Casting Pearls- A strange way to save the world?

Many of us fight back whenever we seem to loose control and have to stop driving and let God lead us to where He would have us go. A old bumper sticker said God is my Co- Pilot. A Co- Pilot is supposed to take over when the Pilot is otherwise occupied or unable for some reason to stay in control of the Plane. Some people say that God should be your Pilot rather than your co-Pilot because God should always be in control of the plane of your life. Making God the Co-pilot or the Pilot is hard for most people because we think we have a better plan than God does. God, The Creator God who has had the same plan since Adam and Eve were still in the Garden, God. We have the arrogance to believe that we would even begin to know better than He what is best for the plan of God?
          Whenever we find ourselves out of our own control we begin to struggle and fight to regain even a small amount of control over our own existence. It is only when we find ourselves out of control that we can learn just how much in control God really is. I think that Mary and Joseph are prime examples. We will look at them and the situations they both were in.
        First we look at Mary, the Virgin Mother of Jesus. She was impregnated by an angel of God with God’s own son Jesus, and told to give birth to Him and name Him Jesus. Knowing that this was an offense that at that time and age would be considered an offense that would be punishable by death either by her betrothed husband or the surrounding people in her village. To be pregnant at that time out of wedlock was unheard of and looked upon by the people around her with shame. She would face the chance of death and the almost sure chance that if they did not kill her the people would treat her with such disdain and hatetred that she would wish that she was dead.
         Next we look at Joseph, the Betrothed Husband of Mary. He would be expected to be upset with Mary over her obvious indiscretion with another. If Joseph did not hold her accountable for the indiscretion, it would be the same as admitting to the people that he was the one Mary had slept with and that the child she carried was his and was from a pre-marital tryst between the two of them and would bring shame on him and his standing in the public eye. Again we see that ultimately the whole thing comes down to what people would think as they have no way to understand the mind or the thinking of God.
        I’m sure that even though Joseph had been told by the angel of God in a dream that Mary would have a son and he was to name Him Jesus and that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem, and would be the Messiah of the people of Israel. Joseph still suffered many doubts as he went along. I’m sure that as the song ‘A Strange Way To Save The World’ says, that Joseph must have questioned thinking that he knew better than God Himself, ‘Why me, I’m just a simple man of trade, Why Him, A Baby, with all the rulers in the world, Why Here, inside this stable filled with hay, Why Her, she is just an ordinary Girl, then he qualified his statement so as to not look as though he was questioning God, even though he was, he said, ‘ I’m not one to second guess what angels have to say, but, this is such a strange way to save the world.’
        I’m sure it must have gone on from there, as he thought ‘ To think of how it could have been, If Jesus had come as He deserved, There would have been no Bethlehem, No lowly shepherds at His birth. But thinking on it some more Joseph would have realized that he knew the reason God had to reach so far down to show the lowliest human that they were still worthy of God reaching down to them and saving them from their sins. No matter how bad we are we can’t get so low that Jesus would not be willing to reach down to us. No matter how hard we wrestle with God for control, He still thinks we are worth saving.
         If we go back to Jacob in Genesis 32 where he wrestles with the Lord. It was not Jacob that wrestled with the lord as we so often think. It was the Lord that came down and began to wrestle with Jacob to have control. If we look in verse 24 of chapter 32 it states that the man that represents the Lord was the one who wrestled with Jacob all night. Jacob was not wrestling to take control from the Lord, he was attempting to keep the Lord from taking control of him. It appears that Jacob won the match , but did he really? Did the Lord just let him think he won so that His plan would continue as He had planned for it to go.
        Was Joseph his son more than just a shadow of Christ in what Jesus was coming  to do, or a shadow of Christ in his entire life to come. Would Christ like Joseph be rejected by his own Kin only to be received by them gloriously when He returns on the scene in the time to come? There are many mysteries that will not be known until Jesus returns, but from the signs of the times, that won’t be long. Keep looking up for the time is near! As one of my favorite Radio shows is often saying.

Casting Pearls- In the Beginning Part 2

After six days god decided to take the Seventh day off and rest, God even commanded Adam to take the Seventh Day off to rest from whatever work he was doing. This became a regular thing for Adam and Eve to do. So on the Seventh Day, God and everyone rested and did nothing.

Now to go into more depth of how Adam and Eve were made, the next chapter of Genesis delves deeper into the facts surrounding God’s creation. In Genesis 2:5-6 the Bible explained how God had caused the mist from the seas and the land itself to water the plants so it never had to rain. The dust of the ground was gathered together by God to make the form of Man and then God breathed life into the dust and named the first man Adam, A garden was made by God with all the trees and plants in it that were good for food to Adam, and God placed Adam in it to care for it. In the middle of the garden were two trees, one the tree of life, the other the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam was warned by God that there was only one rule, never eat from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He was warned that the day you eat of it, you will surely cease to exist. Now, that was a very scary thought to Adam, so he had a heathy fear of that tree. 

At some time after Adam had been created, God had all the animals pass before Adam, and had Adam name them. The names we call them are based on these names Adam gave them. After a time God made Adam a helpmate to give him some company and help in caring for the Garden of Eden, when God was not around. SO Genesis says in verse 21 that God caused Adam to go into a deep sleep so he wouldn’t feel anything, and took a rib out of Adam. From that rib, God created a helper for Adam, and Adam named her Eve. She is of the opposite sex to Adam so when they joined together they might reproduce and replenish the earth as God had told them. 

Adam said in verse 23 that she was from him, flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone. To this day, man has one less rib than woman to help us remember that we need something to make us whole.We as men need a helpmate to make us whole in our life. Now, this is not to say that man has to have a woman to be whole. It is better for a man if he can be alone and have no yearnings for a mate. If a man does not have to take into account how an action will affect someone other than just himself, it will be easier for him to do things.If he has a mate, then he must take into account how she will be affected as well, when making a decision. 

In the third chapter of Genesis, we see the fall from goodness and innocence of men. The devil, another word for Lucifer, was allowed into the Garden by inhabiting the serpent. Even back then, Lucifer knew how to use another persons body by taking it over and possessing it. The serpent was just another animal allowed in the garden with Adam and Eve. It was fitting that Lucifer possessed a serpent because as the Bible says, it was more cunning or subtle than any of the other beasts of the field. 

This is also where some people are at odds as to how the serpent was used by Lucifer or if he was used by one of the Demons, Fallen angels that fell with Lucifer, and was used by him or actually did this alone. I believe that he was possessed by a demon and used by the demon. Unfortunately the Serpent received the blame for doing wrong, maybe so God could put him in the place he wanted him in the first place.

If we were approached by an animal that spoke to us we would immediately know that something was wrong, but as I said, Adam and Eve were both newly created and innocent. The serpent approached the woman, as the man had a direct relationship with God and would be harder to fool. The serpent, Satan, misrepresented how God had told them not to eat from the tree of Knowledge of good and evil and after Eve told him what God had told Adam, Which she did not repeat correctly, though only one person had come between her and God, since she added to what He said, that God said not even to touch it. This was to show us that even with only one person between the original speaker and us the saying can and will change. 

Satan, as the serpent, told Eve that if she ate of that tree, she would not die that same day, he told her that God wanted to keep Adam and Eve from becoming as intelligent as God by not letting them eat from that tree. Eve’s pride and selfishness had her go ahead and as she saw that the fruit if that tree looked good, she picked and ate. After Eve ate of the tree, she offered it to Adam, who was right there the whole time and he ate it as well. 

Some people try to blame the woman for the original sin of man, but as we see in Genesis 3:6 Adam was right there with her, heard all the serpent had to say and never objected to any of it. Satan took advantage of the innocence of Adam and Eve and had them sin against God by eating of the tree. 

God was all knowing so he knew what had happened, but wanted Adam to admit it himself so as to see if Adam was truly repentant of his sin. God came to walk with Adam as He normally did in the cool part of the day, and called to Adam when he didn’t appear. Adam finally came out and admitted to God that he knew he was naked and when God said so you have sinned and eaten of the tree I said not to eat from, Adam started to blame God for giving him the woman and that he was only doing what she did. 

This is why there is a order that God instituted like umbrellas of different sizes. The largest is held by God, the next largest is held by the man, next largest is the woman’s and the smallest is the children’s. The children will be sheltered from this world as long as they stay beneath their parent’s umbrellas. The woman and her children will both stay safe from the rain of sin in this world as long as they reside under the husband. They will all stay safe from the sin in this world by staying under the shelter of the umbrella of God. This is the natural organization of things.

God had to punish sin, so He went down the list of who had done wrong. When God asked the woman what had happened, she blamed everything on the serpent. God started with the serpent, He said to the serpent, that he would have to move around on his stomach and be right where the dirt of the earth would get in its mouth all it’s days. The Lord went on and said, that he would make the serpent to be at odds with the woman and her offspring all their days. He said the serpent would bruise her heal and her offspring would bruise the serpent’s head. Showing how the man and the serpent would be at odds for all time. There are many people who say, still today, that the only good snake is a dead snake.

God then went on to the Woman and said that from now on she would have troubles with discomfort in carrying and bearing children. It was also at this time that God made  the husband to be the head over the woman, not because she needed someone to lead her, but because the man,Adam, should have known better than to have let her fall for the lies the serpent told her. He was to be her protection from the sin in this world. 

The man Adam actually received the worst of all punishments though, he was made to toil in the ground and hunt wild animals, as well as deal with serpents nipping at his heels, and a woman that he had to protect and provide for. God cursed the earth to make thorns and thistles come up wherever the man planted vegetables to come up and that he would have to struggle hard to make food for them to eat.God then killed some of the animals to fashion garments of skin for them to wear, and thereby the  first man brought death into the world. 

The serpent, or Satan, twisted the truth, or spun the story to make it appear how he wanted it to so he would be telling the truth while still lying. When satan told Eve that if she ate the fruit, she would not die that same day, he was telling the truth from her point of view. She and Adam did not die that day as Eve saw days. A day to God is as a thousand years the scriptures say in Psalms and in 2 Peter. 

Casting Pearls- In the Beginning

This is my belief as to the beginning of things and how this world was made. It is not in any way supposed to replace the Bible as the word of God, or make anything in it to be of no affect. It is purely a idea of mine as to how the beginning of the Earth happened. It does follow along with the creation story of Genesis in the Bible and is influenced by the leading of the Holy Spirit Though in no way do I claim to be writing words inspired by God. This is merely a story that gives the reader the imaginings of the author as to how we all came to be.

There was a time, before time began, when the world was not yet formed. Heaven was the center of the universe, because the universe did not yet exist. All was good and God was in control of everything. In the middle of all this a war began, a struggle between what was known and what was unknown, between good and evil. 

God was a very good ruler and was very good to the angels He created. He gave them great abilities and powers in the kingdom He controlled, and He made them have almost anything they could imagine. Their imaginations didn’t have all that much to imagine because their lack of knowledge of things outside of the Heaven God had created for them to live in. All they really knew was the Heaven that was their home and each other. God had created three angels that He put all other angel under the control of, these were Michael, Gabriel, and Lucifer, they were in control of one third of the angels each. 

When God had something for the angels to do, one of the three were given the order and in turn passed the order on to the angels under them to complete it. This was the order in which things were done prior to the great uprising. The head of the three angels God had put in control of the other angels was Lucifer, he was known as the Angel of Light, since he was almost as powerful as God Himself. Lucifer was just under the God of Light who is the Light of Eternity Himself. Lucifer rose up against God and proclaimed himself to be as powerful as God. Lucifer was so impressed with his own beauty and power, that he thought himself equal with his creator God. 

When Lucifer rose up in rebellion against the God of all Creation, he ordered the third of the angels he controlled to help him to take over heaven. When they  joined up with Lucifer in rebellion against God, they wrote their own future. When God and His other angels along with Michael and Gabriel, defeated the uprising, the Lord our God cast Lucifer and his third of the angels he controlled out of Heaven. The worst punishment God could think of at the time was to put them in a place that was the antithesis to what they were. Since Lucifer was the Angel of Light, God put him and his angels in a place that was dark and void of anything. 

  God had to create a place that was dark and void of anything to place The angels and Lucifer in. For a time it stayed that way, then one day God decided to do something good with the evil place He had created. He decided to make it a wonderful place that would be good and have creations in it that ,as the angels, had free will to worship and make God their Lord. God then began the creation of Earth.

God came upon the face of the Dark and void place He had created and said, “ Let there be Light” , and there was light in the darkness. The brilliant light of God’s own presence made the light out of the darkness that prevailed until then. Where light is, no darkness can be. But God divided the darkness from His light to keep Lucifer in his place of void and darkness. God saw that the thing he had created was now in light and the light was good. That was the First Day of God’s creation.

Then God said let the void and darkness have a form within it, and God then made a separation of the form from the darkness surrounding it. That was the Second Day of God’s creation of the place in which we are. 

God called the area around the Form He had created, the Heavens. Then on the next day God divided the area of the form He had created into waters and dry land, and the dry land God called Earth, and the waters God called the seas, and God saw all that He had done so far and it was all good on the face of the evil that was the place Lucifer had been cast from Heaven. 

God then made grass and trees and all kinds of plants to grow on the land He had created all sorts of plants and made them where they could have seeds and reproduce, and God saw all He had created, and said it was good on the face of the darkness God had made to cast Lucifer and his followers into. This was the Third Day of God’s creation.

  The next thing God did was make lights in the heavens around the form of Earth and made them give light on the Earth for pat of the time and light at night too, as He created two great lights, one brighter than the other, one to shine during the day and one to shine at night. All around the Earth in the void, God created other lights to shine. These man later called stars, as they were like unto the bright light that shined on the Earth. God saw all He had made and it was good.This was the Forth Day.

God then began to create the creatures in the sea, the Plankton, amoebas and the whales and all the creatures in between in size. God also made all sorts of birds in the air above the water and God saw that all these animals were good and made them where they could procreate. and God had them procreate and fill the Earth with their kind. Then God made all the animals and all other things that move upon the Land and made them to procreate and fill the land with their kind as well. God saw all the things He had created and that it was good. This was the Fifth Day. 

God then said to Himself, “ Let US make Man in OUR own image”. When God referred to Himself as US and OUR He was referring to the Triune nature of God as three in one. There is also much controversy over what God meant by IN OUR OWN IMAGE, it was not to say that we in any way look like God. We have his image in our being a triune being as well, we are made up of BODY,SOUL, and SPIRIT. While God is made up of THE FATHER GOD, THE SON, and THE HOLY SPIRIT. So, God created man in His own image and then he created woman to go along with man. God told them to replenish the Earth and control it. God gave man control over all that He had created here in the void. We were given dominion over the Earth and all that were in it. God saw all that He had made and it was all VERY GOOD.  That made up the Sixth Day of creation

                There is no evidence as to how long the time was between the creation of Man on the Sixth Day of creation and the fall of man due to sin. The only time we can track is from the fall of man until now. As i said in another blog, it is stated in 2 Peter and in Psalms that a day to God is as a Thousand years and we are approximately 6 to almost 7 thousand years since the fall of man in eden. We can be sure if things follow the seventh day of rest that God prescribes, that we are coming up on a time that God and we can rest from the attacks of satan. This would go along with the thousand year reign of Christ on earth before we see the new heaven and new earth. We as christians will be with Jesus as He reigns.

Casting Pearls- Is God Mean?

                      God has been accused by many of being a murderous and violent God. Much of the Bible would seem to back up that claim. Only in the writings of the New Testament do we see God referred to as a God of Love not of violence. God has not changed, only the covenant between God and man has changed. We see if we look at the beginning in Genesis 1: 31 that God saw everything He had made and it was VERY GOOD. There is no record of the time between then and when Satan came into the Garden of Eden and tempted Eve and Adam to eat of the Tree of Knowledge, but we know that he did. from that point, because of the sin of man, death came into the world.

                     First, Adam and Eve began dying and from that point neither of them, or anyone else, lived more than a thousand years. that leads us to the scripture found in Psalms 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8 that explains that to God a day is as a Thousand Years. It also brings us to the first death in God’s creation, in Genesis 3:21. God had to Kill some animals to make Adam and Eve coats of skins to wear. That later led to more death. The original coats that God made them wore out and became smelly from their own sweat and body emanations and I’m sure, they had to kill again to keep themselves in clothes.

                    From there it was not very far down for them to go and kill another human as we see in Genesis 4:8. The debauchery of man continued from there to spiral downward. As time went on, man continued to disobey the commands of God and death became more and more widespread. When God made a covenant between Himself and Abraham, He instituted the death and sacrifice of an animal to be the death that would take away the sins we had and make us clean again in the eyes of God. The sin that was passed down to us from Adam and Eve, could only lead to death, so it could only be delayed by death.

                     Afterwards, the descendants of Abraham, the Israelites, would again and again disobey God’s commands and intermarry with the other nations who worshiped false gods, against God’s will. God’s judgement would be brought down against these other peoples, and also against Israel, after great delays in God’s judgement futility hoping that the Israelites and the other nations would turn away from the error of their ways. God instead of showing how condemning He was, showed us time and again how forgiving He was. God kept everyone from the result of their sins as long as He possibly could. 

                    During all this time God tried to help us to keep from killing by showing us how to use plants instead of animals for covering or nakedness and protecting ourselves from the elements. Our sin, however, called for death to delay the consequences. As humans, we were the ones who created this problem, and God was the only one who could help us find a way out of the problem with sin that we created.

                    God finally made a New Covenant with man through the sacrifice that was above all before, His Son, Jesus Christ. The covenant God made with us is spelled out for us in the New Testament. It is summed up in John 3:16-17. Where God’s own son tells us that He came to be that sacrifice as the only human that never sinned and was clean enough for God to accept as a sacrifice for us, because God loved all of us so much, that He was willing to let His own son become the ‘scape goat’ that would take on ALL the sins of man and bring forgiveness to us all. As the verses say, Jesus came not to condemn the world, but that through Him it might find a way to be saved from itself. 

                   

                   All that we need do now is to accept the free gift that God has offered us. Death was brought to earth by mans sin. That sin must be covered up by the forgiving blood of Jesus Christ for us to be able to commune again with God as Adam did. Ultimately, WE are the ones that are the reason for the death and evil in the world, and God has done more than we could ever ask, in giving His own Son to be the sacrifice through His own death for the sin WE brought into this world. All we need do is accept the FREE gift god has offered us.