A New Creature. . . an Apostolic Pentecostal blog

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. (14) For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. Continuing this morning with my 'fear of God' study. The above verses conclude the book of Ecclesiastes, a reflective book beginning with a statement of discouragement, despair, and futility: Ecclesiastes 1:1-10 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. (2) Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. (3) What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? (4) One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. (5) The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. (6) The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about conti...

One of my favorite authors of all time is/was Isaac Asimov. When I was growing up my father and I enjoyed reading his books. He was a prolific writer. The best list that I’ve seen of his works, counts some 469 books under his name. Some of these are anthologies of previous works, etc., so not unique and new books, but in any respect, he undoubtedly wrote more than 400 books. Here is a link to an online catalogue of his works: http://www.asimovonline.com/oldsite/asimov_catalogue.html He wrote on so many varied topics. His science fiction works are delicious, all of his writings are written to be very easy to understand. One of my favorite pastimes, as a youth, was reading Dr. Asimov’s collected science essays. He would take pen, paper, and reference books, and using easy to understand logic, calculate all sorts of things. One my favorite memories was reading for the first time an essay of his showing that every breath you take, if the atmosphere perfectly mixed, contains ...

Psalms 128:1-6 A Song of degrees. Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways. (2) For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. (3) Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table. (4) Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD. (5) The LORD shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. (6) Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel. A few moments ago, I read this Psalm in my study of 'the fear of the Lord'. The blessings of living for God are literally endless. . . they will last for eternity, but they begin immediately. You don't have to wait for your reward in Heaven to begin reaping good things in your life, from your relationship with God. Before I knew God, I prided myself in my freedom from Him. My knee wasn't b...

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And this clump of clay, formed by the hand of God. . . filled with the breath of God, was given life. . . No death or decay was found within him. As made by God, Adam was perfection. God gave Adam a gift beyond knowing. Adam’s world was perfection, and without contrast neither darkness nor light. . . neither pleasure nor pain are understood or appreciated. Beauty cannot be valued without ever viewing ugliness. No disease, no cancer, no want, no evil of any kind was present either in the garden, or in Adam’s memory or history. . . and God gave Adam a free will. . .The ability to choose his own path. In his ignorance, and innocence Adam chose to explore the unknown. Not realizing that he and Eve were at the pinnacle of existence. Every path from where they stood led down. . . Every road from Eden led away from God, led downhill ...

Psalms 9:19-20 Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight. (20) Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah. God loves us every day. His wonder filled creation, speaks of His great love. Our universe was created entirely as a place for us to reside. I've been reading of the anthropic cosmological principle. There are numbers of physical settings if you will, in the universe, and if any one of these settings had been set at any value different from what it is, no life could exist. You might envision the universe as being controlled by a large sound board, with banks of dials, and sliders, and switches. . . all precisely set to the value required for life. Scientists can find no reason, that these values are required to be what they are. So far no underlying restrictions have been discovered that the values for these masses, forces, densities, sizes, etc. etc. etc. are in any way constrained to their...

I just got back from picking up my friend Matt Yeater from Indiana Bible College in Indianapolis.  The semester is over and Matt (and Griffin Matt's leader dog) will be staying with Jackie and I for the summer. I left around 5 a.m. Roughly 11 hours driving, loading up, driving back, and unloading. About 1:00 or so, Matt was crashed and sleeping heavily in the truck from his long hours of finals and work to get his school apartment in shape the the inspection this morning. . .As I drove on to the sound of Matt's heavy breathing, my eyes started doing their little I'm too tired dance. . . finally the compulsion to sleep overcame me and it could not be ignored any longer. I knew this was going to happen, and I knew the exact little church parking lot, that I wanted to stop at. It's about half way between Kokomo and Rochester. There are two little churches bordering U.S. 31 across a county road, one is a United Methodist church, the other a plainer, simpler buildin...

I am currently reading the book: Godforsaken by Dinesh D’Souza.   It has a subtitle: Bad Things Happen. Is there a God who cares? I had not heard of this author until a few days ago.  From his Amazon page: In the fall of 2010, Dinesh D'Souza was named the President of The King's College, a Christian College located in New York City. The mission of The King's College is to transform society by educating students so that they are prepared to shape and lead the strategic institutions. Here is a link to his Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/Dinesh-DSouza/e/B000AP8156/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1 Mr. D’Souza has written several books (I find 14 listed on Amazon) and apparently he debates atheists in public at universities, etc. I can remember how much I enjoyed debating Christians as an atheist. . . asking them difficult questions. . . trying to weaken or destroy their faith.  In my own mind, all of my previous questions about God and Christianity have been a...

The unrepentant mind. . .   Remembers wrongs. . .   Justifies its actions. . .   Blames others for its faults. . .   Magnifies its virtues. . .   Minifies its flaws. . .   Is prideful. . .   Abhors submission. . .    The repentant mind. . .   Forgives. . .   Continually questions its motivations and actions. . .   Accepts responsibility. . .   Gives God the credit for successes. . .   Is aware of its shortcomings. . .   Strives for humility. . .   Is meek. . . The dark chasm between who I was, and who I am. . . or maybe rather better said. . . who I was and who I strive to be.  After 12 years, I am still changing. . . still growing. . . still learning. Much of what is happening in the world today makes no sense, and greatly mystifies me, until I remember how I used to act and think. . . until I remember what motivated m...