Equal focusing

[Blaise N]

Hi @Blaise N

Just stopping by to offer some encouragement and advice as pertains to your questions.

I think the first thing that we need to seek, is to be born again. Born of the Spirit of God and this does not come by just being a 'christian' anymore than it came under the old covenant by just being a Jew. Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, and he quite obviously did not understand what Jesus was talking about when he spoke to him about being born again. So, I believe that this particular subject is something that a lot of christians don't understand any more than Nicodemus did in his day. Jesus told Nicodemus that he 'must' be born again and then brought him up by saying to him, "Are you, 'the Teacher of Israel,' and yet do you not understand these things?"

So, personally, I think that this issue of being born again is a very, very important matter according to Jesus and so that's the first encouragement I would give you. Seek to be born of God's Spirit.

Now, why is that so important? Well, Jesus also tells us that it is this Spirit that gives us wisdom and discernment of the truth of God. So, without the Spirit of God, it's very possible that questions such as you are having and doubts, are just the natural working out of being a 'christian', but not being 'born again'.

So, you may ask, why are there christians who aren't born again and how do we know this. Again we turn to the words of Jesus. In his last days upon the earth he spoke to his disciples concerning the day of his Father's judgment. He told them that on that day there would be many clamoring before him, "Lord, Lord!" "Did we not do great miracles and mighty deeds and cast out demons in your name?" Jesus mentions that they will be crying out three different practices that they held to while living on the earth, and for every one of them he concludes with them saying, "in your name".

"On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’"

Now, I've known a lot of Muslims. I've listened to their prayers and I've seen them do their good deeds. But I have never once heard them say that they are doing such good deeds in Jesus' name. I know of many Hindus and I know that they believe in doing good to one another, but I've never heard a one of them say, when doing their good deeds, that they are doing so in the name of Jesus. I think it safe to say that these people that Jesus is speaking about on the day of his Father's judgment were people who everyone upon the earth looked at as being christians. Judging by the things that they are claiming to have done, I imagine they were considered to be pretty special christians by their respective fellow believers. Yet, Jesus turns to all of them and says that he never knew them!!!! HUH??? It would appear that these were 'christians' without the born again Spirit within them.

Paul writes that this Spirit is given as a guarantee of our salvation. Was Jesus wrong? Was Paul wrong? No, not at all. Christains are pretty much just like Jews in the practice of their faith and depth of their belief. God speaks ad infinitum of how rebellious and stiff necked the Jews, as a whole body of people were. He often made the comment that there was only a remnant that was faithful to him. I believe this is just as true of the christian faith. As a whole body of 'christians' living upon the earth we are actually still pretty wicked people in God's sight and have not received His Spirit. That guarantee of our soon coming salvation. So go to the Lord in prayer and supplication and cry out to Him to give you His Spirit. For it is only by that Spirit that any of us gains discernment and wisdom of the things of God.

As for your questions, I'll explain my position, but again, without the Spirit's discernment and wisdom you'll likely just not understand. The answer to question #1 is just what I've explained to you. If you want to understand the Genesis account more deeply, than you have to ask for the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth. Whenever I sit down to read the Scriptures, I always start by spending time with my Father asking that His Spirit give me wisdom and discernment of the things that I'm reading. And it's not a quick, "Give me your Spirit God. Thank you. Amen!"

#2 I'm not really sure what you mean by 'deeply' understand. Just understanding the flood is all that we need to understand. I hear people sometimes say, "Why does God let evil exist?" Or, "Why does God let bad things happen?" Listen God has the power to stop evil and bad things happening. Unfortunately, if He were to do that, we'd all likely be wiped out. He did it once before and it was by a flood. God saw that the heart of man was bent towards wickedness all the time and He destroyed everything except 8 people. What do you think? If God were to do it again would you be one of those 8? So, I always caution people when they wonder why God doesn't do away with evil that they had better hope that He doesn't yet. But He will. It's in the account of the new heaven and the new earth that there won't any longer by any evil where His children live.

The flood happened. It flooded the entire earth and wiped out every living thing that walked about on the earth. In total, until the ground was again as dry as we know it today, it lasted about one year. It's purpose was to cleanse the earth. I'm not really sure how much 'deeper' that needs to be understood. My guess is that you're real issue is with believing it as it has been written in God's word.

#3 I honestly wouldn't even encourage you to yet be concerned about understanding the demon locusts, but as with many prophecies of the Scriptures, we aren't really likely to fully understand them as to their exact working out physically, until they come to pass. Just know and be assured that in the last days, as God pours out His wrath upon the unbelievers, there will be some kind of locust like creature that will torment people. I mean, God made every creature both in and on the earth, I don't think it would be any difficulty to create some new type of creature for just His purposes in those days.

#4 Will again require some work of the Holy Spirit. Many of the miracles of God's work are tough things for the simple mind of man to understand. How did God cause the shadow cast by the sun, on one particular day and at one particular moment to actually go backwards from the normal movement of a sun cast shadow? Even the king agree that this was the only way to know that God was at work in doing this. King Hezekiah said to the prophet Isaiah, when asked whether he wanted God to make the shadow go forward or backward 10 degrees, "It is an easy thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees, no but let the shadow go backward ten degrees." King Hezekiah knew that to make the sun's shadow go forward would just be a matter of waiting. After all, the sun's shadow moves forward all the time. But to make a shadow go backward...well now, that's a miracle that only a God who controls the whole of the universe can do.

But, in today's world, just as you've mentioned with the Adam and Eve account, many people, even some christians, will explain such events away as not being real events happening in real time in the lives of men and women of the Scriptures.

So, you want to believe God? Then go to Him in prayer and pour out your desire to know more about Him and all that He has done and plead for the indwelling Holy Spirit to give you insight and wisdom and discernment concerning God. I pray that this helps you find your way.

God bless,
Ted

Hi Ted,


I have noticed that I have progressed spiritually over the years.What’s troubling me is that I don’t feel any desire for God,but at other times I do.I don’t desire sin or want sinful things,and I love pleasing God.But I’ve always wondered if I am born again.One thing I look back on is my overcoming of inappropriate contentography last year,with the strength of the Holy Spirit,Everytime I got an urge to look at something inappropriate contentographic,I said “I refuse this desire by the power of the Holy Spirit” and I’d be able to overcome.And I was hurt by my enslavement because all it did was create a Gap between me and him.

I do also rely on producing the fruit of the spirit.I strive to produce more.I want to be a child of God for the sake of God himself.I can’t even function properly without knowing if I’m loved by God.I practically almost went to the nuthouse back in January because I was scared for my life I’d committed apostasy.

but I understand where you’re coming from,from what I’ve read from sources and scripture interpreting the people who call Jesus lord but Jesus rebukes their statements is because they continued to live in a darkness and never committed to Jesus but only said a prayer and lived in sin and never repented of their sin.Also that verse I believe applies to men like Kenneth Copeland and Kenneth hagin,men who claim to be preachers,cast out demons and do marvelous deeds.But teach falsely and don’t repent.I have however repented of every sin I commit.


I do know I suffer attacks from Satan,which is something that doesn’t affect unbelievers.I’m also very introspective,and against my wishes,i constantly examine my motives and heart feelings and emotions,I do so so I don’t hide any sin or keep anything unrepented.I also have great respect for God,I respect him lovingly and deeply.I don’t dare mock him or offend him,and when I see people make fun of him it enrages me.

But hopefully,if you’re willing could help me out more here.Like you know(probably)I have OCD and suffer repeated doubts,so that could be a problem associated here.

 

[Blaise N]

Okay good to know, thank you. Please reply back to me and let me know if what I said helped, if you want calcification on any point, ect. The board is here for a conversation. I can't have a conversation with you if you never reply.

Yes you’re right miss.I apologize from my heart for hurting anyone,I truly care for your and other’s happiness,I don’t ignore any of you,as a matter of fact I appreciate greatly your responses,it helps me tremendously.

 

[Chris35]

8But it is the spirit b in a person,
the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding.

At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

9For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives.

Understanding, wisdom and knowledge comes from God, you have to ask him for it. While some may post the right answers, its not going to really start to click, or make sense, untill God reveals it to you.

 

[Blaise N]

Understand that the real meaning is that there was no death before sin.
This idea that evolution occurred for millions of years with death occurring naturally for millions of years as things evolved is a direct lie from Satan. He wants you to think that death is just a normal byproduct of life. It is not. Death is the direct result of sin and the wages of sin are death.

Romans 6:23


23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Death of the body and spirit is not a normal part of the creation, it came in due to man's sin. Death is God's enemy, he would have never have watched and used his enemy in his creation process. When God had finished creating he said it was 'Very good" Nothing about death and decay are very good.

Romans 5:12
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—

All people because we all come from Adam.

If someone says oh that's just spiritual death, not physical; physical death was part of the curse. The Bible talks about spiritual and physical death. It wasn't something that was already occurring while Adam was in the garden, the body dying and returning to dust was part of the curse.

Genesis 3
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”

Because of what he did death and returning to dust is the fate of the body -unless Jesus returns before we die.

You can't have millions of years of evolution and no death. The two do not fit together.



The flood was global. When God says destroy all life he means all life. The same way Jesus died for all people. It's not a section of the people or a section of the land, all means all.

The flood was a supernatural event, those who try to put spokes into it are claiming things about nature and the natural laws. Miracles have nothing to do with the natural laws of nature. God sent the animals, who at this time were far fewer then now. God closed the door, he sent the flood. The flood wasn't just rain from the canopy that surrounded the earth at that time but also from the deep, under the crust. Volcanoes erupted putting ash into the sky. This caused an ice age, the only ice age. The flood also broke apart the one land mass creating the continents.
There are numerous articles around about that The Ice Age and the Genesis Flood
Because of this new harsh climate God at this point says man may now eat meat.
Genesis 9:3
Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.



That is really another topic. You might want to ask about that on the end time area.




Proverbs 3:5-6


5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Submit to God, pray and read his word, believe in his word.

Understood,I don’t believe the Big Bang or evolution,I think they are poppycock,the worst theories to befall humanity.I sometimes wish I were born in the 1800s and didn’t have to have a worry in the world about scientific nonsense and be a simple Christian farmer.


But this makes sense,the thought of being an unbeliever only paints a life of hopelessness and despair.I know deep deep down being an unbeliever is very bad,because I know the consequences of such decisions.


But to a degree this is helpful,I have a hard time being convinced though,not by my own choice of course.

see I WANT god to be real and WANT Jesus to be the son of the most high.But I sometimes get so wrapped up in doubt and worry it may be unbelief.I suffer constant doubt about things I don’t want to be true.In the sense of this example
A=Jesus and his word and existence
B=worldly theories and doubts
“I want A to be right with all my heart,but I worry that B may be right,or worry that what if it’s a-B?”

See I don’t want the Bible to be Not real or true,but I’m always caught up in what if’s,

Everytime I tell God in prayer I believe in his son,I always somewhere deep down don’t mean it or say it sincerely,like I don’t believe it but want to do badly at the same time.I have no basis to deny it other than the unwanted thought of it being “no body has been able to rise from the grace”.

it ashames me,because when I first became a believer,I never had a doubt in my mind about who Jesus is who he says he is,but over time my mind began to have doubts,and I began to worry exponentially about them.And I regretfully have tried to look up proofs that atheists are wrong and have stupidly read answers from atheists from quora,and it’s poisoned my mind.So I work hard to purge them out.

 

[coffee4u]

Understood,I don’t believe the Big Bang or evolution,I think they are poppycock,the worst theories to befall humanity.I sometimes wish I were born in the 1800s and didn’t have to have a worry in the world about scientific nonsense and be a simple Christian farmer.


But this makes sense,the thought of being an unbeliever only paints a life of hopelessness and despair.I know deep deep down being an unbeliever is very bad,because I know the consequences of such decisions.


But this is helpful

It's a big subject and I only touched on parts. Those who expound evolution can sound convincing, they will use graphs and big words and make your head spin.

The things to remember are:
They were not there to see how God created. We don't know how God created matter how he manipulated it, how he created and possibly bent time. Did God create a star and move it with his 'hands' across space into place? Possibly.
Psalm 8:3-5 “When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers— the moon and the stars you set in place

The world that God created is not the world we see now. The world at creation was pristine and perfect.
All animals were herbivores.
30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
Animals were not hunting and tearing into flesh, that is a result of the fall a sign of the corruption it caused.
Everything was good and beneficial. A mosquito would not have bitten and drunk blood, its purpose would have been 'very good' but the fall corrupted how all organisms function.
There was no disease no stinging poisonous plants. All of this is part of the corruption.
Genesis 3:18
It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
Not a part of the created world, a part of the fallen world. That world is gone.

God says in the end he will defeat death and remake the world back to how it was. How it started is how it will end.
Revelation 20:14
Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.

Revelation 21


21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Isaiah 11:6
The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.

Animals do not act like this now. It occurred before the fall and it will occur again on the new earth. The one clue that Genesis gives is that all animals were given plants to eat. If the leopard and wolf ate plants then yes a goat, lamb and child could safely sit with them.
The Old Testament is a shadow of the new. The garden of Eden was a shadow of the new world pictured in revelation. It was a taste for man to sample. Of how living with God would be like.
If evolution were true and the world began as survival of the fittest with random mutations and death and rotting flesh, that would be a picture of hell.

 

[Blaise N]

It's a big subject and I only touched on parts. Those who expound evolution can sound convincing, they will use graphs and big words and make your head spin.

The things to remember are:
They were not there to see how God created. We don't know how God created matter how he manipulated it, how he created and possibly bent time. Did God create a star and move it with his 'hands' across space into place? Possibly.
Psalm 8:3-5 “When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers— the moon and the stars you set in place

The world that God created is not the world we see now. The world at creation was pristine and perfect.
All animals were herbivores.
30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
Animals were not hunting and tearing into flesh, that is a result of the fall a sign of the corruption it caused.
Everything was good and beneficial. A mosquito would not have bitten and drunk blood, its purpose would have been 'very good' but the fall corrupted how all organisms function.
There was no disease no stinging poisonous plants. All of this is part of the corruption.
Genesis 3:18
It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
Not a part of the created world, a part of the fallen world. That world is gone.

God says in the end he will defeat death and remake the world back to how it was. How it started is how it will end.
Revelation 20:14
Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.

Revelation 21


21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Isaiah 11:6
The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.

Animals do not act like this now. It occurred before the fall and it will occur again on the new earth. The one clue that Genesis gives is that all animals were given plants to eat. If the leopard and wolf ate plants then yes a goat, lamb and child could safely sit with them.
The Old Testament is a shadow of the new. The garden of Eden was a shadow of the new world pictured in revelation. It was a taste for man to sample. Of how living with God would be like.
If evolution were true and the world began as survival of the fittest with random mutations and death and rotting flesh, that would be a picture of hell.

Right,but since I have mental illness,when I was reading those scriptures,my mind kept saying “i won’t believe this” after I read them and they caused me distress,I’m not willfully trying not to believe like I said.My heart has a hard time accepting them as true but I want to accept them as true.How can I overcome this?

 

[coffee4u]

Hi Ted,


I have noticed that I have progressed spiritually over the years.What’s troubling me is that I don’t feel any desire for God,but at other times I do.I don’t desire sin or want sinful things,and I love pleasing God.But I’ve always wondered if I am born again.One thing I look back on is my overcoming of inappropriate contentography last year,with the strength of the Holy Spirit.

inappropriate contentography is a snare and a strong trap. People often don't realize how dangerous it is. Understand it is the pit of vipers, deadly to your spiritual walk and very addictive. People talk about drugs and alcohol, inappropriate contentography is every bit as addictive as heroine.

This may be your thorn in the flesh to overcome again and again. I pray you will have strength through the Holy Spirit brother.

Romans 10:9
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
People try and make things complicated, it isn't.

When you fail Satan may try and tell you that you are not really born again. Speak scripture aloud or inside your head and pray.
James 4:7
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Notice how these verses always start with submit to God? That is the key.

 

[coffee4u]

Right,but since I have mental illness,when I was reading those scriptures,my mind kept saying “i won’t believe this” after I read them and they caused me distress,I’m not willfully trying not to believe like I said.My heart has a hard time accepting them as true but I want to accept them as true.How can I overcome this?

If you are having mental troubles seek help. Also seek help in case it is a spiritual issue to be prayed over. It could be one or both. We are body, soul and spirit and the three are entwined. What hurts one part can hurt the others.

 

[Blaise N]

inappropriate contentography is a snare and a strong trap. People often don't realize how dangerous it is. Understand it is the pit of vipers, deadly to your spiritual walk and very addictive. People talk about drugs and alcohol, inappropriate contentography is every bit as addictive as heroine.

This may be your thorn in the flesh to overcome again and again. I pray you will have strength through the Holy Spirit brother.

Romans 10:9
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
People try and make things complicated, it isn't.

When you fail Satan may try and tell you that you are not really born again. Speak scripture aloud or inside your head and pray.
James 4:7
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Notice how these verses always start with submit to God? That is the key.

The truth s I repented completely of inappropriate contentography last year by saying I refuse by the power of the Holy Spirit,and I overcame it.I still worry as to wether that was my own doing or the Holy Spirit.Becauee I tried countless times to quit by my own strength and couldn’t and even j still called myself a Christian.

 

[coffee4u]

The truth s I repented completely of inappropriate contentography last year by saying I refuse by the power of the Holy Spirit,and I overcame it.I still worry as to wether that was my own doing or the Holy Spirit.Becauee I tried countless times to quit by my own strength and couldn’t and even j still called myself a Christian.

Yes, I didn't mean you were still watching, but it gave the enemy an open invitation at that time so what you are experiencing now maybe demonic oppression.
Demonic Oppression Happens, But God Is So Much Stronger - Finds.Life.Church

It could also be purely mental but I would not ignore the possibility of a spiritual component.

 

[miamited]

Hi @Blaise N

But hopefully,if you’re willing could help me out more here.Like you know(probably)I have OCD and suffer repeated doubts,so that could be a problem associated here.

I would be happy to help you out in any way that I can. I must admit, though, that I'm not particularly knowledgeable about the ways of OCD. I've seen the things that people do as regards the compulsive behavior, but I really don't have any idea what makes one's mind seem to constantly entertain such thoughts.

However, I believe that just as working through and with God's Spirit to overcome inappropriate contentography addiction, which is also a desire of the mind to continue deviant behavior, that same power can give you victory over OCD related doubts that your mind may conjure up. If you have been born again, then you can be assured that God is always with you. Yes, He does often seem to let us do what we desire to do over what we know is what He desires for us to do, but He is there with you.

What I believe is a fair test of whether or not one is born again, is whether or not they see the reality of life as God sees and knows it to be. For example, and let me quickly add here that I'm not intending to start a great debate on the specific issues mentioned, but for the one who has God's Spirit, that person knows, yes he absolutely without a doubt knows, that God's word, the Scriptures that we hold in our hands, are true in absolutely everything that they reveal to us.

In the law, according to the Scriptures, written by the very finger of God on stone tablets, He caused to be written: For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them,... Now, I've talked to a lot of christians who will tell me that God never says when He created the earth, therefore, while the history of man may only be about 6,000 years, science has proven that the heavenly bodies have stood for billions upon billions of years. Well, news flash! God has told us 'when' He created the earth. He Himself has written to us that the earth was created in that same time span in which He created all of the heavens, just as it is revealed to us in the Genesis account of the building of this realm of His creating.

This is the God that you and I are depending on for our coming salvation. Our eternal life of peace and security and joy of spirit with Him and His Son in the great city of Zion that comes down from heaven as a splendid and beautiful place for us to live our eternal days. He isn't trying to make His revelation to us difficult that it takes some master degreed theologian to figure out all that He has told us. Let's consider for a moment that God delivered His Scriptures to the Israelites beginning some 4,000 years ago when there weren't even such things as college degrees and great scientific minds such as we seem to be enamored of today. I believe that God expected the Jews of the old covenant days to understand what He had revealed to them as much as He expects us today. Without a lot of 'great knowledge' from some institution of higher learning.

But, I believe that these things are most clearly revealed to those who have the Spirit of God and call on that Spirit to give them wisdom and discernment of the things of God. I believe that we can only trust that claim when we fully understand what it means to have the Spirit of God. We have the same Spirit living within us that oversaw and gave men the understanding to write the things that have been written in the Scriptures. That exact same Spirit!! We have, according to Jesus, that same Spirit that Jesus had. That exact same Spirit!! So why, I would have to ask, would the very Spirit that caused all of those things to be written, allow us, who have that same Spirit, to believe or understand things differently today than they were understood when He caused them to be written?

The Spirit of God is really quite clear on the creation account. People get caught up, because the sun and moon weren't created for several days after the earth was created, about there having been 'days' before the sun stood in the sky. Such nonsense!!! The sun has nothing to do with the length or time span of a day. It merely gives us the daylight hours of a day. A day, has now and forever shall be, determined by how long it takes the planet earth to make one full revolution/rotation on it's north/south axis. So, if God, when He commanded that the earth appear from nothing, which is also what the Scriptures declare, it was spinning, which I believe it would have to have been doing for the water to remain upon its surface, then the first day would have passed within roughly what we count as 24 hours. It's all really just that simple!

We live in a realm of existence that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the God who brought the flood waters to cover the whole earth; the God who stopped the sun in the sky over Israel, created as a place for man to live. He spent six rotations of the earth to build that home and then He placed Adam and Eve in it to populate it with people. For it was always God's plan, from the moment that He declared "Let there be light!" in this realm, that He was going to provide a way that sinful man could be forgiven his sin and enjoy an eternal life with their God. That was always the end game of God's creating this realm. That He would one day reap a body of people from the earth who loved and cared and worshipped Him for who He is!!!

God also created the angelic realm, just as He created our realm. While it isn't widely covered, the Scriptures do tell us that there was a time that the angels were created. But, we know that it was before the earth was created because the Scriptures also tell us that the angels were rejoicing when God created the heavens and the earth of this realm.

I believe that anyone born of God's Spirit will believe these things and all of the events and circumstances that the Scriptures reveal to us of all the work that God has done that we might even have life. Take up your Scriptures, even though it may seem hard, and sit down and calmly and sincerely pray that God give you wisdom by His Spirit. Do that for one week. Set aside 15-30 minutes to sit down with God's word, offer prayer for wisdom and understanding and read Genesis chapter 1.

Keep in touch.

God bless,
Ted

 

[Blaise N]

Hi @Blaise N



I would be happy to help you out in any way that I can. I must admit, though, that I'm not particularly knowledgeable about the ways of OCD. I've seen the things that people do as regards the compulsive behavior, but I really don't have any idea what makes one's mind seem to constantly entertain such thoughts.

However, I believe that just as working through and with God's Spirit to overcome inappropriate contentography addiction, which is also a desire of the mind to continue deviant behavior, that same power can give you victory over OCD related doubts that your mind may conjure up. If you have been born again, then you can be assured that God is always with you. Yes, He does often seem to let us do what we desire to do over what we know is what He desires for us to do, but He is there with you.

What I believe is a fair test of whether or not one is born again, is whether or not they see the reality of life as God sees and knows it to be. For example, and let me quickly add here that I'm not intending to start a great debate on the specific issues mentioned, but for the one who has God's Spirit, that person knows, yes he absolutely without a doubt knows, that God's word, the Scriptures that we hold in our hands, are true in absolutely everything that they reveal to us.

In the law, according to the Scriptures, written by the very finger of God on stone tablets, He caused to be written: For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them,... Now, I've talked to a lot of christians who will tell me that God never says when He created the earth, therefore, while the history of man may only be about 6,000 years, science has proven that the heavenly bodies have stood for billions upon billions of years. Well, news flash! God has told us 'when' He created the earth. He Himself has written to us that the earth was created in that same time span in which He created all of the heavens, just as it is revealed to us in the Genesis account of the building of this realm of His creating.

This is the God that you and I are depending on for our coming salvation. Our eternal life of peace and security and joy of spirit with Him and His Son in the great city of Zion that comes down from heaven as a splendid and beautiful place for us to live our eternal days. He isn't trying to make His revelation to us difficult that it takes some master degreed theologian to figure out all that He has told us. Let's consider for a moment that God delivered His Scriptures to the Israelites beginning some 4,000 years ago when there weren't even such things as college degrees and great scientific minds such as we seem to be enamored of today. I believe that God expected the Jews of the old covenant days to understand what He had revealed to them as much as He expects us today. Without a lot of 'great knowledge' from some institution of higher learning.

But, I believe that these things are most clearly revealed to those who have the Spirit of God and call on that Spirit to give them wisdom and discernment of the things of God. I believe that we can only trust that claim when we fully understand what it means to have the Spirit of God. We have the same Spirit living within us that oversaw and gave men the understanding to write the things that have been written in the Scriptures. That exact same Spirit!! We have, according to Jesus, that same Spirit that Jesus had. That exact same Spirit!! So why, I would have to ask, would the very Spirit that caused all of those things to be written, allow us, who have that same Spirit, to believe or understand things differently today than they were understood when He caused them to be written?

The Spirit of God is really quite clear on the creation account. People get caught up, because the sun and moon weren't created for several days after the earth was created, about there having been 'days' before the sun stood in the sky. Such nonsense!!! The sun has nothing to do with the length or time span of a day. It merely gives us the daylight hours of a day. A day, has now and forever shall be, determined by how long it takes the planet earth to make one full revolution/rotation on it's north/south axis. So, if God, when He commanded that the earth appear from nothing, which is also what the Scriptures declare, it was spinning, which I believe it would have to have been doing for the water to remain upon its surface, then the first day would have passed within roughly what we count as 24 hours. It's all really just that simple!

We live in a realm of existence that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the God who brought the flood waters to cover the whole earth; the God who stopped the sun in the sky over Israel, created as a place for man to live. He spent six rotations of the earth to build that home and then He placed Adam and Eve in it to populate it with people. For it was always God's plan, from the moment that He declared "Let there be light!" in this realm, that He was going to provide a way that sinful man could be forgiven his sin and enjoy an eternal life with their God. That was always the end game of God's creating this realm. That He would one day reap a body of people from the earth who loved and cared and worshipped Him for who He is!!!

God also created the angelic realm, just as He created our realm. While it isn't widely covered, the Scriptures do tell us that there was a time that the angels were created. But, we know that it was before the earth was created because the Scriptures also tell us that the angels were rejoicing when God created the heavens and the earth of this realm.

I believe that anyone born of God's Spirit will believe these things and all of the events and circumstances that the Scriptures reveal to us of all the work that God has done that we might even have life. Take up your Scriptures, even though it may seem hard, and sit down and calmly and sincerely pray that God give you wisdom by His Spirit. Do that for one week. Set aside 15-30 minutes to sit down with God's word, offer prayer for wisdom and understanding and read Genesis chapter 1.

Keep in touch.

God bless,
Ted

Thank you Ted.I’ve been comforted by some words from crosswalk.com that say you “can only doubt what you already believe” I’m not the person who lives in constant sin,as a matter of fact I am scared of sin,I treat every sin like it’s a starting point of habitual sin and immediately repent of every sin.I’ve noticed myself become more knowledgeable in faith and repent of many practices over the years.But still I’m scared it may be only maturity and not the Holy Spirit.

 

[miamited]

Thank you Ted.I’ve been comforted by some words from crosswalk.com that say you “can only doubt what you already believe” I’m not the person who lives in constant sin,as a matter of fact I am scared of sin,I treat every sin like it’s a starting point of habitual sin and immediately repent of every sin.I’ve noticed myself become more knowledgeable in faith and repent of many practices over the years.But still I’m scared it may be only maturity and not the Holy Spirit.

Hi @Blaise N

So, let me ask you. What do you think it would take for you to have confidence that you have received the guarantee of the Holy Spirit that Paul writes to us about?

God bless,
Ted

 

[Blaise N]

Hi @Blaise N

So, let me ask you. What do you think it would take for you to have confidence that you have received the guarantee of the Holy Spirit that Paul writes to us about?

God bless,
Ted

I do not know,I want my life to be controlled and Indwelled with by the Holy Ghost.I’m worried that the sanctification I’ve looked back on is my own doing and not the spirit,when I want it to be the spirits.

 

[angelsaroundme]

I think this video will be useful for you. He compares the difference between someone who is having a positive experience of being religiously devout with someone who has a negative experience of religious scrupulosity. You may find comfort in the comments as there are many going through something similar.

 

[PrincetonGuy]

Understood,I don’t believe the Big Bang or evolution,I think they are poppycock,the worst theories to befall humanity.I sometimes wish I were born in the 1800s and didn’t have to have a worry in the world about scientific nonsense and be a simple Christian farmer.


But this makes sense,the thought of being an unbeliever only paints a life of hopelessness and despair.I know deep deep down being an unbeliever is very bad,because I know the consequences of such decisions.


But to a degree this is helpful,I have a hard time being convinced though,not by my own choice of course.

see I WANT god to be real and WANT Jesus to be the son of the most high.But I sometimes get so wrapped up in doubt and worry it may be unbelief.I suffer constant doubt about things I don’t want to be true.In the sense of this example
A=Jesus and his word and existence
B=worldly theories and doubts
“I want A to be right with all my heart,but I worry that B may be right,or worry that what if it’s a-B?”

See I don’t want the Bible to be Not real or true,but I’m always caught up in what if’s,

Everytime I tell God in prayer I believe in his son,I always somewhere deep down don’t mean it or say it sincerely,like I don’t believe it but want to do badly at the same time.I have no basis to deny it other than the unwanted thought of it being “no body has been able to rise from the grace”.

it ashames me,because when I first became a believer,I never had a doubt in my mind about who Jesus is who he says he is,but over time my mind began to have doubts,and I began to worry exponentially about them.And I regretfully have tried to look up proofs that atheists are wrong and have stupidly read answers from atheists from quora,and it’s poisoned my mind.So I work hard to purge them out.

Hundreds of millions of Christian believe that the theory of evolution is based upon very solid science and that the theory is true. It is a theory of science—not a religious belief—and it in no way detracts from the truth of the Bible or from the Christian experience. When Christians sincerely pray for God to teach them the truth, it should not surprise them when the Holy Spirit does not steer them away from the theory of evolution and the natural sciences.

The same is true of the Big Bang Theory. Very many simple Christians who lack a good education hold to an interpretation of Genesis that is very precious to them but not to God because it is based upon a false premise. That premise is that the Bible is inerrant and infallible in all matters, including history and science. Since the theory of evolution and the big Bang Theory contradict their premise, they automatically dismiss the evidence for them as the “the wisdom of this world” even though when the Apostle Paul used that expression he was writing about something entirely different! (see in context 1 Cor._1:20, 1 Cor._2:6, 1 Cor._3:19).

My dear brother, A and B are both right! That is why your Christian heart wants both of them to be true. Organizations such as Answers in Genesis make their money by peddling lies about the truths that God, in His infinite wisdom, chose to reveal to us in the teaching of science. Don’t be afraid of what your heart is telling you. Embrace and hold onto it! Jesus loves you dearly, and He is taking good care of you.

 

[coffee4u]

Hundreds of millions of Christian believe that the theory of evolution.

And what a shame that is.

The OP does not, learn to respect that.

 

[Blaise N]

And what a shame that is.

The OP does not, learn to respect that.

I respect his advice though.I’m very atheophobic though.Thags why I don’t believe it,because I fear it interferes with my faith

 

[VladTheEmailer]

I respect his advice though.I’m very atheophobic though.Thags why I don’t believe it,because I fear it interferes with my faith

You have a long road ahead. Imagine living in a world that supports your OCD(I see it). You are never going to get anywhere if your faith and OCD are allowed to collide.

I stop at the end of the driveway(when going somewhere) to make sure I'm not dragging one of my 2 daughters t their deaths. I've been doing that for 16 years.

 

[PrincetonGuy]

I respect his advice though.I’m very atheophobic though.Thags why I don’t believe it,because I fear it interferes with my faith

Blaise,

Coffee4u has in his camp 47 or 48 men (no women) who have earned a Ph.D. in some field of science but who became so severely obsessed with the teachings of young earth creationism that they made a shipwreck of their careers, became unemployable as scientists, and now work for young earth creationist organizations advocating for the very beliefs that destroyed them. Coffee4u also has in his camp several hundred pastors that do not know so much as the first three letters of the Hebrew alphabet or the first three letters of the Greek alphabet, but who belittle men who have devoted their lives to the study of the Scriptures in the languages in which God chose to give them to us.

On the other hand, I have in my camp over 3,000,000 men and women who have earned one or more doctorates in fields of science and who are currently employed as scientists and learning more and more everyday about this world that God created by speaking it into existence. I also have in my camp virtually every professor of Hebrew or the biblical languages collectively, teaching today in universities around the world.

Science and religion are two very different disciplines that do not intersect. Therefore, science could not care less about the teachings of religion. However, individual evolutionists and other scientists may have religious beliefs, and among evolutionists, we find Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and Taoists, as well as persons with indigenous and ethnic beliefs. Some scientists, however, may have no religious beliefs, and a few of these scientists may be atheists—but atheism is uncommon among scientists because evidence is a major component of science, and evidence that God does not exist is seriously lacking!

In my ministry to a fellowship of atheists, I learned that nearly all of them had grown up in churches that taught the beliefs advocated for by coffee4u in his posts. They subsequently realized that young earth creationism is a man-made belief system based upon ignorance of both the Bible and science, and that it contradicts observable reality. If the young earth creationists have their way, you will likely share the same fate!

Blaise, Please carefully pray about it, and think about it. Are those 3,000,000+ scientists stupid? Or are they insane? Or are they demon possessed? Or are they men and women whom God created in His own image. Who is more likely to be able to correctly understand the book of Genesis— virtually every professor of Hebrew or the biblical languages collectively, teaching today in universities around the world, or pastors who do not know so much as the first three letters of the Hebrew alphabet?

For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:8-11, ESV​