Lo, He is Coming

Wow, it didn't take long for Mr Camping to admit he was wrong - and choose another date. But his own words have already proven himself to be a false prophet without the Word of God - and thus not to be listened to. (Feel free to review the "Old" Testament if you don't understand that statement - as it is very clear how we can know if someone truly is speaking for our Father.) But that is not the topic of this post; the "rapture" is.

I am an odd duck in my family. I grew up with the teaching of the rapture, with the Thief in the Night movies, and with Mr Lahaye's popular books. But I also believe this to be the biggest lie of the devil with absolutely no Scriptural support. Every verse that I grew up with as support for a rapture reads the exact opposite to me and has for over 20 years. But I largely stay silent on the topic because I am not one to argue and be disagreeable.

But I feel a need to speak briefly. For I am watching the news and as the years go by, I see more and more of the birthing pangs spoken of by my Lord in Matthew 24. And Mr Camping is a part of those birthing pangs - with his "Lo he is here" and "Lo he is there."

And then the "popular response" to his so obviously false predictions is that no one can know the hour. Which totally ignores the next section of the passage that shows that it is in fact a warning to always live as Christ would live so you can see the signs and know that he is returning. So you can use the talents that He has given you and multiply His investment and return to Him a profit on His investment in you. That only to one who says that He will not return for a very long time will the day overtake him as thief in the night.

So here is a true Word of the Lord. Open your eyes you who serve the Living God. The labor pains have begun and Jesus will one day return to set His house in order and to judge the wicked. His promises are given to those who overcome and reach the end of the race. There is no escape, no pitch hitter to take your place, and the race must be made to the end. We have been promised to be treated as He was treated - to suffer ridicule and punishment, not to be taken away from pain and coddled.

He suffered so brutally all the way to the death on a cross. Are you willing to suffer for Him? Or are you awaiting the safety hatch to open and spare you His judgement signs that are given to open peoples eyes to their sin and pride and to His grace and peace.

He is coming again. Maybe it will be today and maybe it will be another thousand years yet. But we are told to live every day as if it would be today. Are you multiplying His gifts in you for His profit? Or are you looking out for numero uno and how to advance your own power and glory?

The Spirit is Life

Ok, so sometime in the next week or two starts tonight with the oldest thoughts.  Have you ever had a time where you were just driven and couldn't stop thinking about something?  Well, the Spirit is driving.  May God allow me to speak what He wishes to be said throughout these posts - and hopefully I'll learn what I'm meant to learn; for every where I go He is speaking on the topic of who the Spirit is.  So here goes...

The very first thought that ever comes to mind about who the Spirit is has always been Galatians 5:22-26 on what the fruit of the Spirit are, and how we can see the Spirit through people.  But, that really isn't who the Spirit is - as actions do not define the individual.

That said, the first (recent) thought that the Spirit has given on who he is was just one simple word: Life.  And strangely enough, it was the rememberance of 1 John 5:11-12 that gave me this thought.  In fact, where it says "Son" my mind replaced with "Spirit."  Imagine my surprise when I could not find the reference that my mind so clearly recalled.  And then I did find it, and the words were "hath the Son" not Spirit.  I was at the same time both floored that I actually misremembered the quote, and also certain that what I recalled was also true.

But in the search for this passage in the Bible, other passages floated up to the top - they just weren't the passage I was looking for.  But now that I found the passage I was looking for, and it wasn't what I remembered, I went back and looked at a couple of the other passages.  The primary passage was from Genesis 2:7: "and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being."  The Hebrew word for breath is nashamah.  Another word used for breath at times is ruach.  It is also the word for the Spirit.  (In fact, to me, it seems like as time passed the words became used more and more interchangeably.)

The next passage that I saw was in fact one of the passages that ties the breath (nashamah) and the Spirit (ruach) into the same thought.  That passage is Job 32:8 - "But it is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty...."  And once I made it to Job (I keep coming back to this book), then I came to another passage Job 34:14-15.  For if he withdrew his Spirit and his breath, then man would perish.

And then Ezekiel 37:1-14 gives some more description on this breath and Spirit is life.

But this closes the first round of thought.  In this first round the Spirit told me that one part of who he is - not his fruit, but who he is - is Life.  It is the Spirit that is in all and through all and gives life to all living things.  And thus, one of the tenants of most other non-Christian religions is shown also to contain a glimpse of the truth of God (just as Paul states in the book of Romans). 

The Spirit is within all living things and gives life to all.  For without the Spirit-breath (ruach/nashamah), all life would perish.

Hoping to Post Again Soon

It's been a bit of a while since I last posted.  I am hoping to be back very soon to start putting down thoughts that don't want to go away.  Thankfully, the time away has provided for busy work hours, busy home hours, and time with my wife and son.  There has been a little discussion at other forums, but not a whole lot.  Time really has just not been available.

But, thanks to God my wife's headaches have gone away enough that we have chosen a church to start attending.  It is a pretty decent church in Lansing/Holt, MI called Riverview.  My son is attending "church school" (as he is calling it), and has been a pretty good kid at something pretty new to him.  Though he is used to school, so not too big of a deal.

Anyway, the Spirit has been trying to teach me more about who he is.  Some of it refresher material, some looking at things I already knew - but it feels fresh, and others in a new light.  So when I am back in the next week or so I will start up a new series of posts on the Holy Spirit - based on who he says he is.

See you soon.

Eat, Drink and Be Merry for Tomorrow We Die

I remember from high school, the motto of my class in our youth was similar to this title. Even now we see the teenagers and there is such an appearance of feeling indestructable. But then there is also a teen that I know who has been told of a needed medical procedure. The actions taken look like this feeling of indestructability, but is in fact an opinion of needing to just keep doing life because there isn't time for the freeze that fear causes in our life and actions.

So what I thought to be the attitude of indestructability is more like the title of this post. But, this is a "heathen" phrase and attitude - or so I thought. It actually is very akin to the attitude taken by Job - when his wife told him to just curse God and die due to his afflictions in health.

But when you read the following, it is clear that Job's attitude is that we must take whatever comes our way - as it is fair to take the bad with the good, and not fair to expect good things only. Thus the attitude of just keep doing life and don't let circumstances freeze our actions - or worse cause us to curse God.

Job 2:1-10 (TNIV)
One day the members of the heavenly court came again
to present themselves before the LORD, and the Accuser, Satan, came with
them. “Where have you come from?” the LORD asked Satan.

Satan answered the LORD, “I have been patrolling the earth, watching
everything that’s going on.”

Then the LORD asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the
finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He
fears God and stays away from evil. And he has maintained his integrity, even
though you urged me to harm him without cause.”

Satan replied to the LORD, “Skin for skin! A man will give up
everything he has to save his life. But reach out and take away his
health, and he will surely curse you to your face!”

“All right, do with him as you please,” the LORD said to Satan. “But spare
his life.” So Satan left the LORD’s presence, and he struck Job with
terrible boils from head to foot.

Job scraped his skin with a piece of broken pottery as he sat among the
ashes. His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to maintain your
integrity? Curse God and die.”

But Job replied, “You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only
good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” So in all this, Job
said nothing wrong.

In all of this Job said nothing wrong. It is a true thing that it is our job to live, good or bad. Just like in wedding vows - in sickness and in health. We are not promised to have only the good things in life. Every good and perfect gift does not mean everything in life will be good and perfect; it won't be.

The question is, will you continue to love God and accept life - or will you turn bitter and hateful and let your life get frozen and without purpose and worth?

Songs for Rememberance

Just wanted to take a moment to post the two songs that I woke up singing in my mind. In Rememberance of Him.

Up from the Grave He Arose (Low in the Grave He Lay)
By Robert Lowry

1. Low in the grave he lay, Jesus my Savior,
waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord!

Refrain:
Up from the grave he arose;
with a mighty triumph o'er his foes;
he arose a victor from the dark domain,
and he lives forever, with his saints to reign.
He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!

2. Vainly they watch his bed, Jesus my Savior,
vainly they seal the dead, Jesus my Lord!
(Refrain)

3. Death cannot keep its prey, Jesus my Savior;
he tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord!
(Refrain)

http://www.hymnsite.com/lyrics/umh322.sht

I Can't Wait to Get to Heaven
Keith Green

Seaside sunset, silver linings round the clouds,
Birds fly, singing, making such a joyful sound.
Thoughts of heaven somehow seem to fill my mind,
But I can’t even imagine, what it is I’m gonna find.

I can’t wait to get to heaven, when you’ll wipe away all my fears.
In six days you created everything,
But you’ve been working on heaven two thousand years.

Deep green forests, mountains reaching for the sky,
Grasslands and deserts, your creation fills my eye.
Thank you, thank you Jesus, though this beauty is just a taste,
Of all your glory I’ll see when I pass through those gates.

http://www.poemhunter.com/song/i-can-t-wait-to-get-to-heaven/

Whatever you may believe "heaven" is and will be, the glory is the same. And he who is responsible for our being there is the same.

Thank you Jesus, my King.

Amun

I once posted about the Egyptian God of all gods, briefly. I continue to see our Lord Father in other cultures - as everyone at one time knew him. This week I was reading an article in the National Geopraphic on the Black Pharaohs. Besides being an interesting read, it spoke of the Nubian pharaohs who ruled Egypt at the time of the Assyrian invasion of Israel and how they were the ones that God used to scare the Assyrians away and to save Jerusalem.

These Nubian princes were worshippers of the original Father of the gods in Egypt - Amun/Amen. These princes still worshipped Amun even after Egypt proper had abandoned him in favor of the newer gods. Before invading, Piye had his entire army practice the rights proscribed for the followers of Amun and went and concerned all of the powers of Egypt.

I still see how Amun is YHWH, through his actions and purpose. And the ultimate purpose being that these princes are the ones that then protected Israel under King Hezekiah to give them another chance before their exile in 586 BC.

Anyway, take a gander at the National Geophraphic article; it's pretty cool.

Deja Vu, or Something Else

All my life I have had experiences of deja vu. Largely I attribute this feeling to God giving me a sign that I'm still on the right path - as it typically also comes with a feeling of peace and "rightness." But then there are those other feelings, which thanks to Wikipedia I now know some of the terminologies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A9j%C3%A0_vu).

These terms are:

deja vu => "experience of feeling sure that one has witnessed or experienced a new situation previously

jamais vu => "involves a sense of eeriness and the observer's impression of seeing the situation for the first time, despite rationally knowing that he or she has been in the situation before"

presque vu => "when one cannot recall a familiar word or name or situation, but with effort one eventually recalls the elusive memory" and "the sensation of being on the brink of an epiphany"

Do you ever experience one of these situations? If so, do you experience all of these type of situations?

On Wiki, it is suggested that these may be related to mental diseases. I personally don't think so. I think instead that it is more as relayed under "mystic explanations" on Wiki that it is related to preconception/prophecy and the dreams that God has promised to his children in the last days; which have been going on for thousands of years already.

But I am interested in the thoughts of others that experience these situations. To me, deja vu brings peace and comfort; presque vu brings unease and a feeling of being out of place; jamais vu just makes me feel stupid.