Random Thoughts on the Really Good News

“All things work together for good….” (Romans 8:28) Is your God in Aladdin’s lamp? I get mad at that god sometimes. I rub the lamp with much prayer and yet He doesn’t grant me any of my three wishes. The last time was an immature and childish attempt at getting my Genie to help me play golf better. I mentioned in another post my score of 102. What I didn’t mention is that I tried to put the blame on God for not helping me do better, being the righteous person that I considered myself to be….I deserved a couple of wishes, or birdies. What I got was triple bogies or what my golf buddies like to call TFBs. You can ask them what that means. But that Genie god is not the God of the bible. It is the God of men and their religions. He is seen as some powerful entity sitting on a throne somewhere in Heaven just waiting for us to get his attention by rubbing the lamp with just the right amount of prayer time and faith.  Again, that is the Genie of Aladdin’s lamp, not the God of t...

"We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people." (1 Thessalonians 5:14-15) Is that all Paul? Well no... "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (16-18) Good grief, are you done? Not quite... "Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil." (19-22) Alrighty then, guess I'll just mosey out to the golf course where I'll attempt to make a hole in one on every hole....be much easier. No wonder I have never met anyone from Thessanolica. That letter ran them off. Surely there is more to this than meets the eye... Yep, there is another way, you can chill out and l...

“Those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:31) Does God like people more than other animals? I wonder. Sue Ann loves animals, and she and I have been trying to save a newborn Llama. Its mother abandoned it at birth for some reason. She just now called to tell me it did not make it, but in the few days we nurtured it, she and my grandson gave it some of their love and compassion. Yesterday I told Sue Ann it was not going to make it and did not notice that my grandson was in the room. When I saw that he had heard me I spontaneously told him “just believe that in the resurrection she will be perfectly healthy and she will remember you with a smile for caring for her”.  I am not sure why I said that to him. We normally only think of people as the object of God’s love and salvation thanks to religious tradition. But what I said made my grandson smile ...

“I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me will not remain in darkness. If anyone hears my sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.” (John 12:46-47) There are multitudes of Christians and others who do not believe Jesus came to save the world. They believe he has commissioned the church to do so.  They spend countless hours and millions of dollars trying to do what Jesus has already promised to do… “save the world” …he does not need help.  I do not believe he will  judge us for not getting people saved, he will judge us for not believing he would save them. And when he does save them, his word will judge us for our unbelief. “He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.” (John 12:48) Whatever you have heard this means in a church, forget it, it most likely is wrong. The judg...

"And He was saying to them all, If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me." (Luke 9:23) Have you ever been told "Don't burn your bridges"? Not always good advice. There are some bridges that should be burnt to the ground.  Traditions of Religious institutions are some of those bridges that we need to burn. Not  because people might follow you across them...few will be so bold. Most are bound with an oath to what you left behind. The bridges need to be burnt so that YOU can't get back to what you left behind. You will be tempted to do so...at least I am.  The Greek word translated "cross" in verse 23 above is "stauros" which literally means an upright stake in the ground. When Jesus told his fellow Jews to "Take up your cross and follow me " I think he was saying untie yourselves from the stake in the ground you are bound to...the Jewish Rabbinical traditions of men. O...

Did you see the movie “The Green Mile”. It was about a man on death row. On death row when the inmate made his final walk to his death they called it the Green Mile and those around him would say as he passed by - “Dead man walking”. Mankind, from the cradle to the grave, are simply dead men walking for the Bible tells us that… “All have sinned...the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 3:23a; 6:23a) But God has given us the good news that after our death… “…the free gift of God is eternal life…” (Romans 6:23b) Baptism is sometimes misunderstood in churches. In the church where I grew up in the Pastor would repeat these words when he baptized someone - “buried with Christ in Baptism, raised to walk in newness of life”.  To many this meant that the one being baptized had been saved, had died to sin of the old life, and when they come up out of the water they were clean from sin and would go live thereafter in newness of life among the church family.  That is not what Bapti...

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven.  Many will say to me IN THAT DAY, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:21-23) The "many" who have prophesied in Jesus' name, cast out demons, and done wonders in his name "in that day" cannot be unbelievers, atheists and Muslims, etc. None of them do such things. So who are the  "many " ? Assuming we are “in that day” today, the "many" are probably: 1.  Many Jewsish religious leaders who deny Jesus is their Messiah. 2.  Many Christian leaders calling him Lord and preaching and teaching in his name...Catholics, Protestants and Independents. 3.  Many Christian leaders casting out demons, prophesying...

“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10) I do not think Jesus was referring to abundant life in this present age. Jesus knew that it is appointed that all men must suffer and die. All mankind are in the process of dying, not living abundantly. Jesus came so that we may have life "abundantly" when he returns to resurrect us to "immortality" . Jesus is the only man who has been raised and now has immortality…. “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive…When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: Death has been swallowed up in victory…which He will bring about at the proper time. He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:22-54; 1 Timothy 6:15-16) We do not have abundant immortal life yet, only the promise of it and...