Christian Author, Philosopher, and Apologist
When God said “don’t eat from the fruit or you will die,” how do you personally see this statement? For many people, all of the laws that God made are viewed as negative. If God really loves us why doesn’t He let us do what we enjoy? Why does God show us things and then tell us we can’t have them? Continue reading “Looking At God’s Law The Wrong Way”
A few days ago I was clicking through the channels on my TV, looking for something of redeeming value when I was stopped by something that was being said by one of the actors in a particular movie:
“What is Parkinson’s?”
“Oh, that’s God’s special way of telling us that He loves us...”
Of course this actor meant this in a derisive and condescending way towards God; knowing that this particular person is an Atheist. What interested me about his remarks was that he was not far from the actual truth.
We tend to think of human disabilities as negative parts of life. Some critics of God say that these disabilities are clear evidence that God does not exist; if He does, He does not really loves us. The thought here is that disabilities or inadequacies or anything that makes us less than normal, are what is wrong with human life. Continue reading “Your Disability, Inadequacy, Failures, and Weakness Are All Part Of God’s Plan”
Most of us have a long list of regrets for the things we have done in our past. In fact, we waste an extraordinary amount of time thinking about things that we have no power to change. It is important to remember that we are not defined by the person we were in our past. We are defined by who we are today. It is through the choices that we are making right now that people understand who we are. Oh, I know that people remember the mistakes that you have made. Your relatives will think back to those foolish things that you said and did when you were younger and define you in those terms. The incredible thing about today is that you can begin a whole new life for yourself, if you want to. In no time at all, people will begin to think of you in a new way and define the person you are by the things you have been doing from this moment when you decide to change your life. Continue reading “It’s The Little Things That Add Up To A Big Life”
The Love that a person has for Jesus, is directly proportional to the view that they have of their life.
In John chapter 8, she is brought by the Pharisees before Jesus to be judged for her adultery, being caught in the very act. John 8:4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.” (NIV) Continue reading “Our Capacity For Love, Is Determined By How Well We Know Our Self”
On a bright and sunny day in April, 1975, I went forward at Calvary Chapel in Southern California to receive Jesus as my Savior. I was just 19, had hair down to the middle of my back and was touring with a Rock band in small venue’s around Arizona. My life was full of activity but my heart was empty. I knew that there had to be more than what I had experienced so far, I just didn’t know where to find it. That all changed the morning that I trusted in Jesus. From that moment, I began to study the Bible intently and learned about the promise of Jesus to return for those who love Him.
During the Jesus People Movement of that day, there was great excitement over the expectation that Jesus could come for us at any moment. We were constantly talking about the Lord’s return and we were trying to live our lives like people who really believed our Lord could come for us before we drew our next breath. Continue reading “Christians Today Are No Longer In Expectation Of Jesus’ Return”
Many people live out their lives without the realization that our entire purpose for being here on the earth, is to be saved. We were not born to achieve financial, material, or public success; we were born so that we might have the opportunity to have our sins removed and gain access to eternal life. Just as Jesus’ entire purpose for coming to the earth as a man, was to die for our sins and make eternal life possible, we also have our own purpose, necessitating Jesus’ arrival to save us.
Most people go through their life without realizing or believing that this is true. We forget that everything that we have accumulated during the time that we are here on the earth, will be left behind. One hundred years after you die, barely a sole with remember who you are. The Bible is very clear in its declaration that the only things that you and I can do, that will last forever; is what we do for and with Jesus. The universe was created for Him, and it is He who holds all things together by His great power.[1] It was by His sacrifice on the cross, and His subsequent resurrection, that He achieved the right rule and reign over the entire universe.
What we do right now, during this life, will have eternal consequences. The Bible is very specific in its declarations that only those things that we do to bring glory to Jesus by the way that we live our life, will matter in eternity.[2] If this statement sounds absurd to you and impossible to believe, then you are amongst the great majority of people in the world. I did not know these things myself until many years after I began to study the ancient Hebrew and Greek Scriptures. The universe was made for the Glory of God and we were given the great honor of glorifying Him by our lives. If we fail to understand this, or are deficient in achieving this, we will have missed the entire purpose of our existence. What is personally important about these facts, is the reality that we will also find our greatest fulfillment, when we live to bring the Lord glory and honor.
for in Him we live and move and have our being… Acts 17:28 Continue reading “Change Your Life”
Does the Lord really care about the things that we look at, the places we go, the things we say, and the way that we live our life?
Paul wrote in the New Testament that those who believe in Jesus and who have asked Him to be their Savior and the Lord of their life, should live in the same way that Jesus lived His life.
He who says he abides in Jesus ought himself also to live just as He lived. 1 John 2:6
The question that each one of us must ask ourselves is “Am I living my life in a manner that is a true reflection of Jesus?” In other words, when people see us—as we claim to love the Lord—do they see a person who speaks and does the things that Jesus said and did? Can people tell if we love Jesus by the way that we speak and the way we live? Continue reading “It Matters, What We Say and Do”
The world is full of self help books on how to overcome depression, anxiety and despair. According to most publications that are available today, these afflictions are caused by physical and psychological problems that originate in chemical imbalances and physiological abnormalities. According to the One who created us, the reason for these difficulties are not physical, they are spiritual.
Our hearts and minds are the methods by which we are able to think, feel, and express our feelings. When the mind is in conflict due to unresolved issues, the heart responds with sadness and despair. One of the greatest causes of depression in human life is unresolved guilt. When we say or do things that we know are not correct, we build up a debt of remorse in our mind. If we have had terrible things said or done to us by other people, and the feelings that flow out from these traumas, are unresolved, a sense of guilt also ensues. Guilt is not necessarily caused by our own actions, they can also accumulate when unjust actions are committed against us. Over time, this mounting guilt builds until we can no longer cope with the burden. We begin to feel hopeless, helpless, and are filled with sadness and despair.
Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, But a good word makes it glad. Proverbs 12:25 Continue reading “The Key to Overcoming Depression, Anxiety, Suffering, and Despair: Remember”
What we eat, determines how well we can see. Our eyes depend upon us to take in the proper nutrients in order to allow our optic nerve, retina, and other parts of the eye, to function properly.
In the same way, our ability to see what is true and wise in life, will depend upon what we eat, spiritually.
Jesus said that He is “The Bread of Life.”
And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. —John 6:35
The hunger and thirst that a human being feels, can never be truly satisfied by anything that is in this world. We were made to be loved. We were made to know God, who loves us so intensely that He was willing to die for us, in order to rescue us.
Jesus said that unless we eat His flesh and drink His blood, we do not have eternal life. Continue reading “Your Ability to See, Depends Upon Your Diet”
As we examine human life, we discover that every culture, every country, all people, and nations, have laws which order and direct human activity. Laws are necessary because the basic nature of the human species is towards evil. We are inherently selfish and often seek to look out for our own interests first. Without laws, evil would run rampant over peaceful people who are doing their best to live good and productive lives.
What is the origin of human laws? Where did the framers of the Constitution of the United States find the laws that allow the freedoms that we enjoy as Americans?
The Egyptians, Assyrians, Greeks, and Romans, as well as, many other great an powerful nations of the ancient world, worshipped many different gods. Not one before, ever possessed the laws that were given to the nation that originated from Abraham. When God gave Moses His law on Mount Sinai, these basic ten commandments changed, forever, the course of all human activity. No other nation in the history of the world had the code of moral laws, like those which governed the people of Israel. Every great nation since that time, has fashioned their own laws, from these basic ten laws that Moses received from God. Continue reading “The Bible As The Basis For All Human Laws”
