Start at the Cheese and Work Backward (9-23-08)

he easiest solution to the children’s puzzle maze is to start at the cheese and work backwards to the mouse. In the same way, the easiest way to understand the mystery of life is to start at where we are going to end up and work backwards to where we are at today. Most people think we are only going to end up dead at the end of our life, but they are wrong.

Where we will all end up when we die.

No mater what anyone thinks, we are all going to end up in the same place when we die, standing in front of the Lord to make an accounting for how we lived our life. We can choose to maintain the small view of life, that there is no God or spiritual world, but that view will not change anything except our ability to be prepared for our Judgment Day. When we choose to look at the big picture of life wherein God and the spiritual world do exist, we are still not assured of being prepared for our Judgment Day, but at least we have a fighting chance. On our Judgment Day we will not be judged to determine where we spend the rest of eternity, the verdict will already be in the moment we die, we will only be sentenced. As long as we are still alive we still have a chance to change our ways, but for some of us, time is running out. The longer we wait the more likely we will wait too long.

I used to think of Judgment Day as a large room with long lines of people waiting to be judged. I had a few really, crooked people picked out that I was going to stand behind, if they made it into heaven I knew I would be ok. (There I go again, judging others) I now believe our Judgment Day will be a private interview with Jesus. We will not be able to bullshit our way through or even argue our case because we will know that Jesus knows all of the facts. I am reminded of a cartoon that showed a lawyer with a briefcase is standing before St Peter who was asking the lawyer, “You mean you don’t remember ever saying ethics scmethics?”

Preparing for our Judgment Day should be our main goal in life.

The more we realize that this life is just a test to see where we will spend the rest of eternity, the better chance we have of passing our Test of Life. As with any test, the more we know about the test the better chance we have of passing. The New Testament of the bible is the text we need to study and apply in our lives if they hope to get a passing grade. Today it is popular to believe the bible is just a fairytale. Do non believers have good argument that God is going to give anyone who chooses to not believe in the bible a free pass into heaven? The answer is a big NO! We still have a complete set of right rules written in our conscience and we all get prompted all out life as to what is right and wrong by the small quiet voice of God. We can choose to ignore our conscience or try to over write it with the worlds ways but we only kid ourselves. The sooner we realize our common fate, the easier it will be to change.

We are not told what the passing grade is for our Test of Life. Is it 70%, or is 51% good enough? What if Jesus gave us a real clue when He stated, “Be ye perfect, even as your father in heaven is perfect.” If we need to be perfect, there is only one possible choice, we need to choose to believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, become Born Again, strive to live by the one set of right rules and learn Who we are in Christ. Then we can choose to believe we are perfect, just as God views anyone who is Born Again. Not as a license to sin, but as a deterrent to sin, we will always become what we choose to believe about ourselves.

THE GOODNESS OF GOD IS HIDDEN UNTIL WE BELIEVE (9-24-08)

If the goodness of God was revealed before we had to believe, everyone would believe and this life would no longer be a test. The evil side of the spiritual world is reveal to us on a daily basis. But we must first choose to believe, search our conscience, study the bible and choose to live by the right ways of the good side of the spiritual world if we want to win the prize of heaven. Satan gets to yell in our ear and tempt us with the ways of the world, but we must listen closely to hear the small quiet voice of God.

The good side of the spiritual world speaks softly.

The main way the good side of the spiritual world speaks to us is from our conscience. Man received a conscience when Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Since Adam and Eve were not created with a conscience they did not know right from wrong, so Gods command meant little to them, they were easy prey for Satan’s suggestions. Even if we never heard of the bible and Jesus we are still going to be held accountable on our Judgment Day because our conscience has a complete set of right ways we need to live by in order to pass our Test of Life. In Genesis it is revealed that even the animals will need to make an accounting for how they lived their lives.

The bible is God’s word, it reveals the little we know about God, but it was written to be difficult to understand. It requires a seeing eye and a hearing ear to pick out the most important parts. The red words of Jesus Christ in the four Gospels are the rock we should build our faith on. Jesus never contradicts Himself, all of His teachings are positive and reveal everything we need to know about the New Covenant God made with mankind two thousand years ago. Even the Christian churches have missed the most important points Jesus taught about, they somehow have been tricked by Satan over time. The negative teachings and traditions of the church has made it a white washed tomb, full of dead man’s bones. Instead of the church being a light to bring others to Christ, it has become a laughing stock to the world. The positive teachings of Joyce Meyer is revealing some of the positive things Jesus taught about, but the main line churches keep their congregations in the dark.

Nature is the one positive stronghold of the good side of the spiritual world in this physical world. Even nature is being destroyed in the name of progress. Instead of praising God for the good things in nature, many give credit to Mother Nature. Even Easter and Christmas are dominated by a rabbit and an generous old man who lives at the north pole. We teach our kids that Santa knows who is naughty and nice and will give accordingly, but fail to realize God is listening to our every word, thought and action, and will give accordingly.

The evil side of the spiritual world gets to yell.

Our natural animal lusts are constantly being encouraged by the worlds ways, Satan and his demons. The more intelligent mankind thinks it is, the easier it is fooled. We are born with the burden of original sin, but Jesus died on the cross to wash it away if we will become Born Again. Satan has been able to keep most Born Again Christians from seeing Who they are in Christ and keep them under his condemnation. God wants to pour out His blessings on us in this life, but only if we expect to be blest. Most Christians expect a difficult life here one earth and no matter how hard they pray for relief, they still get what they have been expecting.

FREE LOVE (9-26-08)

The free love of the rebellious 60’s was a major milepost in the destruction of this once great nation. The free love we need to accept is the Free Love from the good side of the spiritual world. The love of God is a built-in need we are each born with deep inside. Most people misinterpret their need for spiritual love as a need for human love. Most of us spend our entire lives chasing after human love when what we really need is the Free Love of God.

When we look at the big view of life, we have a chance to find the spiritual love the world and people who maintain the small view of life will never know about. God loves each of us the same, sinner and saint alike, but if we deny God we will never be able to accept His great love for us. (See noun definition #9 below.) Until we choose to first accept God’s love we can not return God’s love by thanking, worshiping and adoring Him for how great He is and we miss out on all He wants to give each of us. (See noun definition #10 below.)

In our relationships with the world, we give love but often get nothing in return, we can soon feel like the poster child for unrequited love. (not reciprocated: not felt in response, or not returned in the same way or to the same degree) In our personal relationship with Jesus, we can feel complete because His great love for us satisfies our need for spiritual love. In the world people who need people, are in for a let down. As long as we are trying to get the spiritual love we need from people, we will never find real satisfaction in this life.

Free Love, is the greatest gift God gives each of us. God’s gift of love is like all of His gifts, they are not to be hoarded, they are to be passed on to others. The more we give away the gifts of God, the more of His gifts we will receive. It is easier to pass God’s free love than it is to generate it ourselves, especially toward unlovely people. Just as we can not take advantage of Jesus free gift of salvation until we choose to believe in Him, we can not take advantage of His great love for us until we choose to believe He is who He says He is.

There are many kinds of love and many definitions of love, see the following:

love [luv] noun (plural loves)

1. very strong affection: an intense feeling of tender affection and compassion

Young children need unconditional love.

2. passionate attraction and desire: a passionate feeling of romantic desire and sexual attraction.

3. somebody much loved: somebody who is loved romantically. (He was her first real love.)

4. romantic affair: a romantic affair, possibly sexual

5. strong liking: strong liking for or pleasure gained from something

his love of music.

6. something eliciting enthusiasm: something that elicits deep interest and enthusiasm in somebody. (Music was his greatest love but he also liked ballet.)

7. beloved: used as an affectionate word to somebody loved.

8. U.K. term of friendly address: used as a friendly term of address, usually to a woman (informal) (Here’s your change, love.)

9. Christianity: God’s love for humanity: the mercy, grace, and charity shown by God to humanity.

10. Christianity: Worship of God: the worship and adoration of God.)

11. sports game score of zero: a score of zero in sports and games, for example, tennis, squash, and whist.

verb (past loved, past participle loved, present participle lov·ing, 3rd person present singular loves)

1. vti feel tender affection for: to feel tender affection for somebody, for example, a close relative or friend, or for something such as a place, an ideal, or an animal.

2. vti feel desire for: to feel romantic and sexual desire and longing for somebody.

3. vt like very much: to like something or like doing something very much.(I love watching old movies on TV.)

4. vt show kindness to: to feel and show kindness and charity to somebody. (Love one another and love your neighbor.)

5. vt have sexual intercourse with: to have sexual intercourse with somebody (dated)

[Old English lufian , from lufu “love” (source of the noun). Ultimately from an Indo-European word meaning “to love,” which is also the ancestor of English libido, belief, and leave2 “absence.”]

See Usage note at enamored.

Word Key: Synonyms

love, liking, affection, fondness, passion, infatuation, crush,

CORE MEANING: a strong positive feeling toward somebody or something

love used to describe a very strong, positive feeling toward somebody or something. It is used especially to talk about strong romantic or sexual feelings between people; liking used to talk about positive feelings toward somebody or something. These feelings are not as strong as those suggested by love; affection used to describe warm friendly caring feelings between people. It can also be used to talk about a liking for something such as a place; fondness used in a similar way to affection to talk about feelings between people. It can also be used to describe a strong liking or preference for something; passion used to describe an exceptionally intense love for somebody, usually of a strong sexual nature. It can also be used to refer to a strong liking or enthusiasm for something, sometimes of an excessive nature; infatuation used to describe an intense but short-lived and often unrealistic love for somebody, usually of a romantic or sexual nature; crush used to describe somebody’s strong feeling of attraction toward a person with whom he or she is not having a relationship. It is used especially to talk about teenagers and young people.

Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

WITHOUT GOD (9-27-08)

I moved to this remote ranch in the mountains of western Colorado 19 years ago to get out of the rat race in Cleveland, Ohio. I did not know what I wanted, except I knew there was something missing form my life. I was not looking for God, I thought I already had God, I had been a Christian all my life. I knew God existed, He was always available to bail me out when I got into deep dodo, all I had to do was ask for help and He would come to my rescue. Once my problems were solved, I would thank God for His help and put Him back on the shelf and go on with my life, living by the worlds ways, until the next time I got in trouble. So, as bad as I was living, I still had God in my life, but only as a safety net. I have never known what it is like to live without believing God exists.

There are millions of people who think they are Christians, when they are still living as I did fro 45 years, by worldly ways with little or no contact with God. There are millions of people who think they believe there is no God or even a spiritual world. There are millions of people who admit there is a spiritual world, but are only involved with its dark side. There are millions of people who believe in other world religions who are following their faith in varying degrees. Of the 6.3 billion people, we each have a little different faith or lack of faith. Oh what a great God we have that can be involved with each of us 24/7’s all our lives.

We all share six (6) common fates, (1) we were born, (2) we will live for a short time, (3) die, (4) become spiritual beings, (5) have a Judgment Day and (6) live for the rest of eternity. We have a free will to live as we please and our choices will effect when we die or at least the quality of this short life. We have complete control over the sentence we will receive on Judgment Day, that sentence will determine where and how we will spend the rest of eternity.

Living with God.

I can not imagine what our spiritual life will be like. In the last 19 years I have become very close to God and the ways of the good side of the spiritual world, I will never go back to the ways of the world. The less I have to do with the world, the more peace I find. The simpler I live and the closer I get to living in tune with nature, more I enjoy my life. The more I live in the will of God, the more blessings I receive, pressed down and overflowing. The more I believe in Jesus as my Lord and Savior, the more I feel Born Again. The more I learn about, Who I am in Christ, the less Satan’s temptations bother me. The more I choose to see myself as perfect, the less I sin because we will always become what we expect. The more I learn about our relationship with the unseen spiritual world and our ability to direct the vast power of both the good and evil sides of the spiritual world by our beliefs, actions and words, the more real God becomes.

Oh if only the world could see what I see, feel what I feel, hear what I hear, touch what I touch, smell what I smell and taste what I taste, the more real God and the ways of God would become while I am still alive the more I look forward to my Judgment Day. I have a private victory that goes unseen by the world, I want to be a light, but I am only a voice crying in the wilderness. I am following where I am led to the best of my ability, it is not my job to convince others or even get them to read what I write. I only feel responsible to put my beliefs and feeling down, it will be up to God if even a single other person reads what I write.

Living without God.

As long as we maintain the small view of life, we will always live without the many blessing of God in our short human life and in our future spiritual life for the rest of eternity. Without God all the fears, dreads and regrets of the world, especially the fear of death, we must deal with by ourselves. If people who are living without God in their life could only see what I see, they would gladly trade their pain, hurts and miseries for the peace, satisfaction, blessings, and love of God. Rich people who think they have the world by the ass are less willing to seek a life close to God, that is why it is so hard for a rich man to go to heaven.