G’day mate and welcome to the Beast System!
September 6, 2023 • Tom Hughes, John Prescott, Dan Mcdonald
Friday, September 8, 2023
Sunday, August 20, 2023
Pursue God, not Knowledge
Why we should embrace our weakness and depend on God
I’ve written in the past about how the return of Jesus will redeem our bodies, our minds, pleasure, and other parts of our identity. I cover even more of these details in my book Look Up!
All of these are things people lost in the fall and will get back when Jesus returns? But one thing I haven’t written about is knowledge. Why not?
The answer is Adam and Eve didn’t have knowledge, at least not in the conventional sense. What they did know was God and His instructions to them. As far as other kinds of knowledge are concerned, they were intelligent but not knowledgeable people. As far as the Bible records, the only thing God specifically instructed them to do was “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion” (Genesis 1:28) and “Don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:17). If God told them anything else, Genesis does not record it.
Something Better Than Knowledge
Why would God create Adam and Eve and not give them knowledge? It’s because He gave them something better: Himself. The Lord wanted to teach them through relationship. God is omniscient—He knows everything—and lived with them in the Garden of Eden as their Mentor. Can you imagine having God standing next to you any time you had a question? That is how it was for the first two humans.
Maybe you have one of those devices in your home that is part of your home’s smart technology. I’m not a fan of devices where someone or something is listening on the other side, and I won’t name the companies that control them.
But you might ask the device, “How far is it to the sun?” and it replies, “It is 93 million miles to the sun. Would you like to search the internet for ‘sun’?”
These devices are listening all the time! It’s invasive and eerie.
But here is one thing I know about those machines: they cannot tell you about your destiny. They are gathering data about you but they don’t know you. They can’t answer spiritual questions, even though they have access to billions of webpages. But imagine being able to walk up to God and ask Him face to face, “Why was I created? What’s the meaning of the sun, moon, and stars? What’s the meaning of my life? Tell me about marriage. Help me understand science and the universe.”
If you wanted to know anything, God has the answer, but that is not the way He works in this world. God could have downloaded any amount of information He wanted into Adam and Eve. In fact, He could do it for you right now. But God is not a downloader; He’s a Father. He doesn’t want to make you instantly perfect as long as you live in this world. What God wants is to father you into perfection.
At the Rapture, God will make us perfect in every way. We will finally get to rest from our sin nature and the other limitations of this world. God created us to be dependent upon Him. Your spiritual intimacy will always correspond to your spiritual dependency. You can only be intimate with God to the degree that you’re dependent on Him. Independence is how you lose intimacy.
Sheep Need a Shepherd
As humans, we have a real problem with dependence. The Bible often describes our relationship to God is that of sheep to their shepherd. King David, once a shepherd himself, beautifully describes this relationship:
The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
—Psalm 23:1–2
And Jesus Said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep” (John 10:11).
When God looks at us, He sees sheep. He’s the Shepherd. Sheep are cute, but they are also pathetically weak. They can’t navigate on their own. They can’t bear burdens. They can’t defend themselves. They’re completely dependent upon the shepherd. In comparison to him, they are unintelligent, weak, and defenseless. That is an apt description of us.
The prophet Isaiah said:
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
—Isaiah 53:5–6
We really need to understand an important dynamic that took place in the Garden of Eden, because the same thing is happening in our lives right now. God the Father created these wonderful, perfect beings, but they were incomplete because He wanted them to depend on Him. Instead of giving them knowledge, He gave them Himself. More than any father on this earth, God loves being a Father to us and answering all our questions.
That divine identity is why there are two sides to the cross. On our side, we look up and say, “Thank You, Jesus, for the price You paid so we could be forgiven and come back into Your presence.”
But there’s another side to the cross—God’s side—and He is saying, “It was worth everything that was paid to get you back into My presence.” This heartsick Daddy sent His one and only Son so He could be back in your presence. He loves being with us more than we could possibly understand.
Trading God for Fruit
Adam and Eve were incredibly naive. When Satan showed up in the Garden of Eden in the form of a serpent, he did what he does to all of us—he offered them an exchange. He wanted them to take something as a trade for Someone. The couple exchanged God the Father and their intimate relationship with Him for a piece of fruit that offered them instant knowledge. God had wanted to mentor them in a loving relationship over eons of time. But the devil told them they didn’t need God. If they would only eat that fruit, then they would be just like God and know everything He knows.
When Adam and Eve traded God for the fruit, they fell from that relationship and died.
The devil is a liar; he always overpromises and underdelivers. He will guarantee us things he does not own or have the authority to give. He has been trying the same scheme on all of us. He wants to lure us away from our Father and give us something for Someone.
The apostle John wrote about this exchange:
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.—1 John 2:15–17
When John says not to love the world, he does not mean the physical earth itself. God created the earth and called it “good.” It is a wonderful thing. If you enjoy God’s creation, it does not mean you are “worldly.” When John writes about the “world,” he means it is a system that Satan is using to try to replace God. When the apostle tells us not to love the world, which includes “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,” he means those things that are used in an attempt to replace God as Father.
Before the Fall, God the Father divinely disabled Adam and Eve. He limited their knowledge because He was there to mentor them. But in pursuit of that knowledge, they traded a relationship with Him for a counterfeit. It’s the same thing the devil is trying to do to all of us today.
That Rapture and our total redemption are in our future, and I want people to get excited about where they are going. But right now, the Father wants to raise you to the point that you become a mature believer. He wants to have an intimate relationship with you. The Lord wants to hear you say, “I embrace my weakness, and I love being dependent upon You.”
We despise dependency because of our sin nature. But we have a perfect Father who will provide for us, love us, promote us and teach us—if only we will depend on Him.
Monday, August 14, 2023
Tuesday, August 8, 2023
Tell Me ‘Bout The Good Old Days
This song was released in 1986. I was listening to it the other day, and the meaning of the words really popped out more than they ever did back in the eighties, mostly because I was 26 years old and the "good ole days" weren't that far in the past. Also, to me, progress seemed like a good thing. Why wouldn't it?
Definition of progress:
noun
a movement toward a goal or to a further or higher stage: the progress of a student toward a degree.
developmental activity in science, technology, etc., especially with reference to the commercial opportunities created thereby or to the promotion of the material well-being of the public through the goods, techniques, or facilities created.
Now, at 63, I think longer and harder about where the times have taken us in the name of "progress". These verses really hit home...
Sometimes it feels like this world's gone crazy
Grandpa, take me back to yesterday
When the line between right and wrong
Didn't seem so hazy
Grandpa, everything is changing fast
We call it progress, but I just don't know
And grandpa, let's wander back into the past
Then paint me the picture of long ago
Today saying the "world's gone crazy" and "changing fast" are major understatements. Sadly, our world is not moving towards an improved more desirable place, this world is passing away. There are moments when admittedly I wish I could go back in time. Like a summer day in 1970 when I would run through the freshly hung sheets drying in the breeze, and then take a long bike ride with my best friend. Afterwards we'd put 10 cents in the soda machine and out would pop an ice cold drink in a glass bottle. That was heaven to me, but in reality Heaven will be far far better than any earthly experience. And as believers we can look forward to a world where perfection will reign because Jesus Himself will be in charge of all of our days.
1 John 2:17
“And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”
Grandpa, tell me 'bout the good old days
Sometimes it feels like this world's gone crazyGrandpa, take me back to yesterday
When the line between right and wrong
Didn't seem so hazy
Did lovers really fall in love to stay
And stand beside each other, come what may?
Was a promise really something people kept
Not just something they would say
Did families really bow their heads to pray?
Did daddies really never go away?
Whoa, whoa, grandpa, tell me 'bout the good old days
Grandpa, everything is changing fast
We call it progress, but I just don't know
And grandpa, let's wander back into the past
Then paint me the picture of long ago
Did lovers really fall in love to stay
And stand beside each other, come what may?
Was a promise really something people kept
Not just something they would say and then forget
Did families really bow their heads to pray?
Did daddies really never go away?
Whoa, whoa, grandpa, tell me 'bout the good old days
Whoa, whoa, grandpa, tell me 'bout the good old days
Tuesday, August 1, 2023
?ALIENS OR DEMONS?
Philippians 4:6-7
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
How would it impact the Christian faith if it was discovered that aliens exist?
First, let it be said, we do not believe that aliens exist. The Bible gives us no reason to believe that there is life elsewhere in the universe; in fact, the Bible gives us several key reasons why there cannot be. However, that has not stopped theologians, astronomers, and science fiction fans and writers through the years from contemplating the “what ifs” long and hard. The debates have narrowed down where the problems would arise, if the existence and discovery of extraterrestrial life could be proved.
Those who contemplate the existence of aliens and the impact their existence would have on the Christian faith commonly discuss the identity and work of Jesus. God sent His only begotten Son, God incarnate, to save mankind and redeem creation. Does that redemption include life on other planets? Or would God have manifested Himself on those other planets, as well (in the manner of Aslan in Narnia)? Does “only begotten” mean “only physical representation”? Or is it more limited, referring only to the human species?
Another consideration: would an otherworldly, sentient, advanced life form sin and need redemption in the same way we do? Human life is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11). Where is the life of these hypothetical aliens? And what would have to be sacrificed to save them? Could the shedding of Jesus’ human blood save silicon-based glass creatures whose sin was melting and reforming themselves into unnatural shapes?
Another topic of discussion concerning the existence of aliens and Christianity is what it means to be made in the “image of God.”Since God has no physical body, we take this to mean a reflection of God’s non-physical aspects—rationality, morality, and sociability. Would aliens, if they exist, embody the same characteristics?
One issue rarely broached is the impact of young earth creationism on the discovery of alien life. It is conceivable, if highly unlikely, that the geological pyrotechnics that took place during the global flood could have spewed a bacteria- or lichen-tainted stone all the way to Mars where it found shelter in a misty canyon. But any life form more complicated or farther out would be much harder to harmonize with a literal reading of Genesis 1. Could demons have taken trees and shrubs and rodents and bugs to another planet with an environment similar to Earth’s? Possibly. But without the Spirit’s blessing of life, it’s unlikely any of it would have survived. Parallel creations? Maybe. The Bible does not mention them.
Considering what we know about space and life and the world as the Bible portrays it, we already have an explanation for so-called alien activity on Earth. Reports of “close encounters” describe the ethereal, transient, deceptive, and malevolent. Accounts also record that encounters with supposed aliens can be stopped by a real, authentic call to Jesus. Everything points to the activity of demons, not extraterrestrials. In fact, it is plausible that the “powerful delusion” spoken of in 2 Thessalonians 2:11 will involve an alien-abduction theory to explain away the rapture.
The “discovery” of alien life would have no effect on genuine Christianity. The Bible stands as written, no matter what secular theories are advanced or discoveries are claimed. The Bible says the earth and mankind are unique in God’s creation. God created the earth even before He created the sun, moon, or stars (Genesis 1). Yes, there are strange and inexplicable things that take place. There is no reason, though, to attribute these phenomena to aliens or UFOs. If there is a discernable cause to these events, it is spiritual or, more specifically, demonic in origin. In the final analysis, all conjecturing about what would happen to our faith if aliens were proved to be real is interesting but unhelpful; it should never be allowed to descend into the “foolish and stupid arguments” that we are warned against (2 Timothy 2:23).
Taken from...
https://www.gotquestions.org/aliens-Christian.html
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