RELIGION VS RELATIONSHIP

 If you're a person who loves Jesus and regularly reads the Bible, you may have been told that you are "religious". For most people, it may feel like a compliment. However, when used in certain contexts, the word "religious" can have a very negative connotation. That's why I don't like to have that label put on me. 

To me, religion is something that zealots practice. I think of the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus's day. They were anything but the example of humility and faith that God desired of His people. In fact, they were the direct opposite. Jesus told them that they were of their father, THE DEVIL. And that's what I think of when I hear the word "religious". I think of legalism. I think of condemnation, judgement, and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, an innocent Man who died because of religiosity of the worst kind. 

What is religion? 

I would say it is a form of godliness but denying the power. It's like dry cracker dust. It's dead men's bones inside of whited sepulchers. It's the opposite of love and compassion. Maybe we could call it narcissism. Narcissism is a personality disorder. Something against nature, or against natural order. A disorder. Not only does narcissism hurt everyone who comes into contact with the narcissist but it hurts the narcissist. 

Briefly, a narcissist has little or no empathy (the opposite of Jesus's example) and is motivated to take control over everyone and everything in their environment either by manipulation, force, violence, or dominance. The outcome is deception, more violence, confusion, fear, and destruction. That's just putting it in a nutshell. And that's exactly what the scribes and Pharisees were up to. So, what did Jesus tell them?

"WOE." That's what He said. I guess He just couldn't do the subject justice, so He rolled it all into one word. "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees." Then he told them what they were guilty of. The list is LONG and you can read it in Matthew chapter 23. Here's a sampling:

Matthew 23:3 - 7, "3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. 4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. 5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, 6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, 7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi."

That's a snap-shot of religion. That's what I picture when someone calls me "religious". It creates a vomiting urge in my throat and I feel insulted to the lowest degree of what Christianity is supposed to stand for. 

Why? Because in the same breath that a person might say that to me, I know that they're thinking and quite often will say in the very next breath that "religion is the cause of most of the world's wars down throughout history", which, by the way, is simply not true. Most wars have been caused by greed. Be that as it may; if religion has caused wars, I don't want to be associated with any of their wars. I do not believe in any particular organized religion --chief of which is the Roman Catholic Church. 

I could be wrong but I do believe that the two main religions on this planet today are: Islam and Catholicism. Ironically, the Pope has been very busy uniting the two into one "religion" called Chrislam.

With the adoption this week by the 7th World Religions Congress of the Human Fraternity document created by Pope Francis and Mohamed bin Zayed, Chrislam is now the official One World Religion.

It’s official, Chrislam has now been codified and ratified, with the approval at the 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, of the Human Fraternity document created by Pope Francis of the Vatican, and financed and promoted by Mohamed bin Zayed of the UAE. Question – Guess who they forgot to invite to the festivities? Answer – Jesus Christ, His Name appears nowhere and is never mentioned. 

It seems, however, that the word "religion" continues to be applied to people such as myself who believe strongly in Jesus Christ, salvation by faith alone, and in the Triune God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. If one were to apply the word "religion" to someone like myself, it would be a religion of FAITH. 

"For by grace are we saved through FAITH and that NOT OF OURSELVES, it is a GIFT of God, NOT of works, lest any man/woman should boast." 

We are NOT saved by our deeds. Sorry but our deeds will never be good enough to bring about our salvation. Neither are we saved by taking "Holy Mass" which is quite unholy. Yes, Mass in unholy, unscriptural, unnecessary for salvation, and meant only to glorify the priests and hierarchy of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Mass is nothing like what Jesus celebrated with His disciples the night of His arrest. 

What do you think Jesus would say if He entered a Catholic Church during Mass? Here's what I believe He would say:

"But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. 14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. 15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves."

Read it and weep if you have any of these traits, or if you happen to be a devout Catholic. If so, repent. Turn your back on hypocracy and empty religion and turn your eyes upon Jesus Christ, the Messiah and be washed in the Blood of the Lamb! 

To REPENT means to turn away from the false gods and false doctrines and to make a complete 180 toward the TRUTH. Only then will your eyes be opened to the glory of God and all the blessings He has in store for you. Don't be deceived by religiosity, self-righteousness, and MAN-MADE RELIGION which seeks to destroy your soul and SEND YOU TO HELL.

Jesus Christ has been vastly misrepresented by the religious system and religion of this day just as He was misrepresented by the religious system of His day. 

Read the Word of God for yourself and ask God Himself to show you Himself IN HIS WORD. Allow His Word to come alive in you so that you no longer need to depend on man/woman or man's religion or anyone but God. And these three are One: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God's Representative ON THE EARTH Who is ever and always with you once you receive Jesus as your Saviour. He will answer your questions, direct you, protect you, and lead you one step at a time all the way to Heaven. 

Remember: "THE MAJORITY IS ALWAYS WRONG." Jesus said in Matthew 7:13 & 14, "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."

If you find the gate and the narrow way which leads to LIFE, you are in the MINORITY. And you are safe from the broad way that leads to DESTRUCTION. BE OF THE FEW. GIVE YOUR LIFE TO CHRIST. If you haven't already done so, you will be very glad that you did. You will have made the correct decision --possibly for the first time in your life. Ask me how I know!

Trump's Indictment and Arraignment During Easter

 Yesterday was Palm Sunday. Today former president Donald Trump made the journey from his home in Palm Beach to the city of New York where he will be arraigned on Tuesday.

Is this timing a coincidence? He is the first former president of the United States to be brought up on charges. This is not only an historical moment, it is a sad moment, what I would call a "doomsday" moment for the USA. 

Not only is it illegal to bring a former president up on charges and not only has this never been done before, but they did it during the most important and holy time of the year for a Christian. Those of the faith celebrated Palm Sunday yesterday, the day on which Jesus Christ our Lord and Messiah rode into Jerusalem, through the city gates riding on the colt of a donkey. That's right, Jesus rode on a lowly donkey's colt entering through the gates of Jerusalem and was haled by crowds of excited and awed followers who waved palm branches in a symbol of glorification, also laying down branches and clothes along his route for Him to pass over. 

The evening following the Passover celebration, Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane after being betrayed by his infamous disciple, Judas Iscariot. Jesus was betrayed with a kiss, arrested on no charges, illegally tortured by a beating that tore the flesh off his body and then returned to Pilot to be crucified.

Pilot did NOT want to crucify Jesus. In fact, he was dead set against it since his wife warned him that she had had a warning dream about this man. So, Pilot, desperate to save Jesus, offered to let Him go. He wanted to release him as was the custom during the feast days. But, no, the Jews refused to accept their King. Instead they wanted the murderer and insurrectionist, Barabbas.   

In New York City, Prosecutor Bragg is bringing Trump up on trumped up charges while allowing several murderers go free. He upped a misdemeanor to a felony by boot-strapping two or three or four charges together. As of yet, we haven't heard the charges. But, we're pretty sure Stormy Daniels has something to do with it. She was paid off by one of Trump's employees to keep her mouth shut which she did not. What a waste of money that was. What a fitting name. She was part of what the Democrats hope to be the perfect storm to bring down the most popular candidate for the next presidential election. 

As most of us agree, Trump won the last election by a landslide. It wasn't even feasible that Biden managed to garner so many votes while campaigning from his basement. According to the fake election, Texas miraculously changed their entire state to blue to give him a majority. And, we know that would never happen in a month of Sundays. Yes, the election was rigged and the Demoncrats got away with it.

Biden was never "our president" as far as the Republicans were concerned. It was a crying shame to see that display of immorality in a so-called Christian democracy. But it happened. It was similar to how elections are run in Canada. Just barbaric. 

We celebrated the historical entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem yesterday. Today we sadly witness the entry of Donald Trump into New York City. We can only pray that the hyped up charges against him will be dismissed. We can pray that even if the Left tries to crucify him on Good Friday, he will somehow, by a miracle of God, rise again. 

The Left rejoices gleefully that they "finally got him". They can't wait to see Orange Man Bad in orange behind bars. What they hope to accomplish, who knows? Will they have succeeded in turning the once most powerful and revered country in the world into a Banana Republic? 

I believe you can't keep a good man down. He'll bounce back up even higher and stronger under persecution. Persecution only serves to prove what material the persecuted is made of. "All who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." That's what the Bible says.

If they get Trump, who's next? The Jews? The Christians? The Bidens? The Pelosis? 

"Off with their heads!" How far will the Dems go? That's difficult to judge because just take a look at how far they have already gone. And who do you think the real Judas is?

I can give you a hint. His name begins with "S" and he should be a man of many sorrows and will have a lot to answer for when this life is over unless he repents and that right quick.

Dear Mr. Trump, we want to thank you for your service to you country. Why oh why you want to rescue the American people is beyond comprehension. Why are you willing to lay down your life for them? You must see some good in them. Let's just hope they appreciate it.

You can judge a man's character by his enemies. So true!

Melania, we are also praying for you and your son and for the entire Trump family during this time of sifting. Prayers change things and it's a far greater power than any power your enemies have. I know that to be true. It's time for another miracle, Jesus! Onward and upward! 

LIES OF SATAN

 IF YOU WANT TO REFUTE THE LIES OF THE DEVIL, IT HELPS TO KNOW WHAT THEY ARE. I MAY NOT BE ABLE TO TELL YOU ALL OF THEM, BUT THERE'S ONE PARTICULAR LIE THAT I GET HIT WITH CONSTANTLY. MAYBE YOU DO, TOO. SO I'M STARTING OFF WITH THE LIE I HEAR MOST. IT MAY NOT BE THE BIGGEST POWER WEAPON OF SATAN BUT IT IS VERY, VERY ANNOYING AND INSIDIOUS. WANNA KNOW WHAT IT IS? HERE'S THAT INFORMATION FOR YOU FOR FREE:

1. You are wasting time.

He screams this in my ear all the "time". Why? Because he wants me to waste time on time-wasters. He can come up with so many of them, too. He hates me spending time on Jesus! 

SOLUTION: Spend more time with Jesus!

Here's a Fun Fact: I am a retired senior. My time is MINE. I have raised my kids, paid my taxes, taught thousands of students, cooked and cleaned for others, studied and written several books and preached the Gospel. MY TIME BELONGS TO ME NOW. NOBODY HAS A RIGHT TO ACCUSE ME OF WASTING TIME.

--So, if it bothers Satan or my family or my friends that I "don't get out enough" or I "waste time", OH WELL! TOUGH BEANS.

Now, here's MY question, Satan: "What are YOU doing with YOUR time???" Select the correct answer from 1-16.

1. Spreading Lies.

2. Accusing the Saints.

3. Getting people to torture children.

4. Misrepresenting Christ.

5. Filling Your Cup of Iniquity.

6. Preparing for the Bottomless Pit Experience. (Got your asbestos suit?)

7. Putting people to Sleep

8. Poisoning People

9. Stealing People's Money

10. Causing Gender Confusion

11. Grooming Children

12. Manipulating Weak Minds

13. Trying to Corrupt the Human Genome.

14. Exalting the God of Mammon (MONEY)

15. Seducing Hollywood to drink the blood of innocents and apply it to their skin?

16. ALL OF THE ABOVE

Yes, the correct answer is 16. But you sure have lots more time wasters, don't you? These are all the activities that I DO NOT WANT TO BE INVOLVED IN THANK YOU.

So WHO is wasting time?

NOT ME.

I use my time to establish the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN ON EARTH.

GET BEHIND ME, SATAN!

GOD'S WILL BE DONE. 

I will post Lie Number 2 as soon as I decide which one deserves second place. 

FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH!!

NARCISSISM

Narcissism could be considered a coping mechanism, or an arrangement of coping mechanisms within a personality. And, now more than ever, people need coping mechanisms --though, we should realize that there’s a better way to cope than by endeavoring to take full control of all the people in our lives.  

In today's world, the stress alone has to be coped with somehow. We have all of us at one time or another (or many times or others) leaned to our own human, low-level tactics in order to cope. We know it’s wrong, we know it’s not fair, but from time to time, we fall short of our best behavior. Therefore, aren’t we all a little narcissistic?  

A little narcissism is a little tolerable. It’s when a person has no fail-safes, no conscience to check themselves in their indiscriminately autonomous behavior that we find ourselves dealing with full-blown narcissism.  

Although we should look under our own hood first, we also have to realize that to solve our deepest problems, we can’t lean to our own understanding. We need help! We need to look up!  Often we want to take things into our own hands to solve problems in our own way so that nobody else need be involved or take a cut. Sometimes the last thing in the world we want is somebody else’s “stupid” opinion.    

But isn’t being human about working together, cooperating, and compromising with other people –family members, sports team players, romantic partners, and governors? Are not leaders elected to make their constituents’ lives easier, not more difficult by putting themselves and their wants and needs ahead of everyone else’s? Some narcissistic leaders take a lot for granted in thinking that they’ll be able to get away with constantly cheating their voters out of their rights and taxing them into the poor house.   

We have recently seen the performance of a certain national leader on the world stage, enacting a perfect definition of narcissism –evading questions, disregarding and disrespecting others, putting himself above everyone, continuing on his own path despite what anyone else thinks, not caring for anyone's opinions, not finding it necessary to cooperate or to listen, having no empathy whatsoever for the hardships of others, particularly the hardships that he inflicts on others for his own agenda and convenience.  

These are all the tendencies of a fascist dictator. Someone with a healthy personality will see this type of calloused narcissist for the weak, sickly, impoverished, socially inept character that he is. Others less intuitive will fall prey to his deceptions.  

It's at times like this that we need to remind ourselves that the meek shall inherit the earth. Particularly at this time in history, it seems that the earth which the meek shall be inheriting is overrun with narcissists. It’s been estimated that 15% of the world's population are narcissists. 

However, that depends on the location of the population. Any given group of CEOs would probably score higher than 70% on the instances of narcissism, as would Hollywood movie stars, professors, high ranking officers, etc. The military runs on narcissism. (You can quote me on that.) You could say it fosters and encourages this personality disorder. 

With all of its exploding exploitive expansion, however, narcissism is not a disease or a virus. It doesn’t spread from person to person and it’s not necessarily contagious. Narcissism is a widespread personality disorder. 

These days it's easy to discover a plethora of information on personality disorders. You can find out if you've got one! You can find out if your parents had them. They probably did. Most of us have some sort of disorder. 

Sometimes it's necessary to have someone point out your weaknesses, like a red flag pointing out the dangers of continuing in a certain direction, or the dangers of reinforcing those undesirable character traits that make life shallow and meaningless.  

And sometimes some of us must realize that the narcissists in our life will probably never change. Yet, at the same time, realize that they are suffering and missing out on the potential and joy that life has to offer people who lose themselves in it and give themselves, their time, their affection, their finances to other human beings and higher causes. 

THE LOVE STORY OF GOD

 About 4000 years ago or so, God fell in love with a man named Abram. This man became known as "The Father of Faith" and his name was changed to Abraham. This is Abraham's story.

Abram's father, Terah, was an idol-maker. He created idols. And worshiped them, too. However, Terah's son did not worship idols. He refused to do so because he knew the idols were man-made and he believed there was a True God Who had created the earth, man, and the entire universe. The more he believed in this, the angrier he became at his father's idols.

So, one evening, Abram smashed all the idols in his father's shop. He took the hammer he'd used and put it into one of the idol's hands. The next morning when Terah came into the shop and saw the disaster, he asked his son what had happened and Abram said, "One of these idols must have risen up and destroyed all the other idols, Father." But Terah knew differently. He said, "These idols cannot do such a thing because there is no life in them." Abram replied,

"Then, why do you worship them, Father?"

That was the day that God fell in love with Abram. So he called him out of his father's country, away from all his kindred and set him apart. 

The Bible says it like this, "He went out not knowing whither he went." Imagine that. Imagine going out into this scary world, not even knowing where or why you are going. That's not easy when you have a wife and family. Abram had his nephew, Lot and Lot's family with him, too. And all their livestock.

Abram obeyed God and went out, depending on God to lead the way and to provide every need every step of the way. And God was proud of him. He really put his faith into action. Therefore he became richly blessed. He had everything his heart could desire except for one major desire. A child.

Although he loved his wife more than anything else God had given him, Abram had no heir for all his wealth. No child to call his own. He only had his dead brother's son, Lot as a family representative.

Yet, God gave Abram a promise. He told him that he would have a child. He told Abram that he would have a son from his very precious wife, Sara and that this son would have so many offspring that nobody would be able to count them all. They would become so numerous that they would be like the sand on the seashore and countless as the stars in the sky! All Abram needed to do was believe. 

Abram believed. However, his wife did not. Even when an angel came to their tent and verbalized the promise God had made to them, Sara laughed at the idea of becoming pregnant because she knew her body. Her physical body was well beyond child-rearing age. Therefore this promise was physically impossible. She couldn't even imagine making love with her husband again. Those days were over.

So, Sara came up with a plan. She hated seeing her husband so desperate for a child and, knowing how impossible it was for herself to fulfill his desire, she chose another, younger woman to do it for them. She went to her husband and insisted that he make love to her handmaid, Hagar who was an Egyptian.

Eventually, Abram gave in and had sex with Hagar to make his wife happy. As if that would make his wife happy. Well, it didn't. Yes, Hagar got pregnant and she had a son. It made Abram happy, but not his wife. By the time Sara realized what she had done, it was too late. A little boy was running around enjoying the position as the son of Abram, Chieftain of the wealthiest tribe around.

Then, one day when this son of Hagar was about twelve years old, Sara became pregnant. Her name was changed to Sarah and Abram's name became Abraham, which means, Father of Faith or Father of the Faithful. So it was that Sarah brought forth a son and they called his name Isaac. Here was the Son of Promise, true offspring of the Father of Faith. Here was the promised son born to God's beloved Abraham. What a miracle. Abraham was over 100 years old by the time his son was born.

Now, this sounds like a terrible thing but once Isaac was born, Sarah requested that Hagar and her son, Ishmael be put out of the camp. Of course, Abraham refused to do that because he loved Ishmael. It was his son she was talking about. But, God spoke to Abraham and told him to do just as his wife had asked him, so he reluctantly gave Hagar a few necessities and sent her and her son packing.

Poor Hagar! She was a victim in the true sense of the word. Used to bear a child then cast away into the desert with no place to go. All those years taking care of her mistress only to be cast aside without termination pay. So, she and her son walked as far as they could until the heat caused their bodies to become faint and their supply of water ran out. Hagar left her son on the ground and turned her back on him, saying, "Let me not see the death of my son." And God (the God of Abraham) heard her cry.

God spoke to Hagar and told her Ishmael would not die until he became the father of a great nation. He provided a spring of water in the desert for her and her son to drink from and they lived happily ever after. Ishmael became the father of the Arabs. (Are you starting to get the picture of our current world situation?)

Do you believe our genes carry memory? One thing for sure is that if Hagar and her son had not immediately cleanse their chakras, the memory of this experience would have gone down deep into their genes to be passed on to the next and following generations. And, so it would seem. 

But, let's get back to our Love Story.

Abraham finally had all of his heart's desires. He had wealth beyond measure, a loving wife, a son, and a wonderful, generous God surrounding him with love. What could go wrong?

Well, God could ask Abraham to sacrifice this son of his in order to prove his fealty to the One God. That could happen. And, yes it did. Up until then, Abraham was required by God to sacrifice a spotless lamb twice a year to cover all the sins of his growing population. But, one day, it seemed that God was requiring more. He leaned heavily on Abraham and insisted that Abraham take his only begotten son up into the sacred mountain and sacrifice him on an alter to present him to God as a sacrifice!

What a demand. What could be more difficult? In Abraham's eyes, this son of his was spotless and without sin. He was a miracle child born as a fulfillment of God's promise. Born out of faith alone.

With that in mind, Abraham realized, God was the Giver of this miracle and God had the right to do as He pleased with this gift that He had given. Really, there was no question that Abraham would obey God. He would do exactly as he was instructed to do, in  spite of how terrible it felt. Even in spite of what his wife would do to him when he got home.

The alter was set up. Isaac was tied up in ropes and placed on the pile of wood. All that needed to be done was a nice, clean, deep slit into Isaac's throat to cause him to die as quickly and painlessly as possible. With this intent, Abraham raised his knife over his son. Then God called out! "Don't kill him! I believe you were willing to go all the way in obedience but I will save you the anguish of murdering your own son!"

So, God fell in love with Abraham all over again. And, in turn, Abraham felt deep in his soul the anguish God suffered when His Only Begotten Son was sacrificed for the sins of humanity.

Abraham's son, Isaac became father to two sons, Jacob and Esau. Although Jacob was a "deceiver", he had faith in God. On the other hand, Esau did not value the promises of God made to his father or grandfather. He more-or-less thumbed God in the face and placed more importance on his physical state of being than his spiritual life. So, God chose to put His blessings on Jacob whose name later became Israel.

As we know, the nation of Israel became the greatest, wealthiest, most powerful nation on the earth. Yes, they also became wicked. They backslid from God umpteen times. They broke God's heart. They even went back to the idol worship of Abraham's father, Terah. They sacrificed their babies to the "god" Moloch. They were conquered, enslaved, held captive, used and abused. 

Yet, through it all, over thousands (not millions) of years, God kept His promise to Father Abraham and his grandson, Israel. Those promises hold true today. One of those promises is that God will write His name on the children of Israel's hearts. He promised to send them a Messiah to do this. 

Since, like every other human born onto this planet since Adam and Eve, the children of Israel fell from grace and became sinners, God had to take it into His own hands to fulfill the promises made to Abraham. Although it seemed impossible, although it seemed ridiculous, just as Sarah's pregnancy seemed impossible, nevertheless, God fulfilled His promise.

It is done. The Promise is complete. Jesus Christ, son of Abraham, was sacrificed on a cross which became an alter to God. God gave His Only Begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not die but have eternal life. Now, this promise made originally to Abraham has been extended. 

Whoever believes may claim this promise. Jew or Gentile, Black, White, Yellow, Brown, and even Blue --all who believe will be saved from the curse of death. We who believe will be raised in power because of the promise made to Abraham 4,000 years ago.

Do you believe? 

The Story of Scrooge

 I love "A Christmas Carrol" written by Charles Dickens. I love all of his writings, but this one is my favorite. In fact, this tale is credited to have fostered the entire universal concept of the Christmas tradition, believe it or not. And I'm not talking about Santa Claus or the windows at Macy's.

If you read the original story, you'll notice that the wonderful "Christmas Spirit" the characters enjoyed had nothing to do with lavish decorations, presents under the tree, fashion, or materialism. Not at all. 

The true Christmas Spirit that Dickens portrayed was social interaction. No, not online networking. It was about family and friends taking time to spend time together. What a concept. Imagine that. Scrooge discovered (in the end) that it was a time for making new friends who would travel with you throughout the New Year.

In his tale, people enjoyed being in each other's company. They played together, laughed together, talked about each other's lives. They cheered each other up, encouraged each other, and helped each other to survive. In other words, they loved each other. It was wonderful.

The love for others warmed their hearts even in the dead of winter when coal had to be used judiciously so that the inside of the buildings weren't much warmer than the outside. But, when they had each other, they were able to glory in the beauty of winter. They found fun in their winter wonderland. They slid on the ice as though it was the most thrilling experience ever. 

Christmas wasn't about who got the best gift. It wasn't about whose house had the prettiest lights. It wasn't about shopping, selfies, food shots, or diving into debt for the next two years.

Christmas (according to this story) was a time for "making some slight provision for the poor". Please, open your eyes, Mr. Scrooge. "Some would rather die than go to the workhouse."

What does Christmas mean to you? Doe it make you sad? 

I believe it was in "A Christmas Carol" that "Christmas Cheer" was first introduced. Most of the characters in the book seemed to have it in bucketfuls. They wore beaming smiles and shook hands with others enthusiastically. They seemed to walk on clouds, whistling as they went. Except, of course, for poor old, miserable old, grouchy old Scrooge. He spread misery wherever he went.

As the saying goes, "Some people spread joy wherever they go. Others whenever they go." 

It doesn't have to be Christmas for you to be full of joy. It doesn't have to be only on Christmas Day after you've opened all your presents that you experience Christmas Cheer. You can have it now and forever.

You can have it now and forever and ever and ever and ever. The true Christmas joy is the very first syllable in the word: Christmas. That's right. You've got it. It's Christ. Christ gives you joy unspeakable and full of glory so that you can spread joy wherever you go every day of the year. 

Faith

What is faith? We can't see it, smell it, taste, or hear it. If we could, we wouldn't need it. Or, at least, it wouldn't be called faith, would it? Yet, the Bible tells us that faith is the title deed to things we "hope" for. (Hope, btw, is not faith.)

Real faith knows. There are no "ifs", "ands" or "buts" involved when you have real faith. You just know it, you believe it, and you receive it. You can still be blown away or surprised when the answer comes. Nevertheless, you had already believed to see what wasn't in sight yet. You believed it before you saw it.

In fact, you thanked God for it before you received it. That's how much faith you had.

Is that strange? We do it all the time in business. We pay for something and thank the person for that item before it even gets shipped. So, why shouldn't we thank God for something that He has promised to give to us?

We can't see salvation, yet we thank Jesus for dying on the cross --by faith. We thank Him by faith. That shows Him that we believe
(a) that He came in human flesh
(b) that He died at Gethsemane
(c) that somehow, His blood being shed on that cross bought our forgiveness
(d) that there is a heaven
(e) that we are saved from going to hell or having to try to pay for our own sins.

So, you see what I mean, right? It's all by faith. Faith in an unseen God is faith. That's why unbelievers are amazed and wonder how on earth believers can believe in an unseen God with no evidence to back up our theory. Whereas, to believers, it's natural. It's as natural as flipping a light switch, expecting the electricity to do its thing, flow down some wires and bring light into the room. But, unbelievers can believe in that because there's an explanation for it. There's a scientific reason why that light comes on. Really? So, explain it!

In my world, it's impossible to explain why that light comes on without including GOD in the explanation. Because, I wouldn't just stop at the question, "What makes the light come on?" I'd want to know, "Why are we even here in the first place to require a light?" And, where did light come from in the first place?

Well, if you believe and have faith in the Bible, you know that the first Creator of light was God and that He created light before He created anything else. And someone, by the light of a candle or the sun, wrote down this fact in the first book of the Bible called Genesis.

Genesis 1: 1 - 5, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day."

So, you see, it doesn't matter how fast the light can travel now or how fast it traveled in the past, the light was THERE when God created it on Day One. (God doesn't have to follow the laws of physics. He can even be in the Past, Present, and Future all at the same time. I know that BY FAITH.)

So, how does faith work? It's very simple. It has to be simple because even little children have it. They have it in boatloads and bucketfuls. Kids are full of faith. Their brains don't tend to get in the way as much as it does with adults. And, the carnal, human brain is an enemy of faith.

I'm not suggesting that only stupid people have faith. Not at all. Quite the opposite. What I'm suggesting is that one would have to be a fool NOT to believe in God.

Psalm 14:1, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."

Faith works something like this: You hear the truth and you "know" it's the truth. It's much like when someone is lying to you and you know they're lying. It's a feeling that something's just not right. You know that feeling? If you're a parent, you may have had experience with being lied to by your children.

If you're a child, you may have had suspicions about the lie of Santa Claus, for example. You may have noticed that people skirt the issue and smile a lot when talking about him, and you may have reckoned that people were massively lying to you. But, this type of lie was accepted as seemingly innocent and "fun" for kids. Right?

Now, if/when someone came along and said, "Ok, you're old enough to know the truth: there is no Santa Claus," you would have a feeling of acceptance, of, "Aha, I knew it." So, when you hear the truth, there's an "aha" feeling inside of you, like a few of life's puzzle pieces just fit together exactly how they should.

It makes SENSE. It's logical. It opens doors to more truths. It just feels like a solid rock on which you can now begin to build something worthwhile, something that will last forever.

FAITH IS SEEING IT BEFORE IT HAPPENS.

If you can believe it or not, as one person recently said in a movie, "Some things are true whether you choose to believe them or not." ("City of Angels") You NOT believing in something will have NO affect on its veracity. God won't just dry up and blow away if you don't believe in Him. And, just because the vast majority believes in God doesn't mean He's like Santa Claus who lives only in the minds of little children.

The fact is that God is. If you don't believe that, you are in the minority. And, quite possibly, a fool. Sorry. Now, you'll notice that the particular fool that David is talking about said it "in his heart" which sort of signifies that this fool really felt that he believed it. On the other hand, many intelligent people will say that they don't believe in God, but in their heart, they know that God is real. They just don't want to admit to others that God exists. Why?

There are lots of reasons why people don't want to believe in God. First, pride gets in the way. Some people just don't want to allow for a "Greater Power" to interfere with their decisions or tell them what to do or how to do it. Some people think they hate God because they think God is so cruel and such a dictator, because they don't know Him or understand Him. Some people are afraid of God because they figure that He must be pretty powerful. Some people are very stubborn and not willing to listen to anything that smacks of "religion" or "religiosity". And, other people just feel that faith in God is beneath them.

In a sense, faith bypasses the brain, reasoning, common sense, reality, and explanation. It defies the natural. It's like an elevator that blasts through the lower floors and zooms up into the stratosphere, beyond human understanding.

Faith is thinking outside the box. What box? Who needs a box?

For the believer, faith is everything. It's our life. We are encouraged, in the Bible, to live by faith. You won't learn how to do that in school or university. And, if you feel that there's something really valuable, worth dying for in this world, forget about faith.

Well, seriously, you can forget about faith, but, even in the material world, you'll need faith to get ahead. Only, you'll need faith in yourself, your abilities, your teachers, your leaders, and in MONEY. Yessirree. It takes faith to believe that money is worth your time, energy, work, and attention. It takes faith to believe that your miraculous human body was created to go out there and earn money to "make a living" and that's it. So, whether you "believe" it or not, living on this planet requires faith in something one way or the other.

But, if you want to give it all up for something BETTER, you should STEP OUT ON FAITH. Real, honest-to-goodness, God-given faith will never let you down. You'll never lack, lose, or get lost. You may fall, you may slip, but God will never let you fall all the way down. In fact, every fall is a fall upward in faith. If you have faith in the one true God, and Jesus Christ, His Son, that's gold. It's better than money in the bank in this world. It's treasure in heaven, stored up for when you arrive.

We're all headed for the END sooner or later. But, how wonderful is the journey when it's a journey of FAITH. There are lots of us out there on the road living by faith in God. We're the richest, healthiest, happiest, most blessed people on this planet. Come join our caravan. We're on the right track, trusting in the Best Guide.