John was the son of Zebedee the high priest. He was generally considered a prophet in Israel. John was born to Zebedee in his old age and his only son. When Zebedee performed his duties as high priest in the temple, God showed him that his son was the next prophet of Israel. Zebedee took from the temple the camel hair tallit and leather girdle of Elijah home with him. It had been stored at the altar of incense in the Holy of Holies. John was Jesus’ cousin. They knew each other because their mothers, Mary and Elizabeth were close. John grew up like any son of a high priest, he was sent to school. God had revealed to him who he was. So at the appropriate age John didn’t join the priesthood, he went into the wilderness. God taught him on the backside of the desert. John was reveled at the right time and season, Yom Kippur. Everyone was going to a river to be baptized for the remission of sins. John was there for a specific reason and he was not afraid to say what God wanted to say. When the religious leaders came out of Jerusalem to be baptized John spoke to them. He called them a brood of vipers fleeing from the wrath to come. John told them to repent first then be baptized. This endeared him to them so much so that they wanted to kill him. They did kill him later. But John was there to introduce, baptize, Jesus to His ministry. Do you know this man called Jesus? He is waiting to meet you. All you have to do is call out his name.
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The Death of Jesus
When Jesus died on the cross there were many things that happened in and around Jerusalem. God had allowed the Hebrews some autonomy in their religious life. God wasn’t going to micromanage everything. When a big problem appeared He would step in and correct the situation. What He wanted was that man would choose Him over the world and follow. That didn’t always happen. Just read Kings and Chronicles in the Old Testament and you will see what man did with his independence. On the day that Jesus died there were earthquakes. A storm blew in large enough to chase people indoors. Something happened that would frighten people today. Graves broke open and the dead people came to life. Not only did they come to life, they began to walk around Jerusalem. How would you like it if your parents that had been dead showed up at your doorstep. The Roman soldiers, battle harden troops that had crucified Jesus on the cross, became afraid. Their leader a centurion said, truly this is the Son of God. Finally, God showed the Hebrew leaders that He was taking back control over the kingdom of God and their religious life by splitting the veil in the Holy of Holies in two. This vail was the door way into God’s presence and only the high priest could go in once a year. It was made of linen 4 inches thick. Now God said that everyone can enter into the Holy of Holies by the blood of Jesus Christ.
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The Strength of Conviction
What do you believe is the truth? Are you willing to stand up for the truth? Do you have convictions that you will not compromise? Or do you believe in anything at all? Do you know the difference between morals and ethics? Morals are what you believe and trust in. You would not change your mind on the subject for any reason. Ethics change with the situation. They never last and aren’t worthy much. Ethical behavior is doing what is right in your eyes. Moral behavior is doing what is right because it is right not convenient. How many people do you know that are willing to stand up for you, even if it cost them their lives. I have searched for just a person all my life. That person is worthy of our loyalty and honor. It seems that people I know have fallen short of this cost. I only found one person on this earth that was worth so much. As the bible says in Romans 5:7-9 “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”
There is only one person and His name is Jesus.
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The End of the World
It is amazing how many TV programs there are about the end of the world. Some are informed and some are Hollywood. Everyone has an opinion about it. No one is sure when it is going to happen. But everybody knows that it will happen. Some people say it will be asteroids or meteorites that will destroy the earth. Some say it will be global warming that will destroy the earth. Most of the theories are close but no cigar. It isn’t the external forces that will cause the destruction. You have to look at different events that have happen since the beginning of time. Why have all those civilization been destroyed? What cataclysmic event happen to destroy civilizations? You can point to volcanos, storms, wars, droughts, earthquakes, fires, and pestilence. And you would be half right. It has never been about the effects of the causes. It has always been about the cause itself. You want to take a wild guess at what the cause really is. I’ll give you ten guesses and they will all be wrong. The answer always comes back to who is in charge of this mess. The answer isn’t God. The answer is man himself.
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The Sower
Everyone knows what a farmer is or does. If you weren’t raised on a farm, you worked on farm or visited a farm. Many people grow gardens in the city. Some grow gardens on their rooftop. It has always been fascinating to watch seeds grow and produce fruits or vegetables. We take time and care to have fresh produce to eat. I love fresh tomatoes. So it is no stretch of the imagination that you would know who a sower is. I am a sower of the word of God. I take the seeds and cast them out for people to receive. I am always amazed at the response I get from the blog. I have received comments in Russian, Japanese, Bulgarian, Romanian, French, Spanish and of course English. There isn’t one corner of the world that I haven’t heard from. I am very pleased about this. Jesus told the same story 2000 years ago. The sower cast his seeds, some fell on stony ground and withered in the sun. Some seeds fell among the thorns and were choked out. Some seeds fell on good ground and produced 30 fold, 60 fold and 100 fold. What kind of ground are you?
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What have you learned?
When we are born we literally know nothing. We are a clean slate to be written on. We learn the language of our parents depending on where we grow up. I speak one language fluently and two others somewhat. It is what I have learned over the years. My accent is strictly general American with a little southern drawl. I was raised in a southern middle class family. My father worked for the US Post Office and my mother was a school teacher. Yet all of my life I knew I was a teacher. I knew in my heart that God wanted me to do something in the Kingdom of God. At first I didn’t know what it was all about. I studied as the bible said to show myself approved of God. I would only receive a little bit of information at a time. I would then prove the information before I believed it. Each piece of the puzzle had to be proven before I would risk my life on it. This information became steadfast in my life. I could depend on the knowledge God had given me. I was taught by God like Paul was on the backside of the desert. God didn’t want to overwhelm me with the vastness of His information. God wanted me to rely on Him. It became easy to believe and have faith in God. I still can quote scriptures without looking in the bible. This is what I have learned and rely on for my life.
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As it was in the Days of Jonah
Everybody remembers the story of Jonah and the whale. Most people don’t talk about why God sent Jonah to Nineveh. This was the capital of the Assyrians. They had raided into Israel and had killed whoever they saw, men, women and children. God wanted to give the Ninevites the opportunity to repent of the sins. Otherwise God was going to destroy Nineveh. Jonah said let them all die. Then Jonah ran from God. Boarded a ship bound for wherever. There arose a storm until they all believe they would die. They asked everybody what they could do to stop this. Jonah said God was angry with him. They needed to throw him overboard. Finally they did. The Whale swallowed Jonah. He was in the belly of the whale for three days and nights. Until Jonah repented. He went to Nineveh. He preached repentance and 100,000 people repented of their sins. Jonah became angry with God. He wanted revenge, but God wanted life. What do you see in this story? Do you understand what it is all about? It is the story of our life. It is what God will do to bring us to repentance. God doesn’t want revenge. He is willing to send someone to you to help you. Hear what God is saying to you. Just as it was in the days of Jonah, God sent Jesus into hell for three days and nights for us.
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The Fear of the Unknown
I have never liked to go to funerals. I have been to quite a few. It always reminded me of my mortality. Even though I am immortal, my physical body will die. Death is a part of life on this earth. God has showed me how to communicate with people who are dying. My grandmother was dying and I stood outside of the hospital room looking in. I said to myself, I hate seeing you, my grandmother, like this. She was in the last stages of death and was not coherent. I walked into the room and sat next to her. She turn me and said, don’t say that, don’t say that. She had heard everything I said. The immortal person that we are doesn’t die. We will go on to the next world. Our spirit, our mind, will and intellect, is immortal. You don’t lose your 5 senses when you move into the next world. Everything is intact. So what is it about death that is so frightening? It is the fear of the unknown. What will happen to me when I move into the next world? When I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I settled that very question. I know where I am going. There is no more discussion about my future. If I die I go home to be with my Father.
1 Cor. 15:54(KJV) “So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.”
Hebrews 2:14-15(KJV) “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”
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Betrayal
There isn’t one person on this earth that hasn’t been betrayed. It is a hard subject to talk about because I have had experience with it. What do you say about the other person? My life has been altered because of it. I would like to have never experienced it at all. The pain sometimes may see unbearable. As if your life will end because of it. I assure you your life will not end unless you take it. Learning how to cope with heartache is part of life. It seems that it is almost a rite of passage. It is not something that has to happen to you on a regular basis. You have to choose what you are going to do and where you are going? Choosing a boyfriend or girlfriend, or a career or backing into an opportunity that winds you up in jail. Life isn’t that complicated. It is simple if you allow it to be. Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, man has believed that he is the creator of hisown destiny. The only problem is that man has no power to do anything. We are gods yes, because we have the right of free will. I did says god with a little g. We can choose the right way and have all of heaven working for us. But if we choose God and walk away from God, He will do the same. God feels the same way we do about betrayal. Because we are the image and likeness of God.
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Only You Can Prevent Wildfires
After a forest fire in the 1950’s, forest fire fighters found a bear cub up in a tree. The cub survived the fire barely. He had climbed in the tree to escape the fire. It was badly burned but survived. The little bear recovered from his wounds and eventually ended up in the National Zoo in Washington D.C. They named the bear Smokey. The US Forest Service took the bear as mascot. They began advertisement to prevent forest fires. And in the commercials Smokey would say, only you can prevent forest fires. Because of the large amount of fires in the western US, they have revived the Smokey the bear commercials. This time he says, only you can prevent wildfires. Yet I know people that start fires daily just by what they say. The unfortunate thing about that is that they can’t take it back. A person asked how they could take back what they said. The answer was take a small box of feathers to a mountain top and release them in the wind. Then go and get all the feathers back in the box. It is impossible.
Jas 1:26 (KJV) If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.
Jas 3:5-6 (KJV) Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
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