O-Dark-Thirty

A pastor this morning mentioned that Satan is not very creative. He keeps using the same tricks. Of course he does. They seem to work with every generation. Satan uses the same lies to fool me - over and over again. Here's the one that gets me most of the time: "You can do this one yourself." Quite often that means the same as "You don't need God for this one." One of the big lies is that Jesus isn't God. I get it. That Trinity thing is confusing. Like one Pastor said "Find someone who tells you they fully understand the Trinity and you can be sure he'll lie to you about other things, too." Some religions even teach that Jesus isn't God, using Col 1:15 as the basis for that belief: "Who [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:" (KJV) The argument is that if Jesus is the firstborn, then he is the pre-eminent emanation of God, therefore he, like us, is a "god" with a s...

We visited the ruins of the Pool at Bethesda when we were in Israel.  There was once water there, as well as five porticoes, which are steps with columns. How beautiful it must have been! John says that a multitude surrounded the pool. We don't know how many, but there were probably hundreds of people seeking healing. Occasionally, during a certain season, an angel would stir the water and the first one in the pool was healed. T he Bible doesn’t contradict the tale of the angel stirring the waters. It does not trivialize it, but states the visitation as simple fact.  Jesus is there. He doesn’t go down to the water and stir it and say “Everybody jump in!”  Jesus doesn’t even announce that He’s there. He simply goes up to a man who has been sick for thirty-eight years and asks if he wants to be healed. Jesus asks that question a lot in the Gospels. He asks it now. The man misunderstands. He thinks Jesus is talking about the pool and says he hasn’t anyone to h...

Garden Tomb This is HOLY WEEK for Christians, the week leading up to Easter - or Resurrection Sunday, as some Pastors now call it. (I have a rant on that, but I'll leave it.) A guy I worked with years ago told me that he didn't celebrate Christmas or Easter (or birthdays or anniversaries - and didn't even wear a wedding ring). I told him that was okay, but confusing. I can see why you might not celebrate Christmas (I LOVE Christmas) because everyone is born. But EASTER? Not everybody rose from the dead, buddy. And though Jesus rising from the dead was the end-game to provide the gift of salvation, we tend to forget that Jesus is with us all the time. Some people think Jesus cannot understand the pain they suffer, the hardships, the temptations... We sometimes think that Jesus knows of sin only distantly, perhaps a Godly abstraction to ponder while He watches us from above. Yet Jesus became fully man, and knew all the same temptations we do. Hebrews 2:17-...

As I said last week, I'll start posting a new chapter every week. This week, however, I'm cheating a bit, since the following story is the first tale written of the soon-to-be-famous von Crapp brothers, Vic and BA. I published this as a short story, The Duel. Smashwords has the book for free. Enjoy. Here's one published review: Review by:   wesley58  on June 10, 2014 : A good introduction to the Von Crapp brothers. The second book, Safari in the Mist, is a must read. The Duel A Von Crapp Brothers Tale A Short Short Story “You kissed his wife,” Vic, the Gentleman Adventurer said quietly, cutting his poached eggs on toast with a silver knife and fork. The sun was just rising over the Italian bay and both men sat on their balcony eating breakfast. “She wanted to be kissed,” replied BA, stabbing a piece of bacon with a spoon and shoving it in his mouth. Vic stared at his brother for a moment, shaking his head. “I still don’t know how you do that....

Predestination and Free Will Tough topics - and not for the faint of heart. I grabbed a post I did August 14,  2014 and I'll repost it now, but I will certainly need to delve into the subject again. Repeatedly, no doubt. That's probably predestined. August 14, 2014 Last Sunday, Pastor Dr. Denny Autrey (our interim Pastor at First Baptist Church Pearland ) preached a familiar sermon on Romans 8:28 and a bit more. It was almost familiar, but it got me thinking. You'll see what I mean. First of all, Romans 8:28 is a verse a lot of Christians hold on to during bad times, that God will knit all these bad times into something good. I have no doubt that God does this, but it is good according to His purpose, and sometimes I just don't see it. If you're like me, you know what I mean. You've known people who got hurt, died, suffered horribly in their lives and you have to wonder. Maybe you ARE that person. My heart goes out to you. Most of us have seasons ...