Washington State fire: sign of the times?

President Obama has declared a state of emergency for  Washington state because of the ravaging fires . According to some estimates the fires may be burning an area slightly bigger than New York City

For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.Isaiah 9:18

I am just wondering that maybe this great fire may be a sign  that the hands of God are withdrawing from the land . Firefighter have been struggling with the fire and have even requested help from other countries like New Zealand and Australia.


And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.Ezekiel 20:47


The nation has gone astray from the Lord and has basically declared we do not want Him to reign over us. Since we don't God to reign over us , he is beginning to leave us to our

Racism: rooted in economics

I am writing this article about the subject of racism. When one really think about racism it becomes obvious that it is not something inherent in us but it deeply rooted in economics. In this  article we will take a look at how it is so.

And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation. Acts 17:26

The myth of racial supremacy

As it is evident by our red blood, all human beings are created equal. No race is better than the other and anyone who seek to teach the racial superiority of one race over another is simply a person that has a lot of inferiority complex and he is seeking ways to make himself superior


The power of conquest

The idea of racial supremacy existed a long time ago, but I think it came as a result of conquests. Different nations since antiquity have had different focus at different times. Some were interested in acquiring knowledge, others trade and some were warrior cultures. So a warrior culture will go wage war against another and take over, now because they have vanquished their enemies

Economic crises and the mark of the Beast

 And he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. Revelation 13:17

There's been a lot of talk lately about a coming economic collapse. Many people are fearful of the future because of this development. In this short article we will look at how that possibility may have significant prophetic bearings.


China's struggle

China's recent economic struggles have sent the world into a short panic. As of today the markets have been on a march towards recovery, so a lot of people are becoming optimistic again about the state of the global economy. China is the world's second largest economy so any problem with them will affect the whole world.



Global chaos

The global markets hiccup as a result of the grim outlook that came from China shows how volatile the economic system is. Billions were lost across global markets in a matter of  few days. Are these things just coincidence or are part of a greater train of things that are coming upon the world?. The global economic system is like a huge legal Ponzi scheme

Take the beam out of your eye First and your condition will improve

Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.Matthew 7:5

One of the major problems in all types conditions people find themselves in is the refusal to "take the beam out of their owns eyes first so that they can see the true situation". In this short article we will cover  a few things concerning that and hope that it may bring some changes to our lives.


Relationships

Many of us experience difficulties in our relationships because of that very truth the Bible speaks off. Imagine if when we had a problem with others we took the time to hear their arguments not for the sake of  debunking it, but for the purpose of understanding them. It would help greatly . The problem with our relationship is that we always think we are right and the other is wrong, but we should take the time and analyze our own position . By truly analyzing our position we may uncover that we may not been right after all and have been blinded by our pride. Once we realize we are wrong  we should then have the courage to apologize to the other.


Poverty

Being in poverty is another aspect of which we need to take the beam out of our own eyes before

The Faith of Unbelievers

  A lot of unbelievers have made the argument that people of faith have blind faith, that they believe without evidence. But does the unbeliever have evidence first and then believe? In this article we will go over this topic.


“People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive.”
― Blaise Pascal, De l'art de persuader      

Children Have no beliefs

The quote by Pascal could not be more true. Despite the unbelievers claims they arrived at their beliefs by pure reason and scientific inquiry, the reality is far from that. As children we come into the world as empty vessels and have to be taught . At this point we are just taking in whatever our parents are giving us, but at certain point we start to establish our own belief system.

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6


Rise of belief

At a certain point in life a child start to form his own belief system. An example of this is that a parent can teach their kids all the right things, not to harm others, steal etc.. and then the children start doing the opposite of what their parents teach them. The reason that happen is because the child has rejected their parents reasoning or evidence for these things and have come up with his own belief system.

Evidence

According to www.dictionary.com  ,Evidence is that which tends to prove or disprove something; ground for belief; proof.
www.wikepedia.org  Evidence, broadly construed, is anything presented in support of an assertion. This support may be strong or weak. The strongest type of evidence is that which provides direct proof of the truth of an assertion. At the other extreme is evidence that is merely consistent with an assertion but does not rule out other, contradictory assertions, as in circumstantial evidence.

So as we see in the definition in itself is just there. The question is how do we know what the evidence mean?

"The rich man replied, 'No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.'Luke 16:30


Belief interpret evidence

The key thing is belief is the lens thru which we interpret the evidence that has been shown. Just like in a court of law both the prosecutor and the defendant's lawyer may see the same evidence and yet comes to different conclusions based on their belief of what happen . It is the same with ever human idea. When someone say the Bible is not the Word of God, it is not that they have evidence to back up what they are saying ,but their prior belief that I don't believe it to be true lead them to interpret or seek interpretation that will reinforce their choice. When a person believe something , they will interpret all evidences according to that belief.

"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"Luke 16:31


Changing Beliefs

If what the unbelievers are saying were true that they are unbelievers because the evidence lead them to be so , then there would be no such thing as a  former atheist/agnostic  etc...
 But we do know there are plenty of those folks who abandoned their former belief when they look at the same evidence but choose to believe a different interpretation. Just like when someone who use to believe the Bible goes to the universities which are atheistic  centers may be lead to dismiss the Bible. It is not because true objective evidence have been presented to them, but they choose to believe that the different argument that is presented is more appealing than their former interpretation .The fact of the matter is people change belief systems all the time.

they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, 13and said, "You are to say, 'His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.'Matthew 28:13

All are believers

The fact of the matter is we all are believers , we all have faith . Whatever our inclinations, it is a belief. Do not listen to atheists/agnostics claiming that their are unbelievers. For we are all unbelievers and believers , we believe in certain things and disbelieve others. The atheist and other like minded are unbelievers concerning the Bible but are believers in the teachings of university professors scientists, guys like Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and others. Life is like a market place or a buffet, we all have the same pot(same evidence, creation) ,but choose the beliefs (food) that makes sense to us and cook it.

Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.John 10:25

Faith
In the end we all have faith. None of us were there when the world was created and so  anything that we believe concerning its origin is only an expression of faith. Christian do not fall for the atheist argument that evidence convince them to disregard the Bible. It is not true, the atheist look at the world and says that there is no God, the Christian look at the same world and see its beauty , its order and conclude that there is a God. The agnostic is basically an atheist that is afraid of stating what he truly believe because he knows he may not be able to defend his argument, so we won't even focus on his claim that he is being humble and claim he doesn't know but yet will say the Bible cannot be from God.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.Hebrews 11:1


Conclusion

We will all be proven right or wrong when we die; for if Christians are right we will face the judgment after death ,but if those that are "unbelievers " are right there's nothing to lose. It is a gamble, but it is a gamble that favors the Christian. So to my atheists and agnostic friends do not fall for the lie that you have evidence for your way of life and the Christian doesn't , for we all have faith in what we believe to be true; my prayer for you today is that you reexamine the evidences without preconceive bias and put your faith in the Truth.

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.....Romans 1:20,21

http://biblehub.com/john/10-25.htm

http://www.ranker.com/list/former-atheists-and-agnostics/famous-atheists

https://jamesbishopblog.wordpress.com/2015/07/06/former-atheists-speak-44-quotes/

Man is powerless

On August 1, 2015 as I was on my way to church, I stopped under a red light and another car bumped into the rear of my car. While the damage was not bad at all, the event brought to me to the thought that it could have been worse; with me ending at the hospital or worse death. I thought about the event and see that there was nothing I could have done to stop what happened-I was powerless. In this article, we will talk about how us human beings don't have control over the circumstances that we find ourselves in most of the time and are merely choosing between options.


“All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever” (vv. 6b–8).Isaiah 40:6–11

Society of control

We live in a society that teaches us that we have control over our destiny, that whatever we achieve and the circumstances we find ourselves in are the results of our own work. So we all become consumed in trying to control everything around us and when things don't go according to our liking, we fall into great despair, some even go as far as to commit suicide. 


How much control do we have?

In truth we don't have much control over things around us and even our lives. Think about it!? If you end up in a plane that is about to crash, how much control do you think you have in that situation? We have to come to the realization that we don't have much control and that we merely have the power of choices. So if you are going to school for something that you thought was your dream and you see that it is not working out, take the time to think about why you are pursuing that path and why not another.  Always inquire about the choices you are making because life is not set in stones. Look at the circumstances to hear what they are trying to tell you.

Choices or control?

The most power we have as human being is the power to choose. Let me give a few examples to clarify what I mean. Imagine being captured and sold into slavery, now as a slave you have no power over yourself or the circumstance you find yourself in, only the choice to submit and remain a slave or to rise up and suffer the consequences. Or let's say that you are walking down the streets and some one punches you, you had no power over the circumstances but have the choices on how you will respond; whether you will hit the person back or turn the other cheek. One other example is that we all could have been at the same place together and a natural disaster occurs where some end up losing their life and others survive. None had the power to control whether they live or die.

Success or Failure

Even in the idea of success and failure we don't have as much control as we think we do. Bill Gates is one such example. He was going to school with many intelligent peers, they were all taught that going to school is the key to financial success, yet he dropped out of school and became more successful than all of his peers who probably went and get higher degrees than he did. Some of them probably even have high degrees and are currently living in abject poverty. Have you ever seen yourself trying so hard and in many different ways to achieve a set of goals, whether it be education, a job etc... and still failing? while another is just breezing through. I mean take a good look at it, we didn't choose how we were born and the condition we were born in. Some were born rich and some poor. Some were fortunate to be at the right time and the right place and therefore are successful while others were not. The most well known athletes are not necessarily the best in their particular sport in the world but they were the ones fortunate to be chosen.


Are the powerful really powerful?

Even those we think are powerful are not really so when one truly analyze things. Look at president Barack Obama for example. There are many people that are probably more qualified to be president, but they were not chosen. Did Obama have control over himself being chosen to lead? Did the ones who were not chosen had any power over that? I say no! If you'd like to even reach a little further down in history and study guys like Napoleon Bonaparte who rose from obscurity to power, you can see that it is a whole set of circumstances that he had no power over that brought him to his position. I mean the guy was involved in countless wars and still survived to become an emperor. Meanwhile many fellow soldiers, some in better positions than he was perished. Some nations rise, some fall, despite how hard they try to secure themselves. Even a king is not so powerful, the king in his own person has no power but his counting or putting his faith on those around him that they will obey his words, and when some don't obey the king's words we end up with something call a coup d'état or revolution where the king himself may lose his life.

Daniel said, "Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him. 21"It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men And knowledge to men of understanding. Daniel 2:20-22


Conclusion

In truth, we as human beings are powerless to the forces and circumstances around us. We only have control on how we react to what life throws at us and how we react doesn't guarantee the result we seek. It is as if there are greater powers at play that we don't understand. Let us not fret over situations that we have no control over. If we had control over the situation, then there would be no need to stress because we would have changed the situation a long time ago. My advice to you is since the only power we truly have is the power to choose between the options that have been given to us, let us strive to choose the right options every time. But the best advice would be to seek the one that truly have power over everything and let His will be done in your life. This is the key to freedom, therefore stress no more.

1 Unless the LORD builds¹ the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches² over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. Psalm 127:1

http://www.biblestudytools.com/psalms/127-1.html