Do You Want To Be Healed?

I encourage young women to contemplate this statement made by John MacArthur, "Women were created to have babies". That just about says it all according to God's government roles in this world. Is he being sarcastic and putting women on a lower scale than men? No. He is simply stating the truth in God's Word. God elevated a woman to the highest degree when she was chosen to give birth to the Savior of the world. Women were not designed to sign the Constitution of the United States. They were not to hold political office. Now, what does this have to do with the title question that Jesus asked?

Many Christian women are working and leaving their children for the world to raise. They will reap ungodly children and the cost will be a lifetime of sorrow. Do you love your children? Today society is under the rule of Satan, who demands the heavy burden that you are of little worth if you do love your children enough to take on the hard and endless task of raising them in the love and nurture of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You can be healed from the demands of this world if you want it. If you want it.

Who Has Bewitched You?

"Who" is the keyword here in Galatians 3:1-2... O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

My Dad was a staunch believer in "water baptism". He believed if someone was not water baptized they would never go to heaven. How sad to live with this doctrine that so burdens those who uphold to it! It brings sorrow to the living who has lost loved ones. 

The "Who" is without a doubt those who preferred living under the law instead of Grace. Also known as "Man's Doctrine". Did my Dad go to heaven? Yes, I believe he did because he believed in Christ. It is a shame though that he lived with such a Doctrine that put him under a heavy yoke. The "yoke" of Jesus is light and full of Grace.

Do Animals Go To Heaven?

Snails are so slow it must have taken them one hundred and twenty years to reach the Ark. That's how long it took Noah to build it. They probably made it just before God closed the big door. Maybe He even waited for them to get there. He loves His creatures and they are too numerous to mention. Just thinking about all of the fish in the sea staggers the human mind.

Some say animals go to heaven and some would disagree. In Revelation we see Jesus coming back on a white horse. We see in the new heaven and earth that the Lion will lay down side by side with the lamb. We should, however, be careful not to confuse "creature" belonging only to the animal kingdom.

Genesis 2:7

 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

I believe that animals do not have a soul, therefore, they will not continue after death as man does. The animal kingdom was not made in the image of God like a man. Man has a will and animals do not. Man has a Spirit. Animals do not. (Genesis 1:26-27). Only a Spirit can be raised from the dead unto a resurrection. The Lord created animals for our food here on earth as well as our enjoyment. When we get to Heaven we will never grieve for anything!

Do You Think It's Not Real?

In the middle '80s I found myself involved in a great and terrible regret. I want to warn you of something that very few Churches do today and that is "Church Discipline". I was zealous for the Lord and knew nothing of what was about to shake my world and leave me with a deep regret that I will never forget. 

A man and his wife had been married for several years. They had a ministry called "The Joy Ministry", but our Church was their home. One day he went to the Pastor and confessed that he had been having an affair with another woman for the last two years. Our Pastor was a very godly man and after much prayer decided to exercise Church Discipline on him because he was going to divorce his wife for the other woman. The Pastor pleaded with him not to do that, but he was determined to have his way. 

It took place on a Wednesday evening and only eight people showed up, including me. The couple sitting in front of me warned that my judgment could come back on my own head. I ignored the warning. The man refused to repent. The Pastor then asked for a vote from among us as to remove him from the Body or not. I was one of three who stood up and voted yes. 

Here is the warning: My motive for voting yes was done out of a self-righteous Judgement.  I would learn this a long time later. My vote was also done out of ignorance about Church Discipline. It was not even a year later when my vote did come back on my own head. If you ever encounter this in your Church make sure that you have been educated about this thing or else you will face a regret that will haunt you for the rest of your life.

The purpose of church discipline is the spiritual restoration of fallen members and the consequent strengthening of the church and glorifying of the Lord. When a sinning believer is rebuked and he turns from his sin and is forgiven, he is won back to fellowship with the body and with its head, Jesus Christ.

How Many Times Have You Heard It?

When a loved one hurts our feelings we hate them for their cruelty. Let's be honest, we do! Most of our life we have heard it said:

"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good".
 (Romans 12:21)

Most Christians would give a comeback like "forgive them". Nice, but when the hate crops back up in the near future we see that we have not forgiven them. When someone hurts us it's so difficult to forgive because we love ourselves too much. If they would come to us and say they are sorry it would be so easy to forgive, but in my life, this has been rare. So, how do we overcome a hurt with good?

Probably each Christian would answer differently, but it has been my experience to completely forgive through the Holy Spirit when I examine the other person and what is going on in their life. When I put myself in their shoes, as the old adage goes, then I am overcome with sympathy for that person which leads me to pray for their situation. I overcome evil by praying for them and the hurts that they are going through.

Do You Desire Wise Children?

But Jesus said, “[a]Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”Matthew 19:14".

There is a bazaar lie of Satan spreading like wildfire among Christian parents today.  It's not a new lie, but the more you hear a lie the more effective it becomes. The evil thought in the generation is "restrain the Word of God from little children because they cannot understand it". We see coloring books in Sunday School and cartoon stories told about Jesus. 

The souls of our children are in great danger due to this thought that they cannot understand the Word of God. If you desire wise children then you must feed them the Holy Scriptures! In the Book of Proverbs, there are 775 verses. This would be several years of memorized scripture if a child learned and memorized just one verse a week! Make it your goal as a parent to fill your young children with God's Word.  Your children are on loan to us from God. The greatest downfall is a parent thinking that the Church will teach them.  

Oh, how wise your children will be if this is done! They are not too young to hear and learn the Word of God. Don't let Satan trip you up in this evil lie!

Meat or No

So many today and in the past has fallen to the fable of being a vegetarian. In the Garden of Eden, we can only wonder if they ate animals, but I believe the first animal killed was after they sinned in the Garden and God had to put them out. Then the skin of an animal who was killed by the Lord Himself for the purpose of clothing Adam and Eve. (Genesis 3:21).

After the fall all animals were then under the curse. Buddhists believe that cows are holy. Many vegetarians don't know that this is the teaching of an evil religion!  They worship animals which is against God. India worships cows and monkeys.  People lay dying in the streets as cows strut around them alive and healthy. What an abomination!

The truth is that one beefsteak has the protein that bones need to be strong. It would take 50 cups of Kale to have the same effect and it must be eaten all at once!  If vegetarians would educate themselves, they would find the folly of not killing animals due to cruelty.  Especially if you are a Christian. Our bodies are made up of protein. It builds cells.

Own It

After being crippled with "Jealousy" from early childhood, God recently put someone sent by Him to help me understand why this ugly thing ruled me, making my life as a Christian miserable!  God is loving and never wants to harm us. He is a loving Father who would never give His children a stone when they asked for bread. (Matthew 7:9) So, why would God not deliver me from this ugly thing that I had asked Him to from the day I was born again?  It seemed unfair that the Lord would let me struggle with something that I hated so much.

God gives each one of His children a "Thorn in the Flesh".  The Apostle Paul asked God to remove his three times and God said, "My Grace is Sufficient for You". (2 Corinthians 12:9) What is your thorn?  Mine is "jealousy".  I hope and pray that you will receive understanding through the Holy Spirit what I'm about to say about it. 

A thorn hurts. It is also ugly. It hurts you and other people. We strive effortlessly to get rid of it. And every time we let it use us we feel like we have failed God allowing Satan to beat us over the head furiously with our defeat. How do we get rid of something that controls us? We don't. We embrace it with the thought "Own It"!  We have a fight on our hands! It is not anything outside of us that causes the thorn to rule us, it is inside of us and therefore we cannot blame anyone or anything for our failure to understand that we must fight against it through the Holy Spirit. It drives us to God for help! It is a matter of growing us in His Holiness. "With God All Things Are Possible".( Matthew 19:26) We can apply this verse to our Thorn. 

Our Heavenly Father is growing us in Holiness so we can live with Him in eternity.  "Without Holiness, No Man Shall See the Lord". (Hebrews 12:14)

Eggs and Ham? You Bet!

Go west young man, go west they said.  In 1970 we belonged to the Nazarene Church that my husband grew up in, but first I have to tell you how we got the "call" to go to Colorado Springs to attend their Bible College. There are times when a husband is to listen to his wife (Genesis 21: 12-13) and this was a time when he did, reluctantly. Coming from a Baptist Church I desired God. 😊 So, I'm the one who told him to "go west". It was my desire, not his. The day we left for Colorado in our old '57 Ford we had exactly $70.00 in our pockets.  It was a long way to go from where we lived, about seven hundred miles. "Go on faith they (Our Church) said" and so we did.  About one hundred miles out our radiator began to act up and we had to stop every five miles to put water in it. What does all of this have to do with eggs and ham? You will see 😊 We had also taken the wrong exit so we were now going through the back roads of Kansas.  It took us two days and nights to get to our destination.  We saw the Lord do miracle after miracle in providing for us as we traveled.  Our souls being downcast with the College, we decided to go home in a few short months. Even though my husband was working, we came to a point to where we had no food in the cupboard. We had met a young Christian man who was stationed at Fort Carson and he kept us in eggs and ham the whole four months of our stay. What a miracle to have food all the time!

So, dear husband, the next time your wife tells you to do something so "out there" listen to her and you will see miracles by "going on faith".

Flies

They are disgusting little creatures so what purpose do they serve to mankind?  They eat with their feet.  They love sugar.  Have you ever been in a grocery store where donuts are kept in a case and flies are inside it?  They leave diseases where ever they land.  I do not eat donuts!

One of the diseases they carry is the polio virus.  In the middle 1970s, the plastic trash bag was invented.  What a miracle God gave to someone who had the idea!  It was not the vaccine that stopped Polio, but rather the trash bag!  What a blessing from the Lord.

The forensic field sometimes uses the appearance of blowfly larvae to help determine the time of death in homicide cases. Yes, even the fly has a purpose.  

Three Owls Then There Were Two

In 1977 there was a strange happening in our family.  It was about eight o'clock that evening when it took place.  In our front yard we had a swing set for our children and could be easily seen from the front door.  One owl flew down and sat on top of the swing, then another flew down, and then a third joined them.  We all went to the front door very quietly to watch what they were going to do. This lasted for about fifteen minutes.  They sat quietly without making a sound. 

If you make a study of owls today you will discover that they are a sign of "darkness".  In our culture "darkness" thrives today.  I had to think on this because being a Child of God we do not take these things lightly.  I have never been one to seek out signs from God and I hope and pray that what we saw that night was not a sign of sorrow.  After the time passed one owl flew away and never came back.  Then the two remained there for about a half hour more. 

Silence filled our mouths as we watched to see the others fly away and they did.  You see, we have three children and after all these years those owls are still in my mind.  It would grieve my soul if one of my children would go to hell. Whether it was a sign or not I believe that Jesus will take care of this thing.

Twenty-five Million

Here is a very sad and horrific statistic: "There are twenty-five Million" people in the United States who suffer from Genital Herpes!  Sexual immorality is so rampant today that there are people dying from some of these sexual diseases.  It disturbs me that Parents have neglected the most important thing in this life and that is teaching them the ways of God in scripture.

Oh, the consequences of having sex before marriage or outside of that sacred circle.  They will last for the rest of your life, even if you become born again.  The Mother who loves and tends to the needs of her children when they are young is a great pearl of beauty!  

In the 1950s young people were required to get a "Health Card" from the local Health Department before they could work in a Resturant.  This meant blood tests were taken and if you had a Venereal Disease you could not be employed in any kind of food service.  

Did you know that in the late 1800's up until the 1960s Adultery was against the law and you could be arrested for it? The law was on the books that long but never enforced.  We live in a day when everyone does what is right in their own eyes.  These are indeed sad things, but as a Christian, I'm comforted in knowing that God is in Control of all happenings.  We can rejoice!

Back To Basics

We are trashing our sons and daughter's minds with the world thoughts about dating.  We are letting them date at a very young age, to begin with for starters.  Here is today's definition of dating:

Dating is a stage of romantic relationships in humans whereby two people meet socially with the aim of each assessing the other's suitability as a prospective partner in an intimate relationship or marriage. It is a form of courtship, consisting of social activities done by the couple, either alone or with others.

Here are some radical ideas to add to this definition:

1.  Children should not date until they are eighteen years of age.
2.  They should never be alone with the other person. 
3.  They should never touch either other, not even hold hands.
4.  They should explore the other person's way of thinking.  Do they like children, for example.  Do they respect their parents? 
5.  Is the other person a born again Christian?  This is crucial in today's world.


I would love to take credit for these ideas, but they belong to a well-known pastor.  Christians today are teaching their children the ways of the world and it will end in sorrow.  Be Radical in your thinking and teach the ways of Godly dating to your sons and daughters at a very early age.

The Worm That Eats A Marriage

My love for young people has driven me to write about something that plagues most who are about to embark on the precious union of marriage.  There will be very few who will have the temerity to bear the wisdom of what I'm about to put on the table that belongs to the Lord.

Sex before marriage is the worm that will devour the union making it miserable until one or both mates are born again.  Make no mistake about it, premarital sex is a great sin that will eat at your union for the rest of your life.  It will result in a hard marriage rather than a good one.  There is no such thing on this earth as a perfect marriage, but a good one is possible if you have obeyed God and remained a virgin.  

Oh, that young people would obey the Lord and hasten to these words that I have just written!  They come from God and He so wants to bless your future marriage with good and not sorrow!