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What discussion of the Lamb’s Book of Life would be replete without some discussion of the books of the dead? Written in these books that are opened are all the deeds that bear witness to the wickedness by which the dead are judged.

Revelation 20:12 And I saw the dead, great and small, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened; which is the book of life; and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

John saw great and small standing before the Great White Throne. Great and…  ( Click for more )

Someone once asked me:

From what I understood, the Psalm's Book referred to God's plan for everyone's life. The OT Book of Life referred to those in the OT who went to Abraham's Bosom (such as Lazarus of Luke 16:19-31). The NT Lamb's Book of Life is the record of the redeemed by the blood of Christ who believe in Him and are thus written into that book as they believe, and when Christ rose again, every name that was in the OT Book of Life who were in Abraham's Bosom had their names converted over into the Lamb's Book of Life on the 3day. Any possibility for that?

Why…  ( Click for more )

Romans 1:18 For God's wrath is revealed from Heaven on all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, holding the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because the thing known of God is clearly known within them, for God revealed it to them.

First, God makes sure that everyone has a yearning for Him. We are created in His image and we have an embedded knowledge of Him.

Second, God doubly makes sure that everyone knows of Him by creation and "...being understood by the things made, both His eternal power and Godhead, for them to be without excuse."

Third, verses 24…  ( Click for more )

God created life. Therefore life has sanctity because God called it Good. And we know that life can only be created by God. We humans think we're the creators when we plant a garden or conceive a baby, but we are only using what God set in place eons ago when He created life.

The first two people written in the Book of Life were Adam and Eve. We know from inference that the Book of Life has all the names of everyone conceived with life written in it. Here's why.

Psalm 69:28 Blot them out from the Book of Life; yea, let them not be written with the righteous.

Psalm…  ( Click for more )

I did a google to see if I could find some funny resolutions to post here. I was shocked at the irreverent and nastiness of some people trying to be funny. Some people have no filter on their minds so some things posted for public consumption leave a really bad taste in my mouth.

Most of what I observed was about justifying maintaining the status quo. Do we Christians really need to resolve to change? Aren't we changed enough already? Paul tells us that we've been metamorphosed from the caterpillar to the butterfly metaphorically speaking. The Holy Spirit indwells so we've got…  ( Click for more )

Have you ever looked up and before you is such magnificence that it takes your breath away? A sunrise or a sunset? Joy and happiness of a loved one? Your newborn baby? The Green Flash? Brilliance and majesty blended so beautifully that no words could possibly describe it. You just have to see it to experience it, and the sight of it pierces your soul.

Those moments can bring joy or fear depending upon where you are with God. Joy because you know that all that power of God is tempered by grace toward you. Fear, perhaps, because there is sudden, momentary conviction of unworthiness…  ( Click for more )

Little, sweet baby feet. Mary covered them with her hand, warming them against the night chill. She treasured in her heart all the words spoken about her first born Son.

Things like, "He will be great and called the Son of the Most High." And what the shepherds told, "The angel was so glorious, shouting out praises to God on High and the Good News! The Messiah is born! Our long awaited Savior, the Lord, is born!" The star shining down on the child guided the shepherds to worship. And then they spread the word through the bright streets of Bethlehem. …  ( Click for more )

Don't wrestle with pigs... or pitbulls

Sage advice. Who would want to wrestle with pigs? Possibly this axiom is little different from the old proverb, “Cast not your pearls before swine.” Isn't that just what we do when we fire back at someone who has hurt our feelings? Well, maybe not the casting pearls part, and perhaps hurt people who hurt people aren't really pigs. So perhaps that doesn't apply. Then again, falling into the strife-trap of the instigator certainly does apply.

It isn't worth the fight, is it, for believers to jab and stab at every opportunity.…  ( Click for more )

God never promised an earthly rose garden for His children.

I have heard until I am sick to death this rubbish that people are not healed from their sicknesses because they just don’t have enough faith. To say that a person just doesn't have enough faith is an out right lie straight from the Father of Lies, Satan himself.

You want to know why? Because God takes care of His children and their needs regardless of what, when or how they ask. Matthew 6

You don't have to believe when you pray for something. Go read Acts 12. Peter was amazed he was standing outside…  ( Click for more )

Can you imagine an event so filled with delight and pleasure that the trees and fields lift up voices in praise and joy?

Psalm 96:9 Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth.

Psalm 96:10 Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns; The world also is firmly established, It shall not be moved; He shall judge the peoples righteously."

Psalm 96:11 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; Let the sea roar, and all its fullness;

Psalm 96:12 Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it. Then shall all the…  ( Click for more )

Several years ago I wrote a column called Poverty of Values. It's a term coined by Dan Quayle. Remember him? Vice President? It was in a great speech, which I can't find now. However, as we watch the private lives of many celebrities being pinpointed with the light of truth exposing some scandalous behavior, that term keeps echoing in my head. I heard a senator say that society values have changed since Bill Clinton, and what was “boy being a boy” in the oval office wasn't so bad way back then, but horrifying today. Really? Rape is still punishable by death in the Bible.…  ( Click for more )

(Forgive me, but I have that stuffy nose, bubblegum-filled head, ache-in-th-bones, coughing, sneezing, headachy feeling today, so I'm copying one of Alan Smith's posts with permission.) 10. God worried that Adam would always be lost in the garden because men hate to ask for directions. 9. God knew that Adam would one day need someone to hand him the TV remote. (Men don't want to see what's ON television, they want to see WHAT ELSE is on!) 8. God knew that Adam would never buy a new fig leaf when his seat wore out and would therefore need Eve to get one for him. 7. God…  ( Click for more )

Thought bombs are a nefarious tool used constantly by Satan. Thought bombs lead to sin because they sit there in our mind just waiting for us to light the fuse. We either embrace the thought, light the fuse, and let it permeate our being leading us down temptations path, or we sweep it out the door giving it to God to dispose of. Christians are human and are prone to do the former, so it takes practice to do the latter.

Thought bombs cause anxious thinking, and anxious thinking permeates our world today because we are flying around trying to get a thousand things done in 30.5…  ( Click for more )

Walter Lang said, "Being created by God, man is the crown of creation." I never thought about that before even when I did a deep study of the crowns of the believers. It is just, then, that God has reserved crowns for His believers, and has given one or two to His believers already.

Crowns depict the epitome of human adulation. Through eons, kings, queens, and priests have worn crowns of gold and precious jewels as an indication of their exalted station in life—this temporary, physical life. Then the crown of the person who is long dead and buried is exhibited…  ( Click for more )

(John 20:22 NKJV) And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

These verses read like we have the power to withhold forgiveness for sins here on earth. It's why these two verses are in the group of Scriptures that are difficult to understand.

Here is something to ponder.

Christians' mission is to make disciples, teach them Jesus' commands, and do this throughout the world as we live our daily lives. We are…  ( Click for more )

I have been receiving TFTD since 1997. Here is one of my favorite ones from Alan Smith...

WALKING IN THE LIGHT A young Marine and his commanding officer board a train headed through the mountains of Switzerland. They can find no place to sit except for two seats right across the aisle from a young woman and her grandmother.

After a while, it is obvious that the young woman and the young soldier are interested in each because they are giving each other "looks." Soon the train passes into a tunnel and it is pitch black. There is a sound of the…  ( Click for more )

Have you ever wondered, "How could she do that when she says she's a Christian?" or how about, "Where does he get off talking like that going to church and all?" Often times we may be taken aback at what our Christian brothers and sisters in Christ say and do. I was astounded at how much better I understood my Christian siblings after I wrote this bible study from Charles Stanley's sermons and from a book by Don and Katy Fortune.

It wasn't that [names are changed here] Selina was mean, she had a strong gift of Perceiver. To her everything was black or white,…  ( Click for more )

The sweet sound of rain splashing outside filled me with joy this morning. It was so soothing I went back to sleep listening to it. So, I slept late. Sometimes that is a very good thing, and this morning was no exception.

When I awoke again, the rain was still coming down, and it was still dark outside. I love how it sounds dripping through the oak trees, splashing in the puddles. Refreshing, cleansing, and reviving. I was acutely reminded of when I lived in the high desert of Arizona.

Months of dry, clear skies, and months of heat never washed clean of dust by refreshing…  ( Click for more )

Romans 1:1 Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ, a called apostle, separated to the gospel of God.

Paul, Peter, James, and Jude all called themselves slaves/bondservants of Jesus Christ. Paul called Epaphras Jesus’ bondservant.

A slave of Jesus. I have often thought that being a slave was a bad thing. In fact, today’s society wants to completely wipe out the history of our nation in the belief that slavery was so heinous we can’t have statues or memorials or sites or memories of the Civil War, which wasn't only about slavery in America, but also states' rights. …  ( Click for more )

There are times when a little fear is good... like when walking across a swinging bridge that has no guardrails and the drop down is about 100 feet or so to cold rushing water. Did that one time and my heart still pounds at the thought of it.

Those times don't come around very often. God says we are not to worry. Jesus said, "Do not worry." Angels have told men, "Do not fear." I’ve been told that it’s in the Bible 365 times, one for each day of the year.

Worry is a sin.

So how do we deal with worry? I love what Dale Carnegie said, "Figure…  ( Click for more )

The Hebrew propensity for character analysis through a person's name is indicated by God when He changed Abram's name to Abraham, and Sarai to Sarah and Jacob to Israel.

Back in 200 AD when the Mishnah was being created, biblical scholars began to use the term The Name HaShem, (ha=the and Shem=Name). It was reverential. The four letter YHWH or as written today YHVH was pronounced with the vowel sounds but written with no vowels. Hebrew linguists believe YHVH is a form of the verb havah, meaning "to be or become." Therefore, the name God gave to Moses is correctly translated…  ( Click for more )

I know you've seen this before. I have seen it several times and saved it, but after a computer crash several years ago, I lost it and thought it gone forever. Then I was at BJ Hoff's Grace Notes, which is now no more, and not only did I find it again, but now I know who wrote it! BJ Hoff wrote it during a time of great trial. Thank you, BJ, for bringing back a friend I thought I'd lost. Only One I've often heard your question. This message is My answer. You're concerned about the hungry in the world, the millions who are starving and in need ... and you ask Me, 'What…  ( Click for more )

The science world would have us believe that because some elements in quantum act randomly that these elements have free will. In the 1980s research scientists developed empirical evidence that our brains prepared for action before our conscience mind decided to that action, therefore humans didn’t have free will because our conscience mind was “ruled” by our brain’s preparatory activities toward a specific action. (Just Google free will and free choice and you’ll find numerous references to these studies.) Then in January 2016, a new study was published…  ( Click for more )

Take a trip with your mother... just you and her. I highly recommend it. There is nothing like it and you have memories to cherish. My mom and I took a trip to Eureka Springs, Arkansas. She is so precious and it was quite a trip, what with her breaking her ankle within the first hour of arriving at our little bungalow on the west side of Eureka Springs. The trip would have been better I were not in the thoes of menopause. That curious happening to older women is the real curse. Having babies is child's play to this insidious monster who has kidnapped my personality and makes me…  ( Click for more )