God Centered Dad

Humanity has always had an interest in the afterlife. We all know that we are alive on this earth, and we also know that everyone eventually dies. What we don't know for certain is what happens after our life on earth is done. The Bible gives us a pretty good understanding of what the afterlife looks like, but as with many subjects, there is an element of interpretation involved in understanding it. This is why there are several ideas about what one will experience once we leave this mortal coil. But what the Bible is very clear about is that there is a life after this one. There are a lot of verses in the New Testament that talk either directly or indirectly about the afterlife, but this understanding of life after death did not come about only in the New Testament time. The Jews have a very intricate teaching and understanding about what things look like when one dies. I do not claim to have a full knowledge or understanding of these views, but we know from Scripture that Sheol ...

  Do you know that Christianity is the only faith system that offers us assurance of our eternal destiny? I am talking here about true Christianity; Biblical Christianity. This statement does not apply to all sects of christianity. I am making a bold, generalized statement here. I admit that I do not know all of the ins and outs of the different sects of Christianity, but those with which I am familiar fall safely within the bounds of this statement; the rest fall under the umbrella of assumption, based on the understanding that there is only one true faith, and everything else is anathema. Catholicism is not included in this statement of assurance. Mormonism does not count either. Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism...these definitely do not offer assurance. As far as I have been able to determine over the years, only Biblical Christianity does not require some type of works to appeal to or appease God. Works are a byproduct of true faith, not a requirement for eternal life. As James states...

Sometimes, when I'm reading my Bible, a single verse might jump out at me and offer a new understanding of a tenet of Scripture. I hope that you find that happening for you sometimes too. It can happen out of the blue, and sometimes, like today, it offers me a topic for an article.  Today, my daily devotions brought me to read Psalm 50. Psalm 50 is entitled "God the Judge of the Righteous and the Wicked", and in it, Asaph, the author of this Psalm, compares the ways in which God will deal with those who are righteous and those who are unrighteous. As I was reading, verse five jumped out at me. It reads, "Gather My godly ones to Me, Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice." In my latest article, I made a mention about the importance of the Old Testament sacrificial system that God instituted in order to bridge the gap between Himself and His chosen people. That gap exists because of our fallen human nature, which, by necessity, separates us from God...

 I recently watched a clip from an interview with a man in which he shared a part of his testimony which should serve as a warning to all of us. In this clip, he tells of his experience after an accident that he had in 1979 at which the paramedics proclaimed him as dead. They transported him to the hospital, and some time after he got there, he came back to life. This man was clinically dead for about 15 minutes, and he tells of what he experienced during that time. While he was dead, he had the opportunity to watch the harvest of souls from the earth and see them as they found out their eternal destiny. This man states that in those 15 minutes in 1979, there were 2000 souls that left the earth, and the vast majority of them were met with rejection from Heaven. Only 50 of 2000 people gained access to Heaven; only 2.5%.  That was in 1979, when there was still a significant Christian heritage in this country. We have since wandered far from God as a nation, and that occurs one...

  Christianity holds that God is the ultimate power and authority in this world, and even this universe. Christianity also holds that God is the God of Love, and an expression of that love is that He made a way for us to be with Him in eternity, but He will not force Himself upon us; the choice is ours to make. God created humanity for relationship with Him. As such, He has given us free will to exercise whether or not we want that relationship. God does not force His will on us, though He does want the best for us. It is on this basis that I want to look at Jesus' short time that was spent in Nazareth after His ministry began, and examine why it is that we read that He was unable to perform many miracles in their midst. Realizing that eye witness accounts seldom line up perfectly, and never should, let's look at this story through the eyes of both Mark and Luke at the same time. While Luke's account indicates that Jesus went directly to Nazareth after His baptism and tempt...

  It seems like the entire first world is preoccupied with reducing the 'carbon footprint' of the people who live in it; or at least the leaders who live extravagantly and who jet-set around the world in pursuit of this are preoccupied with reducing the footprint of the people who can least afford it. The truth is that the preoccupation with the earth is a form of religious worship, though few would agree with that statement, but please, hear me out. As Christians, is it not our belief that God is in charge of everything that happens? Is it not our belief that God designed this wonderful world for us to live in and enjoy, and that He designed it for all eras and for all people? I think that it is pompous to think that mankind can have any effect on the climate of this planet simply through the consumption of meat, for example. This is one of the more egregious things that the elites of this world wants to limit for us plebeians. The entire movement to curb our ...