Random Thoughts on the Really Good News

“For, just like the fool, there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man, since in the days to come both will be forgotten.” (Ecclesiastes 2:16) Black Lives Matter – All Lives Matter – Blue Lives Matter Matter in what sense? Matter to Whom? Matter for how long? It has been my observation over 66 years that the only lives that actually matter to anyone are those they love, or are currently dependent upon. That is not a cynical view of life, but simply common sense reality. I have been to, or witnessed on TV, funerals where the house was packed, tears were abundant, and eulogies were long. But two weeks later, the deceased did not matter to anyone but those who had really loved them or had been dependent upon them. That is OK. That is life as most men understand it. Napoleon nailed it for most men when he said...  “Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever” – Napoleon Bonaparte Do people really matter? I think so, but my hope will not be in Donald Trump or Hillary C...

“May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24) Kept blameless, how is this possible? Some say it is because of a choice we make. But I think it is because of a choice God made to send his Son into the world to save it, not just to offer salvation, nor just try to save…but to actually SAVE all “ungodly” “sinners” . “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world…the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world…you see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly…God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us…Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially those who believe…” (John 1:29; 1 John 4:14; Romans 5:6,...

"They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." (Jeremiah 31:34) Those who believe what God says are believers. Two people may disagree regarding what God has said but if both believe what they think God has said they are believers. I disagree with many believers on what God has said in the bible. So what?  That does not make one of us a believer and the other not, it just means one of us is wrong, but sincerely wrong. But one day we will all "know the Lord" and agree.  That truth is how I have learned to appreciate all believers, even those who have different views.  Some leaders have an extraordinary gift in communicating their beliefs and in doing so they comfort people. But using your gift to comfort people does not mak...

"If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples indeed, then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32) You “will know” the truth he said. Jesus was talking to the Jews who had believed in him. Yet they were not free yet for they did not "know the truth" . Believing in Jesus does not set you free, only the "truth"  about Jesus can do that.   The promise was that if they “hold to” his teaching (when they received it) they would then be his followers and the truth of his resurrection, and theirs, would "set them free" from the fear of death. They were Hebrews who because of the law were “held in slavery by their fear of death” which comes to all who are unable to perfectly obey it. The devil would see that all sin and therefore die… “…by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of dea...

God’s plan for mankind has always been to save them all. The revelation of that plan, however, did not come to mankind until it was revealed to the Apostle Paul between 33 and 50 AD. Up until then God had only revealed his dealings with regard to his chosen people Israel as shown to Moses and the other Prophets to Israel. What He had planned for Gentiles was a “mystery” . “Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation…which was not made known to people in other generations…This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 3:2-6) Without the revelation of the salvation of Gentiles as well as Jews, the Gentiles had “no hope” and were “without God in the world” only in the sense that they were unaware of God’s plan for them. “That at that time you were without ...

"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God...on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:16-18) "Hades" (hell in the KJV) is the state of people after death. It means “unseen” or “grave”. The word "church" is the Greek word “ecclesia” and means “called out ones”. Christ Jesus is the first to die and be called out of death never to die again, the “rock” or foundation stone of our faith. And he has promised to return and resurrect mankind (call people out of death).  So what the above verse says to me is that DEATH will not prevail for we will be CALLED OUT of death at the resurrection. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also....For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout...and the dead in Christ will rise...Therefore comfort one another with these words” (John 14:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18) Ou...

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.” (2 Timothy 4:3) "The Bible is a book that has been read more and examined less than any book that ever existed." --Thomas Paine (Author, 1737-1809) The issue, of course, is what is the  "sound doctrine"  that was abandoned by those "wanting to have their ears tickled" . By the time the Bible was available to the masses in written form the doctrines of men had been established by the religious leaders of the Catholic Church. Those of us who point out some flaws in those doctrines are many times labeled as those who "will not endure sound doctrine" . But after examining the Bible as Thomas Paine suggests, I will no longer endure the false doctrines of those religious men who framed their doctrine "in accordance to their own desires" . The "sound ...