Pray,Pray,Pray

“Then he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,  
because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.’ “Then the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’  
I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man’s boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs. 
“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  
For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” 
       Luke 11:5-10.

Here Jesus gives a simple statement of truth about prayer. He urges believers to be persistent in their prayers to God. Assuring them that their prayers will be answered by God.
I think however there must be a caution here.
When we pray we must pray for the right things and we must pray in accordance with God’s will.
All too often I have seen Christians praying to be millionaires or for fancy cars or luxuries they don’t need. And when God doesn’t answer their prayers they wonder why.
Don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with asking God to provide a good income for us. It’s when we get greedy and start asking for things in excess.
The Lords prayer states, “Give us each day our daily bread” (Luke 11:3). 
What Jesus is saying here in Luke 11:5-10 is that we need to pray continually asking for what we need. Keeping the lines of communication open between ourselves and God.
God knows if we need a Rolls Royce. He also knows that most times all we need is small sub compact  or for that matter no car at all, allowing the extra money to go into ministry or other things of importance in our life.
  God  also knows what we can handle. All one has to do is listen to the horror stories of some people who won millions in the lottery, only to find themselves unable to handle the money and end up broke.
We serve a good God. Who answers our prayers according to His will.
And we as Christians need to draw near to God. Through prayer and studying the Bible. Thus when we pray it will be more in tune to God’s will than our own.
 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  
For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” states Jesus.
So the lesson is this we need to be continually asking God for what is best for our lives. We need to seek after God’s perfect will for our lives, and we need to be continually knocking on heavens door in order that it will be opened and we will receive full measure of what God has for our lives.
Think about it.

Praise the Lord

"The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. 

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 

he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, 

for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and

 I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. "

                                                                                                         Psalm 23

Over the last couple of years my wife and I have gone through a lot with respect to our health. I had cancer surgery that was successful. However I developed to quote the doctor, “large blood clots on my lungs and in my groin” I should have died but by the grace of God I didn’t.
My wife already having some minor health problems ended up in hospital, in intensive care for a week then six more weeks in hospital. When she came out she couldn’t walk. Today she get around using a walker for short distances and a wheel chair for longer distances.
Someone asked me why would God let you go through such things. I told him that it was simply a part of life.
We live in a world filled with illnesses. I know over the years I’ve been exposed to carcinogens. And at times my wife and I don’t eat right.
The food we eat depending on where it comes from has been in contact with chemical fertilizers or pesticides. We over the years have breathed in our fair share of pollution. Such is life in the twenty-first century.
Still God has been good to us. He has been their for us in our darkest days.  
Years ago when our then eight year old son let go of my wife’s hand and dashed across a highway and was hit by a car doing eighty kilometres an hour God was their.
My son was in a coma for a week. All we could do was pray and have our friends pray.
The doctors told us the longer in the coma the worse the potential outcome. Today he’s in his mid thirties and normal. No one can tell that he was in such a serious accident.
My younger son earlier this year was helping build an orphanage in Kenya. He fell from a ladder and broke both bones in his left leg.
Amazingly he was near what some have called the finest hospital in Africa. Not only that there was a top bone specialist from England there for other reasons. He fixed my son’s leg.
The Canadian doctors telling him it couldn’t have been done any better here in Canada.
God is truly good and no one can convince me otherwise.
I know that as long as I continue to follow Him he will lead me by those still waters even in the midst of adversity.
As a result I will echo the words of the psalmist when he says,

“Praise the LORD. 

Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. 

Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. 

Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, 

praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, 

praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. 

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.”

                                                                                           Psalm 150

November 11th

Today is remembrance day in Canada. The day when we remember not only those who paid the ultimate price in war, but those who served in the armed forces in two world wars, Korea, Afghanistan and as peacekeepers around the world.

On a plaque at a Korean War memorial in Peel County Ontario Canada there is a quote from Romans 14:19

“Let us therefor follow after things which make for peace.”

We remember them by wearing a red poppy.
However I noticed there are people out there passing out white poppies claiming to be for peace. Claiming the red poppy stands for war.
These people, as sincere as they are, are misguided and miss the true meaning of the poppy.
Any soldier will tell you they hate war. War brings about only suffering and death. No one in there right mind would want such a thing.
I would go as far as saying those involved with the white poppy campaign have done little more than protest about war and injustice.
The veterans on the other had put their lives on the line, some even giving the final sacrifice to ensure the freedoms we have today.
They by giving selflessly of their lives, have done more than any protest or letter writing campaign no matter how well meaning to further the cause of peace.
Hitler was not, nor could he be defeated by demonstrations. Many did demonstrate against him only to find themselves in concentration camps or murdered.
Neville Chamberlain the British prime minister of the day, with the best of intentions returned home with a piece of paper signed by Hitler and proclaimed "I have returned from Germany with peace for our time."  While behind his back Hitler is reported to have said it is only a piece of paper, and within a year had plunged the world into world war two.
Sometimes sadly there is no alternative than to go to war.
Can you imagine what it would have been like had those, then young Allied men and women refused to go to war against such evil or failed in their endeavour?
Winston Churchill the man that replaced Chamberlain put it this way,
“But if we fall, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.” 
 The ramifications of the Allies losing the second world war are almost impossible to comprehend.
Certainly those who are giving out the white poppy and indeed many of us born after the second world war may never have been born.
Dear reader,
 on this day let us give thanks to God for our freedoms and for the men and women who served and those who serve today in our armed forces.
For it is to them, every man woman and child in this country and every country that enjoys freedom owes an unimaginable debt of thanks.
May God bless them in all they do.

Choice

Read John 18

Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?”

  Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king.

  For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world,

 that I should bear witness to the truth.

  Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” 

 And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, 

“I find no fault in Him at all.

“But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. 

 Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”

Then they all cried again, saying, “Not this Man, but Barabbas!” 

 Now Barabbas was a robber.

                                                                                                     John 18:37-40
“Pilate  said to Him, What is truth?” this phrase that has echoed down through the ages.  “What is truth?” the words of Pontius Pilate Governor.  It is something everyone who lives must ask about Jesus.
Pontius Pilate made a judgment on Jesus, he said, “I find no fault in Him at all.”
Pilate gave the crowd the chance to free Jesus.  But, as far as is recorded no one said release Jesus.
Represented in that crowd were three groups, the religious leadership of Jesus’ day, who claimed to know the Scriptures. The average person, standing in the crowd, and the secular government.
The representative of the secular government did what all governments do ‘bowed’ to political expediency.  Not wanting a riot, Pilate acquiesced to the demands of the crowd and gave into their demands.
The average person in the crowd did what the average person did in the crowd, not think.  Just followed taking on the mentality of the crowd.  Demanding without any thought, the death of an innocent man.
The religious leadership did what they did best, followed their dogma, their distorted beliefs, their self righteousness.  They played politics for fear that if the truth be known, they’d loose their position of power.  And as a result, they too committed an innocent man to death.
Something to think about
Truth was lost that day, but as Scripture says:

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, 

to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

God had a purpose and a plan for Jesus’ life, the plan is stated earlier in the Gospel of John, when it says in John 3:16-18:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes

 in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

     “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, 

but that the world through Him might be saved.

“He who believes in Him is not condemned; 

but he who does not believe is condemned already,

 because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

While sinful men perverted the truth and condemned the innocent son of God to death. God’s purpose was fulfilled. Christ died for our sins.
Thus giving us the same choice as those who condemned Christ at his trial had. To accept Him as Lord and Saviour or reject Him.

A Note to Christians in the LGBT Community

A note to Christians in the LGBT community

Authors Preface
I know when it comes to the word ‘sin’ with respect to the LGBT community, especially when it comes from a ‘Christian’ it raises very big red flags.
With many, particularly in the evangelical community centering out homosexuality as a so called ‘special sin’. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Remember Paul wrote, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That all means everyone. From Billy Graham, to the pope, to the woman and man on the street. “All have sinned”.
What I have written here are what Christians believe. What defines a Christian. If you believe it and have prayed and asked Jesus to come into your life then by any Christians definition you are saved. You are a Christian.

A Christian believes John 14:7

  “ Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. 

No one comes to the Father except through me.” 

                                                                                             John 14:7
A Christian believes Romans 3:23-26

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 

 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 

 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, 

through faith in his blood. 

He did this to demonstrate his justice,

 because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished

 he did it to demonstrate  his justice at the present time, 

so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”

                                                                                                  Romans 3:23-26

A Christiana believes that we were once slaves to sin. And that sin leads to separation for ever from God.
A Christian believes that the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus.
A Christian believes Ephesians 2:8-10

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--

and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--  

not by works, so that no one can boast. 

For we are God's workmanship, 

created in Christ Jesus to do good works,

 which God prepared in advance for us to do."

                                                                                       Ephesians 2:8-10
A Christian believes that it is by faith we are saved it is a gift of God. That we cannot work our way heaven.
That once we accept Christ by faith he comes into our lives and transforms us to his ways.
That if we truly have accepted Christ, we will want to do what he wishes and that the change in our life will be evident to those around us.

A Christian believes and obeys Jesus when He said,

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  

For in the same way you judge others, 

you will be judged, 

and with the measure you use, 

it will be measured to you.”

                                                                             Matthew 7:1,2
Christians are not the judges of the world.

Christians are the presenters of salvation to the world. Matthew 28: 18-20 clearly states this.
 “Then Jesus came to them and said,

 "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, 

baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

 And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Becoming a Christian is a conscious choice. One we must make when we fully understand what we are doing.
It is not incumbent on if our parents were Christian. It has nothing to do with the lifestyle we live.
It is all about a decision we as an individual must make, be we from the LGBT community or the heterosexual community.
I am certain there are as many heterosexual people, including many pastors and evangelist that will find themselves in hell much to their surprise.
Contrary to what many,... most, of my friends in the evangelical community think, I believe there are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Christians.
After all becoming a Christian is simply believing what I have quoted above and saying a simple prayer asking Christ into ones life. A prayer like this.

Dear Heavenly Father
I recognize that Jesus is your one and only Son that he came to earth to die a sacrificial death for the sins of all mankind.
I admit that I am a sinner as are all people. I therefore accept Jesus as my Lord and his sacrificial death for my sins.
Please Lord Jesus come into my heart and life this day. Direct my path from this day forward.
Amen.
If you have believed all I have written above and have prayed this prayer they Jesus will come into your life and if you let Him will direct your path in life.
If you already are a Christian let your light shine to those around you. Point people to Christ both in word and in deed.

Give Thanks

“Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. 

Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 

Know that the LORD is God. 

It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; 

give thanks to him and praise his name. 

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;

 his faithfulness continues through all generations.” 

                                                                                          Psalm 100

As I write this it is thanksgiving morning in Canada. A time when we can reflect and give thanks to God for all we have.
I am not a Canadian I am simply a landed emigrant although I’ve spent most of my life here.
As a result I have been blessed richly by this country.
Thanks to the freedom of worship in this land I was introduced to my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
I was through serving the Lord introduced to my wife whom I have been with for thirty-four years.
As a result we have two wonderful children both of whom are serving the Lord in various capacities.
While there have been difficulties from time to time life has still been good to me and my family.
We know God will not forsake us. We know he loves us and will take us safely through even the worst storm. Which he has.
My oldest son when he was eight was hit by a car and lay in a coma for a week. With the doctors telling us every day he was in the coma meant that he may not recover fully.
After much prayer, God answered us and he today is in his mid thirties perfectly normal and planning his wedding.
My younger son just recently fell twelve feet from a ladder in Kenya and broke both bones in his lower leg.
He just happened to be near one of the best hospitals in Africa and there just happened to be one of the best bone specialist from England available to fix his leg.
He did an excellent job according to the Canadian doctors my son went to upon returning to Canada.
That to me is God.
Over the last two years both my wife and I have had to have life saving surgery after being rushed to hospital.
Surgery we came through with out any problems.
Not only that thanks to the Canadian health care system we didn’t have any medical bills.
The God I serve is a great and mighty God and I for one am thankful for all he has done for me and my family.
Above all I am thankful that God sent his one and only Son Jesus Christ to die for my sins. That I upon accepting Him into my life am assured of my salvation and a place in heaven.
Dear reader do you have that assurance.
Do you know for certain that if you were to die to day that you would get to heaven?
Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6. 
The apostle John wrote, “If we confess our sins, he (Jesus) is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9.
All we have to do is pray a simple prayer and ask Jesus into our lives a prayer like this,
Dear Heavenly Father
I recognize that I am a sinner. That I have done things wrong in my life and fall short of what you want for my life.
I recognize that Jesus Christ is your one and only Son who came to this earth to die for my sins. To save me and show me the way to heaven.
I accept Him as my Lord and Saviour.
Please dear Jesus come into my life today. Cleanse me from my sins.
I give you permission to work within my life conforming my life to your ways.
Amen.
If you prayed that prayer and truly mean it then you can be assured of getting into heaven. It really is that easy.
Now I would urge you to get a Bible and read it. Also pray and ask God to lead you to a bible believing Church. One that believes you are saved by faith according to Ephesians which states, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—   not by works, so that no one can boast.” 
Ephesians 2:8,9
And may God bless you.

What Jesus said about Himself

"Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."  John 14:5,6

Jesus makes it clear in the above statement. There is only one way to haven, through him.
You hear people all over the world today stating that there are many ways to heaven. But Jesus clearly states there is not.
The only way to heaven is through him. There is no middle ground. He states “No one comes to the Father except through me.” it couldn’t be any clearer.
This is an incredible claim yet it is the base of what Christians believe. We cannot deny or modify it as it is a clear statement of the author and finisher of our faith.
Getting into heaven is an act of faith in Jesus Christ it is not an act of works. In Christian thought no one can be good enough to work their way to heaven. They always fall short even if it’s in the smallest of ways.
The apostle Paul writes, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
                                                                                                          Ephesians 2:8,9
God however is an inclusive God. He does not care who you are, what lifestyle you live, your ethnic origin or your status in life.
He cares only for you.
My challenge for you the reader is to read the new Testament and see what God through his Son Jesus Christ has to offer you.

Jesus is God

Read John 10

“I am the good shepherd; 

and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.

“As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father;

 and I lay down My life for the sheep.

“And other sheep I have which are not of this fold;

 there also I must bring, and they will hear

 My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

“Therefore My Father loves Me, 

because I lay down My life that I may take it again.

“No one takes it from Me,

 but I lay it down of Myself,

 I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.

  This command I have received from My Father.

Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings.

And many of them said, 

“He has a demon and is mad.  Why do you listen to Him?”

Others said,

 “These are not the words of one who has a demon, 

“Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

                                                                                                             John 10:14-21
Who is Jesus?  This is the question you and everyone who hears about Him must answer.  It is a controversy, that has been around since Jesus started His ministry.  No other spiritual leader in history, has made such claims.
Jesus claimed to be God.  Those who opposed Him point that out as recorded in John 10:32,33:
Jesus answered them,

 “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. 

 For which of those words do you stone Me?”

The Jews answered Him, saying,

 “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because

 You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”

If Jesus was not God, He had to be as C. S. Lewis stated “a lunatic, as mad as someone who thinks he is a poached egg.”
Calling Himself God, or claiming to be equal to God, was going to get you killed in the days Jesus walked the earth.  The only other possibility, is that He was who He said He was.  The choice is that simply.
Something to think about:
                  John 10:21 states:

"Others said,

 “These are not the words of one who has a demon, 

“Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

John 10:40-42 goes onto state:

And He went away again beyond the Jordan 

to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed.

Then many came to Him and said, 

“John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man are true.”

And many believed in Him there."

Question: Who do you think Jesus is?

Unifying Love

Read John 17

I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me 

through their word;

“that they all may be one

 as You Father, are in Me,

 and I in You; 

that they also maybe one in Us,

 that the world may believe that

 You sent Me....

“I in them, and You I Me that they maybe made perfect in one, 

and that the world may know that You have sent Me, 

and have loved them as You have loved Me.

“And I have declared to them Your name,

 and will declare it,

 that the love with which You loved Me

 maybe in them,

 and I in them.”

                                                                       John 17:20, 21-23, 26
Here in Chapter 17 of John, Jesus prays for Himself, the disciples and in verse 20 to 26 for all believers.
He prays for their unity in love.  That the love of God, be in them, as it was in Christ.
We, as individual Christians, must first of all know what we believe and why we believe it.  That is why we must study the Word of God, and sit under a good teacher, we trust.
Then, it is absolutely, imperative, that we find a church congregation that believes as we do or as close as we can find.  A congregation where we feel God would have us work.  And we must submit ourselves to that group.
In order to do this, we must think, and pray.
A Bible School teacher once said to me, “most Christians think with their heart and forget God gave them a brain for that purpose.
They think their hands are only to use to pick things up with, not put together in prayer, and that their ears are the only thing they hear with.”
What he meant was, many Christians go to where they feel good, not necessarily, where God wants them.  That they never pray and seek God’s guidance about which church they should attend or what they should do.  They listen to others and what comes in through their ears, not what God is telling their heart.
Here Jesus talks about the unity of the believers, about them being one.  And He asks:
“that the love with which You loved Me  maybe in them,  and I in them.”
Something to think about:
I go back to the words of the Apostle Paul in 1Corinthinas 13:4-8a
“Love suffers long and is kind: love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil. does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”
This is what Jesus prayed for, for all Christians. This is the kind of love we must show to both our brothers and sisters in Christ and the whole world.

What Really Matters

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.... 

                                                                          Genesis 1:1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 

and the Word was God.  

He was with God in the beginning. 

Through him all things were made; 

without him nothing was made that has been made...

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. 

We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, 

full of grace and truth. 

                                                                                       John 1:1-3, 14

Perhaps one of the most controversial parts of the Bible is the Genesis chapter one, the creations chapter.
Non Christians point to it and say how could the world be made in six twenty-four hour days. They claim it took aeons.
Frankly I could care less. It doesn’t make any difference to my faith if the world was made in a hundred forty-four hours or a hundred forty-four billion years.
I believe the universe and everything in it was created by God. AND more importantly I believe that Jesus is God.
That he came to earth to live among His creation, to point mankind to heaven.
Jesus said of himself,

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, 

that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  

For God did not send his Son into the world 

to condemn the world,

 but to save the world through him.  

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, 

but whoever does not believe stands condemned already 

because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. "

                                                                                                     John 3:16-18
God gives us a free will but he makes it clear that we have only two choices in this life.
To either accept Jesus for who he says he is. The very Son of God the Saviour of the world, or to reject him as a liar who has perpetuated the most monumental lie in human history.
The choice dear reader is yours.
Do you believe Jesus is Lord and God. The creator of the universe who came to earth to pay the price for your sins?
If you believe, then the question is, if you were to die tonight are you certain you would get to haven?
If not hear is a prayer you may want to pray.
Dear Heavenly Father
I know that I am a sinner. That I fall short of what you want for me in my life. 
I recognize that Jesus is your One and Only Son. That he came to die to take away my sins.
Please forgive me of my sins.
Please Lord Jesus come into my heart and life this day. Lead me and guide me from this day forward.
Amen

If you prayed this prayer and really meant it then Jesus will come into your life. I urge you to read the Bible. Start with the New Testament and read through the whole Bible.
Pray before you read each chapter that God will reveal Himself to you and that He will reveal what you are reading means to you personally.
The next thing is to pray and find a good church in your area.
I personally would recommend a good Baptist church as I have found their teachings to be very well balanced and in line with the word of God.
But above all of this Pray, Pray, Pray, that God would lead you to the right church or group of believers that can help you grow in Christ.
And remember always that with God in your life, if you let Him, He will change your life in a wonderful way.

You are Grass

You Are Grass

“A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” 

“All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. 

The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. 

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” 

                                                                                                     Isaiah 40:6-8
      Question, do you know who the following are?
Humphry Davy, Peter Durand, Samuel Fahnestock, Barthelemy Thimonnier, John Walker.
Each one of these men have a first to their name. Each one created what today are common things, Humphry Davy invents the first electric light, the first arc lamp.
Peter Durand invents the tin can. Samuel Fahnestock patented a soda fountain.  Barthelemy Thimonnier invents a sewing machine. John Walker invents modern matches.
These men invented things we in the twenty-first century take for granted yet their names for the most part are lost to history. Remembered only in dusty library books or found in the occasional google search.
There inventions it could be argued made life somewhat better today. Yet their inventors names are not remembered.
“The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass.”
States the prophet. “People are grass.”
Have you ever looked out over a field of tall grass? Have you ever picked out a single blade of grass somewhere in the middle of that field. Then closed your eyes and turned three hundred sixty degrees, opened your eyes and tried to find that exact blade of grass again?
It’s virtually impossible.
That’s the way it is with humanity. Most people will enter this world live their whole lives in almost total obscurity and die never to be remembered except by a few close family. Even then after several generations the person is forgotten.
“The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” Nero the persecutor of Christians has long past on to stand before his judge. And other than his name what he said is unknown.
Yet the word of God he tried to suppress continues on.
God’s word in the Bible is eternal. It is a road map to heaven. It doesn’t change. The words are eternal.
Today as you’re reading this I urge you to pick up a Bible and read it from cover to cover.
I find many of those who don’t believe the Bible have never read it. They have come to the conclusion that it is a flawed book with mistakes. Yet when asked to name a dozen mistakes in it they can’t.
I believe the Bible because I have read it with an open mind and come to the conclusion that it what is contained within it is real and relevant for today.
Can you honestly say you have read it without any preconceived ideas and come to the conclusions you hold today.
Think about it.

The Strongest Bulwark

Faith in God is the strongest bulwark of a free society.  Human freedom began when men became conscious that over and above society and nature there is a God who created them...who fashioned them in His likeness, and that they are, therefore, possessed of intrinsic and independent significance and are endowed, as individuals, with original and irrevocable rights and authority.
                                  Abba Hillel Silver
All societies around the world believe in an afterlife, weather their governments or the intellectuals of their society believe it or not. Likewise the majority of people believe in God. Some in many god’s.
I wonder without God would mankind even be around today?
Think about it. In order to exist mankind needs a set of morals to live up to. A set of guidelines to live by.
I grew up in the “do your own thing” era. As long as is didn’t hurt anyone you could just do what you wanted.
Still even those who espoused this kind of lifestyle realized there was a basic of rules we had to live by. Do not murder for example, don’t bare false witness. Be honest in all you do.
Which begs the question where did our morals come from?
Was it possible for the cave man to write a universal set of morals? A moral code that even the most ardent atheist follows today thousands of years on?
It seems to me that the basic moral code all people live by is with us from the moment we are born. Perhaps proving it is part of our very make up as human beings. Psalm 139:13 hints at just such a thing,
“For you created my inmost being;you knit me together in my mother’s womb”
For me I cannot believe that all of what we have today is by chance or random acts in the universe that just happened to result in us. There has to be a creator.
As I look at what Atheist and many scientist believe I wonder who has the greater faith, them, or me?
I think it takes greater faith to believe there is no God or Creator of the universe than it does to believe.
I see the world as carefully crafted. Very much in the same way an engineer would build it.
Just looking into something as common as a tree leaf fills me with amazement knowing that beyond what I can see with my naked eye are intricate arrangements of cells. All of which work together to make the leaf what it is.
Such structure to me cannot be mere chance. There has to be a God.
It is my firm belief that given enough time and provided scientist keep an open mind they will one day prove there is a creator. That the universe is not just chaos and random chance.
I see such proof coming to light as scientist study fractals. Its something that has been around for several centuries but only recently, with the advent of modern computer capacity has it started to be studied in depth.
I have a definition of Fractal’s that comes from, what is .com, it states,
“The term "fractal" was coined by Benoit Mandelbrot in 1975. It comes from the Latin fractus , meaning an irregular surface like that of a broken stone. Fractals are non-regular geometric shapes that have the same degree of non-regularity on all scales. Just as a stone at the base of a foothill can resemble in miniature the mountain from which it originally tumbled down, so are fractals self-similar whether you view them from close up or very far away. Fractals are the kind of shapes we see in nature. ...
We find trees, mountains, rocks and cloud formations in nature, but what is the geometrical formula for a cloud? How can we determine the shape of a dollop of cream in a cup of coffee? Fractal geometry, chaos theory, and complex mathematics attempt to answer questions like these. Science continues to discover an amazingly consistent order behind the universe's most seemingly chaotic phenomena.”
I like that last sentence “Science continues to discover an amazingly consistent order behind the universe's most seemingly chaotic phenomena.”
Science is an on going process. It is not complete. All good scientist are continually asking questions searching for answers.
Much of humanity is looking for answers this is most prominent when they are near death or someone close to them is near death.
Sadly today all to many people are looking for the answer to life in all the wrong places.
They need to turn to the Bible and learn about Almighty God and the saving power of His Son Jesus Christ.