Friday, January 21, 2011

Let us make God in our own Image

By: Rob Peralta

Unbelievably as it sounds, many Christians today are doing just that. They are creating a God who is NOT the God of Israel. The One who is described in the Holy Bible is a stranger to them. The most basic question we as Christians can ask is " Who is God?" The only logical answer is-- HE IS DESCRIBED AND REVEALED IN THE HOLY BIBLE. Let us look there.

Many will say God is love, which is true. But God also is a God of justice, righteousness, and Holy Laws. The unfortunate deception today is that God is only love and really doesn't care about His Holy Laws anymore. Many fail to realize God's Laws are for OUR GOOD! Many say " Oh, just love God your way and He'll understand" sort of a free love situation with no accountablity before God. How wrong they are.

One of the greatest things in all the world to know is HOW CAN WE LOVE OUR LORD? Well, I would say let's look to the Bible for instructions, surely God in His infinite wisdom would tell us, right? RIGHT! We find exactly "How" we can love our Lord, for HE SAYS HOW TO LOVE HIM HIMSELF! We have found words more precious than pure gold! Read this and believe it. (John 14:15) " If you love me keep my Commandments". It is said simply and plainly so that we can know what our Lord considers as "loving Him".(1 John 5:3) " For this is the LOVE OF GOD, that we keep His Commandments, and His Commandments are not burdensome". Now tell me ,you who think His Commandments don't matter, Can I continue to willfully break them and still be showing my "love" for God? I don't think so.

But the false teachers and pastors of many churches today do not listen to those words of our Lord. They say "I lovethe Lord"then BREAK His Commandment by trampling His Sabbath! And what's worse they TEACH others to do so! I was listening to a "Christian" radio station the other day and my heart almost stopped.

A pastor by the name of Mike Kessler was running his daily bible question show on CSN radio. A older man called and with a very sincere voice asked why most Christians don't keep the Commandments, especially the Sabbath. The old man mentioned Matt 5: 17-19 as evidence. Kessler in no uncertain terms flatly rejected the obeying of the Sabbath and NEVER addressed the man's Biblical evidence! This is typical of these false teachers, they inject "their" imageof God unto sincere hearted people who want the truth.

But sadly most on that station just suck up all the false teachings that can be given them , actually fulfilling prophecy (2 Tim 4:3-4) " For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine... they will turn ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables"

I believe it all comes down to this. The people who create God
in their image cannot know God UNTIL they submit their lives to Him! Meaning they obey His word and "love" Him as Jesus said how to love Him. For to know Him, we must also look to scripture. (1 John 2:3-4) "This is HOW we know we know Him, if we KEEP His Commandments, he that says "I know Him" and does not keep His Commandments , is a liar, and the truth is not in him"

So there you have it plain and simple--- How to love
Him and How to know Him, what more can a Christian want in His walk with Christ? Amen.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Just how important is our word?

By: Rob Peralta

In the days of old there was a popular saying "He's (she's) a person of their word". But sadly, today we don't hear that much anymore. It seems keeping our word isn't as important as it once was. Let's look at just how important it is.

It is very important to understand that speaking "words" enable us to be in an image of God. For words set us apart from all other living creatures on this earth. We have the same ability as God, and that is to speak words. When we speak truth we speak with power. When we speak lies and falsehoods we weaken ourselves. The ultimate evidence of this power was our Lord "speaking" the universe into existance.

Our character is reflected by the words we speak and the vows that we make. Personal integrity of a "Christian" is valued by God, especially when we honor our commitments.

I was lead to make this post because of noticing within my own church, people making promises then forgetting all about them. This is not right. If we call ourselves Christian, our word should be our bond! Can we imagine Jesus (our life example) saying " yes, I will do that for you" and not doing it?? Ofcourse not.(Proverbs 12:22) says "lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but they that deal truly are His delight".

Recently I was told to seek a man in our church for a bible study. We agreed to do an online study. We passed each other's email's. A few days later I proceeded to email him with the begining words of the study. NOTHING was heard from him for over two weeks. Another high level person in our church has made several promises to me, and fulfilled very few. I bring these examples because this is not right to the Lord(or any one told falsehoods). How can we be taken seriously as true Christians, when our fellow brother or sister can't even trust what we say? If you tell someone you are going to do something, do it!

The Lord hears our every word, and delights when we speak truth and back up our word, we become in a sense "God-like". Our word is our bond just like God's word is His bond. If I say " I'll do it", I really try to do it. I can actually feel my self getting weaker when I am talking to someone who I know doesn't keep their word, they seem to zap some energy from me. So please be aware, your bondless friends can deplete you, if you are an honest person with "true words".

A great example of trusting in words spoken was Jesus and the Roman Centurion. Jesus said He would go to the man's home but the man TOOK HIM AT HIS WORD, believing that His word alone could produce results. How would our Christian experience be if we would all believe and take to the bank what we tell each other we will do?

To summarize, when you tell someone you are going to do something, do it. Make God, yourself and your fellow brethren proud. You'll find your walk getting closer to God because you speak truth. Yours in Christ, Rob.