The Status of the world

HOW MUCH LONGER?

Surely it can't be too much longer. But there is still much that has to take place. Or is it already taking place?

Watching CNN, Aljazeera and RT (Russian TV) one cannot but notice the extent of mankind's demise. Throughout the world things are becoming worse every day.

God tells us in the last days we will hear of wars..., in another Scripture He tells us we will not finish our work in all towns of Israel before the Son Of Man comes.

BEING READY FOR JESUS

I have two points to make in this message.

FIRST is the lengths God has gone to to get our attention.
SECOND is the severity of the reason He's trying to get our attention.

I have felt great concern in my spirit for some months about being ready when Jesus comes to the clouds to collect us.

He warns us in Math 7 to be ready. In fact, the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelations we are warned about "being ready". God and Jesus are trying to get our attention.

Why would a father go so far out of his way to warn his children to be ready. If my human father went to such lengths to grab my attention It would either drive me crazy or I would realise something really serious is going down; and I would listen up.

Perhaps that is one of the reasons people say; being a Christian (a saved child of God) is not for sissy's.
Take a good look around you at what an incredible creation we live in. Evolution could never create what we see and feel. Only a supernatural grace and power could do so. The balance of it all is absolutely perfect.

The Bible is written with such advanced accuracy, pure Wisdom, it is full of evidence, most of which has already taken place. Read any other manmade (changed) religions "so called bible" and discover whats missing.

Then there is the crucifixion of Jesus. In this time and age there is enough evidence that Jesus and the new testament in the living Bible is fact.

SECONDLY: God tells us in the living Bible hell is a real place. The severity of hell is a horror that mans purposely limited wisdom, brain and mind is incapable of even beginning to imagine how terrible hell is. Once in hell there is no turning back, and suicide doesn't work there.

Lastly, there is the unimaginable new Jerusalem. Eternity. Living for forever, millions of years? No end. No time. No pain. No sickness. No war. No famine. No fighting. No gossiping. No lies. No evil. No death. No filth.

Just real joy. Real life. Real Love.
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In my next message I will talk about the reason God put us on the earth. There must be a good reason. Remember..... before we came here He knew us by name.
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In the meantime....think of Gods righteousness. Jesus says that is the way to get through the narrow gate, by obeying what we have been taught.
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May God pour out His richest blessings upon you and your loved ones in JESUS mighty name Amen

WHAT DOES CHRISTMAS HAVE TO DO WITH GOD AND JESUS?

Is Christmas of God?

Well, to be really honest, NO. It has NOTHING to do with God.

Christmas was a pagan tradition before Christ was born. 

December 25th was the day the Romans worshipped the sun god and held festivities in his honour.

It had absolutely nothing to do with God Our Heavenly Father.

Nowhere in the Bible does God talk about Christ's Birth date. NO one knows when Christ was born.

Unfortunately the Church in Roman times after Christs death became a tool for celebrating Christs birth. Remember, the devil has one goal; to lie, lie, and lie more so that people are deceived and led away from God and His truth.

Here's a really interesting article from Beyond Today, The United Church of God:

Finding the Truth About Christmas

Posted on Dec 21, 2015 by Darris McNeely Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

If you are reading this article, it may be because you searched for something like “when was Jesus born? ” or “Is December 25th Christ’s birthday? ” At this time of year people ask these questions a lot. They go online and search, and a lot of them wind up at our site. We have a lot of material to answer those questions. The answer to the first is, “We don’t know the exact day, but it was not in December; most likely it was in the autumn months.” The answer to the second is a flat “No.”

The key to taking this big step is to find joy in God’s truth, and allow it to replace your emotional connections to Christmas.

Information about the origin of Christmas is readily available online. You can find that Dec. 25 was originally a date to celebrate the sun god in Roman times. End-of-the-year festivities were a big highlight for the Romans. Then as Christianity developed, it adopted this date as a compromise to make the church more palatable for the pagan population under its control. Adopting Dec. 25 as a date to celebrate Christ’s birth, when the Bible gives no date nor command to do so, was also part of a larger move away from the biblical festivals observed by the first-century Church—no one wanted to appear Jewish by keeping those festivals. So out with what the Bible said, in with what the people wanted. And people wanted what was familiar and what everyone else was doing. So the Saturnalia festival became Christmas.

Most people know this already. My colleagues and I talk about it on  Beyond TodayTV and in articles we write. We realize we are telling people nothing new by crying aloud, “Christmas is pagan!” People today do not care that Christmas is pagan. In many ways we are in a neo-pagan society. Religion is marginalized in popular culture and much of the media. Many desire to be “spiritual” rather than biblical. Believe me: There is a vast difference. What this means for many is that Christmas is not a religious holiday—it is a secular festival; a big, year-end party.

But for someone who is sincere, who desires to worship God in truth, there often arise questions like the ones I started with. What happens when you find the answer?

That’s when you have to do something. You have to make a choice. You either make a change, or you ignore the answer and continue with the same lifestyle. Let’s face it. Giving up Christmas today is difficult. It’s when your family gathers. Your children love it—you don’t want to take Christmas away from your children. You have the office party and the gift exchanges. How do you pull away from all of that?

How do you be “different?”

I admit it is difficult. I have not kept Christmas since I was 12 years old. I remember my mother making the decision to no longer observe the day. It was hard to explain to friends at school why I wasn’t giving or getting gifts. It was hard to skip out on the class Christmas parties. But I did, and life went on. I adjusted.

The adjustment was easier for me because my mom also began to observe the biblical festivals. She was smart in doing this. You cannot create a vacuum in life just by not doing something. You have to do something else. With religious worship, you stop doing the wrong things and begin to do the right things. What I found was that the right things—God’s Holy Days—were better than Christmas, Easter and all the other holidays we observed before. It took some time to adjust, but I found that there is a lot more meaning in God’s truth than in the pagan festivals. But you have to keep God’s holy days before you can fully appreciate what they offer, and that’s why people often cannot take that big step across the wide chasm from error to truth.

The key to taking this big step is to find joy in God’s truth, and allow it to replace your emotional connections to Christmas. I know the emotional attachment is strong. I know it is difficult. But I also know what satisfying joy comes from worshiping God in spirit and in truth.

If you have read this far I can only say, you have a choice to make. This year why not make the choice to be honest—to be honest with God, to be honest with yourself. Make the choice to turn away from empty worship rooted in false teaching. Turn to God in truth and obey His teachings.

Article written by:

Darris McNeely

Beyond Today Presenter

Darris McNeely works at the United Church of God home office in Cincinnati, Ohio. He and his wife, Debbie, have served in the ministry for more than 32 years. They have two sons, both married. Darris is the Associate Media Producer for the Church. He also is a guest instructor in Early Church History at the Ambassador Bible College. He enjoys hunting, travel and reading.

There you have it. You make the decision.