dummies

The wife and I were discussing our houseplants. I says "I like them here because they add life to the place". (She didn't like how you have to clean up after their life). We have a combination of real and synthetic plants around the house. I said "I wonder if the real plants get annoyed by the fake ones?". It must be kinda like getting on the bus and looking for a seat, but the bus has mannequins sitting everywhere. Artificial representations of something real. Do they always flatter that which is real? or do they sometimes mock it?

If i met someone who looked and acted exactly like me, and did the same kinds of things i did, and i knew that I definitely was not a twin separated at birth, I bet it would be creepy to see that... uncomfortable. Possibly because deep down we all want to be unique. You ladies hate when you go to a party or some function and there's a another gal there with the exact dress you have on when you were convinced yours was an original. How much more disturbing when it's someone exactly like you? It was fun as a kid to imagine it being true, the urban legend that somewhere in the world everyone has a double. But now we can take heart knowing that in reality, God has made each one of us unique and special like snowflakes. We're everyone of us, "fearfully and wonderfully made".

There's just something irritating about a charade of something you are,...or aspire to be, being in your face.  ESPECIALLY if that portraiture is a gross misrepresentation.  A drastic example for a Christian, would be the "Westborough Baptists" who picket military funerals with anti-gay hate demonstrations. Even most non-Christian and secularists know they are really the lunatic fringe. They are the descendants of those who perpetrated bloodthirsty wars in God's name during the crusades and burned innocent people as witches in Salem. These people though claiming to be Christians, and NOT Christians, yet atheists and those aggressive in their attacks on Christianity love to point out these black eyes of our faith, but it's only intellectual dishonesty and mudslinging based on emotional bias when they're trying to lump all of Christendom together with those bad examples and make it seem like that we've done more harm then good. That's a lie. Yet it can still be an embarrassment.

There also is a practice in our time that is evil, when people deliberately make an issue out of one thing, and attempt to sway the tide of opinion or paint a bad picture based on it. It's seen in political spin doctoring, but also in everyday life when someone intentionally elevates a negative thing and deliberately forgets even an overwhelmingly larger amount of good things the person is or does. You want people to see you as you want to be seen. You don't want to be caught in an awkward moment doing something you're ashamed of, and have that image burned into their mind forever. When that happens to me...it drives me crazy. At work i want my co-workers to think i'm just as capable as them. One of the guys. It's a kind of peer pressure that stayed with me since high school i guess, you fear being singled out by the group. Being whispered and talked about or worse, being rejected. So when you finally show your true colors and make a mistake, you do everything you can to cover it up or fix it before anyone notices. (True colors in the sense that we all are indeed imperfect, not true colors that you are revealed to be inferior to their cliques.)

But getting back to the subject of imitators, the most sinister of ALL doppelgangers, is the one coming who will trick many people into thinking HE is Jesus Christ returning to the Earth. Often when all attempts at sabotaging the credibility of a person have been exhausted, the next move is impersonation. What better way to slander and defame someone, then to masquerade as them and do things that are inappropriate? First you must convince everyone that you're really the one you're impersonating. He wants to steal the Lord's thunder, but the REAL Messiah has a copyright that no one can infringe upon. Don't buy into this impostor, the genuine and authentic Jesus Christ is alive today and seeks to have a personal relationship with you. Do you know Him?








Вы, кто читает этот блог из России. Для меня большая честь. Ее мое скромное удовольствие, чтобы иметь возможность поделиться этими мыслями с вами отсюда в США Пожалуйста, не стесняйтесь комментировать на дне или спросить что-нибудь о том, что Библия говорит, или то, что я основываю свое мнение, я хотел бы услышать от вас, и ответить сразу. Да благословит вас Бог.


Vous qui lisez ce blog de ​​la France, je suis honoré. C'est mon humble plaisir de pouvoir partager ces pensées d'ici aux États-Unis S'il vous plaît n'hésitez pas à commenter ci-dessous ou demander quoi que ce soit, ce que la Bible dit, ou ce que je fonde mes opinions, je serais ravi d'écouter et de répondre immédiatement. Que Dieu vous bénisse.

Real Love

There was a song in the '70's by the Bee Gees called  "How deep is your love?".  God too, wants to know how deep your love is.

I've said many times to people that there's a difference between our human love here on Earth, and the love of God. Most Christians have heard the term "Agape love", and know there are at least four different Greek root words for love used in the New Testament, as C.S. Lewis wrote about in his book "The Four Loves".

What initiated this blog for me though, was thinking about an apparent contradiction of scripture that my wife once asked me about. At that time i didn't give her the answer to it, because my brain is aging and it tends to forget things. She asked "If Jesus asked Mary not to touch Him because He hadn't yet ascended to the Father, then why was Thomas allowed to?" The answer may lie with what the nature of love is where God is concerned, and how He wants us to better understand it.

I hate to go here, because detractors of the validity of scripture love to try and use it as a cop-out objection and reason to distrust the authority and accuracy of God's word, but i believe the meaning of some verses in the Bible, are "lost in translation". But the reason i think it's not a legitimate stance for the opposer of God's word, is i believe it's by design that some concepts are deliberately buried as treasures for the diligent to uncover, and that all of the real vital issues of salvation and knowledge of God are clear enough for children to understand. God is able to obscure just a few things in His word just enough to keep it interesting for those of us who daily keep our fascination with the Bible alive, and in typical God-like fashion those treasures are just as wonderful to us as when we first realised the foundational things of our faith, yet nothing a person needs to know in order to grow in their knowledge of God, will be hid from them. (Do you know what I'm sayin'?)

An example of an apparent contradiction like that is the  "Answer (not) a fool according to his folly.."  verses in Proverbs 26:4,5.

I've learned that when i come across and passage or verse that doesn't make sense, one thing i'm quick to consider is that the way I'm reading it as it's rendered, may not convey what the author was really trying to say. There's something below the surface you don't catch at first glance. (And again i strongly suggest that God knew what He was doing , and the ineptitude of men could never have thwarted what God wanted to accomplish...He's God.) If there were any inconsistencies with how the Bible was written, translated, or put together, they surely happened under the watchful and providential eye of God who had a master plan at play none of us could have ever imagined. It is also important for us to remember that about Him when we struggle with the meaning and nature of our own trials, and to remember Paul's words "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." Rom 8:28.

It's my feeling now that Jesus saying "touch Me not for I am not yet ascended.." in John 20:17, has a significance to it beyond what it sounds like on the surface. Could Jesus have been really saying "do not embrace me with Earthly affection now, it is a deeper Agape love that you will learn about after My ascension and subsequent return as your Holy Spirit Comforter" ...or something like that? It would explain why Thomas was allowed to touch the holes in his hands and side but she wasn't allowed to touch Him. God wants us to grow and understand nature of His love. Agape love. The love that Jesus Christ had for the world when He allowed us all to crucify Him on a cross. The world understands "love" as something sentimental and touchy feely. It invokes feelings and tears, warmth and emotion, but all of those in reality are effects and consequences of real love, as the Lord intended it. He is the Author of love. All love comes from Him. We are born into the world with the capacity for it, but if a muslim terrorist doesn't express love for us, it's not because he doesn't feel it, it's because he hasn't learned to demonstrate it. Our world is spinning towards chaotic destruction for that reason. Mankind has falsely believed that all people have good and bad in them and that "love" will somehow prevail and triumph. That the good guys will win in the end. God has told us something far different. He has warned us , that left unchecked by a Spiritual guidance He desires us to have with Him, we will indeed eventually come to a destructive end. In other words, without His hand to guide, we will not just naturally work things out for the best. We simply cannot do it. The truth rather is that the evil in us will get stronger and prevail. There isn't enough "natural love" inside us, if you will, to help us survive.

It's time to surrender. To commit ourselves to a Creator who has already shown Himself to be more than trustworthy and caring for us. It's time to come to a place before God in our hearts, where we will admit we can't make it on our own. Where we confess our need for Him, and for His love. Love is not a built-in, genetic, innate program in us. We need HIM. His word is our instruction manual. The gospel of Jesus's death,burial, resurrection and ascension is our real life training demonstration module. It teaches us how to do it right. How to love with His kind of love, not ours. We know deep down that love is better than hate. Don't let anyone tell you that you cannot legislate morality, all of our laws in this land are based on God's commandments. Everything you are forbidden to do has to do with harming your neighbor in some way. We know right from wrong, we just have forgotten where right comes from. We've been lied to by the god of this present world that you have it in yourself to love naturally. It's a lie. God is love, and where God is, you find love. Go find Him...His name is Jesus Christ.




Ihr, die ihr diesen Blog lesen aus Deutschland. Ich fühle mich geehrt. Seine meiner bescheidenen Vergnügen in der Lage sein, diese Gedanken für Sie Aktien von hier in den USA Bitte zögern Sie nicht unten kommentieren oder um etwas bitten, was die Bibel sagt, oder was ich stütze meine Meinungen zu, würde ich lieben, von Ihnen zu hören und reagiert sofort. Gott segne Sie.



Вы, кто читает этот блог из России. Для меня большая честь. Ее мое скромное удовольствие, чтобы иметь возможность поделиться этими мыслями с вами отсюда в США Пожалуйста, не стесняйтесь комментировать на дне или спросить что-нибудь о том, что Библия говорит, или то, что я основываю свое мнение, я хотел бы услышать от вас, и ответить сразу. Да благословит вас Бог.

Emmanuel

I'm not sure if everyone in the world would say that , at sometime in their lives, they felt like there was someone or something watching them. And i'm not talking about surveillance cameras. But i think many people have. I know i have, as a child, felt like i was being watched, and it was not uncomfortable or freaky in any way, but rather kind of comforting. And that was before i believed in God, or at least before i came to know Him personally.

Of all the situations and implements of pain you could endure, i think abject loneliness must be the most horrifying to the soul. It's been said that hell is more clearly defined by it's state of being separated from your Creator, than it is the fiery torment. Without other people to interact with, and if you're found in a place of total silence forever...you're driven insane. I've contemplated just for a second the feeling of floating up in outer space if you could do it very long and still breathe...where you're left alone out there and no one knows where, no sound...no light...with no hope of being found ever. It's chilling isn't it?

When you're a child and alone, you're afraid. You instinctively desire to have your mother nearby, even as a small infant, you have no concept yet of the of what danger even is because you're left alone, you just feel afraid. We're created with that need for contact. For connection. For love. But somewhere along the way we find a way to be self sufficient. We learn to take care of ourselves and can handle being alone at times. Yet for how long?

The truth is we're like that by design. The Creator has installed within us a need for companionship. And the wonderful thing is He did so just so that He could have the pleasure of being there for us and being that comforting presence. But how do we connect with God?...How do we know where to find Him? We've been conditioned by the unGodly world we live in, to do without Him. To live as though He isn't there. God instead of being that comforting presence we can warm up to at any time , and a friend always at out disposal, has been relegated to a religious figure and distant supreme being we worship at a church one day a week. We think maybe if we make a sacrifice of time to Him at least that one day, He will be appeased and we can have a clear conscience. We can only hope that by offering up that Sunday morning at His altar, He will be pacified so that we can get on with our lives and live them as we please. Ironically, God actually does desire human sacrifice. A LIVING sacrifice...but not alive only until we're thrown into the fire as a gift to a bloodthirsty God. When the Bible says we should "present ourselves a living sacrifice holy and acceptable which is our reasonable service", that means each and every day we live...the rest of our lives we're to live,no longer for ourselves, but for Him. That's a kind of slavery that rewards you richly and frees
you from another slave-state you didn't know you were in. Everyone is a slave to one of 2 masters but sadly most people have chosen the wrong one. Unlike all other masters, God is one who requires service only so that He can make you more free, and more content in life, happier and filled with His love and joy. All other slave masters want only service for themselves. God doesn't need service, He has only OUR best interest in mind.

God said "come near to ME, and I will come near you". We must make the move to approach Him, because He has already shown His love towards us and did everything necessary to make us acceptable in His sight. Now He only wants our full attention. Our commitment and our hearts. Being a good church attendee or religious isn't what He wants. We can come near to Him in prayer anytime anywhere, and the more often we approach Him, the better we will get to know Him as He desires us to.

So if you sense an other-worldly presence some day, one that actually comforts you and doesn't scare you, it could be your Creator inviting you to get better acquainted with Him. If you're already walking with Christ, He is Emmanuel that is with us. He walked and talked with Adam in the garden in the cool of the day, and He longs to have that kind of relationship restored to us. "Emmanuel" (or Immanuel) means "God with us", or "with us is God" in Isaiah 7:14 speaking of the Messiah to come. It describes a personable God who is powerful and above all, yet having the feature of uniting Earthly man with All-mighty God. God beside us, next to us. One of us. Through Jesus Christ we can experience closeness with our Creator. One of my favorite Bible verses is Revelation 21:3 which says "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be WITH them, and be their God." It conveys God's desire to be with us and it moves me. If you are still on the outside looking in, "COME!" God calls you. Taste and see that the Lord is good. He is extending His most heart felt invitation to you...knocking on your very heart's door. He wants to have a relationship with you. And you don't even have to be perfect , or get clean enough first. He accepts you as you are. Come. Read the gospel of John and see for yourself what this Jesus stuff is all about.


Ihr, die ihr diesen Blog lesen aus Deutschland. Ich fühle mich geehrt. Seine meiner bescheidenen Vergnügen in der Lage sein, diese Gedanken für Sie Aktien von hier in den USA Bitte zögern Sie nicht unten kommentieren oder um etwas bitten, was die Bibel sagt, oder was ich stütze meine Meinungen zu, würde ich lieben, von Ihnen zu hören und reagiert sofort. Gott segne Sie.

Вы, кто читает этот блог из России. Для меня большая честь. Ее мое скромное удовольствие, чтобы иметь возможность поделиться этими мыслями с вами отсюда в США Пожалуйста, не стесняйтесь комментировать на дне или спросить что-нибудь о том, что Библия говорит, или то, что я основываю свое мнение, я хотел бы услышать от вас, и ответить сразу. Да благословит вас Бог.

Helping Dad

"It was the first time that it had been suggested that I go help my father with anything." 

Did you ever help your dad with things he was doing when you were a child? Did your dad ask for your help?. I believe there's something very endearing and healthy about helping dad. As a dad myself, i learned that its a gesture of love to involve my children with my business on occasion. I understood that feeling and remembered when my own father involved me. There's a sense of feeling needed...that you have a contribution to make...that you you're wanted and it strengthens your bond. Even if dad really was capable of doing the project or task all by himself. That's the beauty of the thing, dad was more interested in your company and in giving you that feeling of loving interaction, than he was in having a helping hand.

Our heavenly Father desires to involve us like that. Its clear that when He came into the world on His mission, it was an honor for us to have 12 of us selected to walk alongside Him, and to take up the torch of His message after He left. His mission was to save the world, but He got the world involved in the process. Unlike a captain who needs a crew, i don't believe the all-sufficient God needs anything, and could have spread His gospel in other ways to the world and to every generation. We're privileged to be asked to take part in His mission, and not only take part in it, but to reap rewards from it. How cool is that! Besides the aspect of giving your kid a sense of being needed, there is the element of "on-the-job training". You're modeling character for them...giving demonstration on how to do things. At first God gave us written record of His word and law...then something new and more powerful happened when He came to demonstrate it. His twelve apprentices were trained to do and say the things He said and did, just as He relayed to them what HE saw HIS Father say and do!

With the responsibility of carrying the gospel message of the world though, we wont be entrusted to effectively relay it by ourselves. God has also provided the very Essence of Himself to continue to walk alongside us as we carry out His commission. We're filled with His very Holy Spirit when we have surrendered our lives to Him, and it is really a joint effort in the mission from then on. Still we feel a concern at times for the weight of what we bear..for the gravity of that calling and how serious a matter it is, and so we don't want to fail.

But we do fail.

We're sinners telling the world they mustn't sin. It sometimes feels sorta hypocritical. But God knowing our wretched state, wanted us to come and help anyways. He was the dad saying "here, carry this or do this...I'll help you"  It's when Jesus really shines through us, that they are drawn to Him. When we've done just enough to convey the invitation, and stepped aside to allow God to take it from there. Even as we stumble and fall, as we fail in our efforts to display the new life of Christ in us and deliver a message of salvation anyone can receive no matter how sinful they are, we're still helping Daddy and He didn't expect us to be perfect just yet, only to "strive" for perfection and aspire to it, knowing the promise that one day we'll be like Him in perfection. I was once an apprentice at my job where i now carry a journeyman's card. The Journeymen that i learned the trade by working with, used to have little sayings like "if you're not making mistakes, you're not doing anything". At the time when i was desperately trying to establish my worth in the job place, that adage was of little comfort, but i got what they meant nonetheless.  Dad will ask for our help, but when we blow it, He will be patient and reassuring . We need that comfort and guidance until we're able to finally stand on our own two feet and carry on the tasks ourselves. Sadly many Earthly fathers have not understood how devastating it can be, when their little helpers make a mistake or something goes wrong, and are scolded too harshly. It can cause life-long traumatic consequences for them.

In the end, all that will remain is faith hope and love, but love is the greatest. Not whether we did the job perfect. It's about love, about family..relationships, caring, and.....helping Dad.