Indelible Marks

       Years ago, when I was in dental assisting school, was the first time I had ever heard of the word, 'indelible'. Personally, I did not like it. If your skin came in contact with indelible ink, it would never come off. It sounded like something permanent. I'm not even sure what the indelible item was in dental assisting school. Perhaps the amalgam we worked with?
   When I was preschool age, we lived in the Garden State. In our yard were all kinds of flowers and I like to pick them and study them. But one of them I was told not to touch because the color in the petals could come off and permanently stay on my skin. That would be like a natural tattoo, but without a pretty design!
   As a Christian, I see two meanings to the word 'indelible'. One of them is scary, and the other is great beyond measure. The first one is like sin. We sin because we are sinners. When a person robs a bank, it is because there is the sin of greed in his heart. When a woman shares her body with a man whom she is not married to, most of the time, it is for fear of not being able to keep her man. It is easy for us to give in to other's wishes upon us when we don't want them to leave us or reject us.
   When we sin, it is like an indelible mark on our souls. We can't see it, but God can. One day, when we stand before God, all of the sins we have committed will be like indelible marks on our souls. Even if we just had one indelible mark, that would be enough to send us to hell. We can't clean off the indelible marks, for they are permanent.
   There is one thing that can remove the indelible marks of sin, and that is the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son. Two thousand years ago, God came to earth as a baby, and grew up into a man. He did this so that He could take our place/punishment for our sins. He never sinned and obviously would have no indelible marks in His soul. But His blood is powerful enough to cleanse every indelible mark in all of our souls, should we repent and trust in Him as our Savior. He gives us robes that are completely spotless.
   The other meaning of the indelible mark is one which happens when we come to Christ and respond to the Gospel. When we come to Jesus Christ and receive forgiveness of our sins, all our marks of sin are gone, but, not only that, we are engraved in the palms of His hands. We are permanently engraved in His hands and nothing can undo that. When Jesus was nailed on the Cross, He took our punishment and now is able to save anyone who comes to Him. The nail holes are still there in His hands and will remain that way throughout eternity. Our names are written in the Book of Life and will never be deleted.
   So, every person either has indelible marks of sin in their souls, or, their names are written in the palms of God's hands. It is either one or the other. In eternity, it will be permanent. If we still have the marks of sin in our lives, we can repent, and turn to Jesus Christ and ask for cleansing of our souls. As long as we are on earth, it's not too late. Once we are in eternity, we cannot go back and change it.

This permanent ink will be used
on your permanent record

The indelible marks of sin can be completely wiped away by only one thing; The blood of Jesus Christ, which cleanses us from sin.

The indelible marks in the hands of Jesus will always be there to show us what He did for us on the Cross.

To those who know God and have a relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ, they are engraved in the palms of God's hands.

* Isaiah 43:25 “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins."

* Isaiah 49:15, 16 "Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me."

* Revelation 3:5 "The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life."
* Revelation 20:12 "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done."
* 1 John 1:7 "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin."
All above verses are from the ESV.

The 'New' Gospel, or Rather, The 'Old' Lie Brought Back

  I know I have my head in the sand, yet, I hear so much from other people that in some ways, I feel like I have been informed on the latest happenings.
  I know this really isn't a new Gospel, but there is a false one going around that many embrace, perhaps without even realizing it. It is the Gospel which says that God wants us to be 'happy'. Think about it for a moment. God created every human being to be a worshiper, correct? Everyone is a worshiper, whether he or she realizes it or not. It is just a matter of what we worship. In our fallen state, we worship whatever it is that we think will make us happy. Isaiah describes our 'idols' as lies. "Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?” Isaiah 44:19b-20 ESV

   Yes, our idols deceive us and keep us from worshiping (or even seeing) the True and Living God. Can we open our hands and let God take the idols from us? Will we receive the new heart He wants to give us? In the Garden of Eden, the devil wanted Eve to believe the lie that the fruit of the knowledge of Good and Evil would make her wise. The devil went on to tell her that she could become like God if she ate it. Basically, the devil was successful in getting Eve to doubt God. She stopped trusting Him, and started trusting herself instead. We do the same thing though. We think God wants us miserable, so we don't turn to Him. We turn to things that we think will make us happy. Essentially, we are listening to the same lie, recycled and custom made for us, that the devil gave Eve. 

   We are not going to be happy, ultimately, if we live selfishly. But, unless God opens our eyes, we will not believe that. We will continue on with our rebellion and happily be on our way to hell. 

   Does God want us happy? That is the wrong question, because what God wants for us cannot be compared to anything we experience in the flesh. Being happy is the ultimate success of the flesh, but living in the spirit is much different. When we live in the Spirit, we are in a different league than we are when living in the flesh. We don't have to feed our flesh anymore. The Bible speaks about the 'joy of the Lord' which is so much higher and purer than being 'happy'. Any promise of the flesh being happy is just an illusion. A person can be 'happy' for a time, but, in a way similar to drugs, the happiness will wear off. The person will have to look again for something or someone to make them happy. It's a continuous cycle that will ultimately end in death.

The Deep Dark Well We All Live In

   My main reason for writing this is to help clarify my basis for writing these blogs. I really want to be helpful, but I know, unless I write really, really long blogs, that people can misunderstand what I am writing, and why I am writing what I write.

   I have found this while sharing the Gospel too. One lady was so angry with me because I offered her a tract. She then told me that she hopes God judges me for what I am doing. I didn't think I said anything that was that disturbing.

   I look at it like this; we are all in a deep well together. It is not like I am outside of the well trying to get people to come up to my level. It would be more like all of us are in this deep, dark well. Some of us think we are happy here and are making the best of where we are and what we have. We really don't want to get out.

  It would be like seeing a rope dangling while in the well. Can the rope be trusted? Talk to people who have taken hold of it. They were rescued. Once they were rescued, they could see more clearly what it was that they were inside of. They know the rope is there and that it is trustworthy. Now they are telling others about the rope. They have chosen to stay inside the well to help others find the rope.

 If a person wants to take hold of the rope, he or she cannot take anything with him/her. He must let go of everything else because those things will keep him inside the well. The rope was only there for people to grab onto, not for things to be taken up.

   Many don't want to take hold of the rope. They want to keep their things, even though those things are keeping them in bondage. They don't see the beauty of being outside of the well, so they think what they have is the best of the best, when it is really only an illusion.

  There are counterfeit ropes as well. They look sturdy and strong, but when you take hold of the end, it begins to unravel or it breaks. God helps people to know when they see the real thing. They will put their trust in the true rope, the only one that doesn't unravel or break, and that is strong enough to pull us out of the well. It is true that a person can tell which rope is the right one to pick, but the person would rather choose one of the other ropes.

   God offers the true rope for all of us. Some of us have grabbed it and been pulled out of the dark well. It is time for us to go back, and help other people find the rope.

   I personally think, after listening to many people talk, that perhaps without realizing it, we still have this mindset that we have to be good to please God, or we have to do certain good works to appease Him. Sometimes, people mistakenly think that fruit bearing Christians are those who have done so many good works that they are close to God. But keep in mind that Jesus died for sinners, not for righteous people. Jesus died for murderers, liars, thieves, adulterers, haters, homosexuals, lesbians, those addicted to porn, the immoral, cheaters, selfish people and bullies. Jesus didn't die so that we could stay in the well and look at the rope. He didn't die so we could take our sins with us when He pulls us out. He died so we can be freed from the snares of sin that hold all of us, in one way or another. No person can be good enough to please God or to make up for the bad things he or she has done. Only Jesus blood can cleanse us from sin and set us free.

God Disciplines Those Who Are His But He Doesn't Discipline Those Who Are Not His

  I don't know about you, but the word 'discipline' doesn't sound like a word that brings happy thoughts to my mind. I got 'disciplined' a lot as a child, for many things I deserved, and I certainly did not enjoy the process, nor did I understand the reason for discipline at that time in my life.
  The Bible says that God disciplines those He loves (see Hebrews 12:6-9). Our parents, as faulty as they were, disciplined us as best as they knew how, but God knows what is best for us. His discipline is perfect.
   This passage tells us that if we are God's children, we will received discipline. If we stray, or fall into temptation, God will work in the situation, and we will be disciplined. It is for our good.
   But here is the opposite situation; If we are not God's children, we will not be disciplined by God. I believe that is part of the reason why we see people doing bad things and getting away with them. In Romans 1, people who have turned away from God have been turned over by God to their sinful hearts' desires. They will sin and they will get away with it. God is not going to stop them. What they don't understand though, is that every time they sin, they are piling up more sins for God to make their punishment harder and more severe. They laugh and think they are getting away with it. But in reality, God is not showing them mercy. That is a pretty scary place to be!
   I see people speeding down the road, all the time. No cops are ever around though. But if I went speeding down the road, I can almost guarantee that I would be caught. It would be an act of God's mercy on me.
  If you belong to God, you will experience God's intervention when you sin. It is an act of God's mercy. Do not be angry with God. Be grateful for His mercy on you. If you don't belong to God, you can do whatever you want, but one day, there will be a reckoning. It will not be a pretty sight. It will be terrible. You see, the problem is, some people don't believe God is all-knowing and omni-present. There is no place you can go to escape God's presence. You might get away with murder, at least on earth, but, unless your conscience stops you first, you will find your end on Judgment Day. Everything stops there. There is no escape from that.
   If you sense you don't belong to God, and are concerned, please go to http://thegospelconversation.blogspot.com or http://test4gp.wordpress.com

How Deep Would You Dig, In Order To Get To The Money?

   A friend make a very insightful comment this morning. She had been a Christian for many years, but never got into the habit of reading the Bible until two years ago. She made a challenge and said that if you asked anyone around, they probably would not be reading their Bibles either.
  I thought that was interesting, but really insightful. It would seem like anyone who is a born-again Christian would be reading their Bibles, every day, but that is not what is happening. I can think of only two reasons. One of them I covered in a recent blog, that has to do with our being pragmatic. That simply means that we want instant answers and we live for convenience and comfort. Anything hard or that requires work is out of the question. And since reading the Bible would involve work, we simple don't do it. But another reason might be, because we haven't been born again yet. Unless God is indwelling a person by His Holy Spirit, that person will not see God, nor will he or she understand or even want the things of God.
 Here is a question I throw out to you: If you knew there was a jar of several $100 bills 10 feet under the ground in your back yard, would you dig it up? What if the jar of bills was 6 feet under the ground? Or 2 feet? How much work would be involved on your part, to get to the money? Would it be worth it?
  Reading the Bible is much like eating, but in a spiritual sense. We nourish our spirits with God's word. It is good to memorize Scripture, but unless we digest God's word and it becomes part of us, it doesn't have an affect on our lives. We want to be spiritually healthy, and we need spiritual food to feed ourselves with.
   When we digest the word, the Holy Spirit activates God's word in our hearts. We can read the Bible and the whole story makes sense to us. When we are hungry for God, then we will want to know Him. We can know Him, and learn about Him through the Scriptures, which is worth more than all the gold in the world!

Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,
 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
    whatever they do prospers.

Psalm 1:1-3 NIV

What Is The Trade-off? What Is The Price Of Convenience?

  I am just baffled today as I go to the store and see so many products geared toward convenience. As I was walking through the garden department of a store, I saw bug killers, weed killers, and perlite enriched with Miracle Gro. The perlite could have been left alone, for it is somewhat of a natural product on its own. You got a problem with a bug. The store has the answer. But it is not without cost.

  For the past several years, I have enjoyed our newspaper's food section with recipes in it, but for some reason, this year it has lost its appeal to me. I figured out why when I was looking for black and white print newspapers to use for composting. The recipes are, for the most part, the same. You take a can of this and a box of that and mix them together and add another ingredient off the shelf. Why do the recipes look like that today? It is for the same reason the garden section in the store looks like what it does. Everything is made, even recipes, to cater to our love for convenience.

  My chiropractor's office is right by a McDonald's. I go in the later part of the afternoon and notice there already is a line at McDonald's. Amazing. With all the information on the Internet of how to take care of our bodies and to prevent sicknesses, the lines are still long at McDonald's. Why?

  I'm not making a case against McDonald's here, and I won't condemn you if I find out that you frequent that place. Nor will I condemn you for using Miracle Gro or a boxed cake mix. You probably have read many articles on health and healing and know the consequences of eating wrongly or eating things that are toxic. But my point is different here. I am looking at the other side of the issue. I don't want anyone to misunderstand the point I am making or read things into what I am saying. If you want to learn more about health issues, I do have a blog for that at http://healthtipsrecipes.blogspot.com/ . On that blog, I talk about health issues in more detail.

  I have eaten poorly for many, many years, and I justified every bite of it. I am sorry I had eaten that way because I weigh too much and it is very hard to lose weight when you have lived a life style like that for so long. What am I willing to pay in order to eat right and be healthy again? That is the question we all must ask ourselves, and it not only pertains to eating, but to everything else in life.

   The whole issue is centered around our idols. I don't mean to be blunt here, but I am trying to make this as simple to understand as possible. This principle applies to all people not just my readers, yet, we see this principle being worked out way more easily in America than anywhere else, simply because we have so much more right at our fingertips.

   Is convenience wrong in itself? No, and sometimes it is helpful. But when it becomes a way of life, it shapes the way we think and what we expect life to give us. We live in a society where ADD is treated as a disease, as if we are helpless and subject to ADD no matter what we do. Our potential becomes less and less because we believe we are not capable to deliver. So, we work around ADD and we make our lives as simple and comfortable as possible.

  Let me give examples of what this could look like. Let's say, a person makes and sells homemade soaps, using pure ingredients. Many of our minds do not understand this. People will respond by saying, 'you can just go to a store and buy soap. Why go through the trouble of making it?' Yet, the soap from the store has chemicals in it, and people who use store bought soap are more prone to skin difficulties. Another example would be with boxed cereals. Boxed cereals have lost so many nutrients plus, have added sugars to them, so children will eat them. It would be more work, but you could buy oatmeal and make it without adding sugar or preservatives to it. I had to recently make my own cereal recipe, as I don't like boxed cereals but need to have something on hand for when I need to use that type of cereal. Mine probably tastes better than the boxed cereals, plus it has a lot of good, nutritional ingredients in it. Was it cheap to make? No, it was rather pricey. It took time to find the ingredients and put them together. But it is worth it to me, to have something which is better quality, than something boxed up coated with sugar.

  Do you see the struggle here though? There is a tension we all have. Some of us don't have money to pour into making cereal. Most of us can't imagine taking time to learn how to make soap. Whatever is going to be worth it, will take time and money. If we don't put it here, we certainly will put it in medicine or doctor bills. A lot of our sicknesses can be prevented.

   We have lived for convenience. We are pragmatic, as a result. We want what we want, NOW. This flows over to every part of our lives, including the spiritual. When we have a problem, we tell someone in the church and expect it to be cured with some Bible verses. Then we start doubting when problems pile up.

  I guess, we can take one step at a time. I doubt that any of us really sees the effect of pragmatism in our lives. When we see something like chemicals added to perlite, we automatically think of it as a bonus, when really it is a disadvantage. We like our double cheeseburgers, even though they could make us sick. But, one step at a time, and I think we can do it.

   This is a struggle for all of us. It isn't really about Miracle Gro or cheeseburgers. It is about our hearts. What do our hearts crave at the moment? Ease? Comfort? Lack of hard work? What is God calling us to?

  Yes, we can take steps to change our habits, but what we really need is a heart change. We need eyes to behold the wonder of God. We need to have encounters with God like Isaiah did, and also Peter. (See Isaiah 6 and Luke 5). Only God can change the heart. As we grow spiritually, we will change. So, that is the answer to all our idolatries, no matter what they are. We must be willing to let go of them, so that God can live big in us.

I love my hamburger, my bug spray,
my hair spray, my bakery, my nose
spray, and my acne cleanser. Life is
good. My microwave is pretty cool
too.

7 Lies People Believe

   There are probably way more than 7, but I will post 7 of them that I am familiar with or hear people say. Sometimes, we can detect lies that other people believe, but we don't catch them when we ourselves, believe them.

    1. I am basically a good person.

    2. God wants to take my fun away.

    3. I can have an abortion, and no one, but me and the doctor will ever find out.

     4. I have sinned too deeply for God to forgive me.

     5. If most people sleep around, it must be ok with God, because He isn't going to condemn all of
         those people to hell.

     6. All religions lead to heaven.

     7. I believe in God, so that is all that I need in order to be right with Him.

Well, let's see here what God says about these things.

      1. "There is none righteous, no not one." "All have sinned and fall short of God's glory" Romans
           3:23 "The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, who can know it?" Jeremiah 17:9
   
      2. Although God's desire is for us to become holy, His desire has nothing to do with taking                          
         anyone's fun away. Life is difficult for those who know Him. Life is difficult for those who
         reject Him. We were created to worship Him, and He will fill those who know Him with joy  
         that is unspeakable. God promises to take care of those who are His (see Matthew 6).

     3. While this might be possible in the short life that you will have on earth, this act will always be
         in your conscience. You will never be able to remove it. Everything we do on earth is seen by
         God.  All our activities, good and bad are being recorded in His books. On That Day, everything   
         we have done in secret will be revealed. Since abortion is murder, that will also be charged to 
         your account of sin, that is, unless you repent of your sin, and trust in the finished work of Jesus 
         Christ on the Cross for cleansing from your sins. "There is nothing done in secret that will not be 
         made known."

      4. There is no sin that God cannot forgive. God will cleanse the heart of anyone who repents and
          trusts in Jesus Christ to save him or her from their sins. "He is able to save, to the uttermost, those 
          who come to God, seeing He lives forever to make intercession for them." David, the psalmist, 
          and Saul of Tarsus, had sinned grievously against God, yet God forgave them and restored them 
          after they repented of their sins and turned to God.

      5. If 100% of the people are sleeping around, God will punish 100% of the people. God does not
          grade on the curve. Anyone who breaks God's laws will be punished, even if it is only one law
          that is broken. If 100% of the people who are sleeping around repent of their sin, God will

          forgive 100% of the people. "Sin is transgression of the law". "But as for the cowardly, the 

          faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, 
          their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” 
          Revelation 21:8 ESV

        6. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me." 
           John 14:6. Also, "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven 
           given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12 ESV

        7. Did you know that the devil believes in God? "You believe that God is one; you do well. Even 
            the demons believe—and shudder! " James 2:19 ESV. Do you think the demons will go to 
            heaven? They have a place already reserved for them to be punished eternally. There is a 
            difference in believing something and trusting in something or someone. Knowing God exists is 
            important, but that alone is not what will get us into heaven. We must trust in Him. He provided 
            salvation for us to receive. We will not receive it until we see our need for a Savior. Then we 
            will turn from our sins, and turn to God, and trust in Him. 
 

The word of God is the voice of Truth