Casting Crowns has a number of great songs.  One that of such truth is Slow Fade.  My pastor mentioned at church yesterday how there is usually a path before we come to sin.  I am reminded of the passage:

Jas 1:13-15 ~ Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

We may not always notice the path, but we open the doors in our lives to evil by the little things as much as the big ones.  Everyone of us need to watch out for the signs of that “Slow Fade” and reverse its course before it comes to fruition.

In the song, it says “It's the second glance that ties your hands as darkness pulls the strings”, that is the point where you have opened a door because you have given over your will to the tempter.  The first glance may not require your will, but the second time, it is your will to look.

In another line it says “For it's the little feet behind you that are sure to follow”.  You are an example to those around you including your own family of loved ones.  What path are you leading them down?

One key sign that you are sliding down that path is shown in the line “It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray”.  Do you still see things clearly or are things of righteousness becoming hazy, not so easy to discern anymore?  Often, this is due to us ignoring what the Spirit is saying to us and allowing our own will to take control.  The Spirit of God will become more and more quiet if we do not listen!  Another reason is lack of God’s Word, we much take in God’s Word every day to remain strong and alert. 

While there are many more points in the song, the primary one is, as the song says in “When you give yourself away, people never crumble in a day”, it is by “Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid”.  It is a step-by-step process and every step of the way, we make the choices, as God has already said:

1Co 10:13 ~ There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

We ALWAYS have a way of escape, but we must notice the escape and follow that path.  That ball is always in our court.

When will it wake up?  This last year of 2008, I researched healing in the Scriptures and found that everyone who meets the following list of qualifications are promised every time, healing from sickness and disease:

• Must be a Born Again Christian (there is still healing available to some extent for non-believers but not promised)
• Must not have any unrepentant sin, must be walking the walk
• Must not have unforgiveness in your heart
• Must believe that the Christ can and will heal you without doubts

If you meet those qualifications, then there is nothing to hinder you from being 100% healed.   That said, it can still be hard for people to have the faith without doubts unless they are walking very close to God.  This is where the elders come in though, as they should be in that close walk and be able to pray a prayer of faith over you, but elders are hard to find.

Okay, so, everyone should be healed and not only healed but be blessed under the new covenant. But what is the reality we see in the churches today?  There are probably more people at church on medications and receiving medical treatments than there are healthy people.  This should not be!  It is a sad thermometer of the Church as a whole and shows we are not taking the work seriously.   Don’t believe that?  Here is a list of names I received in a prayer request email for December 25th, 2008:

JESSIE 11, TUMOR ON BRAIN STEM  
GRACIE ANN,6, PREMATURE, LUNG PROBLEMS
BAILEY,14, LEUKEMIA   
MICHAEL,19, HEAD INJURY, HOLE IN BRAIN
NICHOLAS,12, LUNG TRANSPLANT
SHERIDA,10, DOWNS SYNDROME
HUNTER,14, PRENATAL STROKE
MITCHELL,15, CANCER
LISA,14, NEEDS KIDNEY
SHILOH,9,PARKINSONS
BRANDON,7, TOXIC SHOCK
MATTHEW,18, SPINAL MENENGITUS
AUDREY ANN,11, NEEDS LIVER TRANSPLANT
CANDY,16, CANCER SINCE AGE OF 2
KEVIN,16, CEREBRAL PALSY
ANNA,17, MUSCULAR DISEASE
ASHLEY,11, BLOOD DISEASE
BO,9, POMPES DISORDER
LEAH,12, HEPITITUS
BECKY,RACHEL,14, 12, CYSTIC FIBROSIS
JESSE 17, CANCER
JARED,9, FLUID ON BRAIN
JOHN, BEATRICE,DIEF,15, 14, 12, RICKETS
BELLE,16, HAD HEART TRANSPLANT
MEGAN,11, HEART DEFECT
BRANDON, KYLIE,10, TWINS, HEART DEFECTS, ASTHMA
STEPHANIE,18, INTESTINAL BLOOD DISORDER
GABRIEL,10, CEREBRAL PALSY
SHEY,12, LEUKEMIA
SADIE,12, DOWNS SYNDROME, NEEDS VERTABRAE FUSION
CRYSTAL,10, CANCER
BETHANY,8, SERIOUS ANKLE PROBLEMS
HANNAH,7, CEREBRAL PALSY
EB,6, SKIN DISEASE
JUSTIN,12,HYPOGLYCEMIA
TAYLOR,7, SEVERE BURNS
TAMERA,12, CANCER
ASHLYNN,4, HYPOTHYROIDISM
AUSTIN,12, CEREBRAL PALSY
JOEL 13, HEART TRANSPLANT, OTHER ORGANS REJECTING IT
SAGE,8, BORN WITH INTESTINES ON OUTSIDE OF BODY,DIABETIC
DOMINIC, 8, MELANOMA
SULLY, 16, CANCER
JOHN MARK, 19,  HEAD GREW FASTER THAN OTHER, WASN'T SUPPOSED TO SEE 2ND BD, CAN�T SPEAK, SIMILAR TO QUADRIPLEGIA
JARED 8 MONTHS SKULL SURGERY
AVA, 5, LEUKEMIA
SARAH,10, UNDERDEVELOPED BLADDER
ZACH,6, RARE SKIN DISEASE
Ric  12, disease  similar to lupus
CALEB  2  HEART SURGERY
JOSHUA 4 HEART MURMUR, REFLUX
ZACH 14 MALIGNANT BRAIN TUMOR
HEATHER 14 KIDNEY PROBLEMS
JACKSON 6 LEUKEMIA
JARON 6 RARE BLOOD DISEASE
NICHOLAS  10 NEEDS LUNG TRANSPLANT
AIDEN 8 MONTHS, GOING THRU CHEMO
JAKE 7, TUMOR ON BRAIN
AMY 8, LUNG CANCER AND BRAIN TUMOR
MADDIE 6, CANCER
SARAH 5, CANCER
DANIEL 6, NEUROBLASTOMA
CHRISTIAN 2, NOSE OPERATION
CHRISTAL 19, BIPOLAR
LIZZIE  18  NEEDS HEART TRANSPLANT
MASON 9, LEUKEMIA
GRAYSON 11 LYMPHOMA
MEGAN 9 BRAIN TUMOR, SIGHT PROBLEMS FROM CHEMO
EMMA JOY- NEW BORN NEEDS OPEN HEART SURGERY
KATIE 4 LIVER CANCER
KATIE 4 HEPATOBLASTOMA
REANNA 3 HAS HAD HEART SURGERY AND TUMORS REMOVED FROM HER LUNGS
CHANDLER 16 ONLY PARTIAL USAGE OF ONE KIDNEY
IVY 5 LUNG DISEASE

These are primarily children, they should not be sick, the Church should be there with healing in their hands so that this horrible suffering is never seen.  Again, the reality of it, is lists like this pop up often with many children going through things that bring horror to your heart.

What will it take for us to spend time building a relationship with God, cutting out the cares of this world and actually taking our faith seriously?  There should be healing centers in every town where elders can lay hands on people and make sure there are all are healed every time and the sad truth is, I do not know of a single center anywhere in the the USA.

The Scriptures are clear, healing is provide and is for today, but we only have our life of complacency to blame for all this sickness and disease that is upon us.  As see clearly in:

Rev 3:14-22 ~  And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;  I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.  To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

We need to wake up and get out of our lukewarm state of mind.  What will it take to bring us to our responsibilities? It is time to wake up and hear the call!

More on this topic coming soon!

I recently was in prayer and had a thought, “If you depend on anything or anyone other than the Christ for your happiness, then you are open for the enemy to spiritually cripple or destroy you.”.  This might sound strange when you first hear it, but after more thought, it is the truth.

In what do you place your trust?  Not just a reasonable level depending on the person or thing, but the kind of trust that would shake you to your core if violated.  Do you place trust in your job or business?  Maybe you trust your close friends or family, or perhaps you have trust in your spouse. 

If you place your full, unshakable trust in anyone or any thing other than the Christ, you have set yourself up to be spiritually and emotionally crippled or destroyed.  Given the right circumstance, in the right environment, with the right conditions, everyone and every thing, other than the Christ will fail you.  Jesus is the only one that will not fail you.  At times it may appear that He has, but He knows the beginning from the end, He knows what will happen in the future and He will never fail you.  We should have our full trust in Him.

Proverbs mentions how words can hurt, how people can fail you and how your emotions can override good sense.  If you place your trust in and/or receive your primary source of happiness from anyone or any thing other than the Christ, then He is second place in your life.  Scripture clearly tells us that He is to be first place in our life and everything else a far distant second place, and for good reasons.

Many Christians know sin is wrong and that you should not intentionally sin.  They would not consider committing adultery or to steal something from someone, nor is telling a lie is not acceptable.  Now, you take that same person who happens to be happily married who was placed their full trust in their spouse which is the focus of their happiness, and let the person find their spouse in an act of adultery.  At that time, their mind and emotions are consumed with hurt, anger, shame and bitterness.  All of the sudden, things of God no longer seem all that important, sin does not seem that important.  Their hurt and anger overrides their common sense because God is not first place in their life.  Their source of happiness, their spouse, is no longer there and all that remains is a vacuum of hurt and betrayal.  Sin does not seem that important to a person in such a situation.  Some people who are emotionally consumed turn to cutting themselves as a source of release.  The pain they feel in their flesh is less than the anguish they feel inside. 

Now, the same story as above, but this time, the primary person has placed God as then center of their happiness, and the person spends quality time with God on a daily basis.  The same incident occurs and they find their spouse in such a situation.  While they may be hurt and still feel some betrayal, the pain is not overwhelming, they are still centered, but this time the turn to God for strength and to obtain His help to forgive the person’s spouse.  This is the way we should handle any offense by others and with God as our source we can do just that.

The point is, if our source of happiness is something other than God, we not only set ourselves up to harm, but give the enemy a target to attack in order to cause us to stumble.

Mat 10:37 ~ He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

We need to keep God as our source for happiness by our love and trust in Him and everyone and everything else a distance second place.

The other day we had some fog around our town.  As I was driving I realized that our Christian life is much like a foggy day.  While we wish we could always see down to our destination, we usually can only see but just a little ways before us or around us, beyond that we do not know what the future holds.  Yes, we know the final destination, but the path is often not visible only that which is right before us.

Only that which we can see is all that should concern our minds.  We have tendency to try mapping out distant paths, however, they may often change before we even get there.  This is where we are to learn to trust God that He has it all laid out in front of us, even though we do not see it, we are to trust in Him, as He knows what the best path is and He is continually building the proper path if we will let Him.

So, look around, see what you can see.  This is where our actions work, it is what we do here in the place we can see that directs our path to what we do not see.  In the picture above, the road is seen for a short distance, but there is enough that we can see where to drive and stay safe. If we follow the road, God will reveal more road beyond what we can see.  If we follow a wrong action and stray off the road, we will not see what God had planned ahead and will find ourselves striving to get back on the road, to the sure path ahead.

It is the same in our Christian life, there are people in our lives today that need prayer, instruction, encouragement and other forms of help or even simply some seed sown into their lives. Maybe there are people around us ready to help us also if we will notice the offer.  We may not see the road ahead for them or us, we trust in God for the future.

It is the Now where we live and work.  Let us see clearly that which is around us and let God map the road ahead of us!

Today, while reading Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on a chapter in Proverbs, I came by the passage:

“The righteous must leave the earth as well as the wicked; but the earth is a very different thing to them. To the wicked it is all the heaven they ever shall have; to the righteous it is the place of preparation for heaven. And is it all one to us, whether we share with the wicked in the miseries of their latter end, or share those everlasting joys that shall crown believers?”

This world along with the problems that come with sin in a person’s life is all the heaven a sinner will see.  Even if their life has been one of sorrows and suffering due to sin, this life on this earth is still the best they will ever see, if they do not turn onto God.

For those of us who know Jesus, this is merely boot camp, it is training to prepare us for the Millennial Reign where the Christ, Yeshua, The King of Kings, Jesus when He shall rule here on this earth for a bit over one thousand years and then on to eternity!  But are we really learning or just living on furlough for our entire training period.  If so, what will happen when we run into situations where we need this training?

Today, I woke up thinking about the awesome act of God, that He took His body and sacrificed it for feeble mankind, that He poured out His blood to atone for our sins and made covenant with us.  This new covenant, is signed by the Blood of God, forever declaring the its power!

Now, we are all made one people, one nation of the Kingdom of God by our King sacrificing Himself and sealing His promise to us as members of this new Kingdom with His own blood.  What loyalty should we have to His kingdom.  We are just visitors here, we are members of a new Kingdom and have a roll more of an ambassadors for the Kingdom of God. It is our job no, our duty, to represent the Kingdom of God which is built with such a grand action, paid for not with Blood of animals, not with blood of man, but with the Blood of God Almighty.

At times, I think we as believers and members of this Kingdom we tend to look more superficially on the sacrifice that was made, rather than to the real price paid for our redemption.  Often, some may look at this as a man giving up his life as a sacrifice for all, in that he bore great punishment, died and God raised him from the dead.  This was not just a man though, this was and is God!  Yes, it was Jesus, but at no point was He still not God, He is part of what makes up God and nothing less.

Picture this, God Almighty, the everlasting God, in His great unfathomable mercy took part of Himself and made Himself confined to a mortal body and all its limitation.  Remember this is God, the one with the creatures that are before Him crying “Holy, Holy, Holy” all the time, this same God allowed all of His creation in heaven and in earth, see Him be limited to a mortal male body.  Then they all witnessed Him being tortured, spat upon and defiled in so many ways until finally He was killed upon a cross and then stuck into the tomb.  All this by his own frail creation, called mankind.  He could have fired everyone in a blink of an eye, but He purposed to pay the price for us.

God took all this suffering and shame for what reason?  Simply so that we, who could not help but end up sinning, be redeemed unto Him.  He had to provide a way that we would not have to bare our just deserved punishment.  All of this just for us.  Is it any wonder why my favorite verse in the Bible is:

Rom 5:8  ~ But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Yes, while we were in complete rebellion against God, He still allowed all this to happen to Himself just to give us the ability to be redeemed!   What a might God we have!

Here are a few other Scriptures you might ponder, we need to remember that we were bought with a price and one we cannot even comprehend!

Joh  6:53-58 ~ Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.  Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.  For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.  He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.  This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.

1Co 11:23-33 ~  For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:  And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.  After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.  For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.

Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.  For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.  For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.

For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.  Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.

Rom 12:1-2 ~ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Rom 6:19 ~ I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

Luk 17:7-10 ~ But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?  And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?  Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not.  So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.  

2Co 6:16-20  ~ And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing;  and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.  

What?  Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God,  and ye are not your own?  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

2Co 5:14 –15 ~ For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:  And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

2Co 5:17-20 ~ Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

1Th 4:7  ~ For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.

Eph 2:10  ~ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Heb 10:14-27 ~  For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.  Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;  And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.  Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;  And having an high priest over the house of God;  Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)  And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. 

For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

1Pe 2:1-25 ~  Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
 
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
 
Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;  Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
 
Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.

Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
 
For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

Was the days of creation 24-hour days like as we know them today?  Well, why not?  What is gained by making them longer than 24-hours?  Why does it matter, it does not seem like an issue either way, is it important for some reason?  Can the order of the days of creation prove anything?

Some people believe in “Progressive Creationism” which typically gives each day of creation a long span of millions or billions of years or that the days vary in length depending on task, but still usually end with billions of years over the span of the six days of creation.

Reading through the Genesis account of creation, a person without any bias would only conclude the days to be a normal 24-hour day as it does not say otherwise.   Additionally the account pictured in Genesis clearly portrays a normal week of time. 

Why would there need to a long periods of time in the creation narrative?  The only issue that could be brought up is how long did it take before God created Eve along with how long it took Adam to name all those animals, could that have been in just one 24-hour day?   Yes, this all could have easily happened in a 24-hour period, more details on this a little later.

Are there any other reasons for a long span of time in the days of creation? There is only one that I know of and that is to take external information and try to force the Bible to fit that external information.   Can God create everything in each day as denoted in Genesis in literal 24-hour days?  If so, then why should we take outside knowledge and force it into the Word of God?  Man is fallible, but God is not!  There is even a more important answer around this to be answered a little later in this post.

This post will try to show some common reasoning for a 24-hour day model, what problems a long day model would create and why a 24-hour day matters. 

Why does it matter which way we believe?

The problem with padding the Creation with long periods of time that are not really observed in the text is simply mankind believing what they learn from secular means and forcing the Bible to comply with their knowledge or person experience.  This is the heart of the issue, it is not how long it really took, it is more importantly, some will take the word of fallible mankind over the Word of God.  This should NEVER happen, God’s Word stands true when all of man’s theories have long since changed!

The creation week is one of many foundations in our faith.  If we discount the creation we will discount other parts of Scripture.  Quite often people who are Progressive Creationists will also embrace a local flood denying not only the evidence all around the planet showing a global flood, but also the Word of God.  These are more holes the enemy places into people’s knowledge so that they have nothing to stand on and at the end of the day, can end up like the Jesus Committee who have study themselves stupid, denying that Christ was raised from the dead and thus casting away their faith.  It is holes such as these that undermine your faith and gives place to the enemy to attack you.

The depth these theories have penetrated into Christian studies is amazing. Just pick up a Scofield Reference Bible or some other major versions of the Bible and see how many ideas of Progressive Creation or Gap theories are expounded along with local flood theories and others.  Many top ministers have been taught Progressive Creationism and continue to promote it themselves.  There was a nationally known pastor with probably forty years or better of experience who said to his congregation, “Never tell anyone who can read, that the world is only is only 6,000 years old”.  This same minister had a video he made in the Middle East, where he was at Jericho, talking about the age of the city as being over 11,000 years old.  He believes this, while the Bible clearly denies this age, but he has already given his mind over to the Bible as being inaccurate when it comes to times and accepts outside secular dating above the Word of God.

On a personal note, I had heard many mentions from ministers and lay people prior to and throughout my Christian walk talking about the inaccuracies of times in the Bible and all the missing genealogies, saying the Bible dating cannot be trusted.  I still did not believe this in regard to the date of the creation and most likely not for the Flood, but there was room for doubt by the seeds they had planted in my mind.  This also happened in the doctrine of healing, but that is another area I have had to research and find the truth. 

Not long ago I started digging into genealogies and dates of events when my wife and I noticed that Methuselah, the one who had the longest lifespan, died in the year of the flood.  Over those months of research, I found many interesting facts such as:

• Adam and Eve were not in the garden for more than 70-90 years maximum
• the time period from creation to the flood
• Shem, Noah’s son, would have had possibly second hand information from Adam as Methuselah and Adam would have been alive at the same time for hundreds of years
• Isaac could have received information about Adam and all the pre-flood world by Shem as he was still alive at the time of Isaac.
• Jacob was 84 years old when he married and that he was in his 70’s when he fooled his father into blessing him, although he saw his father again after Jacob had returned with all wives and children as Isaac was still alive then.

And other facts I found interesting.  The point is I discovered much to the counter the assumptions of many people about biblical dates and found the Bible is a reliable source for dating.  If the issues people claim against its dating were all accepted as true, it still would only account for a few hundred years one way or another, there is no room for thousands, millions or billions of years, they do not and cannot exist from the birth of Adam onward. 

There are only a handful of places in the all of Scripture that are as important as to be able to undermine your faith and creation is one of them.  For centuries, many leaders in the faith have compromised their beliefs in order to blend mankind’s science and the Bible.  If they blend completely then we are at one of two places, one of compromise, thus hindering our faith or the Lord has returned and everyone knows the truth.

There are events in the Bible that modern science will deny and are not possible to fit because they are “supernatural” which is outside the realm of mortal mankind.  For example, here are a few they will not believe:

• the waters parted to allow people to walk  across, which is recorded as happening four times in the Bible.
• the sun stood still in the sky for a day, absolutely impossible to modern science in a multitude of ways.
• people were raised from the dead which occurs in many places in the Bible
• Food fell down from heaven for forty years
• God has visited mankind on many occasions
• fire came down from the sky and consumed people at the will of a man

The list of interesting facts goes on and on.  If you try to blend the two, you will either end up offending those who embrace science as their God or you will offend God, there is no middle ground.  God should always be first, this was the first commandment.

Everyone (that includes you the reader) will come to a point where you will be have to make a choice of God’s Word or the secular, you will have to decide where you will place your trust.

Is it the "Six Days of Creation" or is it the "Six Ages of Creation"?

Note: Extensive work is available on running down the word “Day” in Hebrew and the possibilities and I do not wish to repeat them here.  You will find links at the end of this post that you can follow for more details. 

Can the word "day" mean anything other than a 24-hour day?  Of course it can, depending on context.  You might use the phrase "back in the day", while commonly used as denoting an era of time, it can still refer to a specific day depending on context.  For example, "back in the day when I married your mother", this can refer to a time period around that time frame of the marriage or could mean the specific day they were married.  Further context would have to be used to determine the usage such as "back in the day when I married your mother and we exchanged rings" which would be enough to realize the phrase was referring to specific 24-hour day.

Now, what if we said "On the first day of vacation we flew to Alaska"?  By the context of the attachment of the "first", it tells us that we are talking about a specific 24-hour day that an event occurred.  In Genesis, this is exactly what we find, each day is attached to a number.  Why does not a normal 24-hour day apply?  Does it sound correct and in context to say "the first age" and the "six ages of creation"?  For some they might sadly say yes.

For most people, attaching a number to the day would be enough to understand the reference is to a normal 24-hour day and not a variable range of time.  But there is even greater context given to guarantee we do not go down that road.  Genesis goes on to say "the evening and morning where the first day".  We are clearly pointed to the literal meaning of a 24-hour day by the context used and not an "age" of time.  While we might use "the dawn of the new age", the addition of the "evening and morning" reference tied to the numbed day should give us enough insight to say that at least the Bible clearly suggests each day is a typical day.

Can we know that God’s day is the same?

The bigger question here is “why would it not be the same”?  On the fourth day it says He made the sun, moon and stars.  Some suggest that He had already made them some time in the past and was only referring to them or He then allowed them to be seen.  Clearly the text does not even allude to that point of view.  This is yet another verse those who want to force long periods of time into Genesis have to bend in order to fit their views of the perceived of billions of years some in science claim.

Gen 1:14-19 ~ And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

We notice in the passage that it says the lights were to be used for measurement of time “for seasons, and for days, and years”.  It only makes sense that He would make the cycle of the earth day the same as the one He is already using in Genesis.  Why would God use the term “day” and then build the earth to run at a different cycle for the same word “day”?  God is not the author of confusion, and using the same word to define different periods of time in the same passage and context would be nothing more than confusion.

Do the order or length of Creation Days present a problem?

If the days recorded are 24-hour days, then there should be no problem with the order or length of days.  However, if they are thousands or billions of years as some would suggest, you have big problems.  First problem, you have grass, herbs and fruit trees being created on the third day, but the sun is made on day four.  This would mean the trees and vegetation would have to remain alive for thousands or billions of years without the sun and we know that is impossible.

It is not merely the problem with the sun, the trees and vegetation would have to reproduce and survive without any pollination for not only the time period of the third day until the forth day without the sun, but two more days of thousands, millions or billions of years as the insects were created on day six. Now that is really stretching things!

Gaps of long periods of times over those day periods just does not seem to make any sense.  There are too many interdependencies to have days of long duration and still manage to keep everything alive and moving forward throughout the different periods of time.  

What about Adam naming those animals and about Eve?

What about Adam and Eve?  How long did they live on the sixth day?  Could Adam name all those animals in only one 24-hour day?  Wasn’t Eve created a little later, after Adam had been in the garden for a while?

If the sixth day was a long span of time they would have to be created at the end of the day, which we know because Adam and Eve gave birth to Cain and Able after the fall which had to come far before the birth of Seth which the Bible states happened when Adam was 130 years.  So, the fall of mankind had to happen at a maximum of 70-90 years after the creation of Adam and the fall was not recorded in the six day of creation.  We surely couldn’t put the fall before the seventh day. 

Okay, so what about Eve?  What about naming all those animals?  It surely took more than a day for him to get lonely, right?  Wrong view, you are looking for Adam to get lonely, when it was God who was on the move to make Adam a mate:

Gen 2:18-23 ~ And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;  And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.  And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

When did this happen?  This was when God placed man in the garden and warned him about the tree of knowledge.  Adam then went straight way on to naming the animals as God formed them from the ground and brought them before him.  When finished, there was not a mate found so God created one.  God put Adam to sleep and then created him a mate, Eve.  This is a specific event, not separated by any other event.  Simply, God figured Adam needed a help mate and showed him a vast array of up to 2,500 creatures causing him to become lonely as he watched these pairs being made and he was alone.  Probably God’s way to make him appreciated his new mate without considering her as just another creation, but part of himself.  Who knows, but it does suggest there was no pause or time period to divide the event such as sleep, eating, etc.

Then we have the seventh day, which could not have been long if it ended before the fall of man, which obviously, God was back from the rest at the fall of man.

Where does the number “2,500” animals come from?  When you consider what creatures Adam was to name and what would have been created before speciation, some give the total number to be named to be under 2,500 “kinds”, which could easily been done in a single day. 

Trying to inject large spans of time in creation causes a person to bend or flat out deny so many passages, it just does not make sense.  We should not bend God’s words to our beliefs, but rather bend our beliefs to his Word.

What about the seventh day, does it ever end?

Some have noticed that the seventh day of creation does not have the same format used in the other six days of creation and continues:

Gen 2:1-3  Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

While it has the day number attached, it does not have the “Evening” “Morning” wording of the other six days of creation. This has led some to believe that the seventh day of rest still continues to this day and shows that each day is long periods of time.  Do we think God is has been resting for all the time since creation?  Wrong, God has been actively participating throughout this world since the the fall of mankind.  He has been in the burning bush, the pillar of fire, even as He came in the body of Christ to redeem mankind, He is anything other than at rest.

There is another issue, in Exodus we have God using creation as a work model for the Sabbath:

Exo 20:8-11 ~ Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

He made everything in six days and the word here is yet again the same, six days of creation.  Are we meant to interpret that to say “For in six ages” and “rested on the seventh age”?  For those that think we are still in the seventh day, then I guess our week week should be that we work for six days and then rest for the rest of our life since He would never have been shown to stop resting, the other picture we could form is one of an everlasting day of rest.

What about a “day” as 1,000 years?

This is one passage that seems to come up often when time ranges or ages are mentioned and the topic of creation is no exception.  Let us go through and see where this comes from and what are the possible meanings.

Commonly the references to the phrase comes from these Scriptures:

Psalms 90:4  For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.

2 Peter 3:8  But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

Most people know the phrase mostly from the reference in 2 Peter.  They read it and think that the term “Day” to God can mean any period of time from a 24-hour day, a thousand years or ages.  The passing in Psalms 90 is taken in different ways b some theologians and I do not wish to spend a lot of time on this passage.  There is a common view among people that both of these passages reference to God being outside the realm of time, that it cannot relate to Him and is only used as a measurement in our world.

That said, there may be a more important message in 2 Peter than is obvious and it clear if used with external text.  Let us first look at 2 Peter in context though.  The first half of the chapter appears to be referring to a future event:

2Pe 3:3-7  ~ Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 2Pe 3:4  And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:  Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:  But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

2Pe 3:8  ~ But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

2Pe 3:9-13 ~  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,  Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?   Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

It is referring to the return of the Lord.  How does this phrase relate to the return of the Lord?  It says “be not ignorant of this one thing”.  Sounds like something important.  It says “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise”.  It sounds like a time frame that is specific, not simply meaningless.

This is where the external book of Barnabas, the traveling companion of Paul in the New Testament, comes in, not as a “inspired” book, but as simply a reference of what was a common belief back in the time of this writing:

"And God made in six days the works of his hands; and he finished them on the seventh day, and he rested the seventh day, and sanctified it. Consider, my children, what that signifies, he finished them in six days. The meaning of it is this; that in six thousand years the Lord God will bring all things to an end. For with him one day is a thousand years; as himself testifieth, saying, Behold this day shall be as a thousand years. Therefore, children, in six days, that is, in six thousand years, shall all things be accomplished."

When Peter wrote of the coming of the Lord and mentioned the “day as a thousand years” in the verse, it was probably quite clear to those who believed in this theory, that he was directly confirming this view and when these things would occur.  I imagine it much like we might say “Turkey Day” to reference Thanksgiving (here in the USA), most people would know what we are saying.  So likewise, Peter was probably making things very clear.  It is obvious that our world will not continue much longer and that the Lord will return in our lifetimes unless we go early.  So, this theory will still prove out anyway.  More on this topic in an old post (once there, scroll down to “The Soon Return”:

http://www.thesaintsinlight.com/post/2008/05/Other-older-posts.aspx 

What is the purpose of the Creation Week?

Here is something most of you have not thought about and until recently, nor had I.  What is the purpose of the Creation Week?  That is, I would imagine most of us believe God could easily have created everything in a fraction of a second without breaking up into a week.  On the Forth Day alone, He created the Sun, Moon and Stars!  Does anyone really think that God “rested” on the seventh day because He was wore out?  Our God is much more powerful than that.  So, why did He break it up into sections and go through this week?  Why just a week, why not two or break it down to a month or a year?

Perhaps God’s purpose was to give us a model, and example for us to follow.  Remember that God commanded in Ten Commandments to keep the Sabbath, six days of work and then the seventh day as a day of rest.  Here is the passage:

Exo 20:8-11 ~ Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

It is just like our God to show us the way.  In breaking up the creation to six literal days and the seventh day of rest, He is showing us that our work week should be six days and then a special day of rest.

Not only this, but it is also a pattern to the purpose of mankind’s existence. As mentioned in the section “What about a ‘day’ as 1,000 years?”, we are shown a pattern of 7,000 years where the first six days represent the days of creation * 1,000 years each.  Then there is the seventh day of rest, the Sabbath which would account for the 1,000 year Millennial Reign of the Christ where Jesus lives and reigns here on earth for 1,000 years and the earth is restored to a garden of Eden state of being.

Conclusion

No matter how we take the length of days of Creation, the primary point to this post is simply that we should never take outside information and force the Scriptures to comply with that information.  This is where error occurs.  Our view of everything we know should be governed by the Bible as God’s Word.  If the Bible does not suggest a matter, we have no right to try retranslating the Bible passages to fit our perspective.

I once heard a passage somewhere (some quote from back a few centuries) that stated they did not know a lot about science, but that our interpretation of the Scriptures be adjusted as knowledge increased, or something like that.  While this might play out for the passage in Daniel where some Scriptures was sealed up until the time of the end, it does not apply to creation.  God wrote it clearly and until He speaks differently, we have no right to change it.

References and links

For more information on the various topics, you can find interesting reading at the following links:

http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v27/i3/day.asp

http://www.answersingenesis.org/news/ross_hovind_analysis.asp

http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v2/n4/early-church-on-creation

http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v22/i1/subtlety.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archbishop_Ussher

http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/wow/whats-wrong-with-progressive-creation

http://www.creationevidence.org/

http://www.drdino.com/

http://www.creationists.org/

http://www.nwcreation.net/ageyoung.html

Depending on the church you attend and your doctrinal beliefs, people feel they should give anywhere from nothing up to a huge portion of what they earn.  Most though hold to ten percent of their income as Tithe, but often this can turn into a battle of is that “before or after taxes”?  Some think it should be thirty percent of your income.  There are even some that believe because the Pharisees in Luke 18:12 said he “give tithes of all that I possess”, so they say you must pay ten percent of all you own (let’s hope you do not have a really nice home).

There are those that think we owe God nothing, or as they put it, tithing was under the Law and we are not under the Law.  To that, Adam and Eve come to mind where they could have all of the garden but of one tree, it was to them a part of the blessing that was reserved by God and they were not to touch.  Then we have Abraham paying tithes.  Later we have Jacob promising God that he would give a tenth part of everything God gives him.  These are all before the Law.

Okay, so what do you give in an offering, ten percent, thirty percent or perhaps whatever we fill like when the mood strikes us?  Where do we give the tithes?

Let’s see if we can answer that last question first.  Scripture says:

Mal 3:8-11 ~  Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.  Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.  Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.  And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.

It seems the tithe, should go to your local church in order to take care of its needs and enable it to be a blessing to others.  What if you do not go to church?  Well, I was in that position once and what I did was simply to give to different ministries.  After I found a local church though, the tithe always went to the local church and I continued to send my offerings to the other ministries. 

What offerings, isn’t that the tithe?  Well, there is the tithe, but there is also offerings, that giving from your heart beyond the old requirement of a tithe.  For me, I have a set amount of offerings on top of tithe which is sent out to all those other ministries.  This is just part of my life, I do not consider any part of the tithe or offering as mine, it is simple passed through me.

Some may say I cannot afford tithes, let alone offerings.  When I hear those kinds of things, my thoughts go to the question, how is your walk with God?  It would seem that if you really love God and you are passionate about your relationship with Him, giving should be a simply part of our “reasonable service” as from Romans 12:1-2.  We should be happy to give unto God and see His work on this earth grow and be partakers in helping others.  If this is not the case, then we need to examine our relationship with Him and see where we are failing.

Now that all this have been said, on to the reason for this post.  Today I was thanking God the money to give and that I wish it could be more.  Then a thought passed my mind and I told him that I was sorry I required so much for my own.  Giving that more thought, I realized that I often look at this all wrong. 

My view is the tithe and offerings going to God and I have all that left over for my own life to do with as I please.  Perhaps I should be looking at it from a different perspective, such as my needs being met along with some level of comfort, but the money which is left over that really has no purpose, the extra, perhaps that should also be for God’s work.

I Remembered the parable in Luke about the man who had great increase:

Luk 12:16-21 ~ And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

He had increase far above his own needs, to the point he had plenty for a long time and no place to put this overflow, but in reality he should have used that increase to help others who might have lacked.  Instead, he was looking at only his own needs and in the process lost out on everything.  This reminds me of the Manna, that came down from heaven and feed the children of Israel for forty years.  If they gathered more than they would need for a single day, it would spoil the next day except for the Sabbath, which the day before they were to gather twice as much so they would not have to work on the Sabbath.

It seems that our overflow is given to us to work the things of God, which is also a great blessing for us, or at least it is our opportunity to do so, however we want to look at it.

Maybe I am not noticing the glass half full, but I am having a hard time understanding this current Christian world.  On the surface, it seems that a large number of people are trying to live as close as they can to the world instead of trying to live as close as they can to God.

For and example, there are Christian musicians that either look and/or act like the secular bands (such as rock, hip-hop, etc) and claim they are trying to reach those that others do not reach.  I have to wonder if that is really the focus or perhaps there are issues they have not yet dealt with in their lives which allow their fleshly desires to justify their apparent secular longings.  We could justify such actions but would it not be better to focus on charging up the “church” and having them go out and win those souls.  Or even see the true power of God come back into the church and no longer need to go out and fetch them in, they will knock down the door to get in the churches.

Recently, a minister I have seen a bit decided for some reason to get a Christian tattoo (one with Christian symbols).  Right out of the gate here, I will say I do not believe that ANYONE who claims to be a Christian should go out and get ANY kind of tattoo.  That desire should not be in them and if it is, there is probably a root cause that needs to be dealt with, we should not be in that type of carnality!

There were a few other things that started to change a bit with him.  Now I find that he is growing his hair out down to his shoulders.  When I saw him, I would have equated him with a person in a mission or street person.  Okay, some will give that line above that maybe it is to reach some of those that others cannot reach.  I still find it hard to believe that a mature grounded Christian would desire to mark up their body for any reason, or find the need to look just like the darker side of life, more like those that do not know God.  It is not the tattoo nor the hair (I had long hair when I was first saved and continued until I met my wife who did not like it, but it was all I knew, it was not a change to try looking rebellious), it is more a seeming insecurity or whatever brought this change.  Maybe there is a cry for help in there shown by the desire for these changes.

Yep, here it comes:

Rom 12:1-2 ~ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

We are not to be conformed to this world.  In other places we are called to be holy, to abstain from all “appearances” of evil, to be called out from among them, that we should walk with a newness of life.   If we are truly “Born Again”, then there should be a new life in us, we should not have any desire for the darker, rebellious things of this world.  We are “Saints in Light” and should strive to promote this, not the darker things of this world.

I once had a Christian man tell me a story when he had his pastor come over for dinner and he asked him what he wanted to drink, he made a joke about asking him if he wanted a beer and kind of looked at me odd as if he would have had one for him.  It is not an issue of drinking or not drinking beer, it is the rebellious joy that seemed to radiate from him as he told the story, more of one flirting with the edge of destruction.  This should not be in us as Christians, Christ followers, those that have been Born Again.  This is exactly what needs to be crucified every day, we need to put this away from us.

There are many things I battle in my Christian walk, and the fleshly man is there just ready to take over.  I know I deal with things like pride, anger, frustration, greed, lust for things I know I do not need and the list goes on.  But we have to pray and yield more of ourselves to God so that He can fill those parts with His presence and keep those fleshly traits put down.

We are the people of God, we need to act like it.  When we see Christians leaning over to these errors, we need to help them if possible, but for sure we need to pray for them.  This kind of immaturity in the Body of the Christ is hindering the move of God and thus people suffer because of it.

It is time that everyone who calls themselves Christian, should strive for Holiness and not only get our lives cleaned up, but even rid ourselves of every appearance of  evil!

Come on people, the time is to short to be playing games, we need to get the Body of the Christ built up and ready for battle.  The world is in bad shape and getting worse, it is time to bring the light into this dark world, we cannot do that if we do not shine!  If the world can not tell any difference between us and them, then there is no light..

Tonight, while listening to Kenneth Copeland’s grandson, Jeremy Pearsons talk on faith, I was moved by the power of some statements that often find their way into our minds, but we seem to look at them from the wrong perspective.  The message is basically trying to force us to keep our eye on the fact that our faith is in Jesus the Christ and is where it needs to stay.

In his teaching, Jeremy would take the word Faith when used and add “In Jesus the Christ” to the end of it.  So, instead of “have faith”, it would be “have faith in Jesus the Christ”.  Sounds simple enough with many common phrases, but then he hit one that opened my eyes a bit to point he was making.  In his example, instead of saying “I am not sure I have faith enough for .. “ would be replaced with “I am not sure I have faith enough in Jesus the Christ for ..”.  This is really what is being said, but it is much more palatable in the former method as it does not directly invoke Jesus.

One of my recent eye openers over the last six months was the passage in Mark 9:24 where the man who had a devil possessed boy brought him to the disciples, but they could not cast the devils out.  Jesus said to him “if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth”.  The man then replied (out of the new Living Translation), “I do believe, but help me not to doubt”.  When I came upon this translation it made more sense since the other versions which typically translated like “I believe but help my unbelief” which did not seem clear.  When I saw the use of doubts, I realized that you can believe in something but still have doubts that you need to work out.  The only problem here is that it still leaves an open door for that “who knows” feeling and that someday, just maybe we will overcome our doubts.  We do not really consider what we are doubting about or doubting in.

By applying the above principle, we would have to ask ourselves doubt in what?  We have faith IN something we also have doubts IN something.  In the end of the day, it comes down to doubts that Jesus will do as promised.  So, we then see the problem is that we do not trust that God will fulfill His Word.  This gives us a direction to seek God to eliminate error in us and forces us into His Word to find more proof so that we will believe.

Way back when in the 40’s and 50’s, my grandfather was a minister and I managed to get a few of his services that were on reel-to-reel tape.  In one service, he was talking about what we have placed our faith in, that all of us walk in faith, but what is that which we place our faith on.  This moved around in my mind back a number of years ago and I realized that many people have built for themselves there own gods.  For some it is a god of supposed science where evolution and the unknown allows them to live without worry of what comes after this life.  Others have made a god of desire, living a hedonistic lifestyle merely to fulfill their own pleasure without regard to others or a greater good.  There are even those that may call themselves Christians that have created a god they claim is the God the Bible describers, but they leave out the attributes that are unpleasing to them, in the god they have created, often making a god that allows a believer to live as they please without any demands upon them and in the end, their god is not a god of justice nor morality, but one that leads again to a hedonistic lifestyle washing you from all conviction.

Anyone can create whatever kind of god they so desire, but when this life is over and often even throughout this life, they miss out as their god is nothing more than a thought they cared to imagination.  They will at one time or another come face-to-face with the true God of the Bible and it will not matter how good they were nor what they did in the name of their imaginary god, they will move into eternity without God and face everlasting damnation.

So, in what or whom have you placed your faith?  May it only be on the God of the Bible without modification nor emulations, for it is only this God that will give you peace and life with Him.