The Heretic

        I was watching a video of California’s legislatures debating over a bill that’ll ban religious books including the bible from the state. This goes directly against the bill of rights in America giving us freedom of religion in this country, but the democrats in California have a communist agenda in mind—which is to turn America into a communist country without God and the bible. But, we were born heretics in this country, and I mean that in a nicest way because the Pilgrims were considered dissenters and heretics in British Anglican society. The pilgrims wanted freedom of religion in a country of their own. At first, they moved to Holland to find it there, but couldn’t find it because they feared that the place would corrupt their children, so they decided to go to the New World as Virginia Company’s indentured servants. They were servants for 7 years on the land, but they were free to believe in their beliefs based on the bible.

        The democrats are trying to rewrite history, but any good historian can see the truth for what it is. This nation was a Christian nation based on the bible, and now they want to ban that book in California. California had a brief history of evangels ruling that state in the 1960s giving rise to Ronald Reagan who became Governor at that time. The Christians of the time were against communism and were for national defense having been a part of the Military Industrial complex that ruled America during the Cold War with the Soviet Union. These Evangels wanted to live secure lives without communism and be able to worship God in peace and safety like their Pilgrim forefathers before them. Ronald Reagan didn’t become president until the 1980s, but the power of the evangel vote was there in California and all across the U.S. So, what went wrong in that state that they’ll go from believing the bible to banning it entirely?

        When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, there was no need for the military industrial complex anymore, so under Clinton’s presidency the nation turned to a consumeristic society based on investing and profits. Nixon started the tread in the 1970s when he put us off the gold standard, but that’s a different story altogether. California gave in to the gay and lesbian movement in San Francisco as well as the liberal Hollywood communist agenda, and the Christians moved out of the way and it became a democrat-run state ever since. The gays and the lesbians don’t want the bible to be read in school or in public because it goes against their way of life, but their agenda goes against freedom of religion that the founders put into the heart of this country. The government there wants people to believe the same things they do and not go outside their orthodox theology of communism. Christians will be persecuted in that state if the law gets passed and they’ll leave the state.

        This idea of banning the bible was not new because it was done before in Europe and England. John Wycliffe translated the vulgate into English, and after he died the authorities at the university he taught banned translating the bible into English—this happened in the 14^th century. About 200 years later, a man named William Tyndale translated the bible into English during the reign of Henry the VIII and was burned at the steak for doing it. His response was a prayer to God to open the eyes of the king, and God did because Henry VIII started the Anglican Church and spread the bible throughout the lands of England—which were Tyndale’s translation of the scriptures. These heretics died for their belief in the bible, and America needs men and women of faith to step up and be heretics for God because the more communists come into powerful offices in government the more they’ll want to persecute Christians for their beliefs. Christians need to speak for their faith and restore the foundations of the nation to biblical Christianity of the Pilgrims; for that’s the only way to have religious freedom in America again.

Ravished my Heart

        It has been a while since I wrote an update about the oath that I made with God so many years ago. I find myself in the midst of a deep and profound contentment in life. I still search for love from God and others, and I hope I can give it back to God and others. There are lessons to be learned from my struggles with this oath that is still in affect even today. There was a lesson that should be told about this experience, and that is to be content; for the right person that’ll ravish my heart will come. But, if the woman doesn’t ravish my heart, then it is better to be friends with her. Love is strong, and it’s as strong as death as Solomon said in the Song of Songs. If you love someone that doesn’t love you back with a deep and profound feeling that you are their beloved, than friendship is the best answer.

        I came across this lesson from a bus trip home from work one day. I sat next to an African woman, who was a coworker, who was about my age who was beautiful to behold, and I talked with her about things. I observed her conduct on the bus ride. She’s a poor person from a foreign country, but she was content with the little things in life, and I found this out when she was eating and enjoying a cookie that she got from the vending machine at work. This contentment was something that I learned from her. I haven’t talked with her since, but God gave me the lesson from this experience with her. There is great gain with being content with what you have: to be filled with the little things in life that God gives under the sun. I can cling to an image of a beloved wife as Christ clings to the church, but I’ll be missing the little joys that Christ shares with me.

        Joys like a sunset or a poem about a sunset, and the laughter of children and their playfulness. The telling of a good joke that makes you laugh until it hurts. There is joy in patiently waiting for my beloved, and it is true what Solomon said in proverbs 13:12: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” It’s a paradoxical dilemma to feel joy and sickness in my heart, but that’s part of the process. I know that God wants the best for me and for her, so that we can both ravish each other’s hearts with the deep love of Christ in us. Until then, I will remain content with the love of my Savior and others around me.

        I have been single for a long time, and it’s a test of my faith that God will provide like He did for Abraham when He tested him. God told him to sacrifice his son at Moriah where Jesus was to die for our sins, and Abraham went out to the place where he was supposed to do the deed in faith. When he laid his son at the altar and was about to kill his son, God spoke to him to stop and not harm him because He knew that Abraham loved and feared God more than the natural love for the son. I have to have the power to love God over my future bride, and it’s very difficult because it’s not natural to love God more than what you love naturally, but that’s what Jesus said to do in Luke 14:26: “If anyone comes to me and does not loveless father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes, even their own life--such a person cannot be my disciple.”. The Greek in this passage means to loveless, so I changed it to its original meaning.

        To love God over everyone else is not natural because God is in Heaven and you can’t see Him on a daily basis, but you can see your family and friends daily. God doesn’t want us to not love our family and friends because the commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself: He wants us to love Him the most. It requires the power to love that is not natural and easy: it requires sacrificing self for God. This is something I struggle with daily. How do I love God the most even over self and my love for a wife? My power to love is not very strong at this time, but I know that Christ loves me and shows me daily that He does through His mercy and grace and remembrance of His sacrifice. It is easy to love the self, but it’s necessary to love God and others as yourself. This is something I am still working on as I wait for what God has promised. I need to have the power to love God like Abraham did, and show my faith through my works. God willing: He’ll intervene and make everything right.

Benefits of keeping God’s Commandments

        I have to be open and honest with you, O reader, about this blog; for the idea came about from my own weakness. One day, I was doing my work at my factory job, and was thinking about my brother who died from cancer at a young age. I was praying with a bit of anger and annoyance with God complaining about my problems and not having a full life as He promised while my brother died a young man with a family and a full life. I cried out to God about wanting to know the benefits of keeping His commandments that He tells us to do. Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 12:13: “Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.” But, I never knew the benefits of keeping them. Does God want us to keep them because He says so? If that’s true, could He just do away with them as some Christians said He did by nailing them to the cross? Or, do the commandments have a purpose: benefits for keeping them and consequences for not keeping them? I am just being real with you, O reader, and want you to understand what God put in my heart to say.

        I do believe that there are benefits to keeping the commandments of God, and there are many benefits to keeping them. I can’t list all of them in this blog, but I want to give just a few to spark your curiosity. Before I elaborate on them, I want to say that God didn’t do away with the law of God; for Jesus said in Matthew 5:17: “Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.” To some Christians the word “fulfill” meant that He fulfilled the law by nailing it to the cross and by keeping it Himself. Because He kept it, we didn’t have too—that’s some mainstream Christians believes. But is that what He actually said? In the Greek, the word ‘fulfill’ means to fill to the full or to give the full meaning, so Jesus was giving the full meaning of the law in His ministry—which is why he gave the spiritual intent of law like committing adultery in His sermon on the mount. He didn’t want the law to be done away with, but to be kept. He told the rich man that if he wanted to enter into life, keep the commandments (Matthew 19:17): having eternal life is a benefit of keeping God’s commandments.

        Now I know that some will say that eternal life is a gift from God and it’s by faith and not by works, and commandment keeping is works. That’s true, but James said to show your faith by your works (James 3:17). Keeping the commandments of God is showing your faith by your works, and if you sin, Jesus Christ will help you to overcome it and forgive you by His blood. Jesus is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25), and will give eternal life to His elect whom the Father has called out of this world who overcomes the world. These elect keep the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ as it says in revelation. We know that eternal life is one benefit of keeping the commandments of God, but what are the others.

        Here are a few that I have discovered in this study. One of them is that you’ll have long life; for the 4^th commandment says in Exodus 20:12: “Honor your father and mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.” Paul said about this commandment in Ephesians 6:1-3 that it’s a commandment with promise—which was instruction for children to obey their parents. Good parents live long lives on the earth, and the apostle John lived the longest of all the apostles because he took care of Jesus’s mother (John 19:25-27). It is possible to honor your parents who were not honorable such as dads who ran away from their children or were abusive to their children. You don’t have to be like them in order to honor them. If they tell you to sin and turn away from God, it’s better to obey God then your parents because satan is trying to use this commandment to turn you away from God. God is and should be the most important relationship in the life of a Christian. You can honor your parents who don’t believe by loving them unconditionally and praying for them—even if they hurt you. God will honor you for it.

        Another benefit is that you’ll be a content person. The commandment to not covet helps to understand this benefit. A person who covets something that’s not theirs like another man’s wife or animals or things isn’t usually content. Paul said in Hebrews 13:5 and 6 to be content and not covet and God will not leave you nor forsake you. He also said in Philippians 4:11-13 that he knows how to abase and to abound, and that he can do all things through Christ who strengthens him. Jesus said in Matthew 7:25-33 to not be anxious about your needs because God will provide if you seek His kingdom and His righteousness. God will provide for you, and being content with God’s goodness will satisfy every longing in your life.

        Another benefit to keeping the law is that you’ll have liberty. James calls the law the perfect law of liberty and anyone that does it is blessed
(James 1:25). In Psalm 119:45, it says: “And I will walk in liberty / For I seek Your precepts.” What did the psalmist mean by that? Well who ever breaks the law dies for the wages of sin is death as Paul says in Romans 6:23, so if you keep it you’ll walk in the land of the living. When Adam was Eve were planted in the Garden of Eden, God gave them liberty to eat of the fruits of the garden except the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil—this was God’s law. There was liberty within law. You can have liberty without law, but that leads to death; for Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, and they eventually died along with all of mankind after them. They had liberty without law, and it killed them, but if you obey the law you’ll have liberty within it and eat the good of the land.

        Another benefit of keeping the law is you’ll be happy and joyful. This only works if you don’t feel burdensome by keeping it as John said in 1 John 5:3. David said in psalm 19:9: “The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart”. Solomon also said in proverbs 29:18: “Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint; but he who keeps the law, happy is he.” What makes a person happy by keeping the law? When people keep the law, they don’t have to worry about the consequences of their actions because right actions give you joy and happiness.

        The next benefit to keeping the law is that you are above reproach from your enemies. The psalmist in Psalm 119: 22 said: “take away reproach and contempt from me; for I have kept your testimonies.” Testimonies are referring to the ten commandments written in stone by God—which He gave to Moses. Those who keep the law don’t have anything to worry about in regards to being reproached by people who don’t keep the commandments; for there’s no condemnation toward God’s children as Paul says in Romans 8:1. Any enemy that reproaches a law-abiding citizen would be cursed by God as God turned Balak’s curse into a blessing for the children of Israel, and Balaam ended up dying in a war with Israel over what happened with Median who seduced Israel to go to Baal of Peor. Also, God told Abram that He would curse those who curse him and bless those who bless him, and he was a commandment keeping man; for God said that he was when he blessed Isaac after his death.

        Another benefit to keeping the law is that you’ll be wiser than your enemies. In Psalm 119: 98-100, it says: “Thy commandments make me wiser than my enemies; for they are ever with me / I have more understanding than all my teachers; for thy testimonies are my meditation / I understand more than my elders, because I have kept thy precepts.” How could keeping the law make you wiser than your enemies? Simple because the law is your wisdom for life as Moses said to Israel in Deuteronomy 4:6, and it teaches you the fear of the LORD and understanding as it is written in Psalm 111:10. Also, the commandments of God make wise the simple as it was explained in Psalm 19:7. A person who doesn’t keep the law doesn’t have an understanding of what’s right and wrong and are not aware of what’s right and just as it is written in Daniel 12:10.

        Another benefit and the last one that I’ll mention in this blog is that a law-abiding person is blessed. In Deuteronomy 28, there are a list of blessings that will happen when you keep the commandments of God: you’ll have lots of children, animals, and good weather for your crops. You’ll have abundance of food as well as victories in battle. There are a lot of things that Moses lists as blessings for obedience to the commandments. Two of those blessings are a faithful wife and children. Solomon said in proverbs 18:22: “Whoever finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor of the LORD.” Solomon also said in psalm 127:3: “children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring are a reward from Him.” These are two blessings from God for keeping the law of God which is part of His covenant. A good and just man that keeps the law are blessed by God beyond measure and are a special treasure in His sight as Moses said in Deuteronomy 7:6.

        These are eight benefits to keeping the law of God, and I’m sure there are many more to think about, and I hope you’ll research them all, O reader, in the scriptures. I hope you are all encouraged by this study, and that you’ll get the most out of these words of truth. These benefits of keeping the law will help you continue to be a sinless man or woman in Christ, and live a long and happy life in the LORD who will give eternity to a good and just man or woman.