In the United States, we witness corruption on both sides of the political spectrum—Republicans and Democrats alike. It should not surprise us that greed and the desire for control have come to dominate our politics. The same patterns are evident worldwide, where individuals seek to exert control over one another while prioritizing their own interests due to a lack of trust. This struggle for power has been a reality ever since Cain killed Abel.

Today, we are seeing evil exposed at an alarming rate. Matthew 13:24-30 presents the parable of the wheat and tares, illustrating how good and evil coexist in our world. In this parable, the wheat represents goodness, while the tares symbolize evil. Ultimately, this story foreshadows a future divine judgment—the harvest—when God will separate the righteous from the wicked.

As we observe current events, we see that people’s true colors are coming to light. Jesus recognized this in Luke 22:31-32 when He said to Peter, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat.” This sifting is happening now, exposing the character of many. Yet, as followers of Christ, we find hope in His words: “But Peter, I have prayed for you.” This assurance reminds us that, through Jesus, we too can overcome the cares of this world.

When Jesus died and rose again on the third day, it changed everything in politics. Through His resurrection, the world was given the opportunity to find peace and hope amidst pain and destruction. By putting their trust in Jesus, individuals can be shielded from despair. Without that trust, they face the afflictions brought on by evil alone, ultimately living in separation from God for all eternity. However, through faith in Jesus, one receives God’s power to live peacefully in this world and, when they die, to spend eternity with God. Moreover, they gain the added blessing of living joyfully, free from worry, even amidst chaos and destruction.

Looking at the world’s stage today, we observe yet another great spiritual battle unfolding. People are grappling with whom to trust—what governments to believe, who is telling the truth, and who embodies evil. This turmoil breeds anxiety among world leaders and the people they govern, with everything playing out in real time over social media—an unprecedented phenomenon compared to how events transpired in the past. Ultimately, what we are witnessing is the age-old spiritual battle for souls. Satan seeks to instill fear as part of his mission to kill and destroy (John 10:10). In contrast, God desires for you to have peace, as His mission is to offer hope and salvation (John 3:16).

As always, we have a choice: to believe in the Creator God or to reject Him. What is particularly disheartening is that millions of people who call themselves Christians often mirror the behavior of those who do not know Jesus. As I have observed on X, they speak and act much like the world around them, making it difficult to discern any difference between the two. This is a tragedy, as followers of Christ are called to be the light in darkness, standing out as a beacon on a hill (Matthew 5:14-16), rather than getting swept up in the drama of the world.

It is imperative that we remain anchored in our faith, embodying the peace and hope that Jesus offers and reflecting His love onto those around us.

God knows what is happening in this world; He is fully in control of the chaos around us. His purpose has never changed—He is not a God of confusion, but a God of peace and hope (1 Corinthians 14:33). While Satan is described as the god of this world, doing what evil naturally does (2 Corinthians 4:4), we have the assurance that Jesus has overcome the world (John 16:33). In Him, we, too, can overcome the world’s control and nature.

In the midst of the chaos we see on the news, I believe God is bringing revival to people’s hearts. As Christians, we are called to speak life into others, consistently pointing them to Jesus. We must not get caught up in the fear-mongering that permeates our society. Instead, let’s acknowledge the spiritual battle at hand and keep praying against evil while loving others rather than tearing them down. We need to see people as Jesus sees them: either as individuals who know Him and exhibit His character or as those who do not yet know Him. For those who don’t know Jesus, He desires for them to come to know Him, including those who claim to be Christians yet do not act in accordance with His teachings.

Remember, regardless of what governments may say, God is in control. There is nothing they can declare that does not align with His ultimate plan. As the Scriptures say, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord; He directs it like a watercourse wherever He pleases” (Proverbs 21:1). God is playing chess while Satan is merely playing checkers; the enemy has no real power—he only thinks he does. God knows what will happen before it occurs, while Satan remains in the dark.

God desires for the world to be saved and for people’s lives to be filled with His love (John 3:16). The chaos we experience should draw us closer to Jesus. Let us not fall for the bait and lies of Satan, believing we must get involved in the chaos. Instead, let us “be still and know that He is God” (Psalm 46:10). View this as God working in the world, for He has a sovereign plan; everything is okay, and all is well.

Keep loving others and continually pointing them to Jesus. Avoid sharing opinions that stem from your flesh; instead, provide context to any situation according to God’s Word. Ensure that whatever comes from your mouth is filled with love and not animosity, bitterness, or hate (Ephesians 4:29). Let us be vessels of His love in these challenging times.

Calvinism, named after John Calvin, a French theologian who lived from 1509 to 1564, and Arminianism, named after Jacobus Arminius, a Dutch theologian who lived from 1560 to 1609, both seek to explain the relationship between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility regarding salvation.

Defining the Concept of Election

Both systems can be summarized by five key points, but I will focus on just one: the concept of election. Calvinism holds that election is unconditional, while Arminianism advocates for conditional election. Unconditional election suggests that God chooses individuals for salvation solely based on His will, not due to any merit or actions of the individual. In contrast, conditional election suggests that God elects individuals based on His foreknowledge of who will choose to believe in Christ unto salvation.

Furthermore, Calvinism views the atonement as limited, whereas Arminianism regards it as unlimited, which is likely the most controversial aspect of the five points. Limited atonement asserts that Jesus died only for the elect, while unlimited atonement claims that Jesus died for all, but His sacrifice only becomes effective when an individual accepts Him by faith.

Before diving deeper, I believe it’s important to approach these perspectives in a non-dogmatic manner. Ultimately, both frameworks fall short of fully explaining the complexities of salvation; humans inherently struggle to grasp such profound concepts. God is sovereign, and His ways are far higher than ours, so who are we to believe we can fully grasp all that He knows? We cannot. However, over time, God can open our eyes to see the Bible more clearly than we may have in the past. This awakening is a gift of His grace, providing the context we need to better understand some of the challenging passages in Scripture. Just as my views on election have evolved, I haven’t necessarily arrived at a definitive conclusion about which perspective is most accurate. Instead, I have gained a deeper understanding of the broader context of what God means when He refers to “the world.

When we examine the doctrine of atonement, we encounter the idea of reconciliation between God and humanity. In Christianity, atonement centers on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, whose death and resurrection are believed to have reconciled believers with God, thereby offering forgiveness for sin. This raises the question: who are these believers? Does this imply that everyone in the world can be atoned for their sins through Jesus? I once believed the answer was yes, but after looking deeper into John 17, especially verse 9, I began to second-guess that certainty. Jesus states, “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.” This led me to ponder why Jesus wouldn’t pray for the world if He died for everyone. In conclusion, I realized that I needed a broader understanding of how God perceives the world.

Understanding Cosmic Geography in Scripture

This leads us to the concept of Cosmic Geography, which helps us comprehend the relationship between the divine and humanity, especially in terms of how God perceives the world compared to human perspectives. God outlines His view of the world in three key passages in the Bible: Genesis 11, Genesis 12, and Deuteronomy 32. While there are certainly more examples, I will focus on these three for the sake of this discussion.

In Genesis 11:5-10, we encounter the story of the Tower of Babel, where God takes a dramatic action by coming down to earth to scatter the people across the earth. But why is this significant?

To fully understand its importance, let’s first read the relevant verses:

Genesis 11:5-10 (NIV):
5 “But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the children of man were building.
6 The Lord said, ‘If as one people speaking the same language, they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.’
8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.
9 That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the earth.”

These verses show God’s intent to intervene directly in human affairs. The dispersal was significant because it marked a pivotal moment in human history; rather than allowing humanity to unite in their defiance, God introduced diversity in language, ultimately leading to the scattering of people across the earth. This act of divine intervention highlights God’s authority and serves as a reminder of the limits placed on human ambition when it conflicts with His plan. What was His plan? God planned to grant the earth as an inheritance to humanity while allowing Satan to have dominion over those who chose to reject Him. In this context, He called Abraham out of the land of Canaan to form a nation that would serve as His people. Through this nation, God intended to establish a relationship where He would be their God, ultimately bringing forth the Messiah to save the entire world.

The Inheritance of Earth and Satan’s Dominion

Let’s begin with my first point: God granted the earth as an inheritance to humanity while allowing Satan to have dominion over them. We recognize Satan’s dominion because he is referred to as the “god of this world.” Jesus states this clearly in John 12:31, saying, “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.” Additionally, in 2 Corinthians 4:4, Paul writes, “In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, keeping them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

So, how does this relate to God granting the earth as an inheritance to humanity? In Deuteronomy 32:8-9, we read, “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He divided mankind, He fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. But the Lord’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted heritage.” This verse illustrates God distributing inheritance among the nations and establishing their borders.

But where exactly did God divide the nations? We find the answer in Genesis 11, during the Tower of Babel incident. Following that, in Genesis 12, God calls Abraham out of the land of Canaan to establish a nation set apart for Him—the nation that would be dedicated solely to the God of the Bible.

Jesus: The Light of the World and Universal Salvation

What sets Israel apart from the rest of the world? God chose to no longer give the oracles of God to the other nations; instead, the Word of God was only entrusted to Israel. While Satan continued to wield control over the world, leading it into sin, Israel received the words of life intended for their salvation. Ultimately, both Israel and the rest of humanity turned their backs on God, prompting Him to send His only begotten Son to reconcile the entire world to Himself.

Through Jesus, the Word of God is now accessible to all who believe. In Him, light entered the darkness, rendering Satan’s dominion over that darkness null and void. Jesus brought the Word of God to the world, opening the door for everyone to receive it.

As John 1:1-5 explains, Jesus is the Word of God from the beginning. This passage proclaims: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Through Christ, the light of truth and salvation shines into a world once shrouded in darkness.

The Word produces light in darkness, and though the Word has always existed, it was primarily entrusted to the Jews. The Gentiles did not have direct access to the Word of God; they could only hear it through the Jewish people. God’s revelations resided with the Jews and their prophets.

Now that we have established this context, what does it have to do with the concept of election? To clarify my thoughts, let’s read John 17:6-12:

6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”

Now, as I shared above, let’s focus on verse 9: “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.” Why does Jesus say He is not praying for the world? Didn’t He come to die for everyone? Yes, Jesus did come to die for the whole world, as expressed in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son.” So, if He came for all, why does He not pray for the world?

I see that this distinction relates to the concept of cosmic geography. In Jesus, the world now has direct access to God’s throne room in His name. People no longer need to approach the Jews to hear the oracles of God; they can receive these truths wherever they are. This reflects the Christian message that invites everyone to come just as they are, regardless of their cultural or religious background. In Jesus, the whole world is welcomed.

This was God’s plan from the beginning. In Genesis 3:15, He told Eve, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” God knew that one day salvation would flow back to the world, granting all of humanity access to the Garden of Eden once again, with the key provided through Jesus.

When Jesus said He is not praying for the world, He was indicating that His prayers are specifically for those who belong to Him, not for those who do not. God’s sovereignty allows Him to know in advance who will be saved and who will not. Before Jesus, the world could only hear God’s Word through the Jews. However, after Jesus came, everyone now has direct access to the Word of God.

Jesus’ mission was to liberate the world from Satan’s dominion, granting all people access to God in His name. Yet, we are aware that not everyone accepts this gift; many still live in darkness and reject God’s Word. God understands this reality, and when He prayed, He did so with this knowledge in mind. Although salvation is available to the entire world through Jesus, not everyone will ultimately be saved.

The process of election reveals that God knows who are His long before we are born. As Ephesians 1:4-5 (NIV) states, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love, he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.” For those who belong to Him, He opens our eyes to see Him; for those who do not, He is not praying for them.

Satan’s Attempts to Thwart God’s Plan

Satan attempted to thwart Jesus’ mission by tempting Him in the desert, sensing that God was up to something, even if he didn’t fully grasp the complete mystery. It was only after Jesus’ resurrection that this mystery was revealed to His apostles. In Luke 24:45 (NIV), it says, “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.”

Another instance of Satan’s interference occurred when he used Peter to dissuade Jesus from going to Jerusalem to die. Jesus rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind me, Satan!” (Matthew 16:23, NIV) because His plan was to reclaim the land under Satan’s control, and His death was essential to that mission.

Reconciling Calvinism and Arminianism

Can Arminian and Calvinist views coexist in this context? You decide. I present this perspective to provide a deeper understanding of how God views the world. We all agree that the entire world is offered the possibility of salvation due to the cosmic geography established through Jesus. However, as indicated by Jesus’ prayer in John 17:9 (NIV), “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours,”  suggests that God already knows who those individuals are.

Can it be said that individuals have the choice to follow Jesus? Certainly. However, this does not negate the reality that God knew their choices before they were born. Consider the pivotal moments in Scripture: Did Moses have a choice to reject God at the burning bush? What about Paul on the road to Damascus—was that not God making it abundantly clear that He was in control and had chosen them to fulfill His will, leaving little room for personal choice?

I often reflect on my own experience: Did I truly have a choice to follow God at my conversion, or were my circumstances arranged in such a way that I felt that I had no other option? Was the reason I saw no alternative due to God illuminating His calling on my life during a time when all I desired was to escape the darkness?

Personal Reflections on Divine Calling and Choice

God grants us the free will to choose His path of truth over our sinful impulses. But when it comes to salvation and His choosing of us, is it truly our choice? Personally, I feel that God had His hand on me from a young age, and there was nothing I could do to escape His influence and calling. I belonged to Him, and though it took time, I ultimately surrendered everything to Him and He knew all along I would. I understand why this debate has persisted for so long. When I teach this subject, I strive to present both perspectives and allow individuals the freedom to believe as they feel God is leading them. I make a conscious effort to avoid being overly dogmatic, as such attitudes can create division within the body of Christ—something Satan has already been effective in doing. I also believe that God’s grace can gradually reveal deeper truths over time, helping us to better grasp some of the more challenging passages in the Bible like election.

My disclaimer here before we dive into this is that I will take us deeper into Gods word and point out things that might come across as strange for some of you. The reason for this is because many of us have never really noticed certain contextual dynamics that are written throughout the Bible. This was true for me when I began diving deeper and I would guess for you as well. I will share just enough in order to see the big picture and not go too deep into it or this blog will become a book!! This blog will take about 20 minutes to read, maybe not that long. My hope is that you read through this the first time through or you can bookmark where you leave off so that you can read it at your convenience. My goal is to open your eyes to Gods truth so that His joy invades your heart. I hope to spur you on to dive deeper into Gods word, in which His truth can deliver us all from the bondage that the world system puts on us without every knowing it. We will uncover 3 grand sins that Jesus had to die for so that the earth can be redeemed. Those are Adams sin, Watchers Sin and the sin of Babel. Enjoy!!

The Creation of the Divine

Let’s begin before the Garden of Eden was created in Job 38: 4-7 God is responding to Job and He made this statement, “⁴ Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding ⁵ Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? ⁶ On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,⁷ when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”

Verse 7 is what I want us to focus in on for the moment. Just who are the morning stars and the sons of God and how is this relevant to Easter Holy week? This is where our journey must begin in order to fully understand the grand picture of it all. I promise towards the end it will all make sense.  For the use of time, the morning stars and sons of God, are higher ranking angels. That word “God” here is translated as “Elohim”. We will see the term “sons of God” used many times throughout the Bible and we will draw upon some of those verses in our journey here. The bottom line in what I want us to see here in Job is that God had divine company before he created the earth.

The next verses that I want us to look at is Psalms 82:1 “God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:” Again, here we see the word “God” used two times and both of these times it is translated as “Elohim”. We know the first “Elohim” must be Yahweh and the second “Elohim” is some other god. Keep in mind anytime in Hebrew you see the “IM” on the end of any word, it is plural for more than one. So is there more than one God? Because of time, no, but yes. There is only one creator of all things, God, Yahweh and there are demi-gods that are a divine creation that oversee things that Yahweh puts them in charge over. This is not what I want us to take from this verse, but I want us to notice that there is a divine council. God, Yahweh is in constant communication with His council.

The Garden of Eden

Ok, now let’s start to turn our attention towards the Garden of Eden. In Gen 1:1-25, God creates the heaven and the earth and He said it was good. But in verse 26, He says something unusual; He says “Let us make man[h] in OUR image, after our likeness.” Who is our? Many people have said that this is the Trinity, but how could that be if the trinity is one? He would not have to say “our” would he? This again is referring to the council of God in His heavenly realm. I don’t have time in this blog to talk about what the image of God is here, but the point again that I am trying to make here is that there is a divine council involved with God before man was created.

It states in Genesis 2:8 “The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.” Keep in mind that He created all of the earth! Everything we experience today, God created, but He separated a special place called Eden. This is where that His heavenly council and man could have fellowship together. This is where as it says in Genesis 3:8 “man experienced the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.” It was in the garden of Eden that all of creation had fellowship together, both divine and humankind. Gods plan from the beginning of time was to have fellowship with His creation and be our God. Genesis 3:22 says “we were to live forever with Him”, God never planned for us to be separated from Him.

Adams Sin 

We were never created to experience sin; that was never Gods plan from the beginning of time. His love for His creation both divine and humankind, gave us the opportunity to love Him back. Satan, as it says in Isaiah 14, wanted to be like the most High God and he made a choice to rebel against a loving God. He and his followers were cast down to earth and in 2 Cor 4:4, Paul says he “is the god of this world”. As we all know how the fall of man happened. Satan tempted Eve with truth. He simply shared with her that there is more to the story, if she wanted to know more, she would have to go against what God told her was not the very best thing to do. Satan enticed her and Adam that becoming “like” god in knowing good and evil was ok and would surely not kill them. Ultimately, that was not the case, what they did not understand is that God is holy, he’s the complete opposite of sin. He cannot associate with sin and their fellowship with Him in the Garden of Eden was now over.

The perfect creation that God made for humankind and His divine council on earth as He originally intended it to be is now in a free fall of destruction. Romans 8:22 says that “Gods whole creation has been groaning as in pains of child birth until present time”. Sin has caused the earth to slowly deteriorate and one day it will be no more. God also put a curse on man and Satan as it states in Genesis 3:15 “I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike[a] your head, and you will strike his heel.” God has now connected both man and the divine evil together. Man’s heart as it says in Jeremiah 17:9 “is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, no man can know it.” Satan is now the god of this world and humankind has regularly followed Satan’s ways and is destined for death unless something happens.

Before Jesus, separation from God is all mankind knows. Unless God initiates contact with man, man will never be able to experience the true living Gods presence. Most of us know our Bible and know that God has constantly been pursuing man ever since the beginning of time. Gods plan for fellowship with His creation has never changed and it all leads us to Jesus and His resurrection. Romans 5:18-19 “So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.” Jesus act of obedience on the cross now gives us access to Gods presence. But there is more, we need to dig deeper to fully see this grand picture in front of us.

Divine Watchers Sin

In Genesis 6:5, it says “Yahweh saw that the evil of humankind was great upon the earth, and every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts were always only evil”. One of the main reasons for this sin was because His divine Watchers taught humankind to sin against God, who? (I will explain later) The Watchers were teaching humankind things like technology, astronomy, how to build weapons, etc. All of these are not bad if they were being taught to Glorify God, but that is not what was happening. These rebellious Watchers were doing their best to teach the people how to survive without the need of God (I will tie this in more towards the end). Not only were they teaching incorrectly, but they were doing something even worse.

In Genesis 6:1-4 it says “When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in[a] man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” 4 The Nephilim[b] were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.” Wait what? Sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore them children, the Nephilim aka giants!? Is this saying what I think its saying? The divine sons of God translated (Elohim) had sex with humankind? Yes! The divine took on human form and dwelt among the humankind in the flesh. We know from scripture that Angels can take on human form (Hebrews 13:2). So how is this relevant to the resurrection of Jesus? I will explain.

The above Bible passage has been debated for years by scholars and raises up more questions than we have time for in this blog.  I encourage you to study more on this on your own and I will give you some resources at the end that will explain all of this in much greater detail.  Let’s talk about who are the watchers, as I stated above we first find the name “watchers” In the book of Daniel chapter 4:17, these are the sons of God mentioned in Genesis 6. In the book of Enoch, there is a whole section about these “watchers”. Jude 5-7 and 2 Peter 2:1-10 both refer to the book of Enoch in describing these watchers and give context to Genesis 6:1-4. These watchers by sinning with mankind created the giants (Nephilim) also called Apkallus, which are spoken about all throughout the Old Testament.

The significance of this has to do with the divine order that God had in place for mankind. It was Gods original design for his human children to be servant rulers over the earth, under his authority, as his representatives, in the presence of his glory. Restoring the loss of the Edenic vision eventually involves creating a people known as Israel and giving them a King David, who is the template for the coming Messiah. The watchers responsibility was to be Gods eyes, watching over mankind, so there would be managed chaos. It was never for them to teach mankind corruptly and defile mankind as they did. The result of their sin was that God had to send the flood to restore order and reset the path that God was working together so that humankind and Gods divine can fellowship together again. What the watchers taught us in their rebellion against God is still with us today, we will see later why Jesus had to come to break us from this sin.

Tower of Babel Sin

There is another grand sin that took place that has to do with the importance of Jesus as well.  We find this sin in Gen 11:1-9 which is the story about the Tower of Babel. It says that the whole earth had one language and the same words. Nimrod, who was Noah’s great grandson, had established this region known as Ancient Mesopotamia in the land of Shinar. The sin comes in verse 4 “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” This occurs after the flood, which it showcases the vulnerability of man to fall for Satan’s temptation to worship themselves.  Remember from the beginning that God created man to worship Him and to have fellowship with Him; He never created man to elevate oneself above God. Gods promise by sending the rainbow was to never destroy the earth again by flood, so His only choice here was to remove His presence from all of mankind and establish a kingdom on earth unto Himself, Israel. Right after the tower of babel incident God called Abraham in Genesis 12:2 to be set apart as His chosen to bring about Gods divine plan that through his seed Gods nation will be established here on earth. Let’s dive deeper into the fall of the nations in the next paragraph.

So we see that in Genesis 11:5 God reveals to us that this is a big deal to him because it says that the Lord, Yahweh came down to earth to see this first hand. Many people do not realize that God, Yahweh, Aka Jesus, in human form, came down to the earth many times in person after the fall and before Jesus the Messiah came to the earth to redeem us. The result was from this visit that He and His council determined that having one language was not the very best for humankind. In Vs 7 it says “Come, let US go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” Did you notice the word “us”? God is one as it says in Duet 6:4 not 3 separate entities that some of us might have associated with this verse in the past as the Trinity. This could only be His council in which He desires to have involved in His decision making. The same goes with his humankind council, hence the importance of prayer and meditation. Gods divine and humankind have always been linked to work together. Prayer is a vital importance in our relationship with God; God listens to our heart and communicates with us His will. His divine creation carry out His plan He has for us and together we work in harmony with one another.  So how does this have to do with Jesus and resurrection? Well, because He has to ultimately reclaim all of the nations.

As I mentioned above, after the tower of Babel experience, God completely turned his back on mankind and began His divine plan of establishing Israel as His chosen nation. The world was now fully turned over to Satan and the sons of God now controlled the nations. We know this because of what we read in Deuteronomy 32:8-9 “When the Most High Yahweh gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind (Babel), he fixed the borders[a] of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God (Elohim Watchers).[b] 9 But the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob (Aka Israel) his allotted heritage.” Do you remember in Mathew 4:1-11 when Satan was tempting Jesus and in verse 8 Satan said, “I will give you all the kingdoms of the world” and in verse 9 He says, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me”? Because God turned His back on the nations and cannot associate himself with sin these verses again show us that the world belonged to Satan. It wasn’t until Jesus died and rose again that the world ever had an opportunity to have fellowship with God unless they aligned themselves with Gods chosen nation.

Jesus the Redeemer

So what does all of this have to do with Jesus death, burial and resurrection? There has always been a single thread line that has been consistent throughout the Bible. That is that, God loves man, God pursues man, God cares for man, God has patience for man, God desires fellowship with man, God has a plan to redeem man, God never leaves man, God saves man. We celebrate Easter because there is no other God that can even compete with our God. All religions have a consistent thread since the beginning of their creation, which is of man having to please their god by demonstrating good works in order to receive Nirvana, aka salvation. The God of the Bible Yahweh has never given up on man, He has shown more patience, grace and mercy than anyone could have ever dreamed of showing. Man never has to find God, as other religions teach. Yahweh always pursues His creation and desires deep, intimate fellowship with them.

When Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit into Mary’s womb in Mathew 1:18, we see in this verse that God establishing the right way, (Holy) for the Divine to impregnate humankind. This very act addresses the sin that the watchers performed with humankind when they physically had sex with humankind. God had to restore order and this was His plan all along. He gave His prophets hints of this all throughout the Old Testament. Paul called this the “mysteries of God”. After Jesus’ resurrection, His disciples’ eyes were then opened to these truth and all the things they were taught started to make sense. Jesus did it this way so that Satan would not know what He was doing. If Satan knew Gods plan, then he would have never had Him killed in the first place. Remember throughout the old testament Jesus was on the scene in person, this was nothing new to Satan. Jesus was setting him up for his grand plan, His plan to redeem once again the whole world unto Himself.

In order to do this, God had to send His son Jesus to live out life here on the earth perfectly as He originally intended. Jesus had to live a Holy life, to cover the sin Adam chose to participate in, in the garden of Eden. God is holy and in order for mankind to have fellowship with God, we have to be holy. Without holiness we cannot enter His throne room. Jesus’ blood and resurrection reestablished oneness with the Father so that all man can now come into Gods presence. Mankind still has to make a choice to believe in Jesus and willingly surrender over their control to the Father. The difference being is in Jesus’s name, we are no longer separated from the Father or denied salvation because of our sin. Death (aka Satan) is defeated and victory over all sin is now attainable for us. In this world mankind has an evil heart and sin is prominent with man. With Jesus’ death and resurrection we are now given the Holy Spirit to live inside of us to help us learn all things, John 14:26, so that we can overcome our sin. Romans 8:12-13 “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

This very act also took back Satan’s dominion over the nations spiritually and has given Jesus full authority once again over the world. 1 John 3:8 “The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” Before Jesus, we had no out when Satan tempted us, he would always win, but now with Jesus we can do what James 4:7 says and resist the devil by the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of us and Satan must flee. Satan no longer controls the nations and every time that someone gives their life to Jesus, Satan loses his ground. That’s why Jesus gave the command in Mathew 28:19 to go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was claiming ownership and Satan’s rule was now over to all those who believe in Him. Jesus is now King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Revelations 19:13,16 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. . . . On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of Lords.

The New Garden of Eden

In Jesus we now have the key with access to the Father, to bask in His glory in the Garden of Eden once again. No, it’s not in a physical garden, but in a spiritual garden where He is fully in charge of our lives. He can now supply all of our needs here on earth; we are no longer responsible for our well-being. We are now allowed to have fellowship with Him every moment of every day. He is our God and we are His creation, we can now live our lives from Jesus victory. We can have freedom from the bondages of the world and no longer have to lean on the substances the world offers us to get us through our day. We can now lean on Jesus and His goodness to guide us and direct us. What Jesus did is so much more than just eternal life, its abundant life (John 10:10) here on earth. It’s not just abundant life for us but for our family, friends and every person that wants it. We have good news that this whole world needs to see lived out in our lives. People come to this good news because there is His goodness in you, we quenched that goodness when we don’t surrender our will and act like the world.

As followers of Jesus, it’s no longer about us in what we can do to obtain holiness and right standing with God. It’s now about what He has done and that we can do nothing in of our self, accept to believe in Him and rest in His presence. Easter is huge y’all!!!! I pray that each of us lays down our lives today and stop trying to be our own god and simply accept His free gift of salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Let’s press on and finish this race here on earth strong, for one day there will be a new heaven and a new earth, Rev 21:1, I can’t wait!

I’ve use many resources that you can find below listed for your convenience in my studies, but the best and the most easiest books to read on this subject are written by Michael S. Heiser who is an American Biblical Old Testament Scholar. His books Supernatural and Unseen Realm will help you out in uncovering greater contextual details found in the Bible.

I know that I could not go into more details in this blog and I also know that for some of you there might be more questions. Please feel free to leave a message and I will answer your question the best I can.

Resources:

1. Amar Annus, “On the Origin of the Watchers: A Comparative Study of the Antediluvian Wisdom in Mesopotamian and Jewish Traditions,” Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 19.4 (2010): 277–320
2. James C. Vanderkam and George W. E. Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch: The Hermeneia Translation (Fortress Press, 2012)
3. James C. VanderKam, “1 Enoch, Enochic Motifs, and Enoch in Early Christian Literature,” in The Jewish Apocalyptic Heritage in Early Christianity; ed. James C. VanderKam and William Adler; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996), 33–101
4. Archie T. Wright, The Origin of Evil Spirits: The Reception of Genesis 6:1-4 in Early Jewish Literature, Revised Edition (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 198, second series; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2013)
5. Annette Yoshiko Reed, Fallen Angels and the History of Judaism and Christianity: The Reception of Enochic Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005)
6. James C. Vanderkam and George W. E. Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch: The Hermeneia Translation (Fortress Press, 2012)
7. Benjamin Foster, Before The Muses: An Anthology Of Akkadian Literature
8. Benjamin Foster, From Distant Days: Myths, Tales, and Poetry of Ancient Mesopotamia
9. John Walton, The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate
10. John Walton, Ancient Israelite Literature in its Cultural Context
11. John Walton, The Lost World of Scripture: Ancient Literary Culture and Biblical Authority
12. John Walton, Genesis 1 as Ancient Cosmology

1 Peter 2: 13-16, says “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by Him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.” There is no doubt that our responsibility to government is to obey the laws and be good citizens (Romans 13:1–2). God has established all authority, and He does so for our benefit.

My prayer is that the above verses set the biblical tone of my world view in light of God’s word.

I am on Twitter daily as well as other social media platforms and have witnessed a tug-a-war of different views on everything, especially politics. I have seen a divide in views among the Christian community and have witnessed Christians behaving in a way that I believe does not represent Gods voice best. I have experienced many Christians being dogmatic in their attempt to passionately persuade their views onto others, while quickly forgetting how a Christian should express themselves. I love seeing the passion but cringe at the divide and condemnation that sometimes our words bring.  I have seen Christian Pastors and Leaders come out publicly in support and oppose of politicians more so now than I can ever remember. I’m not saying Pastors are approaching politics incorrectly, although some are, but I am more so bringing attention to the fact there is a lot going on.  With all of this said, I have been in many deep political discussions with other followers of Christ over the past 3 years and have come to realize a blog on this topic is warranted.

A question I get asked regularly is, where do I stand politically? I am apolitical, I do not look at politics the same way that many others do. With that in mind however, I am not a fan of any political speech that puts down others or expresses itself in such a way that others are alienated in the process (Eph 4:31). Nor do I believe God is. If there is going to be alienation it is going to be because people choose not to love others or are unwilling to express the views of a loving God.

I believe God looks at our current political environment completely different than most politicians do. From reading the Bible in context it would suggest God only has one goal in mind, that is that mankind create policies that bring us together in love so that His greater good is fulfilled and Him glorified (Isaiah 43:7).

The Bible teaches us that God created man to love Him and to have fellowship with Him and in so doing we become love to others (Luke 6:27-28). His love then transforms us to live a life that desires to elevate others above ourselves (Phil 2:3). It is this love that transforms our minds to see everyone as He sees them. It’s then that our greatest desires in life begin to be aligned with His purposes and our voice politically reflects that of His truth. To express our views politically without this transferable love will only create division and Gods perfect will is then quenched. My fellow followers of Christ, we(All political parties) are fighting among ourselves and are missing Gods perfect will (1 Tim 2:3-4).

Every political view that we have should be centered in what God is wanting to achieve here on earth. As stated before, His desire is to have fellowship with man and for man to believe in Him as the one true God. He wants all people with different points of view to come together so that together, they can achieve His greater good (Prov 18:17). He wants us to be patient with each other and to understand that he has created us all unique with different passions. He wants us to work through our different views from His Holy perspective and come to conclusions that elevate others and enhance opportunities for people to draw closer to Him. I strongly believe if every law or policy is made with the context of how God views mankind that law or policy will be a huge success if both liberal and conservative views work together.

The bible says that we should not look for peoples approval or put much emphasis on opinions(Gal 1:10). He is desiring for us to pray about everything and approach each political position with His perfect will in mind.  I have seen a lot of comments on President Trumps conduct and how he communicates harshly towards others. I would think most followers of Christ would agree that President Trump has said a lot of hurtful things but that does not warrant our opinions or feelings. Here is what I mean, our job as a follower of Christ is to elevate President Trump above ourselves in prayer, not to bash him or second guess him with spite.  He was placed in a position of influence and as a follower of Jesus, we should be praying that God touch the President’s heart so that it can reflect that of His Son. We cannot control how he is going to speak but God can. We should not condone some of the things he says but we must understand God is in control, no matter how ugly our political environment is. We can trust Jesus with our President as well as our Political leaders, collectively we should be doing everything we can to pray that God uses them to get His perfect will done.

All past President’s including President Trump have done a lot of good that God would be pleased with, some more than others. Regardless of how we lean politically we should praise the Lord for what our Presidents have or are doing that best represents Gods will. If our politicians say something or do something that God would be pleased with, I believe God would want us to encourage them to keep up the good work. If our politicians are doing something that God would not be pleased with, I believe we say things in such a way that would speak life to them while offering Gods view on the particular subject (Prov 15:4). We do it in a way that is filled with love, gentleness, and kindness for Gods glory (Gal 5:22-23).

To communicate on social media with hate and malice in our tone only shows that we are being driven by our flesh. It would be wise that before we speak out loud to our friends on social media, we should pray and allow the Holy Spirit to change our hearts so that it best reflects that of Jesus. If we cannot speak life into things, I believe the Father would desire us to not speak at all. (James 1:19-20).

God doesn’t need man to get His purposes done, but God chooses to use man, crazy thought but it’s true. (Acts 17:25). We move a man not with our words of criticism or malice, but on our knees in prayer. We choose to trust that the Holy Spirit will intervene in a perfect way so that Gods greater plan is fulfilled. From the very beginning when God created us there has never been a plan B, with God in control its only plan A. He created us to fellowship with Him and that will never end. There will always be those who believe in Him and those who do not, either way Gods perfect will, will be done (Romans 14:1). If we open our mouth in public, may it be filled with words of life, may our words edify the Lord and lift others up. As Christs’ ambassadors we are to represent Him well and execute the best we can with His help, His perfect will(2 Cor 5:20). This really is a big deal!!

Why allow Satan to use politics to divide us, when Jesus wants to love us and for us to love others.

There are so many hurting people in this world that need the love of Christ. I pray we choose to speak in such a way that people hear Gods love in our words. I pray our words of love help soften each of our hearts so that every political view is worked through with Gods greater purpose in mind.  So if you are a Democrat, Republican, Independent, Libertarian and so on, know that if you are approaching your political view from Gods perfect will, then your voice should be heard. I believe God welcomes the discussion and desires we work together in love so that He can be glorified (Acts 17:17). This will take humility from everyone and a willingness to hear others views without spewing hate.

I do know however, we live in a fallen world and the chance of all parties humbling themselves is not possible, but that does not give us the excuse not to walk humbly. Only engage in political warfare if you are engaging filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

Let’s represent Jesus boldly but more importantly correctly.  This is possible but it will take us to change first.

To God be the glory forever and forever.

Quickly these individuals would then reply, “I see where you’re going with this, but I still don’t feel it’s right that I attend and I would also feel very uncomfortable if I did”. I have expressed to them that I can understand their feeling uncomfortable, but first I wanted to know what their thoughts were on loving your neighbor. I shared with them what Jesus had shared with his disciples in Mathew 22:39 “To love your neighbor as yourself.” So what does “To love your neighbor as yourself” mean? I shared, that I believe it is to see your neighbor as Jesus sees them. How did Jesus see His neighbor? The bible says in many different places throughout the Gospel that He had great compassion for all and ultimately died for each of our sins. His view of us was and still is, that of love and no matter what season of life we are in, He will always be there for us. In fact Hebrews 13:5 says “God will never leave us nor forsake us.” So why would we not be there for someone that is gay at their wedding day if they invited you? My argument is not in “Do I think gay marriage is right or wrong”, or what is the definition of marriage; my argument is “Why would we not love our neighbor?”

I fully understand the passion that Christians have at why they should not attend a gay wedding. My thought is Jesus never looks at us and thinks, oh they don’t dress right or they’re not living the way I feel is right. He simply says “I love you and desires fellowship with you”. In the Gospel of Luke 19, Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector, a sinner and Jesus demonstrated great compassion towards him. He told Zacchaeus that He would like to have dinner with him and wanted to hang out at his house. Jesus knew the religious Pharisees and Sadducee’s would not approve of Him hanging out with Zacchaeus but He didn’t care. Jesus simply wanted to love on Zacchaeus, in fact, it was that very love that changed Zacchaeus. It wasn’t Jesus thinking He was better than everyone else, even though He was, it was Jesus simply loving Zacchaeus just as he was.

Jesus taught us to love people without condemnation and how to show compassion. I have found that having a condemning spirit will put us into an impossible position and make it difficult to love someone unconditionally as Jesus has taught us.

We want to guard our hearts from legalism and a holier than thou attitude so that we can be available to Jesus to love our neighbor when the time is called. Jesus knew Zacchaeus was not living the very best life and he didn’t have it all together. Jesus simply loved him and desired to have fellowship with him. It was in that fellowship that Zacchaeus changed. To see people in the same way that Jesus sees them, we must first see ourselves in the light of Christ and realize we all fall short of Gods glory. We’re all sinners that can be saved by God’s grace. We don’t get to God’s grace because we’re condemned or judged by someone, we get there because we are loved. When people experience true agape love that only Jesus offers, regardless of their lifestyle choices, it becomes impossible for them not to be changed. God’s love always wins.

They replied back to me with another question, “Are we not as a Christian supposed to call out sin and if we go to their wedding are we saying that we support what they are doing?” I responded with, if you want to call out sin then let’s start with each other. You start with picking out my sins (plural) and I will start picking out your sins. I then would ask, how would we feel after we are all done mentioning our sins? Would it bring us closer to the Lord? What if we focused on elevating each other above ourselves, instead of focusing on our sin as it says in Phil 2? How would that make us feel afterwards? If I choose to hang out with you, does that mean I support your sin? They answered, no. I said, why not? They relied, “Because no one is perfect.” I said, “exactly, we are not called to judge one another, but to love one another as Christ loves us.” The Bible says in Romans Chapter 2 “So do you think that you can judge those other people? You are wrong. You too are guilty of sin. So when you judge them, you are really condemning yourself. God judges all who do such things, and we know his judgment is right.” As a follower of Jesus we are to love people to Christ, it is Christ that does the judging. The conviction you have on whether or not you should go to the wedding should be centered in spending time with the Holy Spirit. I pray you allow Him to help you work out whatever your convictions are for His glory.

I then went back to sharing with them that I understood how they felt with being uncomfortable by attending, and expressed that it’s a normal feeling. Whenever we are in situations that are different than what we are used to, we will naturally feel uncomfortable. My personal belief is when I feel uncomfortable, then I am forced to lean on the Holy Spirit to get me through whatever situation I am in. By doing this it allows the Holy Spirit to move through me and Gods love to be manifested to all that I come in contact with. Personally, I think many of us need to get ourselves in more situations where we are uncomfortable. As a follower of Jesus it’s never about us, but about Christ. If our eyes are on Jesus, it should not matter what situation we are in as long as we know we are to be about our Father’s business. It should always be about Him and we know based upon scripture that He will sustain us and get us through. Psalms 54:4 “Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.”

So in conclusion, I know there are many arguments out there why a Christian should not attend a gay wedding. I believe that as the Holy Spirit leads you, both arguments can be correct based upon what He puts on your heart. My argument is simply there are too many people to love and not enough time in a day to do it. Let’s choose today to see everyone as Jesus sees them. A condemning spirit only makes us miserable and we will never lead someone to Christ or bring joy into our lives in doing so. If someone is gay and they invite you to their wedding, take it before the Lord and pray. Seek His face and allow the Holy Spirit to move within your heart. I understand every situation is different and should be weighed in prayer. If the Holy Spirit leads you to go, you must go in God’s love or don’t go. Who knows, if you do go, there might be the opportunity for you to point someone to Christ. We are all dealing with life issues and the answer to how we deal with those issues properly is found in Christ. He is always the answer! Our world is hurting and my prayer for everyone that is reading this blog is that it would cause you to draw near to Jesus. Allow His unconditional love to invade every aspect of your life. Trust Him with your life so that His love can be manifested in you so that the world can see Jesus through you. He loves us no matter what and we should love others the same.

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I often ask myself, do I have a lifestyle of worship?  When examined by others, do people notice the sweet aroma that God places in my life? True worship manifests itself in action and emanates from a heart for God. God’s presence should be evident in everything we do and having a lifestyle of worship will establish that. David had a heart for God and lived a lifestyle of worship. Pastor Ken Baugh once wrote that “David’s life revealed 5 elements that characterize a lifestyle of worship.

Those 5 elements are:

Having total confidence in God

Having a submissive spirit

Having a courageous faith

Having a raw passion for God

Having a contrite heart

Let’s break down those 5 elements together, the “first element was David had total confidence in God.”  When David was facing off against Goliath, he had total confidence that God would deliver him. God prepared David ahead of time by delivering him from a lion and a bear (1 Samuel 17:37). God showed Himself faithful to David and David learned to rest in Gods faithfulness. We cannot properly worship God if we do not have confidence in His faithfulness. We must let God be God and take over our lives greatest moments. We must learn to surrender our control, impatience and fear over to Him in all circumstances, so that we can learn to rest in His presence. When we do this we will see Gods love manifested to us in a supernatural way. Over time we will begin to rely upon His faithfulness like David did and begin to have total confidence in God.

The second element was that David had a submissive spirit. Without a submissive spirit David could not have a life-style of worship with God. When David had the opportunity to kill Saul, he chose not to take Saul’s life, but rested in Gods timing. David was mindful that God has perfect timing in all things and to submit to His leadership was the very best way. David realized God was preparing him and that nothing good could come from David taking control. David knew God called him to be king, but to take it by force was not Gods will. God designed each of us for a specific purpose and to desire to be something we were not created to be is not a submissive spirit. We cannot have a lifestyle of worship without submitting to Gods perfect way. I heard a story once of a child being told to sit down and the child responded saying, fine I will sit down but I am standing up inside. Let’s not be that child that is standing up inside but submit to God in our everything so that we can have a lifestyle of worship.

The third element is that we need to have a courageous faith. David was a man of faith that was grounded in hope. Hebrews 11:1 says “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” David had learned that through fellowship with God that God was a good God and when tragedy happened, his faith which was grounded in hope got him through most days. He wrote many Psalms demonstrating His faith in a loving God. Our submissive lifestyle will strengthen our faith and hope in God. This will give us courage to battle hard circumstances while establishing in us a lifestyle of worship.

The fourth element of a lifestyle of worship emanates from a raw passion for God. When life circumstances don’t go our way we are given two options. The first is, we can figure out what to do while becoming more miserable as we do so or we can surrender it to the Lord by drawing near to Him and believing upon His promises. To surrender to God consistently will create in us a raw passion for God. Many believers do not have this raw passion because their lifestyle in surrendering over circumstance is inconsistent. Whenever I lack raw passion for God I know immediately there is a lack of surrender in my life. I must stop what I am doing and draw near to God. Many do not understand this passion and have no idea how unbelievable it is to love God with a reckless abandonment. David in 2 Sam 6:21-22 Danced before God with a carefree spirit. He demonstrated this passion to the disgust of his wife Michal. Those that do not have intimacy with the Father will never understand this passion. They will mock us because of it. When God reveals His love to you in such a deep way and all you can think of is to dance before Him; His joy then invades every aspect of your being, you become radicalized with a raw passion. This fellowship of worship God desires most for us. He created us to passionately worship Him in spirit and in truth.

The last element of a lifestyle of worship is to have a contrite heart. When David was confronted by Nathan the prophet of his affair with Bathsheba, David repented and said in 2 Sam 12:13 “that he has sinned against the Lord.” David wrote of this in Psalms 51 and pleaded with God to renew a right spirit with in him. He knew his sin separated him from the goodness of God. Humility isn’t admitting others are better than us, or that we are weak and we fall short like every other person. True humility is seeing ourselves in the light of Gods goodness and holiness. God sets the standard and a contrite heart recognizes that Gods standard is the only measure in which we should view ourselves. We are created to worship Him! To not worship Him is evidence that our heart is not contrite. When confronted by anyone do we immediately want to fight to prove ourselves? Or do we see everything from the eyes of our Savior and love with brokenness regardless if we are right or wrong. A contrite spirit will allow us to have a fellowship of worship with the Father that is filled with the fruit of the Spirit. You will find yourself being kind, patient, and long-suffering and these elements can only be found in Jesus. A contrite spirit will always reflect the nature of a good God.

In closing, I pray we find ourselves desiring to have a fellowship of worship with God. That we do the things necessary to remove whatever might be hindering us from doing so. May the God of peace bless us all as we together pursue our Father in our everything.

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Isaiah 55:8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.”

I have found that trusting God completely when moments seem so hard is very difficult to do.  There are so many days where God might seem like He’s a million miles away and holding on doesn’t seem at all possible.  Trusting Him becomes more and more difficult, especially when there’s a tug a war starting to happen within us. We are easily tempted to control our circumstance just so that it brings us a temporary understanding and comfort. We eagerly try waiting upon God, but then our patience is fiercely tested.  His delay in helping to make sense of our difficulty truly doesn’t make sense with our reasoning. We get anxious and overwhelmed. We can’t breathe and all we keep thinking about is our problem, which gets tossed around in our heads. Slowly our problems magnify while the rest of our world begins to fade away. We want our results from God quickly and wish not to suffer this agony for long term. Our minds viciously race, questioning if God is good and if He really does care about what we’re going through. Our hope in His goodness begins to diminish and our faith in our own success begins to strengthen.

The thing is, God is good!  We might even say we trust Him in spite of our circumstances, but do our actions show that we trust Him? When things are hard, God desires our posture to be still on our knees waiting before Him. The testing of our faith in hard times allows us to examine our lives and our hearts, in order to see who is really in control. If we see that God is a good God then we will simply rest in Him and surrender over our will. If when we examine our hearts we see that we are anxious and restless we then know we have an improper view of God. If we don’t fully see Him in the right light, that He truly is GOOD, then Satan will dull our senses of knowing how good He really is.

Garden of Eden

As a Pastor I get asked a lot of questions by both followers of Christ as well as non-believers. One of the top questions I get asked is “If God is a good God, then why does He allow bad things to happen to good people?” There are many really good books out there that cover this subject and it’s a really important question to answer. To conquer this life through surrender, we will need to fully understand that God is a good God. The reason why so many people do not put their full trust in Jesus is because they have believed the many lies that Satan uses to confuse people about who God is. I will attempt to show us that God is a good God and that He loves us, despite of us. Psalms 136:1 NASB “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His loving-kindness is everlasting.” God has gotten a bad rap because people cannot understand His Holiness. They see Him as a mean God that kills people for not doing things the way He knows is best. They think He is always out to punish people that don’t follow His rules, which is a lie of Satan.

John 8:44 says “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Satan will make us believe that God is against us and is always mad at us because we mess up. This is not true.  We need to erase this from our minds and replace it with God’s truth. There are many of us that have often times struggled in our Christian walk because we have believed some of these lies from Satan. We have been made to believe, without knowing it, that God is against us and not for us. This chapter will attempt to give us a brief overview of the bible in sharing with us why God is good and worthy of all our trust. I will attempt to help our minds be filled with God’s truth so that Satan’s lie never has a foothold in our lives again by making us believe God is not good.

To fully understand God’s goodness, we need to start from the very beginning, where God said that He created the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1). Often we do not have the right view of God.  By starting from the very beginning, it will help us walk through the many things we already know and hopefully we will be able to see them in a different light. Or if we already see things from this perspective, this will be a good overview for us and God can be glorified. I am not a scientist, nor do I wish to come across as one.  I am a simple person that believes God created the heavens and the earth. There are many smarter people out there that can explain this subject in a much greater scientific way. I will only come from my simple mind.  Like all of us, I had to ask myself the question, did life happen by chance or did it happen by a creator? For me it’s an easy choice.  If there is a design, there must be a designer. If there is a creation, then there must be a creator.  I know that this is another lie that Satan has used to get many people to not believe in God. Trying to prove this to you one way or another is not my expertise. I believe God is a good God because when He created the heavens and the earth, He himself said it was very good. Gen 1:31 NKJV “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.” 

God made man to have fellowship with Him.  He gave them everything created, except for the tree of knowledge. Gen 2:17 NKJV “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” God did not create man to be a robot for him but to be a man that can think and make choices.  That is a good God. He also made a planet that was perfect in every way without flaws, a place where man can spend all eternity in fellowship with God. That is why man lived so long back in the Old Testament days.  Remember in Gen 5:27, it says Methuselah lived 969 years, Adam 930 years in Gen 5:4 and Noah 950 years etc. Remember that everything that God does is perfect and Holy. There is nothing God can do that is bad but only good and not just good but perfect. He made the earth perfect and it’s where He desired man to live with Him in perfect fellowship forever- that is until man’s sin changed that.

In Genesis 2:21-23 it says that God created for man, women and her name was to be called Eve, Adams helpmate. The foresight that God had to give me a help-mate is positive proof that God is a good God.  I don’t know where I would be without my wife. She completes me in so many ways. Now, together Adam and Eve were in fellowship with God in complete harmony with Him on this earth. Everything was going perfectly according to how God created all things until that day Satan deceived Eve. (Gen 3:6)  The question I ask myself at this time is why did God allow Satan to be in His perfect Garden with Adam and Eve? If He is a good God why would He not protect them against any deception from Satan? That’s a fair question which then leads me to my next question. Why wouldn’t God give us an option to either choose His goodness versus another way?  Would it really be true love if all we knew was good and nothing bad? Having a choice to make gives us freedom to act and do things we feel or think is best. Without choice, we could be forced to live in a way we think is not the best.  Being coerced is a great way to lead us to rebellion.

The thing is God is so good that even when He gives us a choice, He still attempts to share with us what is best. In Gen 3:3 God warned Adam.  In the same way, He will warn us that if we choose to go a certain way, death and destruction will occur. Because He is good, He lays everything out for us to choose.

God is a sovereign God and He does all that He pleases. (Psalm 115:3) Regardless of what we think about God, He can and will do what He deems is best for us. In Adam and Eve’s case He deemed it best for them to see that He is a good God that cared for them by allowing them a choice. However, we have come to find out that their choice was the wrong choice and God had to curse the ground for their sake.

Genesis 3:22 says NKJV “Then the LORD God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.”

This very act of disobedience to God’s perfect will for man changed mankind into something God never intended for them. The very moment Adam chose to go against God’s perfect will changed the environment in which Adam could now live. God had to send Him out of the perfect garden into hardship and pain. God then had to take on a different role for Adam.  God now became Adams comfort and guide, but it’s not without the pain that sin will bring.

Theologian Charles Ellicott explained this best when he said “All those qualities which constitute man’s likeness to God—free-will, self-dependence, the exercise of reason and of choice—had been developed by the fall, and Adam was now a very different being from what he had been in the days of his simple innocence. Adam had exercised the power of marring God’s work, and if an unending physical life were added to the gift of freewill now in revolt against God, his condition and that of mankind would become most miserable. Man is still to attain to immortality, but it must now be through struggle, sorrow, penitence, faith, and death. Hence a paradise is no fit home for him. The Divine mercy, therefore, commands Adam to quit it, in order that he may live under conditions better suited for his moral and spiritual good.” 

God is Holy (1 Peter 1:16), meaning He is perfect.  Those words cannot do justice in trying to describe what this means.  Isaiah 55:8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.”  What we think we might know, He will always know more.  To think we know more is foolishness when it comes to God. Who are we to think we can tell Him anything. Psalm 99:5 “Exalt the LORD our God and worship at His footstool; Holy is He.”   We must remember that when Adam was in fellowship with God in the Garden before his fall, Adam fellowshipped with God in all of His Holiness. Paradise as Adam knew it was perfect.  It was comfortable, joyful, and he never had to worry or fear anything. He had delight in the Lord and never needed anything or wanted anything other than God’s presence. After sin entered, paradise was now gone and sin brought with it the hardships we all face today.

The world at the time of Adams fall changed. Sin now dominated man’s world. Sin now began to destroy everything and death entered the perfect world in which a good God created. This now causes man to search endlessly for the Paradise we once had and the way God intended it to be from the beginning. The relief we seek from our pain today, is our way of searching for The Garden, where we don’t have to worry or fear. Jesus so graciously eventually gets us back into the garden. But without Jesus, all we have is what this fallen world can offer us. We will discuss this in further detail later. But for now, in Jesus hope is restored and God’s goodness is revealed.

Without Jesus, man now acts and does what man wants to do based upon what man feels is best. Man now because of sin, lives in a world that man creates in order for man to understand his purpose. Man is attempting to live without God, man now hurts people and experiences pain himself. Man then seeks comfort from this pain.  This leads him to form many bad habits that blind him from seeing God, who is good. The world and man are now in a tail spin of destruction and hope for anything good becomes unlikely without the help of God. Satan will willingly offer to help man with anything that takes man’s eyes away from God. Because he chooses not to see God as good, man willfully goes after everything Satan offers him.  The result for man is a devastating life filled with many highs and lows where darkness has now overtaken the light.

The bible says that Satan is the god of this world and his whole purpose of existence is to deceive people from seeing that God is good.

2 Cor 4:4 NLT “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe.” They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.”

The fall of Adam, and by extension to us, had made man believe that he is his own god, because he can now determine the difference between good and evil. (Gen 2:17) Man now determines what he deems is best and controls his life the way he thinks he should go. Man has always had a choice to trust God or to trust in himself. Unfortunately, today most of the world now trusts in themselves and their own beliefs.

So based upon this knowledge about sin and God being good, let’s go back to the question from the beginning. If God is a good God, why does He let bad things happen to good people? Based upon what we have talked about, did a good God allow sin to happen to a good person? No! Does man have a free will to choose what is right according to a good God or to sin according to Satan? Yes! So does a good God want sin to happen to a good person? Of course not! God hates sin. Psalm 97:10 says “Let those who love the Lord, hate evil.” Sin never brings goodness, but only destruction.  Anything the world offers us outside of Christ will never bring us goodness. Sin is always ugly and God is always good and gracious. Now that man willfully chose sin (not God) can good still come out of bad? Yes!!! God says in Romans 8:28 “All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

So, to wrap up this section; God is good and sin is bad. God gives man free choice to do good by trusting Him or to do bad by sinning and hurting others around us. In the following section we will see how Jesus is the greatest gift that a good God could have ever given mankind. We will explore some more challenging questions and see that God has always loved and pursued man.

Next week we will explore more of God being a good God.

Excerpts from Chapter 4 Conquer Through Surrender

A photo of a cross from mangled metal taken by Anne Bybee about three weeks after the 9/11 attacks, on the backside of Ground Zero.

I write this blog reflecting upon the events of 9/11/01. I was searching on twitter this morning reading about other people’s experience on that day and I found myself thinking of what I was doing and where I was at during those horrific moments.  At the time, I was living in California and received a call from a good friend that lived in GA around 5:55 am PST. He urgently told me to turn on the TV, and dreadfully told me that a plane had hit the world trade center. You see 9/11 is my friend’s birthday and we usually talk on that day, but surely not at 5:55 am PST or 8:55 am EST. He wasn’t sure if it was a terror attack but he could sense that something was very wrong than it appeared to be.

As prompted by my friend, my wife and I turned on the TV and began watching the events unfold right before us.   To our dismay we saw the second tower get hit by the plane as it was happening on live TV. We were stunned and sat in utter silence; we could not believe what we were seeing. We knew immediately we were under attack by some sort of enemy! We began praying and really didn’t know what to do next. We called our parents and woke them up to tell them the horrific news. We were supposed to head in to the office to work, but we wanted to stay and watch the news. So we lingered in front of the TV for a while longer and then the reports that the pentagon was also hit and fear began to build up within us. Questions started running through our minds like, how many more planes were involved, what else was going to be hit this day. I could not believe what I was witnessing.  I remember thinking this can’t be happening in the U.S.A. could it? We have better security than most countries, don’t we? How could something like this happen on U.S. soil? The first initial days after the attack were filled with crazy uncertainty, and the reality of it all was surreal to know that we as a nation were under attack.

After a while my wife and I headed into our office to find our employees there, but they were all sitting in silence as they were intently listening to a radio that we had in the office. It’s safe to say that there was no work being done that day, everything and everyone was stopped. We all headed home early because we were all too shaken up to even think about what work we had to do. That evening another fear crept into my mind, the question of how is this going to affect my business? I know that is a selfish thing to think at such a time, but honestly, that is what popped into my head.  I was outside looking at the stars and there was not a single plane in the sky. It was an eerie feeling and the uncertainty of everything was fresh. I could sense business as usual was not going to be happening as we knew it.

I remember the day after this horrific event, my wife and I went into the office to find that no one was working because our clients were not picking up their phones. The country as a whole was on complete lock down.  No one was working, nor did we have the desire to work knowing the countless numbers of people who lost their lives, all those families who were suddenly without a family member, all those first responders that died valiantly while helping; so we went to church to pray. Churches were packed with individuals seeking some sort of comfort. The prayers flowing from the people were raw, vulnerable and crushing. The prayers were not your normal memorized prayers we were hearing, they were gut wrenching prayers filled with anguish. There was a movement of surrender like something I have never experienced before. There were no politics, in fact, I remember watching TV to see congress as a whole singing patriotic songs on the capitol steps. We came together as a country and patriotism was at an all-time high. Today, Sept 11^th, I will always remember all those who died that day and will continue to pray for the families that have been left behind. I can only imagine the pain they felt that day and are still feeling today as they too reflect upon that horrific day.

With all of that said, my business suffered greatly for about a month as I am sure countless others did. I know that this is not that long of a timeframe, but it was long enough to make me wonder. My prayers were intense and my worry was real. I remember crying out to God asking for wisdom, seeking what to do next. Asking God how do I pay my employees and overhead?  My business wasn’t that big at the time. I did not have reserves or savings, but I did have Jesus. I knew some way somehow we would get through this. I knew that God was near and that I could trust Him completely.

So one morning out of the blue we got a call from a major convenience store, with many locations in our area, asking if we had American Flags for sale. So I called one of my vendors and ordered as many as they had in stock.  We delivered them to all of their store locations and they sold out of those flags as quick as they put them on the shelf. Then they had called asked for more of those American Flags. My vendor didn’t have any more, so we had to place a back order for the client. Eventually, we got more and shipped them out again to all of our clients store locations.  My God supplied all of our needs and He proved to me that day, He will never leave me nor forsake me.  You see, my company is a print mail house; we were never a flag providing company, on the contrary far from it.  Yes, from time to time we ordered giveaways to correspond with some of our direct mail campaigns, in order to help bring in more business for some of our clients. God took an out of the ordinary item such as a flag, and used it to help us get through a very trying time.

That brings to mind Romans 8:28 which says, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”. My God is a good God and all who believe in Him know that He loves His children. He takes care of us, forgives us, provides for us and restores in us a right spirit. He is everything that is opposite of the evil that we witnessed that day. Unfortunately, that evil we witnessed back then is still relevant in our nation today.  My twitter account is filled with vicious attacks upon people and hate speech is spreading at an all-time high. Our nation is divided politically and out of control, which is led by determined politicians attacking each other.

This level of hostility is spreading amongst our nation like a wild fire and lives are being destroyed all because we feel we have a right to express ourselves in this manner. Love and forgiveness seem to be irrelevant tools that have been cast into the depths of the ocean.  Greed, lust and pride seem to be more prevalent. We want what we want and if we don’t get what we want, we throw tantrums and it doesn’t matter whom we throw under the bus to get it. We say things filled with hate, anger and bitterness without even thinking twice about it.

James 3:5-6 says “Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.”

This verse brings to light the very situation that is happening in our nation today! Words of hate are being spoken and it is setting everything on fire. Makes you wonder if there could ever be a reversal to how bad things currently are. Truthfully, I do not believe we can reverse the evil happening in our nation now outside of a civil war happening, unless God is involved. I am certain however, that God can heal our land and make all things new. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

If people would humble themselves and repent of their sins, and turn to God, then and only then can we as a nation be healed of this evil that is taking place among us. I pray that this 9/11 be a reminder to all of us that evil still exist and it’s out of control, its raging like a wild fire. Sin seeks to destroy us and if we let it control us, Satan will win. But there is also good everywhere and every time we choose to elevate others above ourselves, we are doing God’s work. Every time we choose to see others the way Christ sees them, by biting our tongues and only saying that which is good and from above, we are doing God’s work. We can then begin to heal, but it starts with us. We as a nation are made up of individuals under God and this nation can be healed if we as individuals repent of our ways and surrender all to Christ. Do we choose to serve self and continue to fan the flame of destruction, or do we choose to surrender to Jesus and let the healing process begin? I choose Jesus and I hope you do as well.

I leave us with Joshua 24: 14-15 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. ¹⁵ And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

I write today with a heavy heart as one my friends has passed away. I, like all who knew him are mourning his loss. Death for me has never been easy; it’s a shock, a wakeup call and has always shaken me to my core. It causes me to simplify everything in my mind and makes me realize what is important and what is not. As I reflect upon my friends life with all the good memories I have had with him, it has once again opened my eyes to realize that life is short. I told my wife this morning we must prepare for death. I asked her everything I need to know if she were to die. I talked about what I desire upon my death and we both discussed the hard truths. Death is real and there is no escaping it. We can be here today and gone tomorrow without any warning. From what I understand that’s what happened to my friend, he was hanging out with his family in the daytime and that night everything changed in an instant.

The question of what is next after death is another topic that many people including myself havewrestled with. Questions like: Is there a heaven and a hell? Do we come back as something else, like an animal in reincarnation? Is there nothingness, when we die that is it, we cease to exist any further?

Being a Christian I do see death from the lenses of the bible, but that’s not without studying other major religions such as Islam, Hindu and Buddhism and what they believe. I don’t claim to be an expert in their religious beliefs, but I do feel I have a firm grasp in what they believe about death and life after death. For instances, Islam believes that the soul lives on after death, awaiting The Day of Judgment. They believe that Allah judges the souls of the dead and sends them to Paradise or to Hell based on how much good or evil they have done.

This belief has some resemblances that are similar in part to what Christians believe, but with a major difference. Christians believe eternal life is not based upon how good or evil we have been, but solely on believing in the blood of Jesus, His resurrection and His righteousness as it says in Romans 3:25. Paul an apostle of Jesus wrote in Ephesians 2:8-9 “that we are saved by God’s grace, through our faith in Jesus—and this is not from our good works because it is a free gift that God gives us” and it has nothing to do with how good we have been or how much we have done for God. Why? So that no one can boast.

The God of the Bible knows that we humans like to boast about our accomplishments and it’s natural for us to think we are hot stuff when we live a disciplined life. We begin to look at other people that have not achieved success as much as we have as inferior and we begin to believe that we are better than them. Islam, like all religions is set up with a do good and get something format, which leaves the door open for pride. The bible takes that format away and lets people know that Gods love for them has nothing to do with how good they are. God hates pride Proverbs 8:13. In Romans 3:23 it says “we have all sinned and fallen short of Gods glory.” No matter how good we might feel we are,when we see ourselves in the light of Christ perfection, we are desperately wicked deserving eternal damnation. Paul goes on to say in Romans 3:11 “that there is none righteous, no, not one.” So if we believe we are righteous and that our good works will get us into heaven, then the Islamic faith might be right for you. As for me, I have taken a long look in the mirror and realize that I am in desperate need of a Savior. I wish I was perfect, but I realize that I am not and to take a chance on my “good merits” to get me into heaven is a tall task to ask. I will simply rest in knowing that Jesus says salvation is a free gift and I will rest in His grace and believe its big enough to cover all of my sins.

I except Jesus at his word and there is nothing I can do to be saved other than believe in His son and what He did for us. With that belief, I also choose to live for Him and know that when I die I will be with him for all eternity. Romans 14:8 says,“For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” It’s a wonderful thing to know that we are Gods children in whom he loves much.

This brings memuch courage for my life today. In 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 Paul says “So we are always of good courage.” We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord”. Knowing that heaven awaits me allows me to live a fulfilled life here on earth. I live with the knowledge that this body is only temporary and one day I will be with Jesus for all eternity.

Without going into much detail, both Hindu and Buddhism believe in karma and good works as well. Hinduism believes in a soul and that the journey of life continues on in reincarnation from one life to another. Buddhism believes in rebirth based upon your karmic seeds that you sow in this life that will determine your next. I don’t know about you, but these religions would have me wondering if I am good enough for heaven. Or even good enough to qualify for my next life with something half way decent. If people are honest with themselves there is no way they can think they are good enough all the time. What if that time you fail miserably is the time you lost your opportunity to have a good life in the next? What lack of courage would you have to even to continue on in confidance? I can see why people fear death and have no or little hope for the next life.

Sure you might be able to put on a good front and say you have no fear of death, but I am certain you can have uncertainty about it. Charles Spurgeon said “When the time comes for you to die, you need not be afraid, because death cannot separate you from God’s love.” As a follower of Jesus you can have certainty of where you will go after death. Jesus took away all of the “what ifs”. He is our guarantor and it’s in Him we can live today knowing that tomorrow has already been taken care of.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

My friends’ daughter posted this reminder the day of my friend’s death on Facebook. She said “My dad has passed from here to eternity. He is worshipping the creator of the universe right now. I am so jealous of him. But oh man, am I going to miss that studly (he would say) witty, generous, funniest man on earth (again his words) God fearing, educated, patient, fun, kind, chivalrous..the list goes on and on. Daddy of mine. Thank you for loving us so well. She then went on to post Luke 23:42-43 “Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus answered him and said. Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

My friends’ daughter understands where her dad is and she has certainty of this. She knows this by the way her dad lived his life and by his outward proclamation to the world that he was saved by God’s grace. She knows he was one of Gods sheep aka children. Jesus said in John 10:27-29 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”

What comfort these words speak in knowing we are Gods. Regarding death Jesus says it best in John 14:1-4 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”

Today each and every one of us can know for certain if we were to die where we would end up. Or we can take a chance and try to get there with our own good works. As for me, taking a chance is not going to happen. As the singer Mathew West would say “I’m ALL in!” Jesus take my life and lead me according to your will and purposes. I choose to put my trust in Jesus. The questions we must all ask ourselves regarding death is does what I believe bring me absolute hope for what is next? If not, in Jesus you can have that absolute hope, if you choose to put your trust in Him today. I would love to hear from you, please comment below.

So, for me to answer the question about what my point of view is on people being gay, it’s a very hard thing for me to do because, I do not have one. When people want me to answer questions like ‘should gay marriages be legal? Can you be a Christian and be gay? Are you born gay or is it your choice to be gay? Or is being gay a sin and can a gay man or women get into heaven? My answer is that it does not matter to me if you’re gay, straight, a mass murderer, or a saint. The Jesus that I have come to discover and know personally is one that loves each and every single one of us the same and that His Grace is sufficient for all. Jesus and the Apostles’ teachings were designed to show us how we can have a relationship with Him. He and the Apostles make numerous proclamations with this always in mind. Jesus is God and lived a perfect life here on this earth, so that we can see what it looks like to be one with the Father. Jesus’ sole purpose was to bring salvation to everyone and to lay out a road map to show us how we can experience His great love. He taught us to see each person as His Father sees them and that is always with love. His desire is that everyone would come to know Him as Lord and Savior.

Jesus was never about condemning someone. His teachings were always about how someone can draw ever closer to the Father, so that the Father would draw close to them. He always said ‘I do not do anything that I have not seen my father do already’. By this statement, He was showing us that we are sinners and that we are not perfect. It makes us realize that we are all in need of a Savior. Guilt is a constant ringing in people’s lives, as they realize that they make mistakes every day as they try to do whatever they can to fix their mistakes. This cycle goes on and on through life. when someone finally truly finds the Jesus of the Bible, they then find the answer(s) to their guilt. That answer is, Jesus paid it all on the cross, and when they believe in Him that guilt is taken away and all their sins are now forgiven.

So, how do I explain the teachings of the Bible where it says ‘you cannot be gay and enter into heaven’? Or a better question is “Do I believe what the Bible says in ‘that being a homosexual you will not inherit the kingdom of God???? The answer is yes. I believe the Bible does say that. I cannot take out what the Bible says. So by me saying that “I believe the Bible says that???, many people will take that to be my stance on homosexuality and I would say, “you are wrong.??? I believe Gods desire is that all people come into a relationship with Him that is real and intimate. I believe what the Bible says when it states “that He will meet us where we are in life and love us the exact same as anybody else.??? I believe, if someone is a professing Christian and gay and they read this, they will interpret this according to where God is meeting them at that moment in time. God’s desire is to love us period; and as we experience His love, our journey in life will change and our attitude towards God will change. We will desire to be more like Him every day. Gods great Grace covers us in whatever situation we are in and I can interpret scripture today one way and totally different another day. I believe Gods desire is that He uses all seasons of our lives to draw us unto Him. As a follower of Jesus, I now understand it’s never about me, but it’s always about Him.

If God desires for me to interpret scripture a certain way, He understands where I am at and I now understand His Grace will cover me in that interpretation. If God desires me to change in my knowledge and understanding of Him, then He will be the one changing me from the inside out. He will be the one closing doors and opening new opportunities. I think the real questions are, “Am I willing to fall in love with Jesus every day? Am I willing to know Him intimately and follow after Him with everything I do? Am I willing to see people, no matter who they are, as He sees them? Am I willing to pick up my cross and serve and sacrifice my life as He did? Whether you are gay or straight these are the true questions we as believers should be asking. Not questioning my stance on something other than Gods love, my stance on any issue really has no merit and who really cares anyway. I can teach Gods word the best I can based off of the understanding in which God has given me. I am convinced that no matter where we are at in our understanding of this topic about being Gay, God loves you the same as everybody else. His word is there so that we can understand His love greater and He desires to be glorified in your life. Making a stance for or against something other than loving and treating the person as Christ does, is in my opinion, a waste of time.

I for one feel like Paul, the chief sinner of all and know that I have enough issues on my own staying Holy as it is. My stance on any subject will not get me into heaven, only my love for the Father and my obedience to follow after Him. So no matter whom you are, I choose to see you as Christ see’s you and that is with much love, much grace and much forgiveness. You might be adamant about your stance and feel called to make your stance known to everyone, which is fine with me. Where I am at on this journey, at this moment in time, I simply cannot make it my job to convince someone, one way or the other, that is Gods responsibility. No matter what I say or believe makes no difference, because it’s always about Him and it never is about me. He is the author and finisher of my faith. My only purpose is to see a person like Jesus does. Not debate them in a stance that they are taking because it will cause people to possibly respond with an emotion not favorable with peace. Jesus loved me so much that He sacrificed all for me and didn’t care what my stance was. He showed me love beyond my understanding and because of that; I want to do the same to all people. I believe if people are gay they can come to Jesus just as they are, you don’t have to change yourself and you could not even if you tried. You are who you are and if you desire to experience forgiveness and Gods great love, you can and if change happens in your life it had nothing to do with you, but everything to do with Him.