Casting Pearls- Are you denying the true Power thereof?

We speak of the end times to come, but I say to you all ‘it is here’ the times as described in many places in the Bible are showing themselves all around us. We can see them clearly in a few verses in 2Timothy 3:1-5. These verses show us that the signs of the times are all around us, we need only open our eyes and there they are. Sometimes we need not just to look around us, but at ourselves as well. 

The Bible clearly states in the first verse of chapter 3, that we should know this, that in the end times, these signs will come; Verse 2 says, Men will be lovers of themselves, they will think only they are right, the rest of the world could learn something from them. Covetous, lovers of money and things, making excuses that they are serving God by doing so, but really only serving the things of this world. Attempting to prepare for a future by their own abilities and never relying on God to provide, so they miss out on the riches God has to bestow. Boasters, braggarts,people who would rather brag about themselves or others around them, than to tell the truth and give God any credit at all. Pride, the root of most sin, is the most dangerous sin we can play with. It comes on stealthily, and uses our own weakness to cause us to sin.

This is why, over and over again, we are told in the Bible to be humble of spirit, not puffed up or full of ourselves. Blasphemers, Openly willing to give cause for anything to man, but never to God who created everything. Some people may say, ‘If God wanted too, He could have stopped this or that’. They ignore the fact that God has given us free will in our lives, making us responsible for going the right ways, or following the wrong paths and causing hurt to others in the process. Look at Abraham, He chose to try and help God along with the promise God had made to him concerning his offspring. He had a son, Ishmael, who was not the one God had promised to Abraham, but to this day Ishmael’s offspring are supposed to be the fathers of the twelve Arab nations that war against Israel constantly. It’s amazing what one small sin can do over time. Lot, Abraham’s nephew, after he escaped from Sodom, was taken advantage of by his daughter while he was drunk one night because she thought they were the only ones left and her father was the only man left to impregnate her. She had a son, Moab, who became the father of the Moabites, who became long time enemies of Israel. It is amazing what one small sin can do. 

Disobedient to parents, As parents and as children, we need to remember that we hold three different positions in life. First, we are to raise our children in the fear, and reverence of the Lord. The best way I can explain this is the greek word for fear is Phobos, the same root word we get Phobia from. We should almost have a Phobia of displeasing God. If we do, we will both fear and reverence Him.

Secondly, we are to recognize when our children become Adults and no longer are under our guidance and tutelage. They migh listen to our advise, but that all depends on how much we have shown them the love of Christ through our lives. Thirdly, to be willing to let our children care for us when we are no longer able to care for ourselves. 

Unthankful, Not willing to thank God for ALL we have. Realizing that God made all things and giving Him credit for giving us these things to care for for a time.God is letting us have things, possibly for our own use, possibly for us to bless another. Whatever reason we have these things, we should thank God for them. 

Unholy, wicked or immoral without any care as to how their actions may affect others. People who ignore God unless they feel they need Him in an emergency. They ignore the obvious Creator of the Universe and live their lives for themselves, not giving anything, or at least not much, and giving only passing acknowledgment to the Creator of all things.

Verse 3 says; ‘Without natural affection’, meaning they are unable to show others, who they don’t consider important to themselves. Caring only for family and friends and not for anyone else. We were commanded to go out into the world and proclaim to all men the Good News, or Gospel, that is Jesus Christ and Him Resurrected from the dead after dying for their sins.They are people who cannot be counted on to do anything to sacrifice themselves for someone else. 

Truce breakers, people who cannot be counted on to keep their word or keep the peace unless it is in their best interest to do so. False Accusers, people who would rather lie than speak the truth about someone, due to jealousy or hatred or self-worship. It is said that when you lie and put another down, it is only in an attempt to lift yourself up above them. Fierce, Having a strong or violent nature, meeting any and all disagreements with violence or anger.As we see in Jesustime, there is such a thing as righteous anger(Jesus showed it with the money changers). This was not just to show us that Jesus as well as we could be rightfully angered by injustice. It was also to show the coming judgement of the Son of God for any and all that profess to be saved but continue to act like the devil. Despisers of that which is good, Openly turning good into evil with their actions, Lovers of themselves and not of God. 

Verse 4 goes on; Traitors, treacherous people who value their own desires above God’s or other peoples. People who care only for themselves. Rash to jump to a conclusion or opinion without giving thought or audience to other positions. High Minded, Conceited and full of themselves, not willing to listen or hear any differing opinions. Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, wanting things of this world , and not the things of God, things that will pass away. For example, weeat when we are hungry, and in a little while we are hungry again, but Jesus has ‘meat we know not of’ waiting for us if we are only willing to believeand profess Him as our lord before men. See John 4:32. This meat will sustain us and we will never hunger in our souls again. 

Verse 5 states; Having a form of Godliness but denying the power thereof, Those who to have the Holy Spirit and fool the men around them, but never show any outward sign of the spirit indwelling in their souls. In Acts 19:6, Paul baptized the believers who had before been followers of John the Baptist, and laid hands on them, and baptized them in the name of Jesus. They received the Holy Spirit and began to prophesy in tongues. Now not everyone who is baptized will receive the gift of the ability to speak in tongues, but should believe in God’s blessings on us. All people who are baptized in Jesus name will receive the Holy Spirit and be persuaded by It to do good works. We can deny the power of the Spirit by limiting the blessings God wants to give us. The most common way we do this is by not following the Spirit’s leading us to do something and show the Lord’s power, and spread the gospel, so that all may have the chance to be saved. We also deny the power of God by  limiting the degree with which God may bestow His Gifts on us. The Bible states that all we need is faith the size of a mustard seed and we can move mountains. In England, there was a man named George Muller who started an orphanage, he was not rich and did not have a lot of money or backers, yet daily he prayed for the children in his care and asked for God to provide their daily bread. By the time he reached old age and died, Mr. Mueller helped raise over 10,000 children and had 7 different orphanages, 115 Christian Schools to help the poor to learn more about Christ. If we only believe in God, He will bless us beyond measure.All this is not to say to quit your job and rely on God to provide your needs, but trust God to provide your needs, your wants are up to you to provide. If God desires for you to have your wants then He will make it possible for you to have them, but if your wants are out of God’s will then God may let you have them, but the price you pay for them in the end will be much greater than they are worth.

Casting Pearls- Are you ready for ...?

Todays world could learn a lot from the history of the Israelite nation. If we look in the Bible in Psalms 78 we see in the title that Asaph is credited with having written this particular psalm. Asaph was one of the heads of the three psalmist choirs that King David started under the leadership of the three descendants of the original three sons of Levi. Asaph was  one of these men. The psalm labeled 78 is a warning to the children of Israel to remember the trials they had been through and how God had helped them come through. Our country and the Christian people in general should remember all that we have been through, and how God has helped us through. Without God, we could have not made it.

Even when the people of Israel turned their backs on God, they were still under God’s protection for a time. It took some time before God finally gave up on the people turning back to Him and removed His hand of protection. This has happened over and over throughout history, and as a wise man one said ‘ if we don’t learn from history, we will be doomed to repeat it’. The psalm talks about several things God has done for Israel in history, from parting the Red Sea to using it to swallow up the pursuing Egyptians, to providing manna and water in the desert for the Israel to eat and drink. God not only saved the people, but fed them as well. God provided for them at every turn. It was due to their God and how He protected His people, that the nations of Canaan were afraid of them. They heard the stories of how God had protected His people and gave them triumph in battle, even under what appeared to be overwhelming odds at first glance. 

The people, still, over the years, forgot the miracles that God had worked on their behalf. This psalm was a reminder to the people to remember the things God had done, as well as a warning that if they did not turn back to God they would lose God’s protection. It would be devastating for Israel to lose God’s protection as they were on the main travel route between several large nations and they would be in  the way for any of them who wanted to attack another.Over and over through the years, Egypt, Samaria, and the other southern nations came through Israel to attack the northern nations of Assyria, Babylon, Syria and others, and vice versa. These nations would attack Israel whenever they passed through. It was not many years that passed by between attacks. About the only time the Israelites were in peace in Israel was when they were controlled by one of these nations. The people of Israel were warned to remember God and His Laws so they would be safe under His protection. Time after time they seemed to forget though. It finally culminated in their being exiled to several different nations throughout the world. 

Our Country could learn many things from the history of the Israelite people. They have a very strong religious personality that kept them remembering their homeland and religion even after their nation was split up amongst many foreign nations. Their national identity is much stronger than the USA’s so if the same thing was to happen to us, I do not think we would have much of a chance of reinstating this country. I believe that we have attempted to move away from the restraining forces that come naturally to those of us who are Christians, and become as evil and corrupt in our ways as Sodom and Gomorra of the Old Testament, so I also believe we only have a short time left before God takes away His hand of protection from this nation. 

Casting Pearls- Is it really Christmas season?

As we look at the birth of Jesus, and the surrounding events, we wonder, what were the people thinking? Coming up on the Christmas season people begin to think more on Jesus’ birth and life. There are some facts taken for granted by the populace that have no evidence to back them up. This article will discuss some of them as well as bringing out some of the things the characters might have been thinking at the time. 

First we must look at the date of Christ’s Birth, December 25th. Why do you think we celebrate Jesus’ Birth then? The date was set by the early Catholic Church to have christian believers have something to openly celebrate at the same time the pagans were celebrating their sun god. The date set for the celebration of the sun god was December 25th, from almost the beginning of their religion. The first sun god was Nimrod of Babylon, who had a son by his wife, supposedly after his death, who became the sun god in his place. His wife, the sun goddess, began the worship of her son on December 25th, the date of his death by a wild boar, which is where the eating of ham on Christmas came from. 

The Queen’s name was Semiramus, and she claimed her husband was the sun god after his death, and that she became pregnant by the suns rays with his son who became the new sun god. Nimrod was the grandson of Noah and went against continuing to worship God the Creator, much as his father Cush had. Eventually he was put to death for his actions and his body was cut into pieces that were sent to various capitals as a tool to show what would happen to those who went against God the Father. Semiramus escaped from the people who killed Nimrod and had her son in Babylon, and started her sun worshipping group there.One of the things they would do is sacrifice their children to the sun god and some of their followers began dying eggs in the blood of the children to commemorate the queen mothers supposed arrival in Babylon in an egg in the river Euphrates. This was how Easter started, but lets get back to Christmas. 

Next we must look at the story told in Luke of the shepherds and the manger in the barn. The fact that Jesus had to be born in a lowly barn surrounded by animals and laid in a manger(feeding trough) and have his arrival announced to some lowly shepherds instead of the leaders and Kings he deserved, showed just how far down God was willing to stoop to reach the people He loved and cared for. Mary and Joseph new the time of Jesus birth was soon and Joseph was frantic as he searched for someplace for Mary to have the baby. After all his searching, the only place he found was a barn that a inn owner let him and Mary stay in as it was the only place he had left that had not been taken as there was a large crowd there for the festival of Temples that was going on as well as a counting of the people by Caesar Agustus. 

This place and the shepherds being called to witness His birth, were just more signs of how low God was willing to go to save men from themselves. Later in  Matthew we are told of Wise Men (Astrologers), from a far away country, who saw by signs in the heavens that a King was to be born in Bethlehem in Judea. These Wise men took some time arriving at the place where Jesus was born so they never visited the barn or the manger because as we see in Matthew, they found Jesus with His mother Mary living in a house.They were unsure of where to find Him when they arrived, so they went to King Herod to find Jesus. In Luke 2:11 it is said they came unto the House where Jesus was and found Him, His mother and Joseph. They were visited in an angel in their dreams that warned them from going back to King Herod as he asked them to feigning that he wished to go worship the child himself. Herod Knew from what the wise men had told him that the child should be about two years old by then so when the wise men didn’t return, he ordered the guards to kill all the children less than two years old.

Now what do you think was going through the minds of Herod and all his wise men who advised him? They knew from the wise men that a new king was born into Israel, but all they did was stay around the worldly power of Herod, they missed the birth of the King! How do you think these Astronomers knew to look for the signs in the heavens? Some researchers theorize that these Astronomers were descendants of Daniel in Babylon, and that they had been trained by him to search for this sign as they would know by it that it was time to go to Bethlehem and take part of the leftover wealth of Daniel to the new King of Israel. That is also why it was only about two years after Jesus birth that Wise Men of  Matthew’s chronology appeared on the scene. They appeared and gave Joseph the riches he would need to take Mary and Jesus on a trip to Egypt to live for a time to escape Herod’s wrath just in time. It’s amazing how God delivers the means just in time if we are willing to just wait on Him. Next we must look at how their is always assumed that there is three Wise men. Never in the writings of Matthew is it told how many wise men it was. You can naturally assume it is at least two since they are called Wise Men, but never is it said there was three of them. There were three gifts they brought to Mary and Joseph so it is assumed that it came from three men. 

It is not wise to assume anything but with God’s word, especially, we are asking for trouble. It is dangerous to presume anything that is not backed up with scripture. Many of the rituals and beliefs of the Christian Church are actually pagan beliefs that were used by the early Roman Catholic Church to give Christians a reason to celebrate at the same times as the pagans, so they would not feel left out of the celebrations. This was not a satisfactory reason for the celebrations being changed from their real times to coincide with the Pagans and their evil rituals.

Many of us are living a lie in our beliefs, but you may ask, should we change them to the correct times now? the answer is, not really, the real times of these things are wrong, but do they have any bearing on our salvation? the answer is NO. It doesn’t really matter weither we worship Jesus Birth on December 25th, or September 20th. It doesn’t matter if Easter is off by a week or two each year, it doesn’t matter when Jesus died for our sins, only that He did and that we believe and profess to others He did and lives again in our hearts. Ultimately that is the real reason for the celebration. It says in the Bible that the Angels in Heaven celebrate every time a soul is saved. So lets all celebrate the living savior!

Casting Pearls- Do you really want that thorn?

As Christians we go through our lives facing all different types of temptations and trials. As Paul put it some of us were given thorns in the flesh to keep us realizing that we always need God to protect us from the Evil things that surround us.  The world keeps on getting more and more evil and the trials are more and more frequent. I have found the closer we get to God and God’s plan for us, the stronger the Devil’s attacks will become. In other words, the closer you are to God, the worse Satan’s attacks will be.

There are times I believe that God attempting to teach us something by the trials we face, if we don’t pass the test the first time, we are doomed to repeat the trial. God says, like a loving father, He chastises His children to help them learn. If we don’t learn from the bad things that happen to us, then we are destined to repeat them until we do. For example, history shows us what happens when a government grows corrupt, ignores God,  and feeds on the people it governs for growth. Such a government collapses in on itself. We see it in the Roman Empire, the German Empire under Hitler, Russia under Communist control, and many more. The United States Government refuses to learn from history, so they will have to repeat it.

Many people say if God is such a loving God, why does He allow so much suffering in this world. It is caused by our own selfishness and sinfulness, not by God, and God allows it to go on so we will learn from it and live for Him and no longer for ourselves. 

Casting Pearls-What more do you want God to do for You?

I recently had someone who is not a Christian ask me a question, If God is a loving and all forgiving God, how come Jesus told his disciples to shake the dust off their feet and leave those who refused to believe? I told him that God did not want us wasting time on attempting to turn those who refused to hear to Him. We should ‘shake the dust off our feet’, don’t let any of their unbelief stick to us, and move on to others who would be more receptive. 

I also told him that the whole thing reminded me of a story I heard. the story goes like this; There once was a man who lived in a area that was due to be flooded by the building of a dam. Letter after letter was sent to him warning of the impending flooding. He refused to believe them as he had lived there many years and was not about to be driven out by a little water.Finally people were sent to his house to warn him of the impending flood. The man refused to leave with them. when the water began to rise the man had to move up to his second story to keep out of the water. A few men in a boat came along and tried again to get the man to leave, He refused. The water kept on rising and the man had to move out on his roof to avoid the rising water. A helicopter came by and spotted him. The men in the helicopter called to him to come with them, again the man refused to leave. The water continued to rise until the man drowned. When the man got to heaven he asked God why he never saved him from drowning in the flood. God told the man, you ignored the letters I had sent to you, and you ignored the people that tried to persuade you to leave before the flood, and you ignored the people in the boat, and you ignored the people in the helicopter, what more did you want me to do?

To often we hold on so tightly to the things of this world that we refuse to listen to the warnings about the sin that surrounds us or the eternal death that faces us if we do not listen and believe. It is a simple choice to make, but the flesh and satan attempts to keep us from listening. What more do you want God to Do for YOU?

Casting Pearls- Remember the rich young ruler?

The story of the rich young ruler is told in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In all three gospels the story is the same, the Young Ruler bows to Jesus, says good rabbi, Is ridiculed for saying Jesus is good, is told by Jesus to obey all the commandments, the Young Ruler claims to have done so, then he is told by Jesus to sell all he has and give it to the poor and follow Jesus. 

Some people focus on the Young Ruler being controlled by his wealth, some people focus on him being arrogant, some focus on him being too proud. Seldom do you hear about Jesus’ love for the man. In Mark 10:21 of the three, this is the only one that speaks of Jesus looking upon him with Love. 

Jesus was the Son of God, and He was God too. As God, He knew the stance the Young Ruler would take. Jesus knew the man’s riches would prevent him from giving all to God because his love for the things of this world would prevent him from following Jesus. He knew of the man’s arrogance in his piety. Even knowing all this, Jesus still looked upon him with love. 

Ultimately, one of the things that Jesus wants us to know is that He will love us even knowing all about us, God Knows what we have done, are doing, and will do, yet even still he loves us enough to have died a horrible death to be our sacrifice for our sins. Jesus gave more of Himself than we could ever do, or ever have done, for  it is not by strength, or power, or works, says the Lord, But only by the Spirit and the Blood of Jesus that we can be saved. o