Feeding The Sojourners

 Some years ago, I had the vision of planting a garden, so I could grow enough food for our family, some to sell, and some to give to people who don't have enough to eat. 

We go to a place like a homeless shelter, but it does house people who have no place to live. People in our group make a large meal and serve it to the people who live there. Then we preach the Gospel message to them and minister to the people. 

It would be a cool idea if I could actually grow enough food to make a big salad and bring it down there. Well, that idea never really panned out as I am still learning how to grow food organically, in gardens. 

We get some food here and there. I have tried something new by adding chicken manure to the compost pile and blending it in. Now that I have homemade chicken manure :) I can do that. 

But years ago, in another house, I was able to grow some tomatoes. I put labels around the plants so I knew what kinds of tomatoes were in the pots. 

We had some workers come to trim the trees in the back yard. Most of them didn't speak English. They seemed friendly and probably were hard workers. I do not know if they were American citizens or not. 

The men were there all day. But during the day, I noticed that some of the men were taking tomatoes off the plants. Whatever else was growing, they were also taking off. It wasn't big and obvious, but I could see that was happening. 

At first, there was kind of an irritation on my part. Why are these people stealing my food? I don't have that much to go around, and what I have will pretty much be gone. Should I tell them? Should I just let them take the food from the plants and just ignore it, even though that is stealing?

As I thought about it, my heart began to change. I was very happy that they were getting an education about plants since I put the names of the plants right by them. But I began to see that they were probably hungry men and perhaps this was the only food they would get for a while. 

It was then that I realized, this is what I really did want to do. I was able to feed a few men with some tomatoes and whatever else was growing. It wasn't like they took a ton of food either!

I was able to give them Bibles later on. I probably gave them Spanish language tracts as well, since I think they spoke Spanish. 

I do pray that I will be able to grow lots of food in the future. I hope to be able to bring a salad to the homeless people one day. 

And I pray to be able to give them spiritual food that will nourish their souls as well.

“And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.”

Leviticus 23:22 ESV

Homegrown Carrots

 

The Description of the Fate of the Unrepentant

  I just sit here in amazement as I read Scriptures on how people, when being punished by God, have no intention of repenting or turning from their evil ways.

  The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire.  They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory. Revelation 16:8&9 ESV

  Contrast the attitude of these heart hearted proud God rejectors to a rich man who ends up in hell and wants to get out.

  The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’  Luke 16:22-28 ESV

    The point is, I am amazed at how, even when in the torment of being in hell, there are some people who will still not repent and desire a way out.

  The rich man in the story above, wanted out. When he realized there was no way out of hell, he requested that someone tell his brothers about the fate that awaited them. But in the other example from Revelation, those people hated God's authority so much that, even in torment, they were unwilling to change, or to even ask for or desire change.

   Both the rich man and the proud, hard-hearted God haters ended up in hell. People do not end up in hell because they are rich, although riches can keep us from wanting to know God. As with all of us, the rich man and the proud, hard-hearted people ended up in hell because there was no covering for their sin. They did not repent of their sins while living on earth. They closed their hearts to God and refused to open up to Him. They never saw their need for a Savior while living on earth.

  There is hope for us, as long as we have breath. If God is working in our hearts, we can turn to Him in repentance and faith. We can put our trust in Jesus Christ, and His blood will cover over our sins. We will have clean and pure hearts when we turn to Him in repentance and faith. He will never turn us away when we put our trust in Him to save us from our sins.

  Of course, this scenario does compare with people today. We can see politicians who are trying their best to destroy the country, yet, God is working against them. They just keep on with their marching orders from Satan, regardless of what God is doing to oppose them. There is no fear of God in their eyes, whatsoever. They are bent on evil, much like those described in the book of Revelation.

 

Will We Run Out of Resources In 12 Years?

  Years ago, back in the early 70s, I was looking for different places to order tracts from. Many of these companies sent out samples of their tracts. Sometimes, I would just order whatever sounded interesting and useful.

  There was a tract that was in comic form, and in many ways, it seemed like a scare tactic. I think we need to be careful, for on the one hand, we have to warn people about the 'wrath to come'. We need to tell people the Gospel message, so they don't have to spend eternity in hell. But on the other hand, we can so easily spend time using information in such a way that it is scary to people. We do that to get people to respond to whatever the message is that we are giving.

  The tract basically was pointing to the end of the world, and how bad things were going to be. Of course, there is nothing wrong with that in itself. People need to be prepared. But one of the things in this tract that was concerning was how it explained that we would run out of water in 10 years because of some condition going on in the world.

   I was not a very mature person at that time, but I did have enough common sense to ask myself what would happen if we did not run out of water in 10 years, and if other people read the tract, would that discredit the Gospel message?

  It's been forty-some years now since I read the tract, and we haven't run out of water yet. The point is though, that when we write something, it needs to have credibility. It needs to not be written from a wishful thinking viewpoint.

  We are now hearing reports about how we are going to run out of resources in 12 years. Many are predicting that life on earth will be way different 30 years from now. I get emails with people panicking from the concept of the damages of climate change and how we need to stop using things like gas and coal. There are people who believe this story and are preparing everyone to get ready for living in a primitive way again.

  First of all, God knows how many resources we still have available to us. He has provided us up to this point with the resources that we need to live on.

  Second, God calls us to be good stewards with everything we have been given. We are to take care of the earth, in the sense that we are responsible for what we have.

   In early American days, people used to hunt. But the people were wise enough to know that if we killed all the animals off, there would be nothing left for us to eat! So, some rules were made to protect the animals from being hunted at certain times of the year.

  It's true that people today, in many cases, do not do their part in taking care of their environment. They litter and do whatever is easiest for them, instead of cleaning up after themselves and putting garbage in the right places. Plastic bags have been found at the bottom of the depths of the ocean. This is the result of laziness and lack of being responsible people. This is totally wrong.

  Thirdly, there are places that replant trees that have been taken down. This is a great idea. It will help us to have paper and wood in the future (as well as Christmas trees!).

  The whole Climate Change narrative is just not accurate. It is a scare tactic to make us become overly concerned for something that isn't going to happen.

  We can mark this day, and in 12 years from now, let's see how much of this Climate Change scare tactic has come to pass.

  Let's be credible in the predictions we make.

The Moralist

As I feed upon God's word and His thoughts, I realize that in a certain context, there are three groups of people. There are those who know the Lord and are saved from their sins, there are those who are unrepentant, and have turned their backs on God, and there are those who have a good moral standing and would call themselves Christians possibly, and think that they are saved. It is this last group that concerns me. I call these people, 'moralists'.

I do not condemn these people. And I actually admire their zeal for the truth and integrity. They stand up for what they know is true. They have an almost perfect sense of justice. They seem to see into the spiritual realm like anyone who has the mind of Christ. But I am concerned. And they don't necessarily seem arrogant.

I care about these people and don't want them to miss having a relationship with the true and living God.

It is easy to see where a person who lies or slanders, or is immoral, stands in their relationship to their spirituality. You know when a person is on the wrong side of eternity. If they had eyes to see, they would be able to see their sins clearly and repent of them. But with a moralist, it is different.

Often, I listen to or see moralists. I wonder how many of them sit in our churches every Sunday and have no clue of their need for a Savior? I wonder how many of them are in our families or our neighbors? What's even more concerning is, how we might just assume they know the Lord, just like we do.

Don't get me wrong, I really do appreciate the love that these people have for the truth. My concern is that if you were to ask them questions concerning the Gospel message, they would admit to believing that they are good people (not sinful). They don't see their sinful condition before a Holy, pure God, who they will stand before, one day. If you were to ask them if they believe that Jesus Christ died for their sins, they would answer in the affirmative. Yet, do they really see their need for salvation?

These moralists take a strong stand against abortion. They see it as murder. They fight for religious freedom in our country. They see each person as a human being created in the image of God. They see through the lies and deception of evil people. On the outside, they look perfect. And I am concerned.

Moralists are in our churches, social arenas, and in the media. They blend in with the rest of us who are fighting for the truth. I thank God for their stand and fighting for the truth. But I would be very sad if these people miss the boat when it comes to responding to the Gospel message.

May God help all of us to see Him more clearly and may God convict the moralist of his or her sins and reveal to them their need for a Savior.

In Honor of and Recognition of African American Moms

 I have the privilege of talking with people on the sidewalks and at outdoor events, and getting to know some of them. There are all kinds of people out there with different personalities and communication skills. Some are pleasant to talk to. Others aren't. But there is one group of people that I enjoy meeting and conversing with.

  When I am out ministering the Gospel message, I really enjoy talking with young African American men. These young men are very polite and respectful. When I observe them, it is obvious that there was someone who took the time to train these young men and brought them up to be respectful adults. Almost every time I meet African American young man, I see the respect he has been taught to have for others.

  I want to commend the African American moms out there. You have done a great job in raising your children. Many times I have seen a mom or grandmother with several little children, or children of all ages who are with them. I have seen the mother, aunt, or grandmother intervene when the child does something wrong. You can tell there is a lot of love in these families.

  These moms and grandmothers take their responsibility seriously. The rest of us could learn a lot from them. Many of these mothers are single parents. They have to do the job of two parents, and that is extremely hard. I so appreciate what I have seen when I observe these families. They have learned to work through hardships and not run away from hard work.

  Moms and grandmoms in African American families, keep up the good work! We need you and your families in our society today. You are a building block in our communities. Do not listen to the lies of the devil and do not give up in doing good! Do not be discouraged!

   When I was little, my grandparents lived next door to an African American family. The mom had four grown children and was raising her two little granddaughters. This lady was the nicest lady and she and my grandmother were very good friends. The lady next door was a single parent now as her husband left her. When I was pregnant with my first child, she sent me a gift. I also found out at that time that she was raising her great grandchildren. God bless that lady for everything she poured into her grandchildren and great grandchildren. On a good note, her husband returned home and they lived the rest of their lives together.

  I have always been impressed with my grandparent's neighbor. I just want to thank these people for the way they have taken the road that is not easy, but in spite of the hardships, they have pressed on.

  Thank you African American families for your example and your perseverance through the difficult times in life. We respect you and may you continue to press on with what God has called you to do.

"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9 ESV

Why Were the Seven Sons of Sceva Overcome By The Demons They Exorcised?

There are lots of interesting events that are recorded in the Bible. One of them is the story of  a Jewish high priest named Sceva, who had seven sons who practiced exorcism.

Exorcism is the practice of expelling demons from people who are possessed by the demon(s). It is a common practice around the world and throughout Bible times.

In this story, from the book of Acts, we read about some people who practiced exorcism at a skilled level. Let's see what happened to them.

"And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.  Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily."

Demons Beat Up Sons of Sceva -
 Credit - Sweet Publishing/FreeBibleImages.org

The seven sons of Sceva got beat up by the demons! I thought we were supposed to have all authority over the demons. What gives?

The Bible is very clear that everything is subject to Jesus Christ, the Son of God. When a person comes to know the Lord Jesus Christ as his or her Savior, that person becomes a new creature in Christ. Old things are passed away and everything becomes new. Not only that, but the Holy Spirit dwells in those who belong to Christ. They are given power over the Enemy of their souls. Nothing can harm them. Anything that happens to them has to first, pass through God's safety net, for He will absolutely protect them. 

What happened with the seven sons of Sceva is simply this; Jesus Christ was not their Lord and Savior. At least, at that time He wasn't. They were skilled in the Jewish way of thinking and had some excellent teaching, but the Holy Spirit did not dwell in them, for they did not know Him. 

We don't know whether any of the sons of Sceva ever came to know the Lord or not, but they didn't have the power of God in them to overcome the demons that were in the people they were exorcising. They used Jesus' name in exorcism, which was correct, but, if the Holy Spirit is not dwelling in a person, that person is at risk for a physical attack from the Enemy. 

Many people profess to know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, but have never put their trust in Him in order to have their sins atoned for. Many of these people go to church on Sunday and know the difference between right and wrong, and they make right decisions in life. They also trust in God for important things like deciding where they should live or what job they should take. They do have a trust in God, but have never come to the place where they have turned away from their sins and trusted in what Jesus did for them, while He was on the Cross. 

We need to ask ourselves if we really do know the Lord, or do we really trust in our own goodness to be saved from our sins? If we graded ourselves on a scale of 1-10, how well would we grade ourselves on keeping the Commandments? If we break even just 1 Commandment, that is enough for God to send us to hell, forever, to pay for that sin. 

If you are not sure that you ever placed your trust in Jesus Christ for the salvation of your soul, you can do that right now. We repent of our sins, (turn away from selfishness) and believe that Jesus died for every sin we have committed or ever will commit. That doesn't mean its ok to sin. But the devil is tricky and he always tempts us with sinning and sometimes, takes us off guard, and we fall into sin. When that happens, we turn back to God and ask Him to help us not to sin again. God will pick us up and we will walk with Him again, and He promises to cleanse us from all sin, when we are in Christ. 

"If anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new". 2 Corinthians 5:17

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1 ESV

No good deeds we do will ever atone for our sin. Good works do not cancel out the bad things we have done. Only Jesus' blood that He shed on the Cross will cleanse us from our sins. 

"If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 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." 1 John 1:6,7 ESV

God promises to cleanse us from sin, when we turn from sin to Him. God doesn't lie. Trust in Him today. 

If you have questions or are concerned about this matter, please write in the comments or send a message to me. Also, check out the other blog pages that I put together.

https://thegospelconversation.blogspot.com 

Https://test4gp.wordpress.com

My Story - My 'His Story'

I thought I would take a little time to write out 'my story'. It's kind of late, and I am running out of time, so I have to make it brief.

I will start my story at the age of 3. One day, I wondered some things. This was serious. How did I get here? Why am I here? What was this all about? When did I get here?

My mom proceeded to explain the facts of life as best as she could to a 3 year old.

She also taught me the 10 Commandments. Oh boy, now I knew I was in trouble. There was a time when I outright lied. What could I do to fix this problem? What does it mean if I broke a commandment?

Now, at the age of 7, sitting in class one day, out of nowhere seemingly, the thought came to my mind, there is no limit to God. Another thought that tied in with that one was, 'God never had a beginning'. If you can pinpoint a time in History past, God was before that. He never had a beginning point. He also is uncreated. My mind was blown.

Another time, in second grade, I did something stupid. I made some kind of remark about God, that wasn't nice. A boy in the class looked at me and commented. You know how it is when someone puts their hand over their mouth and makes that ummm noise? Almost like, 'I'm telling' when you've done something bad?

Well, I felt bad. I felt terrible. I knew I had sinned, again, but didn't know how to fix it. I even asked some people but no one knew how to help. At night, I asked my older friend. She said to me, 'Why don't you pray for forgiveness?' I thought that was a good idea, so I did just that.

When I was 9, I was afraid I was an atheist. It was hard to believe that God was there when you couldn't see Him. I felt guilty and yet, I wanted to believe He existed. At some point, I figured out that He must be there if I felt guilty about what I was thinking.

Because of being bullied around in school, in the years of 4-7th grade, I got tired of kids calling the shots, so I rebelled. I rebelled against authority and eventually, I became a bully. By the time I was 15, I learned how to physically fight with people (don't laugh. I know I am small!). I was tired of being bullied around, so, I turned to other things to make myself powerful and hopefully likable.

My life was taking a direction that was not good. I was considering taking drugs and doing the typical bad stuff kids my age did. Fortunately, I had enough common sense to always be careful in life and not do anything I would regret later on. But would my desire for power and recognition be greater than my common sense?

During my 9th grade year in school, my grandmother passed away from cancer. I only got to see her once or twice a year since we moved far away. I continued on my self willed path, but then something unusual happened.

During the summer between 9th and 10th grade, God began to speak to my heart. For a while, I just tried to ignore it. I thought it would go away. Was it just my overactive imagination working overtime again?

We took a vacation up North, and I thought for sure the voice inside me would go away. I really did fear God, but I wanted to do my own thing too. At least first, if I could. But the voice was still there, and it was there long after vacation was over.

Months went by, and the voice never stopped. At this point, I was careful to avoid listening to any religious programs or anything around me that would remind me of God....just in case. What was God trying to say anyway?

What I think God was trying to tell me was that there was something I needed to know. Of course, by this time, I am wondering about heaven and hell, and where I would go.

A couple of years before this, a friend was over and she and my mom were having a conversation. I felt very uncomfortable with what they were talking about. Don't even remember the details of this conversation, but it was something about if God didn't do a particular thing, we would all end up going to hell. I was really troubled about this (I never told this to my friend), and I remembered this conversation she had with my mom. It didn't seem fair to me that God would send people to hell. And that I could go there too. I just thought that would be impossible.

Sometimes, I used to think something like this, 'If God loved me as much as everyone says He does, then He won't send me to hell. He doesn't send people to Hell that He loves." At least that made sense to me. But what was this voice trying to get me to understand?

It would be several months of hearing this voice and knowing that God wanted me to know something, before I started meeting people who would make a difference in my life.

At the beginning of my Sophomore year, while at a dance place my friend and I used to attend, I felt led to meet a young man standing at a big round table. I gave him my phone number at the end of the evening. He called the next day and set up a date. This was the first divine appointment I had.

I had just broken up with a boy at the time I went on my first date with this young man I met at the dance place. Before we went out on this date though, he wouldn't tell me what it was he was taking me to. But he did say I would like it because it has music. All I could think of was, 'I hope this isn't something religious'. Maybe it was a trap from God for me to find out what it was He wanted me to know. Did I really want to know what that was? I don't think I was ready to hear the Good NewsI  yet.

He takes me to this place, where he tells me I will like it because it has music there. Sure enough, it was some kind of religious meeting (It was a Young Life meeting, at a church building). Part of me felt trapped, but part of me also found it interesting. I saw kids there who I knew, and some of them were pulling out cigarettes and lighting them up. This is going to be an interesting meeting, I can tell.

There was very little I understood of the supposed threatening message that I would hear. But, I ended up liking the boy, and we continued to date. In fact, we went out on several dates and got to know each other very well.

One night, when he was visiting, he asked me if I were a Christian, to which I replied that I was. I assumed a Christian was someone who was not Jewish, Muslim, or Atheist. Another time, he asked me about baptism. I was sprinkled as a baby, and that was called 'baptism'. He disagreed. I was perplexed. What does baptism have to do with anything anyway?

I still had this inner knowing that there was something God wanted me to know. But I still could not figure out what it was. My boyfriend and I had more discussions about baptism, and finally, we decided to talk to his pastor about it.

We went to visit the pastor at his church building. He explained baptism to me. I had no idea what he was talking about. But then, he took a little booklet called 'The 4 Spiritual Laws' and read it to me. When the pastor got to the end, there was a prayer. He asked me if I had ever prayed anything like that before. The lights began to come on for me. Suddenly, I realized that there was something about all this that had to do with a relationship with God. I was terrified.

I took the booklet home and read through it often. It explained the Gospel message throughout it. I tried to understand it but it was hard. But I continued to read through it and believed that maybe it would answer the question of whatever it was God wanted me to know.

One thing I realized, is that I never prayed a prayer like that in my life. It was an afternoon, a couple of months after I received this booklet, that I decided to try to pray that prayer. I don't know if I really understood the Gospel message at that point, but I tried to pray the prayer at the back of the booklet.

We had moved to another house, and now I was going to a new high school. In the home room class, there was a girl who sat in the desk behind me. She was very bold about her faith in God. She talked about Jesus as if He were right there with us. I had never heard such a thing as this. It was very intriguing. One day, the girl asked me if I were a Christian. I remembered that I prayed the prayer in the back of the booklet, so I said 'yes'. But did I really understand the Gospel message yet? I'm not sure.

God continued to work in my heart, and now that I was dating someone who seemed to know about this God Who was speaking to my heart, it helped me to let go of my rebellion and arrogance. I didn't have the need to go out and prove myself to others and bully people around anymore. For a while, it was a battle though, because originally, I was determined to do just that. But now, I was much more ready to give all that up.

In the new high school I was at, I met an old friend from elementary school who also was in my mom's Boy Scout group when I was 10. This young man also went astray in his teenage years, but now I met him again, and he was different. He was excited because of what the Lord had done for him. He was so zealous for his new faith, and he gave me tracts to start to give out to others. This was the first time I ever saw a tract, and I thought they were cool. But still, I just wasn't there yet.

The day did come when the message of the Gospel connected in my heart. With all my new Christian friends that God sent my way, I was able to get the help I needed when I had questions. Somehow, not sure when, the Gospel message made sense to me, and I responded. God helped me understand that I was in rebellion to Him, and that He sent His Son to die for my sins, so I wouldn't have to spend eternity in hell, paying for my sins. Now I could be reconciled to God, and have a relationship with Him. I understood that I could come to God through His Son, Jesus Christ. And, now I was a new creature in Christ, a born again person.

Anyway, that is basically my story, and when my life began to change drastically. It's been many years later, and God is still faithful to me, and now my family. I married the man who was my boyfriend that I met at the dance place. God has continued to lead us as a family, and also placed us in a church where we are able to function in the body of Christ.

I don't know what would have happened had I not responded to the Gospel call on my life. Maybe I would have died early in life. Whatever would have happened, I am glad to have traded in that life for the abundant life that I am now living.

For anyone who is interested, I have a blog page that explains the Gospel message more clearly. The link is https://thegospelconversation.blogspot.com. Feel free to visit there and if you have any questions about this, please don't hesitate to ask in the comments.