Thinking about God, Jesus and The Big Questions

All too frequently, people are hesitant to accept salvation through Jesus even at the point when they believe in God and Jesus .  In hesitating, they are falling into one of the two biggest traps of deception Satan would have us believe. One of Satan's deceptions is that we need to have our lives in order before we can be 'ready' to be saved by Jesus.  The other deception is that salvation may be offered/intended for other people but not for ourselves .  Nothing could be further from the truth.   Jesus meets us where we are, and salvation is available to all who accept.  No matter our life situation, God will save us if we: believe that Jesus is the Son of God, believe that Jesus died for our sins on the cross and rose again, accept the salvation that God freely offers us through Jesus' sacrifice.  Usually, the sticking point is the third one. In theory, the third point simply stems naturally from the first two (i.e. if we believe points ...

There are not so many song lyrics designed specifically for Palm Sunday.   Here are some lyrics especially for Palm Sunday which reflect the atmosphere of Lent instead of the post-resurrection feeling of Easter.   Feel free to use them, although you would need to set them to music.   Regardless of how you plan to use the lyrics, please do not acknowledge me; these lyrics are for God's glory alone. They came to Jerusalem And found a donkey Said "The Master needs it" And it was untied Cloaks and branches Of palm made a path For Jesus to ride on Through the crowd Did people know That it was to be This man, Son of God Here to save them Rejoice daughter of Zion Shout, shout, shout Daughter of Jerusalem Your king comes Righteous and victorious Humble and riding On the foal of a donkey Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord God Hosanna in the highest Pharisees didn't know Who Jesus was They asked for quiet Stones would have shouted ...

After having read the Bible, it became clear that humans are so, well... human! We are all sinners.  This is why I am constantly surprised at people who give the appearance of believing that the political party they follow has all the correct policies and a spotless character, while the opposition is evil and corrupt and must be avoided at all costs - this point of view is almost hilarious in a modern-day democracy! After reading the Bible, I had even less understanding of how anyone could hold this point of view.  I suspect that all the political parties in most modern democracies are somewhere between spotless and pure evil.... like us humans! I find it virtually impossible to get passionate about any human leader.  Why? They are imperfect beings, like me.  Of course, it's important to take our civic responsibilities seriously such as voting in elections.  But after making what you believe is the best decision for your country, ...

Yes, Satan is very real.  A heavenly creature who rebelled against God, there are many references to Satan throughout the Bible.  In view of this, it is interesting how many people refuse to acknowledge that Satan exists.  It is even more interesting that many people get mad at God when bad things happen , but refuse to consider that a) our own free will or b) Satan may be responsible for those things instead! Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, who fought back with his angels; but the dragon was defeated, and he and his angels were not allowed to stay in heaven any longer. The huge dragon was thrown out - that ancient serpent, named the Devil, or Satan, that deceived the whole world. He was thrown down to earth, and all his angels with him. Revelation 12: 7-9 The good news is that Satan is not omnisicent, nor is he omnipotent, nor is he omnipresent.  While we shouldn't underestimate him (or any enemy for that matter),...

Until last night, I was always puzzled by this particular scripture: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God Matthew 5:8 This verse always seemed very generic to me.  What was it really saying, if anything? I figured it had to be saying something important, as these words were spoken directly by Jesus as part of the beatitudes during his famous Sermon on the Mount.  Last night I arrived at the answer, but from the reverse perspective.  I wasn't even thinking about this scripture at the time.  In fact, I had been contemplating the nature of forgiveness.  I had come to the conclusion that forgiving a fellow human is critical for one's relationship with God.  This is because holding onto feelings of anger and resentment will surely cause a barrier to communicating with God.  I realized that if I constantly held anger and resentment toward someone who had hurt me, it was equivalent to saying that I was choosing the negat...

A frequent complaint by atheists (and some Christians too!) is the question of if God is real, why doesn't He reveal himself more clearly and easily?  This is an intriguing question.  One part of the answer seems to come from God, another from us.   Let's look at God's part first.  Evidently, he doesn't wish to make himself visible to us easily.  Is this because he wanted us to have as much Free Will as possible? Or is it because we are too sinful to handle the sight of him? Or is it because (after the fall of Adam and Eve), we we are living in enemy-occupied territory - which surely cannot be a pleasing environment for him? On the other hand, recall that he sent his only son Jesus to live among us sinners (and not only to live among us for a time, but to die and rise again so that we may live). So while the current Earth is an abhorrent and sinful environment, it cannot be the sole reason that God doesn't reveal himself to us readily.  A clue i...

A period of worldwide suffering will occur at the End of Days just prior to the return of Jesus.  This suffering is due at least in part to oppressive governance that will occur here on earth and a dire economic situation  at that time.  Yet, there will be plenty of physical suffering that is additional to this.  Just a few of the many Bible verses describing the end of days say: Another horse came out, a red one.  Its rider was given the power to bring war on the earth, so that people would kill each other.  He was given a large sword. Revelation 6:4 I looked, and there was a pale-colored horse.  Its rider was named Death, and Hades followed close behind.  They were given authority over a quarter of the earth, to kill by means of war, famine, disease and wild animals. Revelation 6:8 Then those who are in Judea must run away to the hills.  Someone who is on the roof of a house must not take the time to go down and get any belongings ...