Summary of Differences

     We worship only on Sundays in church. Or we also worship during the week as our faith leads us. Today we have a question: Does the Prosperity Gospel please God? We searched the internet. 

     The Prosperity Gospel teaches that God desires all Christians to be financially wealthy, physically healthy and successful. They claim that believers can use faith to get whatever they desire, especially material wealth. What about Christians living in the poorest nations?

     Another view. Scripture does not teach that God guarantees health and wealth. Jesus warned, Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal - Matthew 6:19. The Bible calls us to be content with what we have (Hebrews 13:5) and warns against love of money. And, the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil - 1 Timothy 6:10.

     Do we pursue worldly riches, or Christ himself? The Bible calls us to take up our cross and follow Jesus - Luke 9:23. Paul wrote ...godliness with contentment is great gain. Spiritual riches, not necessarily material wealth. 

     You say, most all were poor in the first century A.D. Well, there must have been some wealth, or Jesus and Paul wouldn't have warned people about loving money. There are more differences we may blog sometime. Or, you can search "Summary of Differences." 

                    Jimmy

     

God's Creation Continues

  See yesterday's blog.

     Each ear of corn has an even number of rows. Each stalk of wheat has an even number of grains. Every bunch of bananas has on its lowest row an even number of bananas, and each row decreases by one. One row has an even number and the next row an odd number. 

     The waves of the sea roll on shore 26 waves to the minute in all kinds of weather. 

     All grains are found in even numbers on the stalks, and the Lord specified thirty-fold, sixty-fold and a hundred-fold. 

     God has caused the flowers to blossom at certain times during the day. Carl Linnaes, a Swedish botanist in the 18th century, said that if he had a conservatory with the right kind of soil, moisture and temperature, he could tell the time of day or night by the flowers that were open and those closed. 

     Humans aren't identical. None of us have the same fingerprints. But we all have one heart and soul. Might our lives be ordered by the Lord who made eggs, foods, grains, flowers and animals? Could our brains and invisible hearts be guided by Him to a profitable end?  

                                               !

More Evidence of Creation

     Does God have a sense of humor? Does He speak through his creation?

     The eggs of a potato bug hatch in 7 days. Canary eggs in 14 days. Those of a barnyard hen in 21 days. 

     The eggs of ducks and geese hatch in 28 days. Those of the mallard in 35 days. Eggs of the parrot and the ostrich hatch in 42 days.

     All divisible by seven, the days of a week. 

     God's making of the elephant: It's four legs all bend forward in the same direction. No other quadruped is so made. God planned that elephants' huge body is too large for two legs. He gave it four fulcrums so it can rise easily from the ground. (A fulcrum is the point a lever rests or is supported and on which it pivots.) 

     The horse rises from the ground first on its two front legs. A cow rises with its two hind legs first. 

     God's wisdom is revealed in His arrangement of sections and segments, as in the number of grains. Each watermelon has an even number of stripes on the rind. Each orange has an even number of segments.  

                               Continued tomorrow

Lamb Conquers Serpent

     Adam and Eve are guilty. God speaks to the serpent (the devil). A Seed is coming. The Seed will be bruised, but the serpent's head will be crushed.  

     The Seed is Jesus. Much later, at the cross it seemed the serpent had won. Jesus' disciples had feared so. But Jesus rose from the grave and is forever Lord of Lords. Among other names, He is the "Lamb that was slain." God allows the battle to continue, but Satan knows he is defeated.

     Football and basketball games continue until the time is over. One team leading by 20 points with only a minute on the clock ... play on.  

     Life and death. Fight on. There are countless people who aren't yet listed in the book of life. Jesus wants more people - his bride - to join him at "the wedding supper of the Lamb," (Revelation 19), before He returns - with them/us - to begin his millennium on earth. 

     So, the Trinity has been here and everywhere all along. Every covenant, every promise, every moment. God's first two humans let him down. As do all of us. He wants to redeem what He calls His people. 

     If the enemy has power over us, we gave it to him. He is defeated.

Prayer: Jesus, teach me not to give into fear, shame and accusation. Today I choose to walk in your victory and life. Amen.

 What Begat This Project? 

   Continued

      In the Forward of family history, I wrote: "Amateur moralist we may be; scientist we're not. A few scribbled notes at a Christmas-season dinner table led to this laborious project ... but a labor of love. 

     "Love always hopes and always endures. The reader may enjoy a Yankee soldier's recollections. Or marvel at the man who walked 58 miles to school. We found handwritten notes from the same era Katherine Lee Bates wrote America the Beautiful. We received photos that predate the U.S. income tax. 

     "There were puzzles to solve ... taking pieces of hazy memory and determining where to place them. We began to love people again for the first time. We awoke in the night, strangely enjoying their memories. Our stories begin when agrarian orientation dominated the life and structure of the USA, and end when modernization had begun to turn us inside out. 

     "The reader can judge whether we're better off with satellites and internets than we were with 8th-grade education, or less, superstitions notwithstanding. Their stories have passed through filters of the author's biases, and the reader will find lapses of literary license. 

     I ended the Forward with a tease of the first two chapters: Civil War. 

     "Now, dear reader, raise the footstool of your electric chair and load your musket. As you prepare for the fight, consider that if the trajectory of a Confederate bullet had been an inch on either side of the Yankee rifle it hit, 12 of 16 of these chapters might not have been written. Come to think of it, this author wouldn't be here either. Humbling, isn't it? 

     "On to Richmond!" 

                                    Tomorrow: Lamb conquers serpent

      

 Returning Home with Joy...

     ...the title of my book in 1996. Working in South Carolina then, we wrote about family...parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, cousins...in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Florida, Arizona, Wyoming and Ohio. They contributed memories and pictures, some of them from the 1800s. Yes, we all wrote the book. 

     None of the relatives are still living, including my younger cousin who made 38 of the 90-page books in his printing shop. He would not take my money. 

     We won't bother you with the content, including a great uncle's service in the Civil War. But, history can teach. Here is a part of my Forward: 

     "Propeller planes begat television, begat jetliners, begat spaceships. Horses and buggies begat trains, begat trolleys, begat cars and trucks, begat radios, begat television. (Imagine how this would read today.) 

     "Character begats optimism, and usually prosperity and peace. People of character believe in a better tomorrow, that obstacles exist to be overcome, and that this country has a strong and beneficial role in the world. In our family stories covering more than 90 years, the reader will find rich memories of warm people who worked together. 

     "Working together. There may be the secret to "family values" we hear about, and some are trying to restore. Somewhere along the line of begats, we overcame the need to pull together. So, this writer won't praise too much the children born among gardens and sowing needles or criticize children born among supermarkets and mega-malls." 

     "G.K. Chesterton: 'The family is the factory that manufactures mankind.' If that is true, we have a problem with those who redefine the family. The magazine goes on to say that 'agreement is rare on what kind of family is better at manufacturing mankind.' America is increasingly a culture that celebrates individualism. Some offer an opinion on what type of family is best. These are social scientists." 

                                       Conclusion tomorrow 

Believe it or Not 

     Your blogger knew someone who lived during our Civil War. How is that possible? 

     First, the "someone" was born in 1864. The Civil War did not end for another year. Ora Dilley would eventually become my grandfather.

     He fathered three boys and three girls, one of which eventually became my mother, Mary Elizabeth. She was born in 1906, gave birth to me in 1938 and named me James. She lived 97 years. 

     Grandpa lived 36 years in the 19th century and another 53 years in the 20th, for a total of 89. He went way beyond average length of life in those times. Even beyond today's average. 

     I lived the last 15 years of his life. There were occasional visits to or by my grandparents. The man born during the Civil War. 

     The 162-year total for the three of us isn't over...yet. I inherited long life, but we take it a day at a time as the Lord commands.

            James

PS. Grandpa Ora did a variety of work while he was still single. There were no cars or trucks in the 1800s. Maybe trains, and horses. He lived near Pittsburgh when he chose to walk all the way to Edinboro, 58 miles, carrying two suitcases. He attended a school, but we don't know what level. Come time to return home, he walked again. 

Tuesday: My very own book