What is The Sovereignty of God?

The mere meaning of the word “Sovereignty” is to set something apart as totally independent. Take a country for example, once the country becomes independent then they become sovereign. They make all their own rules of government and social living standards according to their own wishes and desires. I believe that God in his own way of doing things has shown us indispensably, his character of  ”Sovereignty” in the way that he has allowed humans to operate within the confines of Governments set up here on earth. Each Country is in control of the laws that they enforce within their prospective borders. Why would humans chose such a system? How did we wind up here? Nuclear bombs and genocide just to mention a couple. People given Sovereignty will turn to the dark side every time. History continues to show this very fact.

God has given us the bible for what purpose? Is it to show us about human character? NO!  It is to show us His character and how he deals with humans! The bible is Gods way of letting us know who we are, what we are and why we are here. It all points to Him (God). God is the reason behind every event on earth and in heaven. God is Sovereign. He has created his own world and universe, that consists of every living creature. He is “GOD”.

God has created a system of government that he is in control of. He Created everything that has been created in six days. Nothing new under the sun has been created since then. Day one he separated light from darkness. Day two he put a canopy of water over the water covered earth. Day three he brought forth land and made all the living plant life on earth. Day four he created the heavens and everything in them (Sun, Moon, Angels, Stars). Day five he made all the creatures in the sea and in the air. Day six God brought forth all the creatures on the land  including Adam and Eve. Creation stopped after day six, and nothing new has ever been created since. Things have changed, with the exception of Gods character which never changes,  but nothing new created.

There are three entities that were not created however, and those three things are the manifestation of God himself. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. One God three persons of God. These three have been, since before the beginning of time. God the Father is at the helm and nothing happens outside the very will of the Father. This structure that God has set up is a predestined one. The bible tells us that he knows all. He knows how it all ends, who is going to heaven and who is not. He knows every thought you have had and are going to have. He is God and his word tells us this very thing. He is in control, he is Sovereign. He made the rules, he is not making them, he already made them before the foundations of the world  was created. God in his Sovereignty  has created a world of his own and we are the subjects of that creation, being created in his image.

Man being the subject of Gods creation is the purpose for the earth, sky, animals even the heavens, were all created for man. Why? Why did God create this world and stick man right in the middle and say here, this is all for you? And then ignorant man only knowing what God has allowed him to understand, goes and follows exactly what God had already predestined that man would do. SIN! Disobey God. And immediately following sin, man was removed from the presence of God. Everything has a purpose, a meaning, one that we don’t always or very rarely understand. It is not for us to understand, we are told not to rely on our own understanding, but to trust that our Sovereign God is in control and he knows what he is doing.

There are things that we do understand from scripture and here are just a few that will help you to understand the true “Sovereignty of God”. First and foremost it is important to understand that when God created Adam he created him “Good”. God said after he created everything, after the sixth and final day of creation, that everything he had created was “Good”. Man was created good and man wasn’t re-created bad. Man is still the same. Man is created good, with the ability to be deceived. Eve was deceived by Satan. Did this make Eve bad? No! It did however lay the foundation of sin. Sin is nothing more than disobeying God. And man is unfortunately incapable of discerning his thoughts to keep himself from sinning. Regardless of how much we love God and study his word, we will always be subject to Satan’s lies in our thoughts. It is our thoughts that control us and without the ability to control our thoughts we are subject to being able to do the most heinous of acts towards each other. Jesus told us to discern our thoughts. How do we do this? By knowing the word of God. When you know the truth, lies can’t harm you anymore. Jesus said that he is the truth and that the truth will set you free, free from the bondage of sin. Does this mean we are free from sin? No! Satan is still here to deceive us. But we as true believers have the wisdom of scripture to set ourselves apart from the lies of the world to know lies when we hear them and be able to hear Gods voice when he speaks to us. The only power Satan has on man is in his thoughts.

So there it is in a nut shell. Our Gods Sovereignty lies in his structure of governing human behavior through mans own thoughts. If God didn’t want Adam to sin, than Adam would not have sinned. He would have made sure that Adam remembered and gave him a spirit of righteousness and grace and Adam would have gently reminded Eve that God said “NO”. But we already know that God had a plan and that plan had to come to fruition. No man can come to God and be saved unless God has already prepared him to receive the truth. It is God who decided who is saved and who is lost. It is all for a purpose that we can not and will not understand until we die. At that point God told us that we will understand just as we have been understood.

There is so much to comment of this subject, but I don’t want to write a book. Just share with you, that the only thing you need to be afraid of is your own thoughts. If you have a desire to know that you are one of Gods chosen elect, than you would be praying for a discerning spirit and start to seek him with all your heart, soul and mind.

Tom Moran

Depression

Ever feel depressed? Everyone does. It is just one of those things that gets into our business and sometimes won’t leave us alone. Sometimes it hangs around way too long, and it takes a virtual miracle to snap us out of it. It gets so bad that it is the major cause of suicide. Primarily in teens. Teenagers don’t stand a chance with depression if they don’t have parents who know how to deal with it. We all suffer from depression in different degrees. Some get hit hard and others get hit often. Some and I mean a lot; take medication to deal with the effects of uncontrollable depression. So we can talk about depression or we can do something about it. But what can we do? This phenomenon has been around since Adam and Eve were told to leave the Garden of Eden. Cain was feeling depressed to the point of killing his brother Able. Noah wasn’t feeling very good when he watched the world get flooded and all his Aunts and Uncles, Cousins were all destroyed. Sarah had a hard time with the birth of Ishmael by Hagar. Abraham had a long slow walk with his son Isaac knowing he was to sacrifice him. Moses had one issue after another with the Israelites. Job, well you know how he felt. Jonah had a hard time just getting to Nineveh. I can list hundreds of incidents in scripture that deal with one form of depression or another. They are all horribly painful and uncontrollable. When it hits, it hits hard and deep. You are not alone. We all deal with it, just look at the patriarchs in scripture. We are all in the same boat. Okay, so we have established that we all deal with depression, and it is a deadly feeling at that. Did I say “feeling”? Am I saying that depression is nothing more than a feeling? Hmm, ponder that thought for a second as we dive into what it is that we are truly dealing with when it comes to depression.

Is depression a thought? I think not. Thoughts we can discern and dismiss. Depression is something that we can not just dismiss as a single thought that needs to just go away. This is something that literally takes over our thoughts to the point of murder, suicide, starvation, self mutilation, I can go on, but I won’t. I think you get the point. Depression is so real and dangerous that Psychiatrists are making millions of dollars on its existence. It is similar to a lot of other ailments that are big money makers for the industry, so much money that they don’t want a cure. But there is a cure. Yup, I said it. There is a cure for depression. Only one problem with the cure. This cure relies on faith. Not on medication, unless you think that a good dose of scripture might help you.

You see, faith in the truth will set you free from depression. Then why do so many faithful churchgoers suffer with depression? Because they don’t have faith in the truth. Most church goers have faith in what they are taught in churches, and most churches have pastors that are indoctrinated by man made bible colleges that turn out paper cutter pastors. If you have to go to a college to understand the bible, than you are already in trouble. You don’t see me quoting the bible, so if you want to know what it says, then go buy one and read it. What I will tell you here is the truth that the bible says about different issues to help you to find the right path as you read your bible.

So let’s look at the truth about depression. The truth be told, depression is a tool, like so many tools that God uses to help us along our journey. This tool however is used to remind us of how helpless we are. If there was a single tool that God uses to humble us, it is going to be that hard hitting feeling of depression. Remembering that there is a distinct difference between depression and self esteem. Self esteem is a high regard for oneself. You can think pretty highly of yourself and still get hit with depression. Depression is going to come on when you are disappointed in events which in most cases involve other people. That’s right. It takes others to be involved with the primary effects of depression. Self esteem is a sole manifestation of ones thoughts about oneself and what they think they deserve. Where depression is a gut wrenching experience that sucks the motivation right out of you to the point of not wanting to eat or go to work or clean the house. It comes on when you have human contact that turns out to be a very negative experience. Look at the examples I listed above. Each one of the scriptural examples dealt with the interaction of other human beings. It is a disappointment in others actions that emotionally affects us. WOW. There it is. Depression is a feeling we get when we are disappointed in other peoples actions that have a negative effect on us. It’s not the only one though. We also get depressed when we can’t pay our bills or feed our kids. This turns out to be a form of self esteem issue mixed with depression. This is brought on by circumstances beyond our control. Sometimes we did have control and we do stupid things that create the circumstance that brings on the depression. So what is the cure?

Simply put, for one thing stop doing stupid things that create an environment that brings on depression. Second don’t let other people disappoint you! Take your eyes off other people. Put your eyes on GOD! God is in control of everything that happens. If you have your faith in people and the decisions that they make and how they are going to impact your life, than you are headed for another bout with depression. It is a tool that God uses to get you to STOP looking at people and start looking at him. We need to realize that when a door gets closed than another one is already waiting for us. It takes faith in knowing that God is in control and he knows what he is doing. Wrap your mind around this concept of Gods character and than start to dismiss any and all feelings of depression by realizing that God has total control of where you are and how you got there and leave it to him to get you out. He is going to get you out whether you believe or not. It is your eternal state that is hanging in the balance here. If you don’t want to have total faith that God is capable of controlling every single incident. Than you don’t know God. God is in control, he knows every hair on your head, every blood vessel in your body. He can make a blind boy from birth see. If that is not in total control, than you tell me what is God in control of? Never mind that question. I will tell you. He is in control of everything and when you see this in scripture than you will be set free from depression. Your joy will be so strong that the mere thought of allowing yourself to be depressed is nothing more than dancing with the devil. Your eyes will be opened, if and when you seek him with all your heart, soul and mind.

 Tom Moran

Are your thoughts what you think they are?

Does what other people think matter? Should we care what others think? Why is it that we can so easily get caught up in what others are doing? For the most part we live our lives according to a set of standards that we have compiled for ourselves. When other people do things that we find offensive than we immediately throw up a wall in order to protect our values. We like to think that we do what we do because it is the right thing to do. Why would we do something that we think is wrong?

Now we are getting to the real issue. We all do things at times that we already know is wrong before we even do them. Why would we do something that we already know is wrong before we even start, but we continue to move forward with this act of rebellion to our own knowledge of what is right or wrong. We know it is wrong and harmful yet we continue with the act. Even in the mist of the act, we continue to suppress our thoughts that are telling us to stop. Why would we do such things as these, unless we are just subject and defenseless to our thoughts? We see how humans can be so self mutilating, why would someone purpose to harm themselves? The truth be told, they don’t. What they are, is subject to the thoughts they have. Just because you have a thought does not mean you are responsible for the thought.

We all have thoughts that we just don’t know where they came from. So we learn to discern our thoughts. Sometimes our thoughts are so convincing that we are overtaken them. Sometimes it isn’t until after we have followed through with our thoughts that we see the effects of what we just did. Remembering what happened to Judas Iscariot, when he was overtaken by his thoughts. Afterwards he realized what he did, by betraying Jesus and Judas killed himself. If we are to be honest with ourselves, we know there are multiple times when we do things that we know are wrong.

Why would we do that? I remember Paul telling us that he was dealing with the same issue. Every human has the same issue. We all do things that we would not have done if we were not overtaken by emotions that were triggered by thoughts. Emotions and feelings are nothing more than a manifestation of our thoughts. Our thoughts control our emotions and feelings. Since we can’t control every thought we have, then how can we control every feeling or emotion? We can’t. None of us can. God does however control every thought we have. Scripture tells us that we will be tempted, and that temptation is nothing more than a thought process and that Satan can not temp us by more than what we can handle. Satan can only do what God allows.

So if Satan controls some thoughts, doesn’t God control the rest? I have conversed with a lot of Pastors on this very subject. The most common response is that “God is in control only when we let him”. This doesn’t sound like anything I have ever read in scripture. So those who don’t believe that God is in control of their thoughts believe that they themselves are. This lie that man lives with is impregnated in us at birth. It is reminiscent of the very first lie or temptation put before Eve. Eve was lead to believe doubts about God. If she knew that those thoughts were coming from Satan she would have said “no thank you”. But she didn’t know she was being lied to. She had to believe that her thoughts were coming from her desires. We all know that wasn’t the case. It was Satan who planted those thoughts. And doesn’t man still to this day fight with temptations from Satan? So if Satan has so much of our audience, then were does God fit in? Is God not our creator and sworn protector? Does scripture not tell us that God protects our thoughts? When you remember something that was important, don’t you thank God? Ask yourself a question. Does God put thoughts in my head? Does God control me through my thoughts? Does Satan control me through my thoughts? Or are you in control and therefore you will have to answer for every sin committed against Gods word. Primarily because you think you are in control. And if indeed you are in control, you would have to be compelled to think that all other humans are too. Thus if indeed everyone is responsible for every thought they have and every action they commit, than were does forgiveness come into play. But on the other hand, if it is God who is in control, wouldn’t it be easier for God to be able to forgive us for actions beyond our control, and it is only offered to those who humble themselves to this truth. Only the humble and meek will enter the kingdom of heaven. This is what my Bible tells me.

So I ask you again, does it matter what others think? Are we not to forgive others just as we would have Christ forgive us? Christ said, do not Judge others lest you be judged by the same measure. When someone offends you, remember that they would not be offending you if they were not being tempted. So we are called to pray for them. And we don’t pray to tell God what to do. We pray so that our hearts are right with God so he can use us to reach out to those who are offensive. You can’t help anyone until you see and accept the truth. “You must first remove the plank in your own eye before you can see and remove the speck in your brothers”. Humble yourself before God and ask him to open your eyes to see and hear what he has to teach you. He is always there speaking to you, you must submit to the truth that he is in control and do not entertain the thought that you are in control of even the simplest of thought. And when you receive this blessing, then you will know that what others think is so very important.

Tom Moran

Happy or Joy?

Happy or Joy? Are they the same?

According to the Bible they aren’t.
Joy is something that we are to hold dear to our relationship to God the Father. We find Joy in our relationship with Him, His promises, His love. There is so much to be joyful about in our lives. People ask me how things are going? Response “better than I deserve”.

But ask me if I am happy. There are times when I am happy, Isolated incidents when someone says something or does something and I can see the Lord working in their lives. But to be happy when the truth of scripture tells me that so many are not going to heaven. That only those who know the Lord Jesus Christ have eternal salvation from the torment of the lake of fire. I watched my dad die in the Northridge Hospital, and all the way up until he breath his last breath, he denied Christ. So many people I have witnessed to, have met on the job, have in my family, that do not know the Lord.

Until everyone I know and have met, knows the Lord, there is little for me to be happy about. At night my prayer’s are that the Lord uses me in a way only he can, to bring comfort to my soul about the lost in the world.
Does this mean that I am not full of joy? By no means. Nothing can rob me of the Joy of my wife and kids and the ability to share my faith. I have everything I need and then some. Like I said “I am doing better than I deserve” Nothing can take away my joy of my salvation through Christ.

My post usually are not so personal, but this topic had to be, for me anyway.

Was man created sinful or good?

Adam was created on the sixth day along with Eve. After the sixth day God look upon the earth and said that, what he had created was good. Adam and Eve were created good. They were not recreated. Creation stopped on the end of the sixth day. So what changed? The only thing scripture teaches us that changed was the introduction of Satan in the Garden. This was the predestined act that God had already knew was going to happen. The book of life was written before the foundations of the earth. So God already knew that man was going to fall before he created them. So what exactly does scripture say about this event? First we understand that temptation comes from our thoughts. Our thoughts lead us to acts of rebellion and sin. Adam was created good with the ability to be swayed by his thoughts to sin against the Father. This did not happen until Satan came on the scene. We were created good, with the ability to be tempted into sin. Thus when Adam listened to Eve who was deceived by Satan he now sinned and the Father can have nothing to do with sin. So Adam died spiritually. And we all are descendants of Adam so we all have the same weakness to sin, it is our thoughts. When we are born again, the truth will set us free. Free from what? Free from the lies that Satan places in our thoughts of doubt, self worth and many many more. The lies are endless. The only power that Satan has on man is in his thoughts. Man can not separate these thoughts on his own. It is the grace of God who opens our eyes to see the truth, thus Christ says to go and sin no more. How do we go and sin no more? Because the true regenerate man who is born again, is born into the truth and set free from the bondage of our own thoughts. You are either a slave to God or a slave to Satan. There is no middle ground called a slave to yourself, this is just a lie from Satan. God tells us that we will not be tempted by more than we can handle. Satan can only do what God allows. We all live with sin in our thoughts all day every day, even Paul shares this with us. Jesus tells us to discern our thoughts, know the truth. The only people that can come to Christ are those that the Father has sent to him. Christ told the disciples that they did not chose him, that the father chose them. We are all a slave to our thoughts, and it is the truth that will set us free. Do not believe your thoughts if they differ from the wisdom of Gods word. And only the elect of God’s children will see the truth. Only those that God has predestined to receive his word. Our souls are doomed every one, because of our weakness to discern our thoughts with the truth, and this truth only comes from God. When God opens our eyes to see the truth, than we can truly forgive, truly love, truly respect God for who he is and his awesomeness. It is easy to forgive, when you see another person as a good soul trapped in a body that can not see the truth. So he is trapped in lies and can not see the truth. Jesus said that he is the truth and that no one comes to the Father except through him. Only Christ can free you from the lies in your thoughts. And it does not matter how much you know the Bible, if God has not opened your eyes to humble yourself to the fact the he is in control. In control of every word your mouth is ever going to say. Some of you know this truth and many of you do not. Your salvation depends on God revealing this truth to you. Humble yourself and ask him to reveal the truth to you through his word. All mankind is doomed until they are born again into the truth, the truth that sets you free to be a child of the truth, and to purpose to not sin.

By Tom Moran

Did Jesus Ever Say He was God?

Is Jesus God? Investigate these interesting claims…

Others were convinced that Jesus was God:

Paul: “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.”1
John: “He existed in the beginning with God.”2
Peter: “you must worship Christ as Lord of your life.”3

But what did Jesus say about himself?
Did he ever identify himself as God? According to the Bible…absolutely! Below are some of his statements made while on earth, in their context.

He said he was equal to God…

“Your father Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to my coming. He saw it and was glad.” The people said, “You aren’t even fifty years old. How can you say you have seen Abraham?” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I Am!” At that point they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus was hidden from them and left the Temple.4

“The Father and I are one.” Once again the people picked up stones to kill him. Jesus said, “At my Father’s direction I have done many good works. For which one are you going to stone me?” They replied, “We’re stoning you not for any good work, but for blasphemy! You, a mere man, claim to be God.”5

Jesus shouted to the crowds, “If you trust me, you are trusting not only me, but also God who sent me. For when you see me, you are seeing the one who sent me. I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark.”6

After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet.”7

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you?”8

How he described himself…

Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “give us that bread every day.” Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”9

Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” The Pharisees replied, “You are making those claims about yourself! Such testimony is not valid.” Jesus told them, “These claims are valid even though I make them about myself. For I know where I came from and where I am going, but you don’t know this about me.”10

so he explained it to them: “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.”11

Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.” “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?” “Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.”12

What he said he was sent here to do…

But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”13

for he wanted to spend more time with his disciples and teach them. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but three days later he will rise from the dead.” They didn’t understand what he was saying, however, and they were afraid to ask him what he meant.14

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.”15

However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them. For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will. And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day. For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.”16

(1) Col 1:15
(2) John 1:2
(3) 1Peter 3:15
(4) John 8:56-59
(5) John 10:30-33
(6) John 12:44-46
(7) John 13:12-14
(8) John 14:6-9
(9) John 6:32-35
(10) John 8:12-14
(11) John 10:7-11
(12) John 11:21-27
(13) Matthew 20:25-28
(14) Mark 9:31-32
(15) John 3:16-18
(16) John 6:37-40

Tom Moran

Thoughts of the day 8/24/12

I have been addressing a lot of the same hurdles lately. The hurdle of the season seems to be that of the bible itself. I talk with people about the Lord all the time. Most people don’t necessarily dismiss God, they just have their own opinion of who and what God is. The primary reason for such diversity is that people don’t have a basis for what they believe. They believe what feels good and makes since to them. I am being conditioned in my evangelism to be more careful in approaching an issue without first confirming someones disposition on scripture. It does absolutely no good to discuss morality or ideology with people who have gathered their thoughts and beliefs on anything other than scripture. I spoke a couple months ago with a pastor of the local United Methodist church on a Monday morning. We started out OK, until I brought up scripture to him, and than he informed me that scripture was indeed fallible. He not only pastored here in town but 45 mile west of here at another Methodist church as well. It appears that the assembly is short on pastors these days. My point is that without the Bible as a basis of our beliefs in God, than we are left with our thoughts and feelings. Don’t let me confuse you here, feelings are a manifestation of our thoughts. I ask people, “Do you know the Bible” their automatic answer is “yes”. Then ask “Do you believe the Bible?”. You get a different answer. Some say yes. I ask my 10 year old son where he mother was, and his response was “She is at the pool reading!” I ask him again if he knew she was at the pool, or do you just believe that she is at the pool? He told me that he believed that she was, but he didn’t know that she was. I feel that this has a lot to do with the people I have been working with lately. They believe the Bible to be a document worthy of respect. They don’t know exactly why they believe that, they just do. They don’t actually know the Bible, they just know of it. I know that when I address people on this subject, that they are right where God wants them to be, so I have to be gentle to address the issue of why they have not taken the time to get to know scripture. Ignorance of the work of scripture is what I think is at the root of peoples mixed thoughts about the Bible and what it teaches. If they don’t have respect for scripture (the Bible) than they don’t care about whats in it. It is a lack of knowledge about the works of the Bible that keep people away. Ignorance has always been a deterrent to growth. Scripture says that people are willfully ignorant of the things of God. That they don’t want to know. I believe that to be the very truth, they don’t want to know. So we have to leave them alone. Always be available to them, just wait on the Lord to lead them in His timing. I do want to however post an article on “Why do we believe so much on the Bible”. This is going to take a few days, but I will have it soon. I know that I told you that I was going to do an article on “Sin”. But this one I have started a couple times and I will hopefully have it soon, this is very difficult issue to summarize.
Until then
God Bless
By Tom Moran

Why do we Worry?

Isaiah 41:10 “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

To wonder about something or be concerned is an attribute that God created us with. We are called to be concerned about our health and our relationship towards God and others.

Worry on the other hand is nothing more than a lack of faith and trust. Worry is to fear the unknown. Fear is the real culprit. Worry is the effect of fear. To not fear something is to not be worried about it. God did not create us to worry, however he did create us with the ability to worry. God did not create us to sin, but he created us with the ability to sin. We Fear all sorts of things, like losing a job, what others are thinking, about your kids out late, your spouse and who they are with and how they are. This fear is brought on by the lack of knowledge. If you knew what was going to happen, and how it would all turn out, than you wouldn’t worry anymore. We worry about what we don’t know. Well unfortunately, there is an awful lot we don’t know, so this leaves the door wide open to worry about everything we don’t understand. I know that there are some of you that do that very thing. You are “Worry Warts” and you think that if you don’t worry about it, than who will? People worry about death a lot also, this one worry might be the most harshly effectual worry of them all, because this worry wont go away until the issue goes away. So they take this worry to the grave with them. Worry is to fear the unknown. The what if.

I don’t think that anyone needs to be told, that worrying is bad for them. There are those of you who would say “I don’t worry that much” or “I have to worry about certain things that need to be addressed”, and that “not worrying about anything is considered irresponsible”. When I was a young child I worried all the time, in fact I wound up with terrible stomach pains that I had until the Lord took worry away from me. All from worrying about life in general, nothing specific, just general things that kids should not have to worry about. Or adults either for that matter. My Mom who is still alive today is a worrisome person. Hospitals are overrun with people who worry. Some worry about their health, so they run to the Dr.’s office. Some worry so much that the side effects drive them to their Dr’s office. The side effects of worrying are astronomical, like; headaches, sinus, back, stomach, nerves, anger, depression, anxiety, fear,.Your Dr. cannot help you when your symptoms are all self induced from worrying. Worrying is at an epidemic state today.

For the most part people worry about things they can’t change, they worry about their past and future events. It is however important to be concerned about current events. Being concerned is to take preventive action towards an issue. If no action is required or can be addressed immediately, than it is no longer an immediate concern. It is important to consider what others are thinking, but only to curb our actions at the moment. We live in the moment, not in the past or the future. Being concerned at the moment is worthy of your thoughtfulness towards others. Taking care of issues when you can in the moment will take care of future and past issues. If you can’t fix something right now, than stop thinking about it. Worry is nothing more than a thought brought on by a concern about something or someone. It is OK to be concerned, but don’t let the concern turn into worry. If you cant fix it right now, in this moment, than stop thinking about it. Or is it that you think that your worrisome efforts are going to employ God to act?

The Bible tells us that we have nothing to fear with the exception of Gods wrath. And that if we don’t fear God than we don’t know him. He tells us that those who know him fear him and follow what he says. He says a lot about worry. If fact
Christ came right out and said:

Luke 12:22-26, “Then Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?’”

1 Peter 5:6-7 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you”

Proverbs 3:5-8 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones”

Psalm 139:1-6 “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.”

Hebrews 13:6 “So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

God knows all men, he knows their thoughts before they think them, he knows everything before it happens. He is God! He allows everything to happen because his will cannot be stopped. It has already been written since before the beginning of time. You are right now, exactly where God wants you to be. He is in control and not you. Worry is to not trust in God. To know God is to trust in him, trust in the truth. Do you believe? Do you have Faith? Do you indeed trust that God created everything for a purpose and nothing can change Gods will? If you really trust in God than you will not worry about anything. God already has it all planned out, he knows every hair on your head, every word your going to say. He is God. He will give you the words to say. He will move you were he wants you to be. He will also give you the comfort to not worry. Just seek him with all your heart, soul and mind. He already knows you, so it is time to get to know him.

So how do we stop worrying, and start trusting in God? It is true that we have issues that need to be taken care of. If you have a bill due and you don’t have the money, “oh what to do?” If you cant do anything about it right now, stop thinking about it. To worry is to not trust in God, and the consequences are devastating. To not trust in God, is to side with Satan. Worry comes from Satan, and if you spend one more second with Satan and not trusting in our Lord, than you don’t fear God.

Tom Moran

Protected: 7/10/12 Review and comment

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Thought of the Day

The Universe. Wow, what a concept. The Galaxies and endless space all operating on its own. WOW!

The Sun is burning and burning and burning for thousands of years now, with no fuel insight. WOW!

The Earth is spinning on its axes with no strings attached, perfectly balanced in space, rotating around a timeless burning ball of fire that provides heat and energy to sustain life on the planet. WOW!

OK lets look at life on the planet. We know that 114 elements we call Atoms that when arranged in different orders make up molecules that everything on this planet like air, water, land, plants, animals including our bodies are created from. WOW!

The biggest WOW of all is that humans think they have all the answers. The smarter humans try to act the more ignorant they sound.

God has already revealed himself to all of us, everyday all day. When you eat your food and your stomach processes the food to feed your body so you can hear, see and feel, you take it for granted. But God takes it to heart. He is holding it all together, but not for much longer. Christ said it is all coming to an end and it all has a purpose. A purpose that we refer to as “Gods will” What has been written can and will come to pass. “Good things happening to bad people – Bad things happening to good people” This is not the issue. The issue is that we are to trust that when God came to earth 2000 years ago and showed us that we are but dumb sheep, that will continue to serve Gods will whether we think we are or not. We are not in control. God is holding everything together. He shows us this in his word the Bible. Ask God to help you and he promises to show you the truth in his letter (Bible) he wrote through the Prophets. Trust that God allows everything to happen to everyone to further his will here on Earth. We can not and will not be able to understand what and why, only that we are to trust that God is truly in control. When you start to doubt. Think outside yourself and look up to the heavens and see his creation.

Amen

What part of Dating is Godly?

“The world.” Wow, when I use this word, it gives me chills all over my body. “THE WORLD” When the Bible uses this term, it is referring to Satan’s dominion. Satan is what the Bible calls worldly. The world has many different faces and God has one face. To be worldly or Godly is something we face everyday and we cannot do both at the same time. There is no fence to ride. You are either on one side or the other. You are either acting according to Gods will “Godly” or you are acting worldly “Sinfully”

No one is ready for a relationship until they are secure in their relationship with Christ. If they are not secure in Christ than they are worldly and they are playing with the devil. If this is what you want than you have a wide field to choose from. But if you want what God wants for you, than you will wait for a Godly mate and God will bring you one in his own timing.

When it comes to dating, there is nothing Godly about it. As a matter of facts the Bible teaches us the very opposite and calls dating downright sinful and purposing to sin.

Do not be deceived into thinking that dating is pleasing to God.
(Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.)

Do not choose a mate that is Worldly and not Godly.
(1 Corinthians 11:3 Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.)
A worldly mate will lead you down a path of pain and deception. You cannot change another human, only God can change someone.

There is nothing Godly about being sexual aroused outside marriage.
(1 Corinthians 6:18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.)
Sexual arousement can come from something as simple as holding hands with someone you are attracted to. Holding hands leads to temptations that can be very powerful. Twelve year old kids are not trying to get pregnant. But they are, because they are playing a game that they cannot control.

When you meet a Godly mate, then they will not touch you until you are married. They will not try and deceive you or your parents. They will always tell the truth, in all situations. And if you find out that the person you are with is deceptive. Than run away and don’t look back. They are not ready for a relationship.

By Tom Moran

Law’s

Laws are rules that we use to live by. Every person has a set of rules that they use to function in their life. Our rules are determined by a set of standards that we pick up along the journey of life. Each person that I have met over the past fifty years has a different variation to almost every law or rule. We have a lot of people that share similar standards and principles but they have a different way of addressing the same situation because of the rules that they apply to themselves. Laws are created to place a similarity in the way that we are to co-exist with each other. Laws are created to protect. To protect people from people, animals from people, people from animals and so on. We have an entire judicial system setup to implement the laws that we have created to protect us. We have a Governmental system setup to continually create more laws everyday to continue to protect us in an ever changing world. The world we live in is constantly changing and so are the laws that govern the worldly affairs.

God created his own set of laws and his laws are being implemented each and every day since the creation of the universe. God created laws for nature when he created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them. He created the law of gravity, time, heat, cold, and the list goes on dealing with laws of nature. When we break these laws, than we get hurt or we hurt someone or something else. God’s laws of nature cannot be broken. They can be modified and scrutinized, justified, harmonized. But they cannot be broken. Some of these laws are sleeping, eating, needing affection and so forth. When these laws are violated than there is going to be consequences. God’s laws are setup to protect us from ourselves.

God created a set of laws for mankind and these laws also have a set of consequences when they are broken. When we look at Adam and Eve and the only forbidden thing in the garden was a tree. God made a verbal law to Adam to stay away from this tree. Because he did not do as the law required, he suffered consequences. And so it is today, we are suffering from the consequences of sinful behavior towards a loving God. We as humans do not like to be told what to do. We have our rules that we have derived from our own experiences. We don’t like to be told what to do or what to believe.

There is one law that God has implemented that holds a deadly consequence, and that is the squelching of the Holy Spirit. God has informed us via his word the Holy Bible, which says that if we do not accept everything that Christ said to be the Gospel truth, than we are to suffer the ultimate penalty of death, eternal death in the lake of fire. This one law of God out shines them all. This is one law that has eternal consequences. If you do not accept the truth but continue to believe the lies that Satan feeds you, than the consequence is death (separation from the love of God). Christ’ death and resurrection   was to provide atonement for sin. To deny this truth or to violate this Commandment / Law / Rule, is the ultimate violation to our Creator. Requiring the ultimate punishment. 

By Tom Moran

Self Esteem

Self Esteem is becoming a fast growing phenomenon. I guess it is not too hard to understand why this phenomenon is becoming more and more popular. Originally popularized by Phrenology which is the study of the human body and its impact on the mind. If you have a small head then you must have a small brain. Short people must have “little mans complex” because they are short and so on. All of which is just one fat lie to keep mankind as far away from the truth as possible. Although it is true that if indeed someone has short comings in their physical appearance, than in most cases people will become self conscience about themselves. The same goes for someone who is a little slower at picking up on jokes or math and some have difficulties with solving tactical problems. All of these things can and most times in humans will create a dislike of themselves or their abilities. This behavior is called a “low self esteem” which Dr.’s revere as being a highly destructive behavior and needs to be treated as an illness.

Self-Esteem is a term that means; “A high regard for ones self” in other words if you don’t have a “High Self Esteem” than you are close to having an illness that needs to be treated by a Dr. We have people seeing Dr.s all over this country at an alarming rate. With what we witness on television, newspapers, in our own town and in our families, we continue to get disappointed in others and this cycle is continuing to drag down peoples self esteem. The world is not getting better so this means that this phenomenon is going to continue to get worse.

The Bible teaches us that this type of lie is what in reality is the destructive component, not the lack of self esteem.
Christ told us that we had two commandments to follow, first to seek out the Father and his love for us, second to love our fellow man as we love our selves. It would appear that Christ knew what he was saying when he mentioned that we love ourselves a plenty. It is this self love that we have that allows us to fall into temptation so easily. We want self gratification and we want it all the time. When we do nice things for others we are always on the look out for our reward. Whether it is a thank you or just a smile, we are still looking for some form of self gratifying response. Some people get caught up in a compulsive lying disorder because they value the self gratifying effects of controlling a situation regardless if it is based on lies. Self Esteem is a giant lie that will continue to keep mankind in the dark about the truth until they come to the realization that we have nothing to be self worthy of. Self Esteem is nothing more than self worship. Even suicide is the most selfish thing a person can do for themselves. They hold such a high regard for themselves that they want to stop the agony, which they feel they don’t deserve.

Christ said that we are to humble ourselves before our creator. He is the God of this universe and is holding everything in his hands. We love ourselves so much that we have little if no regard for Him as the creator. We as humans don’t like to be told what to do, let alone to be told what we are to believe. We don’t like it because we want to feel like we are in control. Well I got news for you. You are not in control. God is in control and he knows right where you are and if you are not with him than you are with the devil. If you are not following and searching his wisdom and understanding, than you are right where Satan wants you. And if that is what Self Esteem is about, than you can have it. Just don’t preach it around me. I worship my God who is my Heavenly Father. I am thankful for his revealing truth in my life, for this body he has created for me to live in, for the family he has provided. I cannot boast about anything because I am not worthy of anything because of my weakness to sin. It is his Grace that is the only thing that keeps me from being a follower of lies. I don’t have self esteem. I have Esteem for my Father in Heaven who is protecting me everyday from the lies in our world.

By Tom Moran

Age of the Earth

The earth is approximately 6000 years old. 1600 years after the creation of the earth, God flooded the earth and destroyed everything on it, (not in it) and spared Noah, his three sons Ham Shem, Japheth and their families along with the animals that God had called to the arch. 2400 years later Christ was upon the earth and that was almost 2000 years ago, thus we have a 6000 year old earth.

There is a lot of information to research through to bring you to a point of self examination to what is the truth behind the age of the earth. Our text books in our public schools, they have accepted the earth as being millions or even billions of years old. Since the time that these texts were written, more evidence is showing that the earth cannot be much more than 6,000 years old. I would ask that if you indeed are looking for the truth on this matter that you would invest a little time checking out Dr. Kenneth Hovind’s series on Creation vs Evolution.

The importance of knowing the truth on the issues of the age of the earth is in the believe-ability of the Bible. Either the texts books in our schools are right or the Bible is right. One of them is a liar. I believe that God has allowed us to be able to believe the wildest of lies and even be so convicted to believing these lies that we are even willing to stake our own lives on them. This ability that God created man with is the very essence of what makes Gods plan so perfect. We are created with the ability to reason and act on our thoughts, regardless of how ridiculous our thoughts are.

Being willing to accept the truth over your own preconceived ideas about life is the first step to understanding the truth.

Check out the link below to see some facts on the age of the earth.

http://www.creationtoday.org/seminar-part-1-the-age-of-the-earth/

 

 

Insecurity

Are you insecure? Everyone is insecure about one thing or another. None of us are perfect in all things we do, if fact none of us are perfect in anything we do. So unless you are perfect in every way, then you can and will address insecurity in your life at one point or another.

Insecurity comes into play when we are concerned about what others think about us. It plays a part in how we dress, the way we talk and act. Insecurity can and does control some people’s lives in a very negative way. It causes depression, fear, anger, lies. We are all insecure, so don’t think you are fighting this battle alone. Some will deny it, but they just don’t see it or want to admit it.

We become insecure:

• When someone says something about us that is considered constructive or demeaning.
• When we are ask to do something we have never done before.
• We have thoughts that we are inadequate.

Having thoughts of inadequacy are what I believe is the most common in all human beings that make us feel insecure. That’s right I said feel. Because that is all insecurity is. It is a feeling we get when we are being lied to about ourselves. We start to make changes that make us feel more secure. We want to look good so we wear make-up and cloths that will disguise us in a manner that hides our inadequacies. We lie to people about our past, current or future circumstances. We all feel insecure at times, and it is not a bad thing to feel insecure. It is how we address these feelings when we are faced with our insecurities that make us who we are.

Feeling insecure is not something that we need to be playing with. God allows us to be tempted into a state of insecurity so that we can mature from the experience. We can use these feelings of insecurity to help us to become better people. Or we can let our insecurities destroy our lives. Before we can turn our insecurities into a positive thing we have to identify with what is a lie verses the truth. Satan is very masterful in controlling people’s lives with lies. So let’s stop the insanity and deal with the truth so we can get back on track with maturing as God intended as human beings. First and foremost, if we are not in prayer with our Father continuously than we are setting ourselves up to be tempted into insecurity and a whirl wind of other temptations. So stop and pray when ever you start to feel inadequate about anything. God strengthens those who seek out his wisdom. Do not ask for wisdom and turn around and play with your insecurities. I appreciated a comment I heard not long ago, I am sure you have heard it before; “If you are going to pray for rain, you better take an umbrella”. Don’t ask for help if you are going to continue to relish in sinful activities brought on by your insecurities.

By Tom Moran

Praying

Praying. This is a very widely used word that has almost lost its original meaning. Praying is a personal ordeal and almost everyone has a different perspective of what praying is for and how to do it.

I hear people praying for cars, pets, relatives, work, friends, travel, food, relationships, etc. People are praying for anything and everything. Not to mention who or what they are praying to. Just to mention a few; Mary, Peter, John, Paul, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Father, Lost relatives, Lost pets, Satan, etc.

So what does the Bible say about praying? First let’s look at who the Bible says to pray to? Well we know that we can’t pray to our lost relatives because the Bible says that they are asleep. Well I guess it stands to reason that this would apply to all humans. All humans, when they die go to sleep and remain asleep until the Last Day (Judgment Day). So this would also apply to the Apostles and Mary as well. Jesus himself said that we are to pray to the Father, not the Holy Sprit. The Holy Spirit is dwelling inside you when you receive the gift of salvation and are sanctified by the blood of Christ, so you are in constant communion with the Holy Spirit 24 hrs a day, so there is no need to pray to the Spirit. Jesus himself died on the cross to make it possible for you to talk directly to the Father. In the Old Testament we were not able to talk to the Father because of sin, the Father cannot have anything to do with sin. It was Christ that communed with mankind in the Old Testament. It wasn’t until Christ died on the cross that we now have direct access to the Father.

So it is settled than, according to the Bible, we don’t talk in prayer to anyone except the Father. So now we know who we are praying to.  Now what do we pray, to an all knowing Father who is omniscient? Well, I have heard a lot of people talk about prayer, and if there is any one thing that is misinterpreted it is what people are praying for. It is not so much what we are praying about as much as it is what we are praying for. Since God the Father already knows everything, it doesn’t leave much for us to tell him about. But he does tell us to ask. He wants us to ask him for things according to his will. So its understanding his will that allows us to pray correctly. Now we are about to address the real meaning behind praying. Understanding knowledge and wisdom are the key things behind praying effectively to our Father. Our Father wants us to follow his commandments. First is to seek out his love, and that he promises to teach us to love him. Second is to allow him to teach us to love others. These are the two greatest commandments. God the Father wants you to be in communion with him 24 hrs a day. He wants us to be in constant prayer for others salvation. He wants us to trust him in all things, and we do this by being in prayer at all times. It is when we take our eyes off God that we start to stumble with sin. So our prayers should be that of thanks and rejoicing when times are good and of understanding and wisdom when times are bad.

Prayers are not for God or for others! Praying is for us. When we pray for others it is because God wants us to have a loving heart for those in need. Than he can use us to provide for those in need. And the greatest need that mankind has is knowing the truth. The truth of salvation, through the gospel of Christ. This truth is shared by you and me when we have the proper praying relationship with the Father.

By Tom Moran

Do you have a PLAGUE?

The Black Death Plague is a disease that gets inside the body. Once inside the body you are dead within a few days.

“The Black Death (Bubonic plague) was one of the most deadly in human history, peaking in Europe around 1350. The Black Death is estimated to have killed approximately 40% of Europe’s population, reducing the world’s population by 60 million by year 1400. This has been seen as having created a series of religious, social and economic upheavals which had profound effects on the course of European history. It took 150 years for Europe’s population to recover. The plague returned at various times, killing more people, until it left Europe in the 19th century.”

We have a plague lurking all about us all the time. That plague is Satan. His job is simple. It is complex in design, but simple in purpose. His purpose is to destroy and kill. He knows God very well. He knows the Lord Christ. He is perfectly aware of the Holy Spirit, and the control the Holy Spirit has on each of us as well as on himself. He hates it. He hates everything because he has been separated from God. He only knows hate, and can’t stand the fact that he can do nothing to change his fate. He will be tormented for eternity in the lake of fire!  His destiny is set in concrete. He doesn’t know who is going to heaven, he only knows that his purpose is to take as many souls with him as possible. This plague is deadly. It is all over the earth. For as many stars there are in heaven, there is as many angels. And one third of those angels are here on this earth as demons to spread the plague of death onto its inhabitants (you and me).

Does the story stop there? Absolutely not. Yes we have a plague that is very real and very deadly, more deadly than any plague we can think of or conjure up. What is this plagues greatest tools? Lies, lust, jealousy, hate, fear, pride. They all lead to death (separation from God). What can we do to avoid this plague? There is an antidote! That antidote is the “Truth”. WOW! What is that suppose to mean?  Very simply, we are to know the truth about who we are, where we came from and what we are suppose to be doing while we are here. Well where do we find these facts from? The Bible is the only place to find the truth. Do you want freedom from worry, sickness, jealousy, drugs, overindulgence, lies? All these things control your thoughts and purpose. But they don’t have to. You can be born again into a whole new way of understanding. Understanding Gods truth vs Satans lies. It is all in your bible. Be born again into the truth and have eternal bliss with knowing the truth about your Creator (Father in Heaven).

By Tom Moran

Racism / Indifference / Prejudice

Are you proud of who you are? Does the color of your skin make you happy? Do you have the righteous parents? Are your friends the envy of everyone else? Are you cool or what?

Most humans rather like the way they are, or else they would stop being that way. Unless it is something that we can’t change, we like the way we are. In most cases it is the way others are, that we often don’t like.

This is a very difficult topic because there are so many different ways to approach this issue. I am going to try and share with you my understanding of what is the main issue vs what issue doesn’t exist.

I will start by asking you; if you were able to pick your parents or your country before you were born, would you pick the ones you have? Were you sitting at a round table working out issues with God on who you wanted as parents and what social class you wanted to be born into? Well we all know the answer is NO. NO you did not have a choice. Well you are not alone, neither did anyone else.

Racism is nothing more than ignorance. Actually we are all one race, ”The Human Race”. And this race is the only one that is intolerant towards its own kind.

Indifferent is what we are towards people, we are indifferent towards other humans that don’t agree with us, regardless of what country they are from or what skin color they have. Indifference is disagreeing with someone because you don’t like the way they talk or dress, where they live or the church they go to. Regardless if it is your brother or someone from around the world when we disagree we become indifferent.

Prejudice is to Pre-Judge someone or something. As humans we pre-judge people all day long and have become so used to it we don’t even notice it anymore. And we all do it everyday.

We don’t like people or things that we don’t understand. Once we are able to get past the indifference which is nothing more than ignorance, than we start to enjoy learning about them. But when we make the distinction about an entire culture we have just stepped into a lie that is hard to overcome. Pre-Judging people is nothing more than allowing your ignorance of that individual or culture to effect what you say and do. We are called by Christ to love our neighbors as ourselves and share the truth about Gods love for them. We cannot do this if we have Pre-Judged them. Christ told us not to Judge at all. We don’t know why people do what they do, only God knows and he is the Judge. He also knows your heart and why you do what you do. So it is ourselves that we need to be indifferent with. To pre-judge our own actions and thoughts before we let them control us. We must first learn to love Him without prejudice and then we can learn to love others without hate.

By Tom Moran
 

Conviction vs Preference

Convictions are what drives us to do right. Preferences are temptations that fight against us to do right.

Teen age years are probably the worst in our entire lives. They are also some of the best times we have ever lived. What makes this era so emotional and how can we control the drama that comes in and out of our lives? Well, unfortunately we cannot control what is going to happen let alone what other people are going to do. But there is one thing that we can do. We can determine the difference between what we need (conviction) vs what we want (preference). What we need is to be able to follow what the Lord would have us do in every situation (conviction). That seems to be an impossible quest. But in reality it is not so difficult if we know how to determine what is convicting us vs what we prefer. Often we have a desire and we follow it. After we witness the results of our actions we have 20/20 hindsight and realize that we would have done things differently if we had the opportunity.

If and when we feel the conviction prior to the desire of preference we can often chose to follow our convictions. This would be the Lord’s preference for us. He is talking to us through our convictions of what we know is right vs what we are feeling like doing. Feelings are strong in teenagers. They motivate us to do horrendous things that we would not have done if we knew what the consequence was going to be before we did them. Your feelings will deceive you. Search your thoughts for the Lord’s leading in all things. We prefer to take the easy road instead of being convicted to do what is right. It is a hard lesson to learn, but it is one that must be learned in order for the Lord to use you in his will. Stop wandering aimlessly after your preferences and seek his wisdom and conviction for what is right.

By Tom Moran
 

Is sin so hard to overcome?

Sin is to purpose to disobey God. It does sound simple when said this way. Sin is nothing more than disobeying God. It is hard to follow the rules when you don’t know or understand the rules. The main rule to overcome sin is to Love the Lord your God above all things. If you can’t do this then you are in for a long haul. The second rule to overcoming sin is to love your fellow man more if not as much as you love yourself. To really overcome sin you have to really understand these two commandments. Once you have a firm grip on these two rules, than you are on your way to overcoming sin.

We don’t even have to try to be selfish or mean to each other. It just comes out of us so easy. But do we purpose to do such things? The Bible tells us that we are all sinners and imperfect in all things. But we don’t have to purpose to be ungrateful for the things of God. God has given us as believers the ability to know right from wrong, to feel his love for one another, to have a heart for others eternal state. That is what life here is really about isn’t it? To learn the truth and to share it with as many people as we can? But what is the truth? Why are we here? What does God want from us? Some would have you to believe that God is to complex to understand. That you must just believe that you are saved and leave the rest to fate. Well, as you may have guessed, I do not take that position. We are called by Christ to be ambassadors to the truth. That means, that in order for our brothers here on this planet to accept salvation they need to hear the truth from those who know and understand it. But what is the Truth. I can answer that very simply by saying the truth lies in scripture (the bible). But after reading and studying for the past few decades I have found that the more I read the more I learn, and I believe that when I learn something new, I want to share it with as many people who will listen to me. This is an ongoing process in my life. I am always talking with my wife about the wonderful things that God teaches me everyday. As you get to know God, you get closer to him and love him as you would your own father. For he is your father, your creator, you are his child. And as all children there is an unconditional love for a parent and their child. As we develop this relationship with our heavenly father we cease to desire to offend him. And we cease to purpose to sin. In fact he starts to remove temptation so that we will no longer have to fight those desires at all. He starts to bring us into his fold and allows us to start teaching others what he has taught us. Sin is not so hard to overcome. Just have a desire to know who our God is. Our Father in heaven.

By Tom Moran
 

Faith vs Hope

Do you have Hope in your Faith or Faith in your Hope? Do you have hope that your Faith is real? Is your Faith dependent on your Hope or is your Hope dependent on your Faith? What is the deference between Hope and Faith?

Faith is believing something to be true. To have faith in something you must believe that it is exactly as you perceive it is. We use the term “fact” to be something that is an unmovable truth. Like the fact; one plus one equals two, this is a fact that is an unmovable truth. We have faith in the answer to be “two”. How many facts are out there that are worthy of faith? Lets look at it this way; You send a friend to the market to purchase some meat and bread for you and your family. You have given him your weeks allowance to purchase your weeks worth of food. You have just put your faith in his ability to follow through with the quest you have bestowed on him. You have taken a step of faith, and placed you and your family’s welfare in the hands of your friend. At the time you placed your money in his care you had faith in him. There may have been a little bit of doubt, but would you have given him the money if you had the smallest doubt at all? I think not. In order to have faith, you first have to believe. We as humans have faith. We all have faith, and must of us have faith in only one thing, and that is in ourselves. We believe in ourselves and nothing else, because we can’t trust anyone else. Truth and trust are basically one in the same when  dealing with faith. In order to have faith in something you have to have trust in the truth that you believe. What unmovable truths do you have faith in?

Hope is nothing more than a desire. When you desire something you are merely having hope that one day you will be able to acquire the desire. Hope is something we have for our kids. We hope only good fortunes and prosperity for our kids. Hope is something that we have no control over. Hope is something that seems so unreachable sometimes. Hope kicks in when your friend is late coming back with your bread and meat. Hope is typically never based on any facts or truths at all. In fact it is when doubt inters into the equation that we have to now rely on hope.

When we have faith in the lord, we are in awe of his wonderfully made earth and creatures. He is all knowing and omnipresent. He knows everything before it happens because he sees the future because he created it. This is the faith we have to have in order to have a real relationship with the Creator. This is Faith. Hope is not knowing what is going to happen. We know that we don’t have a clue of what tomorrow holds. But we hope for the best. Having faith is knowing, trusting and believing. Having hope is not knowing, unsure, doubt. When I ask someone if they know if they are going to hell or heaven when they die and they say that they “Hope”. This means that they are unsure. If they say yes they are going to heaven it is because they have faith and they believe in what Gods word says. True hope for a Christian would be for us to pray and hope that our family and friends will all know the truth and be saved from hell. The Lord knows who is going to heaven even before they are born. But we don’t, so we have hope, this doesn’t mean that what we hope for is in accordance with Gods will. But we can pray and hope that our thoughts are always with the Lord and his will.

By Tom Moran

What is True Love?

Matthew 22: 34-40

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

To Love! What is it “To LOVE”? Is it falling in love, puppy love or love for food even?
NO! NONE of the ABOVE!

True love has nothing to do with anything on this earth. Remembering that this earth is Satans playground, and there is nothing here that we are going to keep, to take with us when we leave. It is all going to perish. Except for one thing that is here. Our souls. Our souls are going to live forever. It is only where they are going to spend eternity is the question.

The first commandment that Christ said was the “first and greatest commandment” was to Love the Lord your God with every ounce of your being. That if he is not the center of your existence then you are not the center of his and he knows you not. If we are to have eternal life in heaven, we most make God the “Center” of our life. Make the search for his knowledge and understanding the primary purpose for our existence here on the planet. In this search you will find “TRUE LOVE” like you have never before experienced. A perfect Love, a perfect relationship. Something we are all longing for and keep looking to other people for. We continue to search for True Love from others who are in search of the samething. Only God can give this to you. And he promises to do it freely when you just look to him for it. He is longing to have you come to him as a child and recieve his blessings of True Love and accept you as one of his own children.

As we mature in our relationship with him, we learn to love others and have a concern about their eternal state. We dont want those we know and care about to spend eternity separated from God. But we cannot do anything about them until we first and greatest look to our Father in heaven for answers and find True Love.

By Tom Moran

What is the truth?

Each and every person has a mind all their own. The mind is a very complex organ referred to as the brain. It has so many functions and abilities that we can not even start to think that we understand it. We have professionals who think they are experts on the mind, when in reality they are more confused than most others who claim to be ignorant when it comes to the perplexities of the mind. We sometimes think that we can control our own minds (thoughts). When we start to believe this lie, than we are trapped. We will remain trapped until we let go of the lies and come to the truth as a child comes to his father and asks a question. So if we cannot believe our own thoughts as being the truth, what can we believe? What is the truth?

It is easy to say to just go read your bible and you will find the truth. But that being the case, I will share some insights with you that might help you get started.

First we find out that God created us. If we do not believe this truth, than you can stop reading now. He created us for a purpose and that purpose is to have a relationship with him. I know this to be true because I have this relationship with him right now. But he didn’t just create us, he created the angels as well. And these angels live amongst us everyday. We cannot see them, unless of course it is Gods will. There are times in scripture that the angels have appeared to mankind to share a message from God. Now these angels can talk to us. They talk to us in our thoughts and dreams. There are two different names for these angels. Some are called heavenly hosts and others are called demons. They all talk to us in the same manner. Except the one can only tell the truth and the other can only tell a lie. We as humans are like sheep. Christ called us sheep without a Sheppard to lead us. Prior to Christ’s arrival we had no such Sheppard to teach us about our thoughts and how we were being lead by demons straight to eternal damnation. It is knowing this truth that will help you to be able to come to Christ through his written word the bible. Start to read and when Satan tempts you, do not let him control your thoughts. Stop and pray! Christ said that when you are praying in his name temptation will flee from you. So pray before you begin reading his word.

There are so many truths in scripture, that you have to read them for yourself and apply them according to the leading of the Holy Spirit in your life. What I say that is applicable to me may not be a concern to you. But there are doctrinal truths that have to be understood before the scriptures can start to teach us. If we are stuck on the lies from Satan and we have a hard time letting go of the preconceived ideas of who and what God is. Than we don’t stand a chance of learning the truth. Let the bible teach you and you will learn the truth. And this is the key to true salvation. The key to having eternal life with God.

By Tom Moran

How can I receive salvation?

Is your boat sinking? Are you about to drown? Is there no ship in the horizon that can help you?

Salvation is something that is offered to someone in need of some form of help. If you are on top of your game and you don’t need anything from anybody, than you are free from needing any form of salvation. Most of the world holds to this position, that they don’t need salvation. They don’t need to be saved from anything.

So before you can possibly be saved, you have to believe that your boat is sinking. You cannot receive help if you don’t believe that you are already damned to eternal hell. So for the sake of this lesson, let’s assume that you believe that your boat is sinking. You are going to hell if you don’t do something about it. But unfortunately there is nothing you can do about going to hell. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God. So we need to know, what is it that can keep us from going to hell. What is this salvation?

Christ came to us from the Father in heaven. He was sent here on behalf of the Father, to teach us this very thing. Christ himself told us that he was our salvation. He and he alone can provide what is needed to escape the wrath of hell and spend eternity in heaven. Salvation from hell is having atonement for the crimes already committed against God. Or in other words, crimes against God need to be paid for. So how are we going to pay him for the crimes we have already committed towards God? Well he told Moses to take a clean animal and prepare it at the altar for a sacrifice. A sacrifice for the atonement of sins against God. This animal, like all creatures that are not human, do not have a soul. So this means that they do not sin. Man has a soul and can reason, so therefore he is capable of being selfish. So this sinless animal is prepared to have its blood shed on the altar for our sins. So this is the plan that God has in place for our atonement of sins! To have sinless blood shed. Why don’t we sacrifice animals today? Because Jesus Christ came to earth for one sole purpose. That was to be that very sacrifice once and for all. He allowed himself to be killed in order for his sinless blood to be shed for the atonement of our sins.

Christ shedding of his blood is our salvation, if we chose to accept it. What does it mean to accept salvation from Christ? Believe that what he said is true and have a desire to follow his work and study his teachings. Christ not only died and shed his sinless blood for our atonement of sins, he also escaped death on the third day of his burial. Jesus walked on the earth for 40 days after his death and was seen by more than 500 people at one time. Jesus said he created the world and he was God. Salvation comes from being set free of Satan’s grip by knowing the truth. There is only one place you can find the truth and that is in listening to or reading the Holy Bible.

If you have a need for an audio bible on disk for the reading impaired, let me know and I will send you a copy of the bible on CD, otherwise go to: “http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/audio/”

By Tom Moran

What is Salvation?

Salvation! What is salvation and why would I need it? If I am not lost or have a broken leg what do I need to be saved from?

Salvation is a term that means “by which we are saved from” or “means of being rescued”. That which saves us from something.

Let’s say you are in the middle of an ocean on a ship, alone and your ship is slowly sinking. You have no refuge except to just go to sleep so you can stop fretting over your eminent fate. You are about to drown. Another ship comes out of the horizon from nowhere and comes straight for you. They call out to see if you need help. They have become your salvation. That is if you receive their help. But without their help your destiny is sealed.

What is it, that the bible is talking about when it says that all mankind needs salvation? Salvation from what?

When God created the earth, heavens and everything in them about 6,000 years ago, he also created Lucifer and his band of demon angels to dwell on the earth. Well we all know the story about Adam and Eve and they fell into Lucifer’s trap of lies back some 6,000 years ago. And ever since then mankind has been delivered into the hands of Lucifer and his deception of lies. Mankind is doomed from birth, we are born into sin and we cannot do anything about it.

We know that the only power demons have on us is temptation. Through our thoughts. They have all of mankind so confused from the truth that all we can see are the lies. We are all lost and are searching for salvation from our own thoughts and emotions. We have an earnest desire to know who we are and why we are here. It is easy to believe the lies. Lies can be any fairytale you want them to be. It is easy to slip into your own world and shut everything out, because it confuses or irritates us.

The truth of the matter is we need to know the truth. Sounds rather profound, sorry, but there really is no other way to put it. You must know the truth before you can begin to separate the lies out of your life. Salvation is being saved from yourself. Salvation is knowing the truth. Next week we are going to look at how do you know the truth in order to obtain salvation. How do we get “Saved”

By Tom Moran

What is a Christian?

A Christian! What is a Christian? There are all kinds of churches out there that claim to be the one and only true church. That everyone else is missing the mark, except them. Well, I kind of fit right in there with the rest of them I guess. Let me explain:

The scriptures teach that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord than you will be saved. They also say that the Lord is going to say “be gone I never knew you”. So what is going on here? The difference between a true Christian and a false Christian is worshiping in truth. If you worship Christ in lies than I don’t believe that you are saved. So therefore I believe that the rest of the churches that don’t worship in truth are all damned.

Being damned is not something that we do and go into. It is something that we are born into. It takes no effort to remain damned. We are all born into eternal damnation. It is not until we are born again that we have salvation from eternity in the lake of fire. Many churches teach this very truth. The problem I have is the lies that they attach to the truth. I will not go into the lies because I don’t believe that knowing the lies is beneficial. We are called to know the truth so we can identify the lies when we hear them. If we don’t know the truth, then we will not be able to know when we are being lied to.

So are you a true Christian? Do you worship in lies or in the truth? If indeed you are a real Christian you will have a desire to know the truth and nothing else will be more important to you. As new Christians you will be beginning a new way of thinking and responding to circumstances. Some of the first things you are going to address is God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, sin, salvation, conviction, discernment, wisdom, understanding, prayer, forgiveness, love. It is understanding the biblical meanings behind these words before you can begin your new walk with your Father in heaven. The next process is starting to change the way you think about things. The world has one way of thinking and God has another way. The bible teaches us how to think the way God wants us to. If you want to have a relationship with God and have eternal salvation from hell, then you have to read your bible. And search the scriptures for the truth about life here on this planet.

One of the signs of an earnest Christian is to see fruit from their actions. Some of the first signs are a change in the way they talk. You start to see that they have a desire to know the truth. Then you will see them start to spend their time differently. They will stop certain things because their desires have changed. Not because they are changing them, but the Holy Spirit has removed certain temptations so they can learn. Now the temptations don’t remain gone in all cases. When the Lord knows you are ready he will allow you to be tempted so that you learn to resist. Maturing as a Christian is a life long journey that we never complete. It is not until we leave this body and are in the presence of Christ that we will know everything that we are to know. Until that time, we as Christians continue to trust that God has a purpose for everything and we are to have faith in what he is doing and just continue on the path laid before us which is to continue to search the scriptures for the truth. In this attempt to find the truth you will have a desire to share it with people.

By Tom Moran

Who is the Father?

Our heavenly father is the creator of all known and unknown things. He is our Father in heaven who is watching his children here on earth. The bible teaches us that approximately 6,000 years ago the Father anointed his son Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit to create the earth and the heavens and all that dwell amongst them. It was the Father that orchestrated everything. Once he had completed the creation he rested on the seventh day. After which, Christ had the earth as his foot stool. Although it has been Christ that has been dealing with mankind for the past 6,000 years, it is his Fathers will that has been unfolding all this time.  Here are the answers to some questions I came up with that might help.

How did he speak to us prior to Christ?

We know that no one has seen or heard the Father except for Christ. So that means that the Father has never been to the earth let alone speak to anyone on the earth. So who was it that was speaking to us in the Old Testament if it wasn’t God the Father? It was Christ. The very Christ that created the earth and all it inhabitants was the same who walked and talked to Adam and Eve in the Garden. He was known as many different names like; Jehovah, God, Lord all meaning the same thing relating to the same GOD. And in this case it is God the Son.

How does he speak to us now?

Well we know that the Father doesn’t speak to us directly. But he does speak to us via the Holy Spirit and his Word (the bible). We know that all mankind is born into sin and falls short of the glory of God. So that means that all mankind is going to eternal damnation on Judgment Day except for the ones that the Father has pre-ordained to be saved from eternal death. It is these people that God reveals himself to through the bible. It is these Christians that have their relationship with the Father, and he teaches them through the bible to reach others with the truth. So God speaks to us through other people, trials, thoughts and we check these other things through his written word “The Bible”

What does he want?

He wants us to seek his wisdom. It is that simple. Take your own child. Isn’t it your best hope that your child would seek to understand everything that you have to teach them? As it is with your Father in heaven, he wants us to praise and worship him in truth. Where do we find this truth? In the bible. He wants us to read his written word in the bible. He wants us to meditate on it and understand it. Then to reach out and teach others what he has taught us.

Why did he create us?

This is a very interesting question in that it has a very interesting answer. We can extrapolate that when God created the earth and the angels and all the animals, everything had a purpose and functioned according to its purpose. Except for man. Man was actually created for a much greater purpose than everything else on earth and in heaven. We were created in Gods image to have a relationship with the Father.

How did he create us?

He created Adam and Eve on the 6^th day of creation. He spoke it and it came to be. All things were created by the Father through Christ.

Why didn’t he make it so everyone goes to heaven?

As humans we have a hard time grasping things of a Godly nature. This is where Faith comes into play. Having faith in trusting that God knows what he is doing. He tells us in his word that we will understand everything when we cross over from this earthly body to his presence.

By Tom Moran

How Do You Think?

As Christians we have insight to situations that others do not have. For example; When you and a friend meet at school and you find out that your friend has been invited to another persons house without inviting you. When this happens or something similar, the first thing that comes to mind is hurt. And immediately following comes a barrage of thoughts that are trying to figure out why you were not invited. All of these thoughts are based on lies and if you continue to play with these thoughts than most likely you will end up acting on them and offending someone in the process or you will just harbor the pain and let it eat you up. But as Christians we have a mindset that has been renewed in our thinking process. We no longer believe the lies that our minds produce. Satan knows what is going on and he is hard at work everyday and all night long. He never sleeps or rests. And it is true that Satan hits Christians harder than non believers.

In developing your relationship with God the Father, we are continuing to grow in knowledge and wisdom. This new knowledge and wisdom is changing the way we think. It is a constant renewing of our thought process as we continue to read and listen to Gods word. The more of the truth that we understand the more strength we have at resisting temptation.

Our counterparts on the other hand do not have the ability to resist temptation. They are in bondage to their thoughts. They don’t believe that Satan is controlling their thoughts and every move. They believe in themselves and believe that the thoughts they have are coming from within. So we as believers, knowing the truth, need to have mercy on them because of the lies they are trapped in. We need to be that light of mercy, which shows Gods love for them through us. Don’t be offended by their actions. You can love the person and hate their actions. But you cant love anyone if you are offended. Let them know that you care about them and would love to talk with them when they are ready to let go of the lies and are ready to accept the truth. The very truth that will set them free from the bondage of sin.

Our minds have been made anew. A re-birthing of morals, principals, desires, understanding. We don’t think the same way any longer. We now worship our Father in heaven in all things we do and say. We have been born again into a family of Heavenly Royalty.