The Most Powerful Book!

Yes, the Bible is not only the most important book you will ever read, but it is the most powerful. As I may have said before, it's not just a book for Sunday School children.

Jesus said, "The words I speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are life!"

That means that the very words in this book are alive. They are living.

Sound strange? I guess it may sound a little spooky or weird or insane. Words that are alive. Here's how I see that. When you mix those words with your faith, they do come alive. I have seen it! When you mix the Word of God with prayer and faith, it's like Super Magic. I shouldn't use the word magic, but I just don't know another word that people can relate to that describes how powerful the words are in the Bible.

They are LIFE. They are alive.

In fact, they are GOD. How powerful is that? So... if you put your trust in the WORD, you are putting your trust in GOD. So... you should put your whole trust in the Word.

If it's written in the Word, BELIEVE IT. If it's in the Word, it's the Truth! "The whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me, God."

Trust in the Word. It says exactly what it means and means what it says. Especially the words of Jesus. My Bible has all the words of Jesus printed in red to see quickly the words that came right from His mouth.

In particular, I was asking the Lord about the difference between the God of the Christians and the God of, say, for example, the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Jews or Muslims. (Hot topic.) Now, the Jews believe in Jehovah and Jehovah was the Father of Jesus, so isn't it the same God?

Good question, right? Tough question! Ok, so, we go to the WORD to see exactly what Jesus said about it. And, the verse I got was where Jesus told a pharisee, "Ye are of your father... the DEVIL!"

You mean that's in the BIBLE? Did Jesus really say that? (If you were reading your Bible, you'd already know that Jesus said that. In fact, he said a lot of stuff to the Pharisees.)

John 8:41-44 "Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. 43. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 44. Ye are of your father the DEVIL, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it."

Matthew 15:8 "This people draw nigh unto me with their mouth, and honour me with their lips; but their heart is far from me."
Matthew 23:33 "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?"

Now, is Jesus saying here to these wise, educated, so-called holy men that they were NOT in tune with God? They worshipped God! Didn't they? I mean, they taught the people how to worship God. Didn't they? Didn't they teach the Word? Didn't they teach people how to pray? Didn't they teach the people how to tithe and make sacrifices? And follow all the rules laid out BY God?

How could Jesus be so crude as to tell them that they were of the devil?

Doesn't it show us that it is not enough to believe in God? God wants us to love Him. And, the rules of the "game" have changed, people. It's NOT enough to follow the ten commandments and all the law and to take the day off on Sunday and go to church and pay your tithe and bla,bla,bla. It's not enough. Sorry.

The Pharisees did all that stuff and they went straight to HELL. (Not me saying this.)

So, WHO we pray to and HOW we pray are important. Very, very important. We are supposed to love God not just a little bit. You know who I think of when it comes to how we're supposed to love Jesus?

--Mary Magdelene!

She bought an alabaster box of perfume and anointed Jesus's feet with it and kissed his feet and washed his feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.

Picture that. If you want to know how Jesus would like us to treat Him, that's the example to follow. What a love she had for her Master! Right in public, in front of a group of critical men who were judging her and even verbally criticizing her, she got down on her hands and knees in front of her King and poured out her love the best way she knew how, holding nothing back.

So, don't pray to Jehovah (unless it's in Jesus's name). Don't pray to Buddha. Don't pray to idols. Don't pray to Allah. Don't pray to Zeus. Don't pray to Krishna. Don't pray to Vishnu. Don't pray to Shiva, Lakshmi, Durga, Saraswati, Venkateswara, Aiyappa. And, for heaven's sake, don't pray to the Devil! (Well, you are praying to the devil if you pray to any of these gods. They are NOT your friends. They won't help you. They will do their best to send you straight to hell.)

Incidentally, "Allah" is the Arabic name for god. The Arabic god, is the Muslim god. Now, if you are Muslim, go to the mosque or masjid. That's where you will find worshippers of Allah. I strongly warn against praying to Allah because when you do, you are praying to a god or higher power that is not Christian.

I used to live several years in Muslim countries and, when speaking to the locals about my God, I would use the word "Allah", thinking that we would understand each other and, at that time, I thought that the Muslims quite possibly worshiped the same "God of Abraham" as I worshiped. I don't know why I ever thought that.

Now, when Hagar was dying of thirst in the desert and she cried out to God to save her son, God answered her cries. God saved her. That was the God of Abraham. In fact, Ishmael was a son of Abraham, which is why I used to think we all had the same God.

At what point in history the Arabs decided to call their god Allah, I don't know, but one thing I know is that it is not the same god as the God who saved Hagar!

You know how I know? Lots of ways, but one way is that they do not obey what Mohammed told them in that Jesus is the Messiah and that they should have a relationship with Jesus as their Messiah. (It's in the Koran. Amazing what you can find out when you do some reading of these books people say they believe in. But, if they believed the Koran, wouldn't it lead them right to Jesus? Just as the Torah would lead the Jews to Jesus!)

In fact, a venerable and prominent Jewish leader admitted to his people that, according to the Torah, Jesus Christ was the Messiah. That's right! You don't have to wait any longer! You don't have to rebuild that temple and start sacrificing red cows at the Dome of the Rock, you guys.

Jesus already came!

I was saying that the rules of the game have changed. In fact, the new rule is: LOVE. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and you will fulfill all the law and the prophets!