For the moment, set aside the expectations of the experts—prominent preachers, worship leaders, ‘successful’ churches, long-time learned theologians.
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Consider the following without thinking about what you’ve heard.
Just ‘see for yourself’ it it’s really in the Bible—not something somebody tried to fit into the Bible.
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1-once saved, always saved
2-age of accountability
3-trinity
4-infant baptism saves
5-promised prosperity
6-guaranteed healing
7-peace with everybody
8-retirement
9-financial portfolio
10-rapture without persecution/tribulation
11-smooth sailing
12-always up
13-avoid politics
14-be nice
15-non-confrontational
16-inclusiveness
17-non-violence
18-
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Almost guaranteed you can’t read through that list without automatically thinking about what somebody has said.
It’s more work to open your Bible and find The Word’s words on the subject.
It’s much easier to let someone else do the work, and then tell you what’s right.
With all the variety out there, you can find something that suits you.
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And that, my friends, is why many churches over many centuries become so ‘successful’/powerful.
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This may sound like a one-sided article, without answers.
The point—OPEN ‘YOUR’ BIBLE ! ! !
DO ‘YOU’ SEE IT IN THE BIBLE ?
RIGHTEOUS ANGER
“Sometimes the tables need to be turned over.”
—–Don Wildmon (founder of American Family Association)
(In righteous anger Jesus turned over the tables and used a whip to drive people out of his Father’s House, the Temple—when evil had taken over.)
DEATH PENALTY + and –
Death Penalty—implemented in the U.S., and still debated.
Pro
+”Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.”
+”If you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.”
+The punishment fits the crime of murder.
+The punishment deters crime, including the death penalty.
Con
–Some claim that all criminals should be rehabilitated.
–Some criminals could be sentenced by mistake.
–Some think another person should not be killed for any crime.
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The other Death Penalty, widely implemented in the U.S., and still hotly debated.
Pro
+Letting this person live will ruin my life, my plans.
+It’s okay if the government says it’s legal, and if I pay someone else to do it.
+I’m for it because I’ll never expect to see the person.
+Do it right away, don’t think about it, and you can put it behind you.
Con
-The punishment does not fit the crime—NO CRIME, always innocent.
-Government is always wrong legalizing this death penalty.
-Murder for hire serves no justification, and generates a lot of money—evil incentive.
-The heart and soul never forget what the eyes don’t see, or don’t expect to see.
-God knows you—who you are—before you are born.
FEAR OF GOD
The “fear of God” is all over the Bible, so it must be a big deal.
The fear of God is something so awesome, I don’t dare try to explain it.
I know the preachers and teachers and other theologians are compelled to explain the fear of God when they are asked, and when they are not asked.
I always get the feeling that they’re trying to tone it down, so the word ‘fear’ does not scare anybody away. *
My rule for explaining God is to simply use other Bible verses, and tell people to find those verses and read for themselves what God says about Himself.
What God says, counts ! ! !
What man says, not so much.
What I say, not so much.
I believe God tells us all we need to know about Himself, and all we need to know about how to live.
If we study what He actually tells us, that is enough for us to apply, practice, obey, for our lifetime.
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The main thing I am compelled to add to the above, is warnings about what is constantly added to the Word of God, dangerously and unnecessarily so.
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“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.”
“The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life.”
“Through the fear of the Lord, a man avoids evil.”
“Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come.”
“The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him – the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.”
“The church grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.”
“Blessed is the man who fears the Lord.”
“Better is a little with the fear of the Lord
Than great treasure and turmoil with it.”
“How blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
Who greatly delights in His commandments.”
“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
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Those verses just scratch the surface of the many wonderful Bible verses on the fear of God—fear and comfort—beyond and close—awe and confidence—distance and discernment—and on and on.
It all starts with recognizing how great God is, and then learning how He wants to have a loving relationship with us, and how He makes that possible through Jesus bridging the gap between us.
Just start reading and you will be blessed, and get excited—that’s the power of the Word of God.
* Just a thought—“Did you ever hear a message that scared the hell out of you?”
Not a bad thing in the L O N G run.
THE MARK OF _____ or THE MARK OF _____
“. . . forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching for those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”—–Phillipians 3
OR
“He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”—–Revelation 13
PRIORITY – – – DANGEROUS WORD
Priority is commitment to what we consider most important.
Priorities, commitments, what we consider most important—they can change.
So what can we say, to get on the right track, and stay on the right track.
Priority—something more important than other things that are also important.
Consider the Bible verse, “Seek first the kingdom of God, . . .”
That sounds like a priority, until someone pointed out that the Greek actually says, “Seek only the kingdom of God . . .”
Well, what about the other things we have to have to make it in this life?
The rest of the verse gives the answer, from Jesus, “. . . and all these things will be added unto you.”
Commitment—something we seriously promise to follow and do.
In military conflict, commitment to the cause is superseded by surrender.
In following Jesus, commitment to the cause is superseded by surrender of everything, including our priorities that we consider so important.
What we consider most important—something we must get out of life.
We must find out as soon as possible what God wants us to get out of life.
In following His plan for our life, we don’t have to keep adjusting our priorities and commitments and what we consider most important.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.”
“Strait (limited) is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leads to life.”
“Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction.”
We don’t really have options for priorities along the way to heaven.
We have two choices in life, two decisions—
ONE—Choose the very exclusive gate to start on the road to heaven—Jesus.
TWO—Decide ahead of time to say “NO” to every offer to get off the narrow road.
HEALTH = COMFORTABLE ?
Healthy is Comfortable !
Is Comfortable Healthy ?
Health and Comfort—is that a right ?
Health and Comfort—is that reality ?
No Pain, No Gain.
“Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward.”
“Woe to those who are at ease in . . .”
“Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry . . . This night . . .”
“We must through much tribulation enter . . .”
God rarely chooses to use someone mightily, without first testing him severely.
“Whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges . . .”
What is Comfortable ?
“He will send you a Comforter,” not Comfortable.
“God does not call us to be nice; He often call us to be confrontational.”—–Sandy Rios
“Jesus and I will recognize each other right away, because of the time spent ‘in the fellowship of His suffering.'”—-Joni Erickson Tada
“I’d rather be in this wheelchair, knowing Jesus—than out of it, not knowing Him.”—–Joni Erickson Tada
Christians in China pray for American Christians to have persecution, so we can experience the sweetest relationship with Jesus.
“Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus.”
“The peace of God passes all understanding.”
Jesus promised us peace and blessings and comfort, not comfortable.
Spiritual comfort—promised.
Physical comfort—not promised.
Rich man and Lazarus—beggar had uncomfortable here, comforted and comfortable in heaven—rich man had comfortable here, torment in hell.
“God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Before the fall, work was a blessing, not a curse.
After the fall, work is still a blessing, but cursed to be hard.
Paradise Restored—work without weariness, work without worry.
So tired, so beat, so exhausted—just want some rest—oh, that’s what heaven’s for.
HYPOGLYCEMIA – – – NOT SO SIMPLE
Maybe someone will benefit from my sharing what I’ve been through, and still experience.
Hypoglycemia—two simple definitions–not so simple.
ONE—It’s just the opposite of diabetes, too much insulin.
TWO—Trigger-happy pancreas reacts to sugar (or perceived sugar) and dumps overdose of insulin immediately, and doesn’t stop when sugar level drops too far.
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I spent my first 27 years devastated, before discovering answers with hypoglycemia.
In fact, at the beginning of summer in 1968 before college, I could not function at all with the farmwork, which I always looked forward to.
Scott and White Hospital in Temple tested everything they could, everything !
They found nothing, and told Daddy and me that maybe someday they would find a chemical to give answers and help.
Indeed, a true conclusion—the chemical was sugar.
The medical community was dealing with diabetes for many decades, but they had no clue about low blood sugar, hypoglycemia.
Thank God for somebody nearly a decade later, who could help me and explain what was happening, and what had been ravaging my entire life.
For starters, the six-hour glucose tolerance test is key for getting numerical facts to verify hypoglycemia, but very few understand how important it is.
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I’ll have to stop for now. Please send comments about your experience and questions you have. I honor any request to not post your comment, if you ask. We can still have dialogue, with your email.
FROM ‘HAVE AND NOT NEED’ TO ‘NEED AND NOT HAVE’
Guns on racks of pickup trucks in high school parking lots were not needed to stop school shootings.
Or, is it perhaps that because they were there, is why they were not needed.
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+Guns on school campuses—everywhere.
+Shootings on school campuses—nowhere.
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NOW
+Guns on school campuses—where?
+Shootings on school campuses—anywhere.
TRINITY – – – #4
Trinity does not enhance evangelism.
Trinity does not make the gospel message more clear.
Trinity creates something that has to be explained, and explained,*
and . . . , and never understood.
Trinity is like a foreign language—keeps those who invented the language occupied talking—self-perpetuating.
Just how, or who said they have to keep this thing going, when it cannot be shown that it does any good reaching people to come to Jesus, or making disciples of those who do?
After seventeen centuries of pushing trinity with nothing gained, it’s time we drop it and get back to the Bible. Five hundred years someone changed the world with “Sola Scriptura“—Scripture Alone—The Bible Alone. REFORMATION REQUIRED AGAIN (on this website). Now, I don’t get excited about Latin making that carry more weight—Latin just maintains the Roman Catholic exclusive monopoly on theology. The universal use of trinity does exactly the same thing—IT KEEPS PEOPLE OUT OF THEIR BIBLES ! ! ! How so—because they won’t find anything in the Bible to explain it. When have you heard anyone expounding on the trinity, telling where they got their wording from the Bible?
*”explain the trinity”- – – 47 million attempts on the internet alone
plus “books to explain the trinity”- – -77 million, so says the internet
plus sermons and teachings “explaining the trinity” by the millions
Instead of all that unsuccessful effort, you could read every wonderful thing the Bible says about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit a thousand times over, and be much closer to God.