Newly released data from the Australian Council of Educational Research (ACER) Social-Emotional Wellbeing survey of around 500,000 primary and secondary students between 2018 and 2023 reveals a generation deep in emotional crisis and lacking the tools to manage their emotions. Girls at all ages are struggling to cope more than boys. “Many indicators of wellbeing examined in the survey have worsened and barely any have improved despite all the genuine attention and effort by schools and parents and the millions of dollars spent to fund youth wellbeing programs, ‘’ the survey’s author Michael Bernard, California State University Emeritus Professor, and former Melbourne University Professor, said.
The ACER data is collated from the well-being surveys completed by students undertaken by schools seeking to get a handle on the extent of the challenge. It captures kids from all states and territories and from both government and non-government schools.
Australia’s primary school-age children are angrier, lonelier, more anxious, and less able to control their emotions than they were 5 years ago, new research finds, despite the increased societal concern for childhood wellbeing and focus on resilience. The picture is no less bleak in secondary school, where more than one in two students say they feel “very stressed”, an upward trend since 2003, and 56% say they have a hard time controlling their sense of worry.
Professor Bernard said the new numbers were staggering, even before looking at recent trends. “The numbers are bad for young primary schoolkids and get worse as they get older.” The survey reports one in three (32 percent) of the more than 300,000 primary school-age students say they “feel bad for long periods”, and almost half (44 percent) say they can’t calm down quickly when they feel bad. In secondary school, 53 percent of the 180,000 surveyed say they feel “very stressed”. By year 12 it is 77 percent of girls and 55 percent of boys. Adolescent mental health expert and psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg said his practice had been deluged with “so many extremely anxious, extremely depressed kids.” “In my 30 years in the field I’ve never seen anything like the level of stress and anxiety that today’s children and adolescents are going through,” Dr Carr-Gregg said.
What these psychologists fail to mention is the key factor that is impacting the mental health of teens. It is the teaching of evolution as a fact in schools, even Christian schools. The Big Bang and Evolution remove God from His creation and make the Bible a book of fables and myths. It also removes any purpose or meaning to life. There is no hope or knowledge of the God who loves His creation and has provided a way back into a right relationship with Him and the promise of eternal life.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
Testimony of Michael (‘Mike’) Dooley, pianist, composer, song and hymn writer, producer, and music teacher, who studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and Canberra Institute of Technology (AdvDipMusA, AMusA).
Pursuing music as a career, Mike’s acceptance into the elite Sydney Conservatorium was exciting. However, his enthusiasm was short-lived. He explained: I became quite disillusioned; the music we were studying was very depressing. There was no sense of hope. It was basically reflecting the very grim state of the world … I was led into a sense of real despair.
Mike continued: Something very significant happened when I went to a concert of J.S. Bach’s St John Passion. I was reading along with the English translation of the associated German text. The music was profoundly beautiful, but also, the story of the Crucifixion deeply touched my heart.
Mike walked into that concert as an atheist but he walked out saying under his breath, “I believe”, without really knowing what or why.
Music and worldview
At the time, he was studying with one of Australia’s most prominent composers. I asked him, “Why did Bach create such beautiful, harmonious, and meaningful music? And why do we today create this very dissonant-sounding avant-garde music?” He looked at me, I think somewhat sadly, and said, “You know, they had God in those days, but we don’t have God anymore.” That was his answer! To me, that was like a bit of a light going on.
This led him to a further realization: Your worldview influences the music. So, someone with a worldview that has no hope—we came from nothing and we’re going nowhere—will write despairing, hopeless music. Someone with a hopeful, positive worldview about a purposeful Creator will create purposeful and hopeful music. And that is what you see in the great Christian composers. There would always be triumph and hope at the end because that’s reflective of their worldview.
Sometime after the Bach episode, Mike said, his best friend from high school told him he had become a Christian. I was rather shocked, because we’d been on this journey to find out the truth together. He shared the Gospel with me, and very quickly, I took the step of to Jesus—a very big change for me.
Mike recalls the incredible, unforgettable joy he felt at that moment. He no longer thought of himself as a random assortment of molecules caused by a series of cosmic accidents. Instead, he realized that he was a loved creation of a purposeful and living Creator:
But then a couple of days later, he said, “So, do you believe in the theory of evolution?” and I said, “Well, yeah.’ He replied, “Well, I’ve got something to read to you”, and he read from one of the very early creation books, before there was the sort of high quality apologetics we have now in creationist ministries. But there was enough good science in there, and enough truth from the Word, that I completely accepted the Genesis creation account as being true. And I completely rejected evolution at that point.
It was an incredible life-changer for me, and at that point I said, “I want to serve this God.”
So, that’s what he did. He spent around thirty years overseas doing humanitarian missions work while performing—a fascinating experience for him:
Music opened doors to travel to various countries that would normally be quite closed to the Gospel. Doing music allowed us to bring a message to people and personally share the Gospel with them in closed and difficult situations.
Believing that music is a gift from God has also presented opportunities to tear down evolutionary, anti- Christian thinking. Mike noted that music is a uniquely human ability and doesn’t really make sense within evolutionary theory:
What would be the survival advantage of being able to play a harmonic and melodic instrument? If you think about how musical ability supposedly evolved, or look up the literature on it, evolutionists are really clutching at straws. They try to explain why and how we would develop such fine acoustic appreciation, and the motor skills to be able to perform music.
Amazingly, researchers are uncovering how the design of our inner ear ‘receiver’ coupled with the brain’s computational ability allows humans to distinguish the pitch and timing of notes in a way that greatly exceeds a theoretical mathematical limit. It is bordering on absurd to think that such advanced technology could come about from the selection of random but somehow advantageous mutations.
Mike said he found the writing of creationsit Professor Stuart Burgess on engineering and design particularly helpful, especially on human design in relation to creativity:
A quarter of our brain’s cortex, the surface where most of the processing is done, is devoted just to the hands, which are such an important part of our creative equipment. But hands would be useless if it wasn’t for the complex software controlling them. Spreading biblical truth Composing is something Mike especially loves doing. He spoke of Perpetua, his recent classical choral work about the Christian martyr of that name. He called it one of the favourite things he has done, because of the strong messages he was able to give: It’s about standing up for faith in difficult times and living for heavenly values rather than worldly success or values— and about supporting the persecuted church. A piece Mike wrote for string quintet and piano was used as the theme for the graduation ceremony of a large Australian university, and is called One Human Family. Mike said: It was inspired by Creation Ministries International’s (CMI’s) book of the same name. I actually made a melodic line from a section of the human genome and arranged it in the styles of different cultures. Mike is currently working on a large classical choral work called The Redemption which tells the story of creation, the Fall, Jesus’ redemptive act on the Cross, and the coming restored creation. Well aware of the importance of the creation message in today’s world, since 2013 he has been part of a volunteer CMI ‘Friends Group’—people supporting the ministry’s speakers at events. Mike said: What it’s really about for me is the authority of Scripture. It’s the fact that when God says what He says, He means it and He is able to communicate that to us. God can create the universe in six days. We humans can wonder how that could be possible, or doubt that God could do it, but He is omnipotent—all-powerful. We read Genesis Chapter 1, and read the genealogies in Chapter 5, there’s a clear history there. God is a clear communicator: He told us what was true, and when Jesus came, He said to His Father “..your word is truth” (John 17:17b). If you start eroding either the efficacy of God as a communicator, or the historicity of the Bible, you start losing many Christian convictions. These include the key facts that we are depraved sinners and need the Cross—we need Jesus as our Saviour. That’s one major thing I love about CMI—that it kindles that reverence for God’s Word, and its authority in our lives. Asked for a final word to readers, Mike said: To me, humanity’s musical ability is a witness to the genius of the Creator. We should use that music to glorify and thank Him for His gifts, and to spread His message of salvation far and wide.
Extract from the article Music Man Declares His Masterful Maker in Creation Magazine, 2023, volume, 45, issue 4.
This is an important message from Nelson Walters and the Last Days Overcomers team.
“Most readers miss this simple fact about hope. In these seemingly “hopeless” times, they ask, “What is our hope?” And many times, people at our conferences ask Marquis, Jake, and me the same question, what is our hope?
After completing four amazing (4) conferences so far this summer and interacting with a number of you one-on-one, we can answer inarguably. It is the same answer that the Apostle Paul gave to the Thessalonian church. And it’s not the answer you expect:
“For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it, not you? For you are our glory and joy.” 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20
Yes, you are our glory and hope. The people to whom we minister. Didn’t see that coming, did you?
As Westerners (USA, UK, Canada, Australia, SA, etc.) we tend to view hope in terms of politics or comfort. Do we have hope in our nation’s survival, do we have hope in the economy, do we have hope in our church? But on the day that we stand before Jesus when he comes, you will be our hope and glory. And likewise, your ministry will be your hope. Our hope isn’t in our individual survival or comfort, but it’s in those we have been called to disciple and minister to. Because on the day of Jesus’ return, all other things will be swept away.
In our private conversations, Marquis, Jake, and I spoke of these summer conferences as “building up the remnant;” as an opportunity to prepare those who will face the things we read about in prophecy. And here is the second shocker: you share that ministry with us.
Notice in 1 Thessalonians, Paul didn’t say “You are MY glory and joy,” he said, “You are OUR glory and joy.” It was a shared ministry then, and we are thrilled to share our ministry with you now.
In this upcoming month, you will receive a notice about a new series of free, online conferences we will be undertaking in the Fall and Winter with a number of well-known guest speakers. And you will be given an opportunity to participate in FOCUS GROUPS to help us form and shape what those conferences will be like. We look forward to you sharing in this ministry in this way.”
Suicide rates in the United States reached a record high last year, with nearly 50,000 people ending their lives in 2022 alone, according to provisional data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease and Prevention.
“The suicide rate among males in 2021 was approximately four times higher than the rate among females,” the CDC reported. “Males make up 50% of the population but nearly 80% of suicides.”
Society continues to remove God from the picture when only He can satisfy humanity’s “core needs.”
The acceptance of the theory of evolution and the subsequent removal of any consideration of the supernatural in science has meant children are taught in our schools and universities that God does not exist and the Bible, God’s Word is a book of myths and fables.
Dr. Scott Todd, an immunologist at Kansas State University, said the following: “Even if all the data point to an intelligent designer, such a hypothesis is excluded from science because it is not naturalistic.” Correspondence to Nature 401, num. 6752 (September 30, 1999):423#
No wonder suicide rates are increasing as there is no meaning and purpose in life and we are not as God’s Word tells us made in the image of our Creator. The same Word tells us that God created us to be in a relationship with Him. Moreover, He has provided the means (JESUS) for restoring the broken relationship that occurred when the original man and woman rebelled against God.
Let us get about telling our family, friends, and neighbours the GOOD NEWS of the Gospel of Christ. Start living your eternal life Now. Hope you don’t mind me putting a plug for my book Living Eternal Now. It is available on Amazon. Get the ebook I update that regularly.
This Christian film, Sound of Freedom on “child trafficking” became the number-one film in America on its release day, July 4th. Its become a movement already blessed by God. Read this testimony of someone who went to view the film. The film is getting standing ovations in the theatres where it is being shown.
“My sister, my daughter, who is a marriage and family therapist, my 13 year old granddaughter, and I went to see it on July 4th. The theater was completely full. It was so powerful. After the commentary at the end that Jim Caviezel gave, 2 ladies stood up and asked anyone who wanted to stand up and pray an “Our Father” for all the children who are being sex trafficked. We prayed and it was so hard to hold back the tears. My daughter has had to do therapy with young kids who have had to live these horrible crimes. God save the innocent children under these evil people. Thank you Tim Ballard, Jim Caviezel, Mr Alejandro Monteverde, Mr Eduardo Verastegui and Angel Studios for bringing this out.“
Another testimony:
“Think about what it’s like to come home and look at your child’s empty bed…”. Sound of Freedom calls to the hearts of ALL of us. Young people, parents, believers, non-believers, all people of good will. It shows us a reality that does not happen only in Colombia but in all our cities and countries. Think of the agony of not knowing where your child is, in whose hands, in a fate worse than death because it is daily and continuous suffering. Hopefully, this testimony moves our hearts and inspires us to action. From Argentina, where we are informed it will be released in October, we are eagerly and gratefully waiting for it.”
“The movie was released in Canada on July 3. Went immediately and it might be odd to say but I actually left with an uplifted feeling… that this horrific crime is being brought out more into the light! This has been dear to my heart for years. I’ve been on many international mission trips… Guatemala, Peru, Mexico, Romania… saw so many vulnerable children and in one case blatantly child sex trafficking when a 12 year old was pimped out to approach our team selling herself! I’m so grateful there are people like Tim fighting this crime against God’s children!”
Our thankfulness glorifies God and makes Him joyful:
“The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”Psalms 50:23
Puritan John Boys echoed the sentiment of the psalmist: “As the Lord loveth a cheerful giver, so likewise a cheerful thanksgiver.” But God isn’t the only one affected when we give thanks.
A. W. Tozer wrote, “Gratitude is an offering precious in the sight of God, and it is one that the poorest of us can make and be not poorer but richer for having made it.”
In Choosing Gratitude, Nancy Leigh DeMoss writes, “True gratitude, Christian gratitude, doesn’t exist in a vacuum; it has an Object.”
Check out Psalm 138:1-8 for reasons why you should have a thankful heart
God gives us hundreds of reasons to be grateful every hour— ask Him to make you aware of His gracious provisions surrounding you. The Holy Spirit will oblige. He is your counsellor and teacher. Developing the habit and discipline of gratitude results in greater praise to God and greater joy for ourselves.
When life’s tough, we can be grateful that God is with us in our suffering, that He’s using it for our good, and that He promises to end it once and for all.
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit.Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-21
Randy Alcorn reported on this study in his article on Thankfulness on the Patheos blog: Psychologists asked undergraduates to complete a survey that included a happiness scale and measures of thankfulness. Over six weeks, the participants wrote down, once a week, five things they were grateful for. This practice had a dramatic effect on their happiness score. The study concluded, “Students who regularly expressed gratitude showed increases in well-being throughout the study.”
Likewise secular books on happiness document gratitude’s role in making people happier. But cultivating gratitude proves difficult for people whose worldview leaves them with nobody to thank! Yes, they can thank someone for loaning them a car or being their teacher. But whom can they thank for sunshine, air to breathe, the capacity to work, and enjoy pleasure? People who don’t believe that a sovereign God is at work through the kindness of others must thank their “lucky stars,” random circumstances, or—at best—other people. Since people are small when compared to God, the object of their gratitude is small, shrinking their capacity for happiness.
God’s common grace offers unbelievers a degree of happiness that’s greatly enhanced through thankfulness. As Christ-followers, however, we find gratitude multiplied when we return it to God, the ultimate and primary source of all goodness.
I suggest you keep a Holy Spirit journal (HSJ) as He is your counsellor, teacher, and comforter. He produces the fruit of the Spirit in your life (Galatians 5:22, all nine) and also provides the spiritual gifts for ministry (1Corinthians 12:4-11, all nine). You might also want to keep a section of the HSJ to record daily, God’s evident goodness around you. You’ll find that in time, you’ll see more and more gifts from Him—not because there are more, but because you’re finally seeing what has been there all along.
God, we know from Biblical prophecies that Jesus second coming to earth, this time to restore righteousness is not too far distant but may we not wait until we see you, Lord Jesus, for our every breath to be filled with gratitude for your saving work on The Cross, the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives along with every other gift you made it possible for the Father to provide. May our hearts overflow with gratitude each day!
“If there is no absolute beyond man’s ideas, then there is no final appeal to judge between individuals and groups whose moral judgments conflict. We are merely left with conflicting opinions.” —Francis Schaeffer
What did Jesus say when Pontius Pilate asked if he was a king? “ ‘You are a king, then!’ said Pilate.
“Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.’” John 18:37
Of all truths in the universe, the most important is the truth of who Jesus is. After all, Truth is not merely an impersonal moral standard. It is a living Person who loved us so much He bears on His hands eternal scars because He rescued us.
“Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life”John 6:47
The phrase “Truly I tell you” appears 79 times in Scripture, 78 times spoken by Jesus. He is the Truth, and He tells the truth. We can fully trust everything He says. His promises are written in blood.
Truth claims are exclusive. Jesus didn’t say He was a truth, but “the truth”. If someone says Jesus isn’t the primary truth, then either he’s wrong or Jesus is.
If we grasp this truth, we’ll undergo the ultimate paradigm shift: without Christ, any sacrifice we make is worthless. We are miserable without Jesus. Nothing we have can satisfy us. And even if it did, we couldn’t hold on to it.
When we hear Jesus tell us to take up our crosses and follow Him and say we should lose our lives for His sake, we’re tempted to think, “Too hard, I will never be happy.” But in fact, Jesus is saying our short-term sacrifices for Him are a means to an end, and that end is true and abundant life: “Whoever loses their life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39).
Scripture is full of disheartening diagnoses, including that “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure” Jeremiah 17:9
But the Great Physician must tell us this hard truth so we can say,
“Create in me a clean heart, O God” (Psalm 51:10).
The Physician also promises,
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees” (Ezekiel 36:26-27).
Words that at first may sting us deeply don’t mean we are without hope, only that we cannot cure ourselves. But God has provided the cure:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17
Eternal life is not found by believing in just any god but by believing in the “only true God.” False gods, both religious and secular, litter the landscape. “Jesus prayed, ‘Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent’” (John 17:3). The only true God is the one who sent the only true Savior, Jesus Christ.
Jesus gives us more than eternal existence. He gives us eternal life: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” Ephesians 2:4-6
This great truth all hinges on the person and work of none other than Jesus.
God’s best and most perfect gift to us is Jesus Himself.
“All things were created through him and for him…and in Him, all things hold together” Colossians 1:16-17
How can we be anything less than optimistic? Our optimism is based squarely on realism: Jesus is real, atonement is real, resurrection is real, and Jesus soon coming Millennial Kingdom is real. The Gospel really is “good news.”
“They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.” Revelation 20:4-6
Salvation in the midst of judgment is a common theme in the early chapters of Genesis. Just as God provided hope in the midst of punishment for Cain after murdering Abel by giving him a mark to protect him (Genesis 4:15).
When God judged the world (Genesis 6:18) the Lord spared Noah and his family. Additionally, the judgment of the city of Babel (Genesis11:1–10) when God established the nations was followed by the call of Abram (Genesis 12:1–9) to establish His own nation, Israel, once again offering hope despite judgment.
It can therefore be expected that in the Bible’s first pronouncement of judgment at “The Fall“, God would offer the hope of salvation in the midst of judgment. I think the scriptural evidence shows that the following Scripture is messianic.
“The Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly, you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.’”Genesis 3:14-15
The essential messianic view is that Genesis 3:15 ultimately predicts the coming of a future individual (a “seed”) who will have victory over the serpent (Satan) through His own death.
A foundational element of that view is that the serpent must be identified as something other than just a mere snake. It appears to be, in the words of C. John Collins, “the mouthpiece of a Dark Power, whom later texts would call Satan.” A number of factors lead to this observation. For example, snakes cannot talk, even in Genesis. Moreover, a mere serpent from the good creation, apart from an evil force animating it, would have no reason to challenge God’s words or tempt humanity. Additionally, it is not the serpent’s seed that will be crushed by the woman’s seed after a long conflict but the serpent itself, indicating longevity, not normal for mere snakes.
Significantly, later biblical writers identified Satan with the serpent of Genesis
“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” Romans 16:20
“And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” Revelation 12:9
Although in Gen. 3:14 the Lord addresses the actual serpent, in the following verse (Genesis 3:15), He appears to address the dark power. As well, some have proposed that in Gen. 3:15 there is an alleged prediction of the virgin birth because of the use of the phrase “her seed” not a man’s seed.
The messianic view as espoused here posits that Gen. 3:15 teaches that the seed of the woman, although being struck, will also strike the serpent and his seed and thereby win victory for humanity. This text is just the beginning of the story. As John Sailhamer says, “More is at stake in this brief passage than the reader is at first aware. A program is set forth. A plot is established that will take the author far beyond this or that snake and his ‘seed.’
The verse shifts the meaning of seed from a collective group to a particular individual descendant of the woman. The evidence for this is that a singular pronoun and a singular verb are used to refer to the seed. In Gen. 3:15, the biblical author uses singular pronouns and verb forms in reference to the seed, so he plainly has a specific offspring in view.
When the original readers considered Genesis 3, they would have recognized that its author wrote of more than a mere serpent. As such, they would have expected not a long conflict between snakes and humanity, but a battle between a terrible dark force and a divinely powered deliverer. The problem of identifying the serpent was resolved in Jewish theology “by the doctrine that the serpent of Eden was the mouthpiece of the devil.” As a result, ancient Jewish interpreters also viewed the woman’s seed as the messianic victor over the serpent. This messianic reading of Gen. 3:15 is evident in the Septuagint and the rabbinic literature of the Targumim Pseudo-Jonathan, Neofiti, Onqelos, and the midrash Genesis Rabbah 23:5.27
God’s pronouncement of judgment (Gen. 3:14) is directed to the serpent proper—meaning the actual animal and not the dark force behind it. Since a serpent from the animal kingdom is an amoral being, it is surprising that the animal itself would be cursed. The purpose of cursing the animal is for it to become a perpetual reminder of the devastating destruction caused by the role of the serpent in the sin of Adam and Eve.
In the Millennium we read in Isaiah 65:25, “In Israel, the wolf, and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but the serpent’s food will be dust!” During Jesus Millennial reign the curse has not been totally lifted but in Israel, the curse on animals has been partially lifted but the curse on the serpent will remain. In this way, the serpent will remain an eternal outward symbol of the spiritual defeat of the dark force behind the fall.
In an apparent midrash on Gen. 3:15, the author of Hebrews writes:
“so that through his [Jesus’] death He might destroy the one holding the power of death—that is, the Devil—and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death”Hebrews 2:14–15
Abraham is also promised that his seed will bless the nations (Gen. 22:17–18). In Baalam’s second oracle, he describes Jacob’s seed as “His king” who “will be higher than Gog(Antichrist)” and whose “kingdom will be exalted.” Just as Genesis develops that the woman’s seed would spring from a royal dynasty, this oracle identifies the seed as the end-time messianic king who will defeat the enemies of Israel and rule over an exalted kingdom. In the very next oracle in Num. 24:17–19, the promise of the future messianic king (“A star will come from Jacob, and a scepter will arise from Israel”) makes a thematic allusion to Gen. 3:15. Although Num. 24:17 uses different words than Gen. 3:15 for both the blow struck and the head that is crushed, the thematic literary allusion is plain. The expectation is that when the messianic king arrives, he will crush the heads of Israel’s enemies, reminding the readers of the promise that Eve’s offspring would crush the head of the enemy.
The rest of the Hebrew canon makes extensive direct and thematic allusions to Gen. 3:15, firmly identifying the woman’s seed as a royal and messianic figure. Perhaps the most significant way that later biblical writers develop the “seed” theme is in the Davidic covenant. David is promised a “seed” who will have an eternal house, kingdom, and throne (2 Sam 7:12–16), reminding readers of the promise of the royal seed described in (Genesis 3:15; 17:16; 35:11; 49:9–10). There are many more “seed” theme references and Micah 7:17 predicts that in the eschatological future, the enemy nations will submit to the Lord and “lick the dust like asnake.” Speaking of that same future time in an intertextual reference to Gen. 3:15, Ps 8:6 proclaims that the messianic king will have “everything under his feet.” The same image of the ultimate defeat of the nations is found in Psalms 110:1, where the messianic king is promised that God will make His enemies a footstool for His feet.
It is appropriate therefore to conclude that the evidence supports Genesis 3:14-15 as the first messianic prophecy of the Bible. The fact that the “seed” theme is carried through the Bible by different authors over an extensive period of time is proof positive the Bible is the inspired word of God. Fulfilled prophecies are also proof positive that the many prophecies about Jesus’ second coming that are not already fulfilled (Israel established as a nation again) will be fulfilled.
“They (Saints) came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.” Revelation 20:5-6
Dr. Josh Packard, executive director of Springtide Research Institute, told Faithwire about his extensive research into 13-to-25-year-olds, noting studies have long found “religion is good for you.” “Faith and spirituality are good for you,” Packard said. “If you’re a person who believes in some kind of higher power and has a connection to that higher power, you’re generally flourishing more than your peers.”
“Those who pray more tend to be flourishing more in all areas, including their mental health.” Packard’s comments are particularly stunning when America faces an “epidemic of mental health crises among young people.” Meanwhile, there’s also a massive rise in the proportion of “nones” who no longer affiliate with a specific faith or religion.
This data showing increased wellness among the faithful is particularly pertinent in the midst of these dynamics, pointing to a potential solution to cultural conundrums. Packard said there are lessons in Springtide Research Institute’s findings that can inform the culture and churches alike, especially in an era in which faith is being downplayed or diminished. “Young people would be better off if more of them had a connection to something bigger than themselves,” he said. “But also, I think a lot of religious institutions and leaders would do well to take mental health into account so that faith and belief could be appropriately part of somebody’s overall approach to health.” While young people might not be aligning with Christianity at rates they once were, Packard said many still see themselves as spiritual, and more than half pray.
While the separation from biblical truth is undoubtedly troubling for Christians, these realities show at least openness to a higher power. And that intrigue could lead to receptive Gospel introductions. “We see lots of desire from Gen Z to embark on these conversations and explorations of meaning and purpose and, ‘Why am I here on this Earth?’” he said. “So, the desire hasn’t gone away. The exploration hasn’t gone away.” As Faithwire has extensively reported, countless surveys and studies show the benefits of faith. Recent research has found Christians are exceptional at giving, fare better in relationships, church attendees are happier and more content, and churchgoers have better mental health.
Can I suggest you also take a look at my other posts on prayer: Praying Effective Prayers. December 7th, 2022, What Does Prayer Do? October 22nd, 2022, Prayer Connects You to the Source of Life. September 27th, 2022, Pray, Pray, Pray. March 27th, 2022, Praying and Meditating on Scripture Will Improve Your Health. March 14th, 2022. Other posts of possible interest could be Do You Want Greater Hope and Resilience? April 26th, 2022, Young People Religion is Good for You. November 13th, 2022.
The Scriptures reveal what our hope should be in, it is in Jesus Christ’s return. Verses about Jesus’ glorious return and the years immediately preceding it comprise nearly 25% of the Bible.
Our hope comprises all of the following: resurrection from the dead”(Acts 23:6), the hope of glory (new amazing body) (Col 1:27), to rule over the nations with Jesus (Rom 15:12), the presence of our Lord Jesus and all of our loved ones who know Jesus (1 Thessalonians 2:19). Note what Peter tells us to do: prepare our minds for action.
“Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:13
.This is a lot to hope for, and all of these things happen upon Jesus’ return. Paul had this to say about those who only hope in this life and not in the return of the Lord:
“If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied”1 Corinthians 15:19
The Coming of the Lord But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this, we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord, himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
“Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it, we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body,” Philippians 3:20
“The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.” Revelation 2:26-27
Our hope is for Jesus’ soon coming return when all of these wonderful promises will be fulfilled. Surely, we are prepared to face the coming tribulation knowing that the indwelling Holy Spirit will ensure we can handle it just as He did for Stephen when he was stoned to death. Even more important, surely you want to complete the work God has for you to do in these last days in order to receive His commendation.
“But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God… And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” Acts 7:55-56, 59-60
LIVING ETERNAL NOW 