Author Archives: ephesians413

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July 24, 2011

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Christian life, Christian living, Christianity, Godly living, Overcoming, Religion, Uncategorized

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The Handwriting on the Wall

Our civilization as we know it is no longer sustainable.  You don’t need to look far to discover this sad fact.  Our system of education is imploding.  Our government can no longer govern properly.  Our system of agriculture is killing us and is causing massive pollution and erosion of precious topsoil.  If you examine every section of our modern society, it is corrupt and rotten.  Isaiah put it best in chapter one when he said, “From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises and putrifying sores…”

We have to ask ourselves why and even so the answer is staring us blankly and yet accusingly in the face.  We are at fault.  God created this earth a beautiful paradise, but in a few short years (compared to the length of our planet’s existence) we have destroyed it and are coming close to destroying mankind from it.  Again, we can look to Isaiah for the reason: “Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.”  It’s true that we, the human race, have devolved.  Most recently we have produced monsters that prey on innocents, that kill hundreds of people and call it God.  How can these things be?  It is disheartening and disturbing.

However, rather than go on about the deficiencies of our modern life, we need to look for solutions and find a way out of what has become a society ready to plunge into great darkness.  Perhaps we can’t save the whole, but we can save ourselves.  We can individually turn back to God.  We can live by His laws.  He did not give us thousands of laws.  He gave us ten and then gave us one that encompasses all: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  I would not like people to gossip about me or hurt me in any way.  Let the change begin with me.  Each individual can only do it for himself and pray that it catches on and others will see that such a life is bountifully blessed.

I can begin to respect God’s creation and live in harmony with it.  Yes, it is mine to use but to use wisely.  God said, “Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.”  He did not say to steal its riches and deplete its resources until there is nothing left for future generations.  God put the man in the garden to dress it and KEEP it.  We have not been good stewards of this gift of the earth.  The only solution is to acknowledge our fault.  We cannot put the blame on anyone else.  We have done this thing.  Then we have to turn to God for the solutions.  He has an answer.  He is really willing for us to make it.  And, if God be for us, who can be against us?  No one.  No thing.  We can do it.  There is a little time for us to change.  Let’s change now!

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March 14, 2011

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The Solution to our environmental problems

A friend recently posted a very heart wrenching video on youtube about the environment.  As I write these sentences, more and more of the Amazon rain forest is being destroyed.  More of the world’s oceans are being polluted.  The runoff from the large industrial farms in the American midwest is producing dead zones in large sections of the Gulf of Mexico.  Right now, nuclear power facilities in Japan are in jeopardy of failing.  So much of what God created is being destroyed.  Many species of plants and animals are disappearing from off this earth forever.  The question is: what can be done about it?  Why don’t we try to stop it?

If you examine these problems and try to understand what is causing them, you have to see that they are all eventually caused by greed, selfishness and hate.  The greed of large corporations for more profits leads to a lot of our global pollution and environmental destruction.  However, it’s too easy to put all the blame on large corporations or some nameless face in the corporate world.  The greed starts here at home.  How am I still greedy?  How am I still selfish?  How much hate do I still have resident in me?  It’s hard to look at myself and see all of those things that I hate in others, but that’s where it starts and, as the famous phrase points out, ‘the buck stops here.’

Jesus told us to get the beam out of our own eye before we try to get the mote out of someone else’s eye.  How can I see clearly unless I get that thing out of myself?  Ultimately, I have no control over others.  I can’t force them to change themselves.  The only one I can change is me.  However, if we all take that step to get rid of the things inside of us that are in opposition to God’s heavenly kingdom, then that kingdom can be established on this earth.  Then we will see the deserts blossom as a rose and the knowledge of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.

“I’m starting with the man in the mirror.  I’m asking him to change his ways and no message could have been any clearer.  If you wanna make the world a better place take a look at yourself, and then make a change.”  It’s too easy to sing the song and think that those are pretty words.  I think Jesus would agree with that, but he would say, Go out and DO that.  GO and sin no more.

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June 14, 2010

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The Gulf Oil Spill

“And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; and the third part of the creatues which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.  Re 8:8, 9

If you were a prohpet living in ancient times and you saw something out of the future, how would you describe it?  What words would you use to describe something for which you had no experience?  What if you saw a vision of an oil platform in the sea and you saw that oil platform catch on fire and fall into the sea?  Would it look like a great mountain?  Would you say that it was cast into the sea? 

It seems to me that it is possible that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico could be described by John in the book of Revelations.  It may be a partial fulfillment of that Scripture.  It may be that Re 8:8 describes an entirely different event.  However, we have not seen the end of this oil spill and yet I think we can all agree that it is an apopolytical event that will affect our earth for years to come.

What kind of wake up call is this?  Is God trying to get our attention?  We have all wasted God’s precious resources.  He gave them to us to further his life while we’re on this earth and we have been using them selfishly.  Instead of complaining and whining, we need to ask his forgiveness and change.  Let’s get back to a simple life, loving God and our brothers and sisters on this earth.

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October 14, 2008

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Living in God’s presence

In these present times, it’s so easy to get caught up in worry.  A lot of people that I know are worried about the future, worried about their money and their retirement.  They worry about getting loans, worry about whether their money is safe.  I was thinking about that.  Sometimes I find myself worrying also but the Lord showed me that it’s a trap.  There is no time but the present.  The past is finished.  Can you change it?  No.  All you can do is ask God to forgive you for mistakes and pray that He will make up the difference and fix up anything that you can’t personally fix.  The future doesn’t yet exist so what can you do about that?  I can’t take care of tomorrow’s problems today.  I can’t run into that future and change it or make it conform to anything that I want.  All I can do is live in the moment.  Right now I can do a lot.  I connect with God right now.  I can pray for others, ask Him how to handle the situations that I have right now and I can ask Him to continue guiding me so that when the future comes, I’ll be ready for it.

If I’m living in the present in connection with God then I’m truly alive because it’s His life in me that’s acting and speaking.  If I’m living in the past or worrying about the future, then I’m not really alive.  I’m just a semblance of aliveness.  When I’m living in the present, I can get all kinds of thoughts and inspirations for my life and for helping others.  Life is more exciting that way.  It’s a real adventure!

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July 3, 2008

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God is practical.

You know, God is a very practical person.  You know that he is by the way He created this world.  He put everything in it that a human being needs in order to live and He also put the right things in the right place.  He put polar bears in the arctic and giraffes in Africa.  He didn’t mix them up by mistake or by some sort of lack of understanding of how things are.  So He understands human life.  He knows what we need, both how much we need of it and what quality of it we need.

A lot of religions don’t see God as being very practical.  Their traditions and ceremonies put God in a straight jacket so that He can’t even move.  Now, I don’t mean that God doesn’t have standards.  He does.  He gave us the Commandments so that we’d know what He expects of us and then He gave us the life of Jesus as an example so we’d know how to come up higher and live better.  If we could just learn to be nice and live the way Jesus taught, this world would be a lot nicer place.

Our governments have created so many laws.  There must be thousands of them.  Why do we need so many?  Because people don’t keep the first Ten Laws that were given to man.  Just think of it.  Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule.  If everyone would just live those things, we wouldn’t have any more crime.  We could send our police force out to just help people in need and all the soldiers could go home or start building houses instead of doing what they’re doing.  People would learn how to live.  To live in accordance with those divine laws is what it means to be truly alive, truly a human being, living in a good relationship with all mankind and with God our Father.

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July 1, 2008

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Thoughts on Clement

Clement was a disciple of Peter in the early days of Christianity.  The natural circumstances in which we find ourselves may be different from those days but the issues and problems are the same.  We wrestle not with flesh and blood as it says in Ephesians 6.  We wrestle with principalities and powers and those have not changed in two thousand years.  If they have changed somewhat, it is only that they have become stronger and more powerful and we have become less aware of their tricks.

In I Clement chapter three, verse 19, it says: In a word, envy and strife have overturned whole cities and rooted out great nations from off the earth.

In the verses before that, he goes through many different examples of envy and how it affected the person who envied or was the victim of envy.  He mentions Cain and Abel, Esau and Jacob, Joseph and his brothers, Moses, Aaron and MIriam, Dathan and Abiram, King Saul and David.  And then he mentions that we don’t need to use ancient examples but we can see the very same spirit in our own time.  Of course he was speaking of his time when he says: Through zeal and envy, the most faithful and righteous pillars of the church have een persecuted even to the most grievous deaths.

If we meditate on envy, we can see that envy drives our world.  People envy one another.  They envy the rich.  The rich envy the happiness (?) of (some) of the poor.  Nations envy one another.  People are driven to emigrate from their countries in search of a better life because of what they see on the internet.  Some of them may be driven by envy, others perhaps by a positive desire to live more freely and provide for their children.  Wars are fought over envy.  A lot of people live by envy.  They see things advertised and they cannot rest until they have that thing.  Business is driven by envy.  It becomes clear to us why the love of money is the root of all evil. 

But Clement goes on in the next chapters to discuss repentance.  He says: Let us search into all the ages that have gone before us; and let us learn that our Lord has in every one of them still given place for repentance to all such as would turn to him.

We as individuals have to turn to the Lord.  We have to give up our envy that drives our economy and business.  Clement quotes Scriptures in his writings and I can’t say it any better than he and the original writers did so here it is:  “Wash ye, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.  Come now an dlet us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red as crimson, they shall be as wool.  If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land; but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.  These things has God established by his Almighty will, desiring that all his beloved should come to repentance.”

We are the children of God.  We are His beloved.  It is our Father’s desire that we repent so that we can be near Him and have a good relationship with Him like any father and child.  I hope you got something out of this.

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June 4, 2008

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Peace be with you!

Good morning!  This morning I was reading Ephesians 4:1-15 and it really struck me that if these verses had been lived and obeyed through the years of Christianity, this world would be a vastly different place than it is now.  These verses tell us that the Lord has given gifts to his people to help them.  What is the goal of his helping us?  It is so that we will 1) become more united and more knowledgeable of him, 2) be strong and secure in the true Word of God and not get swayed by satan’s lies, and 3) become like him.  I think all of these things are important but a lot of people dismiss the last part and that is that we are to become more like him.  Other scriptures say that we are to put on Christ, that he is the first fruits of many brethren.  In other words, he didn’t come just to teach us to be nice guys but he came to show us the way to become like him, to follow in his footsteps so that we can be called his brothers and sisters. 

We are not like him if we’re still on the sinning wagon.  the first step we need to take is to get off that wagon.  He said himself, “Go and sin no more.”  So, stop it.  1 John 3:8 says that a person who commits sin is of the devil.  Well, we don’t want that.  The next step we need to take is to try to really read his life from the perspective of how can I do that.  Matthew 5 is really great for that.  How can I love my enemies?  Does that mean I have to go up to them and hug them?  Or does it mean I have to look into my heart and deliberately remove whatever is there that hates them and wouldn’t want the best for them?  Do I pray for that person?  Do I really want that person to stop whatever behavior is preventing him or her from knowing God?  Or maybe that person knows God better than I and I just don’t want to admit it.  Anyway, we need to look at ourselves seriously.  Jesus gave us the power to change and we can do it!

In the past, Christians have not lived up to the very scriptures that they says they believe.  But we can change this situation!  It starts with me and with you.  We can be honest in business or in whatever occupation we find ourselves.  We can stop gossipping and backstabbing and jockeying for power.  We can live humbly and walk with God.  It’s really a great adventure!