If a Person has Faith in God, are Logic and Reason even Needed?

 

Upper Yosemite Falls, 1,430 ft. drop, Yosemite National Park, CA

March 14, 2020

     The conflict between logic/reasoning and Faith is an age old problem that humanity has wrestled with since the dawn of time. We are a people which, through time, have always demonstrated a knowledge that God exists, and almost always left behind evidence of that in the form of buildings, monuments, writings, orally transmitted beliefs, religions, and written structures of moral law and penalties in governing institutions. On the other hand, mankind’s material progress through time has been achieved through experiencing and coming to understand the natural laws which govern the behavior of matter and living organisms, primarily through observation, experimentation and logic. This has brought mankind through various stages of history, including learning to use fire, the Iron and Bronze Ages, the practice of farming, domesticating animals, invention of the wheel, irrigation, construction of cities, development of governmental systems, the concept of money, harnessing of electricity, creation of machines, cars, aircraft, computers, and finally the Age of Technology that we find ourselves engulfed in today. All these were the result of experimentation, trial and error, logic and reasoning. Through this process, we’ve learned what works and doesn’t work, and through time have kept adding to our knowledge, eventually building great civilizations.

Many people feel that there is a conflict between Faith and reason and tend to side with one or the other, becoming hopelessly entrenched and antagonistic to the opposing view. This has produced atheistic naturalists who believe in only what they can see, sense and observe to govern their lives, as well as devout believers in God who find their guidance in religion, prayer, and sacred writings, such as the Bible. Both of these factions have some of earth’s available truth, but if one side ignores the opposite faction’s body of knowledge and methodology, it will be missing essential truths the other side has discovered and put to use. This is because, on earth, we live in two vastly different worlds simultaneously–the physical and the spiritual. If you discount the value of one of these realms, in time you will suffer for it.

For people, the physical world consists primarily of their bodies, but also consists of all other physical elements they might encounter, including all other life forms; the physical world in which we live, such as soil, rocks, valleys and mountains; oceans, rivers and lakes; the sun, moon and stars; the atmosphere with its rain, snow, wind and clouds; and the entire universe that we can observe.

However, an entirely different world, not made of matter, continuously lives here with us, including our human spirits, the spirits of all the plants, animals, and other life forms, God’s spirit, and other spiritual beings such as angels, demons, and Satan. Even non-material concepts, such as love, compassion, peace, virtue, choice, justice, good and evil, and free will, also live with us and impact our lives. None of these are made of matter, so they can’t be studied and analyzed in the same way scientists have done with material things. But since all of these beings and concepts live here with us, we can study them by observing the effect they have on the material world, other people, and on our own spirits. This is why we have civil laws, why religions are born, why we pray, go to church, believe in and obey God, and why we follow the moral teachings and commandments in the Bible. This awareness of and interaction with the spiritual world sets us apart from all of the animals, putting us in an entirely different category altogether.

So, to answer the question posed in the title to this article, yes, people who have faith in God need to incorporate reason and logic into their lives. The opposite is also true, and really much more important. People on earth who think that the material world is all that exists, would greatly benefit by taking a chance and reaching out to God to experience and understand the One who made all that is, as well as embedding it with his purposes. Without that knowledge of Him hidden within material creation, one misses out on the glorious revelation and experience of intimately knowing and fellowshipping with God, who is infinitely greater than the material world that he is responsible for bringing into existence! This is the ultimate purpose for which God even created matter anyway. People who lack Faith can get hopelessly stuck and entrenched in essentially trying to fashion material creation into a kind of God which they rely on and praise as Creator and sustainer of their very lives. This effort has given us phrases referring to alternate origins of mankind such as “Mother Earth” and “human evolution” which are merely impotent pseudo creators taking God’s rightful place. I implore and urge all those reading this who believe that the material world is all that exists, to reach out to God in all sincerity, and meet spirit to spirit with their true Creator. This is the greatest thing that anyone can accomplish on this earth. Don’t be afraid!

So why do people of faith need logic and reasoning? So that they can make effective use of their free will, and make good and beneficial choices in their everyday lives. This can be about learning to determine what’s right or wrong, what’s beneficial or destructive, and even what religion to follow, if any, or in determining what God’s will is or isn’t in their lives. Jesus says that by their fruit you will know what kind of person a human is inside. You can check your own fruit as well, to see if how you behave in life matches who you believe yourself to be inside. This is very important, because all decisions that people make both betray as well as form who they are. This is everyone’s personal responsibility, which is why we will be held accountable on earth through earthly laws, and after death when we will face God and be judged for what we did on earth.

All choices require some kind of logical reasoning process to decide among the alternatives. This could be about large or small issues. When I was young, my choices concerned where I would go or what I would do each day on our farm. As I got older, I had to decide whether I wanted to go to school or not. I distinctly remember informing my Mom after the first week of kindergarten that I didn’t like it, and wouldn’t be going back. Here’s where I came face to face with one of the first times I needed to logically decide what to do based on consequences, as my Mom informed me that, “Well, you have to go!” I instinctively knew that fighting her would be a losing battle, so I resigned myself to obeying rather that putting up a fuss.

Choices generally involve assessing the possible consequences of an action to decide whether to do it or not. The more that you know about a certain situation, usually the better decision you’ll be able to make. You need to be knowledgable about life and how it works, and that is why learning and school are so important. Being informed and making logical decisions have helped me to decide who my friends would be, whether to go out for sports or not, whether to go to college after high school, get married, move to another state, have nine kids, change jobs, coach sports, buy a certain house, ban television from our family, value people over money, drink alcohol, try drugs, and many other things that people typically have to make decisions on. These decisions need to be made using knowledge, logic, and reasoning.

Sometimes we decide to do things by following what other people are doing or other peoples’ advice. But even here we have to decide which people to follow or what advice to heed, so we are still responsible for the consequences we will have to face. We also need to decide things when faith in God is involved. Should we go to church and what church should we go to? What actions are moral and which are immoral? Which Christian teachers are closer to the truth? How do you decide what the Bible is telling us to do or how to live our lives when there are conflicting opinions? These are all difficult questions that we all must decide on, and all take knowledge, reason and logic.

But there is one source of direction that is better than all the rest, but even that requires a choice–the choice to pray and humbly ask God to reveal the right thing to do, especially when the choice is really difficult. For that you need a real and close relationship with God, and you need to maintain that relationship every day through prayer. God’s presence within me has helped me to make decisions throughout my entire life. He brings constant comfort and security and peace to me as I make decisions every day. Seek him with your whole heart, and he will help you too!

 

 

 

Is America in a Mid-Life Crisis?

Sand dunes, Death Valley National Park, California

February 29, 2020

     Have you noticed in America a disturbing trend lately, that the more that people get what they want in life, the more unhappy and unsatisfied with life they tend to become? I noticed this first when news reports started coming out about 10 to 15 years ago, stating that polls showed less than half of American workers were happy with their jobs. For certain groups of workers, dissatisfaction with work life reached 70% and above.

And it’s not just work that makes people unsatisfied, but life itself has become a bummer for many. It seems like the more that we get what we want in life, the more we have become disillusioned with life’s ability to bring the expected happiness and satisfaction. I thought about this for a long time and finally concluded that the disappointment actually came with the success, the opposite of what we were hoping for. The working toward our goals seemed to keep us happy enough, but the achieving them often left us deflated. Those things and experiences which we loaded with expectations of happiness and contentment failed to produce results, and in fact often brought feelings of hopelessness and depression instead. Many were left with a sinking feeling that if these long sought after goals didn’t bring happiness and peace, then what would? If money, a nice house,  success at work, good cars and nice vacations didn’t work, then depressing thoughts that maybe life itself was simply incapable of bringing happiness to us, began to weigh heavily on Americans’ hopes for the future. Where did our past feelings of deep well-being go?

This phrase is the key: “feelings of deep well-being”! Where do these feeling originate? Not in money, things, experiences, worldly success, vacations, or even in fame and the admiration of others. These are all externals, whereas “feelings of well-being” originate from within us. America is making the fatal mistake of trying to use externals, like you would take a pill, in an effort to fix what’s lacking and wrong within us. That will never work! If we seek true and lasting satisfaction and happiness, we must look inside of ourselves where these exist. This means looking at things like our character, our willingness to love all people, our thoughts, our motivations, what we value, and our goals–essentially who we are. To feel good about ourselves, we need to be happy with what we see. If we really like what we see, we will experience happiness and feelings of well-being no matter what kind of job we have, how much money we have in the bank, the kind of house that we live in, the cars we drive, the clothes we wear, the vacations we do or don’t take, or any other trappings of life that we tend to grasp at so readily. To experience the kind of happiness that we all wish for, you must be happy with yourself! That is the bottom line, there is nothing else that will work.

But, knowing that doesn’t in itself solve all your problems concerning your inner well-being. What if you don’t like, or even loathe what you see? What if you take a hard look within and are really disappointed?  Then what do you do? Well, you begin to actively work to correct what is obviously deficient and flawed. This is really everyone’s life work, but this effort can be daunting and fraught with feelings of deep anxiety. Not only can this work look like it presents a nearly impossible task to accomplish in some cases, but, also, you are taking a serious clear-eyed look at your scary flaws, maybe for the first time in your life! Also, it could be that you discover parts of you that you’ve habitually pushed down and out of your consciousness and imagined didn’t even exist. This introspection can take much courage and perseverance–you must be strong. But only the inner you holds the promise of happiness and satisfaction, not outer things or successes.

Now we come face to face with the human condition, and what it actually means to be a human being. God has created us with a short lifespan of 70 or 80 years, where we typically face new challenges constantly. We go from infancy to childhood, adolescence, adulthood, career, marriage, parenting, family life, middle age, empty nest syndrome, and finally old age with its countdown to death. It can seem like we spend most of our time surviving, putting out fires, adjusting to new situations, and preparing for the future. Where is the quality time for introspection and self-improvement?  Before I turn to solutions to negotiating the human condition, let’s look at some Scriptures which talk about the task that we all face. This should help us put a proper perspective on what we should expect from ourselves, so that we don’t weigh ourselves down with a load that we are unable to carry.

In Romans, Chapter 7, the Apostle Paul laments that he can’t be as good a person as he wishes to be. This is because, even though he has the desire to do everything right, he finds that he lacks the power:

“I am weak flesh sold into the slavery of sin. I cannot even understand my own actions. I do not do what I want to do but what I hate. When I act against my own will, by that very fact I agree that the law is good. This indicates that it is not I who do it, but sin which resides in me. I know that no good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; the desire to do right is there but not the power.”   Romans 7, 14-18

This is a great summary of the human condition. This doesn’t mean that Paul is a habitual sinner, and most of you reading this probably aren’t either. It means that no matter how hard he tries, he cannot behave perfectly. And most true Christians today have probably conquered and been forgiven for most serious sins, but the smaller failings are hard to get rid of. This is especially true for very scrupulous people who tend towards perfectionism, like myself. Those types tend to take personal inventory regularly, combing through their behavior and thoughts to ferret out any faults and examine them. This can be both good and bad. It helps us not to get entrenched in wrongdoing so that it becomes a way of life, but it also can become an inordinate preoccupation with our flaws which can be debilitating and depressing. And this potential neurotic preoccupation with self can also become sinful pride, because we can easily neglect thinking about and caring for others in our lives–especially our spouses, children, co-workers, neighbors, friends at church, and others close to us. We can get ourselves trapped in an isolated bubble and closed off to the world. This is an example of what it means when Paul says that we are “sold into the slavery of sin”. It seems like no matter what we do, some sinfulness always seems to be lurking within, just waiting to revealed!

Our feelings of well-being should not be tied to achieving a nearly sinless life, or we will never experience true happiness and joy on earth. It should be tied more to an inner agreement and determination to oppose all sin, seek holiness, and to live life the best that we can. As I’ve said in previous articles, no one dies a perfect person.

And I’ll tell you a secret about life that few fully realize, and most have not come to grips with: Life is designed by God to point out what is sinful, both within each person and in the world in general. This design helps all people learn to properly use the free will that we are all given. This is the core element of life and is a lifelong purpose that we must all be busied about each day. It can seem like a never ending and fruitless battle at times, but there is hope. We are not trapped in sin forever.

First, we need to ask for forgiveness from God, who is always merciful and gracious to grant it to all repentant people. Secondly, we should seek it from all those people whom we have greatly offended. And, thirdly, we must forgive ourselves. This third part is something that many people find hard to do, because they are hard on themselves and don’t allow themselves to get away even the smallest infraction. This reluctance to forgive self often has its roots in the sin of pride, where we can’t accept imperfections within us because we feel that we are just too good for that. This attitude can also lead to a denial that certain sins exist within us, leading us to look the other way. But we must give up this kind of fantasy to enjoy a life of true happiness, joy, and peace, blessed peace!

And don’t forget that our ultimate goal in life is not to achieve perfection on earth, which is utterly impossible, but rather to end up with a life of perfection with God forever in heaven. Comfort yourself with this thought. This life is part of the process that we must go through to train our hearts to seek the good and to reject all evil. Our goals for a truly happy and satisfying life are never fully realized here on earth, but they are in heaven! That is our real goal of living on earth, so place your hopes there and you will finally achieve happiness, joy, deep peace and satisfaction, even here on earth!

MARRIAGE: Arguably Mankind’s Most Difficult Challenge on Earth

Directions, Sierra National Forest, California

July 28, 2019

     In America, when a man and a woman are about to get married, they generally see a future of bliss, contentment, and pleasure that will get them as close to heaven as they will ever experience on earth. And during the honeymoon and first couple of years it can feel just that way. But, given enough time and maybe after a child or two has been born, the reality of what it means for two imperfect and flawed human beings to share their lives with one another starts to become readily apparent. At first, feelings of excitement and euphoria can mask or blunt each other’s imperfections, but time has a way of revealing the truth, and when it does, the battle is on. When that battle finally wears us down enough, previously unimaginable thoughts of divorce begin to appear on the horizon and relentlessly bare down on us, until they finally bear fruit and claim another marriage. This is the fate of a majority of marriages in America today. It can seem like there’s no escape and no hope, but there is a remedy that gives us humans the best chance for success. It’s hard, but it works. 

Most people are just too immature, too imperfect, too selfish, and too lacking in self-control and self-discipline to make good long term marriage partners. The only solution is to work on and overcome these flaws before they destroy the marriage. Mostly, we don’t work on and attempt to fix our partner, but rather we work to improve ourselves. We don’t nag our partners to get them to change, but discipline ourselves to become better marriage partners. This takes personal commitment, time, and the endurance of emotional pain to accomplish. Each partner must be committed to serve the other’s needs. Each partner must strive to give up selfishness. If only the man or only the woman does this, the marriage becomes unbalanced and cannot last. Self must die in both partners, and each must give their all to their spouse. Yes, the two need to become one, and both must be working hard to maintain that “one”–the marriage! This is the only formula that works, and the only one that lasts. Incidentally, this same formula is also the only one that works and lasts in a friendship or relationship between any two human beings, or between us and God.

“At the beginning of creation God made them male and female; for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and the two shall become as one. They are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore let no man separate what God has joined.”  Mark 10, 6-9

In most failed marriages today the two have never really become one. Instead, we have two people–each fighting for his or her rights. This makes spouses adversaries in the marriage, when what each really needs is an ally. However, when they truly become one person, they don’t need to fight for themselves anymore, but rather they fight to keep the marriage strong. To stay intact, the marriage union requires both partners to have moved from self-centered adolescents to mature giving adults. If you are not quite there yet, then the first order of business in the marriage is to work in that direction. If you want your marriage to last, you and your partner must become loving, caring, understanding and selfless adults. Nothing else will be able to build a strong and lasting marriage. This is what we’re all working towards on earth anyway, whether you are married or not.

In God’s eyes, the marriage relationship is also a model of the relationship of Christ to his Church. Just as we in the Church are to submit to and obey Christ as our head, so wives should willingly submit to their husbands. The husband does not make her submit to him, but rather it is she who must willingly make that choice. This is so that there is harmony in the marriage and so we don’t have two bosses who are always arguing with one another. Husbands on their part are to love their wives and sacrifice their personal desires for them, just as Christ sacrificed his life for the Church. Husbands and wives both serve each other, but in the roles that God has determined for each one. They each have different roles, but they each serve their partner faithfully. The neglect of these individual roles for husbands and wives has doomed many a marriage before it even has a chance to get started. I believe that this designation of roles, if adhered to, could have saved a majority of failed marriages in our wonderful country we call America. If you want your marriage to survive, then carefully read and heed the following scripture verses:

“Wives should be submissive to their husbands as if to the Lord, because the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of his body the church, as well as its savior. As the church submits to Christ, so wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church. He gave himself up for her to make her holy, purifying her in the bath of water by the power of the word, to present to himself a glorious church, holy and immaculate, without stain or wrinkle or anything of that sort. Husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.”    Ephesians 5, 22-28

” ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and cling to his wife, and the two shall be made into one.’ This is a great foreshadowing; I mean that it refers to Christ and the church. In any case, each one should love his wife as he loves himself, the wife for her part showing respect for her husband.”    Ephesians 5, 31-33

Even though a good marriage is tough to maintain, the great rewards that you, your spouse, and your children will enjoy will be truly worth the effort. As I’ve said in earlier articles, a good marriage and family life produces both success, happiness and contentment on earth, as well as a profound insight into the very purpose of life itself. And what is that purpose? To prepare us for a life of bliss with God in heaven for eternity. There you will find no pain, no sorrow, no failure, and no fear–only contentment, peace, and love forever. The stakes are high, give your marriage your best effort.

 

What is TRUTH, and Why is it So Important to Our Lives?

WINTER: Gjersjøen, Oppegård, Norway

     September 17, 2019

     Truth is another word for reality; it defines what actually exists or what is really happening. To help you fully grasp what Truth is, I’ll use the example of America’s landing men on the moon. From July 1969 to December 1972, 12 men walked on the moon, 2 each from Apollo missions #11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17. They took pictures, brought back 100’s of pounds of rocks, and performed other scientific studies while they walked on the moon’s surface. They all returned safely to earth, gave interviews, and came back as heroes. 

Fast forward to the 1980’s or 1990’s, when I was teaching high school math. One day, one of my students raised his hand and asked me very seriously, “Mr. Warmerdam, did we really land on the moon, or was it all faked?” The question took me by surprise because I distinctly remember watching TV and seeing men walking around and riding in a moon buggy on the surface. I said, “Of course we did, I saw them walking on the moon on TV!” That question undoubtedly came from conspiracy theories that followed from a 1976 book, We Never Went to the Moon: America’s Thirty Billion Dollar Swindle by Bill Kaysing, who claimed that he had inside knowledge of a government conspiracy to fake the moon landings. Also, in 1978, a Hollywood film, Capricorn One, was released based on Kaysing’s book.

In this case, the real Truth is either that men walked on the moon, or they didn’t. There is no middle ground: one is right and the other wrong! Since no inside “knowledge of a government conspiracy” has ever been proven to be true, and since the moon landings are well documented by facts, photos, and testimony of those who went, the truth is that we indeed went to the moon. Real truth is never arrived at by argument or persuasion, but by the preponderance of facts supporting its reality.

The Truth is important to our lives because it can sometimes save us from dangers lurking unawares. For instance, say a family friend is a self taught “expert” on mushrooms and comes to your house after a day of harvesting them in the forest, and offers to give you a bag full because of your friendship. You take them and cook them up for your family, and eat them for dinner the next day. But it turns out that they actually are from the deadly poisonous Amanita family, and members of your family may die or need an emergency liver transplant to survive. Knowing the truth about mushrooms can save your life, while not knowing may kill you.

A last example showing the value of the truth is when a person is introduced to illegal drugs by friends. Do you try them or not? The friends may brag that if you’re careful you won’t get addicted, or that they won’t lead you to harder drugs, and besides, they have a really dependable supplier who always gets them good stuff. Believing them, you decide to try some, and for a year you seem to handle them well, and escape negative life changing effects. However, maybe the very next time you get wasted you quickly realize that the purity and potency of the drug that you just took is several times stronger than you’ve ever experienced. You and two friends end up in the ER, and one of your friends dies. Two of you recover, but your other friend becomes a lifelong addict. Not knowing the truth can lead you to situations that serious.

The truth today seems to be relative, rather than absolute, to a lot of people. If you believe it and it seems to work for you, then it’s just your truth, tailored to your needs. It doesn’t really even matter if it is true or not–maybe there isn’t really any absolute truth anyway, you might muse. If you get trapped in this no man’s land where truth is simply what you want it to be, or it is forever changing with each older generation dying off and a new more enlightened one taking over, it puts the whole population at risk in many ways.

Today in America we live in such a state of mind that anything could be true, and therefore odd ideas of reality have taken root everywhere. Hence, we have people saying that when we die we just come back to another life on earth or somewhere else (reincarnation), and that this goes on indefinitely. Others say we live in just one universe among unlimited multiple universes. Some say that alien creatures of all types live throughout our universe, with many much more advanced than we are. Other people believe that we simply live in an artificial simulation which has been created by some unknown powerful beings, and that we actually don’t exist as real people, and will disappear when the simulation is terminated. There are also people who think that alien beings live among us today disguised as human beings, that the earth is actually flat, or even that Christianity was made up by zealous believers who wrote works of fiction describing that which never happened. In this time of American history, where many think that any plausible sounding ideas that people or groups put forward as reality could be true, we have lost the one thing that could help us: making the effort to find out if there is evidence that a belief is true. A lot of factual evidence is needed before anyone should believe that something is true. None of the fantastic ideas of truth or reality that I’ve put forth in this article thus far have supporting evidence. They don’t make logical sense, there are no credible supporting facts, and they therefore are not true. It is as simple as that. Logic demands facts before anything is accepted as reality. Journey to Truth supports reality and truth, not fantasy and imagination.

So, how do we know that Christianity and the Bible are presenting the truth to us? By the evidence. You will know that Christianity is true by how real Christians live their lives: They love the unlovable. They are generous to needy people by giving of their time, wisdom, money, help, and resources. They build and maintain hospitals, orphanages, medical clinics, churches, schools, homeless shelters, disaster relief organizations, and clinics for the emotionally and mentally ill.

You see lives changed for the better. Addicts are freed, adolescents become stable and caring adults, marriages survive events which threaten to destroy them, unstable people get jobs and become self-sufficient adults, people give up self-centered lives and dedicate themselves to serving others, people dedicate their lives to preaching and teaching others how to live productive lives and give back to the communities where they grew up, and people give up lives of sinful behaviors and become stable parents, friends, and neighbors.

But the most important evidence is the reason why the changes mentioned above are even possible for humans: the presence of the Holy Spirit living within us. This enables us to live lives of virtue, selflessness, service to others, love, and holiness. Humans are not giving and self-sacrificial by nature, so when you do see it happening, you can be sure that God lives within them.

But the absolutely best test for you to see the truth in Christianity and the Bible is to try it for yourself. When Jesus Christ lives within you, all serious doubts about God’s existence disappear. This personal experience is also really the only way that you will come to understand why we are here on earth, and have the wisdom and power to live a fruitful and successful life. A few Scripture passages will help you on the way:

“…..but without faith it is impossible to please him. Anyone who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he rewards those who seek him.”   Hebrews 11, 6

“In fact, whatever can be known about God is clear to them; he himself made it so. Since the creation of the world, invisible realities, God’s eternal power and divinity, have become visible, recognized through the things he has made. Therefore these men are inexcusable. They certainly had knowledge of God, yet they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks;”    Romans 1, 19-21

Here are Jesus’s words and guarantee:

“I will ask the Father and he will give you another Paraclete–to be with you always: the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, since it neither sees him nor recognizes him; but you can recognize him because he remains with you and will be within you. I will not leave you orphaned.”    John 14, 16-18

“On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”   John 14, 20

These last verses from John describe what I experienced back in 1974, and they changed my life. This experience can change your life too, just seek God with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, and you too can have the Holy Spirit living within you. All other truth that you might find in life will pale in comparison, and life in the world will finally make sense to you.

TROUBLE: Man runs away from it Fast, but Trouble runs Faster!

Me and my son, Disappointment Lake, Central Sierra Nevadas, CA

July 2, 2019

     Life seems to be embedded with endless troubles, trials, and tribulations. It seems that as soon as you have finally conquered one problem, another takes its place. Everyone on earth seems to be forever working to solve pesky problems that plague them in life, but few ever succeed. We want peace, we want to know what is coming up, and we want to avoid pain and suffering, but the task to realize these hopes never seems to be finished.

I was carefully watching the activities of wildlife in my backyard the other morning, especially the squirrels and the birds. They always seem to be busy at one main task: to find food for the day. They don’t have money, they don’t have stores, they aren’t enticed by advertising, they don’t have jobs, they rarely have any kind of solid and safe house to retreat to for the night, and their transportation is their legs or their wings. They wake up each morning and spend most of their day looking for food. Similarly, if you carefully watched a typical human go through the entire day, you would see lots and lots of endless activity mostly of the ho hum mundane variety, with the only breaks from the work being used to take a short rest, to quickly eat, or give yourself some kind of treat. And then you go to bed and wake up to repeat it all over again the next day. If you are looking for a lot of fun in life each day, better try another planet!

God has designed life so that there is never ending work of some kind. We likely will never escape it. The answer is to accept and embrace this work rather than trying to eliminate it. It seems to me like most of our problem with work is not the work itself, but rather the wearying task of forcing ourselves to work each day when our attitudes inside have locked us into disliking to do this work, resisting accepting it, and complaining that we shouldn’t have to do it. This is like trying to move a train with engines at both ends going in opposite directions. A lot of energy is expended, but little movement is accomplished. The answer is to willingly embrace work, change things in your life so that it is as pleasant as possible, and then spend most of your time enjoying the ride. Our natural inclination is to run away, but the best way is to relax and trust God:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart. Your souls will find rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden light.”  —Jesus in Matthew 11, 28-30

Let God take charge of your life and lean on him, and you may just find that he is not nearly as great a taskmaster as you yourself are. Did you ever think that maybe you are the one mercilessly driving yourself, and not life or God?

One of the most difficult things that we can face in life is contending with unexpected problems which suddenly plop themselves down squarely in the middle of our train track of life, temporarily bringing our lives to a screeching halt. This happened to me in mid September last year. Actually, in retrospect, it really began in mid July, 2017, when on a solo backpacking trip in the Sierra Nevada Mountains I managed to bang my head on a broken branch pointing down from a dead tree. It hit through my hat right on a sore that I already had there and it hurt like crazy. It wasn’t bleeding much, so in my typical stoical way I just forgot about it. But it didn’t forget about me! For the next 14 months I worked with it on and off trying to get it to heal, but it never really healed. The thought kept going through my mind that a sore that never heals is a sign of cancer, but hope seems to spring eternal with me, and I went with the thought that it probably was just a tough staph infection. I finally went to my Primary Care Doctor in September, 2018, to find out what was going on. She took a quick look at it, grimly looked at me and said, “It’s cancer!” I asked her how sure she was and she replied 90% sure. At that point I resigned myself to accept whatever happened and face it with faith and trust in God. This is exactly the kind of thing that I hate to have come into my life, but I figured that God must be allowing it for a reason. She ordered a blood test a couple of days later and it brought more grim news: my white blood cells looked misshapen, a sign of leukemia, but I put off undergoing a diagnostic bone marrow test because I actually felt so good.

In the meantime, my newly assigned dermatologist started doing biopsies to see if my old head wound and other spots on me were cancer. The old sore on top of my head, plus a patch of skin on my right temple and a sore on my right cheek were all cancer. All three were removed in one session at a Mohs surgery office on November 28, in Elk Grove, California. I gritted my teeth and got through it feeling pretty confident. Prior to this surgery my dermatologist had also determined that growths on my chest and back were also cancerous, and removed them successfully in her office. I started to wonder why I had so many skin cancer sores on me now, when I had virtually none previously.

Two more cancers on my right ear were removed on January 7, 2019, and three days later I underwent a bone marrow test to determine why my initial blood test showed so many misshapen white blood cells. The results came back three weeks later–I had leukemia! My oncologist told me that in my bone marrow only 10% of my white blood cells were normal and that I needed to start therapy right away, taking daily pills and infusion treatments three times a month. She also told me that leukemia actually promoted the proliferation of skin cancer. No wonder I was getting so many skin cancers!

Surprisingly, I had no fear as I felt God’s presence within giving me the assurance that all was well. With this assurance came many periods of euphoric bliss and contentment that actually started soon after I met with my Primary Care Doctor in September. This sustained a deep peace within me throughout my numerous trips to the doctor’s offices. Well, two additional skin cancers were found on me, one on my forehead and one on my nose, bringing a total of 9 lesions that had to be removed so far. I began to wonder if new cancerous areas would ever cease to be found.

I started treatment for my leukemia on February 11, 2019. “My leukemia”, a phrase that I just used in the previous sentence seemed unusual and odd, I certainly never invited it to become part of my life. However, I just kept accepting everything without fighting it in my mind, and put my entire trust in God. After 4 months of treatment, things were finally looking good, as tests indicated that the targeted drug therapy cancer treatment was effectively destroying all the leukemic cells. Also, it was looking like all the skin cancer lesions on my body were removed and that there were none left. I started looking forward to the end to my “troubles” until a new problem hit me out of the blue–one day my heart started beating irregularly, hard, and fast (160 beats per minute).

I went to my oncology doctor, she ran an EKG test on me, and thinking that I was undergoing a heart attack, promptly sent me to Emergency. Yikes! But I kept my cool and doubled down on my trusting and dependence on God. I remained surprisingly upbeat and resigned myself to having to go through another medical emergency. This happened on June 19th, a mere 11 days ago as I write this. In the Emergency Room many tests were given me, including a blood test, two hours of being hooked up to an EKG machine, a chest x-ray, and a test for oxygenation of my blood. Thankfully, all tests said that there was nothing wrong with me, except for my irregular heart beat. I was diagnosed with Atrial Flutter, probably the result of my age (71), and was put on a medication to reduce my heart rate, and sent home.

I have since been assigned a cardiologist, and he said that he would shock my heart in three weeks, which will hopefully restore my heart to its natural rhythm.

Troubles come and troubles go, but the one constant you can always count on is that life is unpredictable and full of surprises and trouble. That’s why I lean on God, who lives outside the tumult of life, and trust him to keep me stable and safe. I figure that the worst thing that could happen to me is to die, and then I would simply head for heaven. So, if I live or die it’s a win win! Currently, I’m still hoping to live past 100, and be there for my kids and to help a world that is fast turning away from God and heading for destruction. Yes, I remain upbeat and optimistic, the only way I know.

Eating Healthy with Joy and Satisfaction

Swiss Chard, My Garden, Fresno, CA

June 7, 2019

     Eating too much food, and embracing diets which are unbalanced and unhealthy, are at crisis levels for the majority of Americans today. People in America are probably the most diet conscious and eating healthy conscious that they have ever been in the history of our country — bordering on the extreme. We have hundreds of diets and ways of eating healthy to choose from, including the Atkins diet, Weight Watchers, Eating Vegan, the Paleo diet, the South Beach diet, the Low-Carb diet, the Intermittent diet, the Low Fat diet, and the Mediterranean diet. But, despite the huge numbers of Americans who are on some kind of eating regimen, we are as a nation becoming increasingly overweight and unhealthy. Diets are not working! Recent data from the National Center for Health Statistics includes the following:

Percent of adults aged 20 and over with obesity:  39.8%

Percent of adults aged 20 and over with overweight, including obesity:  71.6%

Percent of adolescents aged 12-19 years with obesity:  20.6%

Percent of children aged 6-11 years with obesity:  18.4%

Percent of children aged 2-5 years with obesity;  13.9%

In order to understand why diets are not working, we have to go back to the cause: the lack of self-discipline to stay on a healthy diet. In order to understand why self-discipline is lacking, you have to go back one step to the cause: the lack of motivation. To understand why we aren’t motivated, you must go back one step to find out why: because we value eating too much food, and eating unhealthy food more than we value a trim and healthy body. To understand why we find that eating too much and unhealthy food is so necessary, we need to know why it is this important to us: because the food temporarily relieves stress, allows a short escape from the problems we face in life, and gives us soothing pleasure for the moment. To realize why we face so much stress, problems in life, and have the the need for instant pleasure, we must find out where the stress, unmanageable problems, and the need to self-medicate with food originate: they come from a life lacking in meaning, organization/planning and purposeful work. 

For many of us, life just happens, and the main task we face is coping with the unexpected problems that seem to crop up regularly in our lives: like the loss of a job, expenses overcoming our income, an eviction notice, sudden illnesses, death of a loved one, a child in trouble with addiction, boredom with life, our significant other suddenly leaving us, or a general loss of hope for the future. This is a tough life and depression can easily set in. Food in this kind of hectic life helps us cope with problems, gives us something to look forward to, and keeps us sane for one more day. No wonder we are fat! This is not a life of victory and success, but one of retreat and survival. As you can easily see, obesity does not come from the wrong diet, but more likely from a meaningless life.

Life does have meaning, but we need to know that it has to do with being an overcomer. Life is structured by God so that true and lasting happiness and success come, not from leisure and pleasure, but from work, pain, and struggle in embracing and overcoming problems, and developing our character, virtue, and holiness. Life is designed to push us toward a need of God and getting his help in life. When we willingly embrace life’s trials, tribulations, and pain and work through them, we become better people and get closer to God. This brings us nearer to our ultimate goal of one day sharing in God’s life and holiness in heaven. If God did everything for us on earth, then the result would all be his gain and success, rather than ours. Only when we embrace the pain and struggles of life does it become our gain and our success! And this will be our possession for eternity. So getting back to our struggles to eat properly on earth, this is just one way that God allows us to earn everlasting honor, glory and credit for it in eternity:

“…..the just judgement of God will be revealed, when he will repay every man for what he has done: eternal life to those who strive for glory, honor, and immortality by patiently doing right; wrath and fury to those who selfishly disobey the truth and obey wickedness.”    –Romans 2, 5-8

“But there will be glory, honor, and peace for everyone who has done good…..”    –Romans 2, 10

I have a diet plan that I use and is easy to follow. Food will still be enjoyable and satisfying, but you will have to value the character and virtue that it will build within you so that you have motivation to continue it for the long term. And an added incentive is the knowledge that you are pleasing God in the process. Good healthy eating will help  you by bringing you health in body, mind and spirit on earth, as well as eternal rewards in heaven.

THE COMMON SENSE DIET

1) Eat only 3 meals a day. (no eating between meals) Eat one larger meal, and two smaller ones which together add up to no more calories than the large one. When you eat this way, you will always look forward to the next meal, which will taste extra good and bring great satisfaction and pleasure, no matter what you eat! Check your weight once a week, and consume the amount of calories that brings your body to the desired weight.

2) Do not eat in bed or when you wake up at night.

3) Eat a variety of foods including vegetables, meat, grains, fruit, eggs and dairy products.

4) Go easy on fats and severely limit sweets. 

When you practice eating healthy amounts and kinds of food, you please God by being a good steward of your body. This will bring shouts of joy and praise and approval from all the angels and saints in heaven! Also, eating healthy will be much easier if you take the time and make the effort to reduce some of the stressors in your life, like switching to a more peaceful and fulfilling job. And lastly, I’ve found that regular exercise reduces anxiety, builds confidence, and reduces weight by burning calories. Begin to take control of your life and reach out to grasp true happiness.

The Pursuit of God

Mt. Goddard, center, 13,568 ft.  Central Sierra Nevadas, California

May 31, 2019

     The key for us today to search for and successfully find God, lies in what happened to the Apostles after Jesus was crucified and laid in the tomb. They were doing what a lot of us today are doing in the face of living in an increasingly godless world of conflict and evil–hiding out in some safe place and hoping and praying that things will get better. Of course, that response is not likely to improve the world or things in our lives. What we really need is some power, direction, and courage to be infused into us, so that we can leave our safe hiding places and march right out there and make a positive difference in this broken and lost world. We really need the same thing to happen to us as happened to the Apostles more than 2000 years ago:

“When the day of Pentecost came it found them gathered in one place. Suddenly from up in the sky there came a noise like a strong driving wind which was heard all through the house where they were seated. Tongues as of fire appeared which parted and came to rest on each of them. All were filled with the Holy Spirit. They began to express themselves in foreign tongues and make bold proclamations as the Spirit prompted them.”    –Acts 2, 1-4

Only then did the Apostles leave their safe hiding place and go out into the public square and begin to make bold statements to the people there in languages that they understood, even though the Apostles never learned those languages. The people were astounded at this and wondered what was going on, which led Peter to stand up before the people and proclaim:

“You who are Jews, indeed all of you staying in Jerusalem! Listen to what I have to say. You must realize that these men are not drunk as you seem to think. It is only nine in the morning! No, it was what Joel the prophet spoke of: ‘It shall come to pass in the last days says God, that I will pour out a portion of my spirit on all mankind: Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams. Yes, even on my servants and handmaids I will pour out a portion of my spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy.”   — Acts 2, 14-18

Don’t forget that these Apostles who were with Jesus had seen him perform hundreds of miracles, and that they themselves had also worked countless miracles of their own, because they were with Jesus. But only the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them allowed them to go out again from their safe hiding place and preach to the people. We are in their exact same position who are hiding in our churches and homes today, and are afraid to speak publicly to a fallen and needy world. We too need the Holy Spirit as they did, but do we really seek him or have him within us, so that we become bold enough to go out and speak the truth of God to the people in our lives? From my experience, not nearly enough.

In the Catholic Church we have a sacrament called confirmation, which is designed to prompt the Holy Spirit to come down on those confirmed, as at Pentecost. I myself was “confirmed” during high school, but there didn’t seem to be much expectation of radical changes in us as during the first Pentecost. It was rather that we would have an unseen and unfelt visitor who was anticipated to help us later in life in ways that we may not realize was happening at the time.  That may or may not have happened to others, but for me, I didn’t feel or notice much of anything different in my life–until I was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in “tongues” when I was 26 and living alone, when I invited the Holy Spirit to speak in tongues through me. (I have written about this experience in a previous article) With this gift of “tongues” came the Holy Spirit’s awesome presence, which I’ve experienced continually–even to this day! This is what changed my life and provided the power and boldness and wisdom in me to resign my CIA job in Washington D. C., switch careers to teaching primarily high school math for 35 years, marry and raise 9 children, write a book about truth, start this website last September, and dedicate my life to pleasing God and serving mankind. I could never have done any of this without my pursuit of God and finding him in a real way.

The challenge to you reading this is to do the same, if you haven’t already done so. In the scripture passage that I previously cited, Peter quotes the prophet Joel as saying that in the last days a portion of God’s spirit will be poured out on all mankind, even on servants and handmaids, the lowest status of people in those days. All mankind means you reading this. The “last days” are the time between Jesus’s first coming and when he returns. Without a concerted effort to pursue God, you likely won’t be filled with the Spirit of God in a way that emboldens you to speak to anyone to which God directs you. I think that most people who are afraid to do this, fear that they aren’t actually commissioned to do it, or that they don’t have the ability to speak properly to people. In my experience, this problem tends to melt away when we set our wills to obey God no matter what, and are actually filled with the Spirit of God. We will be given power to do what God asks us to do at the time, all we have to do is obey. This is for all willing to do it! You won’t have to do everything on your own, but you do have to surrender your will to allow God to speak through you. How do you surrender your will? By giving up your personal resistance and fear and go out in faith and speak to people you come in contact with, as God directs. He will do the rest.

In my experience, the problem that most people face who have a problem yielding to the Holy Spirit, is that their faith is weak and/or that they feel unworthy. Know that personal faith is strengthened when we act on it. When I was lying on my bed and wondering if I would be able to speak in tongues long ago, before I was filled with the Holy Spirit, God essentially said to me, “You won’t know until you try it!” I did, and my success started a grand partnership with God in 1974 that has emboldened and sustained me through various trials and tribulations to this day. God is also challenging you reading this to “try it”. The other issue holding many people back from inviting the Holy Spirit to live within them, are feelings of unworthiness. This is solved by his very presence within us. None of us are really worthy to have God live within us, but when he comes, his very presence makes us worthy. You don’t need to make yourself sin-free before inviting him in, because that is impossible. But you must have a clear conscience by regularly confessing to God all sins that you commit:

“Beloved, if our consciences have nothing to charge us with, we can be sure that God is with us and that we will receive at his hands whatever we ask.”   — 1 John 3, 21-22

Pursue God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and with determination and perseverance you will find him! I can’t guarantee that it will be easy, because Satan and his demonic followers will try to stop you with any sordid tactic that they can devise. But God is much stronger than the devil, and if you partner with him and use him as a shield, he will crush the evil one’s plans. If you don’t give up, God will grace you with his Holy Spirit. It happened to me, a common man, and it can happen to you.

Are Atheists really Closet Believers?

Solitary Oaks,  Millerton Lake,  Central California

May 24, 2019

     We start this article looking at a Psalm of David, probably composed during the seventh century B. C.  It is a lament over widespread corruption during that time, something like we see today in America and the world. It starts by targeting atheists, but goes on to conclude that all of mankind without God neither wants nor even knows what it means to be good. It is the condition that we all face who live in godlessness in this world. Only in God can mankind come to light, to good, and to holiness, because it is in our nature to serve self and self alone.

“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ Such are corrupt; they do abominable deeds; there is not one who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be one who is wise and seeks God. All alike have gone astray; they have become perverse; there is not one who does good, not even one.”  — Psalm 14, 1-3

On earth, all people have the choice to either seek God and find him, or go it alone and seek to gratify themselves and go their own way, whether good or bad. But we will have to face the consequences of our actions, both here on earth and when we die and come face to face with God our Creator. All people have embedded deep within their hearts a knowing that God exists. They can either recognize this “knowing” and examine it further, or reject it as some errant thought bubbling up from their subconscious that they identify as perhaps a latent desire formed from fear. We can reject God and many do, but no one who has diligently examined the evidence can say, in good conscience, that there is no God. His evidence is contained in the complexity, purposefulness, and beauty of his creation, both on earth and in the heavens.

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against the irreligious and perverse spirit of man who, in this perversity of theirs, hinder the truth. In fact, whatever can be known about God is clear to them; he himself made it so. Since the creation of the world, invisible realities, God’s eternal power and divinity, have become visible, recognized through the things he has made. Therefore these men are inexcusable. They certainly had knowledge of God, yet they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks.”    –Romans 1, 18-21

The moniker “atheist” is from the Greek, the beginning “a” meaning without, followed by “theos”, meaning God. And this literal meaning is very accurate, because an atheist is a man living without God, rather than one who believes that there is no God. As the quote from the Bible in Romans above clearly states, all men know that God exists, but some refuse to glorify him as God or give him any thanks for their existence. This all has its origins in Satan and in his demonic followers, who all were once in perfect harmony with God as his attending angels, but who rebelled against his rulership over them, were banished from heaven, and cast down to the earth. They now function as the gods of this world and seek to lure men to follow their same path of rebellion and rejection of God’s authority over them.

“Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon. Although the dragon and his angels fought back, they were overpowered and lost their place in heaven. The huge dragon, the ancient serpent known as the devil or Satan, the seducer of the whole world, was driven out;  he was hurled down to earth and his minions with him.”  — Revelation 12, 7-9

When you declare yourself an atheist, you willingly put yourself in the lap of Satan and his fallen angel followers. You aren’t just one who does not believe in God, as some suppose, but it really means that, like the devil, you are setting yourself up as an opposer of God. This gives the devil rights to you because you become partners with him in rejecting God. Have you ever wondered why self-proclaimed atheists name themselves in reference to God, a being that they deny even exists? Why do they do this? Why don’t they just call themselves “naturalists” or “humanists”? It is because they wish to make it clear that they are not partners with God, but rather are their own rulers who won’t allow any other beings tell them what to believe or how to behave. This, whether knowingly or unknowingly, puts them in partnership with the devil, who also refuses to let anyone tell him what to do. This puts atheists in serious peril, because they now are subject to all of the cunning seductions that the devil, a supernatural being, can devise against them.

“Our battle is not against human forces but against the principalities and powers, the rulers of this world of darkness, the evil spirits in regions above. You must put on the armor of God if you are to resist on the evil day; do all that your duty requires, and hold your ground.”    –Ephesians 6, 12-13

This next Scripture passage clearly warns us why godless atheists are really caught in a seduction concocted by Satan and his followers, and are in the control of demonic forces, rather than in control of themselves.

“This lawless one will appear as part of the workings of Satan, accompanied by all the power and signs and wonders at the disposal of falsehood — by every seduction the wicked can devise for those destined to ruin because they have not opened their hearts to the truth in order to be saved. Therefore God is sending upon them a perverse spirit which leads them to give credence to falsehood, so that all who have not believed the truth but have delighted in evildoing will be condemned.”   –2 Thessalonians 2, 9-12

I have spoken to a lot of atheists over the course of my many years of life. Out of curiosity, I have invariably asked them how it was that they have come to the conclusion that there is no God? Almost all have answered in the same way, as if their collective conclusion had been formulated by a single focus on the seemingly obvious: Because no scientist, or any other person for that matter, has ever found God lurking amongst the atoms and molecules or the various elements such as oxygen or gold, or the photons or gamma rays, or within electromagnetic radiation — in short, within the material universe. Again, when I ask them why they limit their search to the material world alone, as if in unison the response is, “Because the physical world is all that we can be really certain of.” When I mention that maybe they should also search for God in the spiritual world, the response is that that would be an effort in futility and a wandering in fantasy, since the physical world is all that exists. 

These answers show that atheism is really a system of belief, rather than a reality arrived at rationally. To be an atheist takes a similar level of faith as it does to be a Christian believing in God. So, in that sense, atheism is also a religion whose God is this physical world. For them, the existence of the physical is all that they have to reassure themselves of the reality of their beliefs, while Christians have a wealth of evidence supporting their beliefs, including the obvious design of the world with its complexity, order, purposefulness and beauty, as well as the Spirit of God available to all who allow him into their lives. With that wealth of evidence, everything that we see happening on earth begins to make sense, while atheism takes on a distinct aura of irrationality and fantasy. Never give up your search for God, you will find him!

Are we Living in the End Times Today?

Forest Fire,  August 18, 2014,  Oakhurst CA

May 9, 2019

     The “End Times” are the days, months, and years preceding the return of Jesus Christ to the earth, which usher in a time of judgement of all mankind and the destruction of the earth and universe as we know it.

“The present heavens and earth are reserved by God’s word for fire, they are kept for the day of judgement, the day when godless men will be destroyed.”   –2 Peter 3, 7

“Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and ‘all the clans of earth will strike their breasts’ as they see ‘the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven’ with power and great glory. He will dispatch his angels ‘with a mighty trumpet blast, and they will assemble his chosen from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.’ ”     –Matthew 24, 30-31

“As to the exact day or hour, no one knows it, neither the angels in heaven nor even the Son, but only the Father. Be constantly on the watch! Stay awake! You do not know when the appointed time will come.”    –Mark 13, 32-33

The verses above give you a quick summary of the end of the world and the return of Jesus. For many people, the End Times are an exciting time of anticipating the return of Jesus Christ to gather to himself his chosen people who are destined for heaven. Others are anxious and fearful that they might be left out. As I have said in earlier articles, people will be judged based on their hearts for God, and the kind of lives that they have lived. You will not be able to hide from God anything about yourself, especially deep, dark, and hidden sins that you may be harboring within. When Jesus comes, the time for you to change your life will be over, and the only hope that will be left for you to maybe salvage a long sinful life, is to have a heart which cries out to Jesus, “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner!” The warnings which always come when conditions on earth seem to point to the end of the world, are to be alert, stay awake, and be prepared! Are we in the final generation which will experience the destruction of the earth, and a personal judgement to come for all those alive at the time? There are a couple of things for us to consider today, as some say that the end is nearer than we think.

One is the conditions that the end time dwellers will face, and which point to a possible end in their lifetimes. Those times will be very painful and hopeless, wicked, and full of rebellion. There are many descriptions in the Bible of the nature of those final times, but the clearest and best, in my mind, are contained in  2 Timothy 3, 1-5:

(Read the following slowly and carefully to see if the conditions presented match the conditions that we see present in America and the world today)

“Do not forget this: there will be terrible times in the last days. Men will be lovers of self and money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, profane, inhuman, implacable, slanderous, licentious, brutal, hating the good, they will be treacherous, reckless, pompous, lovers of pleasure rather than of God as they make a pretense of religion but negate its power. Stay clear of them!”

This certainly sounds to me like, if we aren’t in the end times, we seem to be rapidly heading that way, as we are more and more seeing godlessness and evil openly flaunted by people these days. But before I go on, let me emphasis that everyone alive today will definitely experience an end time, and see Jesus face to face. Every person living today will eventually face this and we should always be prepared. Every person has a personal date reserved for this, and each one of us passes the pre-anniversary of that date every year, even though we are not aware of it. It’s everyone’s destiny that is alive today–it’s called “death.” Don’t wait for the final End Times to prepare yourself. Don’t be afraid as you read this, either, because Jesus desires that all men be saved. If you are willing to partner with him to save you, then you will be saved. Never give up on this hope! If God is for you, then who can really be against you? No one!

The other important things to check to see if the final end will come in your lifetime, are clearly stated in the following scripture passage:

“On the question of the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we beg you, brothers, not to be so easily agitated or terrified, whether by an oracular utterance, or rumor, or a letter alleged to be ours, into believing that the day of the Lord is here. Let no one seduce you, no matter how. Since the mass apostasy has not yet occurred nor the man of lawlessness been revealed–that son of perdition and adversary who exalts himself above every so-called god proposed for worship, he who seats himself in God’s temple and even declares himself to be God…..”     –2 Thessalonians 2, 3-4

The mass apostasy must come before the end of the world is close at hand. This is when a large majority of Christians and believers in God renounce their faith and turn to secularism, nature worship, atheism, or just plain godlessness. When the mass apostasy has fully taken root on the earth, it will mean that a large majority of the population will have been taken over and enslaved by Satan and his demonic hoards of followers. This will usher in a time of rebellion, hate, chaos, destruction, agony, stark fear, breakdown of governments, civil disorder, wars, hopelessness, and deep despair. It is something that no one reading this would want to experience and endure. The End Times are not a romantic prelude to the return of Christ, as some might imagine, they will literally be hell on earth! For most people still living, the final end will seem like a blessed relief.

Before the end, we should also expect to see Satan make his appearance and seek worshippers of himself amidst great miracles and other signs in the heavens and on earth. The Bible verses below give us a little peek into what the manifestation of this fallen angel will be like:

“This lawless one will appear as part of the workings of Satan, accompanied by all the power and signs and wonders at the disposal of falsehood–by every seduction the wicked can devise for those destined for ruin because they have not opened their hearts to the truth in order to be saved. Therefore God is sending upon them a perverse spirit which leads them to give credence to falsehood, so that all who have not believed the truth but have delighted in evildoing will be condemned.”   — 2 Thessalonians 2, 9-12

All who oppose God, the Truth, and personal Salvation, and delight in evildoing will be condemned. Work hard to keep yourself from straying in these ways, and seek and obey God with all your heart. That will provide you with assurance that when you die, you will spend eternity with God safely in heaven.

The Good News is Meant for All People and Every Land

Public Harbor, Drøbak, Norway

April 29, 2019

     Christianity is not meant for one country, one small group of people, or one church. That is why over the more than 2,000 years since it was founded by God through Jesus Christ, professing Christians have grown to a staggering 2.3 billion people today. It is by far the largest religion in the world, almost 1/3 of the entire population of 7.3 billion people. This is because it is not primarily a religion, but it is rather a relationship between God and true believers worldwide. Through the centuries, Christianity has had to face many battles against those who oppose it, as well as abuses and evil from its own leaders, but it always rights itself and goes on. Evil happens within the church, because the people who run the church are not perfect, nor are they shackled by God and made to do what is right. Instead, they must be inspired and continually led by God to remain obedient, just, and good. That goodness flows from a true presence of God that dwells within each believer. Believers are not slaves, but willing partners with God. This is the one thing that makes Christianity attractive to peoples of every land. All believers are free from moment to moment to either listen to and obey the voice of God within, or they can go their own way and follow their own desires. When leaders and believers go their own way, the Church suffers damage, but the God who lives within true believers will repeatedly purge the Church, and bring it back to the right direction and obedience to his perfect will.

In God’s eyes, all people count equally and all are loved by him, even if they reject him. God will give all human beings under heaven who have ever lived on earth, a chance to repent of their sins and accept salvation through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. God is not hindered from saving souls who may never have heard of him, or who were ignorant of a true understanding of Christ’s saving death on the cross, or who died before they could make such choices, or any of myriads of scenarios which look to men like they are unfair to specific individuals or groups. God is God, and because of that, in the end he will make all things fair and just that have ever happened on the earth. It will always be our choice to repent of our sins and accept salvation or not. Scripture attests to this:

“Prayer of this kind is good, and God our savior is pleased with it, for he wants all men to be saved and come to know the truth. And the truth is this: ‘God is one. One also is the mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all.’ ”    –1 Timothy 2, 3-6

Since God wants all men to be saved, then neither time, nor religion, nor ethnicity, nor country of origin, nor the devil, nor any person, nor evil, nor sinfulness, nor enemies, nor random events, nor any other thing will be able to thwart his will. When the time comes for you to choose repentance for sin and obedience to God, how you choose and nothing else can stop God from saving you. Work diligently towards having this kind of humble and contrite heart, and if you do, you need not worry about missing out on heaven when you die. These next scripture verses show the lengths to which God will go to bring salvation to men:

“The reason why Christ died for sins once for all, the just man for the sake of the unjust, was that he might lead you to God. He was put to death insofar as fleshly existence goes, but was given life in the realm of the spirit. It was in the spirit also that he went to preach to the spirits in prison. They had disobeyed as long ago as Noah’s day, ….”     –1 Peter 3, 18-20

“The reason the gospel was preached even to the dead was that, although condemned in the flesh in the eyes of men, they might live in the spirit in the eyes of God.”    –1 Peter 4, 6

Here we see that Jesus Christ preached even to people who had died long ago, showing his heart for the Good News to be made available to all people. Since he did this, then you can just imagine what other things he might do to fulfill his desire that all men be saved. 

But for you reading this, you are not yet dead, and many of you likely have heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. Your choice is now, and you need to be careful not to reject salvation for yourself when the choice is presented to you. If you haven’t already made the choice, when you feel the pull of God on your heart, open yourself to his presence and let him in. No one who meets the holy and true God with this attitude is ever disappointed. He only wants to bring you love, goodness, healing, mercy, forgiveness, and eternal life as you eventually become one with him. There is nothing to seek that is greater in life, but you have to try it to find out. Scripture speaks of the importance of this moment of decision that we will all face:

“Wherefore, as the Holy Spirit says; ‘Today if you should hear his voice, harden not your hearts as at the revolt in the day of testing in the desert, …’ ”   –Hebrews 3, 7-8

“Therefore, while the promise of entrance into his rest still holds, we ought to be fearful of disobeying lest any one of you be judged to have lost his chance of entering. We have indeed heard the good news, as they did. But the word which they heard did not profit them, for they did not receive it in faith.”   –Hebrews 4, 1-2

If you read this and are not sure if you will make it to heaven when you die, the Good News of salvation is for you. There is only one God who made you, who made the world and all in it, and who made the vast universe which has so many stars and galaxies, that no one can even count them. Pray to this God to save you. You don’t have to get rid of all your bad habits and sins to be acceptable to him. Your very praying to him and trusting him with your life and eternal salvation is all that you need, along with a humble and contrite heart:

“My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.”  — Psalm 51, 19

“All that the Father gives me (Jesus) shall come to me; no one who comes will I ever reject, because it is not to do my own will that I have come down from heaven, but to do the will of him who sent me.”   –John 6, 37-38

Once you come to him, he will begin to do the rest. He will forgive your sins, and he will purge you of all unholiness. He will lead you to the church that you should attend, and teach you wisdom and truth. The Bible will be your roadmap to heaven, as through it the Holy Spirit will lead you to all truth. Praise God, you are saved!