Faith or Works? 

     So many particulars: Belief. Obedience. Promises. Obligations. Commitment. Human effort........? 

     The lives of men. What about women? From Canaan to Israel. What about America? 

     For answers we will turn to Galatians chapter 3, tying the Old and New Testaments together. Remember Saul, 100 percent Jewish, who persecuted Christians that were leading Jews into a mistaken faith, or so he believed. Jesus spoke to him from heaven, gave Saul the name Paul, and the rest is history. 

     But first, let's go to Genesis chapter 3. The clever devil posed as a serpent, duping Adam and Eve into disobeying God (the world's first sin; eating forbidden fruit). God told the serpent he would put "enmity (hostility) between him and the woman" (all humanity). The serpent "will strike the heal of the enmity (Christ on the cross) and he (Christ) will crush your head" (yet to occur).

     We are living in that warfare today. Now, to Galatians 3. 

     Paul told Galatians to remember Abraham (father of Isaac, father of Jacob - renamed Israel). This was centuries before Moses and the law. When God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son, he prepared to do so, until the Lord told him to put down his knife. 

     God declared, "Because you have done this and have not withheld your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars...and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me." 

***Offspring? Monday's blog will be the most important in my 11 years***