning. I believe we are at a critical moment in time right now and while I currently have the freedom of speech, I want to share some thoughts with you, some things I hope you think about as an individual: don’t automatically believe my words, investigate this, don’t automatically believe what you’ve been taught, investigate it, then arrive at your own conclusion, because not everyone will arrive at the same conclusion and that is the way God allows it: a personal CHOICE! Freedom.

As I mentioned earlier, I found some of the things I was taught growing up that didn’t match up with the Bible and that destroyed my trust in the religion. Why did I choose what I read in the Bible over what I was taught? Because what I found in the Bible was consistent and answered questions I had. My former religion was “Christian” based so the bible was an acceptable means of seeking information and I believe the Bible to be a “God inspired” source for the truth. I chose what I believe is “God inspired” information over the information that was man made religious traditions from my former religion. But this isn’t where I stopped. I had more curiosity, I had friendships throughout my life with people who are Jewish and Muslim, and I would describe them as “good” people, from a secular viewpoint. Although I know that no one can really be labeled “good” other than God, so I use that term only to attempt to describe what most people think of as good: kind people who act in loving ways.

So my “exploring” inclination led me to “take a peak” into both faiths and see what is similar and what is different. I say “take a peak”, because I am not an expert in any religion, I was just curious. After all this broken trust happened in my life, I wanted to see what those faiths were all about and why people believed in them compared to any other belief. I think many people believe what they were taught to believe as they grew up, from those who cared for them. Caring people do have an influence on the lives of others.

The foundation of the beliefs in each faith are:

Jewish faith- source: The Torah: The Torah (law of Moses) includes the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, named: Genesis (written approximately 1446-1406 BC) , Exodus (written approximately 1440 BC), Leviticus (written approximately 1440 BC), Numbers (written approximately 1406 BC) and Deuteronomy (written approximately 1406 BC). But there are also “sacred writings”, the scripture that is part of the historical Jewish belief (The Nevi’Im, and Ketuvim).

Christian faith- source: The Bible: The five books of the Torah are incorporated into what is called the Old Testament of the Bible. The Jewish scripture found in the TaNaKh (link to a summary) are also included in the Old Testament of the Bible. So Jewish faith is the foundation of the Christian Bible and this scripture found in the Bible was written approximately starting in 1446 BC. In addition to these scriptures found in the Old Testament, the Bible adds the New Testament books which include the life of Jesus (the Gospel), teachings, the followers of Jesus and more prophesy in the book of Revelation written in the 1st century, around 90 AD (the prophecies do not contradict the prophets of the Old Testament, but provide more detail and insight regarding the events to take place).

Muslim faith – source: The Quran (a prophetic revelation and doctrine established by Muhammed written in the 7th century/600 AD) and Hadiths which became the basis for the Islamic religion.

Belief Similarities

I’ll start with belief similarities (from my research) that Christian, Jewish and Muslim people share:

  1. We all believe in the same Creator: “God” “Hashem” “Allah”
  2. We all believe that the way we live our life matters
  3. Jesus lived on earth and taught people
  4. All good things come from God
  5. There is only one God
  6. There is a Messiah who will come (but the roles of the Messiah in the beliefs are different)
  7. There is a Judgement Day when the Messiah returns

But there are differences:

  1. The Trinity: Christians believe in one God, but three persons making up that one God, or the “Godhead” as I’ve heard this referred to: God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit (called “The Trinity”) – this is definitely a challenging concept to comprehend and for me, the clearest way I came up with so far to explain this is to give an example of something material that we know for a concept to hopefully make the understanding clearer. If you’ve seen a 3-in 1 winter coat this is something can function independently yet is part of the (1) coat. For example the first layer may be a light, fleece jacket, the next layer might be a down insulated layer, and the third layer might be a waterproof outer shell. Each jacket on it’s own has a function, but together they are one. If you have trouble visualizing this here’s a video clip of a 3 in one jacket, not exactly the one I described but for concept. (Neither Jewish or Muslims believe in the Trinity) Click here if you want to explore a study on the Trinity belief.
  2. Jesus: Christians believe Jesus is the Son of God (part of the Trinity/Godhead), the Messiah, Jesus was without sin, he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born to a virgin mother (Mary), he came to earth to save people (and if someone does not believe this, they will not be in eternity with God), was crucified, died, was buried and rose from the dead, interacted with people after the resurrection, then ascended into Heaven, but sent the Holy Spirit to be present after he left the earth. Jesus will return to the earth and will be visible to everyone when he returns, arriving in the clouds (the same way he departed when he ascended into the clouds in front of witnesses). Jewish people do not believe Jesus was the Messiah because he didn’t complete all the prophecies/finish what was prophesized when he was on earth. The Jewish people are waiting for the Messiah to arrive. Muslim people believe that Jesus was a prophet and a good person, believe that his mother was a virgin, but do not believe that Jesus died on the cross. The three differing beliefs about Jesus is the greatest difference and a critical one because it has consequences for every person. So which belief is the truth? That is for you to decide, and worth investigating. Click here if you want to explore study information on the Nature of Jesus.
  3. Eternity/the Afterlife: Christians believe the only reason we will be able to enter into eternity or the after life is through Jesus who came to earth for God’s purpose. Jesus’ purpose (God’s will) was to reveal God in human form to people, teach people about the spiritual realm (things unknown to people), fulfill the prophecies about the Messiah, and to most importantly become the sacrifice required to save ALL people. Our “good works” are not enough to be as holy as needed to be in the presence of God. We are not perfect beings, nor will we ever be, but God wants us to be with Him, so he sent Jesus to bridge that gap of our imperfection. From what I’ve found, I don’t think the afterlife is very clear, certain or described in the Jewish faith. What I’ve found in the Muslim faith is that there will be an afterlife. Click here if you want to explore information on the afterlife belief.
  4. The Messiah: Christians believe the Messiah is Jesus and there will be a second coming of the Messiah in the future and judgement follows his return. Jewish people believe the Messiah has not come yet, but will come in the future. Muslims believe that Jesus will return (but don’t believe he died on the cross, instead he was rescued by God and taken up) and when Jesus returns, he will “follow” the Mahdi. Very different beliefs. Click here if you want to understand why Christians believe Jesus is the Messiah.
  5. The Anti-Christ: Christians believe there will be a deception near the end of the world (during a 7 year time period) and the Anti-Christ (along with the help of a false prophet) will deceive many people (even some Christians) and will be able to take control of them, thereby causing those people to lose the opportunity of the afterlife with God, but not only lose that, but suffer the consequences of allowing the deceivers to take control, from submitting to them instead of God and therefore will be sent to eternal hell. The Jewish people don’t acknowledge this. The Muslims believe there will be an Anti-Christ at the end also. Click here if you are curious about the AntiChrist.

For those who believe God exists, but if you are unsure about any further beliefs, it is important to pray directly to God and ask for the truth to be clear to you, ask for wisdom in regard to these various beliefs. I think all who believe in God know that God will respond if we genuinely seek him.

The belief you choose should always be your choice, no one should “force” anything on you, but it is worth your time to research what you believe. It’s never a good situation if you are forced to decide this “on the spot” and you haven’t had time to fully think through this. Take the time this winter to reflect and research.

by Categories: American, FAITH, God, Improvement, RELATIONSHIPSTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Sacrifice?

Here we go again! It’s early morning, on a holiday weekend, but does it feel like the ones from the past? Not to me. Real life experiences and early morning thoughts inspire what I often write. So how appropriate to all of us is the topic of sacrifice right now? I’m betting this topic’s relatable to most of us.

Some words get overused, so while the meaning is known, it’s original meaning is diluted, or no longer thought about. So here is the definition:

sac·ri·fice/ˈsakrəˌfīs/ sacrifice; plural noun: sacrifices

  1. an act of slaughtering an animal or person or surrendering a possession as an offering to God or to a divine or supernatural figure.”they offer sacrifices to the spirits”
  2. Similar: ritual
    • an animal, person, or object offered in a sacrifice.
    • an act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy.”we must all be prepared to make sacrifices“

So the “sacrifice” concept is something that NEVER made sense to me in the Bible, until now. I seriously struggled with this, it didn’t make sense to me, but it does now. Anyone who truly believes there is a God, will understand this after I explain, but if you don’t believe in God, you’re going to have a hard time comprehending this. While reading the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, there is a lot of ugly, disgusting, repulsive stuff that happens and some of it, I don’t want to read again; it’s that bad. It’s historical “Netflix”, documented in the Bible, for real. At least on some of Netflix, a person can think: “it’s just a movie” or a “show” but this was real life and really happened.

I had so many questions: Why would God do this? Who made this “rule/ritual”? Why is “sacrifice” required? Why would God, who created everything and told us “not to kill” be okay with “sacrifice”? It certainly seemed to contradict the messages and made it confusing: “don’t kill”, then “slaughter this specific animal, in a certain process”…What? I think many of us who get that far, may stop and say…”Well I don’t believe in a God like that, so I’m going to ignore that. It doesn’t make sense.” I did that for awhile, but covering up your eyes and ears doesn’t make something go away. So then “why”?

First, let’s start with those who believe in God. If you truly believe in God, you believe in a spiritual being that you cannot see. Let that sink in. Sounds crazy, right? If you believe in God, you need to acknowledge that believing in God, to those who don’t, does sound primitive and crazy. And yes, I personally believe in God, but let’s be honest about it from the world’s view today. Then if you know the Bible, and even if you don’t, I’m telling you right now: The Bible is about a loving God, but a spiritual war that commenced with us in the middle shortly after God created people.

The Bible doesn’t explain, in detail, why this war started, it only tells us there was a dispute and Satan (the devil) was thrown, cast, hurled from Heaven down to earth.

So as I write this, I think, uh this sounds like a fictitious story we tell kids to make a point! I thought that for a long time. There is so much today that makes fun of those who bring up Satan, and maybe solidify or perpetuate the thought this is fictitious, like the “church lady,” which I personally find humorous, but disrespectful at the same time because it presents people who believe in a laughable way – and I’m one of those people, but I always thought we can’t be too serious all the time, it’s okay to laugh at ourselves, others might disagree with me about that? I disregard that comedy, just like it disregards Christians. But as soon as you realize the Bible lines up with history and historical events were predicted in the Bible by prophets and actually came true, and the people in the Bible are real people, with a documented lineage, ancestry; then that concept of “story-time” fails. You have to not only read the Bible, but study the Bible and compare to history books for this proof.

Anyway getting back to the explanation: Satan (the devil) is real, is part of that history and has a role/a place in the Bible from the beginning until the end. We need to acknowledge that, as weird as it sounds; it has a profound impact, back then and today. If you don’t comprehend that, you’re missing the warning for all of us given throughout the Bible. So this dispute between God and Satan occurred and I don’t know why God didn’t just immediately destroy Satan, but knowing God’s character from the Bible, it could be that He allowed Satan to continue in existence possibly because God is loving but just. He doesn’t act impulsively, He is patient, He gives people time, but in the end, God is just.

To put this into a modern day concept: think about a business leader/boss, who has a star performer employee and this star employee is phenomenal, but then pride takes over for the star employee and based on pride, selfishness, and love of money, the star employee starts thinking they are better than their leader – for this example, it is important to use the assumption here that the leader is a good one, a caring one, a fair person, honest, looks out for the employees, provides for them, etc. (because there are many leaders who don’t exhibit those qualities today) – but this star employee is no longer a team player, just out for their own personal benefit. So the star employee leaves and competes with the former employer to prove their superiority. The leader has been around a long time, with a loyal customer base and a proven business, so the leader just lets this former “star employee” have its own way. knowing eventually those character flaws/qualities of pride, selfishness and love of money will self destruct the former star employee. The leader doesn’t even need to fight it, the former star employee’s own motivation and actions will end up bringing the star employee to ruin. Haven’t we seen that today? Does it make more sense now? This leader is like God and Satan is like the star employee. Is fighting or immediate destruction even needed, for God to prove He is right? No. Also, knowing God’s character from the Bible, do you think maybe He loved Satan/Devil/Lucifer at one time? I do. Have you ever loved someone that turned on you? If you really loved them, then you wouldn’t want to destroy them, you’d be more hurt than anything.

Getting back to sacrifice. Sacrifice plain and simple is for atonement.

a·tone·ment/əˈtōnmənt/: atonement; plural noun: atonements

  1. reparation for a wrong or injury.”she wanted to make atonement for her husband’s behavior”
    • (in religious contexts) reparation or expiation for sin.”an annual ceremony of confession and atonement for sin”
    • CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY the reconciliation of God and humankind through Jesus Christ.noun: Atonement; noun: the Atonement

The presence of sin (starting in the Garden of Eden) caused death, pain and sacrifice. Sacrifice leads to atonement. Sin is also referred to as “death.” There is no death for God; he is eternal. Those who make it to heaven will also become immortal/eternal too. These are concepts given to us in the Bible through prophets and through Jesus. When people choose to sin, people are ultimately choosing death. Death is the experience for sin; sin separates people from God. Satan is competing with God. What better way to separate people from God, than to entice people through sin, separating people from God. Sin is deceptive: it might be fun (for the moment) but isn’t there a time when we look back on sin and realize maybe it wasn’t worth the consequence? If it were this clear to people, people wouldn’t choose sin. But Satan is also known as the ultimate deceiver and then the accuser. Has anyone ever deceived you before? You didn’t expect it, right? When someone is good at deceiving, it’s a surprise when we figure it out. If it’s something no one wants (death), wouldn’t you have to be deceitful to gain people, coax them into death? Then after you deceive someone into sinning…don’t let them turn back “repent” to repair their relationship …keep reminding them (accusing them) of their sin so they feel so worthless and like they can’t go back. (which is also a lie) That’s exactly how Satan operates with his ultimate goal of separating people from God. This was shown to us in the book of Job; Satan was using all he could to get Job to turn away from God!

I’m going to assume that most people would choose living over dying, because people are sad when someone dies. So what better way for Satan to separate people from God, than through death? A sacrifice is exactly that: death of something. Sacrifices started because of sin. God put an end to “living being sacrifices” through Jesus’ death on the cross. That was the ultimate sacrifice: “Jesus/God dying” and what Satan wanted from the beginning, “the ransom” as we understand from the Bible. But that wasn’t the end as we are told through the Bible by prophets and Jesus himself; there is more to come. (Read more about the future in this link).

In summary, God created the earth and everything on it out of love. He created people to love Him back. We all know that forced love is not real love, so God doesn’t force people; He lets people choose. We ended up in a spiritual warzone without knowing this when we were born, but at some point in life, we will figure this out. When we figure it out, then we have to make a choice. Satan is opposing God and working hard to separate as many people from God as possible through deceptive ways. God was not pleased with the living sacrifices and responded to that by offering Jesus as the ransom, the ultimate sacrifice for us, no one has the value Jesus has, so that is what made Jesus an acceptable sacrifice, more valuable than any of us. Jesus’ sacrifice saves those who want to be saved from eternal Hell. But we still have a choice. Do we believe in Jesus? Do we have faith in this? Do we accept this “gift” from God? If you said yes, you are “almost” saved. I felt strongly about making this clear to people, because I think there is a larger number of people who think when they answer this “I believe”, “they’re good to go!” but that is not the full truth based on what I found in the Bible, and I see many churches appeal to people in this way and it’s sad to me, because they are misleading people and possibly keeping them from heaven. It is true that by faith we are saved, but faith alone is death – Jesus’ brother James told us that in the Bible. We didn’t get “off the hook” that easily, there is something more required of us by God: we are required to be obedient to his commands. We can’t do enough good things to earn our way to heaven; that would cause pride and God hates a prideful person. So it is by faith, but proving our faith by our actions. Becoming obedient prepares people for living in eternity with God and shows God we mean what we say. How many people are good at “lip service,” telling us what we want to hear, but not supporting what they say by their actions? Well this is the same between us and God. Are we giving God “lip service” or are we proving it by our actions? The obedience part is probably the most challenging part for all of us. It is not natural for us to be obedient, but God requires it. Thankfully, God is forgiving, so it doesn’t matter what we’ve done; He promises forgiveness, but with forgiveness, He also requires us to change our future actions and not do whatever it was anymore. None of us will be perfect, even after we commit to changing our ways, because we are human, so making mistakes requires us to take personal responsibility for them immediately, apologize and change. If we don’t, then we are going against God, we are just giving God “lip service” and He’s not fooled. He knows our intentions; He created us! So not taking action is not going to be a “success story” for those who give God “lip service”. Sacrifice today is still required though not through the death of a living being, thank God for that, but it still requires painful decisions for us personally. It won’t be easy, change isn’t easy. We want the immediate reward “here and now,” but the reward God has planned is promised to be greater than what we sacrifice “here and now”. What do you chose?

by Categories: Entertainment, Face Fear, FAITH, FAMILY, FRIENDSHIP, HAPPINESS, Improvement, Letting Go, Love, Make It Count, RELATIONSHIPS, Sex, WellnessTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment