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Onward Christian Soldiers

Posted on by A Seasoned Sage

Over the centuries during times of significant revival in the Christian church, the universal truths of God’s message to His creation have come under scrutiny, especially by unbelievers and many other skeptics. One of the questions we often hear is…”If God is real, if He is really omnipotent, then why is there still so much war, why are so many people victimized and injured by others, after all the universal advancements of mankind ?”

History tells us that mankind has always experienced wars and millions of human beings have suffered throughout history. Humanism (i.e. a belief system based on the principle that people’s spiritual and emotional needs can be satisfied without following a god or religion) declares that mankind should be able to solve this dilemma without supernatural influence. They say, all that men should have to do is choose to love their neighbors as themselves and all will be well; i.e. human kindness is the answer! After all if you are a rational person, you wouldn’t want to cause harm to another human being. Is that even possible? It hasn’t seemed to have worked thus far! If you believe Darwinian theory that mankind evolved from lower life forms, and that all social issues should be addressed by the rational mind, then I suppose you would find no merit in the Biblical record.

I believe the Bible records God’s word to mankind, His plan and purposes and holds the answers to the question. We discover why we still have wars and why so many people suffer. Genesis records the story of the creation of mankind and tells us that man was given free will by his creator. God prepared a wonderful place for man and planted him there with the power to choose. God commanded man…”you must not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:17 NIV). Man chose to listen to the voice of the serpent (aka the devil)…”You will not surely die, the serpent said, for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God…(Genesis 3:4,5 NIV). Man chose to disobey God’s command and the consequence was that man separated himself from his Creator, from his protection. Sin entered human existence and the consequences have been disagreements and conflicts between peoples, families, tribes, communities, nations; all manner of groups of mankind. It’s in the fabric of our being, despite how we might like to think of ourselves. We have brought it upon ourselves, and no amount of human intervention is going to bring an end to conflicts and wars. The book of Revelation alerts us that wars will not cease until the end of the age, till God establishes the new heaven and the new earth (see Revelation 21).

The good news is that God has provided the way to restore mankind to Himself. That message is… “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NIV). Once we accept Christ for who He is, we can become filled and guided by the Holy Spirit. Then we put on the armor of God and become equipped to join God’s army. We then fight the good fight!

ENCOURAGEMENT

Posted on by A Seasoned Sage

I was walking my dog this morning …

And some thoughts occurred to me about living in today’s society at the age I am presently, 78 by calendar years. Perhaps you can relate to these thoughts!

The current culture in the United States of America is counter to what I was taught from a very young age to emulate in my own life. Many people, some would say most people, living in our country no longer adhere to the values of their forebears, let alone the forefathers of this democratic republic. Truth is no longer revered as a guiding principle. Individually our grandchildren are being taught societal aspects of life that are so embedded in lies that they become confused. In their confusion, they seek escapes and many turn to drugs and other addictions as crutches upon which to lean. Parents abrogate their roles in order to seek pleasure for themselves, because they are taught by mass media that they are entitled to the good life. We are after all the most technologically advanced nation that ever existed and shouldn’t we reap the benefits of all these “wonderful” discoveries? But at what price do we pursue the American Dream?  I think it all boils down to priorities!

Family life, good relationships between children and parents, grandparents is no longer the foundational principle it had been for decades, centuries. Family units have historically been the core instructional source of cultures. Ponder for a few minutes how you learned to relate to others, how you discerned right from wrong, and good from evil! Nowadays children receive most of their instruction from sources outside the family, primarily from teachers in their schools, many of whom now see their own roles perhaps less enthusiastically than in previous years. Schooling is necessary for acquisition of knowledge, and knowledge is necessary to equip people for moving forward in society. But isn’t the more important aspect of living how we learn to relate to others?  I am convinced that the best instructional book ever written pertaining to relationships is the Holy Bible! For it tells of the most important relationship any man can have, a personal relationship with His creator! It is the ultimate source of all answers to all of life’s questions. Many people today view the Bible as merely a literary work, fraught with errors and not of much value. I propose that In order to glean answers to life’s questions (and there certainly are many), one must first have a relationship with God, the Creator of all mankind. Portions of Holy Scripture were recorded millennia ago, but the message contained is as relevant to us today as it has been to our forebears.  The Bible is the ultimate guidebook for all mankind-there is no other “literature” in all that has been written by man that even compares.

The Bible tells the story of God’s relationship with mankind and His unending love for man throughout time. It says that despite man’s desire to be equal to God, the choice he made contrary to God’s admonitions, when tempted by God’s adversary the devil, resulted in man’s separation from God. But God didn’t abandon mankind! He provided a pathway to reconciliation and restoration.  Jesus Christ by His sacrifice of Himself, His death and resurrection, provides that pathway to every believer. The Bible says if we seek God’s forgiveness for our wrongdoing and believe in Jesus Christ as that pathway to redemption of our souls, He does the rest through His grace. But there is more offered to believers than redemption alone. For Jesus Christ told His disciples that He would send the Holy Spirit to guide His followers into all truth. That same Holy Spirit is really the author of the Holy Scriptures.  He guided men to write down what they experienced through their senses and the thoughts they had in their lifetimes.   When we read the Bible empowered by the Spirit of God, we find that it speaks to our souls and any former confusion is dispelled.

In the current environment we are being barraged by many competing voices. We are being deluded into believing that:

  1. God is dead or doesn’t exist; otherwise we wouldn’t be experiencing all these natural disasters
  2. Men are genuinely good and thus well-meaning no matter how they act or what they say
  3. There is no such thing as evil, Satan or demons
  4. Science has all the answers, can heal all our diseases given enough time and money
  5. Our government is obligated to provide for our well-being especially for healthcare, food and shelter, and for all the downtrodden who seek asylum in our nation
  6.  We must not judge the behavior of others, especially if it causes us no harm

If we allow ourselves to place merit in these errant philosophies, we might become confused, discouraged, depressed and finally lose hope and give up.  I believe God is our only real source of love and hope. One thing my eight decades of living has taught me is God has established certain Absolutes, and those Absolutes have defined what God’s will is for mankind. The Bible describes sinful and unholy practices and behavior as contrary to His will, and describes ramifications for such. The attitude by many that these rules of behavior no longer apply does not make it so! I believe God is presently very grieved by the gross self-centeredness and outright expressions of rebellion so evident in our country. We are on the verge of anarchy and self-destruction as One Nation Under God.  

Every Christian needs the guidance afforded by God through His Word and the Holy Spirit in order to live their lives in a way pleasing to God. Absent this guidance we become like ships without a rudder, tossed about by every wind of doctrine that comes our way. The Bible alerts us that in the “last days” many will fall away from faith in Jesus Christ.

  • 1 Timothy 4:1-3 says: 1The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron
  • 2 Timothy 3:1-5 says: 1But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
  • 2 Peter 3:3 says: 3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.

Please read the Bible and chew on the passages contained therein. And then instruct your children and share with others your testimony!

PRAYER FOR OUR NATION

Posted on by A Seasoned Sage

This interesting prayer was given in Kansas, USA, at the opening session of their Senate. Itseems prayer still upsets some people.When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities,but this is what they heard:

“Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says: “Woe to those who call evil good”, but that is exactly what we have done.* We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.* We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it Pluralism.* We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism.* We have endorsed perversion and called it alternative lifestyle.* We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.* We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.* We have killed our unborn and called it choice.* We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.* We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.* We have abused power and called it politics.* We have embezzled public funds and called it essential expenses.* We have institutionalized bribery and called it sweets of office.* We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition.*We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.* We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh GOD, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Amen!”

The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest. In 6 short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India, Africa and Korea. With the LORD’S help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and WHOLEHEARTEDLY become our desire so that we again can be called “ONE NATION UNDER GOD.”

Where is the source of your Strength?

Posted on by A Seasoned Sage

Life can be really hard at times, REALLY HARD! And when experiencing those times, what do you do, where do you turn? As a follower of Christ I have learned over many years, including days of hardship of one sort or another, that…

God alone is the only reliable source of strength for ones’ mental, emotional and physical well-being!

As a young believer, I thought absolute obedience to the commandments of God were essential to living a fulfilled life. As I aged and experienced more difficulties, many of my own making, I gained an attitude towards God that wasn’t helpful; I began to perceive God as a demanding master who was intent on exacting flesh from me throughout my life! And if I were fortunate enough at the end of my life, I might find myself at His judgement seat pleading for His mercy! There was a constant voice in my mind repeating …”you’ll never be good enough” and “you are a worthless creature”. I tried so hard to become the best I could possibly be, much in what I believed was my own strength. But I failed time and time again to become superman!

One day when I had come to the end of my strength, I recalled a single passage of scripture that I must have heard a hundred times …”For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 KJV). Once I acknowledged my failings, my sinful nature and my self reliance, and yielded my life to God that day, my attitude towards life began to change substantially. I had a spiritual awakening and began to read the Bible and was enlightened by what I read in the scriptures. I recognized truths in God’s word previously unknown to me, and my hunger for more insight grew. I began to apply the principles conveyed in the Bible, and especially in Christ’s teaching, to the way I was living and my relationships, especially as a husband, father, and employee.

Some years later, I saw a  painting depicting the poem “Footprints in the sand“, the famous poem that goes like this:

“One night I had a dream…

I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord, and
Across the sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; One belonged to me, and the other to the Lord. When the last scene of my life flashed before us, I looked back at the footprints in the sand. I noticed that many times along the path of my life, There was only one set of footprints.

I also noticed that it happened at the very lowest
and saddest times in my life
This really bothered me, and I questioned the Lord about it.
“Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you,
You would walk with me all the way;
But I have noticed that during the
most troublesome times in my life,
There is only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why in times when I
needed you the most, you should leave me.

The Lord replied, “My precious, precious
child. I love you, and I would never,
never leave you during your times of
trial and suffering.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you.”

From then on, the truth has always impressed me; it is only BY God’s grace that we can do any good thing, and thus become persons whose lives are pleasing to Him! Since discovering this truth, I have experienced many additional emotional and physical hardships, which have at times threatened to undo me. But surviving each such period, my faith and dependency on God has increased. God’s word does not promise Christians an easy life, but He does promise to never leave us or forsake us. Like St Paul I can now say…

“…I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38,39)

May God make it so for you as well!

 

HAVE WE TAKEN APOSTASY TOO FAR?

Image posted on by A Seasoned Sage

I recently read a book written by Jonathan Cahn called “The Paradigm”. Previously I had been reading 1Kings and 2Kings in the Bible, specifically the account of Ahab, his wife Jezebel, and their sons Ahaziah and Joram recorded in 1Kings 16:29 through 2Kings 10. In all biblical history, that royal family did more to accelerate the destruction of ancient Israel by their apostasy than any other leaders before them. They desecrated the long held beliefs that the nation of Israel had come into being by the power of their monotheistic God alone, for God had promised to Moses…”Then the LORD said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants” (Exodus 33:1 NIV). God’s oath came with the following instructions and cautions which are recorded in Exodus 34:

10 Then the LORD said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you. 11 Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 12 Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. 13 Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. 14 Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. 15 “Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. 16 And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same. 17 “Do not make any idols.

During the reign of the house of Ahab, the kingdom of Israel, was permitted to worship Baal and Asherah, foreign gods, for whom places of worship and shrines were then established; despite such practices being specifically prohibited by God’s commandments (i.e. apostasy). Before you read The Paradigm, here is some historical background that might be helpful.

Jezebel was a princess of the ruling family of the Phoenicians, a coastal nation north of ancient land of Israel, the area of present day Lebanon. It’s likely Ahab wished to make an alliance with the Phoenicians by the marriage But Jezebel most likely worshipped Baal and Asherah from and early age. Ahab married Jezebel, and …”He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the LORD, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him.” (1 Kings 16:32-33)

The worship of Baal, and it’s horrific practice of the sacrifice of children on Baal’s altars, led to a willful disregard for the sanctity of human life as created in the image of God. Today abortion is considered many an equal practice and therefore abhorrent to God.

Asherah, worshipped as the goddess of fertility by Phoenicians and many other middle eastern nations, with its’ exhibition of of sensual and erotic idols and acts, clearly led to moral decay an eventual disregard for the sancitity of marriage. Similarly the unchecked progression of pornography so blatantly portrayed in movies, videos, TV has done the same for our nation.

The Paradigm, a followup to The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn written a few years earlier, draws the parallels between ancient Israel and the United States of America, which had itself evolved by the providence of God to become the greatest nation on earth. However the past 50 years have demonstrated a similar path of decay in our value system, especially to those conservative Christians who have taken note of such things and are anxious of where it might lead for future generations. For abortion (i.e. child killing) has become sanctioned, marriage has become gender neutral (no longer between one man and one woman), and sexual perversion (pornography protected by free speech) has led to everyone doing whatever they want and people including children becoming confused about their own God created sexuality.

We have wandered far afield of the foundational values that brought this nation into becoming the greatest nation to ever exist. Cahn is indeed on to something, and personally I am hopeful it’s not too late for those who call themselves Christians to join in the battle against principalities, powers and demons. We must become involved everywhere we live, in our churches, places of work, wherever we find ourselves! It’s not too late to CHANGE AND TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT! For God has promised:

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.(2 Chronicles 7:14)

AMEN!

ANXIETY ANTIDOTE

Image posted on by A Seasoned Sage

Has your life encountered periods of turmoil? Just when you feel reasonably settled and are prone to think “all is right with my world” , then BOOM a bomb seems to explode and your peaceful world is rocked! Like when a doctor tells you that perhaps you have cancer, or you receive word that a loved one has died, or you discover you owe a large bill you never knew you were even responsible for, or any other crisis you encounter in the routine course of living! For many of us, it doesn’t take much to disrupt our peace that can lead to anxiety. Or perhaps like so many we live in a constant state of anxiety; our lives feel out of control all the time.

We live in a REAL WORLD and it is full of EVIL – it surrounds us and threatens to engulf us! This world is full of pain and suffering and most of us are touched by that most days of our lives some way or other!  Most of us experience some level of anxiety many times in our lives. How we get there is not as important as how we deal with it when it occurs.

Fear, which is a stronger sensation is a synonym for  anxiety.  Most of us are aware when we are struck by FEAR; we know how that feels from a very early age. Most people are taught to hide their fears; mostly true for men. If we expose our fears, we are often counseled to face them, especially if they are deemed illogical or arising out of some trauma we may have already experienced.  Some fears can be a good thing!  If fear is founded in contemplation of a negative outcome to our choices, our actions (i.e. eternal separation from God if we don’t get right with God), that can be a good thing. For the Bible says “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”.  And it is certain that wisdom dictates that we make the right choice in regard to eternity while we still have breath. So, fear when properly dealt with, can be a helpful emotion to guide us along a good path and we would be foolish to try to ignore all the fears we encounter in during the routine process of living.

Anxiety, a less intense version of FEAR, is defined as “a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome”.  Anxiety can obscure itself pretty well in our psyche, especially if we are trained to “handle” our feelings in our own strength, which can lead to an insensitivity in our lives.  This often manifests itself in a lack of care for our fellow -man and self-centeredness (concerned solely with one’s own desires, needs, or interests). And that can lead to an unhealthy way of living, and might result in mental or physical illness. We have all seen examples of this trend in our present world unless we have chosen to do our best to ignore reality! After 9/11 and all the “live” news that has been broadcast regarding terrorism which has become widespread throughout the world, the more frequent senseless acts of  evil being perpetrated daily, the dissension between our two political parties which seems to be paving the way towards anarchy, and the obvious changes taking place so rapidly, it’s no surprise that most Americans feel unease despite the relative “security” of our rule of law and balanced system of government! Reports of the tremendous escalation in the rate of suicide especially among the youth, the increase in the widespread use of mind altering drugs and pain killers, the trend towards legalization suicide among the aged; all are symptoms of the increase in hopelessness that pervades our society.  Isn’t it clear all these trends are the result of oppressive anxiety?

If you are a Christian, as I am, and worship an almighty, all-powerful God, shouldn’t you have expectations of a life of peace and tranquility, a life free of anxiety? Of course you should, because that is one of the promises God has made to His called children. However, that is not a promise He has said He will fulfill in this present world. But that is what our present world promotes as our due, even in many “Christian” circles. We are lulled into thinking that because we have committed our lives to Christ that we are therefore deserving of an enchanted life. Many are prone to think that they deserve a better life than what we actually have. We often make plans of how life should play out for us and then do our very best to assure that those plans come to pass. When our plans are disrupted by circumstances beyond our control, we then find ourselves getting angry and anxious! When I have stubbornly pushed forward with my self made “plans” (the product of my self-will) and despite my abilities to hurdle “obstacles”,  I have always experienced undesirable consequences. I have brought more pain and suffering on myself. It has taken me many years to learn that God loves me so much that He will not allow me to destroy my own life. When things have gone awry , I often resorted to blaming others for the results of my actions. However I have learned to pray and sought God’s truth in recent years, and He has revealed that most often I have brought trouble, suffering, pain upon myself by my desires to be my own independent person. God wants to be Lord of my life and to submit MY WILL to Him. It is He who has a plan for my life, no matter what age I am. When I have sought HIS WILL and yielded MY WILL to HIS WILL in obedience, and regardless of the difficulty in doing so many times, the outcome has always been favorable. And the anxiety that was so constantly present within has subsided substantially. I have not, nor do I expect to reach perfection in this mortal frame, but how I live my life today is much better than how I have lived for seven decades. I try to live by one of my favorite scriptures:

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He will direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3;5-6)

And one of my favorite hymns is

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.

  • Refrain:
    Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
    To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey

I cannot find in the Bible any passage where God promised us a life exempt from suffering. However, God has prescribed  a way for us to live free of the kind of anxiety that almost always accompanies physical and emotional suffering and can eventually oppress our spirit. We have to first recognize that there is a spiritual warfare going on in each of our souls and the enemy of ALL our spiritual struggles is the same today as has been for millennia; be aware that Satan is alive and active. He is a defeated foe but seeks to rob all believers of the life God wishes them to have in preparation of eternity. We live in a fallen world and though we have been redeemed by the sacrifice of God’s Son, we are called to do battle against the spiritual foes of our lives. If we choose to ignore this reality, we can become ineffective as soldiers of the cross that we are called to be, the light shining on the hill, the salt of the earth. We are not called to live lives of passivity like lame ducks just living out our tenure as mortals. We are called to put on the armor of God and do battle against the arch enemy of our Lord and consequently the arch enemy of our own souls! So, how do we have victory over anxiety especially the oppressive anxiety that can plague every one of us day to day? I suggest that the first step is to seek the TRUTH in God’s word; read it, study it and pray for wisdom to see the TRUTH. You will not be disappointed! In His final hours, Jesus prayed to His Father (and ours) for His disciples:

“I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17;14-17 NIV)

REMEMBER THESE TRUTHS AND THE ONES GOD’S HOLY SPIRIT WILL REVEAL TO YOU IN THE COMING DAYS, WEEKS, MONTHS, YEARS AS YOU SEEK HIM IN HIS WORD! FOR HE CHANGES NOT AND HIS WORD IS TRUTH!

 

FAITH

Image posted on by A Seasoned Sage

What does the word faith elicit in your mind ?  The definition of faith is…” confidence or trust in a person or thing”. Perhaps we should ask ourselves again, in whom do we trust? Is it our President, our boss, our parent, some other family member, or perhaps some other champion of our lives. Children today are influenced by video games and what they view on TV. They begin to believe in spider man, batman, superman, or a number of fantasy characters; sometimes so much so that when they grow they cannot distinguish fantasy from reality and become confused. Parents naturally want to protect their children from the hard realities but allow those same children to become absorbed in video games that merely desensitize  children to reality. Many become disillusioned by reality when they have to face it, and life becomes bitter. We are all prone to lose hope that the future will be any better. Day after day, the news today is depressing, negative beyond imagination. As a nation, as a world community, we all live in a time of anxiety, full of multitude uncertainties. We witness acts of evil all over the world, and become anxious that such things could happen in our town, possibly even next door. We are reminded of our own mortality and wonder about how our own life might end, about our relationship with God. We silently ask ourselves …”Am I responsible for my own life and actions? Am I going to be held to account for what I have done, what I have thought? Is there a judgement?” When we think that our soul (most of us realize we have one of those) might go on into eternity, more questions…” Does the soul really separate from the body at physical death  and where does it go? Is my soul going where it might be better or worse than existence in this body on this earth? Is there really a heaven and hell?” Most of us have had these thoughts in one form or another as we mature, and many of us have become anxious as a result of these real questions. How can we become settled, at peace, as we confront these very basic issues to all of mankind? In whom can we place our trust? Perhaps now is a time to ask yourself a crucial question; what DO I believe? In whom do I have trust? I believe what a person believes and in whom each one of us places our FAITH makes a crucial difference with regard to eternity and this is universally true for all of mankind.

Most people have some system of beliefs on which they pattern their own lives. We naturally seek to emulate role models. We learn how to live from the examples of others, mothers and fathers, grandparents, pastors, teachers, mentors generally older than us, and presumably possessing greater wisdom. The influence of these role models shapes much of how we develop and who we become as adults. And some of our behavior, psychologists say, are manifestations of our subconscious mind, due to retained memories which may have been locked there for long periods of time, perhaps experiences we had from childhood which have unknowingly shaped who we have become. We learn so much from the particular society, culture, surroundings in which we exist. We adapt to our environment through our senses; touch, smell, taste, hearing, seeing. Our experiences tend to modify our basic understanding, our belief system, for the better or worse. For example if we live with a negative person long enough we often find it rubs off on us. If we are trained in deceptive business practices when newly in business, we might see it as normal and acceptable; it’s the way of the world. We believe in right and wrong because somehow that has been built into us. But the differences between right and wrong sometimes become indistinct; the area between them becomes grey, no longer black and white, and we adapt by what we adopt in our mind. We learn so much by our life experience, often far more than we learn from what we are taught; true to the old adage ..”Experience is the best teacher”. What part does faith play in our belief system and what is the measure and substance of that faith? 

Throughout much of my life I have wrestled with these questions.  After years of regretting the experiences of my childhood,  I became grateful for the beginnings I had!  The family that parented me and the circumstances in which I was born were by no means perfect, or even agreeable to me at the time. But despite all the struggles, actually because of all the difficulties, I began to believe that my existence is not an accident, it had been planned by my Creator all along.  I asked myself the questions posed above and sought real answers. How did this change come about? God did the work out of His great love for me; He gave me the gift of faith.

I believe God’s spirit is implanted within each one of us human beings from the moment we are created in our mother’s womb. I had the good fortune and privilege of being born into a Christian family in the United States of America. I am grateful for the freedom I have as an American to believe as I do and worship as I please.  I was baptized in a Christian church when an infant and know God honored that in my life. I was taught about God from an early age in Sunday school and much of what I heard, saw and read was retained in my mind. When I came of age to make decisions for my self, I put aside much of what I was taught, and pursued my own destiny. I was determined to make something of myself, until disaster struck. But then God in His benevolence revealed the truth of his word to me; …”For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). I realized in those moments that I was on a self defeating path to destroying everything I had worked towards because I was following my thoughts and had set my own will accordingly. I confessed that I was indeed a sinner for I was ashamed and convicted of the way I had conducted my life to that point. And I knew I could not fix myself. I accepted Christ as MY Lord and Savior, God as my spiritual Father, and invited the Holy Spirit to become operative in my life. That day, over 43 years ago, I became a person of faith. God has remained steadfastly present in my life ever since, even though I have repeatedly strayed from Him.  I am continually reminded of His promises expressed through His son …”I will never leave you nor forsake you”.  That truth has been certainly borne out in my life. The Bible says …”Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 KJV). In WHOM do you have faith?

“Faith of our fathers, faith and prayer shall win all nations unto thee; And through the truth that comes from God, mankind shall then indeed be free.

Faith of our fathers, holy faith! We will be true to thee till death.”

AMEN

TESTIMONY

Posted on by A Seasoned Sage

My motivation for writing this blog is to relate towards of my testimony to a larger audience. The reason I do this is because I believe with all my heart it is what God’s will for me to do at this time in my life. I am hopeful that these words and the following words will have an influence in a good way on the readers’ lives. I realized that when an individual attempts to share testimony about their own lives it is essential that they search their own hearts to assure that the words that they speak or write our truthful. I testify that I have done that, and you will have to choose whether or not to believe what I write. My inspiration for taking my time and sharing these words with the reader, is I believe from the Holy Spirit. I have personally experienced reading documents and word phrases that were only half truths. Thus I am cautious to guard my words and write only those words that can be supported and validated by words of Holy Scripture. For me, I am referring to the Holy Bible which has been preserved through the ages as the accepted word of God. I am not a Bible teacher, although I have taught from the Bible, but that has not been my training. I have been self educated by spending many hours of my life searching the Bible for answers to questions I have had about the purpose of my own existence, and in order to find direction for my own life. I have been mentored by people who have themselves been more theologically trained. So these words in this blog are all I have to offer the reader. I hope you will find them helpful!