Let's get Serious

November 13,2013-Wednesday

#YOLOforGod  

Hello everyone, I have made a new blog and it is the title above these words. The url is yoloforgod.blogspot.com and its really cool so I say go check it out, because your on the internet and have nothing better to do. Besides watching funny cat videos. :)



November 06,2013-Wednesday

A Call to Resurgence 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdxPgNwGV4Y


October 23,2013-Wednesday

Ezekiel 

   
Chapter 1 v. 1-3
            v. 1-
“I saw visions of God”, first-person
Style of “apocalyptic” writings, which becomes the dominate form of prophecy
            v. 2-3a-
“The LORD gave this message to Ezekiel son of Buzi, a priest, beside the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians”. This suggests a Editor, because it is a second introduction.
 
In Ezekiel, visionary experience as revelation of God and his future both trends forward to the apocalyptic writings in Zech. 1:7 and Dan. 10:7, and harks back to the old seers in 2 Chr. 9:29 who flourished in Israel before the time of the preachers whom we tend to call “the prophets.” 
           
v. 3b- 
“The hand of the Lord was on him.” Following the Masoretic Text this is a pronoun in the third person. Ancient versions translate a first person, and in the narrative context this seems a far more likely text. In the rest of the book “the hand of the Lord” is invoked only in connection with the impact of visions, never with the coming of the word.  If that holds \then it belongs with the narrative of 1:1, 4, rather than with that of 1:2-3a.
The call of Ezekiel is itself one of the “acts of God in history”
“the hand of the Lord” is known as a reference to Christ, because all [the Lord’s works] are done through him.
The introductions pose an intriguing theological question; How are visions of God and word of God one? 
            In the theological tradition, heaven is the part of creation that the Creator has made as his place; therefore for him the creation is merely a single other place. But if he is not only to create others than himself, but to live with these creatures, he must have a place within the place made for them. “Heaven” is that part of creation. And what is in besides God is the present reality with God of the future that his history  with creatures intends, the divine present tense of “the kingdom of God” and what “must come before” it. Ezekiel’s report fits very well with this tradition.
 



 October 16, 2013-Wednesday

 VOM

      Martyr's. A person who is killed for their love and thankfulness of Christ.  Christians are dying all over the world. In China, and other country's were it is illegal to be a Christian. They are imprisoned, often tortured to the brink of death, and then in most cases either shot or burned alive. Voice of the Martyr's (VOM) is an organization that helps put the family's of these martyrs. Usually because it is the man that goes away so the family has little income and there way of life is harder than most. If you wish to help VOM help martyr familys go to persecution.com and follow the tabs. Thank you.


October 9, 2013-Wednesday     


Multiply 

      I have started a new book called Multiply by Francis Chan. The book is about how we Christians should live as disciple makers and how we can make disciples. I'm not that far into the book, but what I have read I have thoroughly enjoyed, what makes this book different is instead of having questions at the book of the book for each chapter, or at the end of the chapter, they're scattered, every time he finishes a point of discussion there's the question. You can get the book online for free at multiplymovement.com, again I have thoroughly enjoyed it and will definitely recommend it to others. 




October 2, 2013-Wednesday

 The Valley of Dry Bones 

     If you have a bible turn to Ezekiel 37, um... if you Prentiss Church of God then you already know this message, but the more I think about it the more this scripture shows the awesomeness and power of God. I only wish to concentrate on verses 4-8. "Then he said to me, Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD. So I  spoke this message, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke , there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons. Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then the skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them." So basically god raised people from the dead and REGREW ALL OF THEIR CELLS! How amazing is that, and the worst thing is people say he doesn't exist? What do you believe? And if you believe in God why?







September 25, 2013-Wednesday


 The Unknown Struggle in Genesis 


      In Genesis Chapter 1 God created the world perfectly. There was  nothing out of place, something didn't die, nothing went wrong right? The answer is yes. But what if i told you there was a struggle in the first chapter of Genesis? Every time we see God making something in a day ex. the animals of the earth at the end of each day the Bible says "and it was good." Now this means that the devil was at work because what God created could have went evil, like man. Now that doesn't mean that God can't make something perfect, he's God he can do anything as long as it doesn't go against his nature ex. sin. But what he can make can be corrupted with the right words ex. man. But its our jobs as Christians to try and not be corrupted as possible. But we will by the verses of the previous post below, and when we do we ask God for forgiveness.
 
September 18, 2013-Wednesday



Why do we sin?

      Sin entered the world when Eve acted upon the temptation of the Devil in the Garden of Eden. So when every person is born, they have a Sin nature. Let's look at what Paul says in Romans 7:14-20 "So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don't understand myself, for i want to do what is right, but i don't do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is the sin living in me that does it. And i know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature, I want to do what is right, but I can't. I want to do what is good, but I don't. I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don't want o do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it." So Paul is basically saying you are going to sin and you can't help it, just pick yourself up and keep going. A lot of new Christians need to read this scripture because they turn there lives around and make one mistake and BOOOM! there down in out in the first round. If you meet a new Christian whether its at the grocery store, or at Walmart tell 'em about Paul and what he says about sin.

September 10, 2013-Tuesday



What happens when we die?

     Death is a subject no one wants to speak about or think about. When we look back on our lives we have regret about the actions we could have done. “Regret is caused by the orbitofrontal cortex” [1], “a prefrontal cortex in the frontal lobes in the brain.” [2] In every life, and in every action there will be regret “Did I make the right choice”, “I shouldn’t have taken that deal.” So it’s our duty to make sure that the decision we make is the one that God wants us to do. We do this by praying and seeking our father’s wisdom.
     Death is a question in the fabric of time. Each generation tries to find an answer to this age old problem. There are many ways in which we as humans can die: car-wreck, heart attack, cancer, plane crash, tumor, or natural causes just about anything we can die from. Everyone at some point shall die. What I am trying to do is find an answer to this problem, and the only way I know how is The Bible.
     The Bible is not just stories about men in very old times or about some dude with long hair, and performing miracles, and proclaiming himself to be the son of God. It’s the word of Yahweh. The book of Hebrews chapter 4:12 says “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than any two edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.” (All verses quoted are from NLT). The Bible is essentially God’s answers to us about life and how we should live it.
    I have done a survey (September 1, 2013) on what people think when we die. I was able to get eleven people from different age groups to participate in my survey. 100% agreed that when we die we go straight to heaven.  The person who believes in God, repents of their sins, and believes that his son Jesus is Lord and savior will enter heaven. This answer is broad, and with broad comes questions you would have never thought of that end up dealing with nothing with your question. So let’s broaden this down, in God’s word Jesus says that Lazarus was asleep, but he had died two days before Jesus came and woke him up. Now we have two answers to answer this question: one, that you automatically go to heaven; two, that you’re asleep till the rapture happens. 
     To keep you guessing which answer is right I’m going to validate the answer right and wrong. This way you get what I call a “paper jam” where your brain can’t figure something out and so your left eye twitches a little and you reset your brain. I hope you enjoy reading this and that together we can come up with a solution to What happens when we die?
     To start off let’s explain death. If you don’t have a bible near I would consider getting one. With our Bibles now in hand let’s turn to the first book of Corinthians chapter fifteen verse twenty-two. “Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life.”[3] So back in Genesis when God created man he made him so the man would rule the earth through him. But when satan tricked Adam and Eve to eat the fruit on the tree of Good and Evil, which he had told them not to do, satan became ruler over all the kingdoms of the world (Genesis 3 and Matthew 4:8-9).
Who holds the power of death? Jesus does. In Revelation 1:18 Jesus says, “I am the living one. I died, but look-I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave (Hades).” Revelation is a book that cannot be taken for face value; it requires deep study for even the littlest verse. Now this verse is important because it shows “Christ’s power over the grave by his resurrection.” Death is not part of God’s plan. Jesus plans to restore everything in the cosmos to Gods plan.
What happens to death and the grave at the end of time? In Revelation chapter twenty-one verse fourteen “Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death.” The lake of fire is basically a lake of fire. The lake of fire is eternal torture, and it is the place where all who have not believed in God and his word are tortured forever. So with death and the grave in the lake of fire there will be no more death on earth. Those though who have believed God, and his word shall go into New Jerusalem, and live with God, and the rest of the trinity forever (Revelation 21).
Next let’s prove and disprove answer number one: We go to heaven instantly.
Heaven is 1,400 miles tall, high, and wide, the walls are 216 feet thick, the walls are made of jasper and the city of gold, and there is twelve gates in heaven each made of pearl; the city is laid on twelve foundation stones, which are inlaid with Jasper, Sapphire, Agate, Emerald, Onyx, Carnelian, Chroysolite, Beryl, Topaz, Chrysoprase, Jacinth, and Amethyst. We now know what   heaven looks like, and how we shall be living for eternity.
Scriptures that prove answer number one includes Philippians 1:21-23, and 2 Corinthians 5:6-8. Philippians states “For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better for me. But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live.” 2 Corinthians states “So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. For we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.”
Philippians and 2 Corinthians were written by Paul. He wrote a total of thirteen books of the New Testament. He was confident in his letter to the Philippians and to the people of Corinth on his opinion of death. Saying that although being alive and serving Christ is great, to die and be with him is far better, and that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. His statement does not go with answer number two; that you go to sleep till the rapture and then awaken. 
Scripture that disproves answer number one is 1 Thessalonians 4:13-16, “And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died (those who have fallen asleep) so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died (fallen asleep). For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died (the dead in Christ) will rise from their graves.”
Paul also wrote 1 and 2 Thessalonians. Here in 1 Thessalonians Paul says that when the rapture takes place the dead or those asleep with Christ shall rise up from the grave and go to heaven to be with God.  Paul’s statements above are now confusing. I must add that after researching I could not find a verse that said that when we die we instantly go to heaven. You must decide which one you believe.   
Let’s prove answer two: you’re asleep till the rapture happens.
To prove answer two (that you’re asleep till the rapture happens), we shall look at Matthew 27:52 and John 11:11. Matthew 27:52 states “and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead.” John 11:11 states “Then he said, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.”
The book of Matthew was written by Matthew, and it is the first of the four gospels that tell about Jesus’s life here on Earth. Chapter eleven is about Jesus’s death and resurrection, two verses ahead is Jesus’s death, and the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two. This scripture is amazing because there is not a date of how back the people were raised, besides that everyone who was a godly man or woman was raised instantly from the grave. This goes back to Revelation and Jesus having the keys of death and the grave.
John is the last of the gospels, and was written by John.  Chapter eleven is about the raising of Lazarus and the plot to kill Jesus. This sleep that Jesus is referring to can be referred to, as a deep sleep. This sleep is death, but our souls do not go into heaven right away. We go to sleep, and when the rapture takes place we awaken and go and are with God forever.
The reasoning behind this is in Revelation chapter eleven we have the two witnesses. In verse seven the anti-Christ comes and kills the witnesses after they have been prophesying three and a half years. After three and a half days God breathes life into them and says come up here! Now when we die and if we go to Heaven when we die why does God tell the raised witnesses to come to heaven if they’re already there?
Some scripture that disproves this “sleep” is Luke 23:43 and Matthew 17:3-4. Luke 27:43 state “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Matthew 17:3-4 states “Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus.”
Paradise is heaven; this scripture does prove that you can go to heaven immediately if you die. And Moses was dead when this meeting with Jesus while he was transfigured, but Michael the Archangel in Jude 9 fought the devil for Moses body. Again why fight the devil for the body of Moses if he’s already with God.     
If you haven’t already tuned me out let me at least tell you what my answer is. My answer is there is no answer. I honestly feel that the amount of time I have spent reading, writing, and thinking about this subject has led to the point that I believe this question has an answer but there are so many conflicting scriptures I could go on for another twenty-pages and not be done. I think that when we die we’ll figure it out as it happens, but for right now I can’t prove one  answer above another, and if someday someone can prove one answer over another I hope they contact me.  As for me I’m going to leave this one to God. 

1.      Graham, Sarah. "Brain Region Tied to Regret Identified: Scientific American." Brain Region Tied to Regret Identified: Scientific American. N.p., 8 Aug. 2005. Web. 31 Aug.  
2013. <http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=brain-region-tied-to-regr>.

2.      "Orbitofrontal Cortex." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Aug. 2013. Web. 31 Aug. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbitofrontal_cortex>.

3.      Bateman, Luke

4.      "Revelation 1 KJV." Revelation 1 Commentary. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Sept. 2013. <http://amazingdiscoveries.org/S-deception-Revelation-1-Commentary-Jesus>.

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