2022 Archives

  If you were a historian and wanted to describe life on planet earth in the year 2022 for future generations, you would likely employ terms that are descriptive of the political, social, and economic movements that seem to define our times.  In recent years our political elites, in lieu of any constitutional awareness, have, perhaps unlawfully, flexed their legislative and judicial powers to turn our social lives into solitary confinement or familial cloisters.  Our economy was put on hold for a year and a half, so that full recovery is still in question as we await, precariously perched on the precipice of a crippling recession.  Sounds gloomy doesn’t it?

  But wait, all is not lost!  We have food and drink, our clothing seems sufficient, there are still roofs over our heads, the sun rose this morning, and we have a measure of health so that we can enjoy the love of friends and family.  For the moment we are warm, and the cool air outside is refreshing to our lungs.  You get the picture—we have much to be thankful for!

  So, who shall we thank?  Our contemporary leaders would like for us to thank them this Thanksgiving season.  They even have the gall to take credit for the simple pleasures of life.  But we know better; it is not them, nor is it ourselves that provide for our basic needs, and certainly not the niceties of life.  If you are honest with yourself, you will have to agree, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. (James 1:17)”  Much to the annoyance of those who choose to overlook the obvious, there is a God who delights to involve Himself in the affairs of man. 

  I for one am resolved to ignore the commercialized hustle and bustle of this Thanksgiving season.  I refuse to give turkeys more attention than God.  I praise Him for His great love that afforded me eternal life in His presence through the gift of His own Son who paid the penalty for my sins.  He is my Heavenly Father, and He alone is all that I need.

 “Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. (1Thessalonians 5:16–18)”

  According to the Bible, we all have a beginning of life, but no ending.  Every soul ever born into this world will live forever somewhere—some in the presence of God and others eternally separated from God.

  Though we never experienced it, every one of us believes that there was a world before our beginning; a world filled with people, places and things.  Some enjoy examining evidences of life on earth before their birth; we call them history buffs.  But since we cannot see, taste, touch, smell or hear anything that existed before us, most simply accept life today as the supreme evidence that there was life, time, space, energy and matter before us. 

  As for the present, we must engage in constant discovery to keep reality defined.  We grapple with things that are too small or too large to be detected by our senses.  Non-material things like invisible energy moving across the sky, undetectable gasses, invisible waves of sound and light, are barely comprehensible to most.  We simply believe elements of arguments produced by fallible experts who belong to the ever changing scientific community.

  When it comes to the future, again we cannot experience with our senses that which is not yet, and so we muse.  There are no old buildings or artifacts to uncover, no civilizations to unearth, no books written, no records to study. But, as in the past, we accept life today as the supreme evidence that there will be life, time, space, energy and matter beyond our feeble existence.

 For now, most of us purposefully and cautiously limit our perception of the whole. But, since it is obvious that there has always been more to life than meets the eye, perhaps we should carefully consider the realms that we cannot see or experience in the present.  Perhaps we need to venture a gaze into the distant past and into the future, at life, time, space, energy, matter  and more, as it existed then, or will exist—the Big Picture.

  That Big Picture will necessarily include God the Creator, it will include the eternal existence of spirit and matter.  It will include your eternal soul, either in the presence of God, or without.

  Occasionally I use the illustration of an individual rowing his little craft down the Niagara River with his back toward the falls.  Without notice, he has passed all warning signs and is startled to find that he is already beyond the “Point Of No Return.”  This is the last stretch of river just before the falls in which the current is moving too quickly to reverse directions and paddle back upstream to safety.  At this point, unless someone intervenes, he is going over the falls, and probably to his watery grave.

  The illustration serves as the perfect parallel to many situations that are common in the lives of individuals, businesses, and nations. For example: Because of unrestrained, foolish spending, the national debt, which now stands at over $31 trillion dollars, will eventually pass the point of no return and our country will not be able to afford even the interest to service our debt.

 Similarly, our beloved nation has been paddling toward destruction in the moral and spiritual realms for many years.  We are even now precariously perched on the edge of a spiritual precipice with strengthening currents that threaten to push us into the abyss with every passing day.  Those who know God and are astute students of His Word, have been stationed along the route that brought us to where we are today, to sound the warning and aid in reversing the direction of our national drift.  But here we are, seemingly committed to the fast waters that promise to transport us to certain ruin. Is there yet hope?  YES!, but our deliverance will not be at the hand of a politician, nor any device of man, but by the God who created us. 

  Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,  …Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;  To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.  Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield.  For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. (Psalm 33:12, 18–21).  “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2Chronicles7:14)

  The Bible tells us plainly that Jesus is God’s Son; He is Deity.  “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (Colossians 1:16)”  During the first century, He lived, died and rose from the dead—a satisfactory substitute that would appease God the Father for our sins.  Before He ascended back to heaven, He promised that He would return to earth at the end of this age.

  The Bible makes it very clear that no one can know the day or hour that God will once again, supernaturally, intervene in the affairs of man, but He has described what the world will look like when Jesus returns: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; (1 Timothy 4:1)”  “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. (2 Timothy 3:1)”  But wait, these descriptions are true of our day; many have departed from the faith, and perilous times are even now upon us.

  More specifically He tells us: “For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. (2 Timothy 3:2–5)”  As I have said, nobody knows when the end will come, but who can deny that these characteristics sound like our world today?

  Perhaps you think this is all a hoax, a master plan to deceive and steal away your pleasures, and make you accountable to God.  It is important to note that something is not true because I believe it; nor is it untrue because you don’t.  It behooves both of us to examine the evidence.  To think that there is no knowledge beyond our own understanding, and nothing more powerful than feeble man, is foolish.  What we observe in the universe, though not eternal, is very complex—its existence requires an eternal, all powerful God.

I. Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me.

Did you ever give someone, other than God, first place in your life?

II. Thou Shalt Not Make Unto Thee Any Graven Image.

Did you ever put material things ahead of your relationship with God?

III. Thou Shalt Not Take The Name Of The Lord Thy God In Vain.

Did you ever use God’s name as a curse word or in a joke?

IV. Remember The Sabbath Day To Keep It Holy.

Did you ever act as if the Lord’s Day was like any other?

V. Honor Thy Father And Thy Mother.

Did you ever dishonor your father or mother in thought or deed?

VI. Thou Shalt Not Kill.

Did you ever kill someone? (Hatred is the same as murder. 1John 3:15)

VII. Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery.

Did you ever commit adultery? (A look of lust is the same as adultery. Matthew 5:28)

VIII. Thou Shalt Not Steal.

Did you ever steal anything?  …even a piece of gum or candy?

IX. Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness.

Did you ever tell a lie?  …even a small one?

X. Thou Shalt Not Covet.

Did you ever yearn to have something that belonged to someone else?

  “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. (James 2:10)”  We have all broken God’s law.  We are all Guilty!

  But God sent His Son, Jesus, to purchase your forgiveness with His own blood on the cross of Calvary.  In three days He rose from the dead, and now He lives at His Father’s right hand ready to pardon you, if you will come to Him believing.  Repent of your sins (turn from them) and trust in Christ for forgiveness.  (Romans 3:23; 6:23; Luke 13:3;  John 1:12z