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)