A New Creature. . . an Apostolic Pentecostal blog

I was driving last evening when a good sized flock of seagulls flew overhead. I slowed down, and stopped so that I could fully enjoy their flight. Seagulls are a favorite of mine. As I gazed in rapt fascination upon their graceful traverse of the sky above me, one of the seagulls looked to be larger than the others. It might just have been the perspective, or maybe it was another type of gull mixed in with the other members of the flock. Regardless, it got my mind thinking as to why you don’t find predators mimicking their prey.  Why isn’t there a seagull hawk that looks nearly indistinguishable from a seagull. It could mix in and get close to the seagulls before its attack. Likewise I’ve never seen or heard of a predatory cat that looked similar to the deer on the plains of Africa, that could mix and mingle in with the grazing animals before striking.  Pondering on this, it comes to me that function dictates form. A predator would be unable to prey, in the form of its prey....

In my jail ministry, I once spoke on why smoking was a sin. When I would ask the fellows why they would quote:  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (1 Corinthians 6:19 KJV) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So in other words, smoking is defiling/harming the temple of your body. That’s possible, but if that is the case then wouldn’t also going out in the sun without sunscreen on be harming the temple of your body. . . or eating high fat/high sodium foods with little or no nutritional value. . . potato chips come to mind. . . drinking sugary cola drinks also be defiling/harming the temple of our body?  Smoking is different. Nicotine is an addictive drug, and when you are addicted to something, it is not possible to follow Jesus’ commandment:  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy ...

My former Pastor Mark Johnson of Life Tabernacle in Elkhart taught a lesson on a God centered marriage using a rope, close to 20 years ago, when Jackie and I were newly come to God. It made an great impact upon me. That is the foundation for this message. Recipe for a Successful Marriage. . .  No one stands before God, and makes their vow, till death do us part, believing that their marriage is destined to fail, and yet statistics show that many marriages do not last. I had a failed marriage. To my sorrow, I am divorced. What happened to my first marriage, and what happens to many marriages. . . something changes. . . the people change. They deeply loved each other on the day of their wedding, and somehow they grew apart. That great love they had that day, one for another faded and eventually grew cold. I don’t want that. . . as I’m sure that you don’t want that to happen in your marriage. . . . I made this cord as a representation of marriage vows: Your life is forever c...

Why do I believe that it is necessary to go to church?   A church is a family. We call each other brother and sister. . . We pray to Our Father who art in heaven. . . We have the same Papa. We are related by the blood which our Father shed for us, and by which our sins are washed away. . . We are related by our Father’s Spirit which lives inside of us.   I am a reasonably bright person, but it is said that a lawyer who represents himself, or a doctor who treats himself has a fool for a client or a patient. No matter how devout I may think myself, I cannot spiritually minister to myself. I need a pastor. . .I need a spiritual authority in my life. . . someone to speak into my life both encouragement and correction. . . someone to help me through life’s trials with Godly wisdom.   A pastor is a shepherd. A good shepherd devotes his life to his flock. He tends to his sheep. He can see when one is injured or ill or otherwise not acting right. A shepher...