A LIttle Bit of Heaven

  This is an article from the Daily Meditations written by Ken and Gloria Copeland that I wanted to share with everyone.
   It is especially at this time of year during the Christmas season that our thoughts turn to family and how we can all have a happy home.  But truly, this should be a priority for all year long.  Our homes need to be a haven and a fortress away from the secular world in which we live.
    True peace, harmony, and love inside of the home and expressed always to our loved ones, is not easy to achieve - as the below article will show.  But it is the goal!
  The family is God's plan for us.  It is our source of strength in a fallen world.  As such, it comes under the attack of our enemy - the evil one.  If you don't quite comprehend that, or maybe don't even believe in satan and that you have an enemy, then look around you at the destruction that is going on in families -and to familes- today.
  And have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!


   I believe this article maybe one the most important articles that we will ever read, and so I offer it here.
(copywrite: Copeland ministries)

A Little Bit of Heaven on Earth

"Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another...even as Christ forgave you."
(Colossians 3:12-13)

---

Living in a home filled with the love and the peace of God Himself is almost like living in heaven right here on earth. We all know that's true. And we long to live in such a home. Yet, time and time again, we shortchange our families. We spend our kindest words and our most winning smiles on those beyond our front door.

Have you ever wondered why?

The answer is simpler than you might suspect. Spiritually speaking, your family is under attack. You see, it is not only one of your most precious gifts, when it's operating in harmony, it's one of your most powerful resources. Satan knows that even if you don't--and he's out to destroy it.

His battle plan is simple. He will do everything he can to create strife in your home. He'll stir up feelings of self-pity and jealousy. He'll encourage you to nurse resentments and harbor bitterness. And through it all, his purpose remains the same, to divide and destroy your home.

When God's people get in harmony with each other, miracles start to happen. Their agreement creates an atmosphere in which God's supernatural, miracle-working power is free to flow! So Satan is constantly tempting us to spoil that atmosphere, to foul things up by being at odds with each other. All too often we fall prey to his tactics simply because we don't realize just how dangerous strife really is. One close look at the Word of God will solve that problem, however. James 3:16 says, "Where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work."

Don't open the door of your home to Satan by allowing your family the "luxury" of a few quarrels.
Stop the destruction before it starts. Anchor yourself to God's Word. Find out what He has to say about the power of agreement. Stop looking at your family from your own limited perspective and start seeing it as God sees it--as a powerhouse! That way you won't drift helplessly into an argument every time a gust of emotion blows through your home.
Determine right now not to let the devil have your family. Instead, pray for them, support them and love them. Bring them together, so you can all enjoy a little bit of heaven on earth.

Scripture Study:  Colossians 3:12-25

GOD DOES NOT GO AROUND KILLING PEOPLE

Photographer Unknown.

       Today, I wanted to touch on a subject that has bothered me every since I was a teenager. 

At that time, I was having my own ‘struggles’ with a lot of what I was hearing at church and being taught from the pulpit. I guess a lot of that struggle was simply from being a teen-ager and questioning the whole ‘formality’ of Sunday morning services, but I felt like there was so much ‘more’ I was wanting to understand and yet was not being given any real teaching that helped me to understand God more.  It seemed all I was being told was how Holy He was – and what a terrible sinner I was. 

 I grew up in a ‘religious’ family, and we regularly attended a local Church with a large congregation of our neighbours.  (The denomination itself is irrelevant here as this teaching I will refer to, seems to be taught by every denomination today.)

            I well remember attending a funeral of a relative when I was sixteen or seventeen.  At the gravesite the minister said some words and at the end of it said this:  “Ashes to ashes and dust to dust; the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.

           I’m sure everyone has heard those words.  They sound very wise and Biblical don’t they?

 

         I remember thinking at the time though, that they just seemed somehow ‘wrong’.  I did not know why they sounded wrong really, nor did I ever check it out with what is actually in Scripture, but I knew even then, that God did not kill my relative.  Nor did the Lord ‘call him home’.  I knew for sure in my spirit that this was just wrong.  Why would God kill my Uncle?  Doesn’t God love us?  Does it not stand to reason that if God loves us, then He would want good things for us like health, long days on the earth, guidance, prosperity, peace, etc.. ?  It did not seem to me that the Loving God I was searching so hard to relate to would just turn around one mysterious day and ‘call me home’ –which is to say, cause my death.  The few times I did enquire about this to anyone, the answer was usually something about ‘God moves in mysterious ways.’   Well, He may well have moved in mysterious ways to Old Testament believers, but the mystery has been cleared up since the New Testament was written.  His ‘mystery” has been written down for 2,000 years now and is there for any student of His Word to see.  (Mark 4:11; Mathew 13:11; Eph 1:9 for starters and especially Romans 16:25,26)

   
  Below in the scripture reference is the verse that seems to be always quoted at funerals (Job 1:21).   You’ve heard it also:  ‘Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.”

  This is a huge part of the cause of people thinking that God kills you.  And that line of thinking is simply Not true!  Jesus came to bring us life –and that more abundantly.  Jesus healed anyone who was sick and asked Him to, and Jesus himself testified that if you ‘Have seen me, then you have seen the Father.’  From this we know that God is not out to give you disease or death but to Heal you so that you will live longer!

  In the first place, the whole statement is not a quote of one sentence, but is made up of two statements. One is from the book of Genisis and the second part from the Book of Job.   The first part about ‘Ashes to Ashes and Dust to Dust’ is actually from Gen 3:19.  It is not quoted words, but refers instead to a concept.  God made man from the dust of the ground.  (Gen 2:7)

     Below, I have copied the first chapter of the book of Job.  If you read verse 21 in the context of the whole chapter, you can plainly see that it was satan who 'tooketh away' - not God!
   Also note, that these words are not inspired of God as is so much of the Bible. (especially the New Testament), but instead are a quote out of Job's mind and mouth - and after such a series of disasters!  But even so, it was after he 'fell down upon the ground, and worshipped!  Later on, Job’s wife would tempt him to blame God for all this trouble, and Job rebuked her severely for her thoughts that God was the cause of his misfortunes.

   Remember also, as you read this account of Satan having been given permission from God to check out Job’s faith, that this is in the OLD Testament. 

In the New Testament, we –as individual believers – have been given the authority through the precious name of Jesus Christ, to stop Satan in his foul tracks.  We no longer have to suffer from his attacks on us because Jesus totally disarmed and defanged satan and gave us all authority in His name to rebuke and banish satan from hurting us.  Oh, that rat will still attack us, and we are told to ‘put on the full armour of God’ to stop those flaming darts of his attack upon us.

   No, God does not kill us.  God loves us and has given us all the protection we need to withstand the ‘wiles’ of the devil.  For that is the only thing satan can actually fight us with – his wiles.  If you are not armed with the Word of God to repel those attacks, then you are going to be wide open to receive them.  This is also why so many people today are doubting even the existence of satan!  If you don’t believe you have an enemy, then you are wide open for every and all attacks from him.  Good luck.

   But that weapon –wiles – is more deadly than  we realize!  And here is the proof of that.  If you believe ‘that the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away’ your life, then how my friend, are you ever going to develop a trusting and strong Faith in His Goodness?  I doubt you can.  If you had a friend in the physical world who would fly off the handle and beat you up every once in a while, how long would he/she be your friend?  If your father would suddenly turn on you and beat you, would you love to be in his company and yearn to be with him? 

   This doctrine of God ‘calling us home’ is  a heretic teaching inspired by Satan himself.  It is designed to destroy –or at least greatly weaken- your faith in God your Father.

  I hope this gives some clarity to the misuse of this verse as we hear it all the time at funerals.  I for one, speak to the Minister in charge every time I hear this junk preached.  It is a heretic teaching and most people do not even realize the damage it causes – even those preaching it. 

  God did NOT do these things to Job.
  satan did.


THE BOOK OF JOB

CHAPTER 1

1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
2 And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.
3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.
 4 And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
 5 And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about , that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said , It may be that my sons have sinned , and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.
6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
 7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said , From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
 8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said , Doth Job fear God for nought?
10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
 11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
*12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.
13 And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:
14 And there came a messenger unto Job, and said , The oxen were plowing , and the asses feeding beside them:
15 And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away ; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
 16 While he was yet speaking , there came also another, and said , The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
17 While he was yet speaking , there came also another, and said , The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away , yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
18 While he was yet speaking , there came also another, and said , Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:
19 And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead ; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
20 Then Job arose , and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,
21 And said , Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave , and the LORD hath taken away ; blessed be the name of the LORD.
22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

*  Remember, this is OLD Testament.  In the New Testament, satan has no power over us.  We have all power over him through the name of Jesus Christ.

No Condemnation!

Photography by

Rick Mortimer

   I am of the belief that the Holy Spirit does not 'reprove' us for each sin that we commit. 
John 16:9, I believe would be the Holy Spirit reproving us of the sin of not believing in Jesus.  Not the sin of say -swearing or stealing or whatever.  Those are things for a believer's conscious to bring to mind. 
  If we have the Holy Spirit then we are born again.  If we are born again, our spirits are sealed and already in the Kingdom of His Dear Son. (Col 1:13).  Sin has been dealt with already and has been judged.  The Holy Spirit is not here to continue to keep judging us... only to lead us to things of Christ.  To keep us pointed at Jesus.  Jesus became sin for us.  That has already been dealt with.  We are saved by Grace, through Faith.  With our spirits already in the Kingdom, we can now go before the Father.  God could not be in our presence if we where sinful.  Therefor, since God is  a spirit we must have fellowship or come before Him, in the spirit also.  Our spirits are pure and sealed already - for eternity and so now we can fellowship with the Father - in Spirit.
  But the flesh is the problem.  God knows that when we walk with Jesus -in the flesh - we will willingly sin no more.  That is the job of the Holy Spirit - to keep us pointed at Jesus.  When we do slip and sin, our conscience  will reprove us who love Christ; not the Holy Spirit.
  The verse below says it all.  If we are 'in Christ Jesus' by the Grace of the Father, then we will try and walk not in the flesh, but in the Spirit to please the Father.  (our end of the deal is to express Faith.)

Romans 8:1 KJV

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

John 14:
26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

John 15:
26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

John 16:
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;
10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;
11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you

 I think to tell people that the Holy Spirit condemns us all the time is bad teaching.  For one thing, He doesn't.  For another who would even want a friend that is constantly condemning you?  Not me!  So why would anyone look forward to receiving someone who is so full of condemnation as the Churches teach that the Holy Spirit is? 
  Why are we all so focused on sin  all the time?  Because the churches have been teaching sin and not the gospel of Grace through Faith.  (Eph 2:8)  Not totally Grace, and not totally Faith, but a combination.  Grace was given to us, and Faith is what we give back.  We can not just accept Grace and not give back Faith while expecting to be righteous, anymore than we can walk in Faith and not accept the Grace that has been bestowed upon us.
 Those who teach condemnation have missed it!  We should be focused on what Jesus has done right for us - not on what we do wrong!  Heb 10:2 clears this up quite plainly by saying that if we do focus on righteousness we will have no more consciousness of sin!

  

The gospel means 'Almost too good to be True, News!"   And that isn't condemnation!

 

 

Walk the Walk

Photo by

Rick Mortimer

   All things start with an action.   The journey starts with the first step.    The first step needs to be taken in faith.  Your faith is the [tangible] substance of the thing hoped for, the evidence [proof]of the thing not yet seen. That faith is based on a belief that all will follow as needed.   When you couple this with an attitude of  ‘doing whatever it takes’ with gratitude for knowing that you can  ‘do all things in Christ, which strengthen us,”  then you cannot fail.  Whatever  the mind of man can believe,  he can achieve.

   Fear begets fear.  ‘The thing I fear has come upon me.”  Fear is the opposite of faith.  Just as faith builds, so fear destroys.  Fear is Satan’s counterfeit of faith.  Fear is against God because God has said we can accomplish all things.  Fear says we can’t.  Fear says, ‘why even start.”  Fear shuts you down before you begin.  God says, ‘begin a thing, and trust in me."  Doubt is fear disguised, but fear nonetheless.  

Speak the thing into existence. What you say is what you get.  If you speak words of doubt and fear, you create an attitude of such.  Reverse that by speaking words of faith out loud to yourself.  Fearful [fear filled] words are satanic words.  Speak God’s words about a thing.  Our words create our attitudes and enforce our beliefs.  Are we speaking words of belief in God’s ability and promises to us, or are we speaking words of defeat from the enemy?  Are we hung by our tongue?  We create with our words, or we destroy with our words. 

   Don’t dither around in trying to control the circumstance necessary for you to create.  You do the work, don’t plan the results. The results are God’s part.  Your part is to do, and that means to get started from where you are – not from where you are going to be, or want to be – but from where you are right this moment.  Success is not built on convenience.  Don’t expect things to meet all of your expectations before you begin.  Begin NOW with what you have.  When you step out under adverse circumstance, it is an expression of your faith.  God honours faith – not hesitancy and fear.

    Would you doubt any project if you absolutely positively knew that you could not fail?    Then why do we allow doubt to enter into a thing? Did not God say that he has put all things under our feet?  In the original Greek, all meant all.   We are more than conquerors in Christ.  We cannot fail.  Failure is impossible if we have a consciousness of  the victory and power that was given us at the cross.  We have the mind of Christ within us.  We have the victory over powers and principalities that might oppose us. 
   How then, can we fail to do a thing?  If we walk the walk, we can't.

Truth must be sought after.

Photo

by Rick Mortimer

 

***T R U T H ***

Without effort, truth cannot be known at all.  It can’t be declared on T.V.,

nor set by type in articles, nor in any way sold and packaged “ready to eat.”

Truth must be sought after by every individual with such help as one may

discover.  It will never come without labor on the part of the seeker.  One of

the most striking contradictions of our times is the fundamental reverence for

truth which most profess and the total disregard for it which we practice.

Our actions should be as James Thurber wrote:

“Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in Awareness.”

A.A. Hodge once said:

“It is easier to find a score of men wise enough to discover the truth, than to find

one intrepid enough, in the face of opposition, to stand up for it.”

Herbert Spencer said:

“There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments

and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance - that principle is contempt prior to investigation”

You will find this Blog to be a lot of articles about what I am excited about, what is of interest to me, or what I have learned in the Word.
If some of the things I say needle you, don’t just dismiss them, and don’t take my word for it. Search The WORD of God for yourself to see if they’re true.  If The WORD doesn’t confirm them, discard them. If it does, let them make you free.
  But don't ignore them just because you may not 'like' them.  Check them out. 
   I did.
 

You can't go with God, and yet remain where you are!

Heaven is NOW

Photo

by

Rick Mortimer

Today as I was reading an article by OS Hillman, I was struck with the truth that all of God’s Word is passed on through the centuries to me so that I may live well in the time I am here on this earth.

 God framed the world by his Word and created certain principles for it to operate by. The law of Gravity for one; Aerodynamics, Electricity, Sewing and Reaping, and many others.  These laws are unchanging and when we follow them, we will be safe and able to function in this world.

   Does it not reason then, that God’s Word – as given to us in the Bible- is but further instruction on how to live well on this earth?  God loves us and wants to prosper us and see us in good health and forgive our trespasses and to enable us to walk with authority on this earth (the atonement of Christ).  He said to follow His Word and so choose Life!  (Deut 4:1, 30:19)  

  Inside of His instruction book (the Bible) we find other major principles for man to function by also;  The Law of Love; The law of Faith; The Laws of Compensation (“Give and it shall be given unto thee.’);  The Tithe.  And many many others.

  If one truly believes in God and also that this is a spiritual world in which we live, then one must come to the conclusion that our loving Father has also provided us with instructions on how to live well, and with all the blesssings He created for us to have.  Sound health, joy, peace of mind, prosperity, etc..  

 I believe.  Therefore, to me the Bible is a Living Document from God’s own lips that He has breathed life into – preserved down through the ages to be given to me, so that I may enjoy all that He has already given to me.   By following his Word, and being a doer of them - I will be able to receive it.

    Proverbs 1:7 7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

    Hosea 4:6 6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GOD Doesn't 'Call us Home.'

Photo by Rick Mortimer

God is not the author of death and sickness.

By

Rick Mortimer

I have been to two funerals this week.  One was for an 88 yr old fellow who went pretty fast.  The other was from a guy my age who went very slowly through alcoholism.  One bottle at a  time.

 I do not believe that in either case, 'God called them home."  We hear this wrong teaching all the time at funerals and it just makes me mad that the churches push this, and that we hear it so much that we believe it.  Even the Baptists 'push' this view of God.
   We live in a fallen world.  There have been two men who would never have to face death.  One was Adam -whom God made in His image. Adam would have lived forever, but brought his own death about through sin.  Through the same sin 'Death then entered the world.'   Now everything is full of death.  (disease, sickness, poverty, unrighteousness, mold, corruptness, etc...) 
 The second man was Jesus.  Jesus was born of the Father and never took on the sin full nature of the human race after Adam.  Jesus gave up his own life.  He stated that.  God did not kill him.  Jesus gave up his own life so that he could defeat satan through his death.  He could not die!  He GAVE his life up for me.  Much like another soldier throwing himself on a land mine and blowing himself up in order to save his friend from walking on it.  Jesus did this out of Love for me.

  This concept that God kills people is wrong.  God loves us.  God loves us more than we can even understand.  EVERY SINGLE unsaved/unreborn/sinner in the New Testament that asked Jesus to heal him - and whom Jesus healed - stayed healed.  Jesus killed no one, nor did he refuse to heal anyone.  NOT ONE. Jesus brought LIFE to us.  God loves us, why on earth would He 'call us home?  And yet the churches keep pushing this at us.  I know God and Jesus are there to greet us when we do go to Heaven, and I for one am looking forward to THAT hug!  But no, God is not going to kill me for it so I can have it.
  I believe we live in a fallen world.  Crap happens.  If you are standing under a bridge and the supports are weak and give out - because of the law of gravity you are going to be crushed and killed.  If you are in a spot where a bullet has to pass by because of the laws of trajectory - you will get hit and probably killed.  If you are in a plane and the motors quit...probably the laws of aerodynamics will kill you. If you breath in chemicals or germs, there's laws covering that. Plus, our bodies start wearing out from the moment we are born because of Adam's sin.   Etc.. 

   Satan is the author of death, not God.  God’s choice for us is LIFE.  (He even told us twice to choose life in Deuteronomy).  Because God is LIFE not death.
  We know that Satan can put thoughts into your head, but he has been defeated and has no power over us.  So he comes to us with lies and deception. That is the only weapon he has left!   If we believe those lies, then he can maneuver us into a position where we will die.  Through our own ego, selfishness, character defects, lusts or whatever, if we believe the thoughts he can put in our heads and if we choose to follow them, it can/will lead to death.  He is the father of lies, and if we believe his lies, we will act on them, and we will die.  Slowly or otherwise, but we WILL die. God tells us to learn His thoughts.  Satan tries to get us to believe his lies and thoughts.  Scripture tells us "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."  God is life, satan is death.  Which thoughts do we want to 'thinketh' here? 

 And we will die physically, not just spiritually by following satanic lies. 

But conversely, just because we die does not mean we were following satan's lie, either.  We live in a world governed by physical laws.  Break one and you can well die.  The law of electricity for example.  You don't have to be an evil person to die from high voltage.  You can be a saint, but if you touch a high-voltage wire you are going to die.  That is not God killing you.  God will surely welcome you when you get home, but He  sure did not kill you to get you there!
  Of course, according to Psalm 91, we do have protection.  If we listen, the Holy Spirit will guide us to somewhere where that high voltage wire can't harm us.  Or move us from the path of the bullet...or the tornado, or the flood.  But we must be in a position to hear the Holy Spirit.  If you are not 'fearing the Lord' you are probably not going to respond to His quiet urging either.

But God does not kill us.  I think that is one of the greatest heresies in the church today!  
  And here's the reason for this lie being repeated over and over.... How can you trust a God -or have faith in Him - if you think he's going to kill you at any moment?  Or maybe He'll strike your baby with cancer to teach you a lesson?
    What a great way for the father of lies to destroy -or at the least, horribly weaken, your faith in the Father of TRUTH AND LIFE.

  Another reason why it’s preached, I think, is because it makes it easier to tell grieving people that their teenaged son died because God wanted him back in heaven and so ‘called him home,’ than it is to say the truth that the son died because he got drunk and drove his car into a tree – or whatever. It's easier to tell people that God called Grandpa home than it is to tell them that satan's alcohol or nicotine killed him.   In other words, it is easier for us to blame God for our sin-caused deaths than it is to tell the truth about them.  If we told the truth about them, we might have to hurt someone's feelings... and we're much to selfish to do that, because that would be too hard for us.  God is big, He can handle taking the blame, right?  Wrong.  The proof of this is that we now have millions of people believing that when you die, it's because God killed you and 'Called you Home.'

  WHAT AN APPALLING LIE THAT IS!

 I stand on that.
Rick

Planning your Work Future

Photo by   Rick Mortimer

Living the Dream - or the Job

   I remember –however vaguely- people asking me when I was maybe three or four years old, what I wanted to ‘be when I grew up.”   “Maybe a fireman?” they would ask.  “Perhaps a policeman?  Or a bus-driver like that guy driving that big bus?”   I’m sure it was all in the manner of being polite but was it?

    It started to plant in my young mind, the idea that I could only ‘be’ one thing.   I could only choose one ‘thing’ that I was to become, and that is what I would identify with for the rest of my life.

 Rick the fireman.

  Rick the policeman.

  Rick the bus driver.

  Rick the employee.

  

  Skip about a decade and now I’m in Jr. High School struggling to retain some interest in the banal courses they where teaching me and find my way through the minefield of disciplinary action for seemingly every move I made.  I remember in grade nine the guidance councillor calling me into his office and lecturing me severely about the fact that if I did not improve my grades I would never be accepted into University.  University?  I was how old?  Fourteen?  University?  I couldn’t plan beyond the next weekend coming up.  How was I supposed to think about ‘Higher Education’ and University?

    It wasn’t long after this episode with the guidance guy, that I was told I would need to plan which courses I would take next year in grade ten.  This, I was told, was so that I could direct my studies towards going either to a trade school or to a University.  Certain courses you took, laid the groundwork for the path you took, apparently.

   Again, I was lost.  I had no idea which path to take.  The reason for that being that at fifteen I still had no idea which occupation I would choose to work at the rest of my life.  In other words, I did not know which J-O-B I wanted to work at for the next forty years or so.

  Well, this caused some consternation amongst the teachers, and especially the guidance guy.  They acted as if I was slow-witted or something.  Who knows, maybe I was?  After all, everyone else seemed to know exactly which job they wanted to live their lives doing.  Some wanted to be heavy-duty mechanics, some wanted to be Doctors, some dentists, accountants, millwrights, etc…   No one seemed to want their own business though.  Of course, they all did want to be rich!   I wonder now, years later, how many of them are?

  The next move – since the educators had to move me along the assembly line of preparing me for the world – again came from the guidance guy.  “You’re pretty good at math,” he told me.  “You could be an accountant or an engineer maybe.”   I had no idea what these people did of course, they where just ‘vocations’ thrown out there at me.  ‘No,” I said, “I’m not interested.”   Another year went by and oh! Horrid young man that I was, I still did not know what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

    Somewhere along the line in grade ten, I heard about a job called ‘Game Biologist.”   This captured my young mind as I knew by then all I wanted was to be outdoors and not in a city.  So I started checking in to how you become a Game Biologist.  This seemed to be made for me!

    The next thing I discovered was that you needed about seven years of a University education to become one.  That ended that.  Back to the drawing board of indecision.  I no longer wanted anything to do with being a Game biologist and having my college certificate hanging on my wall to impress the world.

     Interestingly enough, as the guidance guy – and others – were showing me how to ‘research’ theses occupations, no one EVER sat my young butt down and asked me what kind of a lifestyle I wanted to live as an adult.  What kind of a house did I want to live in?  What kind of vehicles to drive?  Did I want to travel a lot or have a home in the country and raise animals maybe?  Did I want a big family or small?  Since money dictates how we live, how much money did I want to make each year? 

   No one pointed those things out to me.  They just kept asking which J-O-B I wanted to spend my life at.

     I dropped out of school in grade ten.  I just simply lost interest in the material they were teaching and the direction they were trying to push me into.  It all seemed totally irrelevant to me.  Besides, I’d discovered the pool hall and being able to work a job for the whopping sum of $1.25 per hour.  This was an incredible ten dollars a day and I could see myself buying that ranch I started to dream about.  I just knew one day I would have that big cattle ranch in the Cariboo of B.C. and raises horses and purebred Hereford cattle.  I just knew it!

  Well, I never got the ranch.  I did own a horse once.  But I never got the ranch.  I did what everyone else does.   I kept working one job after another.  Some paid more, some were more fun than others, but they where all jobs and they all had a ceiling on the earnings I could produce and the time I had leftover after work to have a life.

   I should say, I sort of did that.  In my case I heard of a great occupation in the Yukon as a Big Game Guide.  I went to the Yukon, found out who were the best guides, worked with them and learned from them,  and so was occupied successfully in that field for many years.  The problem was that it was seasonal employment, so along the way to fill in and to keep food on the table for the family I now had, I worked whatever jobs came my way.  Like everyone else, I took what was available to me and let it dictate my lifestyle and how I lived.   I did start my own business in the form of a trap-line though, and I ended up pretty much living a great lifestyle.   But!   Money dictates your choices in this life, and since my income was still based on my efforts to produce it, I was still very limited as to choices.  But the lifestyle was interesting and as a game-guide, I was around a lot of rich men who I learned a great deal from. The main one being that you had to have your own business if you ever wanted to gain control over your time and your income.  Ironically, during this time, even though I never even had my GED yet, the game biologists (remember the seven yeas of University?) were now asking me for information and about wildlife habits. 

  But back to the topic at hand here, I realize now that the way in which we educate people kills their personal dreams.  Instead of ‘planting’ the idea in young people’s minds that they should choose a ‘career’ (fancy word for job) early, we should be asking them a totally different set of questions.

  We should be asking them what sort of lifestyle they will choose.  What are their dreams, goals, and ambitions for their life?  How do they see themselves living their lives?

   In other words, we should be asking them what kind of a life they want.  - not what kind of  J-O-B they want.  And in order to encourage that, we should be telling them that when they finally do pick an area of income production for themselves that they desire to pursue, then to find someone else who is creating their income that way and go interview him (or her.)  Find out what kind of a house he lives in, the car he drives, hours per week he has to sell to his occupation and how many hours a week he gets to spend as he wishes to.  In other words, is this man living the lifestyle the student would choose for himself?   If the answer is that this occupation, job, or career is not going to produce the style of living which the student is after, then he should reconsider pursuing it.  Does that not just make sense?  

     When I finally applied this method myself, I realized that the only choice I had which would produce the income I wanted which would allow me to have the choices I wanted in regards to my own lifestyle –and retirement-, I realized that I had to have my own business in order to achieve the things I dreamed of.  But what business?  Soon I discovered those who did have the lifestyle I wanted and started to associate with them and learn how I too, could get free of the wage-slave mentality of an employee.

  So yes, we are educating our children to fail.  In the school system today they are being taught that going to college or university is going to give them their “Dream job”  (I’ve yet to know what that is!) and so own a home and live happily ever after.

  Nothing could be farther from the truth in today’s world. 

    Education today has nothing to do with your income.

 We’ll study this more on a later post.

Where the Impossible happens!

Photo 

by

Rick Mortimer

I really had to think about this for a bit before I got it. I finally got it.

"However, when we shift our awareness or "frequency" from self-consciousness -- where fear, impossibility or feelings of separation reside -- to cosmic consciousness, which is in total harmony with the universe and where none of those feelings exist, then anything is possible."
- Rhonda Byrne

Nothing is out of balance in God's World. Not one iota or to one-millionth of a degree is anything out of sync. When we are in harmony with God's Word... then we are in harmony with the laws of the universe also. Those are God's laws... God's Word.

Hebrews Chapter 10 Verse 2 says this:
"2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins."

This then, is the area where impossible things begin to happen. "Worshippers, once purged..." It is talking about making your old ways gone and repented of [stopped from repeating], forgiven [your conscience cleansed of past errors and mistakes],
and new ways that are in harmony with God's Word adopted and integrated into your paradym [mind set] (Rom 12:2)*

The result? New habits that allow you to make new choices, which now put you in perfect harmony with God's Universal Laws. And God is perfect success.
Awesome!


* 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Who did Jesus die for anyway?

Photo and Article

by

Rick Mortimer

   I had always thought as a Christian, that Jesus died for His Own, i.e. ‘Christians,’ and that the whole order of this was pre-destined.  In other words, God chose me to be reborn.  I never stopped to realise that I was not a Christian at the time I was saved by Jesus’ death and great sacrifice.  I was ‘of the world’ at the time I was saved.   How presumptuous of me to think that I was somehow ‘better’ than those of ‘the world’ and that God chose me to be saved.

   The truth is a lot different as we shall see below.  God did not ‘choose’ me to save me [predestination],  but instead offered me a choice which I accepted and therefore chose to became reborn and a child of God – by my own choice.  I accepted His extended Grace to me, by using my Faith, and that enabled  [allowed] God to adopt me as His son.  (Gal 4:5)

   Until such time as I chose to become –and so became- reborn [a new creature] through the blood of Jesus, He could not adopt me.   

   It seems to be tradition in modern teaching to preach that God has total power to do whatever He decides to do.  I agree that God has this power –after all, He is the Creator of all things- but it is also proven that He does not use this power except supernaturally in certain specific times and places.  He always defers to our choice, and therefore is limited by what people allow Him to do.  That is a hard concept to understand at first, because I was so full of the traditional (and wrong) teaching of the modern church, that God has total control over the world and everything is predestined and therefore predicted to unfold as He has commanded it to.  This is totally unscriptural teaching and yet it has been so pounded into me, that I find it hard to renew my mind to the truth.

Romans chapter 5
6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
8 But God commended his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. *

* Have now received = past tense.   It is a done deal.
All scripture taken from the KJV Bible.  All underlines and Italics are mine.

John  chapter 3:
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life

John Chapter 3
36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

So then, while we where yet ungodly sinners,  Jesus died for us because ‘God so loved the World.’   The world is not saved; the world is full of unsaved sinners who as such are enemies of God.  In spite of this, God gave his only son, Jesus, so that we in the world would have a choice whether or not to be saved from our own ungodliness and thereby gain eternal life with our creator, by accepting this gift of God – His Son, Jesus Christ- and asking Him to be Lord of our life.

   Having been ‘reborn’ in the spirit by God’s grace to us, we now are able to receive the full atonement for our sins.  This includes forgiveness for our unrighteousness [our sins], and also the Blessing that was promised to our Father in Faith – Abraham. 

 Upon being reborn we become totally new creations on this earth, the like of which has never existed before:

2 Cor 5:17

17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

 Once having become a ‘New Creation’ our spirit is delivered from the power of darkness [the world] and is translated [totally changed] into the kingdom of his dear Son.  (Col 1:13)

If, however, according to John 3:36, we refuse to accept the gift of Jesus, then we remain children of God’s wrath.  We have no concert with God.  We are adrift in a fallen and sinful world with no thought or help from our Creator.  He gave us free will to choose our own eternity and will not force us to accept His greatest gift.  So we see that we can either choose Life in Him – or Death without Him.  God will always honour our choice.

 Therefore, according to the scriptures above, this whole concept of being ‘predestined’ to be a Christian –God’s child- is wrong.  God does not force anyone to do anything against the free will He has given to us. 

When Adam allowed Satan to become the Lord of his life by obeying him in the Garden of Eden,  Adam became Satan’s servant.

Romans 6:

16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

 Since God had given total control of the earth over to Adam, this dominion came under satan’s control –as did Adam- when Adam transgressed and served satan.  Satan  is often referred to as the ‘prince of this world’ and the ‘power of the air’.

  God always honours His Word.  He had told Adam that he was to ‘have dominion’ over the earth and all that was in it, and therefore He could not take that back away from Adam, once it was given up. (Gen 1:26)

This again, is another example of God being restricted in His actions, by what men do here on earth.  It is us who allows God’s designs and plans to come to pass here on earth. This is why He created His Bride – the Church – so that the Body of His Church could start speaking the things of God to come to pass on this earth!

  Are we doing that?  NO!  Instead we have bought into the satanic lie that God is in total control of it all and we should just lay back and not resist anything at all as it’s preordained to happen.  This is exactly what we have done, and the enemy of our souls runs riot over us!

No wonder we are in such a mess in this world.

    We have made it so.

  Mark 7:7,8,9,13

7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

 8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.

 9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

Meet the Author/Painter/Sculpter

  

Photo by

Rick Mortimer

 When you look at a painting... do you not recognize that it was created by someone? It had an author?
 When you see a building, do you not realize it had an architect? Someone imagined and created it?

 Are you so removed from the world, that you can not look around you and see that it too, had an author?

 To think otherwise is to believe that nothing created something - which is a scientific impossiblilty.

  Have you ever studied the human body and mind in it's infinite perfection? Each cell is perfect and wonderfully made! To think this just somehow 'happened' to come about without intelligent design, is to choose the inane.
  Inside of you is the knowledge that you are a created being. You can believe it, or you can deny it. Your choice from a loving God.
   But you choose!
 You've got all the proof you need right around you.  So just do like it says in the picture:
   "Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God."

Like the Snow Geese, I am B-A-C-K

   

 All Photos 

by Rick Mortimer

 
   
    It is incredible to me that six months has passed by since I have written anything in my Blog.  Amazing how time does slip away if we don't prioritize what is important to us.  For one thing is sure: "Where you put your time and your money, is really where your heart is."
  Put another way, 'How you react to everyday circumstance, is who you really are inside."  WoW.  That's a big statement.  Our character will show itself in every decision and every choice we make - especially will it show itself in times of stress or tribulation.  How do you handle these things?  I know I sure get surprised by my own responses sometimes!

   I am currently living in Lafleche, Saskatchewan.  Lafleche is a small town in S.W. Saskatchewan that is pretty much a farming community comprised of mostly middle-aged to elderly people.  It seems that in most cases, the younger people have left the farms and moved to the cities.  Perhaps it is true that there are more 'opportunities' in the cities and that is what this generation needs to do to 'get ahead,' but at the same time, this movement is sure hurting the small rural communities of the prairies because of the loss of them.
  Farming has changed radically in the last few decades though, and the mind set of grain farmers today is that if they don't get bigger (meaning HUGE) they will not survive.  So now, instead of the 'family farm' we have these huge businesses that control untold sections of land, and it is all run by one or two people using huge modern machinery.  I'm not against that -or for it - I'm just saying that things have changed radically in this area over the past few decades, and it has meant big changes in the way people live.
    Recognizing where things are going and how that effects us, is important.  I love the line from Louis Caroll's "Alice in Wonderland' where he says: "If you don't know where you are going, then any road will take you there!"  So simple.  So true!
   So, where are these young people going?  Most of them are rushing off to the cities to take on jobs that they see as a road to the future.  But is it?
    When the industrial revolution started in the later part of the 18th century, people left the farms and headed for work in the factories in the cities.  Industry was changing and with what was then modern methods of manufacturing opening up new factories all over, jobs where available and opportunity was everywhere!  People left the 'old ways' and embraced the new.  And this is all good! We should embrace new technology and ways of doing things.  BUT... we still need to understand how -and why- things are changing, and use this knowledge to advance ourselves by getting on the right road to achieve our own personal goals.
  In other words, we need to educate ourselves in order to take control over our lives and get the results that we personally see as success.
   Success can be defined as "A progressive realization of a worthwhile dream or goal."   By using this definition, it is easier for me to see if I am, in fact, succeeding according to my own personal chosen path in life – and then readjust t my own course accordingly.
  The point I am striving at here in this seemingly rambling chat, is this;  The industrial revolution has passed.  It was over a long long time ago.  It ended 'back there' in the 19th Century.  And yet, we are still basing our way of producing income on those conditions and circumstances created during that revolution.  We still teach our young people to go out into the world and base their whole way of wealth creation, on a totally outdated method.  And then we wonder why those same young people seem so disillusioned and seem so unable to manage their finances to the extent that they are in debt up to their ears.

   The answer is pretty clear.  We are responding to creating wealth the same way we did over 200 years ago!  We keep trading hours for dollars, and yet, in this era of the Internet and with new technologies being discovered and utilized seemingly ever day,  our ways of production and distribution of goods and services have radically changed from what they used to be.  The old ways are not working so well anymore.

   I’d like to explore this more in future Blogs, so I promise to be back here a lot more regularly than once every six months! 

 Stick with me!

 Oh!  Before I go!  It is spring here on the prairies and the geese are heading north again!  The snow goose migration is on in full swing, and it is simply awesome to behold!  Hundreds of thousands –if not millions- of these beautiful noisy big white birds are all around me here, reminding me how plentiful our God really is!  He just does not do things by half-measures!

 AWESOME!