Keep The Faith

The Grape Harvest and the Day of Judgment A reflection on violence, true faith, God’s mercy, and a surprising lesson from this year’s grape harvest. What I am about to say is not meant to put down the Muslim faith. Every religion has groups who interpret their holy books differently. But to those who believe that God desires you to kill others, I must ask: Are you truly serving the One True God? Killing people simply because they are Jews, Christians, Muslims, Palestinians, Americans, Black, white—whoever it may be—is not righteousness. You cannot force others to believe what you believe. Fear‑based conversion always leads to suspicion, tests, and eventually violence. History shows this has happened even within Christianity. I call myself a Christian, and I believe the One True Living God is a God of peace and love. He gave us laws knowing we would break them, and instead of destroying us, He sent His Son to take our punishment willingly. J...

I’ve gotten tired of reading on Facebook all the negative comments associated with President Obama; mostly from Christians. Have Christians forgotten the scriptures? Romans 13:1 New American Standard Bible (NASB) Be Subject to Government Romans 13:1 New American Standard Bible (NASB) Be Subject to Government 13  Every [ a ] person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except [ b ] from God, and those which exist are established by God.   Daniel 2:20-21 New American Standard Bible (NASB) 20  Daniel said, “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him. 21  “It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and [ a ] establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men And knowledge to [ b ] men of understanding.   Psalm 75:1-7 New American Standard Bible (NASB) God Abases the Proud, but Exalts the Righteous. For the choir director; s...

Here it is 3:00 AM in the morning. So often I awake at this time when it has something to do with Father God and His work. I’ve been thinking a lot about Satan and the other fallen Angels lately. Satan was created with such great powers. God had to have known before-hand that Satan and the others would do what they did and yet He let them go. If God ruled like Satan does, they would have been gone long ago. I really do believe God still loves them and they have been in His master plan to save us all, His whole creation, from the beginning. Satan, you probably don’t remember me. Back in 1999, I think was the year, I had just started trading in the stock market. I was on the Yahoo stock board, mostly just watching what others said about stocks and to get pointers on how to do things. There was so much scheming and conniving going on there that it was almost useless to a lot of us and a number of us moved over to the Bull board. I bounced back and forth between the two boards ...

Dear Lucifer, May I be so bold as to ask you why you persist in your ways? Have you looked at your kingdom lately? Is this what you hoped for when you decided you wanted to be god? Have you thought about the way you rule your kingdom and the way Father God rules? You rule by instilling fear into those you rule over. Father God rules with loving-kindness. Have you ever done an act of kindness to/for someone and seen their eyes light up because of it? Do those you rule over love you; give you great honor, respect, and praise as we who have seen and experienced Father God’s loving-kindness do? Surely at some time in your existence you too have experienced Father God’s love. I’m guessing that it has been so long ago that you have forgotten it. I want to share a dream with you that I had some time ago. In the dream, I was looking at Father God’s new kingdom. Everywhere I looked, there were pods of people standing in circles and engaged in conversation. As I listened, I...

God’s Day of Judgment and Mercy I feel that God’s Day of Judgment is close, and in a strange way, I consider that day to be a good thing. Not because judgment is pleasant, but because on that day every one of us will finally see the truth about ourselves—our real condition, our real need, and our real worth. Without God, we are worthy to be thrown away like refuse, as if heaven had a great garbage dump. But that is only half the picture. The other half is God’s great compassion and His tender mercies. This is how I see it. When that day comes, you and I will see the kind of punishment we believe we deserve—annihilation, being beaten, or even being hung on a cross. But Jesus has already taken that punishment. He took it for me, for you, for all. He stepped into our place and bore the weight of our sin. This is why the Bible says that every knee will bow: because when we see what He has done, our hearts will overflow with adoration for Father God a...

I just had a lesson taught me in why it is important for me to give Father God honor and respect. This is something I haven’t thought much about but something happened on Easter Sunday that really opened my eyes to this. Our daughter had their fourth precious little baby on Easter Sunday. For this baby, they decided to find out the gender of the baby before he was born. On all the three previous children, they didn’t want to know. There is always a baby naming ceremony very soon after the birth when all the grandparents, great grandparents, and other family members can gather together at their home. The name for each child has been carefully chosen as The Lord has laid the name upon the hearts of our son-in-law and daughter; always names from the Bible having special significance to them at the time. Their first child, our first grand child, was given the name David Joshua. The name David was special to them for many reasons. It means “Beloved” and Joshua, means “God ...

Unity Series — Faith, Obedience, and Entering God’s Rest Foundations of Unity I’ve been spending time in the New Testament book of Hebrews lately. I usually begin in my old New American Standard Bible—the one my wife gave me before we were married, almost forty-one years ago. Maybe that’s why I love this version so much. It carries history. It carries love. But every now and then, I come across a verse that makes me pause and ask, “Why did they translate it that way?” When that happens, I turn to the Ultimate Bible Study Suite on my Kindle for deeper study. Recently, the end of Hebrews 3 stopped me in my tracks. A Translation Difference That Matters Here is how the NASB reads: Hebrews 3:18–19 (NASB) 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief. But the King James Version reads: Hebrews 3:18–19 (KJV) 18 And to whom sware he that th...