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.

Humility is Wisdom

Humility is common sense, isn't it? Doesn't it make sense to want to be humble and to embrace humility? It's a more natural position. It feels more comfortable. It even feels healthier. Less stress.

The way of the world, the way to "get ahead" is to leave the competition behind. You're supposed to sell yourself ahead of the competition, show people how great you are, how superior you are. In business it's not even considered bragging to advertise your strengths and assets. But, this mindset doesn't go over very well with God.

Jesus gave an illustration of humility by advising people that when they come into a great hall or sit down to a fancy dinner, they should first choose the "low" seat. Then, He said, when the master of the feast comes in, you won't be the one he asks to take a lower seat. He may even invite you to take a higher seat if you have already assumed a lower position. But, if you have placed yourself at a top position, you may be publicly humiliated if you are asked to move to a lower seat.

Believe it or not, being publicly humiliated can be beneficial for the soul. From time to time, we need to know, deep down, that we are no better than anyone else. In fact, no matter who you are --that's right-- no matter who you are on this earth, YOU ARE NO BETTER THAN ANYONE ELSE.

WHAT?

But, can't we say that a born-again Christian is better than an unsaved infidel? Nope. YOU ARE EQUALS.

We are all equals. We, as human beings are all equal to each other. You are no better than anyone else, not the beggar on the street, nor the little child asking you umpteen questions about life.

In fact, in God's eyes "greatness" is the opposite of what we humans think it to be. Jesus said, "He that is greatest among you shall be your servant." (Matthew 23:11)

Was He exaggerating? He couldn't have been serious about that, could He?  Wasn't that just a slight tilt to try to balance out the prideful direction His disciples were going in by reaching for the great seats in Heaven?

It sure seemed like He meant it. After all, didn't He wash His disciples' feet? Didn't He get spat on? Wasn't He mocked and crucified publicly for all to see? Wasn't Jesus's humility real? Didn't He set the example for us all? Or not?

Nobody is better than anybody else --saved or unsaved. There should be no divisions between anyone. Period. All humans are equal. Is that a radical doctrine? It's not mine. It belongs to God. God created all of us equal. It doesn't matter who is smarter, prettier, faster, or even closer to God. (Spiritual pride is the worse kind.) Nobody is better than anyone else.

And nobody is less or worse than anyone else.

That's not to say that sin is okay. Not to say that an unrepentant pedophile should be allowed to continue his crimes. That's not to say that there is no judgment for criminal acts.

What it means is that we should leave off comparing ourselves academically or physically with others. We shouldn't compare ourselves with others and place ourselves in position according to wealth, intelligence or athletic ability when it comes to our standing with God. You may be a better athlete and, good for you, you worked hard. That does not, however, make you a better person than anyone else.

You may have had successes. You may have done wonderful things for others. You may have donated lots of money or food or your precious time. You may even give your body to be burned. But, it doesn't make you a better person than anyone else.

The funny thing about pride is that the second you lift yourself up into the limelight and pat yourself on the back, you've just hit rock bottom. And, in case you're that slow that you don't catch on immediately, God will probably allow something to happen to totally humiliate you in order to redeem you. That's how dangerous pride can be for us spiritually.

Pride is a pitfall. It's a hoax. It's really something that a Christian rejects entirely. It's poison to the spirit. It's Satan's favorite temptation. We should avoid it at all costs. After all, what does any of us have to be proud about?

About the only thing you can be truly proud about is the fact that Jesus is your King. You can boast about that. Boast about the fact that without Him you can do nothing. Boast that you are washed in the Blood of the Lamb. 

What Happened on Easter? Part 2

The Great Climax

If  you want to talk about a climax (in the theatrical way ---or in any way) the climax to Easter was the resurrection, when Jesus came bursting like a flash of light out of his earthly body, scorching his grave-cloth and breaking every cord that held Him captive! And, by cords, I mean Satan's spiritual bondage.

Jesus Christ our Savior overcame sickness, disease, hunger, death, fear, oppression, doubt, and every wile of the devil! That's what the Bible says. And, in case you're wondering, "But, but, but, ...we still suffer, get sick, fear, have doubts and die, don't we?"

Yes we do. And, why is that? In three words, "lack of faith" is why. (I'm not pointing fingers because my faith isn't 100% either.) But, I believe that if we had enough faith, we would not suffer any disease, accident, lack, fear, or even pain. I believe that we can claim the Word of God to absolutely hold true, according to our faith in it.

That means the dead CAN be raised, the sick CAN be healed, God's will CAN be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Because the Bible says so! Because of EASTER --the Great Climax, the Resurrection. Amen? Do you believe it?

Because, if one person can receive healing, anyone can. God is not a respecter of persons. If one person can be raised from the dead, anyone can. (I know a couple of people who died and came back to life. There are books on the subject and testimonies galore.) If one person can be saved, anyone can. Then righteousness would cover the earth as the waters cover the seas! Hallelujah! Are you saved? Are you born again?

The Joy of Easter

You don't need colored eggs or chocolate bunnies to experience the true joy of Easter. In fact, the joy of Easter is a year-long, eternity-long joy that nobody can ever take away from you. And, when we share the joy, it multiplies.

You might think that everyone knows about Jesus's death on the cross and resurrection. But, the knowledge of the Most High God has to reach the heart of humankind. It's not just a piece of knowledge, "Yeah, I've heard all about Jesus. He was this guy who walked around in a long robe and held up His two fingers to bless people..."

But, to really know Jesus Christ as your own private, personal, intimate Savior takes being born again in your spirit. You are saved by grace through no effort of your own. All you have to do is receive and this act of receiving is called "believing". It's by faith because you cannot see God.

What God is asking you to believe is that Jesus Christ, His Son, rose from the dead. That may seem like a lot to ask, but if you struggle to believe that, you can also ask God for faith to believe it. There was one man in the Bible who said, "I believe, Lord help my unbelief." because he knew that his faith wasn't 100%. But, his lack of faith didn't prevent God from doing the miracle.

Just the simple act of opening your mouth and telling God, "I believe that Jesus rose from the dead" is the key to eternal life and perfect joy! And, believing that in your heart means you are saved.

Here's the proof right out of God's Word: Romans 10:9, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

That's right, folks, that's all it takes. Only believe. I hear more buts. "But, but, but, what about baptism? and communion? and church attendance? and Bible study?" Yes, these are all good things but none of these things of and by themselves will save you. You are saved by faith and faith alone. And even that faith comes from God. And, yes, your faith can grow after you have been saved. That's the plan. You don't want to stay a newborn babe in Christ for the rest of your life. You want to grow up and mature.

So that's the true joy, God's joy that comes through believing the story of Easter.

What's the Story?

Maybe you don't have a Bible nearby or maybe you've never been able to read and understand the Bible. (I've had people tell me that they can't read the Bible because it's too difficult to understand. I've even had people tell me that it puts them to sleep when they try to read it. So, I told one person, "If it puts you to sleep, that's a sweet sleep. Just continue reading when you wake up.")

So, here's the story of Easter ---my version. It's the story of a man who was taken by his enemies and tortured in the worst way. Any onlooker would have seen a human being crushed, ripped apart with a whip that was a torture device of 9 strands of leather embedded with glass and sharp stones. After this beating, there was so little flesh left on the body of our Lord that He could see His own bones!

But, His enemies weren't through with Him yet. He was forced to carry His own cross all the way up the hill to Golgotha. (He fell under the weight and someone else had to help Him carry it.) And there, He was crucified. His body hung on a cross up high so everyone could see His mutilated body. But, Jesus shared his concern for His earthly mother with John, asking him to take care of her for Him. Then, the sky went dark in the middle of the afternoon.

Jesus called out, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani!" This means, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"

Now, it just so happens that in the book of Psalms, chapter 22, King David said the same words. With His final words, Jesus fulfilled prophecy. His entire life was a fulfillment of prophecy one after the other. In fact, the entire chapter 22 is a prophecy of Jesus's death as well as a prophecy of the future when,

"All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee." (Psalm 22:27)

Can you imagine what it was like in Jerusalem that day? Night had fallen for three full hours right in the middle of the day. Imagine the feeling in the atmosphere. People must have been wondering, possibly fearful or amazed. Anyone in the temple would have heard a loud rip as the veil of the holy place was ripped in half.

Then there was an earthquake! Thunderous noise of explosions filled the air as many rocks broke up! And just like a sci-fi horror movie, all the graves of the saints opened up! Moreover, bodies of the saints came out of those graves. (Remember, it's dark and there's an earthquake shaking things up at the same time.)

When all this started happening, even the Roman guards believed Jesus was the Son of God.

The body of Jesus was laid out on a flat shelf inside of a tomb in a rock and a huge rock was rolled in front of the entrance. But, when Mary came a few days later to put balm on His body, she found that not only was the stone moved but the body of Jesus was gone missing. Of course, this was upsetting. "Who on earth would want to steal this mangled body?" She saw a man nearby and went to ask him about this puzzling situation.

A New Body of Bone and Flesh

As it turns out, this man was Jesus. No more blood. His body was made out of some kind of flesh and bone. And, He could walk through walls no problem. He could appear and disappear at will. Still, He told Mary not to touch Him. (Imagine the shock it would have sent through her if she had.) And, He gave her instructions to tell the disciples that He was risen.

Of course, the disciples didn't believe her. After all, she was just a woman grieving for her Lord. But, it turned out, they should have believed her story. Because Jesus showed up unexpectedly while they were eating dinner. He had a physical body. He even ate fish with them. He even taught many followers for 40 days! What a crash course that must have been! If only we'd been there!

Nevertheless, Jesus told Thomas, "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."

That's us, folks!

What Happened on Easter?

Easter, like Christmas, has been shrouded in  traditions. We've got the Easter bunny --of all things, colored eggs, the Easter bonnet, and --more recently, Easter trees. Orthodox and Catholic churches make a big deal out of "Lent" and fasting and showing everyone how pious they are. (Or are they simply pusillanimous?) Anything to distract us from the real meaning of Easter.

Okay, so what is Easter? The word "Easter" comes from a pagan tradition. (Ah, tradition. How we love our traditions. Why is that? Traditions are just so human. And, in most cases, ungodly.)

The month of the crucifixion was called Eosturmonath after a pagan goddess named Eostre. Catholics therefore referred to the resurrection as Eostre. Go figure. It had to be the Catholic church that designated this name for the most important day of human existence. And, there we have it.

So, what about the Easter bunny? He was just another symbol of fertility. Yet, apparently he also brought pretty colored eggs to children who were good --- much like Santa Claus. And, although I sound very critical of these imposters, traditions and distractions, at least there is one good thing you could say about it all --- it helps people all over the world to remember this day called Easter. --So that, if they dig deeply enough, they may even discover the real meaning behind the celebration.

Humanity's Most Important Day

Without the slightest bit of exaggeration, we can say that Easter (The Resurrection) is the most important day of all of human history. You might say, "What about the day of the creation of human beings?" But, the resurrection is what saved humanity after the fall, so, without it, there would be no creation.

Think about this: God was going to wipe out His entire creation with the flood. The Bible says that God "repented" at having even created us! But, thankfully, Noah stood between God and the destruction of the entire earth. One man, Noah was used by God to save us all, just as one man, Jesus was used by God (and was and is God) to save our souls from destruction.

It's Intense

Yes, it's intense. It's intense because most of us don't realize just how bad our lives and deaths would be without Jesus. In a way, it's like being born into a world of electricity and trying to imagine what life would be without it. You get to experience life without electricity when it temporarily gets cut off, but that's only a taste of electricity-less living, isn't it? The point is, we just don't realize.

We're so shaped by the society we're born into that we do tend to take a lot for granted. If your parents were Catholic and sent you to a Catholic church, you became aware at an early age that you are a sinner. The Catholic church wants you to think that they have everything to do with your eternal salvation and that without them, you are going to hell. (We won't get into slamming the Catholic church at this point. They do have a few grains of truth and lots of sincere, dedicated people. Albeit, most of them are deceived.)

But, if you weren't Catholic, you weren't quite as painfully aware of your sins. And, since human beings are for the most part, self-righteous, you may have figured that "whatever will be will be" concerning death and the afterlife. If you believed in the afterlife at all. As a child, you may have never concerned yourself with eternity, concentrating mostly on getting ahead at school or making lots of friends or whatever.

Until, one day, maybe after a particularly dark nightmare or a really bad movie, the thought awakened in your mind that you didn't really know for sure what was going to happen to you when you died. That fear of death is a gift of Satan, by the way. But, on the bright side, it does cause us to call out to our Creator.

Death and Hell was Nailed to the Cross

What the Catholic church doesn't seem to know is that the fear of hell and death was nailed to the cross on Good Friday. That means we don't need a church (any church at all really) or a priest, or pope, or confession, or even mass. Nobody controls our eternal salvation except for Jesus Christ. Nobody makes the decision of whether you go to heaven or hell except for God. Not Mary, not your local priest or pastor or the entire "Holy" Roman Vatican.

If you could do it by going to church faithfully, confessing your sins to a man of the cloth, taking mass or communion, praying, worshiping, obeying, giving to the poor, or whatever else you can imagine, then Jesus didn't need to die on the cross.

If there was anything at all that you could possibly do to save  yourself from going to hell, the death of our perfect, pure, unspotted Lamb was a waste of time. If that's true, Jesus died in vain. It meant nothing. It served no purpose. --Because you could have saved yourself! So, no need for all that suffering, all that blood and pain and misery.

And, just as you know in your heart that you could never have saved yourself or been good enough for God, you also know that there is no way to keep yourself saved. The entire thing is by grace through faith. Grace and faith alone. Those are two powerful words. We don't even understand them.

We Underestimate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

God knew that pigs can't fly. He created them. He didn't enable pigs to fly. So, they can't. And, He knew what humans were and what we aren't. He didn't expect the miraculous from us. He knew our weaknesses, our humanity, our frailties, our finite minds, our ridiculous approach to life. He also knew that, without a touch of God, we would come to destruction. And that very fast.

God knew that there was only one solution to this entire mess down here. He was the Only One Who could fix it. That's probably where that saying came from, "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself." Because, in all seriousness, God is the Only One Who can do it right.

Imagine This!

Okay, now here's something that will blow your mind. It's just not even possible to comprehend this in our tiny, human brains. But, here's the thing --God came down to earth inside of a human body (it was the perfect disguise) so human-like that it even fooled his biological half-brothers, then he lived on the earth (eating, drinking, defecating, sleeping, working, walking, talking) just like a human being, then He went around doing good to show everyone a sample of godliness and godly living. But, that wasn't enough.

He gave Himself (his flesh) to the smiters, people who hated Him so that they could kill Him in the most painful way imaginable. Just so that whoever believes in Him can be saved!

We're Saved From Ourselves

Some people may ask, "What do we need to be saved from?" But, if we're honest, we know deep down that we need to be saved. We are not strong. We are not smart. We are not God. That's right. You are not strong, you are not smart, and you are not God.

You may be clever but you're not smart in the true sense of the word. You're certainly not smart like God. He is omniscient. That means He knows everything. And, that word, "everything"  means everything now, everything in the past, and everything in the future. Everything.

The first step in getting really smart is to finally come to the realization that you don't know anything except what God shows you. If you know something that's true and right, it came from God. God taught us how to speak, how to wash, how to cook, how to procreate, everything. Then, it was passed on.

How insane is it to think that anyone on this earth is smart? Everything we learn is taught to us. Everything we know is second-hand information. Either humans taught us, or God. Or, in some cases, Satan. But, really Satan is not omniscient. He's weak, dumb and he's definitely not God. Satan is the great imitator. He's a liar and the father of lies.

We're Saved from Satan

Don't you know Satan hates the fact that we are saved by grace. He's constantly lying to us to try to deceive us into thinking that we have to work for our salvation, pay some exorbitant fees to the church, fast or punish ourselves for our sins. How ridiculous. The price of salvation was too high for any of us to afford. All the tea in China can't buy your salvation.

The most valuable thing you own is your salvation. That means you have Jesus living inside of you. The smartest thing you can know on this earth is that you are saved. And the most powerful name in human history is: Jesus Christ/ Yeshua Hamashiach.

To be continued . . .

 paypal.me/BrendaPhillips