He was born to die, so that....

We could be re-born to life!

He, of course meaning Jesus, left immortality to become mortal in the hopes
that we, mortals who are born dead to sin, might have the chance to live with God
everlastingly. It's a crazy thought, no matter how one says it. Yet, at Christmas time,
I believe that it is so very important to grasp what has been done in our behalf,
especially when one looks at the price that was paid by God, Himself.

We all come into this world, believers or not, dead to sin. We are sinners in the
womb because mankind fell short and rebelled, sending everything into darkness
and turning upside down the very creation spoken into existence by God. It's
still a broken world and will be so until the Day of the Lord, when judgement comes
upon this world through the powerful Lord Jesus. This won't be the precious child
in the manger, suffering servant who willingly walked to Jerusalem to die on
our behalf. No, this will be a powerful Lord and King who will come at the
correct time to separate and to harvest.

In an instant, this world will be transformed, a new heaven and a new earth, with
a King who will rule forever having been given full authority by the Father over all
creation. It was the plan from before the beginning, a covenant formed by the 
Trinity to reinstate fallen man to a position of family members with their
Creator. Regardless of the way each of us looks at the end times, they will come
to an end; there will be a very end time, and Jesus will come upon this world
in a way that causes all to see Him and know that He has arrived to rule. It is
inevitable, it is triumphant and it is imminent. 

God could have just decided to walk away from His creation when rebellion
came, but God is true, and His plan, from before time as we know it began, will
not be changed. He values His Created, he wants to be in relationship with
those creatures he brought into life, and his plan will offer to all that accept
His son, a life far greater than anything anyone can experience here on earth,
as we know it.

Head His call, won't you? Do not delay if there is any thought that you might
want to know Jesus. There will be a 'too late!' You don't want to go there!

Praise our God!

Come, Jesus...just not on Black Friday!

I'm not a big fan of the so called Black Friday! I've never gotten up rediculously
early to shop for presents, and I don't see it happening in the future. I
understand that it is an economic 'color,' black standing for positive retail
sales, as opposed to being in the 'red.' 

The whole idea of 'Christmas' showing up in stores before Halloween has
even arrived is nauseating to me.  Now I should share that I DO NOT find the
wonderment of Christmas to be a negative in any way. My childhood memories
of family, dinner, ornaments and tree, etc. are very positive; it is a great
time to be a child. My daughter's eyes when she came down the stairs to see
the tree and trappings were wide with joy, and that was wonderful for me.

However, Christ is the reason, and he has been, in many situations, removed
from the very holiday that is supposed to be about his glorious arrival on this
planet. Getting 'Christmas' cards from folks that do not ever mention Him
bothers me greatly and makes me worry about their future! The cards are
placed quickly in the circular file.

Now, horror of horrors, what if our Lord Jesus Christ arrived back, again, on
Black Friday. Maybe He would descend out of the East from the clouds at the
sound of the trumpet into a Walmart parking lot. Realistically, He would be
here on very important business, and I am quite sure that He would, in no way,
care... but I certainly would. He knows the hearts of people; He is aware
that what remains important about His return would not be changed by the
traffic jams, pushing and shoving of those who were battling in the Black
Friday rush.

Here's the bottom line: Jesus needs to be Christmas. His glorious life and
the blessing that he brought to mankind at a terrible cost to Himself need
to be the center of this holiday. Just as the world has gotten turned upside-
down, the birth of our Savior and King has been pushed aside by the need to
get bargains off of the shelves before others do. Upon His arrival, that, and many
other things, will change, forever.

Yes, come Jesus...but if it's possible, wait until Saturday.

Praise God!

Regarding all those deaths.....

...but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die." Genesis 2: 17


Death. Nor a topic that most folks want to talk about, think about or do, for that matter, but
the statistics do not lie in this case. Each of us has a 100% probability of dying. Well, we
could pull an Elijah, but that is a stretch.

Woody Allen said that 'He isn't afraid to die...he just doesn't want to be there when it happens.'
That's because we weren't created to die; it is an experience that our bodies were never meant
to have. We fear it, even if we have complete confidence in what will follow, because it is
alien to how we were meant to be.

We ,all of us, are born into this fallen world spiritually dead. Now this isn't a first death,
literally but it follows that we must be 'reborn' to become spiritually alive. At that
moment, we actually die with Jesus... we die to sin. So that would be our first taste of
death. It is a necessity, according to Jesus, as He explained to Nicodemus.

Our lives, saved or not, are a one-way ticket from birth to an end. We age, unless we
die early in terms of years, toward a time when our bodies no longer function and our
souls depart. I have seen cases where the picture painted by some Christians proves to
be a bit ridiculous. Christians do not often die with a smile on their lips and a
countenance of joy as they take that final breath. In fact, I have seen folks battle
ferociously right up to that final moment or two, folks who I truly believe were
destined to be with the Lord moments later.

Our bodies have a built-in survival goal. In the processes of dying, the body shuts
down "unneeded" organs and condenses toward its center to try and remain alive.
Again, we were never created to die.

So the second death, which is inevitable, is there for us all. With Christ a part of
your life, you have every reason to believe that He will be there to walk with you
across the divide.

It's the 'next' death that you will be unable to avoid, should you not be the righteousness
of Christ. It's the Lake of Fire death which will  come to those who have rejected
Him. It's a death that no one wants to experience; unfortunately. many, many will do
so. Please do everything to avoid this third death. Reach out, call out to Jesus.
He is waiting and will answer your heart's desire to be a part of His Kingdom
eternally.

Praise our God!

From where we were.. to where we are...

Psalm 19: 1

The Heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the work of His hands!

Many years ago, with a very close friend, I traveled from Columbus, Ohio were to
Portland, Oregon to visit his sister and family. Having never been west of
Dayton, Ohio, it was an eye-opening experience!

We stopped in South Dakota and camped in the Black Hills area. In the late
hours of the night, I happened to climb out of the tent and happened to look up.
What I saw, for the only time in my life, was are vast array of stars visible when
there is no ambient light. To this day, I  can recall my thoughts as I stood there
gazing upward.

Amazing!
I feel so small!
I am insignificant!

That was it. Even though I was looking at what may be the most awesome display
of God's creative work, He did not even cross my mind. If someone had asked me
about Jesus, I would have had no answers. Who is Jesus? My answers would have
been like those who do not know Him. What has He done for you? What do you
owe this Jesus? I wouldn't have known how to respond.

Now, if I could take a road trip and find the same area, if I could once again look
upward at the heavens and stars, my reaction would be different.

Amazing!
I feel so small!
I am significant.

Jesus is my Lord, my King and my everything. I owe this Jesus everything!
In my life, Jesus has done everything!

Our God is glorious and through the Holy Spirit changes us from within!
Praise God!

There is no such thing as a free......salvation!

Romans 10: 13
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Being an old, retired English teacher, I can't help but love old sayings, idioms,
expressions that were used in my earlier years but may be unfamiliar to younger
folks. My father always emphasized the need to be very very careful when a deal
came up that was "free." Surely, there had to be a catch, some small, hard-to-read
fine print or some exceptions that made the original "free" anything but.

Often there were vacations promised where one could receive free airfare for
three days and two nights for a nominal fee, or amazing deals on swamp land in 
Florida, etc. Things that were of value simply did not happen for free.

The God of the universe who created a perfect world and placed His creatures
within it valued those He created and wished to walk with them in this garden
in the cool of the evenings. He was and is a God of relationship, having been
in the ultimate relationship with the Son from time eternal. The problem was
that His created could not handle temptation by a wily snake-type creature
and, suddenly, creation was tainted. Sin crept in and creation was fouled.

Now God could have simply thrown up His 'hands' and turned His back on
what He had called Good, or He could have wiped it out and started over
again. God was truly justified in feeling great wrath for the disobeying
ones He had fashioned. Instead, the One who had been wronged, who
deserved to have reconciliation provided a means for those who had fallen
short to be reconciled.

It would be akin to having someone break into your house, steal valuables
and then having you provide them with money to repay you for what had
happened. The difference, and it's a whopping difference, is that we are
talking salvation, here. We are talking the chance to have the barrier created
by sin between God and ourselves, to be ended. We are talking eternal
life with our Creator. We are talking about Saving Grace.

Our end of things....you already know. Call of Jesus to be your Savior,
Repent and believe upon the Son of God. Might want to get that done
immediately.

Praise our God!

He cut it from ten to two...and I'm still batting .000

³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’^{[a] 38} This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^{[b] 40} All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  Matthew 22: 36-40

Baseball is a sport where failing can be a good thing. If a batter successfully hits the
baseball for a hit, one-third of the time, he stands a very good chance of wining a
batting title! 

The Mosaic Law, ten commandments delivered personally by God to Moses and
then given to the Hebrew people, were not designed for success! When I look at
those Holy commands, then search for my success rate, I fall way short of being
successful. Back before I realized what Christ was saying in His list of "but I tell
you's," I thought I was doing okay in some areas. After all, I hadn't killed
anyone. Then Jesus expanded upon those commands in rebuking the Pharisee
legal attitudes..... example....

²⁷ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’^{[a] 28} But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  Matthew 6

I guess the fact that I had, at one time or another, wished for the demise of another
person sort of qualified me for failure. 

Then, amazingly, I discovered that Jesus answered a question by naming two great
laws or commands that were to be followed. Oh boy, now I stood a much better
chance. No I did not! 

The bottom line, here, is that we, as humans, filled with sin, are unable to
accomplish any of the commands, whether ten or two, that God laid out as
goals for righteous behavior and standing. 

So the point is (was)...

WE NEED JESUS! They were designed to point us to our incapacity and
to the one true Fully man who could and did fulfill the law. Did His success
in keeping full righteousness cancel the law? No. He said that He came to
fulfill it, not to cancel it.

We who are in Christ are being transformed, being sanctified by the work
of God's Holy Spirit toward men and women who are more and more
righteous and more and more like the one true second Adam. We won't
get there, won't stop sinning until we go to be with Jesus in a place
where there will simply be NO sin.

Glorious! Praise our God!

SETI. Seriously...?

I like listening to Carl Sagan; he had such an interesting voice. I was privileged
to teach his niece, Rachel, many years ago. What a wonderful, bright young
lady. 

When it comes to SETI, I have to just shake my head and wonder; what in the
world are these people thinking? What would be the motivation for searching
the universe for other intelligent life? What would be proven if such a discovery
actually came to pass? 

Perhaps these folks are feeling lonely. This blue marble seemingly out there in
a vast black void of space might make one feel alone. Perhaps it would be
better to discover that there have been other instances where something crawled
out of the primordial ooze onto a beach and then took millions of years to
randomly change into more complex beings able to communicate with us
on this earth? 

It all fits in with the search for 'black matter,' 'the God particle,' etc. We are
beings that crave answers; we would really like to know the meaning, the reasons,
the answers. It doesn't feel right when we cannot find solutions to issues where we
do not have complete knowledge.

Well, I do know that contacts with aliens in movies and books have really not,
for the most part, been pleasant experiences. We haven't done too well in
these fictional accounts, having to rely on virus or water, etc. to deal the final
hand in repulsing alien invasions.

Look; we aren't alone. We do have answers. Knowing this is as simple as
listening to our hearts and observing the world around us. God created this
world and He did so with magnificent success. He spoke things into creation,
He breathed life into you and me, He is completely sovereign and in control
of where this blue marble of a planet is headed, its future and its eventual
restoration. It's a plain as the nose on our faces; yet, we still cannot
accept the fact that we aren't that smart, that aware and that intelligent
to really understand this vast universe without the assurance that there is
One who can and does.

Go on looking, or look inside yourselves to that spot that needs to be
filled with a loving, sovereign Father God.

Praise Him!