ANGELS...PART ONE

God's Angels are Real

Unlike the elusive, beautiful painting above, angels are real, but most of the time, we don't even see them, and for a very good reason; for they are God's messengers sent to do His work and to protect us from danger including danger from ourselves. This journal is not about making pretty pictures, or sculpting images of angels, but a study of who they are, and why God has them as His "secret agents". But first, I must describe our relationship to God and the situation that we are in, here on Earth.

Who (whose) are You?

OK here is the deal; it is time for us to understand and realize who we are in Christ...that we are truly NOT our own; we are bought with a price, the Blood of Jesus, and that with that purchase, God Almighty has endowed us with the right to be called HIS; the right to go Heaven; THERE'S MORE TO IT THAN THAT! While we are here on this Earth, we have things to do, that are to Glorify God, and to further His Kingdom to come, and to lay up for ourselves treasures in Heaven; when we get saved, and give our whole hearts and lives to JESUS, we are then enlisted in God's Army.

CLAIMER/DISCLAIMER

I call this a claimer/disclaimer because in my writings, I make certains claims (this is the claimer part), namely, that God's Word says this or says that...I claim it to be true. but (here's the disclaimer part), if anyone who reads my writings, thinks that I have mis-spoken, then by all means feel free to challenge me, and I will take a second look; to see if I have (misspoken). Many times, I will not quote the chapter and verse, but I will tell you where it is located in the Bible...call me lazy if you like; it is just my style. If I am challenged to say where I got something from God's word, I will be happy to explain myself.

GOD'S ARMY

Historically speaking, when a general or even a king sends people into battle, he usually sends the warriors equipped to win the battle, for only a fool would expect victory otherwise.

By the same token, God has never sent leaders of old into battle, unless He planned for them to win...if they lost a battle, it was because they failed,miserably, to obey God's commands as to "how to" go about fighting the battle.

God sent Joshua and the people into the battle of Ai, and they were being slaughtered; Joshua asked god "Why?" God clearly explained to Joshua that there was sin in the camp...a man named Achin had stolen gold from the enemy, and hidden it in his tent; when the Lord had explicitly instructed them to take nothing; Achin confessed what he had done, and Joshua herded Achin and all of his family together, and they were all stoned to death. How do you like that for accountablility?

Who are the members of God's Army today? What is the nature of the battle? Who is the enemy?

The old hymn "Onward Christian Soldiers", pretty much answers the first question:

Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war

With the Cross of Jesus, going on before

Christ our royal master, leads against the foe,

Forward into battle, see our banners flow.

You see, when you become a Christian, you are then enlisted in the Army of God. Now to some, that is only a symbolic existence, not to be taken too seriously, but to others, it means a life that is never the same again, dedicated to bringing in more souls for Jesus, and living a victorious life that is full of the Love of God, and free from the bondage of sin, which answers the second question; the nature of the battle is clearly spoken of in the book of Ephesians.

satan's angels are DEFEATED

" Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness, in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness: And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of Salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Praying always in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perserverance and supplication for all saints." Ephesians6:10-18

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; 2Corinthians 10:4

Now, the question is "Who is our enemy?" Well, it was certainly not meant to be people, although people have made enemies of each other since man made himself an enemy of God in the garden of Eden. But God loved man in spite of this; that is why He became a man named Jesus to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sin.

Once upon a timeless in Heaven, there was a beautiful angel named Lucifer, who was actually in charge of the music in Heaven; in fact the Word says that he had a musical instrument inside of him. For some reason, unbeknownst to me, this angel decided to rebel against God. Who did he think he was, rebelling against God, the creator of everything? God could not tolerate such a thing, and He threw Lucifer and ONE THIRD of all the angels (the ones that rebelled against God) in Heaven, OUT of Heaven, and onto the Earth.

Now, I don't know how many that was, but I am sure that it was a LOT. Let's just be conservative in guessing that there were 3 million total angels in Heaven at the time; that means that at least 1 million were cast down with Lucifer(who became satan at that time) to the Earth. Well what happened to them? I don't think that they just disappeared; no, they remained here with satan, reeking havoc in the lives of mankind. They will continue to try to reek havoc in the lives of mankind until one day when God throws them all into Hellfire, where they will remain forever!

People who are living under the Blood and resurrection of Jesus Christ, make it difficult if not impossible for those demon-angels to hurt them or affect their lives. But those demon-angels have plenty of other people to work with; just look at all of the wicked things that people do, every day!

A sober person generally has a very strong level of bio-feedback in his or her brain, and he or she is usually in total control. A drugged or intoxicated person, on the other hand, has a very low bio-feedback level, and his or her mind is an open door for demon-angels to work. They even like to work in the minds of crazy or demented people. The "Son of Sam" was a very famous serial killer; he went through the streets shooting people with a .357 magnum. After he was eventually caught, it was known that he had a terrible drinking and drug problem; he said that voices, namely a black dog named Sam, told him to kill people. Several years ago, a woman drowned all five of her children in the bathtub; she was over medicated on anti-depressants,and also taking psychotropic drugs, and NOT following doctor's orders; she told police that voices told her to kill the children. I could go on and on. The fact is that these demon- angels still live on this Earth, and they have little or no effect on a Christian who is sold out to Jesus, especially those who wear the armor of God. In fact the Bible says that we can cast those devils out, and that they have NO power over us! When Jesus said from a cruel cross "It is Finished" it was finished, and when he arose from the dead, it was and is finished for the demon-angels in the lives of Chritian believers; we just have to reckon it so, and live like it. Satan and his angels are defeated!!

God's Angels

God's Angels are all throughout the Bible, and in part two of this series, we will talk more about them, and how REAL they can be for us, because they are real! I have a friend named Benjamin, who is possibly the most studied man in the Word of God that I have ever known; I am asking him to help me in teaching the reality of God's Angels, and how He has placed them in our lives to protect us, and how if we simply believe, that God will send them where we need them to be. Just believe it!

In closing, I want to share a true-life angel story. My friend Eddie was changing the battery in his car one weekend, and his small son was following him around "watching Daddy". Eddie had charged the battery overnight in his house, so he brought it out to re-install it in his car. He hooked it up to the terminals, and went around to the front seat to start the car. His little boy stood in front of the car about eye level with that newly charged battery, just watching. As Eddie tried to turn the key, he said that a force, much greater than his, would not allow him to turn the key. He tried really hard to turn it, but it would not budge; he then took his hands off the switch, and asked his small son to come around and stand next to Daddy, which he did. Now Eddie and his son are in the car while Eddie tried the ignition key again. This time he could turn the key. As soon as the battery was energized from the key, it EXPLODED into a thousand pieces; Eddie said that he found pieces of battery in the front and back yards of his home; his son would have been killed instantly, had something not stopped Eddie's hand. These things don't happen by accident! You will learn as you read more of my writings that I personally don't believe anything happens by accident.

ANGELS PART TWO

Well,I have been waiting for God to give me the Part Two of this series, and have been wondering when it would come. My step-son David is presently in Iraq; experiencing some of the heaviest fighting ever in the region. My faith is unwavering, and we picture the REAL presence of God's angels all around David and all of his men. I KNOW that those angels are there, and that the enemies that he's fighting, are NOT a people who serve the true living God; so God's will be done; I am just praying for David's safety; I am not praying that he will kill a lot of people; although I know that they will have to in order to stay alive; I am also not happy that he is fighting for his life in a horrible war, but obviously, someone has to step up to the plate to protect our freedoms; I am convinced that God is protecting him every day, all day!

I pray that as you read this , that you will share your faith with us on this blog; especially in this case, if you have stories about angels. I have heard and read many; remember this...there are angels watching over you and all of God's believers. I read the story of a missionary in Africa who was with his wife in their meager hut one night, when the chief of the village brought his men to kill the missionary and his wife. He and his wife prayed all night for God's protection. The chief and his men came, and they quickly left. Two years later, while preaching in Johannesburg, the missionary was amazed to see that same chief come forward to accept Christ. When asked by the missionary about that night when the chief came to kill him, the chief replied, "Because you were winning souls to your God, we wanted to kill you, but when we came, there we saw many giant warriors with fire in their eyes, surrounding your hut, and we knew that they would kill us if we did not leave!"

There are no accidents in this life, and because I believe that, I understand why HE had me begin this series when I did...I happen to be on Max Lucado's mailing list for his weekly devotionals; his staff, nor I, knew that I would be writing about angels at the same time that they would send out his excerpt about angels. Consequently, I am compelled to include it here in this entry. God only knows, but after this, I sense an "Angels...part three" coming soon. In that one, I will probably be giving Biblical accounts of angels.

Angels Watching Over You
by Max Lucado

One of my friends recently took a heart-stopping mission trip to Vietnam. He and two companions set out to smuggle Bibles and money to Christians there. Upon landing, however, he was separated from the other two. He spoke no Vietnamese and had never traveled in Hanoi. Imagine his thoughts, then, as he stood in front of the airport, holding a bag of Bibles, wearing a belt of cash, and knowing nothing more than the name of his hotel.
Taxi driver after taxi driver offered his services, but he waited and prayed. Finally, knowing he needed to do something, he climbed into a taxi and spoke the name of the hotel. After an hour and a thousand turns, he found himself deposited at the designated place. He paid his drivers, and they went on their way.
That’s right, “they” drove off. The front seat of his taxi had been occupied by two men. Only later did the uniqueness of this fact strike him. He saw hundreds of taxis during his days in Vietnam, but not another one of them had two drivers.
Angels minister to God’s people. “ has put his angels in charge of you to watch over you wherever you go” (Ps. 91:11 NCV).
Billy Graham reminds us, “If you are a believer, expect powerful angels to accompany you in your life experience.”? But what if you are not a believer? Do angels offer equal surveillance to God’s enemies? No, they don’t. The promise of angelic protection is limited to those who trust God. Refuse God at the risk of an unguarded back. But receive his lordship, and be assured that many mighty angels will guard you in all your ways.
God sends his best troops to oversee your life. Imagine the president assigning his Secret Service to protect you, telling his agents to motorcade your car through traffic and safeguard you through crowds. How would you sleep if you knew D.C.’s finest guarded your door? How will you sleep knowing heaven’s finest are doing just that? You are not alone. Receive God’s lordship over your life. Heaven’s many, mighty angels watch over you.From Come Thirsty Copyright 1995, Max Lucado

The Tribute Lady Part One

Susan D. Wiseman, known on the internet as "The Tribute Lady" is shown here with our son, SPC David Dale, US Army.David is due to ship out overseas in the near future. He is an M1A, Abrams tanker. "It Is The Soldier" is one of Susan's tribute songs, written in honor of David. We are very proud of him, both as a man, and as a soldier, who is willing to risk his life for our country.










THE NAME...TRIBUTE LADY

I guess that I can take the credit for tagging Susan with that handle, but that's really who she is; The Tribute Lady. The name has stuck. People all over the world know her by that name; She has written many tribute songs, and paying tribute to people, both living, and dead, is what she does. It is a little amazing to me is that she has touched the hearts of thousands of people, but if you go out on the street, and ask anyone if they have ever heard of her, they would probably say "no". Another different aspect of Susan is that she has never made a plan or agenda to be where she is today, in the world of music, other than to make a vow to God (at a very young age) that she would go and sing anywhere that He wanted her to.

When I married this woman almost 21 years ago, I was soon thereafter exposed to her music, which I found most intriguing, to say the least; since I had a background in commercial music, I immediatedly invisioned her selling the music, or becoming a very successful song writer. Little did I know that she had already turned down more than one offer to sell her music, and was very discriminating as to the future of any of her songs.

I then became involved with her in the raising of her 4 children, and even though one left home at an early age, we devoted the next 2 decades to the lives of our children. Susan continued to write songs, but our priority during that time was strictly to our kids.The songs written during that time were mostly dedicated to the love of God, family and her children. Because I had been a professional trumpet player, I still played in churches, and also did some "gigs" with local bands to help supplement our income.

We put our kids through private Christian schools, and the cost was almost like paying fo a college education for each one; we struggled; I remodelled houses on the side, and we struggled, but we also invested in the lives of our kids; we did girl scouts, boy scouts, and church activities; we struggled; we almost starved; we almost lost our house, but we lived through it, and God Almighty never left us; He saw us through all of the tough times, and we would both do it again, a million times; maybe some things a little differently, but our family, along with God, came first.

HER GIFT OF SONG

It took a while for me to fully comprehend Susan's gift of song; I knew that she loved music, and even though she was untrained, that her talent for verse and writing really nice melodic lines was real. What I failed to understand was that she is an inspired song-writer, and unless she feels that certian leading, she will not simply purpose to write a song. In fact, she has said many times that she can't purpose to write a song; she can only write when someting inspires her, and moves her heart and soul.

HER EARS

I noticed, very early on in our relationship, that Susan probably has some form of relative pitch. A person who is born with perfect pitch can hear a tone, and instantly know what note on the keyboard it is, i.e., if you play a "d". that person knows that it is a "d". Also, their ears are perfectly in tune with music, and anything that is even slightly out of tune really bothers them.

Relative pitch is similar to perfect pitch, but that person has to hear a note and identify it first, and he or she can hear and identify all other notes played , from that point on. Although Susan is untrained, she has the inate ability to hear notes and tune her voice to them. She is not a powerful singer, but has what I call a pretty voice, that exudes sincerity. When I first heard her sing, I could tell that she had a voice in there, but she sang out of tune, and I just dismissed that as her not being a strong singer.

A huge revelation occurred to me when we purchased the keybooard/sequencer that she now writes and performs all of her music on today. Upon hearing her first song written on the instrument, I noticed immediately that she sang vastly more in tune than before. My musical mind began working "overtime" to analyze the difference, and what I believe is this...when Susan composed, played and sang her music on the old "rinky dink" piano, which was out of tune, she sang out of tune, as well. Evidently, her ears homed in on the tones from the new keyboard, which is perfectly "in tune", and her singing voice immediately improved, and her intonation is excellent. Because she is not a trained singer, she does sing out of tune occasionally, but on her recordings, you can hear her adjust an "out of tune" note. Why? Because she hears it, and apparently doesn't consciously adjust the note, but because she has a "good ear", she unconsciously adjusts the note.This indicates to me that Susan has "relative" pitch.

HER TEARS

For various reasons, Susan has cried a lot in her life; some from heartaches, some from being unduly mistreated by people, but many of her tears have been shed from the compassion that she has for others. Most, if not all, of her tribute songs are the direct result of the emotional impact that the life or death of the individual(s) have had on her. Many requests have come to Susan to write a particular song for or about a person, and she has had to politely decline them, stating that unless inspired, she cannot possibly purpose to write a song on her own. Conversely, when an event or person touches her heart, the songs literally pour out of her, along with her tears. I have seen her cry for days, in the process of writing a new song that had come on her. Until the song is completed, it is hard to empathize with her reason for crying, but when the recording is finished, I too, cry along with her many times. It is then that the heart of the matter is revealed, and Susan's incredible compassion flows through her music. One prime example of this can be seen and heard on a site called http://herhometownheroes.com

THE TRIBUTE LADY ...PART TWO

THE BLESSINGS CONTINUE

Susan's work seems to be never ending; it is not something that she asked for, but willingly and lovingly does from her heart, and God keeps working in her and through her, and I am honored to be any part of it, even if it were to just carry her bags. I think because Susan is such a sensitive person(sensitive is good...by the way) that she remains a vessel for her wonderful music to be poured into. Some people(the more ignorant ones) have a concept that if a person is going to produce music that is just "HAS" to be perfect or close to perfection to be good. Those individuals has missed the mark when it comes to ministering to people; they don't understand that making big impressions pale in comparison to reaching the hearts and souls of others who are hurting or grieving. I think that there was a time when this mindset discouraged Susan; Why? because it was meant to discourage her...over time, I think that she has become focused on her gift in such a way that what other people think... does not matter. Given that fact, she still just wants to be a blessing, and she is!!!

UPCOMING EVENTS

On Sept 9th, Susan will be performing for the dedication of two 9/11 Memorial Quilts...one for the Firefighters. and one for the 9/11 victims and their respective families. She is so humbled to have been invited to the event. When she wrote the song, her sincere prayer was that one day, she could at least place a copy of the recording of the song in the hands of the victims and/or their familes. Not only has that prayer been answered, but she will personally meet many of them, and sing the song for them. God is good ...all the time!!!

LOGISTICS

On Friday, we picked up 1,000 double CD's of two of Susan's albums, produced by Anaphora music; our first time to do business with these folks, and overall, we are very pleased. Susan will give these CD's as a gift, as long as they last in NY, next week. Our prayer is that we can get them shipped up there, safely and on time. We also have a sound system with stands, and we will have our hands full handly all of that on the airplane, so please pray for us.

WHY DO I DO THIS?

To say that I LOVE the woman named Susan D. Wiseman is a "way" mild understatement. I have met possibly every type person that one could think of in this life, from the demon-possessed, to the finest Christian, and I can attest that Susan has all of the wonderful qualities of what one would search a lifetime to find in a person. Mere words cannot describe how I feel about her both as my wife, a person of TRUE integrity, and my one and only true best friend of all time. I know that other men feel the same way about their wives(Yeah, like you Benjamin), but I am particularly blessed to know her, and be married to her at the same time. So that being said, I can honestly say that supporting her in her gift of song is not ony a priviledge, but a duty, a calling, and an honor; need I say more? I will have more when we return from NY

http://thetributelady.com

My Mission

My Mission: Let's see...I think my mission is to go to Hawaii at least 100 more times before I die(I'm being funny here), but if I don't, the times I have been there have been amongst the most wonderful times in my life.

When I started this blog, I had a concept of this wise old man who would give out free advice on everything from soup to nuts, since I have a lot of experience in many trades, including an extensive background in music.

To be honest, I really didn't know what to expect, but I did pray, and ask God to bless my efforts, and as I began to write, He seemed to take control, and what you read on the blog is the result.

I think others expected something totally different, as well. My chief desire is to help people; I obviously don't have all of the answers, but I know someone who does. Jesus Christ lives in me, and He wants to live in you.

I believe that God wants to speak through this blog; as usual, I had something altogether different in mind; He knows best, so I will trust Him for the stories for you to read. Stay tuned, and see what God has in store for us; yes, us.

My life verse is Isaiah 61:1&2

"The Spirit of theLord is upon me; because the Lord hath appointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn."

MEN OF COLOR...ALL MEN ARE COLORED!

I am blessed to be a part of this little band of brothers; these are what we all call the men of the "Upper Room". For about 5 years, we have gathered together to eat our lunch, and to study God's word. I should say that we eat a spiritual feast every day that we are at work. It is possibly the most incredible Spiritual journey that I have ever been on. Our study and contemplation of The Word is "super intense". It took us 2 years to study the Psalms. Some days, we only covered 1 or 2 verses, because we found a nugget of gold in the scriptures that needed to be digested slowly. Maybe to the chagrin of some who read this, is the fact that we are compiled of Christians from all denominations...some Baptist, some Penticostal, some Catholics, some former Catholics, and I think even a Methodist. Obviously from looking at the photo, you can see that we are also diverse in races, as well. We also pray together, and we have witnessed some awesome answers to our prayers, among which are physical healings, restored marriages, foiled satanic attacks, and blessings of all kinds. We have laughed, cried, laid hands on the sick, and grown in Love for one another in a way that is really indescribable.
The one thing that we have discovered is that we are all color blind when it comes to race. We know that there will be NO color in Heaven. I find it interesting that there is only one chromazome difference between the darkest black man and the fairest white man, and God most likely built in these differences to adjust for climate locale of the races. Obviously, no two people are identical, even twins; we all have characteristics that differ in some way, even though there may be similarities. There are, however, personality traits that are common to all, and we can have control over how these traits are implemented in our lives. The negative ones that we all experience from time to time, are all tied to hate, and have satanic ties...like anger, greed, avarice, envy, strife, intolerance, violence, deceit, and cruelty, to name a few. All human beings are capable of these things, and we are all presented with the opportunity, from time to time, to practice them in our lives, or to CHOOSE not to. Racial origin has absolutely NOTHING to do with the choice, these are common human traits that are NOT of God!
Jesus said,"For a good tree bringeth NOT forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by HIS own fruit."Luke6:42,43.
Galatians says that "the fruit of the Spirit(of God) is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, faith. Meekness, temperance;against which there is NO law...If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us NOT be desirous of vain glory,(NOT) provoking one another,(NOT) envying one another."
I write to you these things, because some people seem to think that there is something wrong with loving a person of another race; that their race is somehow better than another; that they may have done something good, deserving of being born white, or black, for that matter. In some cases, these people are also self proclaimed Christians. ...QUESTION: Where in God's Word does He condone such thinking? I maintain that such thinking is hate-based, and NOT of God! God IS not a God of some sort of karma, where He decides that one person gets to enter the Earth wearing a certain skin color, with better or worse living conditions than another. If you believe in the Bible, then you must understand one thing... God destroyed every person on the Earth at the great flood, EXCEPT Noah and his family, a total of 8 people. EVERYONE born on the Earth, since that great flood, is a direct descendant of those 8 people; Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their three wives. SO!!! If you could literally pour all of the blood of every human from that time until now, into one great huge pool, it would all be the same blood. Although it's weird to think of it in that way, pondering it in that manner aids in comprehending how closely we are all related, NO matter what the skin color may be.

What I have laid out here is a simple blueprint of right and wrong. It is true that as long as we live on this Earth, that we will experience "bad things" happening all around us, and that possibly the resentment and hatred between the races of humans will continue in some manner, BUT is it required? Does everyone have to participate? You may respond to me with all kinds of hypotheses, or "what ifs", or "because they did this or thats", or "they hate us, we will hate 'em back". NO my friend, that does not answer the question of: "Since many people participate in racial disharmony, should I be connected to, or participate with them in their hatred?" MY answer is NO! What is YOURS! My friend Jeff, who is a part of our group, says that dialogue across racial lines is a good thing; I agree, but even sincere dialogue is just what it is...TALK! Until positive, bridge building action is implemented, talking is futile. It is really not so hard to do; people just need to jump off the train of unforgiveness and stubborness, and make the first move towards freedom.

What kind of freedom are we talking about here? When I was growing up, I was raised in a Southern, white racist society. Because my father was raised in the same environment, he succombed to the typical race bating, and jokes that pervaded our everyday life; it was his peer pressure of the time, but even though he always had the usual prejudiced things to say(like almost every friend and co-worker that he had), I learned that there was something different about him that even he did not fully understand. I often think that my wonderful mother was his stabilizing factor, for she always taught me that I was not better than anyone, and that every person has feelings, that every person feels pain, that every person has a need to be loved, and that I should never mistreat anyone in ANY way, no matter what race they may be. I truly think that this thinking must have rubbed off on my Dad. It was proven to me on a couple of occasions. My Dad was in management for a major airline for over 33 years; on one occasion, a black man, who had worked there for 25 years with a near perfect work record, was left by his wife of over 20 years; she ran off with another man. Well, this employee lost his mind, and went out and got drunk for about 3 days, and did not show up for work. My dad was forced to fire the guy. When he sobered up, he asked for an appointment to see my dad. After explaining what happened, my father fought with upper managent to rehire this man, because he had such a great work record, and he had put in 25+ years of service to the company. Upper management reluctantly gave the man his job back, BUT without any of his seniority. My dad did battle, again,to get the man's seniority reinstated, as well.

On another occasion, we were eating our breakfast at 6am one morning in our nice suburban home, when there was a knock at the door; my dad opened the door to find a young skinny black boy, about 13, standing there in the cold(about 18 degrees). It seems that a white man had dropped him off to throw the newspapers for his route, and never returned to pick him up. "Pleez mista, I won't harm anyone, I just need to come in a get warm," he pleaded. My dad brought him in, and sat him down, and fed him some hot breakfast, and warm milk. My dad never even made warm milk for any of us, but he could see that this young man was in danger for freezing to death! After that, he even gave him a jacket, then took him home, on his way to work.

My dad was a really good man in so many ways, but there was always that peer pressure on him to act like a biggot. The truth is that I know that he was not like that in his heart. Once, when he was in his late seventies he was at a Christmas party at his mostly white church. He was making a racially slanted remark, when he realized that the one black man in his Sunday school class, overheard him. My mother told me later that my dad's heart was broken... with tears in his eyes, he went over to the black man, and begged his forgiveness, and told him that he loved him, and that he was wrong. I really think that Dad meant it, and that he wasn't just ashamed of being "caught".

Many people think that Martin Luther King was "all about" freedom for the Negroes, and the civil rights of African Americans. NOT TOTALLY TRUE! In 1963, it was inevitable that the Civil Rights Bill would be Law, and that integration was coming. What he sought was a much deeper freedom than that! Every man, woman , and child should read MLK's "I HAVE A DREAM" speech. I will quote to you what I consider to be his deepest motive for us all ...ALL of us!

"When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, FREE AT LAST! FREE AT LAST! THANK GOD ALMIGHTY, WE ARE FREE AT LAST!"

For the speech in its entirety, go to http://www.usconstitution.net/dream.html

WILL YOU BE FREE TODAY? FREE YOURSELF FROM HATRED...FREE YOURSELF TO LOVE........aside from the bag of iron chains that will be taken off your shoulders, will come the incredible ability to have a lot more friends, and a lot more......PEACE! PEACE with God, yourself, and your fellow man. I am speaking from my own personal experience!!!

JESUS LOVES THE LITTLE CHILDREN...ALL THE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD.
RED AND YELLOW, BLACK AND WHITE,
THEY ARE PRECIOUS IN HIS SIGHT,
JESUS LOVES THE LITTLE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD!

MEN OF COLOR...PART 2

Balsa Bridge Building Competition

Would you please study the Norman Rockwell print to the right(it is entitled The Golden Rule), and at the same time, pray that God will reveal His will to you concerning race? What will your role be in the building of the bridges of reconciliation between the races? Will you be a bridge builder or a bridge burner?
I have not written in a while, because I have been waiting for the Lord to direct me towards something new to write, and many subjects have been going through my mind, but recently, God has shown me that I am not finished with the race issue. A few of the people that I have been sharing this blog with had loved what I had to say, until I wrote the blog entitled, Men of Color...All Men are Colored. Many people have emailed me or called me, some of them crying, and said that I had hit the nail on the head concerning love and reconcialtion between the races. Others, however, now suddenly have either nothing or no good things to say; I thought..."now that's a little odd." But I think I understand the problem, or maybe problems. You see, habits, of all kinds, are difficult to break, and we, as humans, have gotten into the habit of disliking, resenting, and sometimes dispising other people. for various reasons...either they don't act, look, or smell the way we think that we think they should, or maybe others obviously don't act right(which we should not have to tolerate), or maybe we have gotten into the habit of resenting people because they are different from us; another race perhaps; a "lower" class than us; on and on. I am so thankful that God is merciful, because if not, He would have obliterated me long ago. The problem, spiritually speaking, is that we often don't keep that "for the Grace of God" attitude about us, when we deal with other people. We somehow think that since we are "doing the right thing" in our lives, that there is something better about us than others. This thinking knows no racial barrier; it is a "human" trait. We look for reasons to latch on to this way of thinking, and many times, we hold onto it like a pit bull dog holds a piece of meat. Someone could hit us in the head with a pipe, and we would still rather find reasons to hate, seperate, snub, or any of the negative things that we do to mistreat others, because they are not in our elite club of normality.

OK, so I am irritating some people by talking about these things; my apologies! But...I have a question. When are we going to start living on this Earth together as human brothers and sisters, and realize that we are all in the same boat of life, and we must help each other to be successful humans? Weird isn't it? Here is the deal...Jesus Christ was always there in Heaven for eternity past; He created everything...what does that have to do with the subject at hand??? Here's what...when He created everything, He knew that satan would cause a sin curse to fall on all of mankind; He knew that He(Jesus) would come out of Heaven to be born a man, to live a perfect life, to die on a cruel cross, to rise again from the dead, to ascend back into Heaven, and is coming again for His children who have accepted Him as Savior; He did all of this for all races, and we are all one, one race...yes ALL one race of people... our lineage goes all the way back to the first man Adam, and guess what...so does the human lineage of Jesus; now...most likely, by the scattering of humans by the Great Flood, races as we know it came about because of climatic location. Some hold the belief that the different races of people bagan at the tower of Babel, when God confounded the languages of the people for trying to build a tower to Heaven, and thus, attempting to elevate themselves to God's level. There is much research available to prove that different tribes of humans have different physical characteristics that directly relate to survival in different locales of the Earth, and it seems that the main differences are color related. We are still just what we are...HUMAN!

We are all a bunch of "mixed breeds".
Once upon a time, I raised thoroughbred German Shepherds. I found that in spite of all the work that it takes to breed a pure bred dog, somewhere along the line, someone has mixed things up, and allowed a mixed breed dog to enter the bloodline; it is highly fraudulent, but I know that it has been done, and the fact remains that even the highest quality of pure bred dogs may have a "mut" in the family tree somewhere. An unscrupulous breeder confided in me once of his practice of "throwing" papers on a dog that had given birth to a litter of puppies. He had current papers on a female dog that had died, and the mother of the current litter looked like a German Shepherd, but in fact, was a "mut". She suddenly, on paper, "became" the dog that was deceased.

I often wonder if there are any pure races of people...do you know anyone who claims to be a 100% pure Italian, Frenchman, African, etc.? I think that all of us or at least a majority of us are "muts".

How did we get so mixed up? What about inter-racial marriages?
Maybe God originally planned for man to stay one race; read Numbers 12 in the Old Testament. Moses was condemned, by Miriam and Aaron for marrying an Ethiopian woman, but I can't find where God condemned him for it. I do read in the same chapter that God was angry at Miriam and Aaron for "bad mouthing" Moses, and God even turned Miriam into a leper! I cannot find real confirmation in the Word of God that God has steadfast rules for segregation. It's funny to me that the chiefest of all segregationalist groups, the KKK maintains that Jesus, the Jewish man, was a white man; what version of the Bible do they read? Either way, man managed to get things really mixed up, and the thing that is constant in the Word of God is that God is not willing that any should perish, including Negroes, Whites, Chinese, on and on. I was a member of a church once that over a 40 year period has moved its location 2 different times, for the specific purpose of distancing itself from African-American peoples. The membership simply did not want them in their church, and the second time, they sold their church building to Vietnamese Catholics whom they disliked also...the very odd thing about it is that over the same time period, they supported and still continue to support missionaries to countries all over the world. I suppose that they feel that they must obey God in the great commission in one way, as long as "those" people don't infiltrate their little club. After all, one of their sons or daughters might just fall in love with a black...God forbid!!! You see...we are all, or most of us are the product of an inter-racial marriage; we just refuse to acknowledge it or don't realize it. When our parents married, they thought that they were both white; true they were in a cultural sense of the word, but not in a heritage sense of the word. I asked my mother when I was small, what race I was, and she explained to me that we were French, Indian, and maybe German...we have found out since that it was not German, but English...ohhhh, I get it, these are mostly caucasian races, so that makes me a white man...who knows...I may have a lot of Indian blood in me. Recently, I saw an old photo of a woman that I believe to be my great grandmother...she looks a great deal like an Indian woman. Her husband was a native Frenchman, so if she is Indian,is that an inter-racial marriage, or not? OK, OK...I know you are saying that I have gone crazy, and that I am all mixed up about my theology...etc. NO I am not trying to promote inter-racial marriages. or demote them either. I am simply trying to make people see that we are what we are, and we have become what we are by "the traditions of men". When a man and woman decide that they are going to get married. I believe that God has a criteria that must be followed for that to happen. #1. The two people should be Christians, for the Bible clearly teaches that to do otherwise is to be "un-equally" yoked, and that is wrong. #2. The two people should confer with God personally concerning whom they will marry, and seek His approval(not man's, not a church); this will come from much prayer and supplication, and maybe fasting, to seek the peace from God that passes all understanding. #3. Their purpose for marrying anyone should be to have a marriage that glorifies God; for the initial purpose of raising a family in the fear and admonition of the Lord. #4. Their approach to marriage should only be with a life-long committment in mind...yes"til death do you part". You will notice that I did not mention race in connection with the "un-equally" yoked part...because...hello! two Christian people who follow steps 2,3,&4, might be of different races, so who, besides God has the right to tell them that they are wrong for considering marriage? I know...I have some of you really wound up now, but go back to the beginning of this blog...did you pray, and ask God, as you studied the picture? Who are we to judge anyone? Oh yeah...I have heard the "we can't judge people, but we can be fruit inspectors!" Bull...ony! Jesus said that "you shall know them by their fruits", meaning that we can tell if a person is of God or not, by the righteousness in their lives(or lack of it), like soul winning, righteous living, or walking in Holiness...not some legalistic judgement that we make, based on preferences! You know something? We are all, but for the Grace of God, a bunch of dirty rotten sinners, saved by Grace(if you are saved), and highly capable of the worst, lowest sins that anyone has ever committed, and skin color is not even in the equation.
Here's another strange, but true, story for you...I was a member of another church where there was a white man that had a beautiful Vietnamese wife. I think that he was in the armed forces in the war, and met her over there, and brought her back to the USA, and married her they had two beautiful "mixed breed" children. They were very happy, and all the people in the congregation really seemed to love them. She was very sweet, and also seemed to love God. To my knowledge, no one ever criticized them for being in an inter-racial marriage. In the same church, a story was related to me that a black man came to visit one Sunday with his white, blonde, girlfriend or wife. No one knew if they were married or not, just that they were together. During the song service, one of the deacons went over to the man, and said, "You will have to leave...we don't want your kind in here!" They got up, and walked out.
Do your own research...in the old south, there were plantation owners who forced their slave women to have sex with them, and fathered many, many children, and it was legal. Why do I bring that up...I think that there are many white men today that are angered when they see a white woman with a black man, for the sole reason that this black has one of our women, and they look down on that woman as a piece of trash. I don't mention all of this to anger anyone, but to just tell it like it is, and to help people to see that we are all just people, and we all will be
judged by God one day, irrespective of color. I understand that there are cultural differences to overcome, and maybe in America it has been mostly a black/white issue, and many times, in order for an Oriental person to marry a White, Caucasian person,for example, the differences
in religions already make the "unequally yoked" principle a problem for that type of inter-racial union. That is all I have to say about inter-racial marriages; the bottom line is that each individual must make their own decisons about it, and I don't have the right to make disparaging remarks about them, even if they are out of God's will. If I am asked, I will give my opinion, but I am obligated by God to try to love everyone.
Am I condoning evil deeds done by members of a different race than mine?
I have had white people tell me, over the years, that those blacks are different from us; they are animals; they are a bunch of drug addicts; they have babies right and left; the prisons are full of them; after all, they hate us, too;or the classic one for me is "Just wait, you love them blacks now, but wait until one of them rapes your daughter!" Again here is the deal...we are all sinners; I don't have all of the answers, but doing wrong has nothing to do with skin color; it is a natural inherant behavior for all of us; maybe there are more blacks in the world than whites; I do know that there are certainly many more blacks on the poverty level than whites, and poverty breeds crime many times, but so does the greed that breeds amongst the rich white people of the world who steal millions of dollars, time and time again; Do you think that the Enron scandal is an isolated one? NO, it just happens to be the one where people got caught; the ones that get away with it have not been exposed yet. No, I am not condoning evil or tolerance of wrongful deeds from any race of people, at all. What I am saying here, plain and simple, is that people from every race have the obligation to do what is right, and many do. Part of that "doing right" is to love thy neighbor as thyself.
What is the solution for racial disharmony?
I thought you'd never ask...you thought I'd never get to my point of all of this. What we need is the kind of love that Jesus preached and exemplified to us; loving everyone. What we don;t need more of is the kind of racial disharmony and division that people like Mr. Al Sharpton and Mr. Jesse Jackson promote;every one spewing hatred, just for the love of money, prestige, and power. By the way, of all of the black men on the planet that I know of, the Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson is an awesome man who is giving his life to fulfill the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King; he's not a hater, but he is very outspoken, and stands up to those who promote hatred amongst the races. Go to http://bondinfo.org
I also know of another fine man in the Atlanta area that tells it like it is, and remains a gentleman, and has a sincere desire to see reconciliation between the races; and he is Mr. Herman Cain. Go to http://hermancain.com
I can do nothing about what any other man does or says concerning racial harmony or disharmony, except maybe try to vote him or her out of office at the polls, but I personally can do my part every day to "hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters, all over this land", as the old song "If I Had A Hammer" says. I am doing it, and I will continue to. I am a bridge builder...You can be one, too. Ask God to open doors of opportunity for you to be a bridge builder. Bridges have many parts, and they are almost all structural or important, except maybe for the paint. The abutments, girders, cables, trusses,towers, and the railings, all have a function. Remember that all bridges have some sort of passageway, like a road or rail, to communicate travel. Plan now to be a part of the bridge. God will show you...help someone of another race in some way, every time the occasion arises; I live in an almost all black neighborhood; the occasions arise for me daily. Give a helping hand, an encouraging word, a smile, and...WOW! maybe a hug. And the most important thing that anyone can do is to help someone, anyone, bridge the gap between them and God, by telling them about Jesus. Do yourself a huge favor, don't allow anyone to dictate to you as to how you should feel about other races, and if you need to change, ask God to help you. Since we are made in the image of God, then we are not made to hate anyone.

The Will...whose Will are you in?

THE WILL

A story that was related to me by my late Mom, still, to this day, leaves me a little bewildered.
Her grandmother died when my Mom was very young, and had owned a Rolls Royce automobile, similar to the one in the photo above. In her last will and testament, she left my Mom the car, but since she was too young to drive, the car could not be driven, for the will stipulated that the car could not be sold, and it was to be solely owned by her grand-daughter. Because of this, the once, very expensive automobile, sat there...and sat there...until it literally rotted to the ground. To the car enthusiast, a story like this one is just plain "tragic". The vehicle could have been covered, and cranked and run on a regular basis, and possibly have been saved. Can you imagine a young girl actually owning a car like that, and not being able to use it? At her age, she probably could not comprehend nor appreciate its value. Nevertheless, any piece of machinery that is not used and maintained, will assuredly deteriorate rather quickly. The paint fades, the interior gets moth-eaten, tires dry-rot, the seals in the engine and transmission crystalize, fluids leak out, rust and corrosion take their toll, and what was once a treasure, becomes a worthless piece of junk. I have heard of similar stories like this one before....it seems sad, yet preventable. I don't have all of the details of exactly why this happened, but it seems as though I remember that there was some sort of family feud over the inheritance of the car, so I presume that their way of dealing with the issue was just to not deal with it, so the car just sat, and wasted away.
YOUR WILL

Most people who own things of value will make provisions for their loved ones who may be left behind, for the dispensation of the valuables. In many cases, people die without a will, and the state is left with the job of probating property and valuables amongst the survivors. Some leave no inheritance behind; some leave only a legacy of unpaid bills. Regardless of what is left, what a person leaves to his or her relatives or friends, is something that is usually purposed or "ear-marked" for the heir or designee. It is something tht is designated by the free will of the benefactor. What is your will? It can be easily spelled out in a...will, which means that you "will" certain things to be done after you are gone from this life.

We all have a will...a free will to do pretty much what we want to; especially if we live in a free country. One can hear many people saying "I will do this, or I will do that." When someone places another in a will, most of the time, it is a "free willing" of what they are leaving to someone as an inheritance. Now you may say to me"Where is he going with this little play on the word "will"?" I thought you'd never ask.


GOD'S WILL

God the maker of Heaven and Earth, and all the stars, and planets in the universe, and all that we know, and all that we don't know; HE created...everything. Since He did, that makes Him our Heavenly Father, and He is the benefactor of all mankind; you know, the one who leaves an inheritance to people in a will, the will to do something, like give us things that we did not earn, a gift that He owned to begin with, and that because He loves us, He wants us to have both while on this Earth, and in the hereafter. The "things" that I am talking about are not material, necessarily, but are necessarily Spiritual, and we will discuss what this means, next. Jesus said,"Lay not up for yourselves treasure on Earth, where moth and rust corrupt, and thieves break in and steal, but rather, lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where moth and rust doth not corrupt, and neither do thieves break in steal." There is an inheritance that God left to us, when He died...when He died??? What does that mean? Jesus, the man, God incarnate, laid down His life, as the supreme sacrifice, so that we can have an eternal inheritance in Heaven, forever! If a person simply both believes, and accepts this truth, he or she can have assurance of this eternal home away from home, for this world, as we know it, is truly NOT our home. Every person has a choice; either to live with God in Heaven forever, or not; eternally seperated from God.

THERE'S MORE

Not only that, God has provided through His Spirit, a way to live in power and strength from on High, and we are not required to be sad, meager, and weak people; we need to believe that He wants to be a part of our human existence here on this Earth, while we are passing through. So.... I am going to let you decide for yourself what this means; I am providing some Bible verses here to help you see some of what God has promised us. As you read, I challenge you to find other verses in God's Word that prove out this philosophy. Just consider that story of the Rolls Royce, or any other gift or tool that is allowed to sit and fade away; first, one must realize that he or she has the gift, and then..."If you don't use it, you may lose it...or worse, you may never realize that you ever had it!!"

Mt 16:19 -
And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Mt 18:14 -
Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
Mr 1:17 -
And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.
Mr 14:36 - And He said, Abba, Father, things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt
Lu 11:2 -
And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
Joh 6:39 -
And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day
Joh 6:40 -
And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Joh 14:14 -
If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
Joh 14:23 -
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him
Joh 14:26 -
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Joh 16:13 -
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come
Joh 16:23 -
And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
Acts 26 Read This Chapter
26:15
And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
26:16
But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;
26:17
Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,
26:18
To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
26:19
Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:
Ephesians 1 Read This Chapter
1:10
That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
1:11
In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
1:12
That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
1:13
In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
1:14
Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
1:18
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

Come In God!

Many are familiar with this painting, based on the scripture from Revelation 3:20, where Jesus says, "Yea, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in and sup with him, and he with me."

I think that establishing in one's mind exactly who Jesus is, according to the Bible is the first step in coming to God. Don't take it from me, don't take it from some religion, don't ask man, ask God. In His word, God makes extensive and continuous promises to us about those who seek. "Seek, and you shall find, knock, and the door will be opened"...So...if we ask Him, He promises to give the answer; it may not come exactly when or how we perceive it to be, but it WILL come. He has shown me...I believe that Jesus IS God, so many years ago, I asked Him into my heart...He came, He saved my soul...and since that time, I have been in and out of fellowship with Him. Being IN is better, so I keep re-opening the door; He is always standing there, waiting to come in. Although I do believe that initially, I was saved, and my name was written in the Lamb's book of Life. I have, from time to time lost my appreciation of whose I am, and who gave His life to save me.

When you are sitting in your home, and you hear a knock at the door, and you know who it is, and if the door is unlocked, then you say..."Come on in!"

• Do you hear the knock at the door?
• Do you know who He is?
• Is the door of your heart unlocked?
• Are you asking Him to come in?

Into my heart... into my heart...come into my heart...Lord Jesus.

Come in today

Come in to stay

Come into my heart

Lord Jesus

Alone With God...God Alone

ALONE WITH GOD

As I stood on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, gazing at this scene, I had an experience that will never be forgotten. Rushing into my senses was the incredible, immeasurable, power and presence of God, and His universe, a part of which I realized and comtemplated my "smallness"and seemingly insignificance. The next few entries on this blogsite will deal with experiencing the presence of God, and how we may teach ourselves how to return to that private place that He has kept reserved for us.


Getting alone with God is something that many don't understand, and because of that, they don't pursue the experience. There are others that don't "know" God, so getting alone with Him would be completely foreign to them. Then there are those who are so hungry just to experience a few moments of solitude in the presence of the God of the universe; the creator of all things. In the Bible, Collossians says that (in regard to Jesus) that by Him, and for Him, all things were created. To me, this substantiates the fact that Jesus, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit of God, were for eternity past in Heaven("let us create man in our own image"), and that Jesus came out of Heaven to become a man who laid his life down as a sacrifice for our sin.
Regardless of your concept of God, it is the desire of this writer to help all understand that God is real; He loves us; He wants to spend time with us; since He is always there, then where did we go? Most of the time, it is away from the presence of God, for we are human, and easily distracted by the things of this life, like practically everything that we do. So what is the answer? How do we get into that intimate, one on one, "alone-ness" with God? Think about it.


Notice what I just said...think about it...that's it! You see, our mind is directly connected to our spirit, and when we think on certain things, that is where our spirit goes. The Bible says," As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." So our first step to getting alone with God is to think about Him. When a man calls his lover, who he has not seen for a while, one of the first things he says to her is,"Honey, I have been thinking about you, or I have not been able to take my mind off of you." The same type of principle is true concerning God. It does help if we know Him, or have some sort of knowledge of how much He loves us, and when we fall in love with God, we seem to want more of Him in our lives. But we get off track, we lose focus, we get distracted, we forget who we really belong to. When we begin to think about God, and think often, He begins to DO things in our lives, and unless we are in tune with him, we miss it.

So think about God as often as you can; try it. I go to these awesomely beautiful places, and I am immediately reminded of how wonderful, and vast God really is. But we can obtain His presence by simply just asking Him to come in, and habitually thinking about Him; He will take care of the rest. Remember...God Alone=Alone with God=God Alone. Next time we will discuss the topic entitled "Come In God!!"

p.s. We ARE NOT insignificant to God!

IMAGINE Part II

IMAGINE THERE IS A HEAVEN!!!




I love to whistle; I sometimes think that I can whistle almost as well as I can play the trumpet. Sometimes I catch my self whistling tunes that I don't even realize what I am doing; I just hear the tune, and I whistle along. My brother in the Lord, "Catfish", heard me one day at work whistling along to the John Lennon song Imagine, and told me that he did not think that I should be whistling that song. this prompted me to go to the internet and look up the history of the song.

BAD LYRICS

I was really shocked at what I saw; "imagine there's no Heaven, no hell below???" This is not a Beatles bashing blog, but I need to say this. I could never in my wildest dreams imagine that there's NO heaven; I am sad that there really is a hell below, but for the Chistian, hell may as well not exist, except for one reason; that reason is to explain the reality of hell to those who don't know, so that they can go to a very real Heaven.
The song goes on to say that "you may say I am a dreamer". NO..I will say that to imagine that there is no Heaven is a nightmare! Please Lord, let me wake up in Heaven, and thank you Jesus! I am now whistling "When we all get to Heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be, when we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory!"

IMAGINE

As I said in "Imagine" January 16, just imagine what it will be like to have the "King of the Universe take you in His arms like that." This could be a dream come true for you who read this; would you like that? Imagine the reality of it. Ask Jesus into your heart today and then, it will no longer be a dream.

FILL IN THE BLANKS (put you name, along with your heart, in the blanks)

"For God so loved __________, that He gave His only begotten Son, that if ___________
believeth,_________ shall not perish, but have everlasting life."

Who is this Jesus?

Who is this Jesus???

By Larry Wiseman

So just who is this Jesus that so many people talk about? Some say He was the son of God, some say He was a prophet; others say that He was the son of man, or even just a man, while still more say that He did not exist, more say that they don’t know or care who He is or was, and there are those who say that He was simply a joke. Many say and many pray and wait for His eventual coming again, but there is one thing for sure…almost no one can say that they’ve never heard of Him, no matter who He may be. Some use the name of Jesus Christ to swear with, and others, instead of swearing, pledge an allegiance of faith and servitude to a King that they have never seen.
Multitudes of people “think” they know who Jesus is, and millions are certain that they know exactly who He was and is. Some force their explanations of Jesus to conform to their own innovations and imaginations, while others use the Word of God to prove their case. There are several versions of God’s Word, and most of them agree who Jesus was and is; some versions have been written for the sole purpose of convincing others to believe in a certain doctrine or belief system.
So as you read this, what is your conclusion as to who Jesus Christ really is? Will you turn to the Bible, some theologian, your own belief system, some other person’s belief system? If you ask for help, you will be flooded with hundreds of well meaning people who seemingly know that they have the answer. Logically speaking, some will be wrong, some will be accurate and correct, while others will have a strange mixture of truth and fable. Question: If there is a real Jesus who has any power at all, especially if He is God Himself , don’t you think that He would want an individual that is seeking Him to know who He is? So who do you believe??? It has been said that everyone believes in something, even if it is oneself. So many people claim to have the answer, and he or she can usually be extremely scholastic in explaining where they derived their version of the truth from. Many will be extremely correct, but how do YOU decide? Is it possible that one can find the truth without being a “bookworm” or a great student?
Spirits
Remember this…one day, you may realize that if God exists, that he has a Spirit who is capable of conveying any message that He wants to come forth. Spirit of this, and spirit of that…Spirit of America, Spirit of St. Louis, Spirit of God, Spirit of man…on and on…who can we really trust? In a debate over any issue, the person who wins is the one who is the most convincing; the one who seems to be the most believable! Depending on the circumstances, it is possible that, given the right resources, along with the power of influence, that most people might be convinced of anything. Just look at the “kool-aid” drinkers in the Jonestown massacre. It is a good thing that “you can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all the people all of the time.”
So who is this Jesus? Do you know, or do you just think that you know? Is the Earth round or is it flat? Who convinced you of anything, and how were you persuaded to know it for a fact? There really is only one source to know who Jesus is. Men have the answers, given in God’s Word, but you may say “I am tired of depending on men, and I don’t even believe the Bible!” Many share your sentiments, so if you were ever to be convinced of the reality of God, the Bible, or Jesus, what would it take to convince you? If you were asked who you are, would you say that you “know” who you are…certainly, based solely on your own consciousness. Well then, Jesus should know who He is then, right? So let’s just ask Him, but where is He? You will notice that I have yet to give you a reference to convince you of my personal beliefs…personally I do believe that the Word of God is a real, living Word, unlike any book ever written, but let’s pretend that I am unable to convince you of this.
The only way that you will EVER know who Jesus is, even if you are a staunch atheist, or an agnostic, is to ask God. You don’t believe in God? Well, ask Him anyway! “How silly,” you say. Well, if you ask Him, and He doe not exist, then this non-existent God will never answer you, right? On the other hand, if there is a real God, who created the entire universe, and all that exists, then He certainly is capable of giving you an answer as to who Jesus is; it may not be an answer as you humanly perceive that it should be. But since (or if) God is really God, then He can show you things that cannot be denied, so be prepared for a life changing experience, once you begin to seek who Jesus may be. Which brings me to my dare…I personally dare anyone to really, sincerely ask God if He exists, and to show you who Jesus is, You may say that you have asked, and NO answer came…I dare you, once again, to keep on asking…what do you have to lose? You may be pleasantly surprised at what you have to gain. If and when God comes to you, like I know He will, then ask Him to guide you to the right people for growth and guidance. Larry Wiseman



Why did I write the preceding article?

During a recent prayer time, I felt lead by the Holy Spirit to think through the process of the article that you have just read. I believe the there are several categories, if you will, of people in this world some of which can be classified as spiritual, some not so spiritual, some not spiritual at all, and others who would like to be spiritual, but for one reason or another, are not willing to surrender or commit to anything that causes them to lose control of his or her life. People who love God are happy about it, and love Him, and can’t seem to get enough of experiencing God in their life. There are others who only have God in their lives when they need Him, still others wish at times that they did not know anything about God, because He represents the guilt and conviction of the sin in their lives.
There is still another very large group of people in this world that do not know God, and are sick and tired of “religious” people who either force Christianity on others, or they are sick and tired of seeing people claim to be Christians, and not walk the talk. In a strange way, I respect this group, for they somehow understand how a decent Christian person ought to act, and are honestly disillusioned and disappointed, when they see the failures of Christians. “Who is this Jesus?” is not meant to denigrate the importance of truth or the Word of God, but, in fact, a message to all… that without the power of the Holy Spirit, no one can understand what God is all about. Christians should stand ready to “give an answer to all men”, “study to show thyself approved”, so that when God’s Spirit does work in a non-Christian’s life, we can be used of God to “feed His Sheep”. We must remember that we do not do the saving; we must allow God to do His work, and simply be His tools for ministry.