NCarolinian

God's Word has not changed over the millennia. The same words are on the same pages and should carry the same meaning. People are the ones who change and believers specifically attempt to adjust or modify God's Word to fit their situation or the culture of the day. Speaking to the Head Position of a Church - the Shepherd, Overseer or Pastor - "God has ordained that only men are to serve in positions of spiritual teaching authority in the church. This does not imply men are better teachers or that women are inferior or less intelligent. It is simply the way God designed the church to function. Men are to set the example in spiritual leadership—in their lives and through their words. Women are also to set an example in their lives, but in a different way ( 1 Peter 3:1-6 ). Women are encouraged to teach other women ( Titus 2:3–5 ). The Bible also does not restrict women from teaching children. The only activity women are restricted from is teaching or having spiritual authori...

The New King James version of the Bible uses the word "appointed" in Hebrews 9:27 to describe the last day that each individual has on earth, no matter how short or long the duration. The verse reads - "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment," . God has many record-keeping books in Heaven according to Revelation 20:12 . In addition, this Hebrews 9:27 verse alludes to an Appointment Book that has documented everyone's detailed information of death - who, what (cause), when, where, why and how of their expiration.  However, there is an exception to this appointment with physical death and this is called The Rapture. The Rapture,  described beautifully in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 ,  is the snatching away of the dead in Christ and living believers by Jesus, who has descended from Heaven to mid-air, to bring them all back to live with Him forever via a glorified body. This "mid-air" coming is FO...

Reading the events of Scripture and experiencing them are two different animals. My father and family can empathize with Mary and Martha when they lost Lazarus. We echoed their words in prayers to Jesus when they said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." (Jn. 11:32) At this writing, my Mom recently passed away. The sudden-ness of her leaving was just like the sting spoken of in Scripture that Death possesses. This sting haunts all those that have lost loved ones. The family had three churches, not three individuals, and a host of people on social media - praying and petitioning God for a miracle recovery. God said, "No". This answer almost stung more than death's sting. However, there was no doubt of the answer because every direction we turned - mentally, physically and spiritually for Mom - God was saying, "No". Mom's appointed time to be with The Lord had come on October 6, 2025 at 2:07 p.m. But God's "No's...

  Jesus said, "Do to others, what you would have done to yourself." (Matthew 7:12) If I may be so bold as to add some words for emphasis that are already implied - first and before having . So, Christ's instruction would read, "Do to others [first], [before having] what you would have done to yourself." I call this Unconditional Considerate Initiative. The phrase means to take the first step for a person or in a situation in being considerate without seeking reward or payment of any kind.  As an example, many people look at chivalry as a Southern behavior, locked into a geographical area of the United States. This is a behavior that contains more than opening doors for ladies that should transcend not only the South, but the nation. Then it needs to be triggered by those who love to love on others. The first thought in these kind of people would be - "I'm going to help this person out with..." or "I'm going to make this situation better b...

Hindsight is always 20/20 or perfect vision. So, when the decision comes for God to share or not to share any part of His Plan for my life with me, I plead with Him to grant me a break every now-and-then and allow me to see and understand His upcoming events. Every time I pray this, I am reminded He may or may not choose to answer in the positive, but realize this is the age of Faith. Scripture says of faith -  "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1) .  So, from this confidence, hope and assurance I stand and inquire about His Plan For His Own. I would like to think and believe that many people and believers accept the idea of the all-knowingness of God. Some individuals, like those who ascribe to Deism, believe God created everything then stepped back and has watched everything unfold ever since with little to no involvement. This is not who Christians worship. When joining the concepts of God's supreme knowled...

Legacy. Mom always taught me to leave a place better than how you found it. Accomplishing this, people will think highly of me and possibly invite me back. Why should I care about the thoughts and perception of other people? Because of whose I am. My first reflection I desire to leave on people is my best impression of a Christ-like life. My second impression I hope to attain is a great projection of my blood family's values they have instilled in my character. I know I have messed up in both arenas, in my representation of God and my representation of my family, but thank God, both are forgiving. This is the huge key in continuing to acquire forgiveness in life - you have to give it first. However, after getting right one with the other - What would my Mom and Dad say about me if they were to testify of my person, my character?  How would God tackle that same endeavor? Do I make Him proud? I know God is faithful and just to forgive me as long as I confess and forgive others ( 1 Jn...

Someone once said, "God still uses cracked pots." - referring to the utilization of broken people to accomplish His will. I believe this with all my heart. To acknowledge we are not perfect I think is one of the major steps of great wisdom in life. The next step is ascribing who is perfect and lived the perfect life - God in the flesh, Christ Jesus, Father God's only Son. Because of Christ and His life, believers are victorious in and through the many challenges that life presents, even when death arrives. Because of His perfection, our striving for perfection is not necessary. Christians find their everything, their perfection in Christ, The King of The Kingdom of Imperfect People. However, within this imperfection and in spite of it - God uses His believers. Writing in his second letter to the believers in Corinth, Paul stated the idea like this -  "But he [Christ] said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Th...

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I find that as I age, along with the world beside me, not only do the problems that are guaranteed in life come but they seem to transform or at least jump a level to that of "Woes". The results of the "Woes" of life are a very bad attitude and even worse perspective on everything. Our focus, my focus, is not only turned from the "silver lining" in people, places and things, but God is missing from the beginning in the picture also. Like a batter in baseball who has gone into a slump and finally emerges from that slump with the realization that all along he was not consulting his coach on the third-base line who was there throughout the slump - so should Christians turn to the Holy Spirit all the time, but especially during their "woes". "Woes" in life, like slumps in baseball, have a powerful influence, they place us in a "woe is me funk". There is that negative turn of perspective and att...

In Job's life the devil was a major influence, but God was sovereign over all the details. God used the Behemoth and the Leviathan in His discussion with Job to display His power over everything. Pointing out the incredible, descriptive details about those creatures, God naturally asked Job and all of humanity - Who then can compare to me as The Creator and Sustainer? If humans cannot stand against such fearsome and awesome creatures as the Behemoth and Leviathan, what success does one think he/she might have with The Creator and Sustainer of these beasts and all creation? Later in the New Testament, Paul would echo this strong declaration of Creator and Sustainer-God when he said - "For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." (Colossians 1:16-17) "So God ...

When belief in healing for what seems to be the "normal things humans battle with" comes before God, I do not observe His direct involvement. I believe I can safely say, in most cases, God allows the natural healing process to occur like medicines, doctors, rest, fluids in addition to our request to be healed totally by God in prayer. At this point in my walk with King Jesus and His Holy Spirit,  I believe Christians should use their God-given common sense when sicknesses arrive or a major disease attacks or surgeries are required. Wellness has been practiced for a very long time. Luke was a physician and even the Lord goes by the title Great Physician as depicted in  Luke 5:31 . I see healing as two fold - (1) a gift God has available to give according to His purpose and (2) an act of faith on our part whether it be as small as a mustard seed or a leap of faith to acquire the healing. But alongside common sense should be the believer's faith. In Mark 10:52 a blind man s...

Moving Day, this is a stressful time and a joyful time - at the same time. Whether you are applying this title to Saturday of a golf tournament or moving from one house or work location to another, Moving Day can quickly test you in a lot of different areas. Change tends to do that. While I am certain of other Biblical testimonies of moving days, the biggest of which is The Exodus, in reading chapters 34 and 35 of Genesis recently, I witnessed the specifics of another Moving Day unfold. The difference in all these moving accounts was not the devil in the details, it was God in the details and Holy decisions by the lead character. There is usually a catalyst to Moving Day. In golf, if you have made it to Saturday for a tournament that begins on Thursday and ends on Sunday, Saturday means you better make your move to position yourself for the win on Sunday. The stimulant that drove Jacob and his family to move was an attack on his family - a daughter was raped. The fathers met and the o...

God is "funny". He takes a life that had been persecuting, imprisoning and killing believers in Christ and has him taste imprisonment and torture for Christ's sake as a converted believer - Paul.  Prepositions are important so when I read Paul's letters to fellow believers from usually a prison cell, the words he selects to describe himself are interesting. In Ephesians 3:1 and 4:1 , Paul portrays himself as "a prisoner of Christ Jesus" and "a prisoner for the Lord" - respectfully. In his second letter to his protege, Timothy, Paul deems himself "His [God's] prisoner" (2 Tim. 1:8) . Then again in a letter to Philemon, he states - "a prisoner for Christ" . Although Paul writes from prison in many, if not all of these verses I have documented, as stated before, the prepositions "of" and "for" should be considered. A "prisoner OF Christ" declares that you are somehow in some fashion imprisoned by...

The Concept Hell is sung about, seen in movies and heard in most everyone's everyday vernacular. Hell, one would think as much as we see the concept and use the word (1) everyone would believe in an afterlife and (2) most people would desire to go to Hell and/or if they don't, they would send their unlikables to the place. The popularity of Hell makes me think that those that sing about it in their rock songs, watch it in their movies and exclaim it in their speech are the same who believe in a literal place that nobody should desire to finish this life and begin their next. But I find that those same individuals shun the notion of it and with that discarding they throw away the truth of a Just God. However, according to a 2023 Pew Research Study - 71% of Americans believe in Heaven and 61% of Americans believe in Hell. As you can well deduce from those percentages this means there are people that reside in the non-believing camp. If people truly understood and believed in Hell...