NCarolinian

The Apostle Paul and I have some questions for a particular somebody.  Paul had the questions for the Believers in Galatia and now I submit them to the Believers who will read this blog seriously. "I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?" (Galatians 3:2-3) After doing something for so long or behaving in a certain way for possibly a lifetime, it is extremely challenging to completely lay that habit or behavior or lifestyle down even if it is for something better.  I know, I have been there and done that and have the t-shirt.  I eventually saw the errors of my ways because I got hurt or I hurt others.  It is too bad it had to come to damage control to get me to STOP operating in the wrong mode.  I imagine it is that way for many of us.  Again, Paul writes,...

Forgive me if you have heard the following analogy before, but I am now in Galatians (in my read through of the Bible) and as I was pausing to soak in what I had just read, the Holy Spirit dropped this into my heart, mind, and spirit - Imagine a door.  On the other side of this door there is Father God.  No one can go over, under, or around the door.  The door has a lock and the door is in fact...locked.  This door has only one key that will open it.  You and I have tried many other keys, made by us, to unlock the door, but with no success.  However, there is one key that has been known to unlock the door if we would just set our set of keys down, recognize the one true key, and use it by activating our faith in Father God's Son, Jesus Christ. You see The Door that separates Father God from man represents our fallen/sinful relationship with God.  The Lock on The Door has many tumblers inside it and will only match the grooves of one key.  Th...

There is a phrase I have encountered in the Scriptures lately that grabs my attention every time I read it.  In the search engine on Crosswalk.com the phrase appears 500 times in the Bible.  I guess I would run across it sooner or later, eh? (haha).  This phrase is comprised of only two words but what usually follows them is the take-away of the verse.  The phrase is "so that...". This phrase is a descriptive phrase.  For instance, consider Matthew 8:24 ... "Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat." We know from reading the verse that the storm that came upon the lake was a "furious" one, but the qualifier for the situation being described was - it was so "furious" that "waves swept over the boat" .  Again, the key to this verse comes after the "so that".  In fact, it is the next sentence - "But Jesus was sleeping."  And from there you can start a sermon/te...

Have you ever put up a "wall" or "disguise" so as to "run" avoidance from someone or something. I am guilty and have seen this in other people. With some people I have found it is a self-defense mechanism. Something threatens them or makes them uncomfortable and they retreat behind......."The Veil". Father God established a Veil with His people.  However, He was not threatened or acting in self-defense. Humanity's distrust and disobedience toward God created the need for this Veil . Father God will not tolerate sin in His immediate presence, so He banished Lucifer and kept humanity from The Tree of Life by placing Cherubim in the path with a flaming sword guarding the way back after The Fall ( Genesis 3 ) - a type of Veil . Further on in history, the relationship between God and His people required that God place a Veil in the design of The Tabernacle of Moses and later Solomon's Temple. The Veil was the major divider between two s...

I recently read an article entitled - "Systems, Not Sith: How Inter-service Rivalries Doomed the Galactic Empire" .  As you can tell by the title, the content concerns a deeper look at the story lines in the movie/saga - Star Wars. The article compares The Empire and its many different military divisions to the United States and its branches of military.  The author, Ben Adams, likens the weaknesses we see in the fictitious movie scenario to the real life events of the U.S. military.  Here are some of the contributions to the downfall of the Empire.  These may reflect on the U.S., so pay attention. "Inter-service and intra-service rivalries are just an expression of the office politics that plague every large organization. The way that those systems are designed determine the effect of those rivalries on the organization’s effectiveness. The high-stakes of Imperial rivalries and lack of checks and balances in the Empire’s political system ensures that petty ...

Imagine this....... "Just as there were many who were appalled at him -- his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness "--Isaiah 52:14   Let us dissect what this means because most artistic renderings of the Crucifixion of Jesus do not come close to the Scriptural description of Jesus' appearance right before He was crucified on the cross. His back was beaten, beard pulled out, face spat upon.   "I offered my back to those who beat  me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;  I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting." - Isaiah 50:6 Jesus was punched in the face and other places multiple times, mocked, insulted, stripped, flogged, and crowned with thorns.   "When Jesus said this, one of the officials  nearby struck him in the face.  "Is this the way you answer the high priest?" he demanded." - John 18:22 "Then they spit in his face and struck...

          In the movie Shawshank Redemption, the character Andy says to his friend Red,  "...the funny thing is - on the outside, I was an honest man, straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook."             In my life the funny thing is - before accepting Christ, as my God, I was a regular kid, not too many problems. It seems I had to become a Christian to really experience difficulties.           These difficulties were mainly in the form of physical issues stretched out over the years since my decision to follow Christ in 1979. I have endured challenges like epilepsy, respiratory malfunction, mono, flu, third-degree ankle sprain, both arms broke at the same time, appendix removed, wisdom teeth removed, Covid-19, type 2 diabetes, rhabdomyolysis and sleep apnea.  So, I have come to know this body as "fallen", weak and/or imperfect.       ...

I have heard it said, "I don't know where I would be without the LORD?"  That is not true of me!  I know where I would be and what I would be doing.  I know about the lifestyle I would choose apart from God.  It would steal away years that could have been used for His cause.  I have heard testimonies concerning this life and am grateful to the LORD for His guidance and protection.  In addition, there have been several times lately that the LORD has shown me that there is even more growing to do.  At least I am aboard His ship .  I am glad I know God, His Son Jesus, and His Holy Spirit. More importantly I am ecstatic He knows me better than I know myself. One of Christianity's largest icons, a man you could see growing in the faith, penned these words to the believers in Rome - "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.   And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the la...

"...without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." - Hebrews 9:22 "And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith." - 1 Corinthians 15:14 With these two verses I am reminded of the song "Jesus Paid It All" . Jesus Christ was not just rejected, associated with sorrows and familiar with suffering.  Jesus did not only take being despised and not esteemed -  "He took up" - He voluntarily, in line with Father God's heart, decided to take upon Himself "our infirmities and carried our sorrows" .  For all our wrongs and for all humanity - past, present, and future - He was "pierced" .  Because we would never be able to measure up to The Standard - He was "crushed" for us.  The "punishment" He endured has the power to bring us "peace" now and forever !  Plus, the beating and scars He suffered can be claimed for healing by His believers. [My para...

In my earlier blog I had trouble with two verses (still reasons Jesus came).  These two verses have required me to do a little more research -  John 9:39  and  John 12:47 .  In the first reference Jesus says,  "For judgment I have come into this world."   Then only three chapters later Jesus says,    "'As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it .'"  So, which is it - did Jesus come to judge the world or not? Come to find out - the word "judge" or "judgment" has four or five words in the original Greek that one can select from to use.  The particular word used in the first instance ( John 9:39 ) is  kree'mah  or  krima .  The definitions I encountered and the way they were presented to me led me to believe that this word "judgment" means Jesus came to render a divinely private judgment and sentence from Father...

From a much earlier blog in my history of writing blogs I touched on the topic of - What did Jesus say He came to do? (Blog Title: "What He Said About His Visit").  Here is an expanded version of that research. Jesus said He came to bring division. "Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division ." - Luke 12:51 Jesus said He came to do the will of The One who sent Him. "' For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me .'" - John 6:38 Jesus said He came to claim lives that He would in turn not lose any that were given to Him. "...that I shall lose none of all that he has given me..." - John 6:39 Jesus said He came to make a way to raise them up on the last day. "...but raise them up at the last day ."  - John 6:39 Jesus said He came to provide eternal life.  You just have to trust in Him and believe in His offering of salvation. ...

For many who do not believe in the Christian God there is an acceptance of some sort of universal force that permeates and guides the cosmos.  As a Christian, I believe that Father God, by the Holy Spirit is this omnipresent presence. I believe this because of what many Scriptures say concerning God's ever-present presence. So, to start things off, here is what John 4:24 and Ephesians 4:6 say - "God is spirit..." (John 4:24) "There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to one hope when you were called - one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." (Ephesians 4:6) Whether I am in a valley of my life or on a mountaintop, I know my God sees me. Whether I am in public or private, hidden in the most remote place on the planet or in the limelight of the world, God sees me. I know this because God says in Proverbs 15:3 - "The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping...

"But what does it all mean?" asked Susan when they were somewhat calmer. "It means," said Aslan, "that though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of Time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards." (From the book - The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe ) You have heard from the book of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe - now hear from a few other books. 1 Peter 1:20 - "He [Jesus] was chosen before the creation of the world,..." Revelation 13:8 - "...the lamb that was slain from the creation of the world." Ephesians 1:4 - "For...