Roads to Heaven

    This will be a short blog for now, although I may come back later and add to it. I'm watching a movie right now that is supposed to be inspirational. If I were someone who didn't know better, I'd say that it was. There is a message that keeps being repeated in different ways and that message is that all roads leads to Heaven. They explained that God made many different trees that all point to Heaven, why would religion be different?
  The answer is that God is not a God of confusion, he is a God of order. He has worked from the beginning of His creation to reveal Himself to us and to have His people write it down for the rest of us.
  Now some of you may remember that also in the beginning, there was someone else there who is referred to in the Bible as the Father of Lies, you know him better by his more common name, Satan. He, because he hates God, spends his time trying to keep God's creation away from God any way he can. One way he does that is by creating false religions that make unsuspecting humans feel good. In the beginning, those people who followed the one true God became known as Jews. Christianity is the fulfilment of the Jewish faith. History is on the side of the Judeo-Christian faith. No other faith can make that claim. We will cover that trail of history later, but God has made it as plain and simple as He could to lead people to Him. There is one way to Heaven and one way only...Jesus!
  Continue reading my other blogs, some of the blogs that I'm following and check out some of the links for more information.

Free Will

   Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? That is probably one of the most common questions that non-believers and many Christians ask. Many of the questions that non-believers and even some believers have about the nature of God can be answered with two words...Free Will.
   The premise behind all of these questions is that some people are better than others. The truth is that in the eyes of God, telling a "white" lie is just as egregious as murder. We put sin on a scale from bad to worse, usually based on the impact that the sin will have on other people with no regard to how the creator and sustainor of the universe sees it. We will cover the nature of sin in another post later, but to fully understand the last statement, you will need a good understanding of what sin truly is.
  Because God loves us, He gives us free will. Imagine a world without free will. A robot is created by a man who develops a set of rules and behaviors in the form of a computer program. The robot cannot deviate from the program in any way. It can only do what it is programmed to do. The robot does not have free will.
  God created mankind because he wanted fellowship with a being who also wanted fellowship with Him. God is love and wants love in return. Love is only love if it is given freely. Therefore God created mankind in the garden, provided everything that they would need because He loved them and then gave them the option to not return that love in like kind. That option was presented in the form of the "Tree of Knowledge of good and evil". Adam and Eve exercised that free will and ate of the forbidden tree ushering in sickness and disease and death for all following generations.
   Every bad thing that we endure is the direct result of sin committed by ourselves or someone else. When we abuse our bodies with substances, we put ourselves at risk of cancer like in the case of smoking cigarettes. That choice not only effects the smoker, but also everyone who loves that person (including God). Drinking alcohol adds the risk accident due to intoxication that may also endanger others.
   We all cherish our free will, but it also the thing that brings us so much pain at times. God designed it for love, but we abuse it for selfish desires that in turn have repercussions that hurt others. So the answer to most of those questions is that God doesn't do things to us, we do them to ourselves and to others by our own choices (free will) that are in opposition to God's plan and design as He spelled out in the Bible.
  

Thanksgiving

  Thanksgiving is not traditionally a Christian holiday like Christmas is, but it does have it's roots there. Regardless of the sometimes disputed "actual events", the facts remain that the Pilgrims were deeply observant Christians who wanted to celebrate a feast of thanksgiving for their survival in a new and harsh world.
  Who were they wanting to give thanks to? I think that you could accurately say that they wanted to give thanks to the natives who taught them how to survive there, but ultimately, they wanted to thank their creator, sustainer, and provider God!
  Without God, they would never have been able to survive the journey that brought them here to America. Without God's intervention, the native's hearts would not have been softened to establish peaceful relations with the Pilgrims in order to teach them to survive. And if God had not allowed the Pilgrims to suffer hardships in the new land, they may not have been so receptive to the natives.
  The original Thanksgiving feast, regardless of any debated details, will always be a great example of God's love and providence for his people. So like the Pilgrims, let's give thanks today and everyday for the many blessings that God has bestowed upon us no matter how great or small, hidden or obvious.
 
God bless and Happy Thanksgiving!

what the Bible says about work.

  The headlines are often full of reports about job gains and loses and unemployment statistics and the likelyhood as to whether or not our current economic situation is nearing an end. One thing is for sure, it will come to an end and employers will again start hiring. When they do, how should we as Christians conduct ourselves?
   The Bible has a lot to say about how a person should perform on the job. Here, I will cover a few that I believe will give us an idea of what God expects of us.
   Proverbs 14:23..... "All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty". Contrary to popular belief among some today, there is nothing wrong with making a profit as long as you work hard to achieve and do so honestly. Whether that hard work takes place on the front end by spending time in college educating yourself or on the back end doing the manual labor, you have to, as the saying goes, "walk the walk and not just talk the talk." If you know what to do, do it. Don't just stand around and wait for someone else to do it for you.
  Proverbs 18:9.... "One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys".  When a worker doesn't put their all into their job, they are stealing productivity away from the person who employed them. that steals money from the employers pocket which inhibits his ability for future growth destroying that company's future potential and future jobs that company could have created had it's potential been met.
   Proverbs 28:19.... "Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies will have their fill of poverty". I don't believe that the Bible is saying here that we shouldn't have dreams and persue them, rather do so through a logical progression of hard work. You first have to be educated, then develop a plan, surround yourself with people who can help you achieve your goal and then emplement the plan diligently.
   2 Thessalonians 3:10..."For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: 'The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat' ".  In our countries "War on poverty", we have implemented a welfare system that is completely contrary to what Paul taught and we are seeing the logical result of it today. People are given food and shelter without doing anything to earn it. That encourages laziness and has created a culture, that extends beyond any racial or ethnic boundaries, entitlement and government dependence that is detrimental to everyone it touches. Read again what the apostle Paul wrote, if you don't work, you don't eat. Pretty simple, if you want to sit at the table then you have to earn it. That does not mean that we shouldn't have pitty on those who have fallen on hard times. We do need to help those any way we can, but it is the responsiblilty of the Church and individual Christians to do so, not the government. You will never read where Paul or any other apostle complained that the government wasn't taking care of the people. They viewed it as an opportunity to show Christ's love through them and then share the gospel of that love and it's manifestation.
   The last and most important verse that I will use in this piece is this, Colosians 3:23...."Whatever you do, work at it with all of your heart, as working for the Lord, not for man". I have often heard people murmur "I will not start my time no sooner than eight a.m. and I'm not working a minute past four P.M"., and "don't even consider asking me to work through my lunch or break, that's my time." Is that the attitude you would have if Jesus himself were standing in front of you and asked you to do something? Or, would you say "yes, Lord, your will be done? This verse makes it pretty clear that if you wouldn't be satisfied presenting your work to Jesus, then you're not done with your work.
   Work hard everyday and make God proud of his creation. In that way, we will lead others to Christ, because after all, that's what we're here for!

Judging people as a Christian

Some of my friends may recognize this post from my facebook page, but I thought this would also be a good place for it... 



   We often hear that as Christians, we are not supposed to judge others. I was reading in 1 Corinthians chap. 5, and Paul makes it clear that we are not to judge those who are outside the church, meaning those who do not claim to be saved by God's grace. However, we are called to judge those who claim salvation through Jesus Christ. For a man who was liiving an openly sexually immoral lifestyle, Paul told the Corinthian church to put him out of their fellowship and to not even eat with him. Why would he say that? Because we are supposed to stand apart from those who are not saved and live an example that would lead others to Christ. Now that doesn't mean to kick someone out of the church because they make a mistake here and there, that would include us all. It is refering to someone who is unrepentant in their sin.
   We should also be sure, that when we "put someone out of our fellowship", that we first confront that person in the mannor that the Bible describes and give him a chance to repent from the bad behavior. Our Jobs as Christians is to hold each other accountable and love the lost into the family of God.

Admission into Heaven

  I was recently reminded about the misconceptions that are out there about how to get into Heaven. A story was passed around through emails discussing a 9-11 victim and the victims spiritual condition. Now, I admit that I didn't get around to reading the original story, but I did read the response of one woman who received the message. She expressed that according to how she believed God to be, that the courageous action of the victim alone, regardless of how he lived the rest of his life, would be more than enough for him to enter Heaven. According to the Bible, this is not how it works.
   Romans 3:23 says "For all men have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". It doesn't say that some sin, it says that all sin. What constitutes a sin? The Ten Commandments are a good place to start. Have you ever told a "white lie"? Of course it was done with the best of intentions, but it was still a lie. Did you ever take a grape while shopping in the produce aisle at the grocery store? "No big deal, right? I mean, it was just one grape and they don't sell them individually. No one ever even noticed." Still, noticed or not, you stole the grape. If you at any time in your life have broken any one of the ten commandments, then you have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
  "Okay, so I committed a couple of minor sins. It's not like I killed anyone." God does not grade sins on a scale. That is something we do to feel better about ourselves because we all know deep down that we all sin. God, however, does not sin and can not tolerate sin of any kind.
"So what does the Bible say about sin?"  Romans 6:23 reads "For the wages of sin is death..." In this case, death refers to eternal separation from God. In death, there are only two destinations, eternity in Heaven with God or eternity separated from God in Hell. The word "wages" means penalty. Therefore, the penalty for committing even one sin in the span of our lives is to spend eternity in Hell.
  "But how is that fair when I've done so much more good in my life than evil?"  Consider this, a man spends his life helping those in need. He feeds the hungry, he repairs the homes of the elderly at no charge, he tutors school children and by every other measure is and always has been a good man in the eyes of everyone who knows him. But what they don't know is that in his generosity, he has neglected himself and is about to lose his family's home and his wife and children will be put out on the street. He is desperate and has exhausted every other avenue to pay his debts. So he drives to a bank a couple of cities away, holds it up with a gun and in the ensuing chaos, accidentally shoots and kills the clerk. Now, should this lapse in judgement be overlooked because of the previous good he had done? Of course not, that would not be justice. A person still lost their life and a family lost a loved one. In the same manner, for God to be a truly just God, all sin must be paid for.
  "Alright, so I'm a sinner and I am condemned to Hell because of that sin. What hope do I have?"  John 3:16 reads "For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." Romans 5:8 says "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this; while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." 1John 4:14 says "And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world." God knows us better than we know ourselves and in that knowledge provided us a way out in the willing sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Jesus is the only man who ever lived without committing a single sin. That is what made Him a suitable sacrifice. He loved us enough to allow himself to be beaten beyond recognition and then be nailed on the cross taking our sins upon himself and using His blood and death as payment for our sins.
  "So I'm covered, right? I believe in Jesus."    Not yet, Luke 3:13 says "...but unless you repent, you too will perish." Repenting is the turning away from willful sin. You will not be able to stop sinning entirely because it is in your human nature, but you need to live your life, daily turning away from sin and striving for perfection knowing that you will never fully achieve it until you are in God's holy presence.
  "So, I believe that Jesus died for my sins, and I want to repent from my sinful ways. Now what?"  Now, you pray. You pray to God and confess to Him that you are a sinner and that you repent from your sins and that you accept Jesus' death on the cross as payment for your sins and ask that he come into your life as Lord and Savior" That's it. If you do that, Hebrews 8:12 says "For I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more."
 
I hope this mock dialogue cleared up any misconceptions that some of you may have had about how to access Heaven when your time here on earth has expired. I would urge any of you who have not  taken the steps to secure your eternity to do so. The Bible tells us that we are not promised tomorrow. Don't let the first death sneak up on you and usher you into the second death. Take care of it now, and if you have any questions, if I was not clear on something or you just have more questions, let me know. I'll be glad to explain further.

May God Bless!

Starting a new blog.

  My name is Mike. I'm a conservative christian who enjoys writing and answering questions people have about my faith and my political beliefs. I hope to use this blog as a means to do just that. If I can figure all of this out, I would like to have people send emails or leave comments or questions that I can use as inspiration and maybe even help someone come to share my faith.
  I would ask that those who do not agree with my positions to leave comments and questions, but do so politely. I am not interested in bashing or being bashed. Please refrain from cursing or otherwise foul language. I look forward to an interesting and educational discussion for myself and for you.
  One more thing, no question is too simple or too complex. As I said above, I hope for this to be educational for myself as well. If I don't already know the answer, then that gives me a chance to investigate and learn myself.

  Let's begin.....