Becoming A Smarter Christian by Adam J. Capps - HTML preview

Becoming A Smarter Christian

Adam Jeremy Capps

Becoming A Smarter Christian

2023, Adam Jeremy Capps

A Public Domain Book

Spiritually Evolving Beyond The Lower Instincts

There are those that live more spiritually than others. There are those highly spiritual. There are those highly physical. The physical side is very demanding, but most natural. The spiritual side takes practice, but is emotionally rewarding. It is a practice in things like patience and self control. A person who has anger problems but fights them may take ten years to alleviate them, but most likely will with time and focus. The more physically sided person just goes where their “body mind” takes them.

A person can either live by a “body mind” or exist through a spiritual mind. Indeed some are spiritually impoverished. There are different kinds of intelligences like spiritual ones and regular ones. Physical intelligence is not really intelligence, it’s just instincts. You could say that some people are more spiritually smart than others. You could certainly say that some are more spiritually developed than others. As for developing your spiritual nature, Christianity is the best way to do it.

Why Christianity?

1– It teaches us to be better people. It teaches us to love. It teaches us to care for each other. It disciplines us. It guides us into better ways.

2– It is better for the world. It wants peaceful answers. It guides against drugs. It removes hedonism from society and favors spiritual things.

3– It gives us hope. It brings our heart unto Heaven. It lets us know that things will work out in the end. It lets us know that we are all in God’s hands.

4– It is true. In his time, Jesus said that the whole world will come to know him. Then in just a little time the whole known world did and that would only continue outward.

5– It is philanthropic. It teaches us to help the suffering. It teaches us to care about the homeless. It teaches us to care about society and the people in it.

Why God’s Wisdom Is So Important

Without God’s wisdom things cannot be kept together. When people turn away from spirituality and begin to live off of physical instincts the world is like a zoo. The people in the world are like animals. They only care about pleasure. Things are easily taken personally by these people. They glorify their own life and their own presence to the extinct that they consider themselves gods. The world is only about them. They are just as selfish as can be. So it’s no wonder why bad things come from it. Having God in society comes in two ways. The first is having His wisdom and the second is having Him with us. They are always asking where God is in all of this and that. Why would He allow this and that to happen? That is blaming Him for our own faults. Society has endlessly blasphemed Him and rejected Him through and through so the answer to that is: we have forced Him out of our society. God removes the protection and help from those who do not worship Him. He certainly does from those who hate Him.

We need His wisdom because it is the perfect wisdom. It is the wisdom we need to keep things together. The Holy Bible contains lessons on the best way of living. It guides us into all good things. Without it we are doomed. So that is the importance of scripture and that people know and practice it.  

What It’s Like Being Homeless

Homeless people become used to going to garbage cans for their food. Sometimes they are lucky. A person threw something good away that they barely ate. The person who put it there may have even left it for any homeless person that would come by it. More often they put the food on the top away from the garbage. Sometimes people leave them food in a bag outside of a grocery store, and God bless them. They never really know what they are going to eat on any given day. Getting cold drinks is difficult and the homeless normally just drink from a fountain. If they have to, they'll take from a pool of water. Fast food places may at least give them small cups of cold water.

The rain makes you miserable if you are homeless. The businesses don’t have roofs overhead where the homeless can get some relief. The sky overhead could look suspiciously like it is going to rain. You try to rest anyway without worrying about it. Then you wake up soaked in water. If you don’t have a tarp to go under then you’ll just get more wet. Your socks get soaked in water, too. A business is likely to kick you out even if you need it to keep dry. If you have an umbrella all you can do is sit straight with it above you and wait for the rain to go away.

Nothing is taken for granted. Not two AA batteries for your pocket radio. Not a lighter. Not a notebook and pen. Not a nice drink or candy bar. Those batteries could be about to go dead and you just know that you are going to have to do more begging to get a new set.

The temperature difference is greater. It is hard to keep a blanket too. Sometimes your blanket gets wet. When it is cold in a home it is very cold out on the streets. If you are not well dressed then you just sort of roll up in a ball and suffer. I saw a guy that made a paper blanket from a newspaper. I saw another who rolled paper around his arms and legs to sort of make clothes from it, stuffing it into his chest and back area too.

You get lice. If you do, then your pain will double. It becomes so bad that you see them on the outside of your clothing. You feel them bite if you remain motionless for even a few minutes. They are always biting. You are scratching until you bleed.

They don’t let you close your eyes anywhere. That is sleeping and you are likely to get kicked out or forced to go somewhere else if you do. You don’t always know where you can sleep. The police will often have you move elsewhere. “Camp” areas are bad places to be. They are full of drug users and human traffickers. They are full of crazy and harmful people. Shelters are in bad neighborhoods and take a long time to get you in. You are given a number and one by one you enter. There is a long line for that. Shelters kind of make no sense. That is, if you can just sleep on a bench then why not do that and save yourself the trouble.

Places that give you things can kind of be rude about it.

It is always a good moment when they receive even a little money, a good meal, a blanket maybe, or things that most people don’t consider such as a pocket radio with batteries. With just a little imagination you could think of just the right things to give these poor people.

Is It God’s Wrath?

The world has become a wicked place. Some nations, particularly, and mine, certainly so. Fast food places have spoiled people. Things like “we are here for you, have everything your way (just give us your money),” have spoiled us. The customer is always right has  become the customer has every right. They’ve made people gluttonous. I once went to a fast food place where a homeless person was asking those who were leaving for a little food (maybe a hamburger that was just a few dollars?) that had the police called on him. They told the police “they ruin it for everyone,” as though the homeless guy was no one. These people are lucky to have a hundred pennies to give to the cashier who laughs at them and turns them away. I am in San Francisco and can see how the divide between the lower class and the middle class is broad enough. The first is lucky to have a few dollars. The second just randomly spends that couple of dollars like it isn’t worth anything. A couple dollars? They have a few hundred of those. Then the divide between the lower and upper class is far more drastic.

So goes the news: people are trashing these places. They are looting from them. They come in in large groups to steal from them. They even trash them. They don’t hurt a person in doing so, almost never. To be honest it reminds me of how Jesus upturned the money tables and declared: “It is written, ‘My house shall be called the house of prayer,’ but ye have made it a den of thieves.”  Jesus has always rocked the foundation and has sent bad things tumbling down. People care more about their materialism and fast food than they do about God. Jesus ripped open the very curtain of the Temple after he was crucified.

God will send down idolatrous things. So I believe that these sorts of things are a part of God’s wrath. I don’t feel bad for them. I only feel bad for the employees and God bless them for being responsible and hard working people. I pray for their safety in fact. While they have rows upon rows of products that have been geared towards products of gluttony, vanity, excess, drunkenness, gambling, smoking, and all the other sinfully enticing things, I can’t imagine that God likes its presence. Especially because of just how bad the homeless have it right outside its doors. Don’t be among those doing these things though. That would only get you into trouble.

The Greatness of The Holy Bible

There is nothing to compare it to. The Holy Bible teaches us things that no other book possibly can. It was built around the very wisdom of God. It was given to us of His creation to learn and grow from. It gives us moral sensibilities. It shows us when virtue is virtue and when sin is sin. It beckons to a philanthropic race over those of tyranny. It provides us hope. It provides us light in the darkness. It is a book that was written over many centuries. What other book can possibly say that? That it took so long to complete? It is a book that led to an enormous amount of other books. In many cases those largely fashioned after the New Testament which in book size could be called a small book. That book led to countless others to be written. That is the power of The Holy Bible.

The Holy Bible led to so many different religions each providing their own interpretation on how the Holy Bible should be applied. It is a powerful book whether it is used by the right hands or not. It has proven itself right over all the years. People continue to preach it, whether in magnificent Churches or on the corner of a street. People continue to write books that teach it. People still sing songs that came from it, hymns that are over a hundred years old. People are still building Churches and gathering others to learn from this little book known as The Holy Bible and if that isn't God’s Word then I don’t know what is!

Pleasing God Over Pleasing Others

We have one Father (God.) It is never wrong to do what God would have us do over what others would have you do, especially if those others would have you sin. We please God through faith. Only faith pleases God. We trust in Him. We trust in the truth of The Bible. Jesus was the very model of truth. We model ourselves after him. We seek to live with as little sin as possible. We seek to live as good and holy and righteous as we can.  The world would take these away from us. It is The Devil’s World, for now, and for now there is a lot in our way. More than ever in fact, there are things that would keep us from our potential. We should either ignore or oppose those things in God’s name.

Jesus Christ is our shepherd. We are lost without him. All are lost without him. Without him there is no eternal life for us. Jesus entered the very grave to save those that were before him (on earth) to save those that would have remained damned. He saves those that continue to believe in him. He is our shepherd and through the gospel we know what he wants from us and what to do with our lives. It is easily understood, it is easily learned, and so we do.

We do not fashion our lives after any bad entity. We do not model ourselves after bad people. We do not model ourselves after villains as so many are doing today. We rather model ourselves after the Holy Son of God. It may make us outcasts. Out casts are often the best of Christian people however. We do not seek our own kingdom on earth by any means. We seek that perfect home made for us in Heaven which we will someday inhabit. As the Holy Bible teaches us we so do, without letting any human vice get in the way of that!

Here is a verse that teaches us to place Jesus above all others:

34 “Don’t think that I came to send peace on the earth. I didn’t come to send peace, but a sword. 35 For I came to set a man at odds against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 A man’s foes will be those of his own household. (Micah 7:6) 37 He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me. 38 He who doesn’t take his cross and follow after me isn’t worthy of me. 39 He who seeks his life will lose it; and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.

Matthew 10:34-39 World English Bible

Being Humble & Without Greed

In today’s world, glamor has become a staple in the lives of people and its purpose. Their purpose is to get rich. They do so through entertainment mediums wanting some fame with their wealth. Christians do not build their lives around the meaning of riches and fame. More and more we are likely to see preachers donned with gold. Be sure that God is after those kinds of preachers. They only use the Bible to serve them up for monetary gain. They are liars. You can see that they only care about money and it should be obvious enough. Through TV they have large auditoriums making untold sums of money. We should see these people for who they are. Their intentions come from greed.

More and more I hear of people who pray in greedy ways. To them, God is a means to get great things. After all, the Bible says they can have whatever they want. They think so anyway. The Bible says “you cannot serve God and Mammon.” Mammon means money. The Bible doesn’t say so literally that “money is the root of all evil.” That is a commonly distorted passage. What it actually says is that “money is the root of many evils.” There is a difference between all and “many.” What it means then is that people will do all sorts of bad things for money. It motivates people to do bad things sometimes. We can have money and have what we need. If we are poor then it isn’t our place to give to the poor. The whole purpose of giving to the poor is to make things better for them. God loves the poor but He wants better things for them. He doesn’t want them to remain poor.

When we pray we should be humble. There is such a thing of being too humble though. We shouldn’t make ourselves weak. We should be confident, reserved, but confident. We should know God for who He is: our loving Father. That over some being who just does not care for us. He does, He certainly does. So we should find the right amount of humility towards God, being in awe of Him, faithful, regarding Him as more important than any earthly thing!

Taking The Good With The Bad

You can be the best off person and yet see wrong in your life. Some have lives that others would greatly envy yet those same people could take a small matter and magnify it greatly. It helps to keep that in mind. You may have it a little bit bad but compared to so many others you are in fact quite blessed. Nothing can be made perfect. I learned that the hard way. For many years I went from home to home over such small issues. I learned to accept that no place I moved to would be perfect. God’s room for me in Heaven, that’s perfect!

I imagine that some places might take a lot of work to adjust to. Some circumstances might call on you to work at it to make them better. So you either flee the problem or come to know it and bring yourself to fix it. Due to my disability I am given a bus card that gives me free fare. When it expired I got a new one. So I used that new one. It didn’t work and I gave up. I gave up super quickly on that one. Then for the following 6 months I just paid my own way. I must have put over a hundred dollars into it. Three dollars a ride. It is kind of cumbersome to get to the front and pay by the way. The driver often makes you feel like you are annoying him or her and even tells you to just go to the back. Anyways, I started thinking that someday my life might depend on having that card. If I was homeless again or had an important place to go across town but didn't have any money, for example. So I decided to try and get it fixed. You know what happened? I was on the phone for five minutes. My old card was quickly transferred over to my new card. They said it was fixed and I hung up. I was still a little doubtful but the next time I used my card it said “travel okay, pass used.” That made me so happy and if I had known the solution was just a five minute call I would have done it half a year ago.

I am glad I was able to put in a little of my own money though. Lots of people get on board without ever paying. Lots of people get tickets too. You never know when the police are going to board and check for tickets. I’ve seen lots of people getting tickets that way too.

The Harder Aspects of Being Christian

I admit I felt like I had a tough choice yesterday. While riding down in the bus I saw a homeless man in front of a trash can getting food from it. I had a bag of fast food in my hands. I felt like I should have gotten off the bus to give it to the guy. I didn’t. I took it home to enjoy it for the five minutes it took to eat. In the long run that was a bad decision. I only say it at all to say the truth. Heaven would have smiled down on me if I had done things the way I should have.

We are told to turn the other cheek. We are told to forgive. We are told to even love our enemies. These are harder things to follow. Some Christians are Christians of convenience and would think “God would never want me to allow another to hit me.” The New Testament says so however and it is there in black and white.

We are not entirely able to be asexual: to never be sexual people in any way. That’s impossible. We must have self restraint however and are capable of reducing our urges a great deal. We can at least say then that we are not perverts. Because of that restraint we don’t become sexually abusive. If we are going to do those things then we should get married. Under marriage it is okay. That doesn't mean to marry for that sake alone however. That would be a mistake.

The spiritual way is often the difficult way. That is until you train yourself spiritually and adapt it the right amount. The spiritual way entails things like self discipline and self control. The natural way comes.. Most naturally. That is the power behind it. It exists without rules. It is an autopilot thing. Building your spiritual side however can take a lot of work. That work is worth it in every way, however. You are more of a person after that, you become a person with a soul!

Comparing Christian Families To Non Christian Families

You often see Christian families living in better homes and keeping things together better. They maintain a sense of morality and discipline within their families. Their voices do not hurl out curse words. The children in these families are taught important things which to a more atheistic person has no basis in reality. The atheist kind of people do not have a guide to life as the Christian does. Whatever thing they would learn must be invented by them or obtain it through typical psychology. The problem is that Christian psychology is greater. It always was and it will always be. Besides, the atheist has no basis behind what they would apply (it doesn’t come from God but from speculation.. The speculation of overly smart people.) Books on psychology in fact are often made by lofty headed people who have no real experience or no real wisdom to offer.

You can find the Christian generation going by much better. They are made up of pillars in their community. Christians are not strange and weird as how bad people may depict us to be. So often it is the grotesque that thinks so. Christians are at least a little better at not drinking if they have not kept it out of their lives entirely. What is an atheist to do but to act only on their own will? Christians keep dirty things out of their homes. We are not animals. We are God’s children. We are clean people who keep both our homes and minds clean through our spiritual practice. We discipline our children. We don’t abuse them, but we discipline them. We are made into ideal parents by God and we pass that on to our children who hopefully pass it on to theirs.

The Art Of Self Reservation

With a little work everyday we can hope to gain greater control over our feelings and ourselves. In time then we will grow to maturity. Those who let their feelings have the only say, that let their feelings rule over them, will grow badly. Those that work on themselves will fare better in the world.

Building up perspectives helps. Helpful perspectives help. Those that give you a better understanding of others which in turn keeps you at ease, are good perspectives to have. Things like this: “maybe they had a hard day,” “they are that way to everyone (nothing personal),” “could have ended worse,” and “they don’t have any real power over me.” The goal is to have as many helpful perspectives you can instead of using bad perspectives. Try to go against any hateful perspective, for sure. Don’t even use hate in your mind nor have hateful things to say about another in your mind. Instead, be gentle with others, even in your own mind. Believe me, it does a lot of good.

If you have gotten good at ignoring rude people then that is a great talent you have. If you have cut down on your anger to where it only seldom occurs then you have gained something great. If you can control your tongue then that too is great. I recommend not using curse words whether within your mind or around others. They always carry anger with them. You don’t so much say in anger “you dumb person!” as you do “you (curse word)!

Live to fight another day, look at it like that. It is better we keep ourselves out of fights and possibly dangerous circumstances.

Make an enemy into a friend. It is easier than you think. People usually don’t want to hold grudges with another and would usually rather keep things peaceful in their lives. Sometimes you have to apologize. Sometimes you have to take the high road and make up for it. Unless you did something very bad to them there should be no problem setting things right. If they refuse to let things be better then they are not good people to be around.

Forgive. With the power that you forgive comes God’s forgiveness over you. The more you forgive the more God will forgive you. Do not be that sort of “God’s wrath” Christian. Wrath belongs to God. If He is going to avenge it is not as a favor, but His desire.

Remove yourself if you can. If you are in a group where people are rude to you then you should find some other place to socialize. A moment outside home can go bad but at least you have a room to go (or a place to go to) where you cannot be bothered.

Then sometimes you just have to deal with a bully the hard way. It is either that or to continue to be slammed by them. If you make them more polite towards others in the process then you have helped others too.

When Bad Is Good And When Good Is Bad

That’s like a Robin Hood thing. It is like a war waged by philanthropists. It is like a real war to end tyranny. It is a fight for human rights. God wasn’t joking around when He had David kill Goliath. After all, Goliath wanted to enslave His people. God would wage war for a good and Holy cause. The verse “live by the sword, die by the sword” shouldn’t be omitted from that however. The Bible describes peace at any cost in the verses of Matthew 10:34-39 as was shown earlier. When we do God’s Will it may not be well received by people but is still the things we should do, without changing The Bible. There are people in today’s time that have infiltrated the Church to spread their own agenda. Just by doing so they are mocking us.

We may not have the message that people want to hear but that message stays the same. For too long and for too often Christianity has been bent to fit into people’s beliefs instead of people putting themselves into it as it was meant to be. With how things are, The Church cannot help but be a radical thing in today’s time.

Some would regard lobsters as the cockroaches of the sea. Their meat reminds me of something more insect than fish. The people in the old Bible would have thought the same and would have been appalled by them. But people eat them up like a delicacy. Sometimes bad things are taken very well.

Modern American Society

Tougher laws: that is what we need. Laws bad to the bone. Stricter laws against blatant theft and abuse towards others. Laws that say you better not. Laws that say if you do there will be hell to pay. Hell to give them to, if they refuse peace. If they refuse to even be decent and responsible, there should be tough punishment awaiting them. When you think about modern American society what comes to mind? When you think of a grocery store a dozen people with bags comes to mind. You think ‘a few days ago the place was destroyed.’ It was ravaged with everything busted up. These are the kinds of thoughts that come to mind. A mass murderer was here, another one there.

It is too bad that we cannot imagine a peaceful place instead. One where others are not bickering. One where others aren’t slandering one another. One where our people are not so incredibly childish. Crime all over the place. People here genuinely think and act like fools and clowns.

Just close your mind for a moment. Let’s pretend. Let’s imagine a peaceful street. No “noise” of bad things anywhere. Where people pass by each other with complete peace everywhere. No one has this drama in their hearts. We just get by in life in an ordinary way. There is nothing particularly bad on the news and we do not see any horrible thing on the horizon. It is just an ordinary peaceful life for everyone. They can count on going to the store and going to school without any problem to possibly happen. People are not yelling at each other. Life is just as peaceful as can be.

But then open your eyes and see reality!

Always Be Well Dressed And Prepared For God’s Return

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:33 KJV

All important things will be added to you. Our priorities must be set right. If we can make up for past wrongs then that will look well on us. If we could help just a few homeless people then that too is great. It does count to help even just one person. A bag of fast food may seem small to you but it is not a small matter for these people. God will not forget the work you have done on Earth.

For God is not unrighteous, so as to forget your work and the labor of love which you showed toward his name, in that you served the saints, and still do serve them.

Hebrews 6:10 WEB

If we are doing good works in the world and that day comes when we return to Heaven– or that very day when God returns to earth– then we will thank the heavens on that day and the heavens will thank us. God wants the peaceful. God wants the faithful. He wants the righteous. He wants the pure and He wants the Holy on His earth and in His kingdom. Do you feel that you fit in? Do you feel you can do better? If you are saved then that is all that is required.

16 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

You are saved by believing in Jesus Christ, by inviting him into your heart, and by believing he died on the cross for your sins.

The Bible teaches us however that the reward for some will be greater than for others. To take upon yourself the Name of Christ despite being despised for it, is one such case.

11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding  glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the  prophets which were before you.

Matthew 5:11-12 KJV

After all, God has made rulers over us on Earth. He has appointed a greater destiny for some. Some are as great as to be His elect. Some are the Saints. Some are those that did all they could to help others in life and it is those who deserve greater things in the life to come. While those who had many things but would not lift a finger for another, even a beggar at their door, will be punished for it. “They’ve gotten their reward already,” as the Bible says.

In any case, do these things for God, not for the attention of other human beings. You are not serving your pride, you are not seeking greatness among people, but are serving God when you do good.

Having Christian Honor And Honoring The Holy

I have been around others that have tried to use Christianity against me. They must see us as hypocrites or something. They must want it from us to hold it against us. There are also Christians that would use their own religion against other Christians. The never-sin kind. The kind that preach exclusively against sin and judge others that way, the standards they’d project are too high. What gets me though are those people who expect me to forgive them “because I am a Christian and I have to.” Then they just turn around and do something bad to me again. I don’t give them what they’d expect. I feel I am in the right not to. Maybe it is like what Jesus said: don’t throw your pearls to the swine.

Here’s one, and it is all too common:

I had a friend I was living with at one time. He wrecked the home he rented. He spent his money on crack over rent. He would always do this. He would trash up a place and not pay. Every place he inhabited came to be full of his bull dog’s feces, with roaches in an overstuffed and broken down refrigerator. I was there before it got so bad. There was a note on the table meant for his landlord. It said things about forgiving him in Jesus' name for not paying the rent, so he could stay longer. The guy didn’t care at all about Christianity. I left and came back later and by that time there was crap everywhere, a dog chained up in the yard (that was too mad to ever approach again, so left to die.) And roaches all over the place.

The world may not agree with what we say. They may hate a lot about the Bible and what it says in fact. We have to keep teaching it verbatim however. Then they will either side with us or not. Then they may lash out at us or not. But we at least kept the truth with us which is an honorable thing. Why would fitting ourselves into their philosophy be good apart by getting more into the religion or church (the wrong way?) If we change what the Bible says, if we add or take from it, The Bible says we are damned.

18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: 19 and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Revelation 22:18-19 KJV.

We cannot operate a corrupted Church. We can not allow its corruption. Its corruption comes when people would change it according to their culture or worldly ideology. They would enter and take it over. They are like The Devil taking it from us.

Christianity is not honorable among wicked people. It never was. It never fit well with them. It goes against things like their pleasure seeking and objectives of material things. It does not situate bad people where they would like to exist and rule. It takes that from them. It poses itself as an enemy to the wicked. Worldly people as such do not like Christians. It has always been that way. So let's treat things like they’ve never changed and continue to dare teach the gospel for what it is.

May God Bless Your Life (A Prayer For All Of Us)

May God protect us and our loved ones.

May God keep us safe from harm in this troublesome world.

May God keep us and guide us into His kingdom despite our sins.

May Jesus reside forever in our hearts.

May we have all that we need and be prepared for hard times.

May our lives be saved when danger comes near us.

May we be guided into safer places.

Let us seek righteous lives. Let us keep our morality intact.

May we love one another and never treat anyone poorly.

May we have the wisdom we need to do well in life.

May we be kept from starvation, suffering, pain, and death.

May we grow strong in The LORD.

May each day serve us well in serving the LORD.

Give us the knowledge, God, to do better in the world.

May we grow to maturity and not grow to do harm.

Let our love and care for others grow every day.

Please keep evil things away from us God.

Have Your angels watch over us.

Be with us the entire way in life keeping us with you,

And may Your shepherd be our guiding light forevermore,

Amen.

I also pray that:

The world gets better. That these problems of ours are fixed, quelled. As much as can be, even into God’s kingdom appearing. That is if that is what it takes, then surely we would desire it. We want your Kingdom and an end to our curse, LORD God.

Please remember the good in us. Please forgive us of our sins. Please know what is in our hearts. Please turn our hearts away from bad things. May we come to acknowledge you in full and await your return with every bit of happiness. Amen.

We Must Keep In Mind That People Are Not Perfect

17 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? 18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

Mark 10:17-18 KJV

None are righteous – Romans 3:9-20.

We are all sinners. Jesus said on the cross “forgive them, for they know not what they do.” We might only have an inkling of what a person is about. For all we know they might have a lot of evil in their heart. They could have a second life we know nothing about. The very preacher of a Church is still a human being. I knew a catholic lady once that said she agrees with all of Catholicism but not that they have you confess to another human being. She believes that confession should be towards God, not a person.

Everyone has at least one vice. Whether it is tobacco, alcohol, gambling, drugs, sex, anger issues, emotional issues, or whatever else. Jesus told us not to judge and said “let he who is without sin throw the first stone.” He also said to remove your own problems before you try to remove them from others. When we follow after one another we are just the blind leading the blind. Only the shepherd Jesus Christ can lead us the right way. He was the only one to have lived without sin.

We shouldn’t put human figures above us. They are no different than the human pharisees of Jesus’ time. It is one thing to teach the bible and another to use it to make yourself out as greater than others. Many would even take on the identity of Jesus Christ himself. They make themselves out as the perfect guide, a great leader, one who cannot be defied, one whose purpose it is to rule over other Christians. That is a highly dangerous thing.

What’s worse than that is a person already in power (power greater than anything the Church could have) and throws around the Bible to their benefit. That’s like Donald Trump in today’s time. Did you know that some pray to the guy? I am not making that up. Some pray to Donald Trump. The guy wants power, cannot admit defeat, and takes risks on things like gathering the people together in ways that would establish him as a ruler over everyone. He knows to cross the line just enough to possibly bring that about (have him be our king.) Via riots, loyalty, and disturbances. He knows if he outright tells us his wishes that it won’t favor him. Like others before him he claims to come in peace. He positions himself as the only solution while growing his followers in power and numbers. Hopefully he fails, or else I am talking against a dictator.

Let Children Be Children

There is no more precious thing on all of earth. They are sacred in God’s eyes. It is not their time to learn the tough lessons of Christianity. They should not be deprived of things that would make them happy. If they are brought happiness in their childhood then they will not grow up as well. So birthday parties are important. So are holidays, even Halloween. I was raised by a seriously Christian father but he did not keep those things from us. We went on vacations together. When I was 8 years old we went to a summer bible camp. Otherwise, things of rivers, lakes, and mountains. Sometimes just to a nearby city that had a theme park and other neat things.

My mother took me to rent a video game and get some snacks every weekend. I think the games had a better influence on me than the crowds would have. In fact a lot of poor lifestyles stem from groups. Christianity says that “wisdom is justified by her children.” If I was always hungry, lived in rags, never had any fun, always having a serious life, I am sure I would have grown to be a miserable person.

Yet I loved the Bible and what it said. I could have both, and did. I had a joyful childhood and joyfully read the Bible in fact. It became more serious for me when I got older. Wouldn’t say “serious” so much as “relevant.” I have grown up. I actually don’t even like amusement parks anymore. When I was a kid my parents just sat at a bench when we were on the roller coaster and those things. I couldn't imagine why at the time. You just lose a lot of interest when you grow up. I took to reading the Bible and practicing it, nonetheless.

At the time however, even a pocket radio brought me a lot of joy. So bring happiness to your children. It is the only time in their life when they can truly have it.

  When It’s The Right Or Wrong Thing To do

Christians are taught not to sue. Even if we do it should certainly not be for multi million dollar gains. That is bad for the world overall. It destroys a business which may have just made a mistake, maybe had only been the fault of one or a few. These days the police are often sued for such sums: millions upon millions.

We are taught to be good samaritans. If someone needs help and there is no one around that will, then the Christian thing to do is to help them.

Sometimes we must stand up for what is right. We should defend those who are bullied or “selectively mistreated.” When we can, we should make a better life for others. If they are unable to help themselves then we should help them. We should fight on the side of good for those who are being oppressed or are not well off. As greatly as Oskar Schindler did!

We cannot copy people when they are doing bad things. Many these days would have anarchy. They’d even find humor in breaking into stores and stealing everything inside as though it’s their newfound right. They feel all the more enabled because of the large amount of other people doing it. We cannot join in on that behavior.

Sometimes we have to confess the truth. Some of us will have done something bad and may have to make an account of it. Saving ourselves trouble, as they probably know very well it was us, the only good thing we can do is admit to it. Sometimes we have to admit to our faults or mistakes instead of hiding from them and blaming others (as Adam and Eve did.)

I had a friend that would always be handing out the money he earned. I tried to convince him that he should keep it for himself. Not one of anyone else would try to tell him to. They’d rather have eagerly taken from him on those days he was paid. I wouldn’t take money from him however, not feeling it was right to do so. The guy would hand out twenty dollar bills to everyone. Looking at his room, there is nothing in it, yet he is a hard and dedicated worker.

Sometimes the right choice is the more difficult one. It may put us on the spot or not serve us well, but, with our faith in God, we know it is what we should do.

The High Road

(Being a better person, being fair, finding solutions not born of anger, and so on.)

I only complain if my complaint is true and necessary. There are so many “speak to the manager” people these days which would lash out at fast food workers over trivial things. They thirst for blood. They want the worker fired over some silly thing like there wasn’t enough ketchup on their hamburgers. If I need something to change then I don’t tell the person I am going to complain about them as though I am wanting to threaten them with it. I go to the people I need to personally to do so but only if the problem is bad and I can’t fix it personally. I do all I can to fix it personally. I have a loud neighbor. He yells just across from my wall. I found that some white noise machines take away all of the sound he makes. I have two of them. They have a “fan sound” setting which is much better than a literal “white noise” sound. It is a sound you never have to focus on. They work well as “sound insulation,” and the problems are solved!

On the other hand I had a neighbor from hell when I first moved in here. It was a nightmare, no joke. She would bang on her walls, she got to where she would pound on my door at random times. She would curse and yell. She was unpredictable with it. She’d throw things at my door. She scared me! She was someone I had to complain about. Others also put in complaints about her. It took a few months before they evicted her over it. One day I heard them asking her if she knew what the eviction process was like. That gave me a little hope, hope for a more peaceful home. Then a month later they posted an eviction sign on her door. They changed the locks as I could hear a drill. Then she was gone. You know what though? I didn’t hate her for it. I had some sympathy for her. She must be fighting against a lot of demons, maybe even literally. I hope it's better for her. I hope she found a new home. But it was just not something I could live with without being scared and keeping my sanity.

A person that takes the high road will avoid fights. They will be as polite as they need to. They will be diplomatic. They’ll handle their problems with others in a more rational and less emotional way. You could otherwise call it a destructive road when it is that a person would rather act on anger and force their desires on others in aggressive ways. The person who takes the high road looks for more peaceful solutions.

13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Matthew 7:13-14 KJV.

The More Difficult Road

People naturally want the easier way in life. Therefore, there are far more that take the easier way in life than those that choose the more difficult route. What is the difficult road for a Christian? Let me describe what the easier road is before I answer that:

The easier way is the more natural way. It is living guided by pleasure/pain. Pleasure very often equates to sin. Their lifestyle is founded on sinful living. It guides them. It is an easy guide. Not a good one at all, but easy to hear and easy to follow. Their objectives are built around finding the next best pleasurable thing. They also let their emotions out to roam freely in their lives. They live by natural means.

They seek greater power in order to appease their pride and ego. They want to be the greater animal. They want the highest esteem over them. For the sake of that they also want the most money. They want as many pleasurable material things surrounding them as possible. They want to be famous too. They want pleasure, power, wealth, fame, and anything that increases their pride. By these they are guided.

The more difficult road can be called the spiritual one. There is a lot more to be said about it. It is far more complex than just living the natural way.

The easy way would have you keep all of your money for yourself. The more Christian way is to give. A Christian isn’t expected to make him or herself poor. A Christian always should, however, sacrifice at least a little of their money and be happy with giving. For me it is a commitment to mail out gifts to my family, especially for the children of my family such as my nieces and nephews. I spend a good amount of them and am always happy to go to UPS with my boxes of stuff to send over.

The spiritual road is about self improvement. It is about self denial at times. It is about building upon self control. It is about learning virtues and values and being guided by them. It is about having honor. It is about being a more responsible person. It is about some self restraint when it is called for. It is about learning things such as patience. We do these things because we know that God wants them for us and that they are the things that lead to a true life and a better person. Not just one better person but when collectively brought together in such a way, a much better society comes from it,

So it is about working on yourself instead of “working” yourself into pleasure. It is being guided by higher things and higher powers. It is about finding a soul within yourself and going beyond the physical. It can take a lot of work sometimes but that work is made up of things that give us life. It is a powerful road to be on. It gives us power beyond power. It gives us a spirit which in turn gives us a soul. It feeds our spirit into our soul, you could say. It is food for our soul over food for our flesh.

So be happy when you have a hard choice before you. Take it as an opportunity to truly grow and truly become stronger. Spiritual strength is true strength. That is where the people who would climb mountains climb.

Christian Creativity

We have lots of tools these days. Where I most benefit from is book creation and publication sites. We have quality printers that are cheap to come by. With those we can print out just about any Christian thing we would: little books, pamphlets, stickers, cards. I see a lot of these things being sold online (like Christian cards.) I buy some of them to include in my snail mail. They don’t even add to postage costs. Bookmarks too. Those with scripture on them and sometimes with cool designs. When it is Easter we can send loved ones Christian cards with things such as Christian stickers within them. My aunt sent me a booklet about Heaven. I see people on the street preaching sometimes and while they do there is another who hands out pamphlets.

Some have gone as far as making software based on The Holy Bible. Whether it serves to translate things more exactly, or to reference another thing, to search for anything, giving us cross scripture, or other things, they go far beyond what any plain book can do when attempting the same thing.

We have all the information and knowledge we need to create a number of things. We have websites that could make them for us. We have tools to do them ourselves. We might make a Christian book for children or a thing of Christian philosophy. Then we may find the exact Bible we want. We can be picky these days. I like the compact hardcover kind. A little smaller than a normal bible, thinner than a normal bible, and hardcover, without being too small. I am also fond of the World English Bible (WEB) translation.

Maybe you are into music and want to make hymns. Notation software is a good place to start after you’ve learned to read music. Those are easy to find free and will lay out just what your music will sound like without fiddling with the keyboard. However, it is a simple form of notation that can be easily played on a musical keyboard. When done you could publish the sheet music and share it online. As for other books there are a lot of different topics. Most often commentary but not limited to that. If you invest enough time into it you could design a special Bible. One with commentary for example.

You could print out Biblical imagery and frame it. You can print out scripture with images and frame those. You could use a digital picture frame to do the same thing better.

You could buy a keyboard and learn it well. You could even get to the point where you can play in a Church. Believe me though, that would take a lot of commitment from anyone.

Christian Things You Can Buy

Best of all are the books available on Christianity. They range from self help to a better understanding. They include daily devotionals and daily scripture. There is the famous Strong’s Concordance. It shows you where you may find a certain word anywhere in the Bible and provides a translation of that word. Then of course there are Bibles you can buy and you can find just the right one for yourself. As for me, I use all translations at once when I really want to get into the meat of it. Books of our history too and the early days of Chrisitanity are quite fascinating. In any case we can all admit that sometimes we need help for understanding the Holy Bible better.

As I mentioned, I buy things like little scripture cards and bookmarks to mail out to those whom I write.

There are Christian cross necklaces. There is nothing wrong with buying an expensive gold cross to wear (it is not any sort of sin to show one off.) Unless you are a preacher that uses their tithes towards those things. A bling preacher is not a person of God. A person that takes the money they worked for to buy one is just showing their pride and value towards Christianity.

There are digital bibles. Those are neat. They bring up any word you type in. Some are better than others. You would probably want that in a way that another might want an MP3 player or pocket radio. Meaning that a smartphone could do it, but you just find it neat to do the same thing a different way. There are audio bibles. There are DVDs and things to learn from.

There are also biblical paintings new and old. Catholic candles are a neat thing. They burn for days and days. I have even known a person that had a Christian stained glass window on his door. Two other cool things I’ve seen were a necklace which had the Lord’s Prayer in it.. With nothing larger than a dot to peer into to read the whole thing. And a mini bible not much larger than an inch yet had a lot of scripture in it and yet could be plainly read.

When in doubt just provide money to your church or a good cause. In fact a not for profit is just as good.

Your Purpose From God

11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

God has a purpose for us. Sometimes it is our purpose to find that purpose. We can choose our purpose ourselves according to what we want to do and what we are best at doing. Maybe it is our purpose to just help people sometimes. The more people we can help the better. We might build a helpful Church, one that feeds the homeless and even houses them. Some shelters as such may be larger than others. The more we can help the better but we should not be discouraged by being unable to help everyone. We might put together a not for profit and there are many choices there. We could give the homeless shoes. We could give them blankets or whatever else.

Or we could work in such places that help the less fortunate.

We could obtain a counselor's license and counsel adults or youth. We could become a priest, a preacher, or some sort of clergy member. We could go to far away lands preaching the bible to people who have not heard it before or desire to hear more. We could preach inside jails once a week. We could hand out bibles to those in jail. We could provide bibles on the corner of a street. We could preach at the corner of a street or hand out pamphlets that way.

There is in fact a lot that we can do for our LORD. The Bible lets us know His will. It is about helping others. It is about teaching the gospel. It is about visiting those in jail and prison. It is about feeding His children. It is about being the light of hope in a dark world. It is about saving as many souls as we can and providing a good example. It is about glorifying God.

Not Being In The Same Boat As Sinners

We reside in the calm of the sea where the ocean does not crash upon us and over take us. We have the right direction and captain, with a sure destination. When things run foul we only need to pray to be brought to a safer place. While the other lot looks like they are having fun, things can wreck for them at any time and in the end surely will. They pay no attention to the things they should. They are lost at sea and do not know it.

There is no land for them to be found. Life is just an elusive thing for them where they are lost in fogs, in storms, in bright days, darker ones too, not knowing where to go or how to get there. No man or woman can guide their own vessel into Heaven. As for us we are at ease knowing we are being taken where we should be. The greater the faith for that the better. There is nothing we can do on our own and we should know that. The best we can do is make things pleasant and keep them that way. As for where we are being taken, only Jesus Christ, God, and The Holy Spirit can bring us there. Yet we see a massive ocean all around us. Yet we know through God that land will appear, someday, and so it will.

It can even be like a bird trying to escape great volcanic ash which pleads “let there be light,” and finally finds it. God comes after the darkness. It is a place we cannot see while we are here in this world as it is.

Sometimes We Just Have To Forgive

Apart from Christianity, forgiveness can be a very foreign thing. Yet to us it is not foreign at all. That is a major part of our faith. For non Christians however, they have probably been taught only a little about it if anything. To them, forgiving makes no sense. It goes against human nature after all. Human nature tells them to get back at others one way or another. So it can be confusing for us when we work to forgive others and they do not at all share the same sentiment. ‘Why can’t they just let it go?’ We think.

So it’s no wonder why so many grow to hate their very family. They stop talking to their parents and siblings just because they’ve built up a kind of grudge and find it a chore to even care anymore. It is no wonder why the same thing happens in a marriage. Problems multiply among those who have no reason to look beyond them. It is due to a lack of other Christian characteristics too. I have seen marriages that went nowhere among non Christians and I have seen Christians whose marriages lasted a lifetime. I have seen better households that were Christian. Unfortunately I have seen abusive sorts of Christians too, to be fair. When rightly practiced, when we are doing what we should be doing with the minds we should have, Christians simply have better households and better relationships.

When Life Makes You More Humble

The worst people can fall down on their knees and beg God for delivery out of a bad thing. Some of them will take that most seriously while others will just go back to normal after they got what they wanted. Life could go excellently for another for just about all of their life. They may even be in luxury. Then some bad thing comes up which threatens it all. Then there are people who live under bad things all of the time. For them it's nothing new, but at least they are strong.

You may have lost a home and only have a friend to turn to. You are not sure if that friend will let you stay with them for a while. So you go there putting on your best face and promise to clean and do all sorts of things so you could stay with them. After they let you then you either keep your promise or just quickly turn out to be a burden to them.

It is like the story of the prodigal son. Jesus said in it that a father’s son took all of his promised wealth from his father and left him. He went to a place where he squandered it. He had to work for a pig farmer and while he did he missed the life he had with his father. He told himself that even his father’s servants at least had bread. So he told himself he will return to his father and apologize. He would ask to be one of his father’s servants. He will admit he sinned before heaven and him. So he returned and when his father saw him in the distance he embraced him and was full of joy because “my son was dead but he is alive again.” He had a calf cooked for his son and his son was fully brought back into his life before.

It is a wonderful parable that shows just how much repentance is valued by Heaven and Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ always expressed his joy for finding his lost sheep. In this case the sheep returns. A person was humbled and saw how good he had it with the fold and to be beside the greatness of God. In full context it is found in Luke 15:11-32.

Sometimes people really put their foot in their mouth. It happens to the best of us. We just say that perfectly wrong thing sometimes. When that happens we may even feel bad about making another feel bad from what we said. A Christian wouldn’t feel good about it. Then there are those that go around saying bad things to people until they hit upon the perfectly wrong person to say it to. They could even get smacked in the face for it. It would take a real fool to continue and continue that way just basically angering everyone they came across but some really are that way. What a Christian should do is apologize and move on.

Being Sociable

If you are shy then there is always exposure therapy. That’s when you get comfortable with something a little at a time. You just say “hello,” you try a little more to look someone in the eye, you put yourself into a little larger crowd and things like that. Just think what some have to get comfortable with: the stage. That’s much harder than getting used to being around a group of equals. I’ve always found that at the start of joining a group I had little to say and was uncomfortable. Then in just a little time I am talking a lot more and after a while have grown completely comfortable. That’s often the case with people. “Practice makes perfect.”

Being cool on the other hand is a thing left to teenagers. In one city I had all the friends and girlfriends I could but in another I had no friends. I don’t know what made the difference. Maybe it was that my true nature aligned better with one place than another. Meaning the kind of person I was in one city went better than the other. There was a difference across two states.

People either want to have a group of friends or want to have just one best friend. People naturally gravitate towards each other so that’s how finding a single best friend goes. Having the best things makes a huge difference. To have the newest game console and the best games for it, having a license and nice car earlier than the rest, having a nicer home than the rest, money for a party and money for what all it is worth, will ensure popularity.

What The Christian Brother/Sisterhood Was Meant To Be

We were meant to be there for each other and there for those who need help. We were meant to share the gospel together and share the gospel with the world. It was meant for us to gather and worship. If large auditoriums are any good example, they show the magnitude of the greatness of God. What was once a small band of Christians became that! And now there are churches found everywhere.

In our early days it was our purpose to bring others to Jesus Christ at any cost. Many became martyrs in our earlier times. Nonetheless they continued doing what they were meant to do. They broke free before too long and nations incorporated the Church into their rule. We founded things such as Catholicism and bands of other lesser known religions. That led to the Protestants which in time led to many other religions of various kinds. It is like how God put the beasts on the planet earth and the life in the sea. His word was then alive everywhere and it all had a life of its own. So it’s no wonder why John gave Jesus the title The Word. Just like his light could not go out, nor could the things he said.

The most important commandment that Jesus gave us was to love each other. We must care for each other. We mustn’t quarrel with each other. We should not set up structures that are built around judging and controlling others (types of dominating cults.) If Church or a Bible study is founded in a home, then that’s fine. It is about being together and learning from each other. It is about an appreciation of God’s word.

There is even no real reason why we have to be strictly organized. Our church can be like a group of friends we have. Our lives should be our joy together with the fruits of the spirit guiding us:

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23 KJV.

Lessons Against Being Cynical

I would define being cynical as never being satisfied with anything and always finding disapproval for things. In other words: nothing makes you happy. You dislike everything or even hate most things. When we are that way there is no joy and happiness in life and both us and those around us suffer from it. If we are always grumpy then how can we be pleasant around others? So working on being less cynical helps both us and our loved ones.

If a person cannot be happy then they cannot appreciate the effort that others put in to give you a little joy. Say it is your birthday for example. They put together a nice party for you and you just sort of have no value for it. How can that change though? If you have the problem then you just have to make your positivity stronger than your negativity. You just have to look for and keep value over things. You have to quiet that voice that says things stink. You have to change it into a voice that says what you hear, do, say, and receive are nice things and good to have. To put it more simply you have to find appreciation in things. Make that voice that says “this is good” be a strong one. Try to remember better those times when you did very much treasure certain things (like a song.) Try to bring yourself back into that old frame of mind.

Then you will be happier. Then you will find greater joy in things. You will then love life more. You will then have that to share with those around you. Life will be a little less dull and empty. You will have brought back quality to your life, your things, and most importantly, the people in your life.

Not Letting TV Brainwash You

Sometimes the best thing a person can do to be happier is to stop watching the news. That stuff can really drag you down after a while. It has gotten more capable of that with the internet. I could say for myself: I was bored with the news after a half hour, maybe an hour any day, before the internet. Now with the internet we find these clips and different perspectives and all else that could make it a bad habit of ours to watch. We begin seeing the worse sides of the world. Things even become to where we are certain things could never get better. There is some sadness to it sometimes. There is some disgust from it at other times.

These commercials don’t care about you as a person. The way I see it is that they’d have you hilariously buy their products. How many times have you seen a funny commercial and your mind goes to “I like that product” while laughing? They are having you hilariously buy their stuff. When you think about it, what does funny stuff have to do with car insurance? What does these little actors have to do with it either? We see them as real as characters in a movie. They are not real people but we regard them as such. They are actors and nothing more! It is all scripted. It is all rehearsed and refined to be presented in the best way possible. So it is built upon lies. They use psychological techniques in doing so.. They have tricks up their sleeves.

Then there is the threat of becoming “involved.” There is a strong worldly presence found on TV that would drag you in. They’d bring you into their concerns and incorporate you into their causes. It is an easy way for a Christian to get lost and get off track. The Bible tells us to not love the world and its things, they are of The Devil.

With that said, there are okay things to watch. Sometimes that depends on your standards. I knew Christians that would only watch and hear Christian things. Those standards are above me, to be honest. So I’d be a hypocrite if I said “only watch Christian things.” I think music videos are fine, movies are fine, shows are fine, lots of stuff is fine. It depends on the movie and show and so on. There are lots of wholesome things out there even if you have to go back in time a bit. As for me, I mostly watch video game based stuff. Top ten games, reviews, history of games and consoles, people playing them, speed running, old video game magazines (scanned in to make a video of them), and such stuff. That’s just me.

We Must Continue To Have Hope And Be Strong

Things are truly devastating when they come without hope. The worst thing happens again and again when we imagine it has. Then the worst thing happens and we find we are able to deal with it. Jesus said that the worries of today are enough. Those of tomorrow are better handled on that day, he said. In other words, “don’t have your hands full of tomorrow .” Handle it when it comes, that is, if it even does. We might be surprised. We might surprise ourselves. We may have found ourselves out of the worst pit into the best of lives. Kind of makes you think ‘hope that never happens again!’ Just be proud: you got out of it before. You can do so again.

I have a problem with worrying. Psychologically, it is the only problem I have. I tend to think that the worst may have happened or will happen. Those things didn’t go as they should when in fact they went by just as well as they could have. That those who would help me did something wrong or is not going to show up and so on. The fact is that they did exactly what they said they would. My check is never going to get here. It was stolen or something. Maybe the most unreasonable one: I bumped into someone and they fell down. I’ll be going to jail over it. When in fact: I never even bumped into someone to begin with. It is just a paranoid worry of mine. ‘I didn’t cross the street carefully enough, I hope I didn’t cause a wreck earlier,’ are the sorts of paranoid fears I have. Pray for me about that.

If we do not anticipate something to the point that we make ourselves doubt it will even happen, then we rob ourselves over the happiness it should bring. Then at best we find relief ‘it did happen!’ We should have been saying things like we can’t wait for it to happen and just a day away and those kinds of things. The person who has less hope will never believe that a good thing is going to happen. This could be imparted by us by our parents. There could have been a parent that always promised great things to us then when the time came had nothing for us. I would go as far as not promising things.

Not forespeaking..

The Bible says not to base things on an oath. As Jesus said:

34 but  I tell you, don’t swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God; 35 nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 Neither shall you swear by your head, for you can’t make one hair white or black. 37 But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No.’ Whatever is more than these is of the evil one.

Matthew 5:34-37 World English Bible.

This also means to not forspeak. You never know if things are going to turn out where you cannot do what you said you were going to do. When I mail out gifts I don’t say I have mailed them out until I have mailed them out. I don’t say I am going to get a person this or that either. What if I changed my mind, was unable to deliver it, unable to even afford it when the time came? Besides, when you say so ahead of time that obligates you to do it. It goes from something you want to do to a thing you have to do.

It is like when you begin learning something or begin going to college you are proud and tell everyone. Maybe it was better to have only told them after you’ve gotten your degree because if you don’t, you would just have disappointed them. Besides, what a great surprise to have said you’ve gotten a degree over saying you are getting one.

Just Do Good, Sit, Watch, And Wait

Things are in God’s hands far more than they can ever be in our own. Everything is in God’s hands. Pebbles are in our’s. Things are so much more that way in today’s times. Things are such that we cannot fix things ourselves. God’s wrath will roll over the earth. Wicked people will make recompense, even suddenly. God’s wisdom is at work in the land. He is with us. We are with Him. He watches over us and has our best interest at heart. We await the day of His return and things will get to the point when that is all that we can do.

So in the time left we should be doing what good we can. We should have a routine of doing good, as we have planned out and set forth to do. We should do those things up until the end. We must be seen as doing good for things to go most favorably for us. What work is left is in God’s hands, because there is little left that we ourselves can do. The time just comes when we have to settle on that and watch what God will do with the world and slowly enter into the place He would have us be. That is His kingdom. That is Heaven on earth as is our destiny to enter.

The more we await that day the happier we will be, and the more ready and the more prepared for it. That is one of the best things we can do, if not the best! The Bible tells us to await that day most eagerly. We were shown the signs. We were shown where things will lead and the things to happen thereafter. We have our hearts in the hereafter. The very best thing we can do is to be watching for God’s return. God will come like a thief in the night. The wicked and the sinful who will not and cannot wait because of disbelief, will have their homes broken into. The Bible says that many will mourn because of it and wish that they had lived more righteous lives when they see Jesus coming to earth with all of his angels. By then it will be too late for them.

As a Christian, think about it every day. Think about it every hour. Believe that the time is near. The time is near, and can happen at any moment. Don’t let the rest of the world and its things bother you. Rest your hope in the LORD and his return. Live as such without worry. Live for that profound day that is to come.

Being Strong In Christ

All of God’s creation knows Jesus Christ. God has placed his son and spirit within our hearts. The angels and fallen angels as well know Jesus Christ and knew him before he ever even walked the earth. They awaited that day when God would send his son to earth. They found them, as the Bible tells us. The reason why they knew to look and knew it was him was because the angels were made to love and worship God. As a result, they can be self hating. They feel pain from their divorce from God. They can identify what is good and Holy. So as the Bible says, even the devils fear Jesus and his name.

It is not our strength but the strength of Jesus that we have inside of us. “For I am weak but he is strong”

10 Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, and in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong.

2 Corinthians 12:10 World English Bible

The spirit is more important than the flesh. It serves us well to identify that we are more than flesh. We are a spirit too, we are “spirits,” and have the Holy Spirit within us that gives us power over the flesh. Jesus Christ The Son of God, The Ultimate Spirit, The Power Beyond Power, dwells within us. We should not underestimate the power of that. It is not mere faith that we have. It is universally the most powerful of things. He is our guiding shepherd. We hear his voice above all others. We have, hopefully, come to know that voice well. We learn it by listening to what he has said and by knowing him better. We model ourselves after him and are taken where he would be. He loves us, greatly, and prizes us over all other things in this universe. We are greater than any animal of the field. We were made with God’s image within us. We are truly blessed.

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

God knew us before we were even born. He made a plan for us. He lovingly crafted our lives like clay. He was with us more than we could know. Everyday He was with us. He was with us in our worst and best times. He was always there. Every day, every hour, He was with us. We have greater things in store for us over this world. We have a future that cannot be taken from us, one in God’s Kingdom forever more.

We Will Rest In The Lord..

That says quite a lot about Heaven. Our world is just about the opposite. It is full of pain and suffering. So what would life be like without pain and suffering? That explains a lot! We will go far beyond our limited flesh. Our flesh will never grow tired and weak. It will not be susceptible to pain, damage, and mortality. The Bible says we will obtain our greater spiritual image. We will have our spiritual image which is more attractive than the one we were born with.. Our spirit will show. Our vision will be perfect. We wouldn’t need eye glasses. We will not starve nor grow fat. We will not have to worry about diabetes, heart attacks, or strokes. Our hearts will not fail. We will not have dementia. We will not suffer from mental illness. We will never have anger, upset, or bad emotional issues. We will be without stress. We will be given all we need and then some. It will be like it is on earth… God’s kingdom will be on earth.. An earth without pain and suffering.

No sickness. No death. No danger anywhere to be found. We will be kept alive by the spirit and power of God. If there is some long distance we could walk, we could go there without becoming weak and dealing with starvation or the cold. God will be our light.

It is what is meant by “resting in the LORD.” We will have a peace that was before unfounded. All of our worries will be gone. What will there be to worry about? We will very freely walk the streets at any hour without fear. We will know that no harm will come to us in any way. We will have dropped the worry of getting the next batch of food. We will always be fed. We will not have to sleep. We will “rest in the LORD” instead. After all, the hard days will be completely behind us.

Be Meek, Be Gentle

Be kind to the extent that doing and saying wrong pains you. Choose sympathy over apathy or spite. Take a person as they are, with faults, just like the rest. Build character that way. Make yourself into someone who would feel too bad to ever harm anyone. See the world through a sympathetic eye. Give everyone every reason and give every one every understanding. Be forgiving that way and you will remove all anger within you.

Jesus will have us love one another and he would have us live without hate. Even when people upset Jesus he never acted against them in hate. What he would have taught came purely out of love. He had no sadistic desire to harm others with his power. He never used his power to inflict pain. He didn’t harbor anything hateful within himself. That is the model that we follow, one where love and understanding beats hate every time.

It brings us great peace when we stop wars we have against others. Just leave and forsake the battlefield. Let what is, be. No one can take every bad thing out of life but we can go very far towards accepting it. If for nothing but the sake that Jesus Christ told us to love one another, then we should. The current world doesn’t matter. This world is not where we belong, we belong in the one that God would create and prepare for us. As they say “life is too short to waste,” and things like hate waste us away.

So on this day look beyond the world and its troubles. Take time to reflect that there is a better world to come. Consider the totality of it all: that this world does not matter. There will come a day when it couldn’t matter less.

Emotionally Harmful Perspectives And Emotionally Bettering Perspectives

When you think things are unfair– Maybe sometimes things are unfair but as is often said “life isn’t fair.” It is better to try and earn what you would have in a way you are certain to get it. If you feel someone is higher up than you then you can work to increase your own stature. If the job or the boss just doesn’t allow you to advance then maybe work somewhere else, or else accept it.

When you feel sorry for yourself– You succumb to a sort of weakness that says things are wrong in every way. You think you deserve better. You think that there will be no end to your misery. You believe that that’s what the world wants for you. You truly suffer thinking that a grave misjustice was put on you. It is better to be strong instead.

When you can’t be the best– You start to compete too much. You want to best a person and may resort to some degree of aggression. You may have subtle forms of slander towards them. You do silly things like arm wrestle with them, so to speak. You put yourself out in the open like to garner greater attention than them. You may act foolishly too and prove nothing to anyone.

When you take things personally– You feel personally wounded. You might take things wrong in such a way. People often do. They get a bit paranoid thinking that someone deliberately did some bad thing to them when the truth is they didn’t. Sometimes things don’t line up in our favor. One person is serving others, not you, and that’s based nothing more on what the majority wants over you. In any case there is always a reason when things don’t go your way.

When you begin to judge– Judgment adds to judgment until you’d be a jury, judge, and executioner. You build up hate for a person in various ways if you get too far into judging them. You want everyone to know you are better than them. So you do these leaps and bounds to have a better impression.

When you accept things as they are– Things are never perfect. Sometimes you cannot accept things as they are. You may be in some bad place you need to get out of if your life is going to change for the better. If your problems are small and manageable then it is better to just accept them. As they say “the grass is always greener on the other side.” You could also say “all’s well that ends well.”

When you choose to be stronger– It is a better choice than the choice of self pity. It means that you tackle and grab your problem. It means to grip it until it doesn’t “wrestle” you anymore. If means to defy the problem by accepting it and being greater than it. Everytime that you do, you grow stronger against it, until it no longer gets in the way of your happiness. Instead of letting anything bring you to weakness and pain, choose to have strength over it instead. It’ll work wonders.

When you accept your role and position– Some of us are destined to be on top. Others are destined to be far lower and some, anywhere in between. Some might be only second best, and how much would most people want that! But they are those who want to be on top, always being an inch away. We should make the most of what we have. Some are friends to everyone in the room. Others only have one friend, but at least they have that.  

When you don’t take things personally– You can see beyond the scope of yourself. You can accept things more. Things do not come so sour to you. They just come as they are.

When you choose to understand– That is the perspective that a Christian should have. To always give someone the benefit of the doubt and hope for their best. To come to know them as a human being, not at all perfect. To look for the real reasons why a person is the way they are. To know that when it comes down to it, people have their reasons and everyone is equal under God.

Christian Values And Virtues

Peace– We are peacekeepers. We do not engage in anarchist or destructive behavior. We turn away from fighting. We want diplomacy among others. We want a general togetherness where one person accepts another. We do not want others to be in dispute and we don’t want things to get to where they are so sharply divided that they’d wage war on one another.

Blamelessness– This means being such a good person that there is no reason for anyone to blame you for any bad thing. It means being lawful. It means going by the rules that any place has set up for anyone. It means to not do things that are bad whether secretly or out in the open. It also means general respect for everyone and trying to be polite ladies and gentlemens.

Patience– Patience fixes a lot of problems and is an excellent virtue to learn. People who are patient do better at their jobs. They don’t stare at the clock and things like that. People who are patient do not become agitated by a long line or other time consuming things, things they cannot change anyway. People who are patient are more stable people overall.

Love & Kindness– We must make our love stronger than hate. We should always lean more towards love over ill-intentioned emotions. We should carry the positive more than the negative. We should always work towards decreasing the negative and work on perspectives that grow our love and care for others. That starts within and works itself outward. So we should avoid and remove any hateful thinking we may have.

Being gentle– We should be ladies and gentlemen. Not too boisterous. Not clownlike as that sometimes comes. Not loudly outspoken. Not without inhibition. We should be meek to the point we are softer people with how we talk and act towards others. We should be “reserved.” It is better to talk less and mean more.

Work– We should avoid getting by freely unless we are truly disabled. We should make an honest living. We should keep ourselves and our homes clean. We are happier that way. We live better that way. We live honestly that way. We will have earned what we have. We will have all the focus that it brings. Our leisurely time really will be leisure time. We will rest better and life will be better overall if we do the work that we should.

Understanding– As mentioned before, understanding can turn away a lot of bad thoughts. When we try to understand people for who they are in a better light then we will have reduced a lot of resentment towards others. We would not hold grudges and spite if we did. So give a person every good reason instead of every bad reason.

Truth– Sometimes we have to come out with the truth. It is not in our nature to lie. Be sure, it would look better on you if you did. More importantly it is what God wants. We all know the story of Adam and Eve. They lied, they blamed the other, and what that led to. If only they had told the truth. At the same time it doesn’t mean coming out with the truth for its sake alone especially if it would bring shame to your family.

Faith & Hope– We must not lose hope. When times are at their worst it may very well be a sign that Jesus is returning. Things might go bad for us. We may end up homeless or whatever else. God will always see us through, however. For as long as we hear the voice of our shepherd we are never truly lost. We must hope for a better day rather than succumb to the pain of the world.

Forgiveness– Forgiving doesn’t mean that you must continue to associate with someone else. You could leave them behind entirely for what bad they have done to you. It means “letting it go and moving on.” It doesn’t mean putting up more of it. Then there are some circumstances where a person must be judged and sentenced for what they have done. Forgiving doesn’t mean letting evil people do evil things. If they are much smaller matters, arguments of any size, whatever that would be, then forgive them. The Bible says that when we forgive others God will forgive us. It says that we are all at fault. We were all born into sin. Just don’t let a person abuse you.

Christian Sin

Perversion– I cannot keep company with anyone or any group that sexualizes things. I don’t like vulgarity. I don’t like masturbation jokes. I don’t want to hear it. I believe in self restraint while so many psychologists call that “self repression.” It isn’t. It isn’t true that if you don’t freely allow it it would do you psychological harm. That it must be “vented out” or else double up on you. That isn’t true. That only makes people into unrestrained perverts.

Hate– Hate and anger are harmful emotions. They are painful emotions. For that reason they are emotions we shouldn’t have. That requires some perspective against it. It requires work before it can be reduced enough to no longer harm us. The more you work on it and the older you get the more it improves. It is also a choice. You can choose to not be angry, even if only for its own sake. Sometimes it means removing a bad thought and those thoughts are usually unreasonable to begin with.

Judging Others– That is a slippery slope to go down. People can get to where they see nothing but problems in others. At the same time they are full of pride for not being like them when in fact they have just as many problems.. That and the problem of being judgmental. Their value comes from debasing others. I have seen too many preachers that have focused entirely on “rooting out sin” as you could put it. There is much more to Christianity than that. In fact there are much better things about the religion to use and put forth.

Worry– Jesus said for us to not worry. That we are in God’s hands. That God feeds the birds and will certainly feed you. He said what so many would say after him: that worry doesn’t solve anything and we are better off crossing that bridge when we come to it.

Anger And Aggression– Living the natural way has led many in today’s time into angry people. They live in a world that tells them all of their emotions are just fine and should be exercised. They live in a world where they are special, where “everyone is just born special.” They live in a quick-serve-me world with excellent customer service. They live according to their food and materialism. When anyone gets in their way then they are quick to lash out. Don’t be like them. Don’t be a “Karen.”

Intolerance– Everyone deserves at least a little respect. Unless they are at fault with you personally don’t put them at fault for what they were born into. God made all of the different tribes of the earth. God made some one way and the others their own way. Look for the truth yourself. Look for the good in others. Don’t be a person of collective hatred towards others and other kinds.

Over Indulgence– They say that moderation fixes everything. That balance makes the worst things okay. The Bible says you can drink, just don’t get drunk. If you buy a couple of lottery scratchers once a week or a lotto ticket once a week then maybe in due time you will get a large prize. After all, the odds go down over time. Some however lose all of their money over them. They chase that elusive prize and most likely will have lost more than they ever gained. No lessons needed here. We all know what overindulgence leads to. Whether obesity, STDs, various addictions, or whatever else.

Slander– Bad words start in the mind and then come out of the mouth. Bad words have a special power over the mouth. They bring anger into them. You don’t lightly cuss. If you are cursing at someone then it is coupled with anger. You don’t so angrily say “you stupid person” as you do “you f’n idiot.” Those words are taken more harshly too and can quickly lead to a fight. Just don’t say bad things. As our mothers taught us “if you don’t have anything good to say then don’t say anything at all.” It is a Christian virtue to hold one’s tongue.

Accusation– Humans have it in their nature to blame others. They have it in their nature to believe something they can’t find was stolen. The funniest occurrence I saw of this was that a woman was yelling at a man accusing him of stealing her phone. What wasn’t funny is that guy could have gotten into trouble, possibly. Then out of the blue a lady comes up to her and tells her “you left this in the bathroom.” Accusing people is a Satanic thing. The meaning of the name Satan is “The Accuser.” We see it in today’s world more than ever before. They are even false witnesses  sometimes. That is among the very worst sin you can do: being a false witness. That is, lying about someone to get them in trouble. We must never do that. Some are so evil as to cause decades long sentences for innocent people.

7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.

8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.

9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.

10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none  occasion of stumbling in him.

11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

1 John 2:7-11 KJV

About Prayer

The Bible teaches us to not use vain repetitions. That is, to ask for a thing over and over again and just being repetitive. God hears us the first time. He also knows what we need beforehand. So let our asking be quick and sure. The Bible says that with faith we receive what we ask for. It says that anything asked in Jesus’ name will be given. Here is a mistake that some Christians make: they think that asking in his name means saying “in Jesus’ name (amen)” and just that. There is more to it than that. It means that we are asking through Jesus Christ. That is in the glory of the son over the glory of ourselves. It is for a Holy cost, not a selfish one. “Thy Will Be Done.” “Thy Name Be Holy,” “May Thy Will Be Done.” The Lord’s prayer also says “Thy Will Be Done on Earth as it is in Heaven.” That means that those on Earth do not do God’s will as they should. It means that in Heaven, God’s will is being done and Earth, not so much. “Give us today our daily bread” means to give us what we need. By contrast it does not mean give us everything you can, certainly not. “Forgive us of our tresspasses as we have forgiven those who trespassed against us.” That simply means that as we have forgiven others, forgive us. The prayer ends with saying that glory and the kingdom belong to God.

The Bible says to pray with faith. We should have no doubt that God hears us and wants the best for us. It should not in any way be praying to the open sky for us. The stronger our faith the better: that God is there, He is with us, and always has been.

I would say “be humble but not too humble.” Don’t be painfully humble as though God is hard on you. Rather be respectful and acknowledge God and His power. When they say “fear” God they really mean “be in awe of God.” So do you pray all night? Is it the more we pray the better? That all depends on how you are speaking. Whether or not they are just prideful boasts or done more in the form of worship.

Remember: the world is going through a lot right now. There are horrible things happening all around. In all of it we may be doing really well, personally. Pray for your protection and the protection of your loved ones, then. If your life is only a little bad then consider yourself blessed. There is so much going on right now that praying out of greed and like we don’t have enough is a particularly bad thing!

When Selfishness Feels Bad And When People Don’t Have Enough Shame

I may be short on money but I tip. I could have saved a fair amount by not doing so. Five dollars or something like that. It is only right however. I feel shame when I walk out of a restaurant without one or when a guy does the hard work of delivering my food and I leave them empty handed. I also feel bad when my family gets me gifts and I do not. I always do however. Some would just cut right in front of line and fight for their position there. I have even heard things like “I was in line earlier and just came back,” which was a lie. Some have too much pride to do such a thing: good pride. The kind that has you deal with things the right way.

Then some will cut work, make short cuts, make poor products, then sell them for just as much as the kind that was actually made carefully. They don’t care if they rip off others or not. “All in a day’s work” for them. It is like that time when I paid way too much for a sticker that turned out to be an inch wide. If the internet has one good way of ripping you off it is in their actual product size. Then some that sell on one site are just shipping from another. They have no shame. They just have the other website ship them their goods while they make a little worthless profit.

Some make a good living off of pirating. Such as for movies, music, games, even complex software. There is an honest living and then there is that of the easiest means possible. We will grow this addictive plant. You will smoke it. Have you ever seen the cigarette commercials of days gone by? It really is no wonder why they put a stop to it. They really did market it to kids! They said things like “smoking this makes a boy a man.” There were cartoons promoting it.

People photograph their food and post it online. Some make the silliest of videos in hopes to make a living off of them. That market must be more saturated than people who are in a band trying to get signed. Actually, they’ve incorporated those sorts of people too. They don’t look for a manager, they don’t even go into a studio. They just post their musical performances online. People get stuck in those sorts of things not realizing just how many people are trying the same thing. They’ll spend decades trying to make content high enough to profit from but never even come close.

I stay out of more sensitive issues. I don’t want to touch that stuff with a ten foot pole. There is not a far distance between having a normal day and then shooting your mouth off online. People embarrass themselves that way. They get fired that way too, and even ostracized because at three in the morning they just had something bad to say. At the time they probably thought it was funny or something. You're never going to catch me doing an interview. That stuff is always against a person’s favor.

Lots of bad things can come out of a mouth that never stops talking. I say be generic. Be simple. Those with nothing to prove are. Boasting doesn’t work. It has the opposite effect. People who brag are seen for what they are. Their intentions are known. Their intentions are to make them look better than you. That is how people feel when another brags about themself. Like they are trying to be better than them based on the things they say.

Some people are willing to be squatters. They know the law. They cannot get kicked out without an eviction. If they plan on moving anyways, then why just not pay? That is really how some people think. Then there are those landlords that will not return your security deposit even after you left the place remarkably clean. I had to deal with that myself a few times. I even rented a carpet cleaning vacuum with the help of my mother, who thoroughly cleaned the carpet. I was denied. After all, they probably already spent that security deposit and they knew I would have to go to court to get it back. I am sure that leaves them with at least a little shame.

There are people who receive food stamps from the government and what do they do but sell them?

If it feels shameful to you, then do not do it (or do it as the case may be.) God gave us a sense of shame. Choose right over wrong. Be a person of honor. Don’t cheat through things. Don’t take things from people who need it more than you. Do lie your way out of things. Be an honest person. Be the person you were hired to be doing the work you should do, or else do not get that job. Don’t cheat others. You’ll always know the difference between one and the other. Adam and Eve.. they were ashamed from disobeying God. They hid the fact. They put the blame on someone else. Don’t be like they were.

The Hard Truth, Not The Soft Truth

When all we need is tougher laws but do not get them, we need tougher leaders. People are putting law and order to shame, openly shoplifting with large bags, doing and selling drugs out in the open, going on a killing rampage and randomly shooting others. People have so much lost their sense of right and wrong! They have lost control over themselves. Good innocent people suffer from it. If there were tougher laws then things would be much better. They deflect the problem to their opposing side: right/left, putting the blame on things “they’d fix if they could, but the other is not allowing it.” Maybe our leaders are just tired of being slandered and talked down to. They cannot get anything right. The public is always showing hate for them. That’s another problem.

School kids cannot be disciplined without it being deemed abuse. Remember the dunce hat thing? They’d take that as cruel and humiliating in today’s time. I went to a school that dared to pray and would swat any student that did bad things. It was a peaceful school all around. My father came from a Christian family and passed down his own lessons to me, good ones, and disciplined me when I did very dumb things. My family grew up great. We didn’t get into gangs or drugs. We never put ourselves into prison by doing egregiously illegal things. My High School principal said “in the Middle East, people who steal things have their hands chopped off, which may seem drastic, but people in the Middle East don’t steal things.”

I once told my cousin that they should put drug addicts (like him) in rehab over prison. He told me that rehab didn’t do anything for him and the only thing that could make him quit was prison.

Maybe someday TV will be wholesome again. What they see as appealing controversy I see as ugly and grotesque.. No art to it. No class. Just a stinking mess. They used to have forms of morality behind them. They’d never rant with vulgar mouths. They didn’t sexualize everything. They weren’t hard on my ears. They had decency and simplicity to them. They are no more.

Most significantly, we need religion back. We need church going and church abiding people. Without it things will continue to decline. Unfortunately, people do not take that as a solution. They are willing to have bad things in their lives if it means they can have their own bad things. So it is all shared in this ever worsening state. The nation has become overrun by garbage, as I’d put it.

Their Answers Are Not Real Solutions

Their answer is more money. Their answer is in the next material thing. Their answer is to become rich and famous. They’d get there in easy means, with as little work required as possible. For many of them, their answer is drugs. They are always after the next high and will probably remain that way for the rest of their lives. They’d become famous by murdering others. They’d put themselves on the news over things like that.

The answers of a white supremacist are wrong and short sighted. They’d have no look at all into the goodness of other races. They’d instead purely demonize them. Their answers are wrong.

Bankrupting the police does not do good. Suing for multi million dollar sums does not fix the problem. That goes for the police and lots of other things. Christians don’t sue.

Where are all the tiny homes for the homeless? Those cheaply made, not having the best things by any measure, but serve as a roof above them with electricity and water? Is that so hard to provide? They should focus their scientific and tech advances on things that would help the needy and suffering. They instead hone in on the next phone. We could have been developing quicker food production a long time ago and maybe even had come up with something great in those regards. Some day there will be universal basic income. Maybe God’s Kingdom will have just that. I believe that God comes with all the tech and science we need to live better.

Real solutions reduce crime. They help the needy in effective and thorough ways. They reduce pain and suffering. They make life better for all. They bring about harmony. They reduce mental illness. They are solutions of compassion directed at those who need it.

We are obviously not using real solutions because crime is high, the homeless sleep on a sidewalk beside a highly lucrative business, they cannot afford water and electricity, everyone is at odds with one another to the point that it feels like a civil war, and mental illness has never been so widespread. So whatever they are doing, they are doing it wrong!

Those Who Are Rooted In Good

Cannot go along with people who would have them do bad things. They would escape any situation that calls for it. They’d make themselves all alone if that is what it takes. They fear the law and breaking it. They’d perhaps get a misdemeanor at some point in their lives. Maybe not even that. But would certainly never do something that would put them in prison. They would turn down drugs. They probably would never in their lives have a drinking problem. They are people proven honest and trustworthy. They don’t go around rudely and big mouthed and the world is better because of them.

They know that what they take should be earned. They make an honest living. They are productive. They work hard too, not skimping on their duties. Their mouths are not full of curse words. They don't have porn addictions like so many do because of the internet. Among their family and friends they do not sexualize things. They don’t have things to hide. They don’t have skeletons in their closet. You know who they are in simple ways. “What you see is what you get.”

They don’t talk and talk and talk but are reserved, they don’t boast, and they don’t need you to be proud of what they say.

Their households are proof that they are these things. They have a stable family. One ruly, whose kids are not doing stupid things. It is far from the appearance of chaos within where they are all at odds with each other. It is more peaceful inside their homes than it is for their counterparts. Because people rooted in good are peacekeepers. They desire things to be orderly. They want things to be well for one another and are not so selfish as to be impersonal.

An Evil Spirit Vs. The Holy Spirit

Satanic forces are visible, more or less. The most apparent I would say, came from the Nazis. Those close to Hitler described him as demon possessed and he was known to dabble with the occult before he came into power and after. That is one sign: did these horrible people dabble in the occult before they gained notoriety? It can be a very impactful force, in the worst of ways. It is more like being possessed by a spirit than it is by a demon, meaning that flesh does not go into flesh. Schizophrenic people hear voices all the time. Mean ones at that. It is just dismissed as hallucinations. So the proof is there but is not accepted. People do have demonic spirits in them sometimes. The Bible says so. Jesus talked to them. Jesus helped people who were possessed and taught his disciples to do the same. Sometimes these spirits are particularly powerful and will not miss an opportunity to bring that body into power or do some horrible thing. Reminds me of Bjork's stalker. If you haven’t seen the guy, there are videos he made of himself and he was obviously possessed by evil.

The evil of these spirits are bottomless. They are perverted, murderous, sadistical, you name it. They have at times succeeded in what they wanted to do. They have no regard for human life. They take pleasure in ending the lives of others. They sadistically torment and torture their victims. Such evil does exist in the world. Some are gang members and I am not talking about the mere drugs and sex kind, or the “stand up for each other” kind. There is a far worse spectrum of them than that. Kidnapping, murder, torture, those are things that certain gangs do.

Some of them are the isolated kind that caught that demon-bug. I think of it like a tick in the spirit world. The tick knows the animal cannot just use its hands to pull the thing off. The tick will grow very fat off of the blood of its victim. It has no greater pleasure in life than doing so. I think of ticks as an evil thing in the animal kingdom. These people build maddening psychosis. Their hearts are turned to evil by them.

The Holy Spirit is acting in the world too. In fact, angels are at work in the world that are guided by The Holy Spirit. They may have saved you a time or two in your life. Who knows, maybe ten or more times. Perhaps a person miraculously survived something they probably shouldn’t have. Maybe you were in a dark alley one night and an angel was watching you through a window keeping evil away, who knows? God has laid out our path. He has already decided how we will go and where we will go and where we will be. If it isn’t our time yet then we could go straight through bad things.

The Holy Spirit is one of peace. It can light up the darkest day. It has a lot of power. It is meant to be with us that we may have peace in this life. The Holy Spirit does not lead us into greedy things, much unlike evil spirits would. It does not seek to bring us into power. We give all power to the Holy Trinity. It is God’s Kingdom, not our’s. Why would anyone want to be in power anyway? For the sake of controlling others? That’s lost on me. I would far rather put things in God’s hands and I and you know that that’s for the best. God has good intentions for us (Jeremiah 29:11.)

Ruling over others is a big mess. Makes them paranoid. Makes murderers out of them, who may have to answer to charges of war crimes. For what? To make silly and strict laws all the while thinking it is for the best, for the better of society, for the “better” society? It is foolish to want to be in power. So let God be in power.

The Holy Spirit can bring us great peace. It can drop a ton of weight off of your shoulders. It comes when a person needs it the most. When life cannot get any worse for a Christian than the Christian should turn to the Holy Spirit. Let the person be reminded that God is watching over them and cares for them. There is nothing keeping them from Heaven no matter how difficult life gets. Things will improve. Just tell them to have hope and to pray to God that they receive the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is about life, not death. It is about peace, not war. It is about love, not hate. It is about compassion, not spite. It is about healing and being spiritually well.

When Things Just Cannot Be Fixed

The bird drops its young from the nest. It is a moment of truth. Will it fly or will it fall to the ground and die? Humans have a less harsh version of that known as “being 18.” Of course as parents we do not want our children to be homeless. We don’t want our grown kids living with us either. We want them to be hard workers and hopefully get some higher education. I can say one thing, I was raised great. I wasn’t raised to work however. From what my father tells me, he was raised to work. He is a hard worker to this day. I have never heard him complain about his job either. I worked for my grandfather at one point. I had come back home and desperately needed a place to live. I was placed in an RV in the driveway. Later they moved that driveway to an RV lot. All the while I worked for my grandfather out in his apple orchard. I took the good apples and threw away the bad ones, it was that simple. My parents had a rule: no one could move into their house, and after we were 18 we had to go and not return. So this situation was set up for me. Going a little further back I moved back in with them when I was 17. I failed High School, so my father had me go to a community college to get my GED. Which I did. My point in all of this is that there are good solutions and bad ones and I found that my parents were willing to help me in the right way.

Some relationships cannot be fixed. Once a man hits his girlfriend or wife he is probably not going to change. It all starts with subtle abuse that just becomes worse and worse. If that cannot be fixed or even after the first instance, then it is better to find someone else. They may have been dealt a lot of bad men. There are good men out there however. My father was a good husband. They’d been married forty years. The same for my grandparents. They were married for a lifetime. I had an aunt that went from an abusive relationship to a far more peaceful one which had no abuse in it at all. Do yourself good and leave any abusive partner.

If you are bullied then toughen up against your assailant. Unfortunately it is the only way to make them stop. For as long as you tolerate them they will continue to mistreat you.

If you kid just can’t get any better without being punished and put into jail that is a sad occurrence there. I wouldn’t even celebrate their release but continue to remind them they are going right back if they continue to break the law. Unfortunately some kids are destined for such a life. Their parents could have been idea parents but they just chose wrong over right. The influence their friends have over them is often stronger than the influence that you have over them. My parents moved us to a smaller town to go to a better school. It is often peer pressure that leads them into bad things. It might be better to homeschool if you can. That could keep them from poor influences.

Hopefully with the strength of Jesus Christ things like gambling addictions, over eating, poor health lifestyles, sin, alcoholism, and so on, can be fixed. A life without these is a better life. One where money is not squandered. One where a person is sober at least most of the time. One where they are less likely to suffer from health issues. I hope you all have a good life. I hope your children grow up to be excellent adults and I pray that is so for all of you.

Are Things Getting Better? Can Things Turn Around?

We do not know when God will come. Only God knows that. Not even Jesus Christ knows. Only God knows that day and hour. We have foreseen His return from our earliest days. We were ever so certain. While things are quite different and so uniquely worse than before, it is possible that ten more years, or thirty, will not pass before that day comes.

For its own sake I will elaborate on things becoming better.

Maybe our solutions are simple: tougher laws for example. That may fix things all around. Crime is our worst problem. It is a bad problem but it is about our only one really. That and how divided people are and how that turns them against each other. You know: Left/Right in politics. Besides, lots of places are not suffering from these awful abuses of the law. America has the worst of it but that is only one nation. There is no great famine. We came through that virus problem really well. That was all the news was about for years and now we hear little about it. Seriously though, day and night, that was all they would talk about. Now it just vanished as a topic. Maybe the vaccine worked much better than they thought it would. I was vaccinated. For the past two years I have gone on the public bus and out into town many many times. I never got sick.

The news has always been a thing that exaggerates things. They’ve always been that way. Now everyone has a phone. Who knows how much it is just more of the same. Like these “Karens.” Maybe they have always been around, it is just that we have only recently been able to capture them on film (phone.) Everything is being recorded these days. Maybe the drug problem is a thing more their problem. Sure, people doing drugs are out on the street, but they are generally harmless. Just people high on the street, acting like zombies, perhaps too high to care or even know their surroundings.

Again, some cities don’t even have any real problems, certainly not by comparison. Most nations do not have the problems we do. The only way that it would be a collective problem (a problem for every nation) is if the Antichrist emerges in America and takes over it. Hopefully Americans will appreciate their freedom just as much as they always have and not tolerate any dictator.

If they are stealing from stores with their large bags at least they are not shooting and robbing. There is a difference there. I would prefer an increase of non violent crime over violent crime. It certainly is the lesser of two evils.

I know one thing. I can walk around without seeing murder or people being attacked. I never see those things. I have lived a lifetime without seeing it. On the bus a person may be loud and argue. Often it is some elderly person that is just cranky. I have never been hit in the face for no reason. So if crime is as rampant and out of control as they say, then how can we do things like go to the store without any problems and why don’t we see it with our own eyes? I thank God things are not that bad.

Last of all, are things really any different? There has always been strife among people. There have always been corrupt leaders. There has always been war. With what Jesus Christ said, things would be dramatically terrible in the end times. There will be blood everywhere, the streets would be covered in it. Nation will rise against nation. People will have to escape and not turn back. They are told to “run for the hills.” Everyone will turn against everyone else. It will be a “great and terrible day.”

I am not saying that we are or are not in the end times. I have shown how it may not be, though it may be.

Seasons In A Life

God has placed us into a magnificent life. It is unfathomable to think we exist instead of we do not. We exist because of God. There is a season of things within our lives. We are at first children with every joy that we can have, in full. We spend time with our family and friends during those years. We have no responsibilities in those days. Life is a thing of toys and movies. Life is special time and time after with the littlest of things bringing us a lot of joy. We are fascinated with everything when we are that young. The way a TV works has not been explained to us. Even plastic is like diamond. We don’t pass by a single fast food place without hopes we’d stop there and get a happy meal. We anticipate the holidays day by day. No day goes by quickly for a child. To them a day is like a week of our own time. That’s because they are so focused on everything and so love the world around them. When we watch a movie it just sorts of passes before our eyes. Children are absorbed in them. So it is no wonder why our later years go by much faster.

When we become teenagers our identity becomes more important. We want to be cool among others. Things like a pimple are very bothersome (or the cow lick I used to have that a whole can of hairspray couldn’t keep down. We wouldn't wear our glasses and our parents wonder why. We fantasize about being greater things. We want to belong in a type of thing, goth, a person of a religion, or whatever it is. We still enjoy things of entertainment. We are not that difficult to entertain. We could sit watching music videos for hours. We can sit and play video games all day. Our music and movies and things are now more about who we are. We are more sensitive to influence. That can be well, okay, not okay, or very bad.

When we are becoming an adult we have a hard thing ahead of us: to get a job and move out, or get some higher education. We are mostly the same until about our mid twenties. We are still easily inspired and still enjoy our things a lot. Some will try and start a family until they succeed. Some will start a family. We must find a purpose in life during that time. We begin to truly think about what we want out of life and what we will do with our life.

Then in your thirties you settle down much more. Most will have matured by then. They will learn from their past mistakes. Their emotions become less intense, lending to that. Things dull down. Things “quiet” down in those years. Things become a bit gray. We might think ‘I look young for my age.’ Our grandparents may have passed on by this time. Those older times when we went to their house for Christmas are no more. We are parents now. Things have shifted to these things being done for us to those things being done for them, and the whole process repeats itself.

They are at the top and we are here, in our forties. They will be here someday when things repeat yet again. As for us, our worries in life have decreased. In one way it is better to be less emotional. Being emotional can bring with it pain. We are now more rational and sound at least. Things are less turbulent. Things are more gray. I am in my early forties and that is what I have to say about life.

How Christianity Can Be A Dangerous Thing

These are the words of God which must not be misused. When they are, even evil things can emerge from it. Satan would have us misuse Christianity to slander its name. He would have us come across as negatively as possible. It is not real Christians who do these non-Christian things. It is not Christians who would use Christianity to strictly rule over others. It is not Christians who would be perverts. It is not Christian to abuse others “in the name of God.” That has always been the evil misuse of it apart from what Christians are at their core.

Christians at their core are loving and forgiving individuals. People in power do not want those sorts of things. It isn’t “if you cannot beat them, join them” either. For them it is “if we cannot beat them, we will incorporate them.” So they build crazy laws around the “holy.” They use God as a figure of punishment if they disobey. They know that if the people will not do what they say then their God will make them. So they portray and present Him as a monster that they must obey.

God is love, not hate. God would not have us gather to do lustful things. He would not have us build up an army against our nation for “doomsday” purposes. He would not have us deprive ourselves and our children of every little thing. He is not heard in the preacher that slams the pulpit and declares “war against the heathen!” He is found in those that love one another, are law abiding, that help the poor, and have compassion for others.

Let Yourself Know That They Have No Power Over You

55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory  through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:55-57 KJV

Most people who have something bad to say only have that. More than likely they know better than to harm you. We can also get the wrong impression right off the bat. A person can in fact be gentle but some appearance of theirs and the way they talk makes us think otherwise. Some of them think that being a gangster would be cool and put off that impression. In fact though that is all it is, trying to look and sound cool. I have found that first impressions are often off. These days I make my first impression a more positive one.

You get more into trouble by being a part of certain groups than you ever could from others or being alone. Some groups pressure you into doing bad things. They send you straight down the wrong path. They mostly leave people alone if they are not a part of their group or some opposing group. They probably think that you are not worth it. There are certain things that can make you a target: a wealthy look, flashing around money, or bragging about it. We have got to be polite as well to stay off of their radar.

9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good  courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

Joshua 1:9 KJV

Like they say “all bark and no bite.” If you haven’t done any wrong in any way then they have nothing to hold against you. We have the power to overcome all. We have the power to overcome the world itself through the power of Jesus Christ, The Son of God.

The Devil Has No Friends

Some would think that by calling on him they will receive his help. They would take him on as a sort of friend. That can never be. The human race is his greatest enemy. When people call up these evil spirits and call on Satan himself, all they do is invite bad things into their lives and into the world. They think that a spirit is going to appear before their eyes to help them. They have this wrong idea that by standing in a circle they are safe from them. That is not so. They will not appear before the person’s eyes, they have no desire or need to show themselves. Standing in a circle doesn’t protect them. All they succeed in doing is bringing an evil spirit into the world. It doesn’t have to be done by deliberate ritual magic either. Witchcraft comes in many forms, some more obvious than others.

They ask for fame and riches from The Devil. The Devil has no care for them if it is not possible for them to succeed at anything. He is more likely to take a Christian and bring them fame and wealth in order to turn them away from God. In order to turn lots of others away from God, too, in the form of being a musician or movie star with lots of influence over others. He uses people. He is a thief.

We May Not Always Know What’s Best For Us, But God Does

If our life is going nowhere then God may give us an important detour. God wants us to reach our potential. When we do wrong, God will wisely teach us better. He would use others to show your hypocrisy. I have two examples: I used to pawn off everything I owned. My family would get me great things and I would pawn it. That used to be a problem of mine. One day I even walked to the pawn shop on a Sunday. When I got there it was closed and so I threw away this gift given to me. I was kind of angry.  Straight into the garbage. I had this video game system. I gave it to a friend. I thought he would enjoy having it. Not more than two days later I happened to be at a video game store. There the guy was right there trying to sell the system I gave him. They wouldn’t buy it. The wire was a little fraid. It still worked. They wouldn’t buy it because of that and my friend yelled “just throw it away then!” To my credit, I didn’t feel bad about it. I didn’t get angry at my friend over it. I was rather indifferent about it actually.

My second example is that I was living in a hotel barely getting by. I guess I used to think I was owed stuff back then because one night (while being very hungry) I banged on the manager’s door telling him to give me a hot pocket. I looked down on the guy for not giving me one. He’d given me one a few days before that. So recently where I live my neighbor was hungry himself and asked me for a hot pocket. His request was exact: not a TV dinner, sandwich, or anything, just a hot pocket. I told him no. I barely get by on food myself. On that day though I understood that manager. I realized that he didn’t owe me anything. I had been wrong about him up until then. I saw that it wasn’t his responsibility. God put these things in perspective for me.

A lesson from God can be a tough one to experience. He will be with us the whole way through however. We will come out better than before, even much better than before. He will not give us more than we can handle. God will have you repay. He will have you make amends in one way or another. He will have you correct a wrong. He is wise in the ways that it happens. If you have wronged a person you might someday be harmed in a similar way. There’s no “karma,” “karma” comes from God, not a mystical universe. If you feel you have done a great wrong then accept its return. That way the slate is cleaned. That way you can move forward without guilt. What something you couldn’t have made up for on your own, you have from God, in those instances.

You might be surprised when you see God’s wisdom working in your life. God has solutions you may have never considered. He has more gentle ways to see you through. His is not a pleasure to punish but corrects with wisdom and mercy. He will look for the best way over the overbearing and harsh way. He will guide you into better ways. He has made you unique too. So He will do these things knowing just who and what you are made of.

A Better Understanding

Comes when you don’t take things personally. I have had crazy neighbors and could only understand them as being a bit off, and so not to blame. I had a hard time in my earlier years with people waking me up. Nothing made me more mad than that. I am a light sleeper. If someone hits the wall for no apparent reason it makes me believe they are trying to wake me up. So it brought a lot of frustration at one time. I learned that the best thing to do is to not soak in it. It keeps me up much longer if I get to thinking about it. Trying to figure out why just makes me more mad. So I have learned to just ignore it and I fall back asleep much easier that way.

We can choose not to be angry. You might be surprised just how much control we have over it. You could even find yourself denying the feeling just for its own sake. That is better than speculating on how things will never be any better. Instead of soaking in anger for an hour we can choose to go on with life and find happiness therein, the kind that cannot be taken from our negative emotions. Choose to love the day. Choose to love the hour. Laugh at your problems. Reject them, throw them out of the window. Live better. Live free of anger.

The more we look into being a victim the more we victimize ourselves. Stand strong over those who would put their own problems on you. Go about more freely with that, without being bothered, just continue on the right momentum. The right momentum is found in letting go, not carrying it with you. Your world will become much better because of it.

Be quick to forget. Go from having a day long problem to an hour long problem. Go from having an hour long problem to having a five minute long problem. From there just “poof” the problem away, taking away all the power it has over you. So with whatever way another would bother you, keep in mind they have no power over you or any control over your life. In the end, they do not.

Give people the good reasons, not the bad ones. Give them some excuses. Consider how little your problems are compared to others and find an appreciation for it. Keep moving forward in life without anyone stopping you. Don’t rest and sulk on a bad thing, that is childish. Do not allow self pity. Choose instead to be strong. Don’t start feeling sorry for yourself thinking that things in life are just against you in every way. Instead be a stronger person who grows in strength, strength enough to be above the world and what it does.

Being Lesser Is Being More

“With God, less is more,” as the hymn goes. “The empty can rattles the most.” That means that people who talk a ton are the most empty inside. That or too bothered in some fashion to quietly sit. People who brag are not as highly thought of as they desire to be. In fact it has a bad connotation for those that listen to them. “What makes you think you are better than everyone else,” is something they’d like to say to them. “Speak softly but carry a big stick.” “Action speaks louder than words,” are a couple of things that come to my mind.

Be generic. People will be left with some mystery. They will be left wanting to know more if the base of it is interesting enough. Try not to direct too much towards yourself. A person is going to love you greater if you make things about them over yourself. Be encouraging and so on. Be more invested in others than yourself. In a way that is more selfish than being selfish. They like yourself !

You’ve got to be focused on others in order to serve others better, which in turn benefits you greater. That’s empathy, knowing others better, seeing things through their eyes, and such things. So you make a good product accordingly.

I would rather go by more discreetly than in a fashionable form (with piercings, tattoos, trench coats, purple hair..) I only wear my gold rings when at home. I wouldn’t want to make myself a target. Besides, I bought those rings to represent my own personal success in life (having come out of a bad place for sure) and not to show anything off.

Not Being Concerned With The World

The world is not going to end with a climate disaster. No asteroid is going to destroy the world. No zombies are going to pop up. No great volcano is going to destroy us all. No aliens are going to appear and enslave us. There will be no nuclear annihilation. No, the world is not going to end except through God, who Himself is not going to end it but make it brand new. So we can throw out those concerns from the start. As Christians we know better than scientists do.

We don’t care about the fostered culture of the world. It does not regard Heaven or God but the petty matters that people cannot overcome. Their problems are not our own. We want a better and more peaceful world. They, however, are preventing that with the endless concerns they are driven towards. Be cautious when you see another throwing around the Bible but seem incompetent towards actually adhering to it.

We know where the world is going and why. Things have become too difficult for us to fix. Our ability to do so has been taken from us. We are a people slandered and a people who have been shut out. We are in a nation that does not obey God or follow The Shepherd’s voice. That is why things are the way that they are. It is on account of our sin. So when you see bad things all around it is not because we believe this or that. It is not because this or that is not being done. It is because society is saturated in sin and because we disobey God.

Human beings crave war. Christians do not. If there is not a bad war going on then they’ll take it to society. We see social wars because people want them to exist. They want an enemy and the purpose to “overcome” that enemy through slaughter. They crave power. If they got a hold of Christianity they’d use it in bad ways. Things are bad because people want them to be.

False Chrisitans

Some “preachers'' would sneak in and take the pulpit as a power granting thing. They’d use Christians for their favor and have no basis in being an honest preacher or teacher. They think of our religion as nonsense in fact. Something that people do to get money from others, from “fools” who believe in silly things. That is the way that false preachers are. The guy that gets a personal jet because God doesn’t want Him to ride with heathens. Unfortunately Christians have too much trust sometimes. They can be tricked all too easily, sometimes. I would have you see things for the way they are.

It has been used as a means to have control over the public. There was a time when heresy meant death. There was a time when entirely innocent people were killed by it. That is, not by real Christianity but from an imposter state. It has made us look bad but two things are true: in the wrong hands it is a dangerous religion. That and the Devil will have us look bad in every way possible.

For these false teachers they are motivated by motivating Chrisitans who in turn give them their money and loyalty. It is group control that they want. They are teachers of wild energy. They yell a lot. They curse in God’s name a lot. They are people of God’s wrath in every way. They swear that He is going to come right down right there and yet doesn’t even believe that He exists. Don’t be fooled by the kind.

We love Jesus Christ so much that some of us are willing to believe that a false Jesus is the real deal. How fortunate they feel to have met the (human being) as though it really is him. They are a new disciple! Even with how clearly the Bible says that these people are not Jesus, Christians have always been tricked by them. Jesus will not be returning without the extreme power of the angels and heaven behind him. He is not going to simply live in some household with a little band of followers. He is coming in a mighty and sudden way.

In a nation like ours Christians want their leaders to be Christians. They want them to promote the Bible. Unfortunately light promotion is all it is. You can see out of their lives they are not living in Christian ways. When they bring up the Bible however, too many think that it is a serious part of their lives. It isn’t. It is just for show. The Bible is often “just for show.” People would skip out of jail time over being “born again, saved, and forgiven.”

10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

Revelations 13:10 KJV

Most remarkably, The Antichrist will use God’s Word against the people of Earth. The word Anti means both against and instead of. He will have two horns like a lamb but will speak like a dragon (Revelations 13:11.) That means he will present Christianity in a powerful and Satanic way (which some will be fooled by, but not true Christians.) Just imagine how convincing, how alluring, and attractive a Christian The Devil could be: that will be the way in which The Antichrist will present it to everyone.. To the whole world. When that time comes we cannot worship him. If we do then we are damned, as the Bible says.

9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 10 the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 11 and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

Revelations 14:9-11 KJV.

A Dream I Had

I was feeling that I wasn’t good enough to go to heaven. Then one night I had a dream. God was with some of His children. I was aside, feeling like I didn’t belong with Him. Then He came to me, picked me up, and took me into Heaven. It was the most special dream I ever had.

Mistakes That Can Cost Us

25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. 26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

Matthew 5:25-26 KJV

I have seen an increasing phenomenon of people taking a slight problem and magnifying it. They cause a lot of disruption that way and dig themselves into a hole. They would always have fared better if they took the advice of God: be cooperative with authority. If someone before you has a little problem with you then quickly dismiss it by being in agreement with them instead of disagreement. Like Paul said:

19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[a] says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;

    if he  is thirsty, give him something to drink.

In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 12:19-21 NIV.

That verse is sometimes mistaken to mean that by doing good to your enemy you will anger them. It doesn’t. It means you’ll cool them off. Changing an enemy into a friend is a wise Christian thing to do.

So if you are wrong the best thing to do is to own up to it. To apologize for it. To make up for it and move on, or at least make what’s to come of it not be so damaging. We cannot go about so high headed like we cannot be punished for anything. There are rights and there is morality. The two are not always the same. You have the right to say what you want to, but slandering another is a moral wrong, not a moral right. Always consider moral rights to be the highest of rights. People will rant and rave because it is “in their right” too. They think they have every right in the world to be abusive so long as it is in particular ways. Then they insist that the police be right over to prove their point, only to get arrested for their behavior. As soon as the police appear they are yelling about their problem with this person who is violating their rights, and the police know exactly what is going on. They have it in their heart to sue and feel a great injustice has come to them on that day. Hopefully next time they’ll learn that respect goes further than law-inventing and right-inventing techniques (which they fooled themselves into believing were an awesome power of theirs.)

Be A Person For All People

We can’t encourage or promote sin but sometimes we just have to tolerate it. We wouldn’t want to impose ourselves on others who just do not know or understand the scriptures. We cannot throw everything at them all at once. They’d only see us as condemning and judgmental people and that isn’t good. It isn’t Christian to be moral police either. So it is better and more effective to put on a positive image. Our goal is to save souls. Our goal is to share the gospel. We should be good examples but not like those that would put themselves above others. Besides, harmony is Christian. The Bible teaches “not all at once, a little at a time, until they can grow on their own.” (1 Corinthians 3:2.)

The Bible teaches that when one sinner repents the angels rejoice, more than they do over those who already live right. After some point, Christian teachers must stop polishing their students to no ends. Christianity should not be about being an utmost perfect Christian. It is about bringing others to God and hopefully to salvation and that is where the most important work resides.

19 For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more . 20 And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; 21 to them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. 22 To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. 23 And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.

1 Corinthians 9:19-23 KJV.

We should not make ourselves be hated because of being judgmental. We cannot take small matters and make something bad about them, when found in others. We cannot impose ourselves intruding on other people’s lives, things that for them might not even be bad. We have to allow little “flaws.” We have to give a person their own room to grow. If we do not then we are making ourselves out to be savior instead of Jesus Christ. We were all born with flaws. We all have them. We will never get rid of all of them. We can go to better places and improve, personally, but personally is the best. We must remember that salvation is a gift, not something we earn.

The Right Kind Of Pride To Have

The right pride is in giving. It is in giving gifts and food to the poor. It is good that pride motivates you to do more of it. The right pride is in knowing the Bible and following it, and learning more, and following that. The right pride is in being able to forgive. The right pride is founded upon your Christian virtues and Christian values. The right pride is being Holy. It is in love and faith, and the greatest pride is pride in God, our Father, and the person He would have us be.

The wrong pride is the pride in riches. The wrong pride is in glamor. The wrong pride is in making ourselves out to be greater than others. The wrong pride is a selfish pride. The wrong pride has you entirely self focused. The worst of all pride is in those that think of themselves as being greater and more important than God.

The Nature Of The End Times

The whole world will be united in the end times. There will be one ruler over all of the Earth, The Antichrist. That leader will come from one nation to rule over all of the others. Those who do not worship the Antichrist will not be allowed to have money or food. Those who do, will, but will be damned. His number is 666. Any who take that number “on their hand or head” can buy and sell, but again, are damned. So Christians will have a choice to make. They may not have to make a choice at all if they are raptured.

There will be calamity like never before known. It will never get as worse again as it was in those times. People will be forced to flee from one place to the next. The Bible says “do not go back to get anything. Just leave it behind.” There will be a blood moon. “The powers of the heavens will be shaken.” There will be strange signs in heaven. The Devil knows his time is short, “and there’s no rest for the wicked,” we have seen Satan act quickly on the world. To see how much things have changed in only the last couple of decades, that can be surmised.

The Devil, The Antichrist, and The False Prophet will be thrown into Hell. The Antichrist and False Prophet will be there already. Satan and his army will be thrown into the abyss and locked away for 1,000 years. That will be a thousand years of peace. Then “he must be let loose” as the Bible says. There will be one last fight between him and heaven. He will lose, and be cast into hell where The Antichrist and False Prophet are.

Some people will be looking for Jesus Christ. Some will come to believe that one human being or another is him. They will say he is “here,” and he is “there.” Jesus however will come with all of the angels and Heaven itself behind him. People will grieve when they see him, wishing they believed. They will wish they had lived better lives and believed in him. God will come like the police pounding on a door. Be will break in, burst through, and fix this tremendously bad time in our history. His wrath will be poured all over the earth. Jesus comes with a sword, not with peace. He comes to make things right. He comes to begin his rule over earth, to take it. Every knee will bow to Jesus and declare him LORD.

Some will be living it up unharmed and living well. Some will be living in luxury. Many, most, will be living in sin. “Just like the days of Noah, they will be unprepared.” A few will know the message. A few will know and follow the gospel. A few will be ready. As for them, the end will come all too quickly. It will come over them in the worst of ways.

It will start with something like a painful birth: the birth of all bad things. We can see that as a woman in labor. The labor is painful, things can’t be fixed, crime everywhere, and it cannot be stopped. The world is getting worse all the time and we will know that something very bad is going to come of it, and suddenly. Suddenly everything collapses. The birth of the end has come. It will be at that time that only God can save us.

How The Wicked Use People

They are a type of people who only want to use you and would do all they can to drain you dry. You might be the only responsible one in the building. You buy what you need. You budget, you save money. You take care of the important things. These people do not, however. They buy the expensive stuff mostly on money unearned. Then they turn to you for the lesser stuff because it is better than nothing. Don’t give them anything. You’ll never be able to turn them away if you do.

Christianity teaches to give to the poor but that has been used against us way too long. There are people that are crazy and homeless (especially when it comes to Schizophrenia) then there are those that are just lazy. That is a politically incorrect truth. Times have changed. They changed in the way that there are a multitude of drugs out there and it is easy to get alcohol around the corner in a quick store. People who are housed are out there as beggars. My point is: give to the real poor, not the ones who just won’t work. You can tell the difference easily enough. And yes give them the benefit of the doubt if you aren’t sure.

These people would put you into the worst circumstances. They’d have you do the dirty work. They’d have you be in their gang as “the fool.” They would get you into drugs and keep you around. That’s because it gives them a drug-doing buddy, the kind that should be spending their money with them doing drugs (instead of living responsible lives.) Of course they want everyone doing drugs.

This is how a hustler works: they are sure to promise you a great interest. They’ll pay back triple right now if you give them what they need right then. Then you have a difficult time getting what you are owed. You are sure to have to ask them. They would rather pretend the problem didn’t exist. You ask, and they are shocked. So they pay you back a little saying they will have the rest later. Or maybe you are lucky and they give you the same amount back (instead of that interest stuff.) After all, they think it is unfair that you would make them give you so much interest. Aren’t you their friend?

Then there are those who would abuse the system. They’d bend over backwards to collect SSI or disability money in whatever form. They may have a little wrong with them. They’d make it seem far worse than it even is. They would hire a lawyer if they had too, lying all the way through. Things like that cost the nation a great deal of money.

I once saw a guy trying to “return” an mp3 player (the most expensive kind.) This was back when those things were hot electronics. It was hot alright. The serial number was scratched off so they wouldn’t allow him to get a “refund.” The guy stole the thing. There were a lot of arguments and forcefulness that went on for a while. It reminds me of something I heard in a little store back when they were selling cheap prepaid cell phones (not smartphones.) Those phones are not meant to ever be returned. They are designed to service and once that service was used then that was what you paid for. Anyways the employee said “I just gave up. I just started letting them return them.”

Then there was this instance when a guy ate all of his food, saved a sparse amount and demanded a refund. It was on video. The waitress said “sir, you ate all of your food though.”

Then there are the squatters. They know that it takes an eviction to get them out which takes time and money. They know they have room to work with too while promising that the rent will be paid “soon.” They trash the place up, because why should they care?

They take advantage of people who are addicted to drugs. You are sure to find a pawn shop where it is happening. In the mental health system you may feel used. Some of them require frequent therapy in order to continue on “treatment.” Some people abuse the mental health system to get drugs and financial help. Some not-for-profit things are for great prophets, through scams. People are all too willing to take money and services that they just don’t need.

They will not do their jobs right. They’ll look for shortcuts. They’ll never get good enough, they’d quit before then. Keeping them on board is hopeless. They’ll find excuses. They’ll always be late. They’ll take longer breaks than they should and do anything they can to reduce the burden of work. They don’t work!

If things go wrong for them at any time then they are sure to sue.

There is a lot of meaning to the phrase “an honest living” and it is a thing lost in the world of today.

I call them “money parasites.” Like a bug that gets on you only they take your money and resources. Maybe you could call them “money vampires.” They work in the dark, in secrecy, they sneak up on you and drain you dry. The Bible tells us to not share the same purse/ wallet. Let people who have, have earned, and only those that are helpless be helped!

God Has Already Accepted Us For Who We Are

There is such a thing as being “good enough” in Christianity. Christianity is here to save souls. Once your soul is saved then Christianity is for other souls which need to be saved. The Bible tells us that Jesus’ disciples were “bad people” and that it is those kinds of people that Jesus is interested in, the kind that needs to be saved. The Bible says that the angels in Heaven greatly celebrate when one sinner repents, more than over a person who needs no repentance. Paul described himself as the worst of sinners. But Paul was taken and saved by Jesus Christ and became the most prolific writer of The New Testament. Remember too that salvation is a gift, not something we earned, and that through Jesus Christ our sins are white as snow, though they were scarlet, are now unseen.

So we do believe in being a good person: a good Christian. There comes a time when we are good enough. There is no perfection to earnestly and endlessly seek out. We are not trying to become “enlightened.” We are not trying to achieve the highest level in some sort of occult organization. We are here and we are what we are. We are the way that God made us. The Bible says it is impossible for the rich to enter Heaven (more likely a camel toe would go through the eye of a needle than the rich enter into Heaven.) The disciples then ask, “then how is it possible for any to enter into Heaven?” To which Jesus replied “for people this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”

There is a lot of scripture to it in fact. Being good enough is enough. We are with our Shepherd. We are among the 99 who do not stray. We are kept with Jesus Christ. He only leaves to find that one lost sheep in a hundred. When he finds it, we all rejoice. Our objective is to build our house from stone, with Jesus being the cornerstone. After that it will stand strong and nothing can shake it.

When we ask God for forgiveness we know we are forgiven and move on. It could be called an insult to ask again and again for forgiveness over the same thing. That makes it as though if God cannot hear or do, it is done without faith. And as the Bible says, “only faith pleases God.” His forgiveness is the most important forgiveness. Self pity is something that evil spirits would give us. They would fill our heads with doubt. For as long as we have it and go about things in these ways, we will not experience God’s loving grace.

The Human Race

We are a sickly race and only God can cure us. Only His Son can redeem us. No temple or sacrifice ever could, except for the sacrifice of God’s Son. Now the temple is within us. Within that temple The Holy Spirit resides. Now the grave no longer has the final say. Maybe we should be a little proud that among creation we have to deal with a lot. We were not put into any place of perfect peace. We were placed in a rather harsh world. So isn’t that work enough? That is the worst work a person could have given how the world is and our time in it.

God has chosen when we would come here. Some were too good to be here for very long, and were swiftly brought back to Heaven. Some would say it is lucky to have lived until middle age. We are most fortunate to come here at this time. It is a better time than those past times. People dealt with far worse in the past. That is more and more true. A king twenty years ago could not have had what we have today. Compared to a person a hundred years ago, we live like gods.

We were made in God’s image. We are alone in this world as gods. The world and everything in it was put in our dominion. Maybe aliens are out there. I would say so. They say Heaven and I think outer space. Maybe the physics are different in God’s kingdom. Probably so. God made our physics and is not bound to do the same if He wants things to be different where He is. Maybe the reason why space is so enormous (indeed unfathomably so) is because we are supposed to be stuck here. We have a lot of trouble sending a rocket to the moon. Let alone going just a little further (relatively no further at all) to Mars. Maybe God will fill in the pieces when He returns giving us that science and tech we need for a better Earth. There will also be the power that comes from God Himself when we dwell with Him.

We were given a massive amount of resources on earth yet we can’t even travel to Mars. We can do incredible things. Like our memory cards that are the size of a thumb nail. People used to have to write everything on parchment. You could call them a disabled people (our ancestors.) Millions upon millions of paper can fit into our memory cards. We take it all for granted. With God, that is the least of it. That is child’s play compared to the power of God. Look at time and space. Look at the richness of the earth and its system of things. Look into the depth of both space and the ocean. We are mostly limited to the plastic we create and use. We are still susceptible to horrible events in nature. We are a sitting duck. Only God keeps the sun from fading and a massive asteroid from contacting us.

But we are a little god. They opposed Jesus from “making himself out to be a god,” and he told them, “have I not said, you are gods?”

6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.

7 But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.

8 Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.

Psalm 82:6-8 KJV.

One thing is for sure: it is better to be human on this earth than any other lifeform we find in it. We were blessed with existence, blessed with human existence. We have life and we know we have life. We know that there is no flaw in our creation that leads us to sheol. We shall emerge from the grave. We weren’t made by some chemical sorcery which has made us for no reason. We exist because of God. We exist because He loves us. Just as the universe itself is great, so is our soul. Not everything around is perfectly made without our lives and soul being perfectly made too.

Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.   Matthew 10:31 KJV

Job 28

28 “Surely there is a mine for silver,

    and a place for gold which they refine.

2 Iron is taken out of the earth,

    and copper is smelted out of the ore.

3 Man sets an end to darkness,

    and searches out, to the furthest bound,

    the stones of obscurity and of thick darkness.

4 He breaks open a shaft away from where people live.

    They are forgotten by the foot.

    They hang far from men, they swing back and forth.

5 As for the earth, out of it comes bread.

    Underneath it is turned up as it were  by fire.

6 Sapphires come from its rocks.

    It has dust of gold.

7 That path no bird of prey knows,

    neither  has the falcon’s eye seen it.

8 The proud animals have not trodden it,

    nor has the fierce lion passed by there.

9 He puts his hand on the flinty rock,

    and he overturns the mountains by the roots.

10 He cuts out channels among the rocks.

    His eye sees every precious thing.

11 He binds the streams that  they don’t trickle.

    The thing that is hidden he brings out to light.

12 “But where will wisdom be found?

    Where is the place of understanding?

13 Man doesn’t know its price;

    Neither is it found in the land of the living.

14 The deep says, ‘It isn’t in me.’

    The sea says, ‘It isn’t with me.’

15 It can’t be gotten for gold,

    neither  will silver be weighed for its price.

16 It can’t be valued with the gold of Ophir,

    with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.

17 Gold and glass can’t equal it,

    neither  will it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.

18 No mention will be made of coral or of crystal.

    Yes, the price of wisdom is above rubies.

19 The topaz of Ethiopia will not equal it,

    nor will it be valued with pure gold.

20 Where then does wisdom come from?

    Where is the place of understanding?

21 Seeing it is hidden from the eyes of all living,

    and kept close from the birds of the sky.

22 Destruction and Death say,

    ‘We  have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’

23 “God understands its way,

    and he knows its place.

24 For he looks to the ends of the earth,

    and sees under the whole sky.

25 He establishes the force of the wind.

    Yes, he measures out the waters by measure.

26 When he made a decree for the rain,

    and a way for the lightning of the thunder,

27 then  he saw it, and declared it.

    He established it, yes, and searched it out.

28 To man he said,

    ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom.

    To depart from evil is understanding.’”

World English Bible

The Depth Of The World

Have you ever attempted to put it into perspective? We think so inwardly! We are so stuck in our own heads! We may think of our family and friends here and there and remember things gone by, but the scope of the world is greatly beyond that. With billions of lives on earth, there is a lot going on, to say the least, to say of every hour! All of the conversations that entails. In your city alone there could be many thousands of people just going about their day. Nearly all of them are going about their day entirely oblivious to you. They know nothing about you. What’s more, they know next to nothing about others. Stretch things just a little into your neighboring city and things are that way too. Not to speak of how differently people are living in far away countries. Maybe they are digging for gems, making baskets, maybe they are cooking, maybe they are riding on a horse, maybe they are on a cruise ship right now. You name it.

There are millions talking to each other on this “little” planet right now. There are jobs being done. There is a guy on break here and a guy asleep here and there. There are babies being born all the time. Then there are those whose time is running out. They are in hospital beds or they have grown old. They may have lived long lives in times far different than our own. There are people who are happy right now, people who are sad right now, people who are at restaurants with their loved ones, and others attending a funeral.

There are good people doing good things. There are people out there helping all they can. Then there are the bad people too doing bad things. There are churches of all kinds you can imagine and people in them, perhaps as we speak. Then there is a person buying their first house. There is someone about to get a driver’s license. They have one car of many. No doubt, there is a greatness and depth to the Earth that none of us can ever fully grasp. It is a cool thing to think about sometimes.

The Special Things About Giving

I used to have thoughts of keeping all of my money to myself. In my earlier adult years I was that way. Now, I think it is a good gift to myself to give good things. For me it is a “better to give than to receive” thing. I am older now. I don’t enjoy things as much as I used to. I certainly don’t enjoy things as much as a child does. I have things all the time, whatever I want. Kids however only have as much on their birthdays and on holidays. When my family and I went to theme parks I would always wonder why they never went on any of the rides. They’d just sit on a bench watching us. I used to wonder why we didn’t live off of fast food. I understand now. It wasn’t all for them. It was for us.

It can be a way of learning about your family and loved ones. When you carefully decide what to give them you learn about what they’d like and want.

To say something unique about it, something I think is neat: what you buy and give you kind of give to many others. More than just “kind of.” Say you buy an action figure for a child in your family. They’ll hold onto it for so long until it becomes a hand me down. So the next person will get it and the next. If it was a good action figure then it’ll rise in value. As far as money goes, it is like a child. You hold onto it and it grows “money-wise.” It increases in wealth for the person. Until it is sold online to the next person and perhaps comes into one’s collection as a highly valued thing. Then that person passes on and so it continues forward. All because you saw it at the store and got it for your nephew. Of course that applies to more than just action figures. It applies to a lot of gifts you can give.

It can be a fun experience going around the store finding just what to give another. They say that shopping is good therapy. Maybe this is more a Christian way of that.

It’s good to be the kind of aunt or uncle that gives things to their nephews and nieces. You may even be the only one that does. It is often that way. My family however are all around gift givers and things like birthdays are important to us. Unfortunately some live in families that do not celebrate that or anything else. Whether you are helping with school supplies, taking your children out to get Halloween costumes, making Easter eggs with them, or whatever else, you can be sure they enjoy it more than you can know.

Some Gift Giving Ideas

A good kitchen/cooking gadget is always nice. A coffee maker that’s better than most, a deep fryer, an air fryer, egg cooker, and a nice new microwave are some examples.

They say the best gifts are those that a person wants but feels they cannot afford. They can do without it. They wish though that they had one. For me that would be a 3D printer or an ice maker.

Buying a thing that raises in value and is valuable already can be a thing well guarded and appreciated for a long time to come.

You can buy things to include in snail mail. Such as trading cards of all of their favorite things. There is a card for everything. You might be surprised. Things like stickers for the same thing. If a person you write is Christian then there are scripture cards and bookmarks, or little booklets.

A magazine subscription is like a gift that is given once a month for a year or two. If you can afford more then there are subscription boxes of toys, video games, or other things.

Get to know the person. Think about what they used to like. Think about what they may want to have again. Maybe they liked putting together model cars when they were younger. Maybe they used to have a collection of little bears. They may appreciate you for remembering it. Just look into their lives and what they do. Could what you give them make that better? Make it easier? Give it some class or bump it up a notch?

“Out with the old, in with the new.” Whatever you get them make sure that they do not already have a better version of it.

Standing Up For What Is Right

Sometimes the good calls on us to do what is right. A great example of that would be Oskar Schindler. While the Nazis were committing extreme atrocities he saved all the lives he could. You judge now or your judge later: either punished for not being a part of what evil would do or to later face war crimes, which is a shameful thing. They hid. They thought they’d never be found. But people are good at finding others. Mob bosses, war criminals, murderers, whatever it is, they’ll always be found.

Wars should always be for philanthropic purposes.

Make friends with the one who is bullied. Life will go so much better for him or her if they have just one person on their side. You may yourself become bullied. You should fight for both you and your new friend.

We can’t be silent when good people are being harmed for no reason. We must band together to stop it and to make things better for everyone. Sometimes we have to fight for our rights. Some would say that if people stop doing so they will lose them. We must continue to be philanthropic and support a philanthropic government. An enemy that is a dictator doing cruel things to its citizens: we may be their only hope.

In anarchy we must continue to be just as civilian as we can. The majority may get away with things in such a state. They don’t always and who knows what harsher punishment they’ll receive. That sort of thing brings up tougher laws. Before then they’ll have mocked the law one and all. Things have a way of catching up to people though. Don’t let it be “monkey see monkey do.” As Christians we know better. That goes for lighter crimes to higher crimes, not just the worst of them.

Don’t let your voice go silent. Don’t let them “shut you up” as they would. They would censure you in every way that they can. Being a Christian can bring persecution. Jesus said of the end times that we will all be hated by his namesake but those who last until the end will be saved. We cannot be made to bow before an idol. We cannot be made to worship a human being. We should not allow foreigners to change the content of the Bible and its message. The Bible is The Bible but evil forces would do everything they can to block it from being read and followed. That includes demonizing it in every way they can. It may even get to the point that it becomes an illegal book to have and teach. Except maybe in Church, but possibly even there. With some sneaky thing that can happen. They’d falsely say things like “this corrupts others.”

The Things To Take You Further In Life

There are certain things you want to carry with you. There are certain things you want to have in life because they will serve you well. Such as a good education.  A good education is the surest way to have good money and a good career in life. It might not make you a millionaire, but it will provide good money and a good job. We must keep ourselves motivated. We must have momentum. We must keep doing things that improve our lives. One brick at a time until it has all been brought together just as good as could be, so we should build good lives for ourselves.

Maturity will take us much further in life. I have seen grown people time and time again that acted like they were children. You see them going off into these temper tantrums in online videos. They are very quickly angered. They won’t leave the place without destroying things and slandering everyone as hard as they can. They are possessed with evil spirits.

Patience will take you further in life. That is the only quality that a hard worker needs. It makes the difference between being eager to leave or being able to and being content with it. It makes the difference between being so frustrated in a line or remaining calm. It makes you more calm overall. It’s a good virtue to have. You are sure to get more done. I used to have a patience problem. We all know how doctors seem to take forever while we are waiting in their office. I actually walked out a few times because of that. Just went home as though I never had an appointment. Looking back, that is not something I would do again.

Having the right kinds of friends is important. A lot of trouble/ bad things that people get into comes from groups. They’d just share drugs with the next person to start them freely coming about. Some give into peer pressure way too easy, lots do. Then there are these gang things where people’s pride comes from unlawful behavior. A lot of lives are thrown away just because people were trying to be a part of a group. If you cannot find good people to be around, then don’t be around people at all. It might save you and your life.

Peace, love, and understanding, those will take you far in life. Might make you live longer too. You won’t live a life of others stressing you out, frustrating you, or making you angry (problems of the heart.) It will make life easier on you. No one is perfectly without anger. If you only have it seldomly and for a short time then you are doing better than most. As I always say, try to understand people in a positive way, not a negative way. When we try to understand them in negative ways we build up hate (and emotional pain) over them. We want to attack them if we hate them. So it is no wonder why it all feels bad. We just put ourselves in a situation where we can do nothing and this “problem” exists. Kind of feels insurmountable– you wish you could just insult them or show them who's boss or whatever. It is just the flesh speaking. Don’t listen.

Christians have every right to have successful lives as much as any other people do. It looks good on us. If our heart is in the right place (we want better things for our family, better homes, always enough food, we want a legacy for our children, we would help the Church and good philanthropic causes, and so on) then certainly so.

As for other things: cleaning your living spaces. Tending to your hygiene. Budgeting your money. “Putting food on the table,” a good work ethic. Refraining from alcohol, certainly from drugs. Paying mind to your health. Avoiding bad influences. Not letting what we know as sin harm us. So some moderation if that helps. If moderation does not work, then avoid it altogether.

These Are Burdensome:

Drugs are the worst of burdens. A person addicted to them has a great challenge to quit them if they are ever even able to. So I say: do not do them even once. There is no such thing as “trying them out.” That only means, “well that worked, so I’ll do them again.” People have lost untold sums of money from drugs. If they cannot get that money for the next high then they are willing to rob to get it. If you’ve never done drugs then you are indeed fortunate.

Gambling takes away all the money a person has as well. Its system is not made to serve you well. Even when a person with this addiction wins big, that only urges them to continue further. They then return to lower odds. See, for days you can have low odds but for minutes, high odds. Once they get lucky those odds go back to becoming rather low, yet they’ll continue. I always say that it is okay to buy a few scratchers every week. Anything that does not at all get in the way of what you can afford. That can even be called an investment. The odds still decrease. They just decrease at a much lower rate if you only buy them sparsely. So maybe in five years, maybe in ten, you will get all your money back and perhaps more. Buying a couple of one dollar lotto tickets each week, well, maybe it is the most fun you can have at that price.

Obesity can become a problem. It is as unique as hunger pain. It comes with the pleasure of eating and the pain of if you don’t. Our bodies become fatter to fit more in. Like an abyss. Like a bottomless pit. It can bring about health problems such as diabetes and heart issues. It is difficult to get yourself thin again too. It requires more than eating less. It requires a lot of exercise to reduce what has built up.

We either go forward in life with emotional issues or without them. To me, anger is the worst emotion. I would not feel it only for its own sake. If it feels painful then why should I let myself have it? I’d rather go forward in the day with happy things beside me knowing that my enemy has no real power over me. They cannot prevent me from enjoying my day. Who is one person that would ever hold power over that besides the power I give them to?

Follow the rules. Don’t bash them. While we may believe that we have rights that disclude us from them, breaking them is not usually in our favor. Sure, in a more constitutional world you shouldn’t have to submit to searches so easily, or this or that, but unfortunately things don’t work that way. I have seen a ton of people that take a small matter before the police and exacerbate it into arrest. They may have just received a fine. If they were really lucky, then they’d have gotten a warning. Some people just flip out over it however and become a person broken into many different pieces. Like the Bible says: agree with your adversary quickly or else he will turn you over to the judge, and you will not get out of prison until you have paid the highest price.

The Truth Will Prevail, Falsehoods Will Fail

Falsehoods are a pretense. They are a sham. They are shaky in their foundation. They’ll collapse, they’ll fail. In the meantime they disguise themselves as truth. They last as long as people defend them and force others to believe in them. The truth of the matter however cannot be extinguished. The truth always lay beside them waiting to be seen. People know in their hearts what is right and wrong. A falsehood would make a wrong a right. It is something built on lies and kept together with lies.

The truth says “love thy neighbor and help them.” The lie says “hate thy neighbor and become better than them.” The truth says “give to the needy.” The lie says “they should get a job.” The truth says “enough is enough.” The lie says “not enough until they are all destroyed.” The truth says “things will be equal.” The lie says “we will turn things against them.” The truth says “I will admit to my wrong doing.” The lie says “I will make the best lie that I can.” The truth says “it is my own fault.” The lie says “they are to blame.”

When we see this magnificent world we know that it was God who created it. Scientists will believe in just about everything other than God. They believe in multiverses and worm holes but they won’t believe in a God who rules over Heaven and created these things. Not even with all of the complexity, greatness of it, would they ever accept a creation theory. People would believe in science fiction and the enormity of science, we can be like little gods ourselves, but they’d never accept a greater God. Some day however, God’s son will return, and the truth will ring true. As for the words of Jesus Christ they are true and always will be.

The truth is that humans are not animals. The truth is that a government should not harm its people. The truth is that people shouldn’t harm each other. The truth is that people should be allowed to defend themselves. The truth is that that includes certain ways of defending yourself but not others. The truth is that you should never harm a child. The truth is that you shouldn’t cheat on your spouse. The truth is that you should not harm innocent civilians during a war. The truth is that chemical warfare should never be used. The truth is that you should not torture. The truth is that no one should: rob, burglarize, thieve, con, deceive, abuse, destroy, vandalize, or kill.

People would have both themselves and their institutions worshiped. It is all vanity and God will lay low the “greatest” of people. Our LORD is Jesus Christ. Before him there were many lords in the land. Before then we only had them. They were the leaders that God put before us. God sent His son to this planet. He died on the cross with a crown of thorns and the biggest reason for his penalty was because “he made himself out to be God.” They didn’t know that in truth, he was the son of God and THE GREAT LORD. That he certainly is. They sure couldn’t hush the Christians up as they so wanted. That small group of early Christians were a foe that they couldn't beat. They couldn’t wipe out the truth of Jesus Christ. So with all of the power of truth behind it, Chrisitanity became a worldwide belief which it always had, no matter how far we went from place to place as human beings: Christianity came with us. There is no stopping the greatest of truths, Jesus Christ.

He is our true LORD and savior. Interestingly, Israel is without a King. Israel is God’s people. When they reestablished the nation after WW2, after they got it back, it became a democracy. That is most fitting, because Jesus is the true King, for both them and for us and for the earth entirely, Jesus is King. We do not need any earthly king/ Queen. Jesus is our LORD. He is made up of many truths. He stood for the truth at the cost of his life. He would not tolerate corruption. If it was true, it came from his words, and if it was not, it did not. The New Testament is truth in full. It will never fail you.

Success In Life The Right Way And The Wrong Way

What people would do for power! I always ask though, “power for what?” Power to control others? And why? Some people are born into being bloodthirsty. They’ll not have a good lot. They’ll be on the run. They’d never know when the law catches up on them, or God Himself. They never know when an opposing gang might break through their door and assassinate them. People who commit war crimes are no better off. In fact they gain worldwide attention for what they do. Suddam Hussein led his people in cruel ways and used horrendously harsh chemical weapons against his enemies. America went to war against his nation, Iran. We had been looking for him. He was found alone hiding in a hole looking like he had been homeless for ten years. He was put on trial and disgracefully hung for his war crimes. The Nazis had a similar fate. One by one they were found, put on trial, and executed for their atrocious crimes. You cannot run from God’s might and wrath.

If I was ever offered to be a king I would turn it down. I would probably do what George Washington did: “make me a president, not a King.” Actually I wouldn’t ever want to be a president either. France nearly became the first democracy. Interestingly, Napoleon was put to the same test that George Washington faced. He fought for democracy. He was helped by people and soldiers that he promised that to. Then when the time came he set himself up to be a king instead and his own people executed him for it.

When it comes to getting power over others: deny it. Turn it down. Refuse it. Not that it is bound to happen or even come up for most of us, but just saying. What is it really worth?

By comparison, success the right way is becoming an “influencer” instead. There is no weird burden of controlling people. It won’t make you paranoid, it won’t “corrupt you with power.” It is just being well known and well listened to. It is just as innocent as any one at home making videos for video websites. They are just wanting more attention and there’s nothing wrong with that. As for me, the reason I do what I do is not for money or power. All of my books are free and in the public domain. Except for the paperbacks of course, but the ebooks I place on many different sites are free. No, what I want is to make a positive change and nothing more. And the world sure needs it right now!

Success the right way comes from higher learning and dedication towards getting a degree. The only shortcuts are illegal. Unless you inherit wealth or win the lottery, success can take time, work, and dedication. You might have to focus on something for quite some time before you get what you want out of it. There is always the element of competition to consider. Consider it a rule: the more competition there is to something, the less likely you will succeed at it. Those are especially made up of easy things. The more difficult they are, the less there are that are doing it, the more they are needed, and so on. So I would say: go to where the composition is low.

  Don’t Let Other Christians Judge Or Control You

There was once a time when I walked across the whole city of Albuquerque to get to a “Christian home” where low income people could live. I was at the cheapest hotel in all of Albuquerque and unable to live there any longer. I used my phone to look up a solution. I was familiar with these kinds of living arrangements in the past. I walked nearly a whole day. I called them beforehand. I finally got there. What did I find when I began talking to them? They wanted my debit card to begin with. They wanted to search me. They said this and that about the house of God. Even though it was pretty much the only hope of mine, I walked out as soon as they left the room. That’s a cult, I thought, and knew I was better off being homeless. For the rest of the story I pretty much came to San Francisco via Greyhound, to have a better place to be homeless, which I was for a year’s time.

That’s the best thing to do if you are in a similar situation. Walk out and don’t return. Cults are out there and lots of them exist.

Don’t let a Christian tell you to do this and don’t do that and pick at you. Some are convinced that if they don’t then they are not serving God and His purpose. They believe in that “righteous indignation” stuff. This is most commonly so from parents and religious leaders. They’ve taken it upon themselves to judge others like it is the perfectly Christian thing to do (they enjoy it too much.) It kind of goes like this: Jesus died on the cross for me and you don’t care, so you can die with him. Many self punishing Christians exist and they feel that if you don’t do as they do then things are unfair. That is the psychology behind it. That and they want power. The two don’t even have to coexist. Some are only in it for the feelings of power it imparts on them.

Don’t let others get in the way with your own relationship with God. God is above them. Don’t let them make you feel inadequate in those regards because that is a bad thing. Don’t let them be your example of what a Christian should be. Those are poor examples. They are made up of non Christians when things start turning into abuse. If someone is abusing you then tell it to the world. Tell it to everyone until that person is punished for it, even if only for those you save from the same harm (whose abuse would discontinue if you had the person doing it punished.) Consider that acting on God’s will. He does not want you or others being abused in His name.

What is a cult made up of? Well first of all, their leaders pose as people above people. They are crafty at making others think they are special (enlightened, “gifted,” a phenomenon over other life.) They claim to be Jesus Christ and more likely than not really do believe that that’s who they are. They may have some little doubt regarding that but the other half is larger and takes greater control over them. They claim to have a great secret (and how lucky you are to share it with them.) They are the only ones going to heaven, for example, or the world is going to end at (this) precise time. They isolate their followers. In order to trap them, they’ll make them hate their very family, “the sinners that they are.” They are divided against the world. Sometimes with the dire consequences of going against the government. They will take every dime from you. They’ll have you sell you homes for their sake. They brainwash their members with endless study and devotion not leaving much time for anything else. Those are the attributes of a cult.

They are dangerous. They enslave their members. They rob from their members. They falsely portray Christianity. They are an abomination among Christianity.

When God Is The Most Important Thing

We can set aside worldly things right away. We can set them aside all together and focus on Him instead. As John said, “those who love the world do not have the love of the father with them.” So you will hear disputes between people and see how divisive they are. You can choose to fight along or just have too much regard for scripture to really care. In that way the scripture can save you from a lot.

It can save you from their troubles and little agonies. They live soft lives of delicate concerns. They are quickly agitated and set out to fight against those concerns they have. You all along do not need to engage with any of it. You can just know that this is the way the world has always been.

If you were to compare the world’s problems with those of scripture you will most likely find them very different from the other. The problems of the world are a cultural thing of traditions and endless objectives to creating a utopia apart from God. They’ve long strived to make a better world, not knowing that the world has just as many problems as it always has. The focus has just shifted as it has again and again.

It’s important to know this: first they create a problem and then they look for a solution. It is not for solution sake though but for problem sake. Centuries can pass before they happen to return to some old kind of problem (they make  to solve.) Indeed everyone is on board to fix the new problem. The one side of an enemy exists just as much as the other. It is a game that way. With a lot of silence things can even calm down and get better. That in fact is more effective. These little wars we wage are never ending. People get tired of the old problems and solutions. Ironically that is what fixes the problem a lot of the time.

It is a war game of theirs. One army tries to outdo the other. People don’t realize just how much they love the opposing side. It is because of them that they have power and a cause (a worldly one.) A little power will not do, certainly not. Their side has to be up in the other’s faces. They must recruit the most and gain the most while the other side is diminished as much as possible. In the end, who will win?

The Bible however has existed a great deal of time and is a book unchanged. In the right hands it is known for what it is. In the wrong hands it is appropriated to the modern world. People as such are all too able to shift around its meaning and ignore this and add to that. They’d take out chunks of the bible entirely. It is like what the serpent said in the beginning, “did God really say…”

We don’t have to go about offending everyone but we should follow the Bible for what it is, not what it should be.

We however are put to ease. We are as timeless as The Bible, still following it today. While the world has changed and changed and changed, our true selves have not. We have done quite well in the world. We have raised great children. We have been a good example whether that is acknowledged or not. Some bad apples cannot stain our reputation, not truly.

After all it is not the wisdom of Man. It is the wisdom of God.

I will now be working this book into my next one which will be called “Good Christian Philosophy.” So here are some more philosophy centric essays. My upcoming book will not contain these, only based around the idea of philosophy with all new essays. That book will also be available in many places as a free ebook. It will also be in the public domain as all of my writings are. Thank you for your continued reading and be sure, they are public domain books.

The Kinds Of Lessons We Have To Learn (And Growing Up) And Finding Work

Whether we learn them young or later in life, if we do not, life will not go well for us. Some may take until their 30s to really mature. Early life can be a time of fights and arguments. I think that depends a lot on your genes. It depends on how well you are raised for sure. It may take some to go to jail. It may take a parent just letting go, as they did all that they could and the rest is up to you. Work may not be pleasant at first. You may have not even had to do chores as a kid. Then again maybe you did and moving onto a job is easier for you because of it. Some might try to postpone things. They may spend time in school and not really go anywhere with it. They may instead take school very seriously and get a degree. A person may have to adjust to work but it becomes easier over time. You may be fired a few times, but keep trying. Try to move forward. You don’t want to be a grown person with a teenager job. Look for what is best for you. That very much depends on the person. Here are some examples: receptionist, mail person, delivery person, driver, janitor, cook, fast food, are “low tier.” Trucker, mechanic, nurse, small business owner, street vendor, therapist, are “mid tier.” Those require a certificate, a little training, or license (like a commercial driver’s license or a therapist license.) Then there is upper education that grants you better jobs (doctor, programmer, electrician, theologian, and so on.)

You could always try the at home kind of thing. You could attempt to be “online famous.” You could create an online store through various mediums. Some people go to certain thrift stores to gather and resell. You could become a self published author. You could fix game consoles and resell those. With whatever you do, you can learn various talents online. You could become an inventor. Whatever happened to all of the inventors anyway? You don’t find enough people these days in their little rooms coming up with great new things. Maybe just simple gimmicks at best. For the person that comes up with a great new thing that way and patents it, they can have a really good fortune ahead of them.

The “grown up money” can be a great thing. For the first time we have the money to get what we always wanted but couldn’t without a job. We have to learn to budget it though. While we may want to spend as much as we can on things other than food and rent, we have to learn to budget it so we can have food and shelter. It is for the best that we learn to save money, too. As I was taught, “let it go a little at a time.” You just might have a day when you really want something, something that suddenly comes to mind.

As kids our good days are secured. We don’t have to buy food or anything. We don’t have to get up and go to work. School is much easier as a kid. Then as teenagers we might find school more difficult. I think it helps to provide your children with the best school clothes and school supplies, as far as their pride goes. If they come to school in a poor way then they can be embarrassed by being there.

We become adults though and have to work or obtain higher education. We also most likely will want to marry. That can be a rocky road, marriage. Speaking from what I have witnessed in many ways, it is a challenge to keep a marriage together but becomes easier. You must learn to “settle in” with each other. You must fight your inner demons that would have you separate with your partner, that would have you think of them in very negative ways. Again, what you are after is in finding contentment with having the person you do, to “set yourself in peace” with them.

Some face the prospect of being homeless. That is quite a hole to get out of. Some parents face the prospect of their children never getting jobs. They’ll either allow them to stay or cut the cord, as they say. So where is a sure job to get yourself out of that situation? A fast food place might be a good bet. As long as you can clean up and go around town filling out applications for the simpler jobs that may work out. You might go to a military recruitment office for whatever branch in the military and join them. That takes at least a year before it will happen. It is not as simple and quick as you may think. There are physicals and an expectation of at least a little education. There are places you go to for day long physicals, intelligence tests, processing, and paperwork kinds of things. There is a lot of processing. So it isn’t like “sign a paper and get on a bus to boot camp.” Not at all.

There is Job  Corps (if that is still around, I’m not sure.) The Job Corps teaches you a trade and helps you get a job for that trade. Then there is Good Will, which helps you find work. I have a friend who is a janitor who got his job from them. There are lots of agencies that help people find work. As for education, there are online courses with or without real degrees, and things of certificates. I have a food handler’s license. It came from a really common sense test. The certificates you can get are usually easy enough yet will get you much better jobs than, say, in fast food. Whatever your job is, if you love it you love it. If it doesn’t give you a lot of money yet you feel you have enough, then there is no reason to quit and find greater work. Except maybe as a challenge to yourself.

One point I would stress: there are so many jobs out there. There are so many different kinds! So you have the pick of the litter. Just take the time to decide what is best for you.

Misplaced Philanthropy

One side of the spectrum has it that bad people should be met with a challenge: a challenge of a greater good above them. That greater good is there to save the innocent. The worst violations of human rights come from evil people and their groups. More than from our leaders in a number of ways. We are a peace for all people. They would tread right over that and use that against us. There are no things like compassion in their hearts. Some of them have the blackest hearts you can imagine. They’d take pleasure in ending the life of another. They’d sometimes just throw them away like garbage. That is the spirit without anything Holy in it at all. Just a twisted evil..

I think that the victim’s family should decide if a person is executed or not. If one of their siblings or parents say so, then there you go. We cannot imagine the pain that the victims' family were given by the evil person. It is outside of our scope and understanding but to be sure, it is painful for them. It serves philanthropy to deal them their due. Unless we have lost loved ones in that way, how are we going to say that their punishment should not be so strict?

There is no shame greater than that given to a person when their assailant walks free.

Some people would mock our institution of jail just calling it an orange suit pajama party where you are fed and do not have to work. Some would prefer it over the life they are living.

We have come to not expect enough from people. In the 1930s the great depression was going on. That was about the start of the welfare system. You know what most thought about it? They felt too ashamed to take it even though they direly needed it. They had lived for generations knowing that life was about work and its value and importance. So it seems people “eased into” taking welfare. It left all aspects of shame regarding it. People in fact take it as a good, free, and fast buck and want to jump aboard with others taking it. Since then untold amounts of help is being given. Things are met with perfection. Regulations ensure them. That is why the homeless cannot have simple forms of housing because, “that’s not a regulated home.” Things have also been established to make work life as easy and gentle as possible. We keep driving up minimum wage and if something goes wrong with an employee (even if it is their mistake) they can sue the hell out of the company. They’ll find sneaky little ways to sue, some of them. There is no hard dollar earned. The consequences of that are: things take longer to build, they cost more to build, they continue to cost more to operate, their employees are paid more over less work, less good things are being made, and progress is lost.

People should accept their part in things becoming bad. If they are at all responsible then they should have no finger to point. We put the blame on politicians. We put the blame on “the system,” then we have problems identifying just who is to blame and how to remedy it all together. So the politicians come up with the lines, “we need more gun control, we need more oversight,” telling it to corrupt people who put all the blame on them.  

I look to a day when work means something again and when it brings about a stronger people. That is what we have lost: strength.

If a person is to go to prison, to prison they will go. One imprisoned person saves ten lives, ten saves a hundred. If people get away with things then that is the measure that lives are saved. One less person who would randomly attack is found around. One less bag stuffed with expensive goods is taken from their owners. One less hand there is with a hammer busting out jewelry cases. One less fist there is that punches an elderly person. Two less hands there are that shove an elderly person. One less mass murderer there is that would kill many. Whenever these people are locked up, the world becomes a little bit better of a place.

Philanthropy Where It Does Belong

Give praise to the one that works. Let those who are responsible people be given honor. Give more understanding for those who rarely at all are at fault. “Teach a homeless person to fish.” If you own a business you might try to go out into town to find a homeless person to work for you. Let them know what money they would receive for it and give them a chance. Help people who are trying to help themselves. If they won’t listen or put any effort into it then give your help to somebody else. It is like being a good samaritan. You want more than a temporary and short lasting solution. You want a life changing one.

Find a good not for profit to donate to. Be sure of who you are donating to and where it goes but surely there are good ones out there. They do what the Church would do: give to those in need. It has the same effect as tithing. As the Bible says, “tithe ten percent.” Of course if you are a part of a Church then that should be tithed to the Church. We can reach further with our money in today’s time. We can send it across the world if we wanted to. They didn’t have that privilege in the earlier days of Christianity. Now we do.

Don’t give to a mega preacher. Don’t give money to those whose sermons are occupied in an arena full of thousands of people. That’s the great test that I have talked about before: if a preacher is wealthy then, as it goes, “You cannot serve God and money.” Serving money means buying things exclusively for yourself. It means serving yourself with it. Donating it.. That is serving God with money. Buying mansions? They usually come to the conclusion that the scripture “God will bless you and give you all you want” means they should hold onto their millions of dollars (or tens of thousands if they are not so “blessed.”) So they have exuberant things. What is wrong with that? What’s wrong with that is that there are people in need and that is where the money should be going. Just as the Bible says again and again: feed the poor, put your treasure in heaven and not earth, and so on. Then there is the scripture that spells it out plainly (as shown a little further below.)

Of course a preacher should have enough money to live off of. There are those though who would buy private jets for themselves and worse, it is plain to see that they are not people of God to begin with. Christians are just silly people to them with silly beliefs and easy to take from. The only TV pastor I ever got into was the late Arnold Murray. He paid for his time on TV with “paid programming,” programming usually used for “made for TV” products you can buy. So he paid for his presence on TV. He wasn’t a pulpit pounding yelling motivating kind of nut. He was studious towards the Bible. He took the lessons he taught and placed them on cassette (later CD) and paper. He offered one CD for free, his lessons of Revelations. You could really see that he wasn’t in it for easy money and in fact wanted to earn all of the money he made. That’s truly a diamond in the rough when it comes to televangelists (or whatever you would call him personally. I wouldn’t use the same term with him.)

Acting Strongly On Faith (And Maybe Too Much On It)

There is the “Christian leap” of taking all you have, selling it, helping the poor with that money, and regaining what you have lost (which you will not only have again but you will have salvation with it.) As The Bible says:

16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. 18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, 19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? 21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. 22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. 24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

Matthew 19:16-24 KJV.

This sort of thing is acting on faith. It is acting on faith when you give all you can. It is a hard choice we make for the Christian better when we do. It includes fasting. Some Christians don’t care about the flesh at all. They look beyond dying. Suicide is certainly a sin, however. How can you be forgiven if you are already dead? They said that Judas was condemned to hell. Jesus said that not one of his is lost beside the son of perdition. Judas hung himself. The Holy Spirit gives us hope, peace, comfort, and life. Taking our life blasphemes it. God gave us life, but we do not want it? God would not have us in pain, starving, or without anything. We give to the poor because they don’t have anything. Not because we shouldn't have them ourselves. Wouldn’t that make us poor? That sounds like a silly circle to me.

We can at least have a little less fear of death. As for me, that took away my panic attacks. I used to lay down at night thinking ‘someday I will die,’ and it deeply scared me, was a horrible fear to have. I had to put my mind more into the hereafter. When I did those fears went away. We live knowing that this world doesn’t have any real power over us. Things can be bad sometimes or get that way but we can at least know that this world has no real power over us. May God keep our lives well though while we are on this earth.

Some of us would walk right out of our homes like we are the buddha or something. We feel that obtaining eternal life requires it. As with scripture that clears up a lot of misunderstanding: salvation is a gift, it is not something we earn. Romans 8:32/ Ephesians 2:8. The true power of faith is not found in such things. The true power of faith is in things such as making people feel better (comforting them, complimenting them, helping them out, and being their friends.) It is giving a homeless person a bag of fast food. I was homeless at one time. Do you know how unbelievably good that fast food was? I would be in their places for an hour slowly eating a chicken sandwich. Just loved a cold fountain drink a great deal. It brightened up my day everytime.

It is our greatest objective to make the world a better place and the lives of people a better thing. It is found in answers against our curse. It is in the remedies we have come up with against that, in spiritual form. It is about giving the Holy Spirit to all. It is about bringing others to God. It is about living better lives personally, ones without blame. It is about bringing about peace. It is found in love.

A Little Bad Is A Lot Of It

Things have gotten out of proportion. People have become less sensitive towards it. There was a time when one cartoon was thought of as controversial. There was a time when certain video games were thought of as controversial. There was a time that it applied to movies and music too. Things had not gotten nearly as bad by comparison. Things sort of snuck in until everything in them was found acceptable. We must remember that children are more impressionable than us. We grew up with it building up slowly. They have it all at once. They are things hard to avoid too, everyone has a smartphone these days. It has all become a very bad influence. In many ways we cannot even return to more light hearted and morally grounded things. Those things have been put to shame by the worst of things.

Drugs have gotten both worse and cheaper. They can kill a person who takes them, easily.

In the past, R rated movies contained just about the only porn you could find, save some VHS tape or magazine that was hidden in some place. Now this stuff is widely out in the open. It is making people more and more perverted, and worse, from an early age. All forms of vulgarity are put before the eyes and the ears without restraint. Cursing is a verbal art form for these people. Sin is presented and promoted to its extreme.

It is hard to believe that Stravinsky’s Rite Of Spring once caused a riot in Paris on its premiere. That happened in the early 1900s however, and it was nothing more than a classical piece with a harsh sounding orchestra. Later Elvis Presely would swing his hips and that was something found intolerable. In the 70s came metal music, with Black Sabbath. In the 80s the worst imaginable music was being produced. That included bands like Slayer and Morbid Angel. The Devil moves fast. He knows his time is short, and that angers him.

Our Roman Colosseum is found in our news. All bad things are brought into entertainment. There is nothing that is hidden. In a sense we have become nothing more than naked animals. People have delved deep into their animal nature over their spiritual one. Bad things are glorified all over. We might have better lives. We might have more wholesome lives. We may lead more peaceful and spiritual lives. Otherwise we are eating the same forbidden fruit that everyone else is.. Hogging on it in fact. Stuffed fat with cups overflowing. A Satanic sort of feast. A place where we as Christians should not dine.

Nor fill our bags with store goods and take them home with us without paying. Who's going to stop all the thousand of us? In a riot they loot and vandalize.. Whose to stop them? Everyone is engaging in it. They’d prefer that they would rule over the police so they call the police on others making up lies about them. They so want a gun brought into their problem.. With another who did no other wrong than exist. They collectively spit upon others and the sanctity of life itself. They have become gruesome and murderous at heart. They have become saturated in sin.

The light of Christ is far from them. They are unmoved by it in every way. They go to where their human nature will take them.. To the next pleasurable thing or the thing that grants them greater power over others. So they lead selfish lives without regard to how others may suffer from it. Life is a thing that they must get all they can before they die. Rules and establishments have no purpose or meaning to them. Only pleasure/ pain have meaning to them. Why get better when there are shortcuts? Why not talk the government into helping them? These are the kinds of questions they ask. They seldom ask themselves how they can be a better person and when they do they use kooky answers. Answers that really only increase what they are already, instead of facing change. In other words they use excuses and means and ways to cheat themselves through. They are serpents that would have wings. When they see us they think ‘horse!’ And ride upon us. They think ‘dog!’ and attach themselves to us like ticks. They think ‘bird!’ and turn themselves into sticks.

The Life Of The Ascetic

Being an ascetic basically means that you put spirituality far above carnality. This is a choice that some of us make. It is made up of things like monk living, constant prayers, fasting, and lots of self restraint. Like Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus was in constant prayer and wanted the same from his disciples on that night. They kept falling asleep however. Like Jesus in the desert where he fasted for forty days and forty nights. We, of course, could not fast so greatly. Paul was an ascetic. There was a sort of movement revolving around that in his time that he made a connection to and brought to Christianity. He said things like “food and clothes are enough for a person.” And “though I have a little, I have a lot.” He also said that he accepts a lot (so if a lot were given to him he can enjoy that too.) Paul taught a lot about self restraint. He often favored the spiritual life over the physical.

If it is the way you want to develop as a Christian then that is your every right. You might for a few months, a year, or ten, that is up to you. One thing to be said about it is that it is a most humbling sort of experience. It brings your focus to God. It brings you closer to Him that way. It can teach the good lesson of appreciating what you have. At the end of the road you may have those things brought back into your life, when it is you’ve decided to return to ordinary life. It can take you away from a lot of bad influences in life too which are unavoidable in regular life. Monk settings could teach you to work by doing regular chores. The same sort of things happened to me in the course of being homeless and later group homes. I went from a person who never cleans to a person who keeps things clean, for one.

Just don’t dig yourself into a hole you cannot get out of. It is a hole when you live a life where you can pretty much not have anything. I was there before. I would only buy bibles and highly generic food. I felt like I shouldn’t have anything if I was to be a good Christian. I was wrong, of course. It is almost like a paradox I would say. Good in one way, bad in another. So I would just leave those choices up to you. You will know what is best when it comes to your Christian development.

No Lukewarmness

So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Revelation 3:16.

Too many Christians just dress like Chrisitans without really being them. That verse speaks of it perfectly. They are lukewarm. They are not really involved. If you are cold you are adamantly one and if hot the other.

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. Isaiah 11:6.

I say that Jesus Christ is not out to condemn. The Bible says that not one sheep of our shepherd is lost. It says that no one is damned other than the son of perdition. It says that every knee shall bow down to Jesus Christ. It says that it is impossible for the rich to enter into Heaven. The disciples then asked “how then can anyone enter into Heaven?” And Jesus replied “with man this is impossible [for him/her to enter into Heaven on her/his own] but for God all things are possible.” It is a lesson that is not taught enough (that God is graceful, God is forgiving, God is love.) The New Testament moves too many Christians to talk of Hell and damnation. That was never meant to be such a past time for us. To strike fear into the heart of our own. To tell anyone they are going to hell. We should not speak to each other that way.

Christians don’t know what to make of that verse in Isaiah. The wolf will dwell with the lamb. It takes an open mind in such a way that our minds are often closed to what that would mean: the good and bad will dwell together. There are arguments that we are going to hell for this and that. There is more scripture that supports that we are all saved. There is more scripture detailing God as a Father and that God is love. Like Jesus said on the cross, “forgive them, for they know not what they do.” There are lots of metaphors in the Bible and, maybe, hell is one of them. I would say so.

What God does not appreciate is a person that is Christian in name only. They tout around a Bible that they don’t really know anything about. They read without doing. They know to prove their knowledge over it at best. The lukewarm verse tells us that we cannot be Christian in name only. “Believing that you have Jesus in your heart is enough,” that’s easier said than done. It is easy to lean on. It is without substance though. The Bible teaches us that..

20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? 22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? 23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham  believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. 24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. 25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

(James 2:20-26 KJV.)

Paul said, in 1 Corinthians Chapter 13:

13  Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not  charity, it profiteth me nothing.

4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6 rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7 beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect is come , then that which is in part shall be done away.

11 When I was a child, I spake  as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

A very lovely chapter in the Bible indeed. You can perform great deeds. You can do great and Holy things. You can accomplish miracles. But if love is not behind them, then they are empty and pointless. So we don’t only give to the poor, we are happy to do so, otherwise we are only performing acts which do not mean anything to us. In other words we are not acting on love. Just following meaningless instructions instead. That is “gray,” that is “lukewarm.”

There is such a thing as intellectual pleasure however. The older we get the more our pleasure comes in intellectual forms over emotional ones. We can be pleased to help and understand what it does, with appreciation. We can take up our job doing good things as a thing we have determined should be done, with the results leading to a desired righteous end. “When I was a child I acted like one.” “When I became an adult I put childish things behind me.”

  Means Of Our Worship And Understanding

Church is the place we gather to worship. You can find a Church in just about every city. Often many per city. People always have options and want the one that fits them best. People sometimes even drive to a neighboring city because it has the Church they want to go to. There are youth programs. They are picked up in a bus and taken to their Church service. I used to go to Church that way along with many of my high school friends. We went on outings too. I went to a Church camp when I was 8 years old. It was in the Colorado mountains one summer. We did more than go to Church services there. We also climbed a nearby mountain and enjoyed nature. Then there is summer bible school. I really enjoyed that. I was very young when I went to them. We did some really cool crafts there. We heard the story of the Bible in the kind of children’s book way.

So there are your pick of Churches, an opportunity to go places with them, and summer bible school.

For some, their Church is on TV. If that is all that is available to them and they cannot make it to a real Church then at least they can “attend” one on TV. What if it isn’t live? I think that is a strange thing. Like being in a sermon in the past. I can just say it is better than nothing. As long as you are learning then there’s nothing wrong with it. You don’t really sing or pray together though. Christianity is a brother/sisterhood.

Then there are the things of learning. We have a great deal of that available. We can learn about individual scripture these days. We simply couldn’t do that very well before the internet. We had to get just the right book and that was about as good as we had. Now we can take verse by verse and understand it better thanks to websites and videos helping us out. If we are KJV fans we can find exact translations of the old words. That used to be relegated to the Strong’s Concordance (though that is still a good book to have in my opinion.) We can find things in the Bible if we have an idea of what we want to read about. We can pull up where this topic and that is in the Bible. What Bible translation should you use? I say use them all and get a total understanding. All of them at once, for each verse, and websites lay the different ones out for every version out there. One thing is for sure, there is always more to learn about the Bible. It is a book that is like that. So often, it is not understood off hand. We have come a long way since King James had his translation made (which in my opinion is inspired.)

For some, fasting is spiritual and a form of worship for them. That is a matter between God and them, not us and them. Jesus said: don’t make yourself look sickly to show off your dedication. Instead, wash your face and appear well, because you are not doing it for others, you are doing it for God. There is our communion ritual. We believe that Easter is the most important Christian holiday. It is about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christmas time comes around and there are a lot of Christian songs played everywhere. Songs about the birth of Jesus Christ. There are also certain Christian programs being shown on TV. They’d take those from us and say “happy holidays,” over “merry Christmas.” They’d take Charley Brown and make it secular. What a pity.

Maybe donating money is an aspect of your Christian life, and that’s great! Just make sure they’re putting their money where their mouth is. Then you yourself might put together a not for profit after doing some careful research. There are people who really know what they are doing. They could be the only source of food for some people in your community. They could go around giving shoes to the homeless. You might go around during winter time giving blankets to the homeless. Believe me, those are very important to them and they kind of get too crazy to hold onto them (I was there before.) Wherever your heart is, so do!

There are Christian magazines and things like that. My favorite is “Our Daily Bread.” As of the time of this writing that is still available. You can either get it free or with any size of donation that you wish to give. Among Chrisitan learning books there are daily scripture books. I really like “Streams in the Desert.” There is the “One Year Bible.” That has you read a little everyday for a year and in a year’s time have read the entire Bible. Of course there are commentary books that elaborate on scripture. There are many different kinds of Bibles out there for sure. You can find one exactly right for you. One that is compact if you want, or large font, of the translation you want, hard cover, soft cover, with references, with explanations, rice paper or traditional paper, and so on.

Then there are audio/visual presentations (movies based on scripture.) They don’t always get it word for word though. We kind of see our Jesus in action. I suppose that gives us a different perspective. It can be said that it is a quicker and easier way of learning. Read for an hour or watch a film for an hour, unless you are a heavy reader then of course watching it is going to be easier.

Consider It A Quest, An Undertaking That God Has Given You

We have it rough and difficult. We are a godly race that is vulnerable to great lengths. We can at least have the pride of getting through this life, by its very experience. Our curse has not yet ended personally, but we know it will. In the meantime we must do the best things we can with what little we have. If we can take that little bit and make it bigger, then we will have excelled as Christians.

The path that God has put us on is a rocky one.

13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Matthew 7:13-14 KJV

But for it we will receive the crown of life:

12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

James 1:12 (King James Version.)

A difficult path. Life is not easy. As strong as we are over the flesh, so exists the power of our soul. The soul is much more powerful than our bodies. Our foe is Satan, The Dragon. Our excalibur is The Sword of Christ. Jesus in fact returns on a white horse. He doesn’t come with peace, but with a sword. Jesus Christ had to face death. He received it like a lamb of God. He was the Lamb of God. They put upon him a crown of thorns for saying that he was king. He will return as a king so great that every knee will bow down to him. He will be the most perfect ruler, one which humanity could not come up with itself. Jesus Christ faced death. A very bad one in fact. So we too face death save those who are a part of the rapture, and Elija. Elija went up into heaven in a whirlwind.

The monster that the serpent gave us is death. We are most victorious over it through the power of Christ. It isn’t Batman or Superman for us. It is Jesus Christ, the true and living hero. We live in a world of monsters. Some wrap around us and choke us, some try to consume us, some sting us, some slay us, but as long as we are with Christ they have no power over us, for in death we are reborn and become truly stronger. At the end of the road we become Holy Angels whose kingdom is returned to us, under the power and authority of God.

Then all of those monsters on Earth will be torn away from it like weeds. God will gather them like weeds and burn them. Our enemies and this hellish life we have been trapped in will not keep us or remain. There will be a time when these lives of ours are nothing more than legends. The Legend of a world of death, sin, and depravity, yet salvation too. A world of monsters. Stories made of us about this strange world we lived in. A world that is no more, now just a thing of the past.

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having the utility belt of truth buckled around your waist, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having fitted your feet with the preparation of the Good News of peace, 16 above all, taking up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 with all prayer and requests, praying at all times in the Spirit, and being watchful to this end in all perseverance and requests for all the saints: 19 on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in opening my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the Good News, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Ephesians 6:10-20 (World English Bible.)

Isolation.. Waiting

What is a Christian to do when all around him or her is lost? Where no good companion exists? When the world is evil all around? Where even in Church things have gone astray? We have truly dwindled down in numbers by that point. God would have our lights stay lit. He would hide us from wicked people. Maybe we are in a nation that would kill us over our beliefs. Maybe a once  godly nation isn’t anymore. They’d spit in our faces knowing who we are. We just know that our existence is detested by all so what should we do?

We can only hide. We can only “blend in,” to some extent it is like “when in Rome, do as the Romans.” We wouldn’t make bad sinners out of ourselves however. We wouldn’t want to accompany those Romans and would be better off alone, and so we would have to be isolated.

We’d “live to fight another day.” We would go about discreetly praying that God keeps us safe and protects us. We might even have to hide our Bibles. So then the world becomes worse and worse. We wait for our release from it, hopefully brought about by the rapture. Existing no longer out in the open. At least not doing the bad things that bad people have brought into commonality. To have any friends might mean you have to do bad things along with them. It is in cases like those where you are better off alone always hoping and waiting for God to return.

In Wicked Societies, Don’t Trust Anyone

These people’s hearts are black. They’d use you in any way they can. They’d take your every dollar. They’d sexually assault you, traffic you, harm you, do heinous things to you. Their morality hangs on a thread if it is there at all. They are morally deficient. Yet to them there is not enough evil in the world. There exists a segment of a population that is good. They have good jobs that they take seriously. They are moral people. They are not vulgar and things like that. They don’t consume drugs. They probably don’t even consume alcohol. So they live in this rainbow world oblivious to the “dogs” outside. Good people should procure and secure their protection. Beware, bad people would make things where you cannot defend yourself. It is like Satan “finding another way through the door.”

If you see that society is occupied by wicked people (who in fact are probably evil overall) then be on guard. We can be naive as Christians. We think that others are a lot like us when they can be quite the opposite. One mistake among bad people can cost you in dire ways. There was this guy on the news yesterday. He was shooting his gun in the air late at night. His neighbors came to him and asked him to stop. They were trying to keep an infant in their home sleep. The guy went right into their house after that and shot at them, in an execution manner, killing them. That is what I mean when I say “evil.” Personally I feel the guy deserves the death penalty for that. I don’t care if it is humane or not to death penalty him.. It is inhumane that these people are allowed in any way to exist on this earth.

Then I see a big smile on politicians. With how things are in this nation I don’t feel that anyone should be smiling at all. They go away from the issues for this or that reason like they brush it off to the side. We should not be smiling when things like this are happening!

However…

It does not mean you are a bad person if you lack empathy. It isn’t the feeling behind helping another, it is just helping another. You don’t have to feel sorry for someone to help them. In fact you shouldn’t “make” yourself feel sorry for others. If you don't, you don’t. You can still understand things however. You can understand things apart from emotions.

Choosing To Be At Ease And Ways To Reduce Stress And Worry

Sometimes we just need to stop a moment and bring things back into perspective. The whole world could double down on us but concerns over that are all trivial in the end. Most of the time at least, as people tend to exaggerate problems. My little problem today was that in this hotel the shared bathroom was wrecked. What kind of person does this stuff? The toilet seat covers were soaked in water, possibly piss. The bath tub was full of water and stopped up. Do people hate their lives so much that they would do this stuff? They just have to do it? I can never understand things like that.

These worries can collect both quickly and in large numbers. There are certain things we need to do to remove our worries. The most powerful of these is by choice. That is more of a command and less of a series of excuses. Just don’t worry. That is for sure a power. Work helps. Work towards your future. For me that is as an author writing everyday. That is what I have settled on. For others that may be music, art, making a video game, or a limitless amount of other tasks. I used to dwell on things. I used to anticipate every day before payday wanting that payday to arrive. Now that I write for the first half of the day it’s never on my mind. They say you can’t have leisurely time without work.

Humankind wasn’t made to be stationary. Nature and the world itself wasn’t meant to be as seen in seasons (and explained well in Ecclesiastes.) So creative work, regular work, cleaning, whatever it is, must be in our lives if we are not going to dwell on things. Routines can be a lot of help. Routines are great. You make coffee in the morning. You lay out what you will need for the day. You do a series of things each at their particular time. You set forth a special day to do special things such as on the weekend. It adds structure to your life.

I found the most important thing for getting good sleep is just patience. It can be very frustrating to fall asleep. That itself keeps you awake. You remain too aware of your conscious state. Just lay down and think, waiting for your body to wear itself out. See, thinking doesn’t keep you awake unless you are thinking about wanting to fall asleep. Your thoughts start to take on a life of their own after a little time. You lose control over them and they become more dream-like. Your body will wear itself out. It might take 45 minutes, it may take two hours, but your body will shut itself down. So the keyword for good sleep is patience.

Most importantly, Christians were not meant to worry. We should know that things are in God’s hands and He has every good intention for us. He has determined our beginning and our end, and sees us through into our next existence, in Heaven. So we should be at least a little less fearful of death or things going wrong. Sure there are upsets but always say to yourself the world has no real power over me. Things might be bad at the moment, this is just a moment and will never be anything more. Some decades here, middle age if we are lucky, a long life hopefully, but all of eternity ahead of us.

Do God’s work if you have nothing more to do. Turn to the Bible. I am sure it will comfort you.

Turning Away From The World

“The world” has no good thing to offer. The world is ruled over by the natural and flesh side of existence. Think of Heaven.. It is not a terrible place. We are foreigners here waiting to return home. We have only a glimmer of just how great it will be. All parties are fake, just a denial. Just a temporary fix, through denial. Through ignoring the bad, for ignoring the bad, they do things like party. There is never a good enough bandage for our wounds aside from that given to us by Jesus Christ.

We live in a place where either sin comforts us or The Holy Spirit comforts us. We don’t know how much pleasure is in fact pain. This state would be agonizing for the angels. They’d be disgusted by our greatest pleasures. As for some, that is all that they have. Eating a concoction of beef meat, pickle, onion, cheeses, and tomato goop. Can life get any better than that? Some have turned to chemicals and alcohol to alleviate their suffering, which only leads to more of it due to it being only a temporary fix.

Take a poster board and put a star sticker on it for every good thing that you do. It would show you how much you value what is Holy. “Store your treasures in Heaven.” Where your heart is is where you will go. People on earth can rob you. Things of the earth can wear out and fade away. But the gifts of Heaven are eternal. Just as Jesus said.

Important Scripture

Treasures in Heaven– Matthew 6:19-21

The Good Shepherd– John 10:11-14

Salvation is a Gift– Romans 8:32/ John 3:16

Be Holy (Because God is Holy) Leviticus 11:44

House of Rock or House of Sand– Matthew 7:24-27

The Lord’s Prayer– Matthew 6:9-13

The Lord Is My Shepherd– Psalms 23

The Sermon On The Mount– Matthew chapter 5

The End Times/Signs of the End– Matthew 24

The Prodigal Son– Luke 15:11-32

But if I had not Love– 1 Corinthians 13

The Fruits of the Spirit– Galatians 5:22-23

The Armor of Salvation– Ephesians 6:10-18

The Ten Commandments– Exodus 20:1-17

Jesus Christ Fulfilled The Law– Matthew 5:17

The Beatitudes– Matthew 5:1-12

Love One Another– John 13:34-35

To Everything There Is A Season.. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Be Strong and Courageous– Joshua 1:9

Forgive One Another– Ephesians 4:32/ Colossians 3:13

The Unfaithful Servant– Luke 12:41-48

Only Faith Pleases God– Hebrews 11:6

Do Not Give What Is Holy To Dogs– Matthew 7:6

The Last Supper– Matthew 26:17-30

Love God With All Of Your Heart And Love Thy Neighbor As Thyself– Matthew 22:39-39

God Knows The Plans He Has For You– Jeremiah 29:11

God Is Love– 1 John 4:7

The Holy Trinity: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the Beginning. John chapter 1.

Jesus Is The Son of God– Matthew 16:15-17

The Rapture– 1 Thessalonians 5:1-8

Judge Not (Lest You Be Judged Yourself)- Matthew 7:1-3

Wisdom is Justified By Her Children– Luke 35

He Who Is Without Sin (Cast The First Stone)- John 8:7

The Good Samaritan– Luke 10:25-37

About My Books:

I write only public domain books and make them free as ebooks, available in a number of places including: Google Play Books, Amazon, Lulu, Archive.Org, Free-Ebooks.net, and less popular sites. They should be easily enough found under Adam Jeremy Capps. My two previous books were “Christianity in the End of Days,” and “Christian Life And Christian Living.” There will be more Christian books to come and they will be free and in the public domain as well. You can find them in paperback form if you prefer. They were set to be as cheap as possible by setting my revenue goals for them at 0. In other words I am not paid for them, as I want it to be.

I hope you have enjoyed this book and I hope you share it with others. Thanks for reading!

Adam Jeremy Capps.