Is God In Aladdin's Lamp?

“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 the bible.

The God of the Bible is working "all things together for good", according to His purpose. He does not need our help and our continuous prayer is not going to make Him treat us better. Prayer is good, but it is intended to give us peace as we “toss our entire worry on Him” knowing that there is a "sequel" to our struggles, one in which we are completed in His image.

“…toss your entire worry on Him, for He is caring for you…faithful is God, Who will not be leaving you to be tried above what you are able, but, together with the trial, will be making a sequel also...” (1 Peter 5:7; 1 Corinthians 10:13 CLNT)

In that “sequel” mankind is destined to become like Him, but not now. Now we must suffer from time to time. That is part of His work in progress toward His goal to complete us in His image in the new creation - the one that happens upon our resurrection to immortality.

“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered or come to mind…He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.” (Isaiah 65:17; 2 Timothy 1:8-12)

I am sure I will keep rubbing the lamp from time to time, that is just my immature human nature, but my trust will remain in the God of the bible, not Aladdin's Lamp.

Is that all Paul?

"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 let...

"...the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass."

I'm all in for that Paul, that is good news, but why would God do that for me?

Glad you asked...I call it GRACE! 

Oh, one last thing...

"...pray for us. Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss." (23-24)

I'll pray Paul, but I'll have to pass on the holy kiss...see you in the clouds some glad morning when this life is over, and we'll fly away...

"...caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord...The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you." (4:17;5:25)

Does God Like People Better Than Baby Llamas?

“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 and feel better….me too!

“…I will wait for the LORD…I will put my trust in Him…” (Isaiah 8:17)

Animals are part of God’s creation who are to be “set free from its slavery to corruption”…

“For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God…” (Romans 8:19-21)

I am sure animals are included when Paul wrote of God’s plan of reconciling “all things to Himself”…

“For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth..all things have been created through Him and for Him…He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.” (Colossians 1:10-20)

And together, maybe all of His creation will say in that day…

"Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He has saved us. This is the LORD; we have waited for Him; we are be glad and rejoice in His salvation." (Isaiah 25:9)

You can disagree if you like, but animals, in my view, are more deserving of salvation than many people I have known.

If I Am Lifted Up

“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 judgment he is talking about is the shame that will accompany those who do not believe Jesus will “save the world”. I did not say believe IN Jesus, I said believe his words… ”I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world”. 

One judgment from God is already on this world. That judgment is death and “it is appointed unto mean once to die, and after that the judgment.” But the judgment of “the last day” will be the words of Jesus.  It will judge those who do not believe what he said.

The fire will consume that unbelief and they will then become believers.

“Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” (John 12:31-32)

Death is the judgment now on this world.  Death's rule over mankind is to be "cast out" and Jesus will "draw all men" to himself.  

When Jesus returned to life after dying on the cross the deal was done. In being “lifted up” from the grave, he was given all power power and authority to “draw all men” to himself when he returns to lift us up from the grave. 

I know, I know, your church taught you that he was referring to being lifted up on the cross. But being lifted up on the cross did not save Jesus or anyone else. If he had not been resurrected the cross would have no value at all. He was lifted down from the cross and put in a tomb, but it could not hold him. He was “lifted up” out of the tomb and waits at the Father’s right hand for the command to go “draw all men” to himself when he returns to “save the world”.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” (John 3:16-17)

There is no greater darkness than what one finds in the churches of the world. Professing themselves to be wise, they deny the word of the very Savior they worship and adore. And the message of the "reconciliation" of the world is nowhere lifted up in the pulpits of those churches. But here it is "the message of reconciliation" we have been commissioned as ambassadors to share...

“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-21)

Burning Bridges?...Good!

"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. Only then you can "know the truth" that will "set you free". 

Some bridges need to burnt.

"You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!...if you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (Mark 7:9;John 8:31-32)

The word of God will eventually set us all free, but the words of men will make us uselessly bound to the stake driven in the ground by religious tradition...get free from it and run across the bridge... then burn it down.

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36)

The Green Mile - Dead Men Walking

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 Baptism represents at all. 

Baptism is the visual testimony of the Good News that just as Jesus died, was buried and was the first to be raised to immortal life, so in like manner all people die, and will be raised to walk in immortal life...That is THE GOSPEL.

“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him…The last enemy to be destroyed is death…so that God may be all in all.” (1 Corinthians 15:22-28)

So go tell somebody the good news that although the wages for sin is death, the free gift of God is eternal life…and give thanks.

Many Will Say To Me

“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 in his name and doing wonders in his name.....of the “full gospel” or charismatic variety most likely.

It is interesting that it is not a few, but "many".

The phrases "kingdom of heaven" and "in that day" is most likely a reference to the time of the Second Coming of Jesus to the earth.

It makes sense to me that the phrase "who does the will of my Father" is a reference to the few who actually believe what God says in the Bible like...

"Behold the Lamb of God which TAKES AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD" (John 1:29)

"...this is indeed the Christ, the SAVIOR OF THE WORLD" (John 4:42)

"...we trust in the living God WHO IS THE SAVIOR OF ALL MEN" (1 Timothy 4:10)

And those "who practice lawlessness" are the "many" who think they are following the Lord and the Law when they actually "have destroyed the authority" of the word of God by their "traditions" and myths like the Jews were doing when Jesus came the first time...

"Because of your traditions you have destroyed the authority of God's word. And you do many other things like that." (Mark 7:13).

It has been almost 2000 years since Jesus spoke, and we may be close to the second coming of the Lord. If so, "many" Jews who claim to follow the Law of Moses, and "many" Christians who claim to follow Christ may find they have been deceived.

"Many" will apparently miss out on the millennial reign of Christ on the earth and the subsequent Age of the Ages (New Heaven and Earth) that follows. Why?

Just my opinion, but I think it is because they do not believe God and prefer the teaching of "wise men."  In effect, they deny the gospel (good news) of what Jesus accomplished as a result of the amazing GRACE of God. They claim to be following him, some even prophesy, cast out demons, and do wonders in his name.

Following "wise men" is not wise unless these wise men agree with the Bible.  The Jews at the time of Jesus and Paul trusted the oral traditions of the rabbis the same way modern Christians now trust their leaders.

And how did that work out for them?

"Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, WAS NOT entrusting himself to them, for He knew all men, and because he did not need anyone to testify concerning MAN, for He Himself knew what was in man." (John 2:23-25)

God nor Jesus need our help in saving mankind.  From my study over the past 40 years, I have become sincerely concerned about some of the traditional teaching of the Church. So in faith I post my thoughts on Facebook just in case anyone cares to abandon the traditions of men before the Lord shows up. The Kingdom Age (Millennium) and the Age of the New Heaven and Earth are going to be fun and I would hate for "many" to miss out on it.

Finally, "many" think I am wrong.

Abundant Life

“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 it is our "blessed hope".

"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. These things speak and exhort..." (Titus:11-15)