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Riding in Tandem with Jesus Christ

I’d never heard this story until last week in church, our Pastor read it to us, and at that point in time, I knew that I just had to share it with you! It might not be ‘exactly’ the way I would have written it, but it seems to come from the same place where many of us either are at or have been, so I left the integrity of the story where the author, as I know it, meant it to be to reflect their story. So, sit back, and read the story… Oh, and, don’t forget to ‘Pedal’!

The Road of Life

At first, I saw God as my observer,
my judge,
keeping track of the things I did wrong,
so as to know whether I merited heaven or hell
when I die.
He was out there sort of like a president.
I recognized His picture when I saw it,
but I really didn’t know Him.

But later on
when I met Christ,
it seemed as though life
was rather like a bike ride,
but it was a tandem bike,
and I noticed that Christ
was in the back
helping me pedal.

I don’t know just when it was
that He suggested we change places,
but life has not been the same since.

When I had control,
I knew the way.
It was rather boring,
but predictable . . .
It was the shortest distance between two points.

But when He took the lead,
He knew delightful long cuts,
up mountains,
and through rocky places
at breakneck speeds,
it was all I could do to hang on!
Even though it looked like madness,
He said,
‘Pedal!’

I worried and was anxious
and asked,
‘Where are you taking me?’
He laughed and didn’t answer,
and I started to learn to trust.

I forgot my boring life
and entered into the adventure.
And when I’d say, ‘I’m scared,’
He’d lean back and touch my hand.

He took me to people with gifts that I needed,
gifts of healing,
acceptance
and joy.
They gave me gifts to take on my journey,
my Lord’s and mine.

And we were off again.
He said, ‘Give the gifts away;
they’re extra baggage, too much weight.’
So I did,
to the people we met,
and I found that in giving I received,
and still our burden was light.

I did not trust Him,
at first, in control of my life.
I thought He’d wreck it;
but He knows bike secrets,
knows how to make it bend to take sharp corners,
knows how to jump to clear high rocks,
knows how to fly to shorten scary passages.

And I am learning to shut up and pedal
in the strangest places,
and I’m beginning to enjoy the view
and the cool breeze on my face
with my delightful constant companion,
Jesus Christ.

And when I’m sure I just can’t do anymore,
He just smiles and says . . . ‘Pedal.’

— author unknown”

Excerpt from Holy Sweat (page 51) by Tim Hansel

Tim Hansel didn’t actually write the story but it was included in the book he wrote called Holy Sweat. If you’ve never heard of Tim Hansel, that’s ok, I hadn’t either up to this point but I took it upon myself to find out something about him. I googled him (and the story) and came up with a wealth of information. I’m not going to tell his story here today because I’m here to talk about Jesus taking control of our lives, but I will tell you that if you are anything like most of us, you have had some circumstances happen to you that you feel shouldn’t have because you don’t know what you’ve done to anger God and draw His wrath upon you. That isn’t always the reason that things happen to us.

Let me tell you something, friend, Tim Hansel was a prime example of being handed a truck full of lemons and making lemonade out of it, and then selling it! Most of us would do extremely well to just be able to make lemonade.

I’m sure Tim would tell you that when you feel like you can get no lower or any flatter on your back and you feel that, if there is a God, He has totally forgotten about you, to lift your eyes a little bit higher than the highest mountain that you face and see the God that created the mountains and created you, and see that He is ultimately in control and that, as you most likely have recently realized, you are totally out of control!

So, keep pedaling! Let God do the steering, and let Him have control of the things that you don’t have control over.

In the time that I have personally been disabled (that, now being about 18 years), and having been also slammed onto my back, flat, with no physical control of any part of my body from my mid-chest down to my toes, and then eventually, after having been told that I would likely never walk or move again, I was able to learn how to move the bottom half of my body, although I still don’t feel much there, then later to be diagnosed with an incurable, inoperable, terminal, Stage 4 Carcinoid Cancer, which thankfully is very slow growing and hasn’t advanced much in the last 10 years but always stands ready to threaten my life once again at a moment’s notice.

I knew God and was ‘saved’ before all of this happened to me, but He has a way of using those low points in our lives to wake us up and get our attention (if we are really paying attention to our circumstances) and let us know that He is still there and wants to lead us on to bigger and better things.

Even though I was never fully ‘healed’ of my infirmities, I have learned that God has allowed these things to happen to me so that I can be used of Him.

He has allowed me to be put into circumstances that, if these things had never happened to me, I would never have been able to run into people that He wanted me to be talking to about Him, or to be in places where I would be able to console someone in similar circumstances (in one way or another, but I doubt and hope that no one has the same situation as mine) and to listen to their stories. Sometimes they are in need of guidance that I can give them and sometimes I am the one in need of guidance from them. But either way, I am always blessed to be able to talk to those people and hopefully be a blessing to them.

I learned many years ago that regardless how I feel at the time or whatever condition/circumstances that I find myself in, there is always someone in a worse way than myself and, because of that, I have no right or reason to feel sorry for myself. It may not make all of my pain go away but it puts me in a state of mind where I am not concerned with my own infirmities but rather in tune with others and wanting/willing to help them, even if it is nothing more than just a prayer – which, possibly, might actually be the best ‘help’ that I could be to them because, much like them, I have no more control over their circumstances than I have of my own.

I have also learned that He keeps me in a position where I am always reliant on Him and I can’t make it without Him, whether it is through pain and my physical problems or through my finances. He always keeps me right on the line so that I am always looking to Him for support.

You have probably heard the saying, ‘barely able to keep my head above water?’ I picture someone in water deeper than they are tall and they have their head bent back so that their mouth and nose are barely able to gasp for air, but something else that I see in that picture is the person’s eyes. They are also above water, even though sometimes the water may splash over them and blind them for a second or two, they are above water and which way are they pointing?

They are pointing UP!

I wonder why that could be… maybe to be able to look in the direction of the Creator – the ONLY ONE that has any control to either drain some of the water from the ‘pool’ (for some of us almost all of the water drains out) or to build up the ground beneath us to give us a better toe-hold below them.

But either way, God, our Creator, the only One that can control the winds and the seas or make the hair on our head grow (if you happen to have any), but in any case, He even knows how many hairs you have on your head. He is the one that puts the wind under the wings of the birds of the air or the air in your lungs.

He is the ONLY ONE that has ANY control over your particular situation.

He may keep your head ‘barely above water’ so that He can use you to be the example to someone else to show them how you are able to breathe and ultimately look to God in your time of need and so that they can see how God actually meets your needs!

A dear friend of mine told me this week about how he had been feeling a bit down and he was grumbling to God and others about things going on in his life. He had looked on his phone (that is how he gets his reminders of what to read for his ‘time with God’, otherwise known as ‘devotions’) one morning and saw the link to his daily reading. As he opened it up the top of the page read: “QUIT WHINING!”

Friend, are you missing something in your life right now? Do you feel like someone is just walking all over you and you can’t take it anymore?

Read the story again!

Let Jesus take control of your life right now. If you don’t know how to do that, please let me know on my ‘Contact Page‘ and I will get back with you and we can chat about it, confidentially. But ultimately, friend, please talk to God about it. Turn your life’s controls over to Him and let Him drive your tandem bike on this wonderful ride we call ‘Life’.

If you feel like you want to read some more about this subject, I’ll leave you some more links at the bottom of this page to take a look at. Don’t just let this go though, friend! You can’t do it all on your own.

© Mark Davis 2017

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by Christians Are Us on September 15, 2017  •  Permalink
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Posted by Christians Are Us on September 15, 2017

https://christiansareus.com/2017/09/15/riding-in-tandem-with-jesus-christ/

Do You Have Questions About Salvation?

For those of you that truly do have questions

regarding true “Salvation” vs. false.

Many of you have seen street evangelist Ray Comfort and have seen his valid method of pointing a person toward the Lord (Jesus Christ) by comparing people’s lives to the original 10 Commandments that God gave Moses nearly 4,000 years or so ago, also found in Exodus 20. While Ray uses this tactic he is very confrontational and will normally end up pushing a person away from God rather than drawing them toward God – While I could use the very same approach, I prefer not to due to the conflict that it creates, so I choose to use the friendlier approach and I like to show people right from the Bible just how God laid out His special plan of “Salvation” to save us from a future eternity in Hell. This being said, I will try to spell out for you as easily as I can God’s plan of Salvation as follows:

  • Back at the beginning of our earthly time (not eternity past), God created Adam and Eve (Genesis 1).  While in the Garden of Eden, God told them that they could eat from anything in the Garden except the fruit of one particular tree – the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. For some strange reason, God gave man (and woman; “man” is being used here as a reference to the collective whole of the human race, moving forward) a “free will”… The ability to choose for themselves what they would do. (Genesis 2:17)

Long story short, Eve, then Adam (in that order according to the Bible – Genesis 3:6) chose to eat of the fruit of the only tree that God told them not to, under penalty of death (Genesis 2:17). This death turned out to be an eternal death and the eventual physical death of their physical body as well. (The serpent, otherwise known as Satan, or the Devil, was the one that approached Eve with the temptation to eat of the fruit originally. Revelation 12:9; 20:2) — Satan, or previously known in Heaven as Lucifer, led a rebellion of the angels in Heaven before the Earth had been created and, again, long story short, had a following of nearly one-third of all of the angels in Heaven, and Lucifer said that he could be just as good as God, if not better, and God could not stand for the rebellion (being sin, as it was against God) and threw Lucifer and his following angels out of heaven and eventually gave them the Earth to roam upon until God’s final judgment which is to happen at some future distant time.

We learn later in the Bible that God created a special place for Satan and his angels called the Lake of Fire, or some even call it Hell. Since there will be people which will choose to follow God and some that will follow Satan, God chose that, after the Judgment, for all of the non-God followers to spend the rest of eternity with the Devil and his angels in the Lake of Fire. (Revelation 19:20) – You can figure that it will not be a party, but rather it will be a place of severe torture and pain and it is said that it is a place where “the worm dieth not“! (Luke 16:19-31) There will be no physical death even though people will want to.
— This story could be very long so I am trying to abbreviate it for you where I can. The whole story and more can be found in the Bible.

God wanted man to spend the rest of eternity with Him in Heaven (“I go to prepare a mansion” John 14:1-3) after His physical death, but since God is perfect and man is sinful, there was no way in our present state for man to enter into the kingdom of Heaven to be with God. So, God could no longer allow man into His PERFECT Heaven. (Habakkuk 1:13)

The Roman's Road to Salvation

The Roman’s Road to Salvation

  • Because we (man) inherit our “sin-nature” (Romans 5:12)– the propensity to sin or break the 10 Commandments in one way or another – some of us worse than others, but all still the same in God’s eyes – Fallible! – and God still cannot let sin into Heaven, none the less! Even if it were only for just a little white lie and that was it… it is still sin nonetheless!
  • God made a way for man to escape the final punishment of eternity in Hell. He chose to come to earth in the form of a man, to be born like a normal man (not an alien coming out of space), to grow up just as a normal child would grow up, and to die the worst death known to man at the time – the death upon a Roman cross, for accusations that were totally untrue and unfounded. (Philippians 2:8)
  • The only real difference between the way He grew up and the way we grow up is that He grew up totally flawless – without sin – none at ALL!!! (Hebrews 4:15) Even though He was tempted just like we are, He never “chose” to sin. (Luke 9:22) This God/Man’s name was Jesus. It is a proven fact, through historians, not listed in the Bible, that He did live and He started what we call today as “Christianity”. The word literally means “Christ-followers” or “Little-Christs” – in other words, we try to emulate what Jesus would do in all situations and actions.
  • One thing that Jesus told His followers was that once He died, He would not just stay in the grave but He would rise again to new life 3 days after (Luke 24:3-8). He died and not just disappear, but He was seen again by more than 3,000 men (not counting women and children) and that was when God allowed us to have His Holy Spirit after we received Him as our Savior. Remember that we are talking about God and that, being God, He can do anything He wants to do – except sin!
    Once we are Saved, He gives us His Holy Spirit to live and dwell with us in our soul (heart as it is known in the “circles”) until we die and are accepted immediately into Heaven. (This is going to be AWESOME!!!!!)
  • The way we know these things is that it is all recorded in a compilation of 66 books together that make up what we call today as the Holy Bible. The way that we know that the Holy Bible is true is that down through the ages – nearly 4,000 years to be nearly exact – there were some people known as “prophets” that God told certain things would happen through history (the advent of Jesus’ birth, His life and His execution included) called prophecy and many of these things have come true as the “prophet” foretold and there are still some that have yet to be fulfilled in the future from now.
  • I will list a few Bible references here (not the only verses that back up these topics but just a few to show we are telling the truth) that will show you some of what I have explained:
    • All men have sinned and are not worthy of going to Heaven: Romans 3:10 – “For there is NONE Righteous, no not one.” and Romans 3:23 – “For ALL have sinned and come SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD.”
    • There is a penalty for our sins: Romans 6:23 – “For the WAGES of sin is DEATH”
    • God provided a contingency plan for those of us who WANT it: Romans 5:8 – “But God commendeth His LOVE toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
    • There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING that we can do as a “work” that can “buy” our way to Heaven: Ephesians 2:8-9 – “For by GRACE are ye saved through FAITH, and that not of yourselves, it is the (FREE) GIFT of God. Not of WORKS lest any man should boast.”

— I have to explain this just a little to make sure that it is totally clear: Grace by definition is: Receiving something that you do NOT deserve. Mercy defined is: Withholding something in the form of punishment that you definitely deserve.

We are saved by the Grace of God – He is offering us something that we don’t deserve because He also knows that there would be absolutely no way that we would be able to actually earn it. We MUST have FAITH that God is real; that Jesus did come to earth and lived and died as He said He would (and did – as the prophets foretold) and that He is in Heaven right now preparing a place for us (John 14:2-3) so that when it is our turn to go, we will have a mansion with streets of solid Gold… I’m getting ahead of myself now. But, returning to the subject, God wanted it to be this way so that there would be NO ONE that could stand up to you and say that they did one thing or another in order to get to Heaven because that would be PRIDE and that in and of itself is a sin… again, it can’t be in Heaven!

God made this entry into Heaven to be FREE – but instead of just letting everyone in that says they are going, He wanted only to have people who really appreciated what He did on the cross and that he took our sins to the cross with him and when He died, He went to God in Heaven and said, now I have paid his/her debt in full – He bought our entry tickets but we have to go to the “will call” and pick them up.

That is the point of a Gift… one has to receive it before it becomes theirs. That is why not just anybody is going to make it into Heaven…

  • In order for us to receive the FREE GIFT of eternal life in Heaven, we MUST ask for it:
    — Romans 10:9-10, 13; “For if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thy heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, thou shalt be saved.”

— Again, I think a little explanation is appropriate, but this is somewhat self-explanatory. I don’t know if you have any Catholic background or not, but if you do, you might remember having to go to the priest and make your confessions every so often.

  1. This is something similar to having to do that but much less painful. This means that you first MUST believe that what the Bible says is true
  2. and that Jesus DID come to earth to live and die for us and raise the 3rd day
  3. and took the weight of the sin of the world on Him at the time He was crucified and paid the debt for the whole world to enable them to be able to go to Heaven when we die – and we are never guaranteed another tomorrow, so you better do this sooner than later.
  4. This is what you do – and only do this if you want to receive this free gift of Eternal Life offered by Jesus Christ. Read this prayer with me and mean it with all of your heart:

Pray: “Dear Jesus, I know I’m a sinner. I know that I don’t deserve this free gift of salvation, but I want to go to Heaven when I die instead of going to eternal Damnation and torment in Hell. Jesus, I thank you for dying in my place so that I could go to Heaven and for paying for all of my sins and I ask You, right now, that You would forgive me of all of the terrible sins that I have committed. Thank you, Jesus, for Your forgiveness and enabling me to go to Heaven. Amen.”

The last thing here is not a requirement for entry into Heaven, but, I strongly recommend that you find a good Christian Church and be Baptized according to the Bible (Romans 6:3-4; Galatians 3:27; Baptism Lesson); and be clear that Baptism does NOT have anything to do with becoming saved, but rather it is to come after salvation and then by being baptism by immersion as the Bible teaches, shows obedience to God and it puts you in front of “your peers” to show that you are taking a stand to do what is right and follow Christ and be obedient to the Bible and what God instructs us to do. This is also the first thing you should do to show that you are willing to be conformative to the instructions of the Holy Bible and the Holy Spirit.

If you feel that you can do this later, please DON’T wait. None of us are guaranteed another breath. Tomorrow may never come. I’m sure that you’ve known someone that has passed away (died) suddenly, as do I, and I know that if something like that might happen to me, I’d be in heaven in the next second. Don’t you wish you had that assurance that you could be in Heaven if you died today? I beg you to pray the prayer above to make sure.  If you still have questions, please don’t leave this site until you have your answers. There are additional articles at the bottom of this article that might tell you in a slightly different way that might give you more information that would clear up your questions. If that doesn’t do it, press the button at the button and you can email me personally your questions and I will do my best to give you the answers you so desperately need in a timely manner.

I also do request that if you have any questions or if you did pray this prayer with me that you would visit my website and let me know. There you will also find many materials including an excellent Bible Study, Growing in Grace by Dr. Ed Nelson, designed for those who have just received God’s free gift of Salvation, but please let me know that you took the time to read this and follow the steps. I can also give you some additional links to more supportive documents that can help you through your new walk in Christ.

button_decision

Sincerely,
–Mark Davis

©Mark Davis 2017

 

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by Christians Are Us on February 10, 2017  •  Permalink
Posted in Gospel Presentations, How To Be Saved, Salvation
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Posted by Christians Are Us on February 10, 2017

https://christiansareus.com/2017/02/10/do-you-have-questions-about-salvation/

Temptation 2

1 Corinthians 10:13
“There hath no temptation taken you
but such as is common to man:
but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted
above that ye are able;
but will with the temptation also make a way to escape,
that ye may be able to bear it.”

Matthew 26:41 –
“Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation:
the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

– James 1:12-16
“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 4:7
“Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Hebrews 2:18 –
“For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted,
he is able to succour them that are tempted.”

– Ephesians 6:10-12
10″Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord,
and in the power of his might. 
11″Put on the whole armour of God,
that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12″For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

Matthew 4:1-11
“Then was Jesus led up of the
Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted
of the devil.” 

Ephesians 4:27 –
“Neither give place to the devil.”

– Mark 14:38
“Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.
The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.”

James 1:2-4 –
2″My brethren, count it all joy
when ye fall into divers temptations; 
3″Knowing this, that the trying
of your faith worketh patience.
4″But let patience have her perfect work,
that ye may be perfect and entire,
wanting nothing.”

Luke 4:8
“And Jesus answered and said unto him,
Get thee behind me, Satan:
for it is written,
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God,
and him only shalt thou serve.

– 2 Peter 2:9
“The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly
out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust
unto the day of judgment to be punished”

Proverbs 1:10 –
“My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.”

– Luke 22:40
“And when he was at the place,
he said unto them,
Pray that ye enter not into temptation.”

Revelation 3:10
“Because thou hast kept the word of my patience,
I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation,
which shall come upon all the world,
to try them that dwell upon the earth.”

Hebrews 2:17-18 –
17″Wherefore in all things it behoved him
to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful
high priest in things pertaining to God,
to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
18″For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted,
he is able to succour them that are tempted.”

– Hebrews 4:15-16
15″For we have not an high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities;
but was in all points tempted like as we are,
yet without sin.
16″Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,
that we may obtain mercy,
and find grace to help in time of need.”

John 16:33 –
“These things I have spoken unto you,
that in me ye might have peace.
In the world ye shall have tribulation:
but be of good cheer;
I have overcome the world.”

©2016 Mark Davis

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by Christians Are Us on October 19, 2016  •  Permalink
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Posted by Christians Are Us on October 19, 2016

https://christiansareus.com/2016/10/19/temptation-2/

My Child is a King

My_Child_is_a_King

How would you feel?
What would you say?
If God sent an Angel
To change your world today.

He proclaims,
“You are blessed”
And gives you good news
That seems impossible for you.

A child shall be born
Nine months from this day.
He will be your baby,
Who is born to save.

king_baby

God in the flesh
Will grow in your womb.
You will nourish and love,
For he will come soon.

And when He is born,
“He will be a King.”
The Angelic host
Will gather and sing.

But in your eyes
All you will see,
Is a sweet little baby
This precious King.

You will want to protect,
Like any Mother would,
To hold Him in your arms and remove any pain
But always remember why He came.

He is a King, born to die.
To set the captives free,
And your heart will ache whenever He cries,
And you may never know the reason why.

The ache in your heart, the cries of despair;
When He is taken and beaten and put through this pain,
When he finally breathes his last breath of life.
He says, “It is finished,” as a final goodnight.

But do not fret, for within three days,
He will rise and proclaim,
“For, through Me, your King,
I’m the only way.”

By:  Christine Davis
©2014 Mark Davis

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by Christians Are Us on December 23, 2014  •  Permalink
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Posted by Christians Are Us on December 23, 2014

https://christiansareus.com/2014/12/23/my-child-is-a-king/

When I Say, “I Am A Christian”!

kneeling in prayer sunset

When I say… ‘I am a Christian’
I’m not shouting ‘I’m clean livin’.
I’m whispering ‘I was lost,
Now I’m found and forgiven.’

“When I say… ‘I am a Christian’
I don’t speak of this with pride.
I’m confessing that I stumble
and need Christ to be my guide.

“When I say… ‘I am a Christian’
I’m not trying to be strong.
I’m professing that I’m weak
And need His strength to carry on.

“When I say… ‘I am a Christian’
I’m not bragging of success.
I’m admitting I have failed
And need God to clean my mess.

“When I say… ‘I am a Christian’
I’m not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible
But, God believes I am worth it.

“When I say… ‘I am a Christian’
I still feel the sting of pain.
I have my share of heartaches
So I call upon His name.

“When I say… ‘I am a Christian’
I’m not holier than thou,
I’m just a simple sinner
Who received God’s good grace, somehow!”

Author: Unknown

©2014 Mark Davis

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by Christians Are Us on August 14, 2014  •  Permalink
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Posted by Christians Are Us on August 14, 2014

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Merry Christmas!

Every day should be Christmas!
Every day that we get to live,
As we live it, we call it the present.
We give and receive presents on Christmas.
Every day should be Christmas!

Sick or well, as we live, it is a present to us.
Enjoy your presents to their fullest.
We never know if we will ever get another present!
Thank God for your presents
By living for Him every day.

Merry “every day”!
But NEVER leave out “Christ”!

–Mark Davis

1 Thessalonians 5:18 – “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

Psalm 30:10-12 – “Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me: LORD, be thou my helper. Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.”

©2013 Mark Davis

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by Christians Are Us on December 6, 2013  •  Quote  •  Permalink
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Posted by Christians Are Us on December 6, 2013

https://christiansareus.com/2013/12/06/merry-christmas/

Joyce Meyer – Anointed Woman of God or Heretic? (Part 1)

“I don’t like writing negative things about other people, especially those who claim to be brothers and sisters in Christ, however, I feel that the Lord has called me to be a watchman on the wall. It isn’t a job I asked for, but ever since I read the following passage in Ezekiel, many years ago, I have felt compelled to warn people from sinning against the Lord, and from following false doctrine and false teachers. ~ Ezekiel 3:16-21 ~” Cheryl Showers

 

Recently, there has been talkings around me about the credibility of Joyce Meyer.  In this article, Cheryl only touches on some of the things that make her a person that you really don’t want to learn from.  Many of her false teachings are woven into truth and it sounds really good and believable.  As Cheryl shows, Joyce is absolutely in the “False Teacher” category – for the books, she is in my books too.

 

Christians, please be careful of what and who you read.  The more truth you put into your brain, the easier it will be to keep the untruth out.  Saturate your life with God’s Word and Godly things to look at, hear, drool over 🙂 , and in doing all that, you have no choice but to be thinking about Godly things.  When you have “God” swarming in your head it is near impossible to let sin in; keeping you away from committing sin.  Abide in Christ (John 15:4-7)!

 

God bless you all.

–Mark

©2013 Mark Davis

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Burning Fire Shut Up In My Bones

I love the Lord, and I love His word. In fact, I’m very passionate about Him, His word, and His people. His word is life, therefore, it is of utmost importance that we know His word and not twist it or alter it in any way. Otherwise, we run the risk of leading many people astray.

Teach me Your decrees, O Lord; I will keep them to the end.

~ Psalm 119:33 — NLT ~

This scripture is a promise to the Lord, that if He will teach me His decrees, I will keep them to the end. Now, it’s important that I share with you what keep means in this scripture, because it means much more than I ever realized until I studied it.

The Hebrew word for keep is natsar (pronouncednä-tsār’), which means:

I. to guard, watch, watch over, keep

A. to watch, guard, keep
B. to…

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by Christians Are Us on November 15, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Christians Are Us on November 15, 2013

https://christiansareus.com/2013/11/15/joyce-meyer-anointed-woman-of-god-or-heretic-part-1/

Why Would YOU Want To Be A Christian?

Wow, what a question.  Have you ever considered why you or anyone else would want to be a Christian? If you were to ask that to 100 people, you would probably get 100 different answers.

I think that God, or Christianity of some sort, has a different appeal to everybody but ultimately, when the answers are sifted out, you come down to the basic reason of Good nature versus Bad nature.

On the Good Side, most people’s image of Christianity says:

  • If you are at the lowest that you think you can get, Christianity can make everything better for you.
  • If you are having problems, regardless what they are, God can make things all better.
  • If you have poor health, Jesus will heal you – just like He did in the Bible.
  • I want to be rich and Christians say that if you are walking closely with God then He will let you have anything you want.
  • I want to see my deceased loved ones.
  • And the list could go on for a long time.

When in actuality, God, in His Word, The Holy Bible, says:

“Come unto me all you who are weary
and I will give you rest.”
-Matthew 11:28-30

“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,
the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”
-1 Corinthians 2:9

2 “In my Father’s house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again, and receive you unto myself;
that where I am, there ye may be also.“
-John 14:2-3

4 “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes;
and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow,
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain:
for the former things are passed away.
5 And he that sat upon the throne said,
Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me,
Write: for these words are true and faithful.”
-Revelation 21:4-5

“But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him
shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him
shall be in him a well of water springing up
into everlasting life.“
-John 4:14

13 “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren,
concerning them which are asleep,
that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord,
that we which are alive and remain
unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God:
and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds,
to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
-1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 

Christ transforms the Christians

Yet, on the Bad Side, people would say about Christianity:

  • “There really is no hell.”
  • “If God is real, He is very loving and would never send anyone to hell.”
  • “Christianity is nothing but a bunch of rules that if you break them you go to hell.  There is no way to keep them all so why try?”
  • “The God I know of from the Bible is not loving at all, in fact He is very angry and vengeful. Why would I want to spend eternity with a God that caused the whole earth to be flooded and He chose to make total nations be slaughtered by His people?”
  • “I’m having too much fun doing the things that the Bible says are wrong.”
  • “I believe that when we die we don’t go anywhere – there is no eternity – we just cease to exist.”
  • “I believe that hell is the bad stuff that we go through while we are on earth and when we die, God lets us all go to heaven.  If we are really good, we get really nice things when we get there.”
  • “I go to church every time the doors are open and I even give my 10% to the church. I try to be as good as I can and love everyone else.  That should mean that I will get into heaven if I’ve been good enough.”
  • “I was baptized when I was little and went through catechism so I should skip purgatory and go right into heaven when I die.”
  • “God has blessed me with plenty of money while I’ve been on the earth and I’ve even given a lot of it to the poor. Since I’ve done so well on earth, then God must love me enough to let me into heaven. I’ve never done anything really bad so I should have no problem getting into heaven.”
  • “I don’t think that anybody can really KNOW that they are going to heaven for certain.”
  • “And there are so many more that I can’t list them all, but most of them are similar to these.”

Instead of giving you a bunch of scriptures that refute what I just wrote above, let me ask you a question (or three or four).

What is it that you are relying on to get YOU to Heaven?

If you were to die in the next 10 minutes and you are standing face to face with God and He asks you, “Why should I let you into My Heaven?” — What would you say to Him?  

If what you were relying on to get you to Heaven was wrong, would you like to know? If you can say, “YES“, to this question, please read on.

If you can relate to any of these statements on the BAD side here, and your answer happens to be, “NO“, then you can close out of this page and find something else to read (I suggest reading “I’m Dead, Now What?“) because you won’t want to listen to anything that I have to say anyway.

Moving on…

According to the Bible only (I am not making any of this up) since we count the Bible as God’s own Words – He doesn’t just come out and talk to us person to person (yet).

First – Every man is a sinner (breaker of any/all of God’s 10 commandments as set forth in Exodus 20)

James 2:10 –
“For whosoever shall keep the whole law,
and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”

Romans 3:10 –
“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.”

Romans 3:23 –
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”

Second – The penalty of sin is eternal death!

Romans 6:23 –
“For the wages of sin is death;
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Third – Eternal Life is offered to us ONLY through Jesus.

John 3:15-16 –
15 “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have eternal life.
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 14:6 –
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way,
the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.“

Romans 5:8 –
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that,
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Fourth – How do we receive this GIFT of God?

Romans 10:9 – 13 –
9 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness;
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith,
Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek:
for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

It’s as easy as that!

If you are relying on anything more than what I’ve just described, then you are not putting ALL of your faith in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and His redeeming blood that was shed to wash away all of our sins.

God doesn’t want us to add anything to this because if we do, it becomes a “works based” salvation. What do I mean by that?  I mean that if there was ANYTHING that we could personally add in order to get to heaven, we would be relying on ourselves to do something special to buy our salvation into heaven.  God won’t let that happen!

Why?  Because, if you or I were able to add anything to that very basic salvation then, whether on this side of heaven or even once we get into heaven (which won’t happen), we would be bragging to our friends or anyone we come in contact with about what WE did to get to heaven. Can you tell me what sin that would be called?

PRIDE!

Proverbs 16:18 –
“Pride goeth before destruction,
and an haughty spirit before a fall.”

Ephesians 2:8-9 –
8 “For by grace are ye saved through faith;
 and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Pride is one of the biggest sins that there is.  If you think about it, most of our sins that we commit on a daily basis are based on pride or at least are stemmed from it.  They can almost all be linked back to pride.  That being the case, and pride being a sin, and heaven can contain NO SIN, we would never be allowed into heaven based on anything that we are able to personally do.

All God wants us to do is to put our faith and trust in Him.  Believe in Him and His salvation-work at Mt. Calvary as all that is needed to get into God’s Heaven.

Doing some of those extra things that you do to get into heaven on your own might make you feel really good, but imagine how much better you could feel if you trust Christ first and then all of those good things that you would have done for your salvation, if there is still any virtue in their accomplishment, you can do them for God’s glory rather than your own.

You see, in Matthew 6:16, Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees of the day for doing works out in the open so that they can look more pious than others, but in verses 17 and 18 He goes on and tells them that they should do their “works” in private so that only God can see them.

Because, in verses 19 through 21 He goes on to say:

19 “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,
where moth and rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
– Matthew 6:19-21

What’s even better than this is in:

John 14:2-3 –
2 “In my Father’s house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again, and receive you unto myself;
that where I am, there ye may be also.”

These verses give me great promise and comfort that when my time on earth is finished, I will have a place of extreme comfort to be able to finally rest.  Jesus ascended into Heaven after His resurrection from the dead so that He could prepare a place for me.  If you put all of the verses together, that tells me that after we are saved from our sin’s penalty in Hell, and I start doing things for Him (not for myself and my own glory), I start to lay up treasures in Heaven.

Those verses indicate that there are many mansions in Heaven and that Jesus is going to prepare a place for me and if I lay up treasures in Heaven, as the other verse says, then, when I get there, I should have, as I picture it, a larger mansion with many treasures in it.

Why would anyone in their own right mind want to, knowing this, please ourselves and others around us for our own vain glory when we have so much more waiting for us when we do things the way God wants us to do them?

I mean, seriously, WHY?

Yet, people do it all the time — WE do it all the time!

Yes, I’m guilty too!  It is the “old man”, the “sin nature”, that is in us that naturally wants to receive the pleasure from the gratitude that we get or the trophy (or equivalent) that we would get for doing something especially well and so that others around us can see how GOOD WE are.  We have to fight that sin nature to make sure that God gets the glory for our accomplishments instead of us – after all, He is the one that gave you the ability to do the thing that got you that glory.

I can speak from experience that if you continue to bring glory to yourself and God has other plans for you and you continue to do your own thing to please yourself rather than do the things that would bring God the glory… He can arrange it to where you are no longer able to do those things that bring you pleasure/glory, but make it so that you have no choice but to turn to Him.

Folks, He will continue to allow bad things to come your way so that little by little you are disabled of the things that bring you that pleasure.  It doesn’t matter what it is.  God has control over all!  He can and WILL do what is necessary to get your attention… until… some day, He may finally determine that you are a hopeless case and you will never turn to Him to do His will and He will bring you home.  That “home” may be Heaven, or it may be Hell, but if you don’t listen to Him and His callings, the outcome may not be the way you would really have liked it.

God wants your talents and your time and abilities – let Him have them.  <I’m pleading with you> Turn your life over to His will.  You will have more peace and joy in your life than you ever imagined.

Yes, you will still face adversity but the difference now is that when you do, you will have a friend with you that sticks closer than a brother, that will NEVER leave you or forsake you and will never steer you wrong by giving you bad advise.  He is the Comforter.

You see, all of those things that I listed at the beginning of this article can still be yours but only if you are serving God.  He will NOT grant those things to you because of your own selfish pleasures. He truly knows the best way to live your life – better than you do.  Let Him have control over your life so that He can show you what He has in store for you.  It may not be what you thought you would be doing, but I guarantee you won’t regret it.

Lord, I ask that you get into the heart of those reading this article right now and convince them of all of the great things that You have in store for them – at the very least, You can take away the heartache and hurt that they are feeling right now.  Give them comfort in knowing that You are now in control of the situations in their life.  Please, bring healing to their hearts and lives.  In Jesus’ Name and for His glory I ask these things, Amen.

If you have received the blessing from this article and or this prayer, please leave a comment (or go to my contact page if you wish to stay anonymous) and let me know that you have received a blessing from this.  I would really love to share your joy so that I can give God the glory as well.  As always, if there is anything you need from a spiritual point of view, please feel free to let me know.

God bless you, –Mark

©2013 Mark Davis

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by Christians Are Us on November 12, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Christians Are Us on November 12, 2013

https://christiansareus.com/2013/11/12/why-would-you-want-to-be-a-christian/

Here’s The Problem With Our Churches Today

I’m reading a lot in different places about how everybody (that is talking) is a “Christian” and how there should not be division among the “Christians” and, in general, churches/ religions/ denominations.

They think that all they have to do is call themselves a “Christian”, when in actuality, there’s a lot more to being a “Christian” than just saying you’re a “Christian” and then doing a bunch of good things.

First, let us look at what it means to be a “Christian”.

The definition of “Christian”: Christ – like or Christ – follower

How do you become a Christian?

If you look at Romans 10:9-10, it says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation”.

And then Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.”

First, to be a Christian, we have to confess with our mouths that we are going to follow Jesus AND we have to believe in our hearts that God actually did raise Jesus from the dead on the third day, and that’s all it says we have to do. Then it says that with the heart man believes unto righteousness (or salvation or becoming a “Christian” by more than just name). Not only do we have to say that we are going to follow Jesus, we have to believe it.

It’s not enough to just believe that we are going to follow Jesus, but we also have to confess that we have, and to open our mouths and tell people and then, and only then will we be saved. (Step by step guide through salvation)

You see, there’s nothing there that says that we have to do anything special other than this, there’s no good works, there is no baptism, there’s no “Hail Mary”s. That’s IT!

Ephesians 2:8-9 backs up that statement by saying that it’s only by God’s grace that we are saved and the reason for that is: it can’t be because of anything WE DO, “and that not of yourselves,” means that there’s nothing we can do that will get us into heaven. Salvation is a gift of God, requiring no works because God doesn’t want any man to be able to brag about what they did to get to heaven.

Joining a church, giving money to a church or any other charity, working in a soup kitchen to help the poor, just generally being a good person, WILL NOT GET YOU TO HEAVEN! Really good people such as: Ghandi, Mother Theresa, Pope John Paul, Buddha, or your next door neighbor can NOT get to heaven by their works!

At that point, and only after all of this is completed, can we call ourselves, “Christian”!

If you have not done that, then you cannot call yourself a “Christian”! If you are relying on other things besides confessing sin and claiming Jesus as your Savior for your salvation, then you MAY NOT BE a Christian.

This is not being judgmental! This is only repeating what God’s Word says. It is stated again many other times through Scripture. What more do we need?

Once this is completed, the hard part begins. Now we have to BE LIKE Jesus!

Matthew 16:24
“Then said Jesus unto his disciples,
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself,
 and take up his cross, and follow me.”

Many people figure being like Jesus is just loving people. When in actuality, Jesus tells us to keep His commandments. How many commandments are we supposed to keep? Is it only “love the Lord your God, and love your neighbor”? No, it’s not!

We have to remember that Jesus is God, no question about it. We also have to remember that God gave the 10 Commandments along with many other commandments after that in the Old Testament.

Then we have the much-debated-upon “doctrines”. These doctrines come out of the same Book that tells us about Jesus and explains to us what Jesus wants us to do. The whole Bible is filled with His commandments. If we are not doing EVERYTHING that is written within the pages of the Bible, then we are not doing what God wants us to do.

Now, you want to know why people argue? It’s because of the doctrines! Are these important? ABSOLUTELY!

Some of these doctrines are cut and dried; you don’t have to wonder what they’re telling us to do. Some of them are not so cut and dried. That is where religions and denominations come in. That is why people have to argue. That is why there is dissension in our churches. That is why we have church splits as well.

With all of the “education” that we have out there today, each individual teacher (or pastor/priest) is going to teach their own point of view. In other words, too many of them, what the Bible says at that time means absolutely nothing. The unfortunate thing is that we, as the little people, end up being taught the wrong things… And we believe them.

We are told Acts 17:13, that we are to be like those in Berea, and search the Scriptures daily to see if any of these things are true.

You don’t have to believe me about any of this. You can go on living the way you want to. You can call me all sorts of names. You can do anything, but if you don’t believe the Bible, you’re wrong. I challenge you to prove me wrong. The Bible does not contradict itself.

I may consider myself to be a particular denomination; that denomination does not make me a Christian, nor does it even make me better than anyone else. I’ve chosen the denomination that I belong to, because of what they believe, instead of a non-denominational church because they don’t want to tell you what they believe or they only tell you part of the story.

It’s up to you to figure it out by studying the Bible and to find out if they are right or wrong. If they are wrong and you stay there, you are wrong. In James 4:7, it says, “for to him that knows to do good and doeth it not, to him it is SIN”! [emphasis mine]

I’ll tell you what, the journey really begins after a person becomes a Christian. As a Christian, we are to be discerning of what is right and wrong, and then call it what it is – and then do something about it!

You never saw Jesus, when confronted with something that was wrong, just walk around it. He always confronted it head-on. Think about the temple and the money changers and how He overthrew their tables, and He cast them out of the temple. He actually got mad. And this was Jesus – He got mad! Sometimes we have to, too!

When somebody says something that goes against what you THINK you believe, instead of trying to fight with them, try trying to figure out if what that person said is actually true or not. How do we find out? By going to God’s Word. Because, you see, if it doesn’t go along with what the Bible says, it’s most likely WRONG!

In a perfect world there would not be any argument between different religions or denominations. In fact, there would be no religions or denominations, we would all believe the same things. That IS coming in the near future. It will either be after Jesus comes to take us to be with Him, or it will be when this world sets up a (false) one-world-religion and demands tolerance among all religions.

There is only one way to heaven. If your church does not teach that, it is wrong! And, if you stay there, knowing what I have just said, you will be wrong too and God will hold you accountable for it at the Judgment!

IT’S YOUR CHOICE…

©2013 Mark Davis

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4 Comments
by Christians Are Us on November 3, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Christians Are Us on November 3, 2013

https://christiansareus.com/2013/11/03/heres-the-problem-with-our-churches-today/

Behold Our King!?!

In a society today, where, day by day, it becomes more and more apparent that the world as we know it is almost a thing of the past, and we have wars happening around the middle-east and Africa and various countries’ economies have failed, it makes us wonder, “WHY?”

It really doesn’t matter what part of the world you live, you should still be able to see and/or feel some of it happening around you – and maybe to you (I’m sorry).

Normally I would be happy to tell you that I live in the United States of America, but it is seeming more every day that the good ole USA is in the midst of collapse as well.  There are Major cities whose economies have tanked and they have gone bankrupt – who ever heard of a city going bankrupt anyway?  Never in the history of the United States has that ever occurred and then our federal government is giving them money so that they don’t get wiped off the face of the earth – and this has happened more than once in just the last year or so.

There are earthquakes happening all over the globe at a rate that far surpasses written history and with that volcanic activity has increased as well.  We are hearing of major volcanoes that, if they erupt, will decimate or smother anything within a thousand mile (or so) radius.

We, here in the U.S.A., being a democratic society, have elected a president, senate and law-makers that, in the last 5 years, have quadrupled our national debt; being at this time over $17 Trillion and counting.  The “elected” are required to debate amongst themselves to try to come up with a balanced budget every year – there hasn’t been a balanced budget in the last 5 years.  Now, they have forced a healthcare system upon the people that is going to end up throwing our society into a tailspin and the economy of the U.S.A, will tank as well.  Our national credit rating has been downgraded to the point that we are almost in a position of becoming a second-world country.

What does any of this have to do with a king which I named in the heading?

Nearly (in round numbers – don’t take me to task on this) five thousand years ago the Children of Israel had been ruled by a God that they couldn’t see where all of the other societies around them were ruled by kings that they have chosen.  Leading up to this, the Children of Israel started complaining to Samuel about this and began demanding that they be allowed by God to elect a king.

Side Note:
Does it make any sense to you that they would have to go through a “prophet” of a “God” that had been ruling them for hundreds of years to this point to ask permission to be able to elect a king?  I didn’t think so, but the story goes on…

Finally, the Lord of Israel let them have their way.  Samuel was on the Lord’s side and about as fed up with the people as God.  We pick up the conversation (a bit one-sided) at that point – Samuel speaking:

1 Samuel 12:13 -16:
“Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen, and whom ye have desired! and, behold, the LORD hath set a king over you.
14 “If ye will fear the LORD, and serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue following the LORD your God:
15 “But if ye will not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall the hand of the LORD be against you, as it was against your fathers.
16 “Now therefore stand and see this great thing, which the LORD will do before your eyes.”

Are you watching?  Earlier I told of many things happening around the world.  If those of you reading this are from another country, I pray that you will put this into the context of what is going on around you, but, for the majority of my readers, living in the U.S.A. I will keep it a bit more personal and right in front of your face.  Here are a list of some of the things (I wish I could list them all) that lead to our moral and societal breakdown:

  • United States of America originally founded on Biblical principles giving us freedom OF religion
  • Now people are trying to have freedom FROM religion with a “totally” God-less society
  • Women’s Liberation – burning of the bras
  • Introduction of Rock and Roll – British Invasion
  • Woodstock
  • Equal rights movement – Martin Luther King Jr. and the black/white revolution
  • Moral infidelity reaches the White House (not that it had never been there before but it was made popular through popular media) with John F. Kennedy
  • Vietnam/Korea conflicts that we really didn’t belong in and leading to others around the world – riots rampant at home in the States
  • Charles Manson became the first serial killer “heard around the world” which increased crimes and severity of crimes around the world
  • Gay Liberation – leading to increase of immorality
  • Impeachment of Nixon and Watergate
  • Pornography becomes popular through magazine and video media
  • Increased acceptability of teen and illegitimate pregnancies
  • Major drugs become popular and in some cases legalized/taxed
  • The 1980’s brought in Glamour and Punk Rock producing a heightening level of “acceptance” and “toleration”
  • Beginning of being able to sue in a court of law individuals and companies reducing the sense of responsibility of one’s own personal actions
  • Iran takes US captives and Reagan was instrumental in getting them back, as a result terrorism breaks out and an outbreak of Islam/Muslims and their terrorism
  • Outbreak of AIDS and other major epidemics leading to scientific development of germ warfare
  • Taking the Bible and Prayer out of our public schools
  • Abortions are popularized and legalized – Planned Parenthood (partially funded by US government)
  • Beginning of airline terrorism – heightened security needed around the world
  • Terror hits at World Trade Center (the first hit in the garage) then the Oklahoma City bombing and then the 9/11/2001 Twin Towers World Trade Center/Pentagon and Pennsylvania attacks
  • Divorce becomes readily acceptable among couples also making couples living together without getting married just in case it didn’t work out for them also creating single-parent families more prevalent
  • Personal computers become a norm in most households
  • Advent of the internet and readily available of all types of information, good or bad
  • Lesbian/Gay/Bi-sexual/Transgender lifestyle acceptable and even promoted in our public schools
  • Rampant availability of pornography on the internet
  • Escalation of movie ratings, leading to higher and higher ratings needed, then television ratings needed, then more and more nudity acceptable on TV – glorifying violence and sexuality
  • Sex education in school health classes – now being taught to kindergarten students 5-6 years old (really?)
  • 10 Commandments being removed from our courthouses and oaths not sworn on the Bible
  • The word “God” being removed from our pledge of allegiance and currency

If you’ve been through the Bible much, especially if you’ve read how it all ends, you will realize that this world really is going to end and, in the end, there will be only two kinds of people: those that end up in God’s heaven and those that end up in hell/Lake of Fire.  It is not a fairy tale or a joke.  There have been thousands of Prophecies that had been told of in the Bible and historically they have been fulfilled, all but a few. That’s right, the ones that deal with how things end up – how the world ends.

There is some hope though.  Later in that chapter of first Samuel it gives this condition for us to have God’s favor provided we have accepted His free gift of salvation as indicated in the New Testament (remember that 1 Samuel is part of the Old Testament):

1 Samuel 12:24-25:
24 “Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.
25 “But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king.”

That is pretty cut and dried.  We run the risk of being consumed as a country or personally.

If you haven’t accepted Christ as your personal Savior and accepted His free gift of salvation, I strongly suggest that you do.  If you would like to find out more about it please click here.

©2013 Mark Davis

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by Christians Are Us on October 6, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Christians Are Us on October 6, 2013

https://christiansareus.com/2013/10/06/behold-our-king/

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