How do I know that I know God and His Son?

There are three “tests” that John put forth for a person, a believer, to know that they know God without a doubt. These tests are that we keep His commandments, to walk as Jesus walked in obedience to the Father and to show unconditional love toward our brothers. The first one is usually the hardest for some to understand. It is to keep or obey His commands. Not just the ten commandments, but the two which Jesus put forth in Matthew 22:34-40. Jesus said, “Love God with all of your heart, and with all your strength, and with all your soul and love your neighbor as yourself, on these two commandments hang all of the Law and the Prophets”.

Those who say that they know God, but do not keep his commandments are liars and the truth is not in them. Belief is not enough, reading the Bible, God’s Word is not enough, your life has to show beyond a doubt that you belong to Him. We are put where we are to be “salty” and to be reflections of Him, not of ourselves or our personal views. Our mission, if we are Christians as we claim to be, is to be the best reflection of Jesus that our lives can be. How we live our faith on a daily basis shows what is in our heart, not what may be on our minds at the time. At least, that is what the world should see.

To walk as Jesus walked, in total obedience to God’s will, is our goal and purpose. As Christians, we are to submit to the Spirit’s leading influence in our life on a daily basis. This does not mean to give up entirely, but we are to give Jesus and His Spirit control of our lives daily. This is a hard concept for us because we do not like to give up control of our lives.

How can we, mere humans, accomplish this? The only way that we can do this is through Him and His Spiritual control of our lives. The only way that we can be truly effective for Him is by the power of His Spirit in our life. If we did good things (works) for others before becoming a Christian, how much more could we do with Him in our life? Those works that we did before becoming Christians may have been good but they did nothing more than to make us look good in other people’s eyes. What about the ones we are led to do or accomplish after becoming Christians? As long as we obey Him and accomplish them, we are doing His will and fulfilling His purpose in our lives.

Even though we are not bound by Jewish law, are we required to act as if we are regarding the Ten Commandments, as well as the commandments Jesus gave in Matthew 22? If we are truly His, yes! Our life is to reflect that His spirit lives in us and that we live through Him. If our lives do not reflect what is in our hearts as the truth of God, we need to re-examine our faith and our beliefs. We can only pass the test when we are led by the Spirit on a daily basis.

Is there a broken relationship in your life? Is there any prejudice or animosity toward any particular group of people? Do you fail to demonstrate love for others through tangible actions, not just  giving people “stuff” ? Is there a way we can fix these failures? Yes! Come to Jesus and show that you truly love those who love you and those who don’t.

As followers of Christ, we are to love Him so that we can resist the attraction of the world and all that it tries to offer us. To serve Him in whatever we do, regardless of how insignificant it may seem to us is our calling and purpose. In that way the light of God and His Son, Jesus, should shine through us so that everyone we come in contact with will see that we have something that they need and in doing so we will be the true followers of God that we were called to be.

Our Service to Him....

Should be out of love for someone who created us just the way we should be. Your life is not just yours but it belongs to God, whether you have given your life to Jesus or not. Everything on the earth no matter what it is, including everyone who is or is not a follower of Christ, belongs to God because He created everything and everyone. There are no animals, no bacteria, no insects, or fish or birds or anything on the earth that He did not want to be here.

I have never quite understood how some non-believers could come to the conclusion that man can make himself into a god. There is no possible way, because even the angels can't do that. They are heavenly beings created by God and they are very powerful, but they are still His servants.

Our lives are intended to be extensions of His will, even though we are not forced into this. We are to give ourselves freely because that is what Christ did. He subjected Himself to His Father's will, not His own. He went to the cross to die for us, all of us, so that when we believe in Him and His sacrifice for us we will have eternal life with Him. It is that simple!!

Simplicity makes some people scared because they think if it is too simple it must not be worth much. YOU ARE WRONG!! Our salvation is worth the price of God's son and His death and resurrection. I don't know of anything that could be named that would be worth even the price of my own son's death and being human we can't comprehend God's ways or His thoughts about His son's death. Of course, He knew that He was going to be resurrected and ascend to Heaven. But that is beside the point.

Would you sacrifice something so precious for beings that reject you and your ways! Even when you have given them every chance over and over and over, that is exactly what YAHWEH, Jehovah, God did for all of us. We should get down on our knees every day and thank Him that He allowed us to even get up from our bed. These facts are hard to accept, yet they are in the Bible which is the written word of God and He does NOT lie.

Please forgive me if this post is too forceful but time is running short and if you expect to be allowed into heaven, you have to get your heart and soul right with God. Once the door is shut by God, no one else can open it.

Good Morning, World!

Our lives are blessed, regardless of the religion you cling to or believe in. God loves you all and wants you to come to the knowledge of Him and His Son, Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Your life and vocation, whatever that may be, should be done as in service to Him.

In living the life that He wants us to live, through His Son, we serve in His Kingdom and we are able to do His will for our lives. The sooner more people come to realize that we are not puppets, and that God uses people for His purposes regardless of their belief in Christ or not, there is only one reaction that means anything.....coming to faith in Jesus! You know that God used the pharaoh in Egypt in order to display His power to the whole world, even though he didn't know the God of the Israelites.

He even uses other religions of the world to prove that He is the only God who loves and cares for all. He knows how many hairs are on each person's head because He put them there! He formed you in the womb from your mother and father's DNA into an individual with all of the attributes that He wanted you to have. Please consider reading His word and learning about Him and His Son, Jesus.

God loves you because you are His creation, no matter where you are or what religion you claim.

There are many ways to Heaven????

I heard today that many people in America, even born-again Christians, believe that there is more than one way to Heaven. Have any of you ever been to a church service where the Bible is taught? And that it is the literal word of God?

I can't believe that anyone who thinks the Bible is the word of God, and that it is true, could possibly think or teach that there is a possible way to Heaven that doesn't involve the acceptance of Jesus as Savior! The Old Testament confirms that belief and faith in God's promises were the only possibility of being justified by God at that time. Nevertheless, they went to the "pit" until Jesus went down to "release the captives" while he was in the tomb.

There are those who don't think that could have happened but the Bible says so, so I believe it.

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and The Life. No one comes to the Father but through Him. (Paraphrase of John 14:6) You can be as good as you can be and still not be able to get into Heaven. Our "righteousness" is as filthy rags to God, no matter what we think or what others think of us.

I know that sounds like a very narrow-minded way of looking at things, but the road to Heaven is narrow and the door to that roadway is narrow as well. That "door" is Christ, and He is the only way to get there. If you still doubt me, read God's word in John, or Luke, or Romans as well. They all say the same thing, just in different words.

Do you believe in the existence of Hell?

I have heard many stories of people who don't believe in Heaven or Hell, though I can't understand why. I guess if I weren't a servant of God and didn't believe the Bible as the word of God, I wouldn't either. There are many passages in the Bible which point to the existence of Hell and describe it as well. I just finished a book entitled,"23 Minutes in Hell" by Bill Wiese.

The reality of Hell is not whether or not it exists, just that it does! Jesus referred to it, the prophets of the old Testament referred to it. It is a real place. I know that many people say that a loving God could not send people to hell, but He will! The simple act of refusing his gift of eternal life through belief in Jesus will send you there, God doesn't want any human in hell. He created it for Satan and his demons, not us. Through rejection of His Son and the sacrifice made in our place, many people will go to Hell that would not have gone there by making the choice to accept Him as their savior.

I know that in many churches, the existence of hell is not preached but that doesn't mean that it is not there. Fire looks pretty but if you put your hand in it you will still be burned. The fire of hell is just as hot as any fire, if not hotter than that on earth, but your life after death is eternal and that is a LONG time!! The fire of hell does not consume you it just tortures you forever. God is not the one who sends you there, you do! By accepting Jesus as your lord and Savior you can escape that fate.

I know some will think that I get some compensation from a publisher by putting a link to Bill Wiese's book in this blog, but I assure you that I do not. I only put the link there to encourage you to get the book and read it. Then check the references to the Bible and other works that he uses and you will see that hell is a real place. If you don't believe after that, you will find out personally when you die. Instead of an angel coming to get you, there will be demon. I don't have to go into any more detail than that. Please, consider the validity of the Bible and the message in it's pages. It is true and Jesus is waiting. Don't wait until it is too late because no one knows when their time will come. It may be tonight or tomorrow. Don't put it off, please!

The story of salvation is spelled out for all

I have read a book by Dr. D.James Kennedy about the true meaning of the constellations. God outlined the path of salvation in them so that if people could understand and take the time to understand His ways, the constellations would spell out salvation for all.

In ancient times, the "pole" star was in the constellation of Scorpio which is a representation of the devil. Earth was under the influence of Satan up until the time of Christ and His crucifixion and resurrection, and it still is to a certain extent. After Christ's time, the pole start shifted to the constellation of ursa minor. We see this as the little dipper but it is represented as a little bear in most paintings of constellations. It is actually a sheep-fold or pen, representing the church after Jesus' time, waiting for the shepherd to come back.

God named all of the stars and placed them where they are so that they would serve their purpose of showing all the people the way to salvation. Unfortunately, the message and the constellations themselves were perverted into astrology and myth by the pagan world and that is what has caught on and become popular. Their true message, if looked at from the perspective of the message in the Bible, is an outline of salvation and the struggle between Satan and Christ and Christ's ultimate triumph over Satan.

There is so much more to add to this, but the bottom line message is that we can be saved from our own sinful ways and the temptation which comes from Satan through the acceptance of Jesus as our savior. After that, we should serve Him and further spread His word and message to all who will accept it. He loves all of you like His own children because He formed all of us in the womb bit by bit and He knows exactly who will come to Him and when, whether you know it or not. We are not to take our lives for granted because tomorrow is not guaranteed to you much less next month or next year. Please consider the words of the Bible from John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whosoever would believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Believe in Jesus and the fact that He came to pay the penalty for all of our sins. He was not just a "good man or a great prophet". He was and is the Son of God. "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 were all things made; without him nothing was made that has been made." John 1: 1-3